Aleksander Jeljaszewicz


Aleksander Jeljaszewicz, known as "Sasza". was a Major in the Polish Army. He was the commander of the last Tatar/Islamic unit in the Polish military.

Early life

An ethnic—Polish Tatar, Jeljaszewicz was born in Vilna, Russian Empire, the son of Jan, a captain in the Russian Imperial Army. Between 1912-1919 he was a student at Corps of Cadets in Pskov, and later in Kiev. Evacuated to Turkey and Yugoslavia, he finished officers' school as a cavalry officer in 1923. In 1924 and 1925, he was serving in the Serb border guards' unit, only to return to Poland in 1925.

In the Polish Army

The same year, he joined the Polish military and was sent to the Cavalry Officers' School in Grudziadz.
He became a professional officer in 1928 in the "Zaniemianskich" 4th Regiment of Uhlans in Vilnius garrison. In 1938, he was transferred to the 13th Regiment of Wilno Uhlans "Wilenskich" in Nowa Wilejka, where he was the commander of the 1st Tatar Squadron. The last mounted Tatar unit in the history of the Polish military. In 1939, he participated in the September Campaign.

September Campaign

In the first days of September, the 13th Regiment of Wilno Uhlans "Wilenskich" fought near Piotrkow; next, it crossed the Vistula near Maciejowice. Near Maciejowice on the 9 or 10 September, the :pl:1 Szwadron Tatarski|Tatar squadron executed the last charge against German infantry.
The charge has become a symbol of the closing of the chapter in the history of the Polish military: the end of the last Islamic/Tatar unit. Soon after, 13th Regiment of Wilno Uhlans was dispersed by the enemy during fighting near the village of Suchowola near Lublin. Jeljaszewicz together with the few of his men who have not been dispersed tried to reach the Romanian Bridgehead, but was stopped, and spent the rest of the war in a German oflag.
It has to be noted that many individual Polish Tatars did escape the Germans and the Soviets, re-joined the Polish military; and as of present form a community in Great Britain. One of them was recently investigated by two Jewish organizations because of charges of Anti-Semitism, but was found not guilty, and received official public apologies from both organizations, but not from the accuser.

After war

He came back to Poland and lived in Gdansk. He worked in PZU. He was an active member of the local Tatar community paving the way for people like Professor :pl:Selim Chazbijewicz|Selim Chazbijewicz, the main historian of the Polish Tatars. He died in Gdańsk, and was buried in the :pl:Muzułmański Cmentarz Tatarski|Islamic Tatar Cemetery in