The attempt on Jozef Pilsudski

The Ukrainian military organization planned an assassination attempt on Jozef Pilsudski after the collapse of the ZUNR and the accession of Galicia to Poland. The order on the liquidation of Pilsudski was given by the head of the UVO Evgeny Konovalets , who arrived in Lviv a few months before the assassination attempt. According to some historians, Konovalets actually instructed Stepan Fedak to find an artist, but Fedak decided to carry out the management’s order on his own.

On September 25, 1921, Jozef Pilsudski and Kazimierz Grabowski paid an official visit to Lviv. They attended a solemn meeting in the Lviv City Hall , after which they went to a performance in the Lviv Opera House . On the Market Square, they were met by a crowd of people, among whom were Ukrainian nationalists. Fedak said that people waited for Pilsudski for a very long time, as a result of which they were wildly nervous:

I took a good position, coming out much faster. But time passed, people gathered, crowded and pushed me all the time - and in a short time pushed me far back. Minutes passed, the tension grew not only in me, but also in the public. I held both hands in my pockets, thereby covering or disorienting all kinds of secret police or even Poles who looked at everyone who stood on the side to the left and right of them. In such a tension, someone exclaimed: “Coming!” And the Pole, who was standing nearby, grabbed my hand. I thought that this secret police agent was catching my right hand, in which I held a revolver. However, it turned out that it was an ordinary spectator who nervously grabbed my hand, but at the same moment released it and apologized.

Original text (in Ukrainian)

... I, having occupied the good position, violated significantly. - One day it was past, people climbed in, clamored, and they all looked at me - in the short hour, they smacked me far back. Hvilin’s minals, straining did not grow only in men, but in public. I trimmed offending my hands in my guts, so that I could have a good time with all sorts of secret police, who caught the poles, looked closely at the dermal one, standing on the right side. At such an effort it seemed like a whirlwind: “Ide!” And the Pole, who was standing with a hand to me, grabbed me by the hand. I thought, how can I catch the right hand, but in the third trim I’ll revolver. On the other hand, I got into a big deal, having a great deal of glances, one who had a hand in hand, but the same mentally sounding vibrated.

When Pilsudsky and Grabovsky got into the car, Fedak shot three times in their direction. Because of the crush, he wounded Grabovsky only in the shoulder and left arm, but did not hit Pilsudsky. Fedak tried to shoot himself, but an angry mob did not allow him to do so.

After the attempt, mass arrests of Ukrainians swept through Lviv. According to the statement of the Ukrainian Newsletter dated September 29, 1921, the attempted assassination caused a stir in Warsaw, and Polish newspapers published articles that Pilsudski has the deepest respect for the Ukrainian people and that Polish troops fought for their freedom on the historical land of the Ukrainian people his own good. Fedak, after his arrest, claimed responsibility for the attempt: according to the newspaper Ukrainian Prapor, he said that he only shot the Lviv governor Grabovsky, who carried out a discriminatory policy against the Ukrainians. However, the Polish prosecutor's office charged him with attempted murder of Jozef Pilsudski and high treason.

From October 23 to November 18, 1922 a trial was held. A group of conspirators also fell into the dock: Frantisek Shtyk, Dmitry Paliev , Ostap Kobersky, Vasily Kuchabsky, Mikhail Matchak, Peter Yaremchuk, Leonard Golubovich, Nikolai Tofan, Yan Beletsky, Ostap Gorobiyovsky, Evgeny Tsyblikevich and Bogdan Gnatevich. All the defendants refused to testify, stating that they were not Polish citizens and would not recognize charges of treason. The lawyer of the accused, Yaroslav Olesnitsky, based his position on the fact that the prosecution presented only the revolver from which they fired and the remaining evidence disappeared, besides there was no direct evidence that Fedak’s crime could have been committed against the Polish Republic ^{[ 1]} . The court found Fedak guilty and sentenced him to 6 years in prison, he served his sentence in prison on the street of Stefan Batory , and then in the criminal prison of Ravich. 2 years after the conviction, he was amnestied in exchange for an obligation to leave Poland. Paliev, Matchak, Tsyblikevich and Yaremchuk received 2 years and 6 months in prison, Shtyk received one and a half years in prison. All the rest were justified.

The Ukrainian military organization claimed responsibility for the attempted murder, saying that it was a protest against the policy of Pilsudski and his visit to Eastern Galicia. Pilsudski decided to resign and on December 14, 1922 transferred the powers of the head of state to Gabriel Narutovich . This was a salvation for Pilsudski, because two days later Narutovich was shot dead ^{[2] [3]} . And on September 5, 1924, the UVO organized an assassination attempt on Stanislav Wojciechowski , the then President of Poland ^[4] .

• The assassination of Bronislaw Peratsky
• The assassination of Gabriel Narutovich
• The attempt on Stanislav Wojciechowski

• Bogdan Bіlan. The castle on Jozef Pilsudskogo 1921 rock (Ukrainian) . The magazine «(2014). Date of treatment August 9, 2017.
• Włodzimierz Kalicki. 25 IX 1921. Kula w rękawie (Gazeta Wyborcza)
• Grzegorz Mazur. Zamach na marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego (Polish) // Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska, Sectio F - Historia. - 2005. - S. 407-417 .
• Lucyna Kulińska. Działalność terrorystyczna i sabotażowa nacjonalistycznych organizacji ukraińskich w Polsce w latach 1922-1939. - Kraków, 2009. - ISBN 978-83-7188-147-3 .