Bronisław Bohaterewicz (Bohatyrewicz) of the Ostoja coat of arms (24 February 1870 – 9 April 1940) was a Polish military commander and a general of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

. Murdered during the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

, Bohaterewicz was one of the Generals whose bodies were identified by forensic scientists of the Katyn Commission during the 1943 exhumation.

Life

Born 24 February or 24 April 1870 (sources differ) Anna Cienciala (ed.), ''Katyn A Crime Without Punishment'' Yale, 2007 . in

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

, in a noble family being part of the

Clan of Ostoja The Clan Ostoja (Moscics), Clan of Ostoja (old Polish: ''Ostoya'') was a powerful group of knights and lords in late-medieval Europe. The clan encompassed families in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (including present-day Belarus and Ukraine ...

, Bohaterewicz joined the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, where he received officers training. In September 1918 he joined the

. He started as the commanding officer of Belarusian self-defence units in Grodno during the opening stages of the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

and then the Polish-Bolshevik War.Гарадзенцам пакажуць фільм «Катынь»
: Ён нарадзіўся ў Гродне ў беларускай шляхецкай сям’і, у 1918‑1919 гадах арганізаваў і ўзначаліў аддзел мясцовай самаабароны, які потым быў пераўтвораны ў нацыянальную беларуска‑літоўскую дывізію. (

Nasha Niva ''Nasha Niva'' (, lit. "Our field") is one of the oldest Belarusian weekly newspapers, founded in 1906 and re-established in 1991. ''Nasha Niva'' became a cultural symbol, due to the newspaper's importance as a publisher of Belarusian literature ...

) Successful in the battle of Grodno, in 1919 he became the commander of the Polish 81st Infantry Regiment. After the war he continued his career in the army and received further training in the Higher War School in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. Between 1923 and 1926 he commanded the infantry units of the Polish 18th Infantry Division and the following year he was promoted to the rank of

generał brygady Brigadier general ( Polish: ''generał brygady'' , abbreviated ''gen. bryg.'') is the lowest grade for generals in the Polish Army (both in the land forces and in the Polish Air Force). Depending on the context, it is equivalent to both the moder ...

and retired from active duty.

Katyn

After the Polish Defensive War of 1939 Bohaterewicz was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

Stanoslaw Swianiewicz ''In the Shadow of Katyn'' Witold, 2004 Page 233 and imprisoned in

Kozelsk Kozelsk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Kozelsky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Zhizdra (river), Zhizdra River (a tributary of the Oka (river), Oka), southwest of Kaluga ...

J.K.Zawodny ''Death in the Forest'' Notre Dame, 1962 Page 145''The Crime of Katyn'' Polish Cultural Foundation, 1989 Page 18 in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. He was murdered in Katyn in the spring of 1940, aged seventy, during the

Katyń massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by the Soviet Union, specifically the NKVD (the Soviet secret police), at ...

.J.K.Zawodny ''Death in the Forest'' Notre Dame, 1962 Page 23Allen Paul ''Katyn'' Naval Institute, 1996 Page 208 Among the Katyn victims were 14 Polish generals including

Leon Billewicz Leon Billewicz (April 25, 1870 in Werbiczna – April 1940) was a Polish officer and a General of the Polish Army. He was murdered during the Katyń massacre. Biography Service Initially serving with the Imperial Russian Army, in November 19 ...

, Xawery Czernicki (admiral),

Stanisław Haller Stanisław Haller (''de Hallenburg''; 26 April 1872 – Spring 1940) was a Polish politician and general who was murdered in the Katyn massacre. He was the cousin of General Józef Haller. Life Between 1894 and 1918 Haller served in the Austro-H ...

, Aleksander Kowalewski,

Henryk Minkiewicz Henryk Minkiewicz (19 January 1880 – 9 April 1940) was a Polish socialist politician and a general of the Polish Army. Former commander of the Border Defence Corps, he was among the Polish officers murdered in the Katyń massacre.; ; ; ; ; ; ...

Kazimierz Orlik-Łukoski Kazimierz (; ; ) is a historical district of Kraków and Kraków Old Town, Poland. From its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century, Kazimierz was an independent city, a royal city of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, located south ...

Konstanty Plisowski Konstanty Plisowski of the Odrowąż coat of arms (8 June 1890 – 1940) was a Polish general and military commander. He was the Commander in the battle of Jazłowiec and the battle of Brześć Litewski. He was murdered in Katyn. Biography ...

Rudolf Prich Rudolf Prich (6 August 1881 – 1940)Indeks Represjonowanych - Rudolf Pri ...

(murdered in

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

), Franciszek Sikorski,

Leonard Skierski Leonard Wilhelm Skierski (26 April 1866 – spring 1940) was a Polish military officer. He was a general of the Imperial Russian Army and then served in the Polish Army. He fought in World War I and in the Polish–Soviet War. He is a victim o ...

Piotr Skuratowicz Piotr Skuratowicz (1 August 1891 – 1940) was a Polish military commander and a General of the Polish Army. A renowned cavalryman, a victim of the Katyn massacre of 1940 murdered by the NKVD in Kharkov in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. ...

Mieczysław Smorawiński Brigadier General Mieczysław Makary Smorawiński (1893–1940), was a Polish military commander and officer of the Polish Army. He was one of the Polish generals identified by forensic scientists of the Katyn Commission as the victim of the Sovi ...

and

Alojzy Wir-Konas Alojzy Wir-Konas (born Alojzy Konas, 1894–1940) was a military commander in the Polish Army, commanding the 38th Infantry Division during the Invasion of Poland. He was murdered in the Katyn massacre. Early life and career Alojzy Konas was bo ...

(promoted posthumously).; ; ; ; ; ;

Honours and awards

* Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari * Cross of Valour - four times * Silver Cross of Merit * Merit Cross for Forces in Central Lithuanian

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohaterewicz, Bronislaw 1870 births 1940 deaths People from Grodno People from Grodnensky Uyezd Clan of Ostoja Polish generals Polish military personnel killed in World War II Polish prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by the Soviet Union Recipients of the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Poland) Recipients of the Silver Cross of Merit (Poland) People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent Imperial Russian Army personnel Belarusian people executed by the Soviet Union Katyn massacre victims Executed military leaders

Life

Katyn

Honours and awards

See also

References