Aleksander Narbut-Łuczyński

Aleksander Narbut-Łuczyński (February 28, 1890 – July 20, 1977) was a Polish lawyer and military officer, a brigadier general of the Polish Army and a veteran of both the Polish-Bolshevik War and World War II. During the German-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 he commanded the rear troops of the Kraków Army.[1][2][3]

Aleksander Narbut-Łuczyński
Brigadier general Narbut-Łuczyński
BornFebruary 28, 1890
Skierniewice
DiedJuly 20, 1977
Allegiance Poland
RankBrigadier General
Battles/warsWorld War I
Polish–Soviet War
Pinsk massacre
Awards Order of Virtuti Militari
Cross of Independence
Cross of Valour (4 times)

Łuczyński gave the orders for the Pinsk massacre, in which 35 Jews were killed.[4][5]

Life

Born in Skierniewice, he graduated from the faculty of philosophy of the Lwów University. After that he moved to Belgium, where he graduated from the faculty of law of the University of Liège. After the outbreak of World War I he returned to Poland under foreign partitions and volunteered for the Polish Legions in Austria-Hungary. In October 1914 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and then in March of the following year - to Captain.[6]

After Poland regained independence in 1918 Narbut-Łuczyński joined the newly formed Polish Army, and took part in the Polish-Bolshevik War in the rank of Major, and then Colonel (since June 1, 1919). After the war he remained in the army and in 1924 was promoted to brigadier general. He served on various command posts in the interbellum. During the Invasion of Poland he commanded the rear troops of the Kraków Army. Taken prisoner of war in Romania, he made his way to France, where he remained in the officers' reserve of the commander-in-chief. After the end of World War II he settled in the United States, where he lived until his death.[7]

Pinsk massacre

During the Polish-Soviet War, Mayor Łuczyński was a commanding officer of Polish troops in the frontline city of Pinsk, whose population was overwhelmingly Jewish.[8][7] On 5 April 1919 after receiving numerous reports about planned attacks on the Polish army, and even on him personally, he gave the orders for what became known later as the Pinsk massacre, where 35 local Jewish members were executed without trial one hour after being arrested and accused of being Bolshevik plotters. The Jews, attending a local meeting that includes a number of leaders of the local Jewish community, were meeting to discuss distribution of financial and food relief, including aid for Passover.[7] Narbut-Łuczyński, however, interpreted the meeting as a gathering of subversives planning a rebellion.[8] The incident gained international notoriety. An investigation into the massacre was called by President of the United States Woodrow Wilson. Henry Morgenthau Sr., at the time a senior adviser, and formerly the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, was appointed to head the investigation and described Major Łuczyński as “incredibly stupid.”[4][5] According to William W. Hagen Łuczyński "embodied military anti-Jewish paranoia, discovering in trivia malevolent design and finding himself in a numerous throng of unfriendly foreign-speaking Jews, high fearful of ambush".[7]

Honours and awards

References
  1. Dr. Andrzej Nieuważny, Nicolaus Copernicus University. Atlantyda Polesia. Księga Kresów Wschodnich. Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Rzeczpospolita 15 June 2013.
  2. Województwo Poleskie, rys historyczny. Kresy News. Lwów
  3. Maciej Rosalak, Ponury konflikt wśród poleskich błot (A gloomy fight in the Polesie mud) Archived 2014-05-02 at the Wayback Machine Rzeczpospolita, 14-04-2011.
  4. This Day in Jewish History 1919: 'Incredibly Stupid' Polish Major Has 35 Jewish Leaders Killed in Pinsk, Haaretz, David B. Green, 5 April 2016
  5. Ideology, Politics, and Diplomacy in East Central Europe, Rochester University Press, Piotr Stefan Wandycz, page 65
  6. Stawecki, Piotr (1994). Słownik biograficzny generałów Wojska Polskiego, 1918-1939. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Bellona. ISBN 9788311082625. OCLC 32079247.
  7. William W. Hagen (19 April 2018). Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland, 1914-1920. Cambridge University Press. pp. 327–331. ISBN 978-0-521-88492-1.
  8. Piotr Stefan Wandycz (2003). Ideology, Politics, and Diplomacy in East Central Europe. University Rochester Press. pp. 65–. ISBN 978-1-58046-137-5.
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