| THE SELF-STYLED ORDER OF ST. STANISLAS of JULIUSZ NOWINA-SOKOLNICKI By Rafal Heydel-Mankoo Copyright: 2005, 2006 |
| This Order is an illicit revival of the originally Polish and later Russian-Polish Order of the same name (see the Order of Polonia Restituta for history of the legitimate Order). It is given in five classes by "His Serene Highness Prince Grand Master Count" Julius Nowina-Sokolnicki who claims to have been Grand Master since 9 June 1979, the year of his alleged succession to the Presidency of the Polish Government in Exile. Needless to say, Mr. Sokolnicki is neither a Prince nor a Count. Although there is a Prussian-titled family named Sokolnicki, this is not one from which Juliusz Sokolnicki can claim a male-line descent.
Following the First World War, the government of the re-born Polish state decided to restore the Order of the White Eagle and the Order of Virtuti Militari but not the Order of St. Stanislas. The lavish award of the Order by the Russian Tsars, particularly upon those who could only be regarded as enemies of the Polish nation, caused irreparable damage to the image and prestige of the Order of St. Stanislas. The creation of a new Order of Polonia Restituta to serve as successor to St. Stanislas was deemed preferable to the disgraced Order's revival. That the Order of Polonia Restituta is the successor to St. Stanislas is clearly evidenced by the similarity of the Orders' statutes and ribbon. The Russian Order of St. Stanislas has been awarded since the end of the Russian Empire on rare occasions by the Head of the Imperial House. The details of Mr Sokolnicki's claim to the Presidency of Poland are too complex to be given here; suffice it to say that the present Polish government does not regard him as one of those in succession to the titular Presidency from 1939 onwards. On 27 September 1994, Britain's main Polish daily, Dziennik Polski, published the following statement, in Polish, from Lech Walesa's press spokesman: "Article 11 of Bill 1 of 25 October 1991, while giving the President and Minister of Defence of the Polish Republic the power and obligation to promote to military [knightly] rank, also recognises this power as being bestowed by Authority of the Polish Republic up to 22 December 1990. "The phrase 'the Authority of the Polish Republic' should be understood to mean the organs of the state institutions abroad [i.e. in London] based on the Polish Constitution of 23 April 1935. It therefore recognises as Presidents of the Polish Republic General Boleslaw Winiawe-Dlugoszowski, Wladyslaw Rackiewicz, August Zaleski, Stanislaw Ostrowski, Edward Raczynski, Kazimierz Sabbat, and Ryszard Kaczorowski, as well as the state organs appointed by them. 'According to the Constitution of 23 April 1935 and historical fact they are the successors of President Ignacy Moscicki. "The last mentioned, President Ryszard Kaczorowski, acknowledges that, following free elections in Poland and the election of the President [Walesa] in 1990, the activities of the President-in-Exile terminated when he handed the insignia of the Second Polish Republic to President Lech Walesa. "With this in mind, it should be stated that Mr. Juliusz Nowina-Sokolnicki did not posess the authority of the Polish Republic and therefore his activities purporting to be actions of the state (as a result of calling himself President-in-Exile) cannot be honoured, and according to Article 11 of Bill 1, the ranks granted by him are not recognised. (signed) Andrzej Drzycimski State Secretary Press Spokesman for the President of the Polish Republic (Walesa)" And in a letter from the Vice-Consul of the Polish Embassy in Canada to the author: "Dear Sir, "Further to your letter of May 30th last, I wish to advise you that Mr. Juliusz Nowina Sokolnicki has never been a legitimate Polish President in Exile. His position has never been recognised either formerly by the Polish Government in Exile or currently by the Polish Government in Warsaw. Therefore, his activities as a Polish President in Exile has [sic] never been honoured. "Furthermore, by virtue of the statement of Mr. Andrzej Drzycimski - secretary of state, former spokesman to the Polish President Lech Walesa, published in June 1994, any awards, medals title or ranks granted by Mr. J. Nowina Sokolnici (i.e. the Order of St. Stanislaw mentioned in your letter) are not officially recognised by the Polish authorities. Sincerely yours, (signed) Andrzej K. Krezel Vice Consul." Sokolnicki has been involved with several dubious "Orders" of St. John and has also been associated, according to some reports, with the late Mr. George King, styled "His Serene Highness, Prince Doctor George King de Santorini, Count of Florina, Prince and Grand Master of the Mystic