Morawiecki wrote on Twitter that 85 years ago Poland lost not only a political authority but a key figure in the country’s efforts to regain sovereignty.
He added that Piłsudski had “left behind a monument more durable than bronze – a free and independent Poland.”
Poland regained its independence after World War I ended, on 11 November 1918, after more than 120 years of foreign rule.
Piłsudski became Chief of State for four years, until the office of president was created in 1922. He served as chief commander in the Polish-Soviet War, in which the Red Army was beaten back from the gates of Warsaw 100 years ago, in August 1920.
After the collapse of a series of governments, Piłsudski led a military coup in 1926. He refused the office of president thereafter but maintained a tight grip on power until his death on May 12, 1935.
A museum documenting Piłsudski’s life and political activities is to open later this year in Sulejówek near Warsaw, in a villa which was commissioned for Piłsudski by his former World War I comrades-in-arms, shortly after Poland regained independence.
(mk/pk)