The President of the Second Republic of Poland Stanisław Wojciechowski commemorated on an NBP coin

Narodowy Bank Polski announced that a collector coin “Stanisław Wojciechowski” was available on sale as of 4 April 2023.

The silver coin with a face value of 10 złoty is made of silver, its diameter is 32 millimetres and it weighs 14.14 grams. It has been minted in up to 10,000 pieces and is available at the price of PLN 190.

The reverse of the coin shows an image of Stanisław Wojciechowski and a facsimile of his signature, as well as the dates of his birth and death, the Order of the White Eagle, with which he was decorated, and a quotation of his words as president on 12 May 1926: “I guard the honour of the Polish military and represent Poland here”. The obverse of the coin  shows – in addition to the regular elements such as the image of the Eagle established as the state emblem of the Republic of Poland, the face value and the designation of the year of issue – the historic Belvedere Palace.

Stanisław Wojciechowski was the second president of the Second Republic of Poland; he held the office from 1922 to 1926.

Stanisław Wojciechowski was born in 1869 in Kalisz into an impoverished gentry family. He became involved in underground activities during his studies at the Imperial Warsaw University, where he joined the clandestine Association of the Polish Youth “Zet”. From 1890, he was a member of “Centralizacja” (the governing body) of “Zet”. At the time, he was strongly influenced by Edward Abramowski and his philosophy. Forced to emigrate in 1892, he went on to co-found the Association of Polish Socialists Abroad and the Polish Socialist Party (“PPS”), and in the capacity of an emissary to partitioned Poland, he formed the underground PPS. During the Russian revolution of 1905, Wojciechowski relinquished his membership in the party, then led by the “youth”, who had deleted the fight for an independent Poland from its manifesto, and withdrew from the underground activity.

In 1906, he settled in Warsaw, where he co-created the cooperative movement. He was an editor in the periodical “Społem” (“Together”) and the author of numerous publications on the subject.

After the war broke out in 1914, Wojciechowski became a member of the Central Civic Committee of the City of Warsaw and the Polish National Committee, and then, following his travel to the East in 1915 – he sat on the Central Civic Committee of the Kingdom of Poland in Russia. There, he closely collaborated with Władysław Grabski of the secret National League, providing aid to refugees.

Following his return to Poland, in January 1919 Wojciechowski became minister of the interior in the cabinet formed by Ignacy Jan Paderewski and then in the cabinet of Leopold Skulski. He was involved in the drafting of the constitution and organised the ministry, the state administration and the local government administration, as well as the national police force. In 1921, Wojciechowski joined PSL “Piast” and as a representative of that party, he was elected president of Poland after the death of Gabriel Narutowicz.

Holding the office of president, he had to resolve numerous political conflicts and rivalries between the parties. He proved himself as a firm statesman when on 12 May 1926 he faced Marshal Piłsudski and the officers accompanying him on the Poniatowski Bridge in Warsaw. “I guard the honour of the Polish military and represent Poland here,” he is believed to have said to Piłsudski, barring his way to the buildings housing the constitutional state offices.

As the fighting in the capital city protracted, he handed in his resignation. During Sanation rule, Wojciechowski again became active in the cooperative movement and gave lectures at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences and the Warsaw School of Economics.

He died on 9 April 1953. He was buried in the Powązki Cemetery.

The silver coins “Stanisław Wojciechowski” can be purchased at NBP regional branches and in the NBP online shop Kolekcjoner.

More information can be found in the brochure.

The statement by Ms Barbara Jaroszek, Director of the Cash and Issue Department, on the collector coin “Stanisław Wojciechowski” “Stanisław Wojciechowski” on the silver coin with a face value of  10 złoty – YouTube