Stefan Żbikowski

Stefan Żbikowski (Russian: Стефан Жбиковский; February 24, 1891 – October 26, 1937) was a Polish communist activist, officer of the Red Army and commander of the Revolutionary Red Warsaw Regiment. He was one of the victims of the Great Purge and executed for apparent "counter-revolutionary activities" in 1937.

Biography

Early life Żbikowski was born on February 24, 1891 in Wola Osowińska, Congress Poland. He graduated from high school in 1909 and from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the University of Warsaw in 1915. He briefly worked as a teacher at a Polish realschule in Moscow before being mobilized into the Russian Army in December 1915.

Russian Revolution Following the February Revolution of 1917, he became a member and later chairman of the regimental committee on the Southwestern Front. In early 1918, he joined the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania and participated in the formation of the Revolutionary Red Warsaw Regiment, serving as its commander. He later acted as political commissar during the formation of the Western Rifle Division.