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Aleksander Prystor | |
|---|---|
 Aleksander Prystor | |
| 23rdPrime Minister of Poland | |
| In office 27 May 1931 – 9 May 1933 | |
| President | Ignacy Mościcki |
| Preceded by | Walery Sławek |
| Succeeded by | Janusz Jędrzejewicz |
| 4thMarshal of the Senate | |
| In office 4 October 1935 – 17 November 1938 | |
| President | Ignacy Mościcki |
| Prime Minister | Walery Sławek Marian Zyndram-Kościałkowski Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski |
| Preceded by | Władysław Raczkiewicz |
| Succeeded by | Bogusław Miedziński |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Aleksander Błażej Prystor (1874-01-02)January 2, 1874 |
| Died | 1941 (1942) (aged 67) Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Cause of death | Dysentery |
| Resting place | Powązki Cemetery (symbolic) |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Political party | Polish Socialist Party |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | Imperial Moscow University |
| Occupation |
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Aleksander Błażej Prystor (Polish:[alɛˈksandɛrˈprɨstɔr]; 2 January 1874 – 1941) was a Polish politician, activist, soldier andfreemason, who served as 23rdPrime Minister of Poland from 1931 to 1933. He was a member of theCombat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party and in 1908 took part in theBezdany raid. Between 1912 and 1917 he spent in Russian prisons before being released in 1917. In March 1917 he joinedPolish Military Organisation. After independence, he became secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. He fought as a volunteer in thePolish–Soviet War of 1919–1920. He worked for a few ministries (Labour, Industry and Commerce). Between 1931 and 1933 he served asPrime Minister of Poland. After that, he became theMarshal of thePolish Senate 1935–1938.
After theSoviet invasion of Poland in 1939, he fled to neutralLithuania. After Lithuania was annexed by theUSSR he was arrested in June 1940 by theNKVD; he died probably in 1941 (the date is not known) in the prison hospital of theButyrka prison in Moscow.[1]
Aleksander Prystor was born inVilnius, now the capital ofLithuania and then called Vilna under theRussian Empire, to a railroad worker Feliks Prystor and Maria (née Olejnik). In 1894 he graduated from the Second High School in Vilna and began studying mathematics and physics atImperial Moscow University. Lacking financial support from his family, Prystor lived in poverty. After graduation in 1900, he decided to study medicine at theUniversity of Tartu. In the summer of 1902, he returned to Vilna, taking a job in a bank. Between November 1903 and September 1904, Prystor served in the 16thSapper Battalion of theImperial Russian Army.
Sometime in the early 20th century, Prystor joinedPolish Socialist Party, and became a close associate ofJózef Piłsudski. In September 1903, he left Vilna, and went to Switzerland, to undergo military training, together with Piłsudski and other activists. In 1904 Prystor, together with Jozef Kwiatek,Walery Sławek and Boleslaw Jedrzejowski, organized public protests against the forcible draft of ethnic Poles into the Russian Army to fight in theRusso-Japanese War. Also, he constructed bombs which damaged the monument of TsarAlexander III of Russia.
In early 1905, Prystor became one of the leaders of theCombat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party. Using the pseudonymKatajama, he organized groups of activists in Warsaw, and in March of that year, he carried out the assassination of Russian Police Officer Karl Nolken. Later on, he participated in a number of raids of the Combat Organization, including bank robberies, terrorist attacks on soldiers and police officers and acts of sabotage. After the split in the party, he joinedPolish Socialist Party – Revolutionary Faction, and in 1906 leftCongress Poland forKraków, located at that time inAustrian Galicia. On June 18, 1906, Prystor married Janina Bakun, a fellow member of the Combat Organization.
On September 26, 1908, Prystor was one of the participants of the legendaryBezdany raid. At the same time, he was actively involved in the activities of theUnion of Active Struggle. On March 28, 1912, in Warsaw, Prystor was arrested by theOkhrana. After two years of imprisonment inWarsaw Citadel, he was in 1914 sentenced to 7 years of exile, and sent to prison inOryol. Released after theFebruary Revolution (March 17, 1917), he continued working for the Polish Socialist Party.
After the capture ofMinsk by the Imperial German Army (May 1918), Prystor came to Warsaw, to joinPolish Military Organisation. Together with other activists, he prepared the assassination of GeneralHans Hartwig von Beseler, but the attack was cancelled. On November 10, 1918, Prystor was among the officials who welcomed Józef Piłsudski atWarszawa Główna railway station.
