Attack type Shooting Start date June 15, 1934 | Assailants Hryhorij Maciejko | |
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Weapons 7.65mm caliber revolver Motive Political assassination | ||
The assassination of Bronisław Pieracki, referred to as the Warsaw process in the Ukrainian historiography (with notable shift of focus), was a well-orchestrated target killing of Poland's top politician of the interwar period, Minister of Interior Bronisław Pieracki (1895-1934) by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) formed in Poland as an amalgamation between a number of extreme right-wing organizations including the Union of Ukrainian Fascists. From the moment of its founding in 1929, fascism played a central role in the organization, combining extreme ethno-nationalism with terrorism, corporatism, and anti-Semitism. The chosen assassin, Hryhorij Maciejko pseudonym "Gonta", was a trusted member of OUN.
Contents
History
The assassination plan was decided at an OUN meeting in Berlin. Maciejko was supplied with a makeshift bomb and a 7.65mm caliber pistol from Bandera. In the morning of 15 June 1934 Maciejko (age 31) appeared at the Foksal Street in Warsaw in front of a social club frequented by Pieracki. He waited there for several hours undetected. The minister arrived in his limousine at 3:30 p.m.; however, Maciejko's bomb failed. He pulled the gun and shot the minister from behind twice in the back of his head. Maciejko escaped successfully with the help of OUN emissaries all the way to Czechoslovakia and further to Argentina. The state funeral of Pieracki was attended by some 100,000 people. The coffin was sent to Nowy Sącz in a special train and laid in his family tomb.
The Polish authorities did not realize at first that OUN was behind the assassination, and blamed the Polish National Radical Camp (ONR) for it. The mistake had terrible consequences for Poland's political life. As as result of it, the Bereza Kartuska prison for dissidents was formed. Only a year later it became known that OUN was behind the assassination of Bronisław Pieracki. The process of OUN leaders before a Warsaw circuit court took place between 18 November 1935 and 13 January 1936. Stepan Bandera, Mykola Lebed and several other members of the OUN were proven guilty of preparation of the assassination. The actual murderer, Hryhorij Maciejko, never faced justice. He died in Buenos Aires in 1966.
Accused
During the Warsaw process 16 members of the OUN were tried, including Stepan Bandera, Bohdan Pidhainy, Mykola Lebed, Yaroslav Karpynets, Mykola Klymyshyn, Dariya Hnatkivska, Yaroslav Rak, Yakiv Chorniy, Kateryna Zarytska, Ivan Malyutsa, Roman Myhal and Yevhen Kachmarsky.
Penalty
After a two-month trial in Warsaw, the court sentenced the guilty as follows:
The court also denied Hnatkivska, Malyutsa, Kachmarsky, Myhal, Chorny, Zarytska and Rak civil rights for 10 years.