SIKORSKI Family Book

Our SIKORSKI family begins with Zenon F. SIKORSKI and his brother, General Wladyslaw E. SIKORSKI, who were born in Russian-occupied Poland. Zenon moved to the United States and his brother became a general and the premier of the Polish government-in-exile during World War II.

The surname "SIKORSKI" is a Polish and Jewish name for a small, dark person. It is derived from the Polish "sikora" - a titmouse or coal mouse.

1. The father of this particular line is not known. He fathered at least two sons and apparently two daughters:

11. Zenon F. SIKORSKI (1871)

12. Wladyslaw E. SIKORSKI 20 May 1881 4 Jul 1943 (62)

11. Zenon F. SIKORSKI was born in Russian-occupied Poland around 1871. He married Alice Blanche SIKORSKI who died while giving birth to their only daughter:

111. Blanche M. SIKORSKI 2 Jul 1909/1911 25 Dec 1980 (71)

Zenon F. SIKORSKI immigrated to the United States in 1890 and was naturalized in 1906. He and his wife, Alice lived in Virginia, St. Louis County, Minnesota at the time of their daughter's birth. Alice did not survive the difficult childbirth and Zenon was left a widower with a small child. As a result, Zenon left his dauther with his two maiden sisters and by 1920 was living nearby at 119 Wisconsin Avenue, Gilbert in St. Louis County with a border named Mike KOMINSKI.

12. General Wladyslaw (Eugeniusz) SIKORSKI was born in Tuszow, Narodowy, Poland on 20 May 1881. He became a general and held off a Russian invasion of Warsaw in 1920. He was unable to hold off the German invasion in 1939 and fled to Paris where he established the Polish government-in-exile where he served as both Commander-in-Chief and Prime Minister. Throughout World War II he tried to organize the Polish Army and constantly negotiated with CHURCHILL and ROOSEVELT to circumvent any appeasement deals between the Allies, Russia, and Germany which would come at Poland's expense. On 4 July 1943, General SIKORSKI was killed along with his only daughter in a suspicious plane crash at Gibraltar.

121. Zofia Lesniowska 4 Jul 1943

Timeline and Excerpts about General SIKORSKI

from "Accident, The Death of General SIKORSKI",
by David IRVING, 1967; DK 440.5 S55 Ir8

Following is a timeline of the modern history of Poland and General Wladyslaw E. SIKORSKI's role in it. It shows the friction between Poland and Russia and the further difficulties created by the British desire to appease Russia and quickly end the war. It also shows the suspicious details of General SIKORSKI's fatal plane crash which give rise to the possibility that the crash was no accident. There are plenty of strange events, such as phone calls foretelling the accident that lead to the possibility of sabotage. The book, "Accident, The Death of General SIKORSKI", presents a possible assassination scenario which contends, if the crash was sabotage, that the British government removed General SIKORSKI because he disrupted negotiations between the British and Soviets by attempting to hold on to Poland's pre-war borders and to find more details on 10,000 troops that were executed by the Russians. The book also points out a significant fact in the sabotage scenario that tends to discredit the possibilty: the pilot of the ill-fated B-24C Liberator was chosen at the last minute by General SIKORSKI himself and would not have been a likely conspirator.