Order of St. Peter" According to these same reports Mr. King claimed to receive telepathic messages from Mars where, apparently, Jesus and Buddha rule a kingdom of intelligent martians. It has been further alleged that Mr. King believed he was earth's representative of the "Interplanetary Parliament" which has its headquarters on the planet Saturn. One assumes he had a large travel allowance. A statement from the Polish Government in Exile in 1987 stated that Mr. Sokolnicki "purports to have left [military] service with the rank of lieutenant-colonel and promoted himself later to the rank of major-general.....His whole life history written on 8 foolscap pages and emunerating all titles, honours, medals and orders is the product of an ebullient imagination." In the same statement the PGIE stated that, as some members are expected to pay a passage fee or dues, the "awarding of orders...is...a source of Mr. Sokolnicki's income." The final paragraph of the PGIE statement reads: "Poles in Poland should also be warned against the pernicious activities of this usurper. By his 'decree' of 5 March 1985 he announced the formation of a 'Special Penal Tribunal' in Warsaw with jurisdiction over the whole country. Its aim is to pass judgement on 'political crimes'....These crimes will carry the death penalty and there will be no right of appeal. A 'special underground operative unit' will be entrusted with execution of sentences....such a 'tribunal' is against all principles of law and order and must be condemned...." Sokolnicki and his followers claim that their Order is the direct continuation not only of the Polish Order but also of the Russian Order, unaware perhaps of the claim laid to it by the current Head of the Imperial House of Romanov. To support their position the self-styled Order's web page lists Sokolnicki as the direct successor of Tsar Nicholas II. The Order has been very successful and has recruited several important personalities (primarily American--including several high-ranking military officers). Investitures are quite frequent and fairly elaborate. The majority of the people who receive Sokolnicki's Order are not Polish (members of the great families of Poland do not belong to the Order) and therefore cannot be expected to be aware of the chivalric controversy surrounding him. To quote Peter Bander Van Duren, author of Orders of Knighthood and Merit, Sokolnicki "lavishly sold and bestowed Polish decorations, titles of Consul General, Consul and all manner of honours to unsuspecting recipients who believed he represented the legitimate Polish Government-in-Exile and was its President." In 2001 the Order of St. Stanislas was featured on a Canadian (CBC TV) investigative journalism show. Part of the expose dealt with the Order's offer of membership to the expansionist Russian war-hawk Vladimir Zhirinovsky (a rather bizarre offer for an allegedly patriotic Polish group). Sokolnicki lives modestly in Colchester, Essex on his stationery in addition to describing himself as former President of the Polish Republic, and Grand Master of Saint Stanislas, he also claims other dubious "honours." Sokolnicki claims to have given the grand collar of his Order to the late Pope - a letter from the retired Bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg diocese dated 4 April 1995 confirmed that he was given several gifts to pass on to His Holiness on the occasion of his 1991 Polish visit, including a "Diploma and Insignia of the Order of St Stanislas". The Bishop states that he "gave all those gifts to the Vatican delegation ... some were taken to Rome some were left in Koszalin. The grand collar of the Order was left in Koszalin and it is in diocesan collection of Holy Father visit souvenirs". Saint Stanislas also has branches across the world and, for some reason, appears to be particularly active in New Zealand, where self-styled "Count" Michael Subritsky-Kusza / Subritzky-Kusza, sometime "New Zealand Ambassador to the Imperial House of Hohenstaufen", plays a prominent role as a "Grand Cross" and former "Castellan" of this Order. This group has been sufficiently successful to justify the publication of a newsletter. The 1991 issue includes mention of the conferral on Sokolnicki of the title of "Prince" by no lesser person than "H.S.H. Prince August von Hohenstaufen." It has web sites at http://www.sanestanislao.org/; and http://www.angelfire.com/realm/StStanislas/ and http://www.ststanislas.org.ua/ My thanks to Guy Stair Sainty for information relating to the Bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg and for authoring some of the text in the first and last paragraphs. CLICK HERE FOR LINKS TO OTHER ARTICLES DEALING WITH THE SELF-STYLED "ORDER" OF ST. STANISLAS. BACK TO MAIN MENU |