Cross of Merit (Poland)

The Cross of Merit (Polish: Krzyż Zasługi) is a Polish civil state decoration established on 23 June 1923, to recognize services to the state.[1]

Cross of Merit
Krzyż Zasługi
Current version of the Gold Cross of Merit
TypeMedal awarded in three grades: Gold, Silver, and Bronze
Awarded forExemplary public service or humanitarian work that goes above and beyond the call of duty
Country Poland
Presented bythe President of Poland
Claspsdenotes subsequent award
StatusCurrently awarded
Established23 June 1923
First awarded11 November 1923
Precedence
Next (higher)Cross of Merit with Swords
Next (lower)Military Cross of Merit with Swords,
Air Force Cross of Merit with Swords,
Navy Cross of Merit with Swords

History

At the time of its establishment in 1923, the Cross of Merit was the highest civilian award in Poland. It was awarded to citizens who went beyond the call of duty in their work for the country and society as a whole. May be awarded twice in each grade to the same person.[2]

  • Gold Cross of Merit issued by the People's Republic
    Gold Cross of Merit issued by the People's Republic
  • Silver Cross of Merit issued by the People's Republic
    Silver Cross of Merit issued by the People's Republic

The Order

The Order has three grades:

1. Gold Cross of Merit
2. Silver Cross of Merit
3. Bronze Cross of Merit

Recipients

Gold Cross of Merit
Gold Cross of Merit
NameDateNotes
Edward Karpinski January 2023 For exemplary public service in the Polish community in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Ewa Hojna13 May 2022Director of Polish School Cultural Association (ACEP), Spain
Jan-Krzysztof Duda2021chess grandmaster[3]
Rick Sahar 2020 For building good relations through shared events within the Polish-Jewish communities in Wellington, New Zealand
Wanda Paulina Gluszek2016political activist, poet, Chicago, Illinois
Michał Korwin-Szymanowski, also known as Michel Korwin2015Montréal, Canada
John P. Lynch3 November 2014CEO and founder of Lynka[4]
Philippe Blain27 October 2014coach of Poland men's national volleyball team – World Champions 2014
Fabian Drzyzga27 October 2014volleyball player, World Champion 2014
Mateusz Mika27 October 2014volleyball player, World Champion 2014
Karol Kłos27 October 2014volleyball player, World Champion 2014
Michał Kwiatkowski2014Polish road cyclist
Andrzej Wrona27 October 2014volleyball player, World Champion 2014
Paweł Zatorski27 October 2014volleyball player, World Champion 2014
Joanna Zawadzka2 May 2014community activist living in Scotland, director of Polish Cultural Festival Association
Aleksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm20 June 2014U.S.-based writer and academic
Katarzyna Maria Dziewanowska26 September 2013scientific research, University of Idaho
Elwira GrossmanAugust 2013Scotland
John DodunskiMarch 2013New Zealand
Robert DodunskiMarch 2013New Zealand
Bogdan Labecki2013[5]
Margaret Scannell née DodunskiMarch 2013New Zealand
Michal Kuleczka2013[6]
Thomas Gabriel Grasza Esq11 November 2011postage stamp and coin designer and noted Canadian-Polish philatelist of four decades
Izabella Zielińska2011Polish pianist
Bronisław Oczkowski14 December 2010Melbourne, Australia[7]
Geertjan Lassche2007Dutch reporter and documentary film maker
Tomasz Miśkiewicz2011Silver Cross of Merit 2006, mufti, for work with the immigrant and native Islamic Youth, Gold Cross of Merit 2011, for work with the Muslim minorities, and for interfaith dialogue
Maciej Klich 2005 Polish historian, graphic artist, and a former anti-communist Polish independence diaspora activist
Małgorzata Kalinowska-Iszkowska2005Polish computer scientist[8]
Agata Mroz-Olszewska2005volleyball player, double European champion team member, 2003 and 2005
Adam Skorek2004
Ryszard Antoni KuśmierczykAugust 2002Engineer and community leader based ub Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Alojzy Nowak2002[9]
Jerzy Zralski2000II WW veteran and writer.[5]
Stanisław Nosal1979Polish Colonel of the 5th Rocket Artillery Battalion in Modlin Fortress, Poland.
Witold Bełza1938Polish librarian, writer, publicist and cultural activist.[10]
Michael BieglerGerman head coach of the Poland national handball team
Jan BujakJuly 1984Corporate owner
Stanisław Sylwester Alfonzy Grodyński1939Polish Governor (Starost), military intelligence officer, lawyer.[11]
Stanisław Horno-Popławski1952Polish painter, sculptor and pedagogue.[12]
Ryszard JurkowskiSilver and Gold Cross of Merit, Polish architect
Jerzy ŁuckiAugust 1995Toronto, Canada
A.E.G.JungSeptember 1995Stellenbosch, South Africa
Marian MachowskiPolish footballer and researcher[13]
Krzysztof Kazimierz Miller1964architect, urbanist
Agnieszka Radwańskatennis player[14]
Bronisława Rychter-Janowska1939Cracovian artist.[15]
Moses SchorrRabbi, Polish historian, politician, bible scholar, assyriologist and orientalist
Stefania SkwarczyńskaPolish theorist and historian of literature, theatrologist, full professor, honorary doctor of the University of Łódź, World War II resistance fighter
Captain Raymond Delver Smith Carrington J.P.1990for distinguished and outstanding service to Poland and its people
Henri Strzelecki1990co-founder of Henri Lloyd.
Arthur Szyk1931Polish-Jewish fine artist, book illustrator, and political artist.[16]
Józef Weyssenhoff1932Polish writer, novelist, poet, literary critic, publisher.[17]
Edward Lisiowski 1974 Service to the people of Wojszyn.
Afanasij Poliszczuk1946veterinary service chief in the First Polish Army
Alojzy Walentego Zygmunt29 November 1972For fifteen years of uninterrupted and distinguished work in the mining industry