Prystor was the godfather of Piłsudski's first daughter,Wanda, born on 7 February 1918.
From 1918 to 1919, Prystor worked in the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. In April 1919, he was the aide of GeneralLucjan Zeligowski and participated in theVilna offensive.
In June 1920, he volunteered for the army, to fight in thePolish–Soviet War. In July he was named company leader in the 201st Infantry Regiment of the Volunteer Division, commanded byAdam Koc (seeVolunteer Army (Poland)). Prystor distinguished himself during the fighting, and was awarded theCross of Valour. Before theBattle of Warsaw (1920), he was recalled from the frontline by Józef Piłsudski and became the personal assistant of the Polish Marshal.
Prystor remained in thePolish Army until 1925. Promoted to major, he was transferred to head the local office ofWojskowa Komenda Uzupelnien (Army Recruiting Office) in Wilno, and together with his family, settled in the real estate at the village of Borki near Wilno (May 1925). Even though he remained a close associate of Piłsudski, he did not come to Warsaw for the1926 May Coup, remaining in Wilno, together withEdward Śmigły-Rydz. After the coup, Prystor was moved by Piłsudski to the office of the Minister of Military Affairs, and for the next three years, he followed Piłsudski, attending all meetings and military councils, including those marked as top secret.
On April 30, 1927, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel (Podpolkovnik), and began working at the Main Office of theGeneral Inspector of the Armed Forces, where he was responsible for the removal of those officers who opposed theSanacja regime.
Prystor was one of the few men in Poland with direct access to Piłsudski, at any time of the day and night. He lived in theBelweder, together with the Marshal. In 1929, he was briefly manager of the Personal Officer of the Ministry of Military Affairs. On April 26, 1929, he was named the Minister of Labour and Social Services in the government ofKazimierz Bartel. Working under very difficult conditions, as Poland was affected by theGreat Depression, Prystor managed to increase unemployment benefits and increase the program ofPublic works. Furthermore, he dissolved the structures of the government health insurance program, which were in the hands of oppositionalPolish Socialist Party. Among others, Prystor introduced government commissars into local offices of health insurance.
After the collapse of the government ofKazimierz Świtalski, Prystor once again became the Minister of Labour and Social Services, in the fifth government of Kazimierz Bartel. He remained in this post in the governments ofWalery Sławek andJózef Piłsudski. In 1931, he was elected to theSejm, as a member of the pro-governmentNonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government (BBWR), remaining in the Polish Parliament until 1935.
In December 1930, Prystor was appointed the Minister of Trade and Industry, and on May 27, 1931, he became the Prime Minister of Poland. He was regarded as a poor premier, avoiding any reforms. His policies resulted in decrease of investment and deepened recession. Prystor remained in his post until May 1933, when Józef Piłsudski demanded his dismissal. The reason for this most likely was a personal conflict between Prystor's wife Janina, and Piłsudski's wifeAleksandra Piłsudska.
In 1934, Prystor went on a private trip toLithuania, during which he talked with main Lithuanian politicians, including PresidentAntanas Smetona. The talks were unsuccessful.
After the death of Piłsudski in May 1935, he was associated with the group ofWalery Sławek. Prystor took part in the works on the1935 Polish legislative election, after which he became a senator. On October 4, 1935, he was appointed the speaker of the Polish Senate and remained in this post until November 27, 1938, when PresidentIgnacy Mościcki dissolved Polish parliament.
Following the1938 parliamentary election, he again was elected to the Senate. On March 9, 1939, he gave a speech, harshly criticizing the policies of the government and theCamp of National Unity. Among others, he claimed that a parliament, elected in undemocratic vote, has no moral right to elect a new president in 1940.
On September 18, 1939, Prystor fled to neutralLithuania, where he helped Polish refugees. After the annexation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union (seeSoviet annexation of the Baltic states (1940)), he was arrested by theNKVD (June 1940). Despite his age of 66, Prystor was taken to the infamousLubyanka Building. He was in July 1940 sentenced to death, and in July 1941, his sentence was changed to 10 years in prison. Soon afterwards he fell ill withdysentery, and died in a hospital atButyrka prison. The exact date of his death is unknown. According to former Polish Prime MinisterLeon Kozłowski, who was also kept in Lubyanka, Prystor most likely died in August 1941, while Polish historianWładysław Pobóg-Malinowski claims that the death took place in October 1941. His symbolic grave is located atPowązki Cemetery in Warsaw.
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| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Poland 1931–1933 | Succeeded by |
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