Aleksander Błażej Prystor (; 2 January 1874 – 1941) was a Polish politician, activist, soldier and

freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, who served as 23rd

Prime Minister of Poland The President of the Council of Ministers ( pl, Prezes Rady Ministrów, lit=Chairman of the Council of Ministers), colloquially referred to as the prime minister (), is the head of the cabinet and the head of government of Poland. The responsibi ...

from 1931 to 1933. He was a member of the

Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party The Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Organizacja Bojowa Polskiej Partii Socjalistycznej, abbreviated ''OBPPS''), also translated as Fighting Organization of the Polish Socialist Party; also known as ''bojówki'' ( paramilita ...

and in 1908 took part in the

Bezdany raid Bezdany raid was a train robbery carried out on the night of 26/27 September 1908 in the vicinity of Bezdany (since 1946 Bezdonys) near Vilna on a Russian Empire passenger and mail train by a group of the Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist ...

. Between 1912 and 1917 he spent in Russian prisons before being released in 1917. In March 1917 he joined

Polish Military Organisation The Polish Military Organisation, PMO ( pl, Polska Organizacja Wojskowa, POW) was a secret military organization which formed during World War I (1914-1918). Józef Piłsudski founded the group in August 1914; it adopted the name ''POW'' in Novem ...

. After independence, he became secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. He fought as a volunteer in the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (Polish–Bolshevik War, Polish–Soviet War, Polish–Russian War 1919–1921) * russian: Советско-польская война (''Sovetsko-polskaya voyna'', Soviet-Polish War), Польский фронт (' ...

of 1919–1920. He worked for a few ministries (Labour, Industry and Commerce). Between 1931 and 1933 he served as

. After that, he became the

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...

of the

Polish Senate The Senate ( pl, Senat) is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the Sejm. The history of the Polish Senate stretches back over 500 years; it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe ...

1935–1938. After the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subse ...

in 1939, he fled to neutral

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. After Lithuania was annexed by the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

he was arrested in June 1940 by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

; he died probably in 1941 (the date is not known) in the prison hospital of the

Butyrka prison Butyrskaya prison ( rus, Бутырская тюрьма, r= Butýrskaya tyurmá), usually known simply as Butyrka ( rus, Бутырка, p=bʊˈtɨrkə), is a prison in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow, Russia. In Imperial Russia it ...

in Moscow.

Early life

Aleksander Prystor was born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, now the capital of

and then called Vilna under the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, 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 at

Imperial Moscow University Imperial Moscow University was one of the oldest universities of the Russian Empire, established in 1755. It was the first of the twelve imperial universities of the Russian Empire. History of the University Ivan Shuvalov and Mikhail Lomonosov ...

. Lacking financial support from his family, Prystor lived in poverty. After graduation in 1900, he decided to study medicine at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

. 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 16th

Sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer (military), pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefie ...

Battalion of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

. Sometime in the early 20th century, Prystor joined

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' P ...

, and became a close associate of

Józef Piłsudski ), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) , death_date = , death_place = Warsaw, Poland , constituency = , party = None (formerly PPS) , spouse = , children = Wan ...

. In September 1903, he left Vilna, and went to Switzerland, to undergo military training, together with Pilsudski and other activists. In 1904 Prystor, together with Jozef Kwiatek,

Walery Sławek Walery Jan Sławek (; 2 November 1879 – 3 April 1939) was a Polish politician, freemason, military officer and activist, who in the early 1930s served three times as Prime Minister of Poland. He was one of the closest aides of Polish lead ...

and Boleslaw Jedrzejowski, organized public protests against the forcible draft of ethnic Poles into the Russian Army to fight in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. Also, he constructed bombs which damaged the monument of Tsar

Alexander III of Russia Alexander III ( rus, Алекса́ндр III Алекса́ндрович, r=Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 18 ...

. In early 1905, Prystor became one of the leaders of the

. Using the pseudonym ''Katajama'', 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 joined

Polish Socialist Party – Revolutionary Faction The Polish Socialist Party – Revolutionary Faction ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna – Frakcja Rewolucyjna, PPS–FR) also known as the Old Faction ( pl, Starzy, links=no) was one of two factions into which the Polish Socialist Party split ...

, and in 1906 left

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...

for

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, located at that time in

Austrian Galicia The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,, ; pl, Królestwo Galicji i Lodomerii, ; uk, Королівство Галичини та Володимирії, Korolivstvo Halychyny ta Volodymyrii; la, Rēgnum Galiciae et Lodomeriae also known as ...

. 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 legendary

. At the same time, he was actively involved in the activities of the

Union of Active Struggle The Union of Active Struggle ( pl, Związek Walki Czynnej, ZWC), also translated as ''Union for Active Struggle'' and ''Union for Active Resistance'',Thus rendered in Richard M. Watt, ''Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate, 1918 to 1939'', p. 37. W ...

. On March 28, 1912, in Warsaw, Prystor was arrested by the

Okhrana The Department for Protecting the Public Security and Order (russian: Отделение по охранению общественной безопасности и порядка), usually called Guard Department ( rus, Охранное отд ...