Silver Cross of Merit
Silver Cross of Merit
NameDateNotes
Maria Boniecka1937work with illiterate adults
Francis K. Czyzewski4 July 1939writer, astronomer, meteorologist, photographer, playwright, WSBT Polish Hour radio program host, life member of the solar division of the American Variable Star Observers at Harvard College Observatory (1951); former president, Polish-American Central Civic Committee; staff writer, South Bend Tribune; South Bend, Indiana
Adela Dankowska1970Polish glider pilot
Grzegorz FrycSeptember 2014New York[18]
Helena Gąsienica DanielOlympic cross-country skier[19]
Marcin Pawel GrzadkaNovember 2013Harcmistrz, co-founder of YPCPA.[20] & chairman of Quo Vadis Leadership Conference.[21] – Canada
Rudolf GundlachGundlach tank periscope inventor
Robert Makłowicz2004journalist and historian, notable for promoting the Polish cuisine
Tomasz MoczerniukSeptember 2014New York[18]
Witold Pilecki1938Soldier
Filip SlipaczekMay 2014UK[22]
Adam Świerkocz2005Polish brigadier general
Jerzy Troszczynskiphotographer[23]
Krzysztof WojciechowskiAugust 2013Poland[24]
Wlodzimierz Mieczyslaw Wojciechowski1973Polish soldier and resistance fighter, London
Czesław s. Ignacego Przybylak1956decorated Polish humanitarian activist, decorated worker of the state and Holocaust Survivor
Jacek Banasiak2014Professor and DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Mathematical Models and Methods in Biosciences and Bioengineering at the University of Pretoria[25]
Maciej Żółtowski 2002 Polish conductor and composer

Bronze Cross of Merit
Bronze Cross of Merit
NameDateNotes
Stefan Ficner1945Great Grandfather, Patriot, Golina, Polska
Stanisław Łukaszewicz1944Bronze Cross of Merit with Swords, Sargeant 10 Dragoons, 1 Polish Armoured Division, 1 Polish Corps for action at Falaise Gap, France 1944[26]
Piotr Paweł Morta1998Also Silver Cross of Merit – 2010
Marguerite Ettienette Andrée Mouton – née Guillemin1950sEducator; Soissons, France
Elżbieta Smereka3 May 1987For meritorious social services
Tomasz Trembowski2013Canada[27]
Dariusz Jemielniak2018[28]

