Regency Council (Poland)

For other uses, see Regency Council.

Regency Council: Ostrowski, Kakowski, Lubomirski

The Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland (Polish: Rada Regencyjna, or Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego) was a semi-independent and temporarily appointed highest authority (head of state) in the Partitioned Poland during World War I. It was formed by Imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary within the war-torn, and historically Polish lands around September 1917. The Council was supposed to stay in office until a new monarch or the Regent would be appointed. On October 7, 1918, the Regency Council of Kingdom of Poland declared independence for Poland. Also in October 1918 the Council took over the command of the Polska Siła Zbrojna.

History

The members of the Regency Council included: Cardinal Aleksander Kakowski, Archbishop of Warsaw; Prince Zdzisław Lubomirski, the President (Mayor) of Warsaw; and landowner Józef Ostrowski, conservative politician, former Chairman of the Polish Club in the Duma in St. Petersburg.

Together with the State Council and the formed governments it exercised limited administrative powers, mainly in education and justice areas. On October 7, 1918, it declared the independence of Poland from Germany. On November 14 of the same year it passed all authority to Józef Piłsudski – from November 22, 1918, the newly appointed Supreme Head of the State (Naczelnik Państwa).

First Prime Ministers of Poland

• Jan Kucharzewski (November 26, 1917 – February 27, 1918)
• Antoni Ponikowski (February 27 – April 3, 1918)
• Jan Kanty Steczkowski (April 4 – October 23, 1918)
• Józef Świeżyński (October 23 – November 5, 1918)
• Władysław Wróblewski (November 5–11, 1918)

Further reading

• Zdzisław Julian Winnicki, Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego i jej organy (1917 – 1918), Wrocław 2017 (in Polish)