Aleksander Prystor

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Aleksander Błażej Prystor (Polish:

Aleksander Prystor was born in Vilnius, now the capital of Lithuania and then called Vilna under the Russian Empire, to a railroad worker Feliks Prystor and Maria (née Olejnik). In 1894 he graduated from the Second High School in Vilna and began studying mathematics and physics at Imperial Moscow University. Lacking financial support from his family, Prystor lived in poverty. After graduation in 1900, he decided to study medicine at the University of Tartu. In the summer of 1902, he returned to Vilna, taking a job in a bank. Between November 1903 and September 1904, Prystor served in the 16th Sapper Battalion of the Imperial Russian Army.

Sometime in the early 20th century, Prystor joined Polish Socialist Party, and became a close associate of Józef Piłsudski. In September 1903, he left Vilna, and went to Switzerland, to undergo military training, together with Pilsudski and other activists. In 1904 Prystor, together with Jozef Kwiatek, Walery Sławek and Boleslaw Jedrzejowski, organized public protests against the forcible draft of ethnic Poles into the Russian Army to fight in the Russo-Japanese War. Also, he constructed bombs which damaged the monument of Tsar Alexander III of Russia.

In early 1905, Prystor became one of the leaders of the

On September 26, 1908, Prystor was one of the participants of the legendary Bezdany raid. At the same time, he was actively involved in the activities of the Union of Active Struggle. On March 28, 1912, in Warsaw, Prystor was arrested by the Okhrana. After two years of imprisonment in Warsaw Citadel, he was in 1914 sentenced to 7 years of exile, and sent to prison in Oryol. Released after the February Revolution (March 17, 1917), he continued working for the Polish Socialist Party.

After the capture of Minsk by the Imperial German Army (May 1918), Prystor came to Warsaw, to join Polish Military Organisation. Together with other activists, he prepared the assassination of General Hans Hartwig von Beseler, but the attack was cancelled. On November 10, 1918, Prystor was among the officials who welcomed Józef Piłsudski at Warszawa Główna railway station.

Prystor was the godfather of Pilsudski's first daughter, Wanda, born on 7 February 1918.

Second Polish Republic

From 1918 to 1919, Prystor worked in the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. In April 1919, he was the aide of General

In June 1920, he volunteered for the army, to fight in the Polish–Soviet War. In July he was named company leader in the 201st Infantry Regiment of the Volunteer Division, commanded by Adam Koc (see Volunteer Army (Poland)). Prystor distinguished himself during the fighting, and was awarded the Cross of Valour. Before the Battle of Warsaw (1920), he was recalled from the frontline by Józef Piłsudski and became the personal assistant of the Polish Marshal.

Prystor remained in the

On April 30, 1927, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel (

Prystor was one of the few men in Poland with direct access to Pilsudski, at any time of the day and night. He lived in the Belweder, together with the Marshal. In 1929, he was briefly manager of the Personal Officer of the Ministry of Military Affairs. On April 26, 1929, he was named the Minister of Labour and Social Services in the government of Kazimierz Bartel. Working under very difficult conditions, as Poland was affected by the Great Depression, Prystor managed to increase unemployment benefits and increase the program of Public works. Furthermore, he dissolved the structures of the government health insurance program, which were in the hands of oppositional Polish Socialist Party. Among others, Prystor introduced government commissars into local offices of health insurance.

After the collapse of the government of Kazimierz Świtalski, Prystor once again became the Minister of Labour and Social Services, in the fifth government of Kazimierz Bartel. He remained in this post in the governments of Walery Sławek and Józef Piłsudski. In 1931, he was elected to the Sejm, as a member of the pro-government Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government (BBWR), remaining in the Polish Parliament until 1935.

In December 1930, Prystor was appointed the Minister of Trade and Industry, and on May 27, 1931, he became the Prime Minister of Poland. He was regarded as a poor premier, avoiding any reforms. His policies resulted in decrease of investment and deepened recession. Prystor remained in his post until May 1933, when Józef Piłsudski demanded his dismissal. The reason for this most likely was a personal conflict between Prystor's wife Janina, and Pilsudski's wife

In 1934, Prystor went on a private trip to Lithuania, during which he talked with main Lithuanian politicians, including President Antanas Smetona. The talks were unsuccessful.

After the death of Pilsudski in May 1935, he was associated with the group of

• Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari
• Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, previously awarded the Commander's Cross
• Cross of Independence with Swords
• Cross of Valour
• Grand Cross of the
  Order of Christ
  (Portugal, 1931)

References

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Political offices
Preceded by Walery Sławek	Prime Minister of Poland 1931–1933	Succeeded by Janusz Jędrzejewicz