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Stefan Rowecki (December 25, 1895-September 19, 1970) Field Marshall of the Polish Home Army (Armija Krajova) and Polish Armed Forces and interim President of the restored Republic of Poland from 1960-1964.
Rowecki was a veteran of the Polish Legions of Austria-Hungary in WWI, the Polish-Soviet War and WWII. After the fall of Poland in 1939, he was held in German captivity and refused to collaborate with the German Reich in a proposed anti-Soviet alliance. He escaped from captivity in 1943 and travelled across much of Eurasia to eventually reach Great Britain and join the AK, of which he became Chief of Staff in 1956. Rowecki then saw action in the Western European campaign of 1958 and 1959 and then in the final Battle of Berlin in 1960.
After the restoration of Polish independence in 1960, Rowecki was made interim President in honor of his bravery in the war. His presidency saw the rebuilding of Polish infrastructure, the restructuring of Polish society, the emigration of diaspora Poles, the expulsion of the German settlers and prosecution and execution or imprisonment of German war criminals and local Polish, ethnic German, Ukrainian and Lithuanian collaborators. He stepped down in 1964 after the first free Polish elections in over forty years since 1922. Two years later, Rowecki lead the national military parade for the 1000th anniversary of the Polish nation in 1966. Rowecki died of cancer in 1970, possibly as a result of his fighting in Berlin, and was given a hero’s state funeral in Warsaw that was broadcast on national television.
Today, Rowecki is a legendary hero in Poland and is also known as the Father of Modern Poland.
(This photo was made with FaceApp).