Today marks the anniversary of an extremely important but unfortunately forgotten event. The Polish Aviation Museum, as an institution devoted to preserving the memory and history of the place it has always been connected with — the Kraków Rakowice-Czyżyny airfield, which in independent Poland became the home of the 2nd Aviation Regiment — considers it its duty to remind and raise awareness that independence began on 31 October in Kraków.
We invite you to read the account of the events of those days, prepared by Dr hab. Krzysztof Mroczkowski, Deputy Director for Research at the Polish Aviation Museum:
“On 30 October, a clear collapse of Austria’s military-political situation occurred. The Polish Military Organisation (POW) considered this the right moment for armed action and ordered the already organised cadres to stand by. It was decided that in individual units, command should be taken over by the most senior Polish officers, or in the worst case, by Slavs. The order was clear and unambiguous; however, as can be inferred, its authors did not take into account the fact that in some units Poles were not in the majority or did not feel connected to the POW. This was precisely the situation at the Rakowice airfield, where apart from Florer there were few Poles — including Sgt Pilot Franciszek Kołodziński, Sgt Antoni Jucha, and a certain group of enlisted men. Florer theoretically met the requirements of the Polish Liquidation Commission — he was the most senior officer and a Pole. The only question was whether he intended to get involved and submit to the new reality.
In the early morning of 31 October 1918, administrative and military authority in Kraków passed into the hands of the Polish Liquidation Commission. Brigadier Bolesław Roja (soon promoted by the Commission to the rank of Brigadier General), commanding on the Polish side, decided that very same day to seize the airfield in Rakowice. For this purpose, he formed a commission consisting of Reserve Lt Dr Zdzisław Dzikowski, 2nd Lt Jan Szubert, and Eng. Feliks Sobolewski. Around noon on 31 October, Brigadier Roja’s representatives went to the airfield with the demand that the air station be subordinated to the Polish Liquidation Commission. The commander still serving there, Hauptmann Roman Florer, surrendered authority to Lt Dzikowski without resistance; however, the latter took over command only symbolically, as he decided to return to Kraków, leaving Sgt Antoni Jucha as his representative.
The fact that command of the airfield was left to a sergeant (sic!) in a situation where Florer theoretically met all the formal requirements assumed by the POW raises a serious question: why, despite this, was it decided that he would not be the representative of the Polish Liquidation Commission, but merely an informal adviser to a non-commissioned officer? One can only speculate on this matter. Jucha himself recalled: “Then after 1 PM [31 October — KM] a Commission arrived from Kraków, with them Capt. Dzikowski, who after looking into the whole matter took over command of the airfield from the previous [commander] Florer, who was left in suspension on suspicion of being of foreign nationality. Hauptmann Florer called us to assembly and announced that he was handing over command of the company to Capt. Dzikowski. Capt. Dzikowski, upon assuming command, asked about the Poles; six of us stepped forward, though there were eight of us in total, only those two were not present, and he announced that we would stay, while the rest of the soldiers of foreign nationality would go home. Capt. Florer […] recommended me as a trusted person to Capt. Dzikowski, who summoned me to the office, where I received certain orders regarding the securing of state treasury property, but I did not report to him that in this case we were powerless, because there were [only] six of us, we were not of one and the same mind, we would not manage”.
For Florer, this must have been a tremendous affront, while for Jucha it was a problem of a service nature. The situation must have been extremely difficult to accept — we do not know the course of the conversations between Florer and Dzikowski, nor the attitude of the rest of the officer corps to the events.
Nevertheless, on 31 October 1918, the Rakowice-Czyżyny airfield was taken over from Austrian hands and became the first Polish air base.”
Photographs and digital copies used as illustrations in this article are the property of the Museum.
