Stanisław Haller
Stanisław Haller de Hallenburg (26 April 1872 – April 1940) was a Polish politician and general who was murdered in the Katyn massacre. He was a cousin of General Józef Haller von Hallenburg.
Stanisław Haller | |
|---|---|
| Chief of the Polish General Staff | |
| In office 12 May 1926 – 15 May 1926 | |
| Preceded by | Edmund Kessler |
| Succeeded by | Stanisław Burhardt-Bukacki |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 April 1872 Polanka Hallera, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 1940 Kharkov, Soviet Union |
| Resting place | Kharkov Polish Military Cemetery |
| Citizenship | Polish |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Second Polish Republic |
| Branch/service | Polish Legions Polish Armed Forces |
| Years of service | 1912–1939 |
| Rank | Divisional general |
| Battles/wars | First World War Polish–Soviet War Invasion of Poland |
Life
Between 1894 and 1918 Haller served in the Austro-Hungarian Army. Among other military functions, he was commandant of Fortress Kraków. In 1918 he joined the renascent Polish Army. During the Polish-Soviet War he contributed to the defeat of Budionny's army and its expulsion beyond the Bug River. In 1919-1920, 1923–25 and in May 1926 he was 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.
Katyn
In 1939 he was arrested by the Soviets and placed in a POW camp in Starobielsk.[1][2] Along with other Polish POWs, he was murdered by the NKVD in April 1940, just before his sixty-eighth birthday, near Kharkov, in the Katyn Massacres.[3]
Among the Katyn victims were 14 Polish military leaders, including Leon Billewicz, Bronisław Bohatyrewicz, Xawery Czernicki, Henryk Minkiewicz, Kazimierz Orlik-Łukoski, Konstanty Plisowski, Rudolf Prich (murdered in Lwow), Franciszek Sikorski, Leonard Skierski, Piotr Skuratowicz, Mieczysław Smorawiński, and Alojzy Wir-Konas (promoted posthumously).[4]
Stanisław Haller is patron of the 5th command regiment of the Kraków-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
- Cross of Valour - twice
- Cross of Liberty, Class I (Estonia)
- Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary
- Order of St. Stanislaus
See also
References
- ^ J.K.Zawodny Death in the Forest Notre Dame, 1962, pg. 145
- ^ The Crime of Katyn Polish Cultural Foundation, 1989 ISBN 0-85065-190-5, pg. 19
- ^ J.K.Zawodny Death in the Forest Notre Dame, 1962, pg. 146
- ^ Andrzej Leszek Szcześniak, ed. (1989). Katyń; lista ofiar i zaginionych jeńców obozów Kozielsk, Ostaszków, Starobielsk. Warsaw, Alfa. p. 366. ISBN 978-83-7001-294-6.; Moszyński, Adam, ed. (1989). Lista katyńska; jeńcy obozów Kozielsk, Ostaszków, Starobielsk i zaginieni w Rosji Sowieckiej. Warsaw, Polskie Towarzystwo Historyczne. p. 336. ISBN 978-83-85028-81-9.; Tucholski, Jędrzej (1991). Mord w Katyniu; Kozielsk, Ostaszków, Starobielsk: lista ofiar. Warsaw, Pax. p. 987. ISBN 978-83-211-1408-8.; Banaszek, Kazimierz (2000). Kawalerowie Orderu Virtuti Militari w mogiłach katyńskich. Roman, Wanda Krystyna; Sawicki, Zdzisław. Warsaw, Chapter of the Virtuti Militari War Medal & RYTM. p. 351. ISBN 978-83-87893-79-8.; Maria Skrzyńska-Pławińska, ed. (1995). Rozstrzelani w Katyniu; alfabetyczny spis 4410 jeńców polskich z Kozielska rozstrzelanych w kwietniu-maju 1940, według źródeł sowieckich, polskich i niemieckich. Stanisław Maria Jankowski. Warsaw, Karta. p. 286. ISBN 978-83-86713-11-0.; Skrzyńska-Pławińska, Maria, ed. (1996). Rozstrzelani w Charkowie; alfabetyczny spis 3739 jeńców polskich ze Starobielska rozstrzelanych w kwietniu-maju 1940, według źródeł sowieckich i polskich. Porytskaya, Ileana. Warsaw, Karta. p. 245. ISBN 978-83-86713-12-7.; Skrzyńska-Pławińska, Maria, ed. (1997). Rozstrzelani w Twerze; alfabetyczny spis 6314 jeńców polskich z Ostaszkowa rozstrzelanych w kwietniu-maju 1940 i pogrzebanych w Miednoje, według źródeł sowieckich i polskich. Porytskaya, Ileana. Warsaw, Karta. p. 344. ISBN 978-83-86713-18-9.
- This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the Polish Wikipedia
Bibliography
- Stalisław Haller (sic!) (1926). Naród a armja (The Nation and the Army). Kraków, Księgarnia Krakowska. p. 88.
- Andrzej Wierzbicki, Stanisław Haller, Jan Rzepecki (1984). O przewrocie majowym 1926; opinie świadków i uczestników (On the May Coup d'etat; opinions of witnesses and participants). Wydawnictwa MON. p. 164. ISBN 83-11-07122-5.