Kazimierz Sabbat (27 February, 1913 – 19 July 1989) was a Polish soldier, statesman, and politician who served as the President of Poland in exile from 1986 until he died in 1989. A staunch advocate for Polish independence, Sabbat dedicated his life to preserving the legitimacy of Poland’s government in exile and supporting the resistance against communist rule.
Born in Bieliny Kapitulne, Poland, Sabbat graduated from law at Warsaw University before the outbreak of World War 2. Following Germany’s invasion in September of 1939, he fled to France and later to the United Kingdom, where he joined the Polish Armed Forces under British command. He distinguished himself in the Polish Navy during the war.
After World War II, as Poland fell under Soviet influence, Sabbat remained in the UK, actively involved in the Polish émigré community. He became a leader in the Polish Scouting Association and worked diligently to preserve Polish cultural and political institutions abroad.
In the 1970s, Sabbat held key positions in the Polish government-in-exile, serving as Vice President and later as Prime Minister from 1976 to 1986. His tenure was marked by efforts to uphold Poland’s sovereignty in exile and support democratic opposition movements against communist rule in Poland.
Sabbat assumed the presidency of Poland in exile in 1986 following the death of President Edward Raczyński. During his presidency, he continued to champion Polish independence and democracy, maintaining close ties with Poland’s anti-communist opposition, including the Solidarity movement led by Lech Wałęsa.
He passed away on July 19, 1989, in London, just months before Poland transformed into a democracy. His successor, Ryszard Kaczorowski, became the last President of Poland in exile before the official transfer of power to Lech Wałęsa in 1990.
On 19 July 1989, at about 7 pm, he left the offices of the President of the Republic of Poland in Exile in London at 43 Eaton Place SW1, bound for his home at 38 Parkside, near Wimbledon; on his way to Sloane Square tube station at 7.20 pm, he collapsed and fell and was taken to Westminster Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The last activity of the President was to learn that the head of communist military dictatorship in Poland, Wojciech Jaruzelski, became the first contract President of the newly formed III Polish Republic.
Kazimierz Sabbat is remembered as a devoted patriot who safeguarded the continuity of the Polish state through decades of foreign-imposed communist rule.
President Kazimierz Sabbat is buried at Gunnersbury Cemetery in London.
On 12 November 2022, along with the ceremonial deposition of the remains of the three Presidents of the Republic of Poland in Exile (Władysław Raczkiewicz, August Zaleski and Stanisław Ostrowski) in the Mausoleum of the Presidents of the Republic of Poland in Exile, a Memorial Chamber was also opened in Warsaw in which President Sabbat was commemorated in a symbolic grave, as his family refused to relocate his remains to Poland.
Source: IPN, British Poles
Photo: IPN and British Poles
Tomasz Modrzejewski
