Ludwik Maria Łubieński, comte de Pomian (6 May 1912, Kazimierza Wielka - 22 January 1996, London) was a Polish lawyer, diplomat and military officer. He was Head of the Polish Maritime Mission in Gibraltar during World War II and an eyewitness of the air disaster whose victim was the Polish wartime Premier and military leader, Władysław Sikorski.[1] After the war, he became an expatriate official in Munich and London.[2]
Ludwik Maria Łubieński | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 May 1912 Kazimierza Wielka, Poland |
| Died | 22 January 1996 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | Polish - British |
| Alma mater | University of Jan Kazimierz |
| Occupation(s) | military officer, diplomat, administrator |
| Known for | eye-witness to the Władysław Sikorski air disaster in Gibraltar |
| Spouse | Elżbieta Tyszkiewicz |
| Parent(s) | Leon Kazimierz Łubieński, Leopoldyna Hutten-Czapska |
| Relatives | Feliks Łubieński Tekla Teresa Łubieńska, x3great grandparents Rula Lenska Gabriela Anna (daughters) |
| Allegiance |  |
|---|---|
| Service | Polish Land Forces, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Poland) |
| Years of service | 1937-1968 |
| Rank | Adjutant, Major |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Awards | Polonia Restituta, Order of Polonia Restituta |
| Other work | Media and government official in exile |
Background
editFrom an old Polish noble and accomplished family, Łubieński's parents were Leon Kazimierz Łubieński, landowner and diplomat member of the Polish delegation to the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), and his second wife, Leopoldyna Hutten-Czapska, sister of the military officer and artist, Józef Czapski. He was the youngest son of four children born on the family estate in Kazimierza Wielka.[3] He married Elżbieta Tyszkiewicz, with whom he had three children after the war in England. They were: Róża, whose stage name is Rula Lenska, Gabriela and Anna. The family settled in London.[4]
Career
editIn 1934 he graduated in law from the University of Jan Kazimierz. In August 1937 he was posted as a consular official of the Second Polish Republic to Rome. On 3 July 1939, he was named secretary to the minister of Foreign Affairs, Józef Beck. With the clouds of war gathering, on 25 August 1939, he was nominated as liaison officer between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Chief of staff of Polish Forces. On 18 September 1939, he accompanied Beck, over the "Green Border", into Romania. From there, as the Polish Government of Poland sought sanctuary in France, he was deputed to the Polish holding camp in Cerizay, France.[5] From March 1940 he was in the United Kingdom, initially attached to gen. Bronisław Regulski, in charge of the Polish Panzer Division in France. Between 1941 and 1943 he was a special officer in the office of the Supreme Chief. In March 1943 he was posted to Gibraltar as Head of the Polish Maritime Mission. On 4 July 1943, he personally witnessed the air disaster in which 11 passengers and five crew died, most notably Poland's then leader, gen. Władysław Sikorski.[1][6] Based on Łubieński's eye-witness report, James Robert Norton-Amora, a British government official in Gibraltar, issued the General's death certificate. An enduring controversy arose about the tragic event over the sea and the veracity of Łubieński's testimony has been called into question by a number of historians.[7] Łubieński was the first person to alert the Polish government-in-exile in London about the death of gen. Sikorski in the air disaster.
From September 1943 he was liaison officer of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in Algiers and Naples. From June 1944 to September 1949 he served as Aide-de-camp to gen. Władysław Anders.
Expatriate administrator
editAfter the war, between 1949 and 1958 he was employed in the office of gen. Anders. From 1958 to 1968 he was European director of the American Polonia, based in Munich. Between 1968 and 1979 he was manager of the production office of Free Europe Polish Section, from where he retired. Back in London from 1982 to 1991 he served as a member of the Rada Narodowa Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (National Council of Poland) of the Polish government-in-exile.[8] Also between 1981 and 1990 he headed the commission for winding up of the Treasury (Skarb Narodowy (1949–1991)).[9] In 1988 he was deputy head of the Aid for Refugees commission.[10] He died in London in January 1996. He was buried in Kazimierza Wielka.[11]
Honours and decorations
edit- Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1989)[12]
- Order of Polonia Restituta, Commander's Cross, (3 May 1984)[13]
Bibliography
edit- Słownik Biograficzny Polskiej Służby Zagranicznej 1918-1945. Vol. IV, publisher, Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych. Warsaw 2007 (in Polish)
- Kisielewski,„Tadeusz. Zamach. Tropem zabójców generała Sikorskiego, REBIS: 2007, ISBN 83-7301-767-4.
- Kisielewski, Tadeusz (1 January 2002). "Tajemnice tragedii w Gibraltarze: Część pierwsza opowieści o śmierci Generała Sikorskiego". Mówią Wieki (in Polish). ISSN 1230-4018.
- Przybyszewski Stanisław M., Ludwik Łubieński, żołnierz, dyplomata, emigrant rodem z Kazimierzy Wielkiej, publisher, Nowa Nidzica: 2014 (in Polish)
- Lenska, Rula (2013). Rula: My Colourful Life. United Kingdom: Robson Press. ISBN 978-1849545501.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Kisielewski, Tadeusz (2007). Zamach. Tropem zabójców generała Sikorskiego. REBIS. ISBN 978-83-7301-767-2.
- ^ "Obituary of Ludwik Maria Łubieński". The Times. 24 January 1996.
- ^ Cichoń, Stanisław. "Arystokratyczny ród Łubieńskich – Suplement" (in Polish). zarowianie.republika.pl. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ Bińczyk, arkadiusz (2019). "Ludwik Łubieński: Niezwykła historia wpleciona w współczesność". Nasza Historia (in Polish). i.pl. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
- ^ Dymarski, Mirosław. "Polskie obozy odosobnienia we Francji i w Wielkiej Brytanii w latach 1939–1942" in Dzieje Najnowsze vol. XXIX, 1997, 3, p. 116.
- ^ Baliszewski, Dariusz (6 July 2008). "Zbrodnia na Gibraltarze" (in Polish). www.wprost.pl. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ Kubit, Józef Kazimierz (29 November 2008). "Czy gen. Sikorski był ofiarą Katynia?" (in Polish). PolishNews.com. Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ "Zarządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej z dnia 3 czerwca 1982 r. o powołaniu członka Rady Narodowej R.P." (in Polish). isap.sejm.gov.pl. 1982.
- ^ Kruszewski, Eugeniusz S. (2011). "Prawno-polityczne podstawy funkcjonowania władz Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie w latach 1939–1990". Przegląd Polsko-Polonijny (in Polish). 2: 64. ISSN 2083-3121.
- ^ "Konferencja delegatów rządu R. P. na uchodźstwie" (PDF). Dziennik Ustaw Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (in Polish) (4). eprints.hist.pl: 50. 10 October 1988. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2018.
- ^ Daszczyński, Roman (18 April 2010). "Płacz po generale". Gazeta Wyborcza. Wyborcza.pl. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ "Komunikat o nadaniu Orderu Odrodzenia Polski" (PDF). Dziennik Ustaw (in Polish) (6): 96. 15 December 1989. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2015.
- ^ "Komunikat o nadaniu Orderu Odrodzenia Polski" (PDF). Dziennik Ustaw Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (3): 15. 31 December 1984.