Maciej Rataj (19 February 1884 – 21 June 1940) was a Polish politician and writer.

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Quick Facts Acting President of Poland, Prime Minister ...

Maciej Rataj
Maciej Rataj
Acting President of Poland
In office 15 May – 4 June 1926
Prime Minister	Kazimierz Bartel
Preceded by	Stanisław Wojciechowski
Succeeded by	Ignacy Mościcki
In office 16 December – 22 December 1922
Prime Minister	Julian Nowak Władysław Sikorski
Preceded by	Gabriel Narutowicz
Succeeded by	Stanisław Wojciechowski
2nd Marshal of the Sejm
In office 23 November 1922 – 26 March 1928
President	Józef Piłsudski (Chief of State) Gabriel Narutowicz Himself (acting) Stanisław Wojciechowski Himself (acting) Ignacy Mościcki
Prime Minister	Julian Nowak Władysław Sikorski Wincenty Witos Władysław Grabski Aleksander Skrzyński Wincenty Witos Kazimierz Bartel Józef Piłsudski
Preceded by	Wojciech Trąmpczyński
Succeeded by	Ignacy Daszyński
Personal details
Born	19 February 1884 Chłopy, near Lemberg, Austria-Hungary
Died	21 June 1940(1940-06-21) (aged 56) Palmiry, General Government
Resting place	Palmiry
Political party	Polish People's Party "Piast"
Alma mater	University of Lwów
Occupation	Politician

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Born in the village of Chłopy, near Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine), on 19 February 1884, he attended a gymnasium in Lwów and studied classical linguistics at the University of Lwów. Upon the completion of his studies he became a gymnasium teacher first in Lwów, and later in Zamość. He became involved in politics after the Second Polish Republic gained independence following the First World War. He was a member of the Polish People's Party "Piast" political party, and, from 1931, a member of the People's Party. He became president of the Stronnictwo and the chief editor of the party's official paper, the 'Zielony Sztandar' in 1935. From 1919 to 1930, and from 1934 to 1935, he was a member of parliament for the Sejm (Polish Parliament), and from 1922 to 1928 he was the Marshal of the Sejm. Between 1920 and 1921 he was the Minister of Religion and Public Education, and took part in work on the March Constitution.^{[citation needed]}

He was President of Poland twice: first in December 1922, as Acting President of the Republic of Poland for one week, after the assassination of president Gabriel Narutowicz, and again in May 1926, following Józef Piłsudski's May Coup and the resignation of president Stanisław Wojciechowski. His second term lasted half of a month. On both occasions, he oversaw special election and appointed new governments. In December 1939 he was arrested by Nazi Germany and executed in Palmiry during the German AB-Aktion operation in Poland.^[1]

• Pamiętniki (Memoirs) (1965)
• Wskazania obywatelskie i polityczne: Wybór pism i przemówień z lat 1919–1938 (1987)
• Maciej Rataj o parlamentaryzmie, państwie demokratycznym i sanacji (1998)