. After two years of imprisonment in

Warsaw Citadel Warsaw Citadel (Polish: Cytadela Warszawska) is a 19th-century fortress in Warsaw, Poland. It was built by order of Tsar Nicholas I after the suppression of the 1830 November Uprising in order to bolster imperial Russian control of the city. I ...

, he was in 1914 sentenced to 7 years of exile, and sent to prison in

Oryol Oryol ( rus, Орёл, p=ɐˈrʲɵl, lit. ''eagle''), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast situated on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow. It is part of the Central Fed ...

. Released after the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

(March 17, 1917), he continued working for the Polish Socialist Party. After the capture of

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

by the Imperial German Army (May 1918), Prystor came to Warsaw, to join

. Together with other activists, he prepared the assassination of General

Hans Hartwig von Beseler Hans Hartwig von Beseler (27 April 1850 – 20 December 1921) was a German colonel general. Biography Beseler was born in Greifswald, Province of Pomerania (1815–1945), Pomerania. His father Georg Beseler, was a law professor at the Univers ...

, but the attack was cancelled. On November 10, 1918, Prystor was among the officials who welcomed Józef Piłsudski at

Warszawa Główna railway station Warsaw Main Railway Station ( pl, Warszawa Główna) was the name of two different railway stations in Warsaw, Poland, both now defunct. A smaller terminus station with two platforms again named Warszawa Główna opened on March 14, 2021. The ...

. Prystor was the godfather of Pilsudski's first daughter,

Wanda Wanda is a female given name of Polish origin. It probably derives from the tribal name of the Wends.Campbell, Mike"Meaning, Origin, and History of the Name Wanda."''Behind the Name.'' Accessed on August 12, 2010. The name has long been popular in ...

, born on 7 February 1918.

Second Polish Republic

From 1918–1919, Prystor worked in the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. In April 1919, he was the aide of General Lucjan Zeligowski and participated in the

Vilna offensive The Vilna offensive was a campaign of the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921. The Polish army launched an offensive on April 16, 1919, to take Vilnius ( pl, Wilno) from the Red Army. After three days of street fighting from April 19–21, the ...

. In June 1920, he volunteered for the army, to fight in the

. In July he was named company leader in the 201st Infantry Regiment of the Volunteer Division, commanded by

Adam Koc Adam Ignacy Koc (31 August 1891 – 3 February 1969) was a Polish politician, MP, soldier, journalist and Freemason. Koc, who had several ''noms de guerre'' (Witold, Szlachetny, Adam Krajewski, Adam Warmiński and Witold Warmiński), fought ...

(see

Volunteer Army (Poland) The Volunteer Army ( pl, Armia Ochotnicza) was a military formation of the Polish Army, created at the height of the Polish–Soviet War. It was formed by the Council of National Defense (Poland), Council of National Defense on July 1, 1920. Compo ...

). Prystor distinguished himself during the fighting, and was awarded the Cross of Valour. Before the

Battle of Warsaw (1920) The Battle of Warsaw (Polish: ''Bitwa Warszawska'', Russian: ''Варшавская битва'', transcription: ''Varshavskaya bitva''), also known as the Miracle on the Vistula ( Polish: ''Cud nad Wisłą''), was a series of battles that resu ...

, he was recalled from the frontline by Józef Piłsudski and became the personal assistant of the Polish Marshal. Prystor remained in the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...

until 1925. Promoted to major, he was transferred to head the local office of Wojskowa 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 Pilsudski, he did not come to Warsaw for the 1926 May Coup, remaining in Wilno, together with

Edward Śmigły-Rydz Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

. After the coup, Prystor was moved by Pilsudski to the office of the Minister of Military Affairs, and for the next three years, he followed Pilsudski, attending all meetings and military councils, including those marked as top secret. On April 30, 1927, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel (

Podpolkovnik ''Podpolkovnik'' (russian: подполко́вник, lit=sub –, junior – , or lower regimentary) is a military rank in Slavic and nearby countries which corresponds to the lieutenant colonel in the English-speaking states and military. ...

), and began working at the Main Office of the

General Inspector of the Armed Forces General Inspector of the Armed Forces ( pl, Generalny Inspektor Sił Zbrojnych; GISZ) was an office created in the Second Polish Republic in 1926, after the May Coup. The General Inspector reported directly to the President, and was not respons ...

, where he was responsible for the removal of those officers who opposed the

Sanacja Sanation ( pl, Sanacja, ) was a Polish political movement that was created in the interwar period, prior to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 ''Coup d'État'', and came to power in the wake of that coup. In 1928 its political activists would go on ...

regime. Prystor was one of the few men in Poland with direct access to Pilsudski, at any time of the day and night. He lived in the

Belweder Belweder (; from the Italian language, Italian ''belvedere'', "beautiful view") is a Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical palace in Warsaw, Poland. Erected in 1660 and remodelled in the early 1800s, it is one of several official residences u ...

