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'''Aleksander "Wilk" Krzyżanowski''' (1895–1951) was a [[Poland|Polish]] [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]], [[major]], member of the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II]] and Commandant of the [[Armia Krajowa]] in the [[Vilnius Region]].
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'''Aleksander "Wilk" Krzyżanowski''' (1895–1951) was a Polish [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]], [[major]], member of the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II]] and Commandant of the [[Armia Krajowa]] in the [[Vilnius Region]].
   
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== Biography ==
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==Biography==
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{{Expand section|Expanding on what Aleksander Krzyżanowski did during World War I|date=January 2011}}
  
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Aleksander Krzyżanowski was born in [[Bryansk]] and was conscripted into the [[Military history of Imperial Russia|Russian Army]] during the [[First World War]], where he first started to specialize in [[artillery]].
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Aleksander Krzyżanowski was born in Bryansk and was conscripted into the [[Military history of Imperial Russia|Russian Army]] during the [[First World War]], where he first started to specialize in [[artillery]].
   
 
After Poland regained independence in 1918 he joined the [[Polish military]], and took part in the [[Polish-Soviet War]] where he distinguished himself in 1919 receiving the [[Krzyż Walecznych]] medal, and in January 1920 he took part in the heavy fighting at the [[Battle of Daugavpils]].
  
After Poland regained independence in 1918 he joined the [[Polish military]], and took part in the [[Polish-Soviet War]] where he distinguished himself in 1919 receiving the [[Krzyż Walecznych]] medal, and in January 1920 he took part in the heavy fighting at the [[Battle of Daugavpils]].
   
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During the [[interwar]] period in the [[Second Polish Republic]] he further continued his military career. At the time of the [[Polish September Campaign|Nazi invasion of Poland]] (September 1, 1939) he was commanding the 26th Regiment of Light Artillery, attached to the [[Polish 26th Infantry Division]], part of the [[Army Poznań]] under general [[Tadeusz Kutrzeba]]. His unit was destroyed during the [[battle of Bzura]].
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During the [[interwar]] period in the Second Polish Republic he further continued his military career. At the time of the [[Polish September Campaign|Nazi invasion of Poland]] (September 1, 1939) he was commanding the 26th Regiment of Light Artillery, attached to the [[Polish 26th Infantry Division]], part of the [[Army Poznań]] under general [[Tadeusz Kutrzeba]]. His unit was destroyed during the [[battle of Bzura]].
   
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Soon afterward he organized a partisan unit at [[Świętokrzyskie Mountains]], but after this unit was defeated by the Germans he arrived in Warsaw by late October, and joined the first Polish resistance organizations, the [[Służba Zwycięstwu Polski]]. By November he was assigned to [[Wilno]] (now known as Vilnius, Lithuania), at the same time [[Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union|occupied by the Soviet Union]] which divided Poland with the Nazi Germany according to the earlier concluded [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]].
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Soon afterward he organized a partisan unit at [[Świętokrzyskie Mountains]], but after this unit was defeated by the Germans he arrived in Warsaw by late October, and joined the first Polish resistance organizations, the [[Służba Zwycięstwu Polski]]. By November he was assigned to Wilno (now known as Vilnius, Lithuania), at the same time [[Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union|occupied by the Soviet Union]] which divided Poland with the Nazi Germany according to the earlier concluded [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]].
   
 
Soon SZP was transformed into [[Związek Walki Zbrojnej]]. When in April 1941 Soviet [[NKVD]] arrested the commander of the ZWP in the Vilnius region, general [[Nikodem Sulik]], it was Krzyżanowski who ''de facto'' replaced him, and his position was officially confirmed by general [[Stefan Rowecki]] in August. In 1942 ZWP was transformed into [[Armia Krajowa]] (AK).
  
Soon SZP was transformed into [[Związek Walki Zbrojnej]]. When in April 1941 Soviet [[NKVD]] arrested the commander of the ZWP in the Vilnius region, general [[Nikodem Sulik]], it was Krzyżanowski who ''de facto'' replaced him, and his position was officially confirmed by general [[Stefan Rowecki]] in August. In 1942 ZWP was transformed into [[Armia Krajowa]] (AK).
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Krzyżanowski attempted to build a larger anti-German coalition<ref name="Dymitri">{{pl icon}} {{cite web |author=Dymitri |title=Konflikty polsko-litewskie w latach 1918-45 (Polish-Lithuanian Conflicts 1918-1945) |publisher=Koło Naukowe Studentów Socjologii, [[Stefan Wyszyński University]] |year=2006 |work=Gazetka Socjologiczna |url=http://www.knss.uksw.edu.pl/index.php?nazwa=5_1 |accessdate=2006-07-17}}</ref> and issued explicit orders that no ethnic group, including Jews, should be mistreated.<ref name="Radzilowski">{{en icon}} {{cite journal |author=John Radzilowski |year=1999
  
