Description
Stanisław Kasznica was born to a family of lawyers in Lvov
on 25 July 1908. His father, Stanisław Wincenty Kasznica,
a descendant of Antoni Trębicki, who was a deputy to the FourYear Sejm, was a Doctor of Law, a member of the National
Democratic Party, and a senator of the Second Republic of Poland.
After his family moved to Poznań, where his father was appointed
rector of the University of Poznań, young Stanisław finished
the local Karol Marcinkowski Lower Secondary School, and then
graduated in law from the University of Poznań. During his
studies, he became a member and one of the leaders of the AllPolish Youth. He was also a member of the student organisation
“Brotherly Help”, the Academic Fraternity “Helionia” (as its
president from 1938), as well as the Poznań Academic Aero Club.
In 1934, he joined the National Radical Camp. As the party was
declared illegal, he joined its clandestine multi-level leadership
structure called the Polish Organisation.
He performed his military service in the Artillery Reserve
Officer Cadet School in Włodzimierz Wołyński, and served as
a lieutenant of the reserve in the 7th Greater Poland Horse
Artillery Division (DAK) in Poznań. Until the outbreak of
the war, he worked at Ignacy Weinfeld’s law office in Warsaw
and as a legal adviser in Gniezno.
In the defensive war of 1939, he was in command of a battery
platoon in the 7th Horse Artillery Division, which was
subordinated to the Greater Poland Cavalry Brigade assigned
to the “Poznań” Army. He fought in the battles of the Bzura,
Laski, and Sieraków and defended Warsaw. For bravery in
the battlefield, he was awarded the Virtuti Militari Grand Cross
Order Class V.
After the September defeat, he focused on pro-independence
activities in the clandestine Polish Organisation. In 1942, he
participated in the establishment of a new military organisation
- the National Armed Forces (NSZ). Its primary objective was to
fight both the Germans and the Soviets, counteract the communist
influence, and establish Poland as a national-Catholic country after
the war.
Stanisław Kasznica was among those who refused to accept
integration with the Home Army. In July 1944, he was appointed
Head of the 1st Section of the National Armed Forces Headquarters.
Even though he opposed the launch of the Warsaw Uprising, he
fought in the Ochota district. After the failure of the Warsaw
Uprising, he conducted anti-communist activities in the fields of
army, intelligence, politics, and among youth. In August 1945, he
was appointed as acting chief commander of the National Armed
Forces. At the turn of 1945, along with part of the surviving staff,
he joined the National Military Union. He was one of the Enduring
Soldiers most wanted by the UB (Poland’s Department of Security)
and the NKVD (the Soviet secret service agency) - a high reward
was offered for his capture. How much the Soviets wanted to seize
Kasznica is shown by the fact that reports on efforts to capture him
were requested by Lawrientiy Beria, People’s Commissar for Internal
Affairs of the USSR.
The last chief
commander of
the National Armed
Forces fell into the hands of
the communists on 15 February 1947 in Zakopane,
where he was staying with his family. The brutal interrogation
in the prison at Rakowiecka Street in Warsaw was conducted for
nearly a year. On 2 March 1948, he received four death sentences.
He was murdered on 12 May 1948.
In 1992, thanks to the efforts of his family, the sentence was
overturned. Pursuant to the decision made by Lech Kaczyński,
President of the Republic of Poland, on 20 August 2009, Stanisław
Kasznica was posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of
the Order of Polonia Restituta for his outstanding contribution
to the independence of the Republic of Poland. His remains were
exhumed in 2012 and transferred to “Łączka” (“The Meadow”)
in the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.
Tadeusz Płużański
Obverse
Reverse
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