Stefan Lech Sokołowski
(Gozdawa coat of arms) (25 May 1904- spring 1940) was a
Polish mathematician,
climber and
lieutenant (porucznik
pl">:pl:porucznik.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:pl:porucznik">pl/sub>) of artillery">:pl:porucznik">pl<_a>.html" ;"title=":pl:porucznik.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:pl:porucznik">pl">:pl:porucznik.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:pl:porucznik">pl/sub>) of artillery in the Polish Land Forces. He was aLwów Eaglets, Lwów Eaglet, a group of children who defended the city of Lviv in 1918-1919 during the Polish–Ukrainian War, Polish-Ukrainian War. He was also a Doctor (title), Doctor of mathematical sciences. He died as a result of the Katyn massacre, a Soviet massacre of Polish military officers in 1940.
Life
Sokołowski was born on 25 May 1904 in Warsaw in the family of railway engineer and inventor, Witold Sokołowski (1871–1944), who used the Gozdawa coat of arms, and writer Anna Maria Sokołowska, née Skarbek Skarbek (archaic feminine by marriage: Skarbkowa, archaic feminine by birth: Skarbkówna) is a Polish language surname, which originally meant a rich individual or miser, derived from the word ''skarb'', meaning "treasure" or "wealth". The name may ...
(1878–1972).[Anna Maria Aurelia Sokołowska](_blank)
iPSB pol. ostęp z dnia: 2016-07-23 In 1912 with his mother and sisters, he moved to Myślenice, Poland.Grażyna Lipińska – życiorys
str. 1 PDF pol. [dostęp z dnia: 2016-07-23] When he was less than fifteen years old, he fought in the Battle of Lemberg (1918), defence of Polish Lviv (Lwów).
After the war he studied mathematics at the University of Warsaw. He worked in the Ballistic Research Center in Rembertów (Polish: ''Centrum Badań Balistycznych w Rembertowie'') during the interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
. He received a PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
in mathematics, before graduating in 1933 from the School Reserve Officer Cadet Artillery in Włodzimierz. On 1 January 1935 he was promoted to porucznik, the Polish equivalent of a Lieutenant. In 1939, he was assigned to the staff of OK I.
Murder
In the spring of 1940, he was murdered by members of the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs and ''de facto'' secret service) in the Katyn forest, during the Katyn Massacre, the series of mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish military officers and prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
carried out by the Soviet Union in April and May 1940.
Awards
* Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari (nr 14384) – collective posthumous honor of Polish soldiers murdered in Katyn and other unknown places of execution granted by the President of Poland in Exile Stanisław Ostrowski (11 November 1976)
* Cross of September Campaign 1939 – the collective posthumous medal commemorative given to all the victims of the Katyn massacre on 1 July 1986
Family
He had three sisters: Maria Danuta Żelazowska (died 1933), podpułkownik Grażyna Lipińska (1902–1995) and psychologist and a Home Army soldier, Stefania Żelazowska (1907–1992).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sokolowski, Stefan Lech
Katyn massacre victims
Military personnel from Warsaw
Recipients of the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari
University of Warsaw alumni
20th-century Polish mathematicians
1904 births
1940 deaths
Scientists from Warsaw
Polish military personnel killed in World War II