Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski (30 December 1888,

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

– 22 August 1974, Kraków) was a Polish politician and economist, Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, government minister and manager of the Second Polish Republic.

Biography

He studied at the prestigious Jesuit college in Chyrów, and then graduated chemistry 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 ...

and

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

. After

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 d'état of 1926 in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

, he was recommended by president

Ignacy Mościcki Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 18672 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany ...

for the post Minister of Industry and Trade in the government of

Kazimierz Bartel Kazimierz Władysław Bartel (; en, Casimir Bartel; 3 March 1882 – 26 July 1941) was a Polish mathematician, freemason, scholar, diplomat and politician who served as 15th, 17th and 19th Prime Minister of Poland three times between 192 ...

. Kwiatkowski was a minister in eight successive governments (1926–30) and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and

Minister of Finance of Poland Poland's Ministry of Finance ( pl, Ministerstwo Finansów), headed by the Minister of Finance ''(Minister Finansów)'', is part of the government of Poland. Among its powers and responsibilities it drafts the national budget, deals with taxes, fi ...

in two governments (1935–39). Among the most famous achievements of Kwiatkowski are the giant construction projects: the construction of

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...

seaport, the development of the Polish Merchant Navy and sea trade, and the creation of Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy (''The Central Industrial Region''). After the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

joined

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 ...

in the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

in 1939, he evacuated Poland with the rest of the Government on 17 September. He was interned in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

until 1945. He returned to Poland and supervised the projects of reconstruction of the Polish seacoast, and in the years 1947–1952, he was a deputy to the Polish parliament (

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 ...

). With the strengthening of the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

grip on the Polish government, which he opposed, he fell out of favour of the communist government of the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million ne ...

and was forced to retire in 1948. From 1952 onward, he concentrated on studies of

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

, and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

. He died in

on 22 August 1974.

Works

* ''Zagadnienie przemysłu chemicznego na tle wielkiej wojny'' (1923) * ''Postęp gospodarczy Polski'' (Economic Progress of Poland) (1928) * ''Polska gospodarcza w roku 1928'' (Economic Poland in 1928) (1928) * ''Powrót Polski nad Bałtyk'' (The Return of Poland to Baltic) (1930) * ''Dysproporcje. Rzecz o Polsce przeszłej i obecnej'' (1932) * ''"Rzecz najważniejsza Polska" - Wybór myśli politycznych i społecznych'' (1988) - selection of his papers

Bibliography

* Janusz Zaręba, ''Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski - romantyczny pragmatyk'', Centrum Edukacji i Rozwoju Biznesu. Instytut Naukowo-Wydawniczy, Warszawa, 1998 () * ''Archiwum polityczne Eugeniusza Kwiatkowskiego'', Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, Warszawa, 2002 () * Marian Marek Drozdowski, ''Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski'', Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich - Wydawnictwo, Wrocław, 2001 () * Marian Marek Drozdowski, ''Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski w polskiej historiografii i publicystyce historyczno-ekonomicznej'', Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Warszawa, 1992 () * Marian Marek Drozdowski, ''Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski : człowiek i dzieło'', Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, 1989 () * Marian Marek Drozdowski, Piotr Dwojacki, ''Archiwum Morskie Eugeniusza Kwiatkowskiego'', E. Kwiatkowski University of Business and Administration, Gdynia, 2009 ()

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwiatkowski, Eugeniusz 1888 births 1974 deaths Politicians from Kraków People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Sanacja politicians Deputy Prime Ministers of Poland Finance Ministers of Poland Government ministers of Poland Members of the Polish Sejm 1947–1952 Polish Rifle Squads members Polish Military Organisation members Association of the Polish Youth "Zet" members Polish legionnaires (World War I) Polish Austro-Hungarians Polish economists Lviv Polytechnic alumni Academic staff of the Warsaw University of Technology Grand Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania Grand Crosses of the Order of St. Sava Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Order of Saint Olav Grand Crosses of the Order of the White Lion Grand Crosses of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece) Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Burials at Rakowicki Cemetery Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)

Biography

Works

See also

Bibliography

References