Starzyński — Mówi Warszawa
, 46, has been President of Warsaw since 1934. An economist by training, a former colonel in the Polish army, one of Piłsudski's legionaries. He transformed the capital during the 1930s: roads, public transport, social housing, compulsory schooling to age 14. He is one of the most popular Polish leaders of the interwar years, without being openly opposed to the colonels' regime.
On 5 September 1939, the Polish government leaves Warsaw for Lublin, Krzemieniec and then Romania. The commander of the city's defence, General , prepares for siege. On 6 September, Starzyński is appointed civilian commissar for the defence of Warsaw by the Ministry of the Interior, the order delivered by radio. He has some 1.3 million civilians under his care — the population has doubled with the influx of refugees from the north and west.
On 8 September, the first units of the reach the south-western outskirts. On 17 September, the Soviet invasion dooms any hope of a relief offensive. The encircles the city on the 21st. Aerial bombardment and heavy artillery batter the civilian quarters. With every radio address, Starzyński utters the phrase that will lodge in collective memory: "Mówi Warszawa!" — "Warsaw speaking!" On 27 September, military capitulation is imminent.
Warsaw, 27 September 1939, you are Mayor Starzyński: what to do on the eve of capitulation?
Starzyński stays at his post to organise the civilian transition and to speak to the Germans as the population's representative. He remains at City Hall after the military capitulation signed by Czuma and Rómmel on 28 September. He goes on administering the city under German occupation for 3 weeks, negotiating supplies and organising the hospitals. On 27 October 1939, the Gestapo arrests him at City Hall. He is imprisoned at Pawiak, transferred to Gestapo headquarters (Aleja Szucha), and interrogated. The exact date and place of his death remain debated: the long-official version (deportation to Dachau, death in 1943) has been contradicted by recent research. According to the work of the historian (IPN) published in 2014, Starzyński was shot in December 1939 (probably the 17th or the 21st) near Warsaw, as part of the executions of the elite under the Intelligenzaktion. His body has never been found. He becomes the civilian icon of the defence of Warsaw.
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