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Stanisław Haller

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stanisław Haller
Chief of the Polish General Staff
In office
12 May 1926 – 15 May 1926
Preceded byEdmund Kessler
Succeeded byStanisław Burhardt-Bukacki
Personal details
Born(1872-04-26)26 April 1872
Polanka Hallera, Austria-Hungary
DiedApril 1940 (67-68)
Kharkov, Soviet Union
Resting placeKharkov Polish War Cemetery
CitizenshipPolish
Military service
Allegiance Second Polish Republic
Branch/servicePolish Legions

Polish Armed Forces
Years of service1912–1939
RankDivisional general
Battles/warsFirst World War
Polish–Soviet War
Invasion of Poland
Haller Coat of Arms

Stanisław Haller de Hallenburg (26 April 1872 – April 1940) was a Polish politician and general who was murdered in the Katyn massacre. He was the cousin of General Józef Haller von Hallenburg.

Life

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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.

Death

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In 1939 he was arrested by the Soviets after their attack on Poland 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, in Piatykhatky near Kharkov, in what is collectively called the Katyn Massacre.[3]

He is buried at the Polish War Cemetery in Kharkov.

Commemorations

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Stanisław Haller is patron of the 5th command regiment of the Kraków-based Polish 2nd Mechanized Corps.

Honours and awards

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Other high ranking Polish officers murdered in the Katyn Massacre

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Among the victims of the Katyn Massacre 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]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ J.K.Zawodny Death in the Forest Notre Dame, 1962, pg. 145
  2. ^ The Crime of Katyn Polish Cultural Foundation, 1989 ISBN 0-85065-190-5, pg. 19
  3. ^ J.K.Zawodny Death in the Forest Notre Dame, 1962, pg. 146
  4. ^ 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.

Bibliography

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  • 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.