Stanisław Haller (''de Hallenburg''; 26 April 1872 – Spring 1940) was a Polish politician and general who was murdered in 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 ...
. He was the cousin of General
Józef Haller
Józef Haller (''de Hallenburg''; 13 August 1873 – 4 June 1960) was a Polish lieutenant general and legionary in the Polish Legions during the First World War. He was a harcmistrz (the highest Scouting instructor rank in Poland), the p ...
.
Life
Between 1894 and 1918 Haller served in the
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...
. Among other military functions, he was commandant of Fortress
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
.
In 1918 he joined the renascent
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 ...
. During the Polish-Soviet War he contributed to the defeat of Budionny's army and its expulsion beyond the
Bug River
The Bug or Western Bug is a major river in Central Europe that flows through Belarus (border), Poland, and Ukraine, with a total length of .Chief of the Polish General Staff. After 1926 he was placed in retirement as a political opponent of the new regime headed by
Józef Piłsudski
Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...
.
Death
In 1939 he was arrested by the
Soviets
The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" ().
Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...
POW camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, an ...
in
Starobielsk
Starobilsk (; ) is a city in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Starobilsk Raion. The modern settlement was founded in 1686, and it was granted city status in 1938. The city has a population of As a result of the ...
.J.K.Zawodny ''Death in the Forest'' Notre Dame, 1962, pg. 145''The Crime of Katyn'' Polish Cultural Foundation, 1989 , pg. 19 Along with other Polish
POW
POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict.
POW or pow may also refer to:
Music
* P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...
s, he was murdered 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 ...
in April 1940, just before his sixty-eighth birthday, in Piatykhatky near
Kharkov
Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.
, in what is collectively called 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 ...
Stanisław Haller is patron of the 5th command regiment of the
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
-based Polish 2nd Mechanized Corps.
Honours and awards
* Commander's Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari; previously awarded the Silver Cross (1921)
* Commander's Cross of the
Order of Polonia Restituta
The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) 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 alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...
Other high ranking Polish officers murdered in the Katyn Massacre
Among the victims of the Katyn Massacre were 14 Polish military leaders, 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 ...
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 ...
Lwow
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
Franciszek Józef Sikorski (4 October 1889 Lwów – spring 1940 Kharkov) was a Polish engineer, Brigadier general of the Polish Army and a murdered victim of the Katyn Massacre.
Life
Sikorski was born in Lemberg, Austrian Galicia, and graduated ...
,
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).; ; ; ; ; ;
See also
*
Prometheism
Prometheism or Prometheanism () was a political project initiated by Józef Piłsudski, a principal statesman of the Second Polish Republic from 1918 to 1935. Its aim was to weaken the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union, by supporting natio ...
*
List of Poles
This is a partial list of notable Polish people, Polish or Polish language, Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Physics
*Miedziak Antal
* Czesław Białobrzesk ...