Stanisław Tatar | |
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Born |
Biórków Wielki, then in Russian Empire |
2 October 1896
Died | 16 December 1980 Warsaw, Poland |
(aged 84)
Other names | nom de guerre Tabor |
Citizenship | Polish |
Occupation | Polish Army Brigadier-General |
Known for | Armia Krajowa commander |
Stanisław Tatar nom de guerre "Stanisław Tabor" (October 3, 1896 – December 16, 1980) was a Polish Army colonel in the interwar period and, during World War II, one of the commanders of Armia Krajowa, Polish resistance movement. He was appointed brigade general in 1943 and half-a-year later flew from occupied Poland to London.
After the war ended, Tatar betrayed the London-based Polish government-in-exile by organising an illegal handover of its vast reserves of money and gold (donated by the nation and called the Fund of National Defense), to the communist regime. The first batch of money was stolen en route by a consul in 1945, yet Tatar went on with his plan in 1947. He came back to Poland in 1949 on the promise of military leadership with LWP, only to be arrested and falsely accused of conspiracy against the party by the Stalinist secret police (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa). Subsequently, Tatar was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in the so-called Trial of the Generals, but released from prison during Polish October of 1956.
Stanisław Tatar was born October 2, 1896 in Biórków Wielki village in Lesser Poland. In 1915, during World War I, he was conscripted to the tsarist Russian Army. In 1917 he was transferred to the 1st Polish Corps formed in Russia. In November 1918, together with the remnants of his unit, he joined the renascent sovereign Polish Army. During the interbellum he continued serving in the military. Having finished numerous officer courses, in 1934 he became one of the tutors of artillery tactics at the Higher War School (Wyższa Szkoła Wojenna) in Warsaw. He held that post until 1938, given the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.