Marian Spychalski

Marian Spychalski studied at Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology. The recorded working language is Polish. The field of work recorded is political activity, military service and architecture. Positions recorded include Head of the Presidium of the National Council of the Capital City of Warsaw and member of the Sejm of the Polish People's Republic. Distinctions recorded are Order of Lenin, Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945", Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown and Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland.

• Honorific Prefix — Marshal • Name — Marian Spychalski • Order — 3rd Chairman of the Polish Council of State • Term Start1 — 10 April 1968 • Term End1 — 23 December 1970 • Prime Minister1 — Józef Cyrankiewicz • 1blankname1 — First Secretary • 1namedata1 — Władysław Gomułka Edward Gierek • 2blankname1 — President in exile • 2namedata1 — * August Zaleski • Council of Three • Predecessor1 — Edward Ochab • Successor1 — Józef Cyrankiewicz • Order2 — Minister of National Defence • Prime Minister2 — Józef Cyrankiewicz • Term Start2 — 13 November 1956 • Term End2 — 11 April 1968 • Predecessor2 — Konstanty Rokossowski • Successor2 — Wojciech Jaruzelski • Order3 — Mayor of Warsaw • Term Start3 — 18 September 1944 • Term End3 — 5 March 1945 • Predecessor3 — Marceli Porowski • Successor3 — Stanisław Tołwiński • Born — 6 December 1906 • Died — 7 June 1980 • Birthplace — Łódź, Piotrków Governorate, Congress Poland, Russian Empire • Place of death — Warsaw, Polish People's Republic • Party — PPR (1942-48) PZPR (1948-80) • Nickname — Marek, Orka • Allegiance — Provisional Government of National Unity Polish People's Republic • Branch — Polish People's Army • Rank — Marszałek Polski (Marshal of Poland) • Service Years — 1944–1949 1956–1968 • Commands — Gwardia Ludowa Defence Minister • Battles — World War II • Awards — below • Other Party — Communist Party of Poland

• Illustration — Spychalski (centre) with Świerczewski (right) and Rola-Żymierski, 1945 Born to a working-class family in Łódź, Spychalski graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology in 1931. That same year he joined the KPP, and kept his membership after the Nazi-Soviet invasion, when in 1942 KPP became the Polish Workers' Party, renamed in 1948 as the Polish United Workers' Party. Before World War II, he practiced architecture and won several national and international competitions and awards.

He was in Warsaw during the German invasion and it was not until December 1939 that he fled to Lemberg where his wife and daughter were already waiting for him. However, the family only stayed briefly in Soviet-occupied Lviv and returned to Warsaw in January 1940. Until 1942 he officially held a position in the Warsaw city administration as an architect, but also worked illegally and took part in the activities of the Polish resistance. At first he was involved in publishing a bulletin for a group of communist intellectuals, and from 1941 he became a member of the organization Związek Walki Wyzwoleńczej (League of the Liberation Struggle). From 1942 he was temporarily chief of the general staff of the communist Armia Ludowa and from July 22, 1944, of the Polish People's Army. He had also been a member of the Polish Workers' Party since it was founded in 1942.

After World War II, he held a number of offices in the government of Poland, one of his first being mayor of Warsaw (18 September 1944 – March 1945), with the war still in progress. Among other posts, he was a long-time member of the parliament, a close friend of Władysław Gomułka, and from 1945 to 1948 was both Deputy Minister of Defense and a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party. He was removed from his remaining political posts in 1949. He spent several months in Wrocław, where he worked as an architect (among other things, he designed a development plan for the Grunwaldzki Square area, implementing the principles of socialist realism – the first plan of its kind in Poland). In 1950 he was imprisoned as part of the Stalinist purges of social-democrats in 1949–1953, where he was accused of anti-Soviet tendencies akin to Titoism and right-wing nationalism. During his interrogations, which were conducted under torture, he confessed to charges such as cooperation with the Gestapo and the Home Army during the war. In 1951 he appeared in a show trial where he was instructed to deliver official (and false) testimony against Gomułka. He was only released in the mass release of political prisoners in April 1956, and subsequently reinstated in the Polish United Workers' Party. With Gomułka's rehabilitation and return to power in 1956, Spychalski became the Polish Minister of Defence. In 1959 he again became a member of the Politburo, and in 1963 he was promoted to Field Marshal. • Illustration — Chairman of the Council of State Marian Spychalski giving a speech, 1968 In 1968 during the anti-Zionist purge of the army, at Gomułka's request he left the Polish Army and his job as Minister of Defense, to assume civilian posts as President of the Front of National Unity, and from 10 April 1968 to 23 December 1970 as Chairman of the Council of State – the de facto head of state of Poland – the Council being the de jure executive authority in the People's Republic, although some considered the post to be mostly symbolic.

As head of state, Spychalski was nearly assassinated at Karachi airport in Pakistan on 1 November 1970 during the welcoming ceremonies. The Gettysburg Times informed that an anti-communist Islamic fundamentalist Feroze Abdullah drove a lorry at high speed into the Polish delegation, narrowly missing his intended target but killing the Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Zygfryd Wolniak (48) and three Pakistani representatives including the deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau, Chaudhri Mohammed Nazir, and two photographers. Spychalski lost his posts as close associate of Gomułka, when Edward Gierek replaced Gomułka as First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party during the 1970 Polish protests throughout December. Spychalski retired and wrote a four volume memoir which is now in the archives of the Hoover Institution in California. He died on 7 June 1980, survived by his wife Barbara who also wrote about him.

• Major (Major) - 1943 • Podpułkownik (Lieutenant colonel) - 1 January 1944 • Pułkownik (Colonel) - 11 November 1944 • Generał brygady (Brigadier general) - 6 February 1945 • Generał dywizji (Major general) - 3 May 1945 • Generał broni (Lieutenant general) - 22 July 1957 • Marszałek Polski (Marshal of Poland) - 7 October 1963

Marian Spychalski worked in political activity, military service and architecture. Recorded positions include Head of the Presidium of the National Council of the Capital City of Warsaw, member of the Sejm of the Polish People's Republic and Chairman of the Council of State. He belonged to Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy and Polskie Towarzystwo Turystyczno-Krajoznawcze.

Marian Spychalski is recorded with the occupation military personnel. Recorded as having received Order of Lenin, Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" and Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown.