he became a member of the Polish National Committee, which played a major role in the conflict. Then he managed to escape from the besieged city with an aircraft. He went to a nearby city called Przemyśl, and later to Kraków, where he sought help for Lwów. By mid December 1918 he took part in the work of the Polish Liquidation Committee and the Interim Governing Committee. Political and diplomatic career During the 1926 May Coup d'état in Poland, Świtalski supported Marshal Piłsudski, rather than President Stanisław Wojciechowski. Following the Coup, he was given several political posts. In the same year he appointed the Head of the Civil Chancellery of the President and between 1926 and 1928 he was the director of the Political Department of the Ministry of the Interior. In June 1928 Świtalski became Minister of Education and from April to December 1929 he served as Prime Minister of Poland in competition with Kazimierz Bartel. In 1930 he was elected to the Sejm and between 1933 and 1935 he was its Marshal. He was appointed by the President to the Senate in 1935, where he was also Vice-Marshal. In parallel, he was also the Voivode of Kraków from December 1935 until April 1936. After the Polish Defensive War of 1939 Kazimierz Świtalski was taken prisoner of war and taken to Woldenberg camp, where he spent the entirety of World War II. His only child, Jacek Świtalski, was killed on the first day of the Warsaw Uprising. In 1945 he returned to Poland and was imprisoned by the communist authorities from 1948 to 1956. He died in Warsaw in 1962, following injuries in a tram accident. Honours and awards Kazimierz Świtalski was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari, the Order of Polonia Restituta Classes I and IV, Cross of Independence, the War Memorial Medal 1918 – 1921 and the Decade of Independence Medal, as well as the Estonian Order of the Cross of the Eagle Class I (1934). References See also Sanation \ 1886 births 1962 deaths People from Sanok People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Polish Austro-Hungarians Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government politicians Prime Ministers of Poland Education ministers of Poland Marshals of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic Members of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1930–1935) Senators of the Second Polish Republic (1935–1938) Polish Military Organisation