Alfred Biłyk, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Alfred Biłyk

Polish lawyer, Army officer and politician

Date of Birth: 25-Sep-1889

Place of Birth: Lviv, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine

Date of Death: 19-Sep-1939

Profession: lawyer, military officer

Nationality: Poland

Zodiac Sign: Libra


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About Alfred Biłyk

  • Alfred Bilyk (25 September 1889 in Lwów, now Ukraine – 19 September 1939 in Munkacs, Ukraine, then in Hungary) was a Polish lawyer, military officer, and politician, last Voivode of the Lwów Voivodeship.
  • He committed suicide, when he realized that he would not be able to return to his hometown. Bilyk was a graduate of a high school in Brzezany, where he got to know another student of the school, Edward Rydz-Smigly (both went to the same class and shared a bench).
  • They became friends, joining together the Riflemen's Association and later, the Polish Legions.
  • After World War I, Bilyk was nominated to the rank of major of the newly created Polish Army (on June 1, 1919) but following the Polish-Soviet War, he left the army and began studying law at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów.
  • In 1923 or 1924, he opened a lawyer's office in Lwów. A close associate of Rydz-Smigly, Bilyk took advantage of the relationship, and was nominated to the post of Voivode of Tarnopol Voivodeship (15 July 1936).
  • A year later, on 16 April 1937, he advanced even further, becoming the Voivode of Lwów Voivodeship.On 12 September 1939, when first tanks of the Wehrmacht approached Lwów (see: Polish September Campaign, Battle of Lvov (1939)), Bilyk gave a famous speech, which was transmitted by the local radio station.
  • He emphasized that Lwów, the city known as Semper Fidelis, would defend itself and that he himself would not abandon his post.
  • However, three days later, the Prime Minister Felicjan Slawoj-Skladkowski ordered Bilyk to leave for Kuty, where the government of Poland was temporarily seated.
  • From Kuty, Bilyk left Poland for Munkacs, which then belonged to Hungary. On 17 September, following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, units of the Red Army, allied with the Nazis, crossed eastern border of Poland.
  • Facing little resistance, as bulk of the Polish Army was engaged in the West, the Soviets quickly moved westwards.
  • Bilyk twice tried to return to his native city, but failed.
  • Upon realizing that fate of Lwów had been settled, he committed suicide on 19 September 1939 in room number 5 of the Csillag Hotel.
  • Before shooting himself, Bilyk wrote a farewell note, which is now kept in the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London.
  • This is what he wrote: I could not fight in Lwów, as in compliance with directives of the Prime Minister, I left the city in circumstances which might have contradicted my previous words.
  • My life seems to be of no value to Poland.
  • I do not want to be interned till the end of the war.
  • I want to save my honor.
  • All my thoughts are now concentrated on Poland and on my dear family I am asking that these words were announced, so that my honor would remain untainted.
  • Above all, I want Marshall Rydz-Smigly, General Sosnkowski and inhabitants of my city of Lwów to know about this letter Signed Alfred Bilyk, Voivode of Lwów, Munkacs, 19 September 1939.

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