Krzyżanowski attempted to build a larger anti-German coalition<ref name="Dymitri">{{pl icon}} {{cite web |author=Dymitri |title=Konflikty polsko-litewskie w latach 1918-45 (Polish-Lithuanian Conflicts 1918-1945) |publisher=Koło Naukowe Studentów Socjologii, [[Stefan Wyszyński University]] |year=2006 |work=Gazetka Socjologiczna |url=http://www.knss.uksw.edu.pl/index.php?nazwa=5_1 |accessdate=2006-07-17}}</ref> and issued explicit orders that no ethnic group, including Jews, should be mistreated.<ref name="Radzilowski">{{en icon}} {{cite journal |author=John Radzilowski |year=1999
 
|month=June |title=Review of Yaffa Eliach's Big Book of Holocaust Revisionism |journal=[[Journal of Genocide Research]]
  
|month=June |title=Review of Yaffa Eliach's Big Book of Holocaust Revisionism |journal=[[Journal of Genocide Research]]
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|volume=1 |issue=2 |url=}}</ref> He also opened negotiations with the representatives of the Lithuanian and Belorussian resistance but they were fruitless.<ref name="Dymitri"/> The negotiations with the Soviets initially lead nowhere as well. The Soviet Union aimed to ultimately regain the control from Germany over the [[Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union|territories USSR annexed from Poland in 1939]] and [[Joseph Stalin]]'s aim to ensure that an independent Poland would never reemerge in the postwar period.<ref name="JOG">{{en icon}} {{cite journal |author=[[Judith Olsak-Glass]] |year=1999 |month=January |title=Review of Piotrowski's ''Poland's Holocaust'' |journal=[[Sarmatian Review]] |url=http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/199/glass.html |accessdate=2006-07-17}}</ref> The relationship between the Soviets and the [[Władysław Sikorski|Sikorski]]'s [[Polish government in exile]], formally a commanding force of the AK, was strained at best, especially in the wake of the evidence of the [[Katyn Massacre|mass execution of the Polish POW officers by the Soviets]] at Katyn which was discovered in 1943.
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|volume=1 |issue=2}}</ref> He also opened negotiations with the representatives of the Lithuanian and Belorussian resistance but they were fruitless.<ref name="Dymitri"/> The negotiations with the Soviets initially lead nowhere as well. The Soviet Union aimed to ultimately regain the control from Germany over the [[Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union|territories USSR annexed from Poland in 1939]] and [[Joseph Stalin]]'s aim to ensure that an independent Poland would never reemerge in the postwar period.<ref name="JOG">{{en icon}} {{cite journal |author=[[Judith Olsak-Glass]] |year=1999 |month=January |title=Review of Piotrowski's ''Poland's Holocaust'' |journal=[[Sarmatian Review]] |url=http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/199/glass.html |accessdate=2006-07-17}}</ref> The relationship between the Soviets and the [[Władysław Sikorski|Sikorski]]'s Polish government in exile, formally a commanding force of the AK, was strained at best, especially in the wake of the evidence of the [[Katyn Massacre|mass execution of the Polish POW officers by the Soviets]] at Katyn which was discovered in 1943.
   
 
As Soviet partisans increasingly engaged in terror against local population and attacked Home Army units,<ref name="Chod">[http://www.ruf.rice.edu/%7Esarmatia/406/262choda.html Review of ''Sowjetische Partisanen in Weißrußland''], by [[Marek Jan Chodakiewicz]], in [[Sarmatian Review]], April 2006</ref> local AK commanders considered the Soviets as just another enemy.<ref name="Piotrowski">[[Tadeusz Piotrowski (sociologist)|Tadeusz Piotrowski]], ''Poland's Holocaust'', McFarland & Company, 1997, ISBN 0-7864-0371-3. [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0786403713&id=A4FlatJCro4C&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=holocaust+in+Poland&vq=wilno&sig=8H45HLJILfGXRoOg3WdVDDjJ9Q4 Google Print, p.88], [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0786403713&id=A4FlatJCro4C&vq=wilno&dq=holocaust+in+Poland&lpg=PA88&pg=PA89&sig=LHllmtARMayj58PX49-zSFPXcXI p.89], [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0786403713&id=A4FlatJCro4C&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=holocaust+in+Poland&vq=%22only+a+third+of+the+available+AK+forces%22&sig=6wXjIU3xa5VvtLvquNZcIXLi2VA p.90]</ref> As ordered by Moscow on June 22, 1943 the Soviet partisans started an open fight both against the German forces and the local [[Polish partisans]].<ref name="Piotrowski"/> In January and February 1944, in the wake of growing hostilities between the [[Soviet partisans]] and the AK forces Krzyzanowski conducted a series of negotiations with [[Nazi Germany|Germans]].<ref name="Piotrowski"/> In effect of negotiations with [[Seidler for Rosenfield]] of the [[Sicherheitsdienst|Nazi German Security Service]] near Wilejka and [[Julian Christiansen]], the Chief of the Vilnius [[Abwehr]], cooperation between Germans and the AK was established in the area of Krzyżanowski's units' operation and, according to the report of the local Nazi official "three sizeable Polish detachments came over to our side and initially also fought well."<ref name="Piotrowski"/> While Krzyzanowski refused to sign an explicit agreement on cooperation, the secret arrangement was made that the AK would "capture" the armaments and provisions left to them by Germans.<ref name="Piotrowski"/>
  