20 May 1881: Wladyslaw E(ugeniusz) SIKORSKI, born in Tuszow, Narodowy, Poland.
29 Aug 1918: LENIN and KARAKHAN declare all previous treaties regarding the division of Poland as null and void. (Specifically the treaties of 1772, 1793, and 1795.)
1919: Russo-Polish War. Soviets occupy Vilna.
8 Dec 1919: Lord CURZON of Great Britain proposes the Curzon Line.
Apr-Oct 1920: The Soviets sweep through Poland but are held off by SIKORSKI's Fifth Army in Warsaw. Marshal PILSUDSKI counter attacks and regains 45% of Poland's territory.
18 Mar 1921: Treaty of Riga. Poland settles with the territory it regained and renounces all claims to the territory it lost.
1926-1930: Marshal PILSUDSKI serves as prime minister of Poland.
1935: PILSUDSKI dies.
Aug/Sep 1939: Germany invades Poland.
17 Sep 1939: Russia invades Poland.
27 Sep 1939: Polish Army falls.
28 Sep 1939: Russo-German Pact divides Poland along the Narew, Bug, and San rivers.
Sep 1939: SIKORSKI sets up a government-in-exile in Paris. Stanislov MIKOLAJCZYK organizes an Underground Army in Poland.
26 Oct 1939: Britain begins making concession to the Soviets when Foreign Minister Lord HALIFAX reiterates that the Soviets rightfully border the Curzon Line.
Apr 1940: The Soviets exterminate 10,000 Poles in the Katyn Forest.
22 Jun 1941: Germany breaks the Russo-German Pact and attacks the Soviet Union.
Jun 1941: France falls and the Polish government moves to London.
30 Jun 1941: The Soviets reestablish relations with the Polish government-in-exile.
12 Aug 1941: The British propose the Atlantic Charter which states that no territorial claims will be established until the conclusion of the war. Both Poland and the Soviet Union sign.
14 Aug 1941: SIKORSKI meets STALIN in Moscow and begins forming a Polish Army on Russian soil under General ANDERS. Only two divisions were formed.
Nov 1941: Polish communists parachute into German-occupied Poland to rebuild the Polish Communist Party in Warsaw.
6 Jan 1942: The Soviets begin to plan their border with Poland.
26 Jan 1942: SIKORSKI learns of the Soviet intention to reestablish the Curzon Line. SIKORSKI tells CHURCHILL "...but that cannot be done without Polish consent..." and asks him to delay his planned meeting with STALIN until Germany penetrates further into Russia. CHURCHILL reassures SIKORSKI that no post-war borders would be discussed but then advises ROOSEVELT that the Soviets should regain territory up to the Curzon Line. ROOSEVELT refuses to discuss post-war borders.
Jan 1942: The Polish Foreign Minister reminds the Soviets that Polish soldiers that should have been freed by the Polish- Russian Agreement are still unaccounted for.
11 Mar 1942: SIKORSKI warns CHURCHILL that he "...could not take it on his conscience..." to accept any British acceptance of Russian demands. CHURCHILL advises SIKORSKI that since the Russians are the only ones succeeding that they will probably be able to chose their own borders. Furthermore, this would be more desirable than a Russo-German alliance.
26 May 1942: Anglo-Soviet Treaty grants concessions to the Soviets.
Mar 1942: While SIKORSKI is flying from Prestwick to Montreal, a British Wing Commander on board discovers that his sabotage device (for use if shot down over enemy territory), which he hid in his gas mask, is getting very hot. The officer conceals the device and attempts to dispose of it in the lavatory. The officer then concocts a story of sabotage to conceal his own stupidity.
30 Nov 1942: On his third and final visit to America, both engines of his aircraft quit within seconds of lift off and 30 feet above the ground. SIKORSKI walks away with no injuries. Sabotage is considered a good possibility.
16 Jan 1943: While CHURCHILL is in North Africa, the Soviets inform the Polish embassy that all citizens of the Soviet annexation of Poland are to be regarded as Soviet citizens. This action would posthumously make all exterminated Polish soldiers Soviet citizens.
4 Feb 1943: SIKORSKI: "The principles of the Atlantic Charter and the terms of the Treaty of Riga are alone valid in determining the eastern frontiers of Poland."
A Soviet rebuttle in Pravda states that the frontiers of 1 Sep 1939 is the valid boundary and the principle of the Atlantic Charter.
1 Mar 1943: Tass states that the Polish government in London will not recognize the "historic rights" of the Ukrainian and White Russian peoples to reunite with their Soviet "blood brothers". Even British Minister Lord CURZON "despite his hostility to the U.S.S.R." had recognized that Poland had no right to former Ukrainian and White Russian territories.
(At the time the Curzon Line was proposed the Russians refused it.)
Mar 1943: Germans uncover approximately 10,000 executed Polish officers and soldiers in the Katyn Forest.
13 Apr 1943: Dr. Joseph Goebbel, Minister of German Propaganda, announces the finding of the buried soldiers on Berlin Radio.
17 Apr 1943: The Polish government requests that the International Red Cross investigate the burial mounds immediately but CHURCHILL advises SIKORSKI not to push the issue since the Polish anti-Russian fervor may be viewed as pro-German.
26 Apr 1943: The Soviets sever diplomatic ties with the Polish government and begin to push CHURCHILL to influence changes in the Polish government. CHURCHILL assures STALIN there would be changes following SIKORSKI's return from the Middle East.
24 May 1943: Despite warnings, several Polish officials and SIKORSKI's only daughter, Madame Zofia Lesniowska, Chief of the Polish Women's Auxiliary, accompany SIKORSKI to the Middle East. Zofia went along to assist her father since he was suffering from a heart ailment.
The first night is spent at Gibraltar. Upon departing to Cairo, the Minister of Works, Karol POPIEL, Mr. MIKOLAJCZYK, and Deputy Minister of Defense General MODELSKI, all receive separate calls falsely reporting that SIKORSKI's plane had crashed on take off with no survivors.
3 Jul 1943: SIKORSKI requests that the pilot that flew him to Cairo, 1Lt PRCHAL, fly him back to Gibraltar in the same aircraft. SIKORSKI spends the night in the Government House on Gibraltar. The Soviet Ambassador had been scheduled to stay the night there but the governor of Gibraltar was a close friend of SIKORSKI's.
4 Jul 1943: After tours of Gibraltar and festivities, General SIKORSKI departs for London at 11:00pm. After reaching only 100 feet, the plane began a slow dive into the sea. Only the pilot survived. All others died or were presumed dead on impact at 11:06pm.

