Leopold Skulski ; (15 November 1878,

Zamość Zamość (; yi, זאמאשטש, Zamoshtsh; la, Zamoscia) is a historical city in southeastern Poland. It is situated in the southern part of Lublin Voivodeship, about from Lublin, from Warsaw. In 2021, the population of Zamość was 62,021. ...

–

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

, 11 June 1940) served as prime minister of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

for six months from 13 December 1919 until 9 June 1920 in the interim Legislative Sejm during the formation of sovereign Second Polish Republic following World War I.

Life

Skulski was involved in politics from at least the mid 1910s, and served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

between 1917 and 1919. During the rebirth of sovereign Poland, he was active in the conservative Zjednoczenie Narodowe, representing the interests of landowners from Liga Narodowa. He became a deputy in the Polish parliament (

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 ...

) after the 1919 elections from the parliamentary wing of Narodowe Zjednoczenie Ludowe (NZL) which split from Zwiazek Ludowo Narodowy (ZLN) under his leadership. On 13 December 1919, he became the

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 ...

. His government resigned on 9 June 1920, in the aftermath of the failure of the Kiev Offensive and the success of the Bolshevik counteroffensive, in as much as the constitutional impasse resulting from the split of PSL "Wyzwolenie".Rudnicki 1981, p. 85 (of 285) in PDF. Skulski was also the

Minister of Internal Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

under the government of Wincenty Witos (from 24 July 1920 to 28 June 1921). He was a member of the State Tribunal of Poland from 1925. President of the

Polish Radio Polskie Radio Spółka Akcyjna (PR S.A.; English: Polish Radio) is Poland's national public-service radio broadcasting organization owned by the State Treasury of Poland. History Polskie Radio was founded on 18 August 1925 and began making ...

in the 1930s, he did not take an active role in political life in the last decade of his life.

Death

During the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

he was arrested in

Pińsk Pinsk ( be, Пі́нск; russian: Пи́нск ; Polish: Pińsk; ) is a city located in the Brest Region of Belarus, in the Polesia region, at the confluence of the Pina River and the Pripyat River. The region was known as the Marsh of Pins ...

by the

Soviet 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 nation ...

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. ...

; shortly thereafter he died in the NKVD prison in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skulski, Leopold 1878 births 1940 deaths People from Zamość People from Lublin Governorate Polish People's Party "Piast" politicians Prime Ministers of Poland Interior ministers of Poland Members of the Legislative Sejm of the Second Polish Republic Diplomats of the Second Polish Republic Councillors in Łódź Polish chemists Polish people detained by the NKVD Polish civilians killed in World War II Polish people who died in Soviet detention