Cieślewski Ernest

Ernest Jan Cieślewski (1886–1942) was a lieutenant colonel engineer pilot of the Polish Army, one of the organisers of Polish military aviation in the interwar period. He was born on 29 August 1886 in Ostrów. After graduating from gymnasium he studied at Lwów Polytechnic and then at the Military Technical Academy in Mödling. In 1907 he began his service in the Imperial and Royal Army, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant of artillery. Between 1912 and 1914 he continued his engineering studies at the Vienna Polytechnic. During World War I he served in the 10th Mountain Artillery Regiment, where he was adjutant and then battery commander. After the end of the war and Poland’s regaining of independence he joined the Polish Army, becoming involved in building the structures of military aviation. Between 1921 and 1939 he served as commander of the 2nd Aviation Regiment in Kraków, one of the key aviation regiments of the Second Polish Republic, responsible for the training and organisation of aviation units. During this period he played a significant role in the development of Polish military aviation and its technical and organisational infrastructure. After the outbreak of World War II he was arrested by the German occupation authorities and imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he died on 1 November 1942.