See also

References
  1. "Dz.U. 1923 nr 62 poz. 458" (in Polish). Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  2. "Krzyż Zasługi" (in Polish). 14 November 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  3. "Jan-Krzysztof Duda odznaczony Złotym Krzyżem Zasługi. "Nikt nie osiąga sukcesu sam"" (in Polish). Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  4. "News". Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  5. "Government House (Award to Canadians)". Canada Gazette. Vol. 134, No. 43 — 21 October 2000. from: www.http://publications.gc.ca/gazette/archives/p1/2000/2000-10-21/pdf/g1-13443.pdf
  6. "Government House (Award to Canadians)". Canada Gazette. Vol. 147, No. 8 — 23 February 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2013 from: http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2013/2013-02-23/html/gh-rg-eng.html
  7. "Nadanie orderów i odznaczeń. - M.P.2011.27.295".
  8. Andrzej Maciejewski (25 November 2005). "Ordery za IT" [Orders for IT] (in Polish). Computerworld.
  9. "Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 20 września 2002 r. o nadaniu orderów i odznaczeń". isap.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  10. "PATRON – WITOLD BEŁZA". biblioteka.bydgoszcz.pl. biblioteka.bydgoszcz. 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  11. The Grodyński Brigade, Andrzej ST Grodyński 1977/2012
  12. M.P. 1952 nr 70 poz. 1078. Zarządzenie o nadaniu Złotego Krzyża Zasługi (PDF). Warsaw: PREZYDENT RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ. 22 July 1952.
  13. Filipiuk, Jerzy (5 January 2022). "Zmarł były świetny piłkarz Marian Machowski. Grał w Nadwiślanie Kraków i Wiśle Kraków, wystąpił w reprezentacji Polski" [Former great footballer Marian Machowski has died. He played in Nadwiślana Kraków and Wisła Kraków, he played for the Poland national team]. Gazeta Krakowska (in Polish). Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  14. "Sukces w kraju bez trawy. Janowicz, Kubot i Radwańska z Krzyżami Zasługi". www.sport.pl. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  15. iPSB (2014). "Bronisława Rychter-Janowska (1868–1953, malarka)". Internetowy Polski Słownik Biograficzny. Narodowy Instytut Audiowizualny. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  16. Ungar, Irvin; Berenbaum, Michael; Freudenheim, Tom L.; Kettlewell, James (2017). Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art. London: D Giles Limited. p. 224. ISBN 978-1-911282-09-9.
  17. M.P. 1932 nr 123 poz. 155. Zarządzenie o nadaniu Złotego Krzyża Zasługi (PDF). Warsaw: PREZYDENT RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ. May 1932.
  18. "Awards at the Consulate General of Poland in New York". Retrieved 24 September 2014 from: http://www.prezydent.pl/aktualnosci/ordery-i-odznaczenia/art,1369,odznaczenia-w-konsulacie-generalnym-rp-w-nowym-jorku.html Archived 15 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  19. "Nie żyje Helena Gąsienica Daniel-Lewandowska" [Helena Gąsienica Daniel-Lewandowska is dead]. onet.pl (in Polish). 25 November 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  20. Grzadka, Marcin (12 November 2013). "Co-founder of, first President, and Chairman of the Young Polish Canadian Professionals Association". YPCPA. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  21. Grzadka, Marcin (12 November 2013). "Chairman of Quo Vadis 3 – International leadership conference, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada – May 2011. Advisor to 2012 conference in Calgary, Canada & Chicago, USA". QVC. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  22. "Polish Embassy London (Awarded for Polish-Jewish dialogue)". Retrieved 15 July 2014 from: http://www.londyn.msz.gov.pl/en/c/MOBILE/news/silver_cross_of_merit__for_filip_slipaczek
  23. "Jerzy Troszczyński". fototeka.fn.org.pl. National Film Archive. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  24. "Dr. Krzysztof Wojciechowski, Direktor des Collegium Polonicum Slubice, mit Verdienstkreuz der Republik Polen ausgezeichnet". OderPost. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  25. "Banasiak". African Scientists Directory. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  26. Letter from Ministry of Defence, 11 June 2003
  27. "Government House (Award to Canadians)". Canada Gazette. Vol. 147, No. 4 — 26 January 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013 from: http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2013/2013-01-26/html/gh-rg-eng.html#c101
  28. "Odznaczenia dla zasłużonych w działalności na rzecz rozwoju nauki" (in Polish). 8 October 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
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