J-Jozef Pilsudski He was born on December 5, 1867 in Zułów near Wilno. He came from a wealthy landowning family where Polish traditions and patriotic spirit were nurtured. His father, also Jozef, took part in the January Uprising in 1863, when Poles tried once again to regain independence lost between 1772 and 1795 during three successive Russian-Prussian-Austrian partitions.

That is why young Piłsudski, after graduating from gymnasium in Vilnius in 1885, enrolled in medical studies at the University of Kharkov, where he joined the socialist-revolutionary Narodnaya Volya movement. However, after a year of study he was expelled from the university for participating in student riots. He was also not admitted to the University of Dorpat in Estonia, whose authorities were informed about his political sympathies.

On 22 March 1887, Piłsudski was arrested for his involvement in the activities of Vilnius socialists, and accused of participating in a conspiracy aimed at overthrowing Tsar Alexander II.

In 1893, the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) was founded in Warsaw. Piłsudski, who had returned from exile a year earlier, joined the ranks of its Lithuanian branch, and in 1894 became a member of the Central Workers' Committee and editor-in-chief of the PPS's magazine Robotnik. Six years later, as one of the party's leading leaders, he was again arrested by the Russian authorities and imprisoned in the Warsaw Citadel. However, the following year he was transferred to a hospital in St. Petersburg, where he simulated insanity and escaped with the help of a doctor, Władysław Mazurkiewicz.

After returning to Galicia, he did not give up his political activity. In 1904, he went to Japan, which was at war with Russia, where he negotiated with the Mikado government to establish a Polish legion under the Japanese army. However, he only obtained help in purchasing arms and ammunition for the PPS and the PPS Fighting Organisation formed by the party. Despite quelling a number of riots, unrest and clashes with the police, Piłsudski continued his efforts to create a Polish military force. When the PPS split in 1906, a group associated with Piłsudski founded the Revolutionary Faction, which was planning an uprising against the tsar.

In 1910, in the Austrian partition, two legal organisations were set up - the 'Riflemen's Association' in Lwów and the 'Riflemen's Society' in Kraków, which conducted training and theoretical lectures on military matters. In 1912, Piłsudski became Chief Commander of the Riflemen's Association. At the outbreak of World War I, he led well-trained troops, with which he entered the Kingdom of Poland, where he occupied a strip of border land abandoned by the Russians. Subsequently, having surrendered to Austria, he officially created the Polish Legions and personally commanded their First Brigade, while in close conspiracy he established the Polish Military Organization (POW). When in 1917 the Legions refused to swear an oath of allegiance to Austria and Germany, Piłsudski was arrested and imprisoned in Magdeburg, where he remained until November 1918.

In 1923, however, the Marshal withdrew from active political life. The reason for this was the assassination by right-wing parties of the President of the Republic of Poland Gabriel Narutowicz, who was killed by the painter Eligiusz Niewiadomski only a week after his election, during the opening of an exhibition at the 'Zachęta' gallery. Piłsudski found it impossible to cooperate with the Prime Minister, Wincenty Witos, whom he regarded as morally responsible for the committed act. He retreated to Sulejówek near Warsaw, where he devoted himself to literary work and opposition propaganda. At that time the following were written: "Memories of Gabrijel Narutowicz” (1923), „On the value of a soldier of the Legions” (1923), „1920” (1924), „The source of the country's impotence" (1924) i "My first buoys” (1925).

However, the situation in the country forced him to re-enter the political arena. Social unrest, the growing number of unemployed and the economic crisis caused Piłsudski, who enjoyed great support and respect from society, to demand that the Witos Cabinet relinquish power. When his appeals failed, however, on May 12, 1926, at the head of his loyal troops, Piłsudski marched into Warsaw, and after three days of fighting forced both the government and the cabinet of President Stanisław Wojciechowski to resign. However, he did not accept the nomination for this office - aware of its limited competences, he refused to accept this dignity, but took the posts of Minister of Military Affairs, Chairman of the War Council and Inspector General of the Armed Forces. He was also prime minister twice (in the years 1926-1928 and 1930).

In fact, it marked the end of parliamentary rule in Poland, and ushered in the period known as 'sanacja' (from the Latin 'sanatio' - healing) - a government aiming to improve the situation of the state. The public support and skilful rhetoric that ensured it allowed Piłsudski to exercise authoritarian power, which could not be opposed either by the President (appointed by the Marshal anyway) or the Sejm, whose powers were limited by amendments to the Constitution introduced on 2nd August 1926.

In foreign policy Pilsudski sought to maintain good relations with the Soviet Union (non-aggression pact of 1932) and Germany (1934). Both agreements were to strengthen Poland's position vis-à-vis our allies and neighbors.

Jozef Pilsudski's death on May 12, 1935 surprised the entire nation. Until almost the last moment he was hiding an incurable disease - liver cancer. His funeral became a huge national manifestation paying tribute to the deceased Marshal. The body was buried in the crypt of St. Leonard in Wawel Cathedral, next to generations of kings and the most eminent Poles, while the heart, in accordance with his will, was placed in a silver urn and transported to Vilnius, where it rested in the grave of his mother, in the cemetery "on Rossa".