B-24C Liberator AL523

Passengers:

1. General Wladyslaw SIKORSKI Prime Minister and
Commander-in-Chief of Poland

2. Zofia Lesniowska Chief of the Polish Women's Auxiliary

3. Major General Tadeusz KLIMECKI Chief of the Polish General Staff

4. Colonel Andrzej MARECKI Chief of Operations Staff

5. Lieutenant Jozef PONIKIEWSKI Naval A.D.C.

6. Adam KULAKOWSKI Personal secretary to SIKORSKI

7. Colonel Victor CAZALET M.P., British Liason Officer

8. Brigadier J.P. WHITELY M.P.

9. Mr. W.H. LOCK (Never found, presumed dead)

10. Mr. PINDER Head of British Intelligence Service in the Middle East
(his position was never revealed to General SIKORSKI)

11. Bombardier GRALEWSKI (Joined the party at Gibraltar)

Crew:

1. 1Lt Edward Maks PRCHAL Captain/1st Pilot

2. Squadron Leader W.S. HERRING 2nd Pilot (never found)

3. Warrant Officer L. ZALSBERG Navigator

4. Sergeant F. KELLY Flight Engineer

5. Flight Sergeant C.B. GERRIE Radio Operator/Air Gunner

6. Flight Sergeant D. HUNDER Radio Operator/Air Gunner
(never found)

Home

1111.	Robert Wayne WARGIN	8 Mar 1938
1112.	Richard Dennis WARGIN	22 Dec 1941
1113.	*Joan Karen WARGIN*	21 Mar 1944

11.	Zenon F. SIKORSKI	(1871)
12.	Wladyslaw E. SIKORSKI	20 May 1881	4 Jul 1943	(62)

1.	General Wladyslaw SIKORSKI	Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of Poland
2.	Zofia Lesniowska	Chief of the Polish Women's Auxiliary
3.	Major General Tadeusz KLIMECKI	Chief of the Polish General Staff
4.	Colonel Andrzej MARECKI	Chief of Operations Staff
5.	Lieutenant Jozef PONIKIEWSKI	Naval A.D.C.
6.	Adam KULAKOWSKI	Personal secretary to SIKORSKI
7.	Colonel Victor CAZALET	M.P., British Liason Officer
8.	Brigadier J.P. WHITELY	M.P.
9.	Mr. W.H. LOCK	(Never found, presumed dead)
10.	Mr. PINDER	Head of British Intelligence Service in the Middle East (his position was never revealed to General SIKORSKI)
11.	Bombardier GRALEWSKI	(Joined the party at Gibraltar)
Crew:
1.	1Lt Edward Maks PRCHAL	Captain/1st Pilot
2.	Squadron Leader W.S. HERRING	2nd Pilot (never found)
3.	Warrant Officer L. ZALSBERG	Navigator
4.	Sergeant F. KELLY	Flight Engineer
5.	Flight Sergeant C.B. GERRIE	Radio Operator/Air Gunner
6.	Flight Sergeant D. HUNDER	Radio Operator/Air Gunner (never found)