Józef Kiedroń

Józef Kiedroń (23 March 1879 in Dolní Bludovice - 25 January 1932 in Berlin) was a Polish mining engineer and politician from Cieszyn Silesia.

He was born to a peasant's family. Kiedroń graduated from a school in Cieszyn and then studied at the Lwów Polytechnic. In 1902 he graduated from a Coal Mining Academy in Leoben. Kiedroń worked as a director of two coal mines in Doubrava and was active in trade unions as well as in the Polish cultural and educational organizations. He had merit in establishment of Polish primary schools in the area, mining school in Doubrava and the Juliusz Słowacki Polish Grammar School in Orłowa. On 1 August 1905 he married Zofia Kirkor-Kiedroniowa, Polish activist and sister of noted politicians Stanisław and Władysław Grabski. Together with his wife he cooperated with Polskie Zjednoczenie Narodowe (Polish National Unity) political organization in Cieszyn Silesia of right-wing character.^[1] In 1918 Kiedroń prepared manifesto of the Rada Narodowa Księstwa Cieszyńskego (National Council of the Duchy of Cieszyn), a local Polish self-government council working to join Cieszyn Silesia to Poland.

In 1920, Cieszyn Silesia was divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia by the decision of Spa Conference, in which Kiedroń was present as a Polish delegate. His hometown and the workplace fell to Czechoslovakia and Kiedroń left the Zaolzie area, as he was an active pro-Polish activist; and stayed in Poland, where worked in Upper Silesia and Warsaw. In 1923-1925 he was the Minister of Industry and Trade in the government of Władysław Grabski.

Kiedroń died on 25 January 1932 in Berlin and is buried at a Protestant cemetery in Cieszyn.

Footnotes

References

• Dokoupil, Lumír (1997). Biografický slovník Slezska a severní Moravy. Ostrava: Ostravská univerzita. ISBN 80-7042-461-3. 

• Magiera, Władysława (2011). Sierota ministrem. Józef Kiedroń 1879-1932. Czeski Cieszyn: Kongres Polaków w Republice Czeskiej. ISBN 978-80-87381-07-6. 

• Nowak, Krzysztof (2008). "Polskość i ruch narodowy". In Krzysztof Nowak. Pierwsza Niepodległość. Cieszyn: Urząd Miejski Cieszyn. pp. 7–17. ISBN 978-83-89835-40-6.