Maciej Rataj (19 February 1884 – 21 June 1940) was a Polish politician and writer.

Biography

Born in the village of Chłopy, near Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine), on 19 February 1884, he attended a gymnasium in Lwów and studied classical

linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

at the

University of Lwów The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

. Upon the completion of his studies he became a gymnasium teacher first in Lwów, and later in

Zamość Zamość (; yi, זאמאשטש, Zamoshtsh; la, Zamoscia) is a historical city in southeastern Poland. It is situated in the southern part of Lublin Voivodeship, about from Lublin, from Warsaw. In 2021, the population of Zamość was 62,021. ...

. He became involved in politics after the Second Polish Republic gained independence following the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was a member of the Polish People's Party "Piast" political party, and, from 1931, a member of the People's Party. He became president of the Stronnictwo and the chief editor of the party's official paper, the 'Zielony Sztandar' in 1935. From 1919 to 1930, and from 1934 to 1935, he was a member of parliament for the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

(Polish Parliament), and from 1922 to 1928 he was the

Marshal of the Sejm The Marshal of the Sejm , also known as Sejm Marshal, Chairman of the Sejm or Speaker of the Sejm ( pl, Marszałek Sejmu, ) is the speaker (chair) of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament. The office traces its origins to the 15th ...

. Between 1920 and 1921 he was the Minister of Religion and Public Education, and took part in work on the March Constitution. He was

President of Poland The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Pola ...

twice: first in December 1922, as Acting President of the Republic of Poland for one week, after the assassination of president

Gabriel Narutowicz Gabriel Józef Narutowicz (; 29 March 1865 – 16 December 1922) was a Polish professor of hydroelectric engineering and politician who served as the first President of Poland from 11 December 1922 until his assassination on 16 December, five d ...

, and again in May 1926, following

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Naczelnik państwa, Chief of State (1918–1922) and Marshal of Poland, First Marshal of Second Polish Republic, Poland (from 1920). He was ...

's May Coup and the resignation of president

Stanisław Wojciechowski Stanisław Wojciechowski (; 15 March 1869 – 9 April 1953) was a Polish politician and scholar who served as President of Poland between 1922 and 1926, during the Second Polish Republic. He was elected president in 1922, following the assassi ...

. His second term lasted half of a month. On both occasions, he oversaw special election and appointed new governments. In December 1939 he was arrested by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and executed in Palmiry during the

German AB-Aktion operation in Poland , location = Palmiry Forest and similar locations in occupied Poland , date = Spring–summer 1940 , incident_type = Mass murder with automatic weapons , perpetrators = Wehrmacht, ''Einsatzgruppen'' , participants = , or ...

Works

* ''Pamiętniki'' (Memoirs) (1965) * ''Wskazania obywatelskie i polityczne: Wybór pism i przemówień z lat 1919–1938'' (1987) * ''Maciej Rataj o parlamentaryzmie, państwie demokratycznym i sanacji'' (1998)

References

External links

* 1884 births 1940 deaths People from Lviv Oblast People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Polish Austro-Hungarians Polish People's Party "Piast" politicians People's Party (Poland) politicians Presidents of Poland Marshals of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic Executed presidents Polish people executed by Nazi Germany Government ministers of Poland University of Lviv alumni {{Poland-bio-stub