, 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 of

Kazimierz Bartel Kazimierz Władysław Bartel (; en, Casimir Bartel; 3 March 1882 – 26 July 1941) was a Polish mathematician, freemason, scholar, diplomat and politician who served as 15th, 17th and 19th Prime Minister of Poland three times between 1926 a ...

. Working under very difficult conditions, as Poland was affected by the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, Prystor managed to increase unemployment benefits and increase the program of

Public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

. Furthermore, he dissolved the structures of the government health insurance program, which were in the hands of oppositional

. Among others, Prystor introduced government commissars into local offices of health insurance. After the collapse of the government of

Kazimierz Świtalski Kazimierz Stanisław Świtalski (; 4 March 1886, Sanok – 28 December 1962, Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish politician, diplomat, soldier, military officer in the Polish Legions and 18th Prime Minister of Poland between April and December 1929. Ea ...

, 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 of

and

Józef Piłsudski ), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) , death_date = , death_place = Warsaw, Poland , constituency = , party = None (formerly PPS) , spouse = , children = Wan ...

. In 1931, he was elected to the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...

, as a member of the pro-government

Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government The Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government ( pl, Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem, ; abbreviated ''BBWR'') was a "non-political" organization in the interwar Second Polish Republic, in 1928–35. It was closely affiliated with ...

(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 Pilsudski's wife Aleksandra Pilsudska. In 1934, Prystor went on a private trip to

, during which he talked with main Lithuanian politicians, including President

Antanas Smetona Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual and journalist and the first President of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1926 to 1940, before its occupation by the Soviet Union. He was one of the m ...

. The talks were unsuccessful. After the death of Pilsudski in May 1935, he was associated with the group of

. Prystor took part in the works on the

1935 Polish legislative election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 8 September 1935, with Senate elections held a week later on 15 September.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1491 They were held under the April Constitu ...

, 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 President

Ignacy Mościcki Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 18672 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany ...

dissolved Polish parliament. Following the 1938 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 the

Camp of National Unity ''Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego'' (, en, Camp of National Unity; abbreviated "''OZN''"; and often called "''Ozon''" (Polish for "ozone") was a Polish political party founded in 1937 by sections of the leadership in the Sanacja movement. A year ...

. Among others, he claimed that a parliament, elected in undemocratic vote, has no moral right to elect a new president in 1940.

Invasion of Poland and death

On September 18, 1939, Prystor fled to neutral

, where he helped Polish refugees. After the annexation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union (see Soviet annexation of the Baltic states (1940)), he was arrested by the

(June 1940). Despite his age of 66, Prystor was taken to the infamous

Lubyanka Building The Lubyanka ( rus, Лубянка, p=lʊˈbʲankə) is the popular name for the building which contains the headquarters of the FSB, and its affiliated prison, on Lubyanka Square in the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia. It is a large Ne ...

. 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 with

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

, and died in a hospital at

. The exact date of his death is unknown. According to former Polish Prime Minister

Leon Kozłowski Leon Tadeusz Kozłowski (; 6 June 1892 – 11 May 1944) was a Polish archaeologist, freemason and politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1934 to 1935. Biography Leon Kozłowski was born in 1892 in the village of Rembieszyce near ...

, who was also kept in Lubyanka, Prystor most likely died in August 1941, while Polish historian Władysław Pobóg-Malinowski claims that the death took place in October 1941. His symbolic grave is located at

Powązki Cemetery Powązki Cemetery (; pl, Cmentarz Powązkowski), also known as Stare Powązki ( en, Old Powązki), is a historic necropolis located in Wola district, in the western part of Warsaw, Poland. It is the most famous cemetery in the city and one of t ...

in Warsaw.

Honours and awards

* Silver Cross of the

Virtuti Militari The War Order of Virtuti Militari (Latin: ''"For Military Virtue"'', pl, Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari) is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war. It was created in 1792 by Polish King Stan ...

* Grand Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on al ...

, previously awarded the Commander's Cross *

Cross of Independence Cross of Independence ( pl, Krzyż Niepodległości) was second highest Polish military decorations between World Wars I and II. It was awarded to individuals who had fought actively for the independence of Poland, and was released in three cl ...

with Swords * Cross of Valour * Grand Cross of the Order of Christ (Portugal, 1931)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prystor, Aleksander 1874 births 1941 deaths Politicians from Vilnius People from Vilensky Uyezd Polish Socialist Party – Revolutionary Faction politicians Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government politicians Camp of National Unity politicians Prime Ministers of Poland Government ministers of Poland Labor ministers Members of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1930–1935) Senat Marshals of the Second Polish Republic Senators of the Second Polish Republic (1935–1938) Senators of the Second Polish Republic (1938–1939) Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party members Polish Military Organisation members Polish Freemasons Polish Army officers Polish military engineers Colonels (military rank) Imperial Moscow University alumni Imperial Russian Army personnel Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Romania) Grand Crosses of the Order of Christ (Portugal) Grand Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Cross of Independence with Swords Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Poland) Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland) Recipients of the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari Polish people detained by the NKVD Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War Polish people who died in Soviet detention Polish civilians killed in World War II Polish deportees to Soviet Union Polish prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by the Soviet Union Infectious disease deaths in Russia Deaths from dysentery