As Soviet partisans increasingly engaged in terror against local population and attacked Home Army units,<ref name="Chod">[http://www.ruf.rice.edu/%7Esarmatia/406/262choda.html Review of ''Sowjetische Partisanen in Weißrußland''], by [[Marek Jan Chodakiewicz]], in [[Sarmatian Review]], April 2006</ref> local AK commanders considered the Soviets as just another enemy.<ref name="Piotrowski">[[Tadeusz Piotrowski (sociologist)|Tadeusz Piotrowski]], ''Poland's Holocaust'', McFarland & Company, 1997, ISBN 0-7864-0371-3. [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0786403713&id=A4FlatJCro4C&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=holocaust+in+Poland&vq=wilno&sig=8H45HLJILfGXRoOg3WdVDDjJ9Q4 Google Print, p.88], [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0786403713&id=A4FlatJCro4C&vq=wilno&dq=holocaust+in+Poland&lpg=PA88&pg=PA89&sig=LHllmtARMayj58PX49-zSFPXcXI p.89], [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0786403713&id=A4FlatJCro4C&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=holocaust+in+Poland&vq=%22only+a+third+of+the+available+AK+forces%22&sig=6wXjIU3xa5VvtLvquNZcIXLi2VA p.90]</ref> As ordered by Moscow on June 22, 1943 the Soviet partisans started an open fight both against the German forces and the local [[Polish partisans]].<ref name="Piotrowski"/> In January and February 1944, in the wake of growing hostilities between the [[Soviet partisans]] and the AK forces Krzyzanowski conducted a series of negotiations with [[Nazi Germany|Germans]].<ref name="Piotrowski"/> In effect of negotiations with [[Seidler for Rosenfield]] of the [[Sicherheitsdienst|Nazi German Security Service]] near Wilejka and [[Julian Christiansen]], the Chief of the Vilnius [[Abwehr]], cooperation between Germans and the AK was established in the area of Krzyżanowski's units' operation and, according to the report of the local Nazi official "three sizeable Polish detachments came over to our side and initially also fought well."<ref name="Piotrowski"/> While Krzyzanowski refused to sign an explicit agreement on cooperation, the secret arrangement was made that the AK would "capture" the armaments and provisions left to them by Germans.<ref name="Piotrowski"/>
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As a result, the AK units in the area were armed by Germans,<ref name="Piotrowski"/> Germans pulled off their mobilization plans in the area (leaving the territory for AK's mobilization campaign) and largely totally withdrew, German spies and agent were spared by AK members and no AK members were executed by Germans in their reprisals against the local population.<ref name="Piotrowski"/> However any such arrangements were purely tactical and did not evidenced a type of ideological collaboration as shown by the [[Vichy regime]] in France, the [[Quisling regime]] in Norway or closer to the region, the [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]].<ref name="Piotrowski"/> The Poles' main motivation was to gain intelligence on German morale<ref name="Radzilowski">[http://www.naszawitryna.pl/jedwabne_en_103.html Review] by [[John Radzilowski]] of [[Yaffa Eliach]]'s ''[[There Once Was a World: A 900-Year Chronicle of the Shtetl of Eishyshok]]'', [[Journal of Genocide Research]], vol. 1, no. 2 (June 1999), City University of New York.</ref> and preparedness and to acquire some badly needed weapons.<ref name="Radzilowski"/>
  
As a result, the AK units in the area were armed by Germans,<ref name="Piotrowski"/> Germans pulled off their mobilization plans in the area (leaving the territory for AK's mobilization campaign) and largely totally withdrew, German spies and agent were spared by AK members and no AK members were executed by Germans in their reprisals against the local population.<ref name="Piotrowski"/> However any such arrangements were purely tactical and did not evidenced a type of ideological collaboration as shown by the [[Vichy regime]] in France, the [[Quisling regime]] in Norway or closer to the region, the [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]].<ref name="Piotrowski"/> The Poles' main motivation was to gain intelligence on German morale<ref name="Radzilowski">[http://www.naszawitryna.pl/jedwabne_en_103.html Review] by [[John Radzilowski]] of [[Yaffa Eliach]]'s ''[[There Once Was a World: A 900-Year Chronicle of the Shtetl of Eishyshok]]'', [[Journal of Genocide Research]], vol. 1, no. 2 (June 1999), City University of New York.</ref> and preparedness and to acquire some badly needed weapons.<ref name="Radzilowski"/>
   
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There are no known joint Polish-German actions, and the Germans were unsuccessful in their attempt to turn the Poles toward fighting exclusively against Soviet partisans.{{Citation needed|date=October 2007}} Such collaboration of local commanders with the Germans was generally atypical<ref name="Rotschild">"[...] but the Polish Home Army was by and large untained by collaboration"<br>[[Joseph Rothschild]], [[Nancy Merriwether Wingfield]], ''Return to Diversity: A Political History of East Central Europe Since World War II'', p. 55, Oxford University Press US, 1999, ISBN 0-19-511993-2, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0195119932&id=3hUA885mtwsC&dq=0195119932 Google books link]</ref> and such incidents were condemned by AK High Command.<ref name="Piotrowski"/>
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There are no known joint Polish-German actions, and the Germans were unsuccessful in their attempt to turn the Poles toward fighting exclusively against Soviet partisans.{{Citation needed|date=November 2014}} Such collaboration of local commanders with the Germans was generally atypical<ref name="Rotschild">"[...] but the Polish Home Army was by and large untained by collaboration"<br>[[Joseph Rothschild]], [[Nancy Merriwether Wingfield]], ''Return to Diversity: A Political History of East Central Europe Since World War II'', p. 55, Oxford University Press US, 1999, ISBN 0-19-511993-2, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0195119932&id=3hUA885mtwsC&dq=0195119932 Google books link]</ref> and such incidents were condemned by AK High Command.<ref name="Piotrowski"/>
   
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In May 1944 Polish resistance units were attacked by the [[Local Lithuanian Detachment]] under general [[Povilas Plechavičius]]. Krzyżanowski attempted to negotiate, but Plechavičius demanded that AK and all Polish partisans were to retreat from Wilno region and accept Lithuanian sovereignty over that territory.<ref name="Boradyn">{{pl icon}} Henryk Piskunowicz, ''Działalnośc zbrojna Armi Krajowej na Wileńszczyśnie w latach 1942-1944'' in {{cite book |author=Zygmunt Boradyn |coauthors=Andrzej Chmielarz, Henryk Piskunowicz |title=Armia Krajowa na Nowogródczyźnie i Wileńszczyźnie (1941-1945) |year=1997 |editor=[[Tomasz Strzembosz]] |pages=40–45 |publisher=Institute of Political Sciences, [[Polish Academy of Sciences]] |location=Warsaw {{Listed Invalid ISBN|83-907168-0-3}}}}</ref> Krzyżanowski would not agree to such a withdrawal and the fighting escalated, eventually culminating in the Polish victory over the Lithuanian collaborationist forces in the [[battle of Murowana Oszmianka|battle of]] [[Muravanaya Ashmyanka]]<ref name="Dymitri"/> of May 13-May 14.<ref name="Boradyn"/> After that battle Krzyżanowski attempted to resume negotiations but was ignored by the Lithuanian side.<ref name="Boradyn"/> The increasing hostilities culminated in June, when Lithuanian pro-Nazi<ref name="Justice">{{en icon}} {{cite news |author=[[United States Department of Justice]] |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/1996/960626-302crm.htm |title=Court Revokes U.S. Citizenship of Former Security Police Official |date=1996-06-26 |accessdate=2006-06-09| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20060611205703/http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/1996/960626-302crm.htm| archivedate= 11 June 2006 | deadurl= no}}</ref> [[Lithuanian Security Police]] forces, which had recently suffered a loss of several members in a skirmish with AK, massacred 37 Polish civilians in [[Glinciszki]], a village known to support the Polish partisans. Krzyżanowski ordered his forces to increase the activity against the Lithuanians in retribution and, according to the accounts published in Lithuania, his forces conducted a multitude of actions against the Lithuanian civil population.<ref>{{lt icon}} [[Arūnas Bubnys]]. [http://www.atgimimas.lt/ssi.php?id=1031308337&which=1&f_text= ''Armija Krajova Rytų Lietuvoje''] (Armia Krajowa in Eastern Lithuania). "Atgimimas", 9 June 1989, No. 22 (35)</ref><ref name="Garšva">[http://www.xxiamzius.lt/numeriai/2004/08/18/zvil_01.html {{lt icon}} Kazimieras Garšva. ''Armija krajova ir Vietinė rinktinė Lietuvoje'' (Armia Krajowa and Local Detachment in Lithuania). XXI amžius, No.61 (1264), 18 August 2004]</ref><ref name="VD">{{lt icon}} [[Vilnijos draugija]]. ''[http://www.voruta.lt/archyvas/105/750 Kodėl negalima sakyti tiesos apie Armiją krajovą ?]'' (Why the truth about Armia Krajowa cannot be said?), „XXI amžius“ No.61(1264), 18 August 2004]</ref> It is unclear whether he was aware of the [[Dubingiai incident]], in which an AK unit massacred a number of Lithuanian civilians (the number of victims estimates vary between 27<ref name="GW_2001">{{pl icon}} {{cite journal |author=(redPor) |year=2001 |month=February |title=Litewska prokuratura przesłuchuje weteranów AK (Lithuanian prosecutor questioning AK veterans) |journal=[[Gazeta Wyborcza]] |issue=2001–02–14 |url=http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/swiat/1,34175,151474.html |accessdate=2006-06-07}}</ref> and close to a hundred or more{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}). Although the Armia Krajowa's actions are still controversial in Lithuania {{Citation needed|date=October 2007}}, a Lithuanian historian [[Arunas Bubnys]] has stated that there were no mass murders by the AK (the only exception being Dubingiai){{Citation needed|date=October 2007}}, but that the AK was guilty only of some war crimes against individuals or selected families. {{Citation needed|date=October 2007}} He also noted that accusations of genocide or widespread activities by the AK are false and have underlying political motives {{Citation needed|date=October 2007}}, including to counteract accusations of widespread German-Lithuanian collaboration and crimes committed by units such as the [[Lithuanian Secret Police]].<ref name="GW_2001"/>
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In May 1944 Polish resistance units were attacked by the [[Local Lithuanian Detachment]] under general [[Povilas Plechavičius]]. Krzyżanowski attempted to negotiate, but Plechavičius demanded that AK and all Polish partisans were to retreat from Wilno region and accept Lithuanian sovereignty over that territory.<ref name="Boradyn">{{pl icon}} Henryk Piskunowicz, ''Działalnośc zbrojna Armi Krajowej na Wileńszczyśnie w latach 1942-1944'' in {{cite book |author=Zygmunt Boradyn |coauthors=Andrzej Chmielarz, Henryk Piskunowicz |title=Armia Krajowa na Nowogródczyźnie i Wileńszczyźnie (1941-1945) |year=1997 |editor=[[Tomasz Strzembosz]] |pages=40–45 |publisher=Institute of Political Sciences, [[Polish Academy of Sciences]] |location=Warsaw {{Listed Invalid ISBN|83-907168-0-3}}}}</ref> Krzyżanowski would not agree to such a withdrawal and the fighting escalated, eventually culminating in the Polish victory over the Lithuanian collaborationist forces in the [[battle of Murowana Oszmianka|battle of]] [[Muravanaya Ashmyanka]]<ref name="Dymitri"/> of May 13-May 14.<ref name="Boradyn"/> After that battle Krzyżanowski attempted to resume negotiations but was ignored by the Lithuanian side.<ref name="Boradyn"/> The increasing hostilities culminated in June, when Lithuanian pro-Nazi<ref name="Justice">{{en icon}} {{cite news |author=United States Department of Justice |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/1996/960626-302crm.htm |title=Court Revokes U.S. Citizenship of Former Security Police Official |date=1996-06-26 |accessdate=2006-06-09| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20060611205703/http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/1996/960626-302crm.htm| archivedate= 11 June 2006 | deadurl= no}}</ref> [[Lithuanian Security Police]] forces, which had recently suffered a loss of several members in a skirmish with AK, massacred 37 Polish civilians in [[Glinciszki]], a village known to support the Polish partisans. Krzyżanowski ordered his forces to increase the activity against the Lithuanians in retribution and, according to the accounts published in Lithuania, his forces conducted a multitude of actions against the Lithuanian civil population.<ref>{{lt icon}} [[Arūnas Bubnys]]. [http://www.atgimimas.lt/ssi.php?id=1031308337&which=1&f_text= ''Armija Krajova Rytų Lietuvoje''] (Armia Krajowa in Eastern Lithuania). "Atgimimas", 9 June 1989, No. 22 (35)</ref><ref name="Garšva">[http://www.xxiamzius.lt/numeriai/2004/08/18/zvil_01.html {{lt icon}} Kazimieras Garšva. ''Armija krajova ir Vietinė rinktinė Lietuvoje'' (Armia Krajowa and Local Detachment in Lithuania). XXI amžius, No.61 (1264), 18 August 2004]</ref><ref name="VD">{{lt icon}} [[Vilnijos draugija]]. ''[http://www.voruta.lt/archyvas/105/750 Kodėl negalima sakyti tiesos apie Armiją krajovą ?]'' (Why the truth about Armia Krajowa cannot be said?), „XXI amžius“ No.61(1264), 18 August 2004]</ref> It is unclear whether he was aware of the [[Dubingiai incident]], in which an AK unit massacred a number of Lithuanian civilians (the number of victims estimates vary between 27<ref name="GW_2001">{{pl icon}} {{cite journal |author=(redPor) |year=2001 |month=February |title=Litewska prokuratura przesłuchuje weteranów AK (Lithuanian prosecutor questioning AK veterans) |journal=Gazeta Wyborcza |issue=2001–02–14 |url=http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/swiat/1,34175,151474.html |accessdate=2006-06-07}}</ref> and close to a hundred or more{{Citation needed|date=November 2014}}). Although the Armia Krajowa's actions are still controversial in Lithuania {{Citation needed|date=November 2014}}, a Lithuanian historian [[Arunas Bubnys]] has stated that there were no mass murders by the AK (the only exception being Dubingiai){{Citation needed|date=November 2014}}, but that the AK was guilty only of some war crimes against individuals or selected families. {{Citation needed|date=November 2014}} He also noted that accusations of genocide or widespread activities by the AK are false and have underlying political motives {{Citation needed|date=November 2014}}, including to counteract accusations of widespread German-Lithuanian collaboration and crimes committed by units such as the [[Lithuanian Secret Police]].<ref name="GW_2001"/>
   
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Beginning in the spring of 1944 the Polish underground was preparing for the major [[Operation Tempest]], which was designed to cause a large scale uprising behind the German lines to prevent the Soviet takeover of the territory by establishing a local Polish administration before the Soviet's arrival, as a sign to the entire world that the [[Polish government in exile]] commanded significant Polish forces. Operation Tempest would also support of the Soviet [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] offensive. In June Krzyżanowski and his subordinates prepared the plan for the liberation of Wilno: [[Operation Ostra Brama]]. On 2 July 1944 he gave orders to begin the operation on the 7 July, although because of the Soviet quick advance the operation was put into effect one day early (on 6 July).
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Beginning in the spring of 1944 the Polish underground was preparing for the major [[Operation Tempest]], which was designed to cause a large scale uprising behind the German lines to prevent the Soviet takeover of the territory by establishing a local Polish administration before the Soviet's arrival, as a sign to the entire world that the Polish government in exile commanded significant Polish forces. Operation Tempest would also support of the Soviet [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] offensive. In June Krzyżanowski and his subordinates prepared the plan for the liberation of Wilno: [[Operation Ostra Brama]]. On 2 July 1944 he gave orders to begin the operation on the 7 July, although because of the Soviet quick advance the operation was put into effect one day early (on 6 July).
   
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Largely in the effect of the German-AK relationship in the area, only a third of the available AK force took part in the operation against the Nazis.<ref name="Piotrowski"/> In the end, the Polish forces had to cooperate with the Soviets to secure [[Wilno]]. After the Poles and Soviets defeated the Germans on July 17, 1944, Polish officers, including Krzyżanowski, who had been invited to a debriefing with the Soviets, were arrested and imprisoned.<ref name="Piotrowski_99">Piotrowski, [[op.cit]], [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786403713&id=A4FlatJCro4C&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&vq=krzyzanowski&dq=holocaust+in+Poland&sig=a4_dBoxddfKo3IA4RmY-CftNPlM&hl=en p.99],</ref><ref name="Oblicza">{{pl icon}} {{cite journal |year=2005 |month=February |title=Gorące lato 1944 roku. Czy potrzebna była "Burza"? (Hot Summer of 1944; was the Operation Tempest necessary?) |journal=Oblicza historii |volume=02 |pages=2 |url=http://www.obliczahistorii.pl/pelne.php?Art=1027&Strona=2 |accessdate=2006-07-17}}</ref>
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Largely in the effect of the German-AK relationship in the area, only a third of the available AK force took part in the operation against the Nazis.<ref name="Piotrowski"/> In the end, the Polish forces had to cooperate with the Soviets to secure Wilno. After the Poles and Soviets defeated the Germans on July 17, 1944, Polish officers, including Krzyżanowski, who had been invited to a debriefing with the Soviets, were arrested and imprisoned.<ref name="Piotrowski_99">Piotrowski, [[op.cit]], [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786403713&id=A4FlatJCro4C&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&vq=krzyzanowski&dq=holocaust+in+Poland&sig=a4_dBoxddfKo3IA4RmY-CftNPlM&hl=en p.99],</ref><ref name="Oblicza">{{pl icon}} {{cite journal |year=2005 |month=February |title=Gorące lato 1944 roku. Czy potrzebna była "Burza"? (Hot Summer of 1944; was the Operation Tempest necessary?) |journal=Oblicza historii |volume=02 |pages=2 |url=http://www.obliczahistorii.pl/pelne.php?Art=1027&Strona=2 |accessdate=2006-07-17}}</ref>
   
 
Krzyżanowski was in prison until 1947. In August 1947 he escaped but was quickly re-arrested when he approached a Polish official who worked for the [[Polish communists]]. He was repatriated to Poland in October 1947. He did not support any secret resistance against the Soviets, like [[Wolność i Niezawisłość]], arguing that it was pointless in the face of Soviet numerical superiority and the [[Western betrayal]], but he remained in contact with many of his former subordinates. He was however still viewed as a danger to the state by the Polish communist regime, and was arrested in 1948 by Polish secret police, [[Urząd Bezpieczeństwa]]. In the prison his health collapsed, and he died on September 29, 1951 from tuberculosis.
  
Krzyżanowski was in prison until 1947. In August 1947 he escaped but was quickly re-arrested when he approached a Polish official who worked for the [[Polish communists]]. He was repatriated to Poland in October 1947. He did not support any secret resistance against the Soviets, like [[Wolność i Niezawisłość]], arguing that it was pointless in the face of Soviet numerical superiority and the [[Western betrayal]], but he remained in contact with many of his former subordinates. He was however still viewed as a danger to the state by the Polish communist regime, and was arrested in 1948 by Polish secret police, [[Urząd Bezpieczeństwa]]. In the prison his health collapsed, and he died on September 29, 1951 from tuberculosis.
   
 
==Posthumous==
  
==Posthumous==
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[[Image:A Krzyzanowski Powazki.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Grave of Aleksander Krzyżanowski]]
 +
[[File:A Krzyzanowski Powazki.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Grave of Aleksander Krzyżanowski]]
   
 
He was buried in an unmarked grave, but in the wake of [[destalinization]] in 1957 his body was exhumed and buried in the [[Powązki Military Cemetery]]. In 1994 he was [[Posthumous recognition|posthumously]] promoted to the rank of general.
  
He was buried in an unmarked grave, but in the wake of [[destalinization]] in 1957 his body was exhumed and buried in the [[Powązki Military Cemetery]]. In 1994 he was [[Posthumous recognition|posthumously]] promoted to the rank of general.
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</div>
   
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== Further reading ==
 +
==Further reading==
 
*Tarka, Krzysztof. ''Generał Aleksander Krzyżanowski "Wilk"'' Warsaw (2000).
  
*Tarka, Krzysztof. ''Generał Aleksander Krzyżanowski "Wilk"'' Warsaw (2000).
   
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== See also ==
 +
==See also==
 
* [[Maciej Kalenkiewicz]]
  
* [[Maciej Kalenkiewicz]]
 
* [[Belarusian partisans]]
  
* [[Belarusian partisans]]
 
* [[Polish partisans]]
  
* [[Polish partisans]]
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{{Wikipedia|Aleksander Krzyżanowski}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Krzyzanowski, Aleksander}}
 
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[[Category:1895 births]]
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[[Category:Prisoners who died in Polish People's Republic detention]]
 
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[[Category:Cursed soldiers]]
 
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{{Wikipedia|Aleksander Krzyżanowski}}
  

Latest revision as of 17:58, 6 August 2019

Aleksander Krzyżanowski
Aleksander Krzyzanowski
Nickname "Wilk", "Wesołowski", "Dziemido", "Jan Kulczycki"
Born (1895-02-18)February 18, 1895
Died September 29, 1951(1951-09-29) (aged 56)
Place of birth Bryansk, Russia
Place of death Warsaw, Poland
Years of service 1916
Rank Major
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Aleksander "Wilk" Krzyżanowski (1895–1951) was a Polish officer, major, member of the Polish resistance movement in World War II and Commandant of the Armia Krajowa in the Vilnius Region.

Biography

Aleksander Krzyżanowski was born in Bryansk and was conscripted into the Russian Army during the First World War, where he first started to specialize in artillery.

After Poland regained independence in 1918 he joined the Polish military, and took part in the Polish-Soviet War where he distinguished himself in 1919 receiving the Krzyż Walecznych medal, and in January 1920 he took part in the heavy fighting at the Battle of Daugavpils.

During the interwar period in the Second Polish Republic he further continued his military career. At the time of the Nazi invasion of Poland (September 1, 1939) he was commanding the 26th Regiment of Light Artillery, attached to the Polish 26th Infantry Division, part of the Army Poznań under general Tadeusz Kutrzeba. His unit was destroyed during the battle of Bzura.

Soon afterward he organized a partisan unit at Świętokrzyskie Mountains, but after this unit was defeated by the Germans he arrived in Warsaw by late October, and joined the first Polish resistance organizations, the Służba Zwycięstwu Polski. By November he was assigned to Wilno (now known as Vilnius, Lithuania), at the same time occupied by the Soviet Union which divided Poland with the Nazi Germany according to the earlier concluded Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Soon SZP was transformed into Związek Walki Zbrojnej. When in April 1941 Soviet NKVD arrested the commander of the ZWP in the Vilnius region, general Nikodem Sulik, it was Krzyżanowski who de facto replaced him, and his position was officially confirmed by general Stefan Rowecki in August. In 1942 ZWP was transformed into Armia Krajowa (AK).

Krzyżanowski attempted to build a larger anti-German coalition[1] and issued explicit orders that no ethnic group, including Jews, should be mistreated.[2] He also opened negotiations with the representatives of the Lithuanian and Belorussian resistance but they were fruitless.[1] The negotiations with the Soviets initially lead nowhere as well. The Soviet Union aimed to ultimately regain the control from Germany over the territories USSR annexed from Poland in 1939 and Joseph Stalin's aim to ensure that an independent Poland would never reemerge in the postwar period.[3] The relationship between the Soviets and the Sikorski's Polish government in exile, formally a commanding force of the AK, was strained at best, especially in the wake of the evidence of the mass execution of the Polish POW officers by the Soviets at Katyn which was discovered in 1943.

As Soviet partisans increasingly engaged in terror against local population and attacked Home Army units,[4] local AK commanders considered the Soviets as just another enemy.[5] As ordered by Moscow on June 22, 1943 the Soviet partisans started an open fight both against the German forces and the local Polish partisans.[5] In January and February 1944, in the wake of growing hostilities between the Soviet partisans and the AK forces Krzyzanowski conducted a series of negotiations with Germans.[5] In effect of negotiations with Seidler for Rosenfield of the Nazi German Security Service near Wilejka and Julian Christiansen, the Chief of the Vilnius Abwehr, cooperation between Germans and the AK was established in the area of Krzyżanowski's units' operation and, according to the report of the local Nazi official "three sizeable Polish detachments came over to our side and initially also fought well."[5] While Krzyzanowski refused to sign an explicit agreement on cooperation, the secret arrangement was made that the AK would "capture" the armaments and provisions left to them by Germans.[5]

As a result, the AK units in the area were armed by Germans,[5] Germans pulled off their mobilization plans in the area (leaving the territory for AK's mobilization campaign) and largely totally withdrew, German spies and agent were spared by AK members and no AK members were executed by Germans in their reprisals against the local population.[5] However any such arrangements were purely tactical and did not evidenced a type of ideological collaboration as shown by the Vichy regime in France, the Quisling regime in Norway or closer to the region, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.[5] The Poles' main motivation was to gain intelligence on German morale[2] and preparedness and to acquire some badly needed weapons.[2]

There are no known joint Polish-German actions, and the Germans were unsuccessful in their attempt to turn the Poles toward fighting exclusively against Soviet partisans.[citation needed] Such collaboration of local commanders with the Germans was generally atypical[6] and such incidents were condemned by AK High Command.[5]

In May 1944 Polish resistance units were attacked by the Local Lithuanian Detachment under general Povilas Plechavičius. Krzyżanowski attempted to negotiate, but Plechavičius demanded that AK and all Polish partisans were to retreat from Wilno region and accept Lithuanian sovereignty over that territory.[7] Krzyżanowski would not agree to such a withdrawal and the fighting escalated, eventually culminating in the Polish victory over the Lithuanian collaborationist forces in the battle of Muravanaya Ashmyanka[1] of May 13-May 14.[7] After that battle Krzyżanowski attempted to resume negotiations but was ignored by the Lithuanian side.[7] The increasing hostilities culminated in June, when Lithuanian pro-Nazi[8] Lithuanian Security Police forces, which had recently suffered a loss of several members in a skirmish with AK, massacred 37 Polish civilians in Glinciszki, a village known to support the Polish partisans. Krzyżanowski ordered his forces to increase the activity against the Lithuanians in retribution and, according to the accounts published in Lithuania, his forces conducted a multitude of actions against the Lithuanian civil population.[9][10][11] It is unclear whether he was aware of the Dubingiai incident, in which an AK unit massacred a number of Lithuanian civilians (the number of victims estimates vary between 27[12] and close to a hundred or more[citation needed]). Although the Armia Krajowa's actions are still controversial in Lithuania[citation needed], a Lithuanian historian Arunas Bubnys has stated that there were no mass murders by the AK (the only exception being Dubingiai)[citation needed], but that the AK was guilty only of some war crimes against individuals or selected families.[citation needed] He also noted that accusations of genocide or widespread activities by the AK are false and have underlying political motives[citation needed], including to counteract accusations of widespread German-Lithuanian collaboration and crimes committed by units such as the Lithuanian Secret Police.[12]

Beginning in the spring of 1944 the Polish underground was preparing for the major Operation Tempest, which was designed to cause a large scale uprising behind the German lines to prevent the Soviet takeover of the territory by establishing a local Polish administration before the Soviet's arrival, as a sign to the entire world that the Polish government in exile commanded significant Polish forces. Operation Tempest would also support of the Soviet Eastern Front offensive. In June Krzyżanowski and his subordinates prepared the plan for the liberation of Wilno: Operation Ostra Brama. On 2 July 1944 he gave orders to begin the operation on the 7 July, although because of the Soviet quick advance the operation was put into effect one day early (on 6 July).

Largely in the effect of the German-AK relationship in the area, only a third of the available AK force took part in the operation against the Nazis.[5] In the end, the Polish forces had to cooperate with the Soviets to secure Wilno. After the Poles and Soviets defeated the Germans on July 17, 1944, Polish officers, including Krzyżanowski, who had been invited to a debriefing with the Soviets, were arrested and imprisoned.[13][14]

Krzyżanowski was in prison until 1947. In August 1947 he escaped but was quickly re-arrested when he approached a Polish official who worked for the Polish communists. He was repatriated to Poland in October 1947. He did not support any secret resistance against the Soviets, like Wolność i Niezawisłość, arguing that it was pointless in the face of Soviet numerical superiority and the Western betrayal, but he remained in contact with many of his former subordinates. He was however still viewed as a danger to the state by the Polish communist regime, and was arrested in 1948 by Polish secret police, Urząd Bezpieczeństwa. In the prison his health collapsed, and he died on September 29, 1951 from tuberculosis.

Posthumous

A Krzyzanowski Powazki

Grave of Aleksander Krzyżanowski

He was buried in an unmarked grave, but in the wake of destalinization in 1957 his body was exhumed and buried in the Powązki Military Cemetery. In 1994 he was posthumously promoted to the rank of general.

Notes and references

In-line:
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 (Polish) Dymitri (2006). "Konflikty polsko-litewskie w latach 1918-45 (Polish-Lithuanian Conflicts 1918-1945)". Gazetka Socjologiczna. Koło Naukowe Studentów Socjologii, Stefan Wyszyński University. http://www.knss.uksw.edu.pl/index.php?nazwa=5_1. Retrieved 2006-07-17. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 (English) John Radzilowski (June 1999). "Review of Yaffa Eliach's Big Book of Holocaust Revisionism".  Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Radzilowski" defined multiple times with different content
  3. ↑ (English) Judith Olsak-Glass (January 1999). "Review of Piotrowski's Poland's Holocaust". http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/199/glass.html. Retrieved 2006-07-17. 
  4. ↑ Review of Sowjetische Partisanen in Weißrußland, by Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, in Sarmatian Review, April 2006
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 Tadeusz Piotrowski, Poland's Holocaust, McFarland & Company, 1997, ISBN 0-7864-0371-3. Google Print, p.88, p.89, p.90
  6. ↑ "[...] but the Polish Home Army was by and large untained by collaboration"
    Joseph Rothschild, Nancy Merriwether Wingfield, Return to Diversity: A Political History of East Central Europe Since World War II, p. 55, Oxford University Press US, 1999, ISBN 0-19-511993-2, Google books link
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 (Polish) Henryk Piskunowicz, Działalnośc zbrojna Armi Krajowej na Wileńszczyśnie w latach 1942-1944 in Zygmunt Boradyn; Andrzej Chmielarz, Henryk Piskunowicz (1997). Tomasz Strzembosz. ed. Armia Krajowa na Nowogródczyźnie i Wileńszczyźnie (1941-1945). Warsaw ISBN 83-907168-0-3: Institute of Political Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences. pp. 40–45. 
  8. ↑ (English) United States Department of Justice (1996-06-26). "Court Revokes U.S. Citizenship of Former Security Police Official". Archived from the original on 11 June 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060611205703/http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/1996/960626-302crm.htm. Retrieved 2006-06-09. 
  9. ↑ (Lithuanian) Arūnas Bubnys. Armija Krajova Rytų Lietuvoje (Armia Krajowa in Eastern Lithuania). "Atgimimas", 9 June 1989, No. 22 (35)
  10. ↑ (Lithuanian) Kazimieras Garšva. Armija krajova ir Vietinė rinktinė Lietuvoje (Armia Krajowa and Local Detachment in Lithuania). XXI amžius, No.61 (1264), 18 August 2004
  11. ↑ (Lithuanian) Vilnijos draugija. Kodėl negalima sakyti tiesos apie Armiją krajovą ? (Why the truth about Armia Krajowa cannot be said?), „XXI amžius“ No.61(1264), 18 August 2004]
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 (Polish) (redPor) (February 2001). "Litewska prokuratura przesłuchuje weteranów AK (Lithuanian prosecutor questioning AK veterans)". http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/swiat/1,34175,151474.html. Retrieved 2006-06-07. 
  13. ↑ Piotrowski, op.cit, p.99,
  14. ↑ (Polish) "Gorące lato 1944 roku. Czy potrzebna była "Burza"? (Hot Summer of 1944; was the Operation Tempest necessary?)". February 2005. pp. 2. http://www.obliczahistorii.pl/pelne.php?Art=1027&Strona=2. Retrieved 2006-07-17. 
General:

Further reading

  • Tarka, Krzysztof. Generał Aleksander Krzyżanowski "Wilk" Warsaw (2000).

See also

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