Józef Klemens Piłsudski was born on 5 December 1867 in Zułów near the Zułowo village (now Zalavas, Švenčionys district municipality, Lithuania). He was a Polish statesman, Chief of State, First Marshal of Poland from 1920 and leader of the Second Polish Republic and Minister of Military Affairs between 1926-1935.
He was responsible for the creation of the Second Polish Republic in 1918, 123 years after it had been taken over by Russia, Austria and Prussia.
Read more here:
He was also responsible for preventing spreading the ‘’red invasion’’ in Western Europe since Polish Army led by Józef Piłsudski defeated the Bolshevics in the Battle of Warsaw on 1920, called also the Miracle on the Vistula.
Read here:
He believed in a multicultural Poland, recognizing various religious and ethnic groups and described himself as a descendant of the culture and traditions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
He withdrew from the politics in 1923 when the government was dominated by his opponents, particularly the National Democrats. Three years later, he returned to power with the May 1926 coup d’état, and became the leader of Poland. From then until his death in 1935, he concerned himself primarily with military and foreign affairs.
Under communism, between 1945 and 1989, Piłsudski’s person and his achievements were a forbidden subject by the Polish communist regime.
Józef Piłsudski, photo: Wikipedia
Piłsudski in front of his house in Sulejówek, with his former soldiers, before the 1926 coup. Photo: Wikipedia
Józef Piłsudski’ s house in Sulejówek and memorabilia. © Copyright www.communications-unlimited.nl, 2017
Source: Museum of Jozef Pilsudski in Sulejówek, Wikipedia
Photos: Communications-Unlimited.nl © Copyright www.communications-unlimited.nl, 2017. All rights reserved, and Wikipedia