PILSUDSKI DEAD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 180, 14 May 1935, Page 5

PILSUDSKI DEAD

VIRTUAL DICTATOR OF POLAND.

GREATEST UNIFYING FORCE. INTERNATIONAL ASPECT. {United Presß Association—Copyright) WARSAW, May 13. Marshal Pilsudski (Minister of War) is dead, aged 67. General Rydzsmigly has been appointed to succeed Marshal Pilsudski, who died of kidney trouble, from which he had been suffering for several months.

General Rydzsmigly is popular with, the army and was one of the besttrusted of Marshal Pilsudski's assistants.

General Kasrzyskr has teen appointed to Marshal Pilsudski's other offices.

The public had no idea that Marshal Pilsudski was a dying man, though his entourage was well aware of the crisis. The announcement of his death has eclipsed interest in the visit of M. Pierre Laval (French Foreign Minister), which, however, resulted in an official French intimation that there was nothing behind the pact between France and the Soviet to cause Poland the least anxiety.

Marshal Pilsudski's body is lying in state at Belvedere Palace. The Cabinet has been in continuous session for many hours, but the real power is in the hands of the President (Professor L. Moscicki) and Colonel J. Beck (Foreign Minister), Professor Moscicki, who is assured of farreaching, powers, approaching a dictatorship, under the new Constitution. Moreover, Marshal Pilsudski's friends, known as the "colonel's group," retain all the principal Government positions. . - ...

Mr Vernon Bartlett, in the "NewsChronicle," says that Marshal Pilsudski's death will profoundly, affect the European situation. It may end the attempt to keep Poland equally friendly with Germany and Russia. Many Poles who; questioning the possibility of continuing the friendship with Germany, feared to oppose Marshal Pilsudski but are now not likely to hide their feelings. Poland has lost the greatest unifying force she ,has known, and consequently is likely to become a pawn instead of a commanding influence. The Warsaw correspondent of the "Daily Mail" says that Marshal -Pilsudski's death coincides with the ninth anniversary of his seizure of power. A national mourning of 30 days will be proclaimed. " ; .

BRAIN FOR UNIVERSITIES.

HEART BURIED WITH MOTHER.

EMBALMED BODY AT CRACOW

(Received This Day, 11.10 a.m.) WARSAW, May 13

In accordance with his desire, Marshal Pilsudski's brain will be given to the Polish universities for research, his heart being buried with his mother's remains, which will be reinterred at Vilna, Pilsudski's birthplace. The body, embalmed, will rest at Vavel Castle, Cracow, beside. Poland's great kings and patriots, including Kosciusko. The Government decreed national, mourning. . The President has issued a manifesto describing Marshal. Pilsudski as the greatest man in Polish history, who created the Polish State and Army. Herr Hitler telegraphed sympathy, paying a tribute to Pilsudski's service for the pacification of Europe.

M. LAVAL TO ATTEND FUNERAL.

(Received This Day, 11.10 a.m.) MASCOW, May. 13. M. Layal (French Foreign Minister) who is visiting Moscow, will go to Warsaw to attend Marshal Pilsudski s funeral. .

As recently as last March, Marshal Joseph Pilsudski demonstrated his strength by forcing the Polish Government to pass the new Constitution by 260 votes to 139, ending the democratic regime. Though he held only the portfolio of Military Affairs, with Professor L. Kozlowski as Prime Minister and Professor I. , Moscicki as President, there was never any doubt that Marshal Pilsudski was the real ruler of Poland, and it was with, him that Mr R. A. Eden, British Lord Privy Seal, was primarily engaged during his visit to Warsaw. Born in 1867. he studied at Wilna and Kharhov, and developed Socialist sympathies, being deported to Siberia in 1887. In 1892 he settled in Lodiz, and formed the Polish Socialist Party, the primary object of winch was to free Poland from the Russian oppressor He was again arrested and confined at Warsaw in 1900. There he simulated madness so successfully that he was transferred to the military asylum at St. Petersburg (Leningrad), from which he escaped and formed the Polish Legion for his country's deliverance. : Early in* 1914, when the Great War was already in the air, Pilsudski thought it would be confined to Russia and Austria,, and at the outbreak he found himself and his legion pledged to Germany. But in 1916 German military methods caused him to resign his command, and he was arrested and interned at Magdeburg. In 1918 he returned to Poland to take up his position as Chief of the State. He was appointed provisional President the following year, and led his country against Soviet Russia. In May, 1920, his forces took Kiev, but they lost it in June and were forced back to Warsaw, which, with the advice and co-operation of French and British generals, he was able to defend succcssf ullv. In 1923 Marshal Pilsudski refused the Presidency and retired, but in 1926 he

forced the Witos Government to resign after street fighting. He was again offered the Presidency, but declined it, and became Minister for War. in; the Bartel Cabinet. Later that year he became Prime Minister. The following year he resigned the Premiership but retained the War portfolio,- which he has held ever since. ;_>.-. As a patriot and soldier Marshal Pilsudski will go down in history.