Stanisław Tołwiński

Stanisław Tołwiński (born October 11, 1895, in Strzemieszyce, died February 25, 1969, in Warsaw) was a Polish engineer, social and cooperative activist and a politician who served as Mayor of Warsaw from 1945 to 1950. He received the title Righteous Among the Nations.

Biography He was born in 1895. His father's family came from impoverished Podlachia nobility from the Drohiczyn district, where the village of Tołwin was located. His father, Kazimierz, a mechanical engineer, moved with his family to the Donets Basin in search of work, and later to Slaviansk, where Stanisław Tołwiński spent his youth.

From 1912 to 1915, he studied at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Institute of Technology in St. Petersburg. At that time, he was active in the illegal Union of Progressive-Independence Youth ("Filaretii") and the Polish Socialist Party – Revolutionary Faction, for which he was imprisoned by the tsarist authorities from 1915 to 1917.

He was released from prison just before the outbreak of the February Revolution in Russia in 1917. After returning to Slaviansk, he was active in the Polish Socialist Union and then in the local section of the Polish Socialist Party. During the October Revolution, he participated in the Second Conference of the PPS Section in Kyiv, which supported the Bolshevik coup. He was a member of the Council of Workers' Deputies in Slaviansk and served as commissar for national affairs, providing assistance to war refugees. In April 1918, he left Slaviansk, crossed the front line, and reached Warsaw.

After returning to Poland, he was active in the Polish Socialist Party. He co-founded the Warsaw Housing Cooperative (WSM) and its associated Social Construction Company (SPB).

During the defense of Warsaw in September 1939, following an appeal by Roman Umiastowski, he left the city. Upon his return, he became involved in the Workers' Party of Polish Socialists. In 1940, he led the establishment of the Architectural and Urban Planning Studio at the Warsaw School of Economics. He also participated in the work of the Planning Commission of the underground State National Council.

During the German occupation, he used his position as director of the SPB to provide assistance to Jews seeking refuge on the "Aryan" side. He employed them at the SPB, obtained "Aryan" identity cards, the required documents certifying professional experience, and found housing.

From March 5, 1945, to May 23, 1950, he served as Mayor of Warsaw and simultaneously as Chairman of the National Council of the Capital City of Warsaw In July 1945, as Mayor of Warsaw, he joined the Warsaw Capital Committee for the Commemoration of the First Anniversary of the August Uprising.

From 1945 to 1947, he served as a member of the State National Council, and subsequently as a member of the Legislative Sejm and the First Term Sejm from the Bydgoszcz Voivodeship.

From 1950 to 1952, he served as Director General for National Councils at the Presidium of the Council of Ministers. He was an activist in the Polish-Swedish Friendship Society, serving for a time as its chairman. He published extensively in specialized journals.

He was buried in the Alley of the Meritorious at the Powązki Military Cemetery (section A2-tuje-18).

His memoirs from the years 1895–1939 were published posthumously in 1970. In April 1997, the Yad Vashem Institute awarded him the title of Righteous Among the Nations.