Riflemen Union
| Związki Strzeleckie | |
Badge of the Riflemen's Association "Strzelec"
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| Type | Volunteer paramilitary formations |
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Membership (1912)
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7,500 members |
The Polish Riflemen's Association known as Związek Strzelecki (or more commonly, in the plural form as Związki Strzeleckie) formed in great numbers prior to World War I. One of the better known associations called "Strzelec" (Riflemen's Association "Rifleman") was a Polish paramilitary cultural and educational organization created in 1910 in Lwów as a legal front of Związek Walki Czynnej, and somewhat reinstated in present-day Poland in 1991, after the fall of communism.
An important part of the Association's mission was training young Poles in military skills. Before World War I, the Riflemen's Association provided military training to over 8,000 people, and its trainees subsequently formed an important part of the Polish Legions in World War I. Prominent members and leaders of the Riflemen's Association included Józef Piłsudski, Henryk Dobrzański, Kazimierz Sosnkowski, Edward Rydz-Śmigły, Władysław Sikorski, Marian Kukiel, Walery Sławek, Julian Stachiewicz, Aleksander Prystor and Włodzimierz Tetmajer.
In 1910, upon initiative of the Union of Active Struggle, two legal paramilitary organizations were created in Austrian Galicia. These were the Riflemen's Association (in Lwow), and the Rifleman Society (Towarzystwo Strzelec) in Kraków. In 1912, both organizations were merged, under the Headquarters of the Riflemen’s Association, located in Lwow, and commanded by Józef Piłsudski and Kazimierz Sosnkowski. The association was divided into the following branches:
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