Yesterday I wrote about Polish kings and today it is turn for Polish presidents (officially Presidents of the Republic of Poland)!

Institution of presidency in Poland was created after the WW I. Unfortunately the first Polish president was shot a week after being elected…

Presidency institution in Poland was functioning in years: 1922-39, 1947-52 and since 1989.

Institution of presidency was created in Polish legislation when Poland regained independence after WW I. Famous Marshal Józef Piłsudski was never formally a president although he was a head of a state (1919-1922) with rights equivalent to a president. The first Polish president was Gabriel Narutowicz. He was chosen by votes of Polish left wing and minorities. Unfortunately he was also the first and only president shot dead on 16 December 1922 by a right wing artist painter E. Niewiadomski. It was only a week after being elected.

Until the outbreak of World War II, the highest office was held by Stanisław Wojciechowski (1922-1926) and Ignacy Mościcki (1926-1939). During the German occupation, the institution of the President still existed in the Polish government in exile (Władyslaw Raczkiewicz).

After liberation by Soviet army the institution of presidency was incidentally confirmed with Boleslaw Bierut as a president in years 1947-1952 and consequently removed by Constitution in 1952.

The restoration of the highest office was brought by implementation of the Constitution amendment in April 1989. In July 1989 he first Polish president, Wojciech Jaruzelski was elected by Sejm (lower chamber of Polish Parliament) with the majority of just one voice supporting him (altogether there are 360 deputies in Polish Seim). The slogan was: “Yours President, our Prime-Minister”. Wojciech Jaruzelski was unpopular since he was responsible for the implementation of the military law in December 1981.

Here is the chronological order:

Second Republic (1918-1939)

Józef Piłsudski (Chief of State), 1918-1922

Gabriel Narutowicz, 1922

Maciej Rataj (acting), 1922

Stanisław Wojciechowski, 1922-1926

Maciej Rataj (acting), 1926

Ignacy Mościcki, 1926-1939

Government in exile (1939-1990)

Government in emigration was recognized internationally until 1945

Władysław Raczkiewicz, 1939-1947

August Zaleski, 1947-1972

Stanisław Ostrowski, 1972-1979

Edward Bernard Raczyński, 1979-1986

Kazimierz Sabbat, 1986-1989

Ryszard Kaczorowski, 1989-1990

Communist Poland (1944-1989)

Bolesław Bierut, 1944-1952

Aleksander Zawadzki (Council of State), 1953-1964

Edward Ochab (Council of State), 1964-1968

Marian Spychalski (Council of State), 1968-1970

Józef Cyrankiewicz (Council of State), 1970-1972

Henryk Jabłoński (Council of State), 1972-1985

Wojciech Jaruzelski (Council of State), 1985-1989

Third Republic (from 1989)

Wojciech Jaruzelski, 1989-1990

Lech Wąłęsa, 1990-1995

Aleksander Kwaśniewski, 1995-2005

Lech Kaczyński, 2005-10 April 2010

Bronisław Komorowski (acting), 10 April 2010-8 July 2010

Bogdan Borusewicz (acting), 8 July 2010

Grzegorz Schetyna (acting), 8 July 2010 – 6 August 2010

Bronisław Komorowski, 6 August 2010 –

I should mention one of the blogs from last year:

New president of Poland

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)