Stanisław Mikołajczyk (photo:public domain)
Stanisław Mikołajczyk (1901-1966) - Polish politician, Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile. Born in 1901 in Holserhausen, the son of Polish immigrants. In Germany, he completed four years of primary school. Later, when his family returned to Poland, he attended a course at the Agricultural School in Swarzędz. He fought in the Greater Poland Uprising and in the Polish-Bolshevik war. In 1922, he began his political career by joining the PSL "Piast". In the years 1931-1935 he was a member of the Seym. He collaborated with Witos, was against the Sanation and hostile to communism. He fought in the September campaign and then decided to emigrate.
In 1940-1943, he was the deputy prime minister and minister of internal affairs in the Sikorski government. After the general's death in Gibraltar, he was entrusted with the mission of forming a government. He tried to reach an agreement with the USSR on the post-war eastern border of Poland, but the Soviet authorities made such far-reaching demands that Mikołajczyk resigned. In June 1945, he returned to Poland and became involved in the creation of the Provisional Government of National Unity. Two years later, warned of the impending death penalty, he turned to the American Embassy. Diplomats smuggled him abroad. After escaping, he was deprived of Polish citizenship. He died in Washington in 1966. Citizenship was restored to him posthumously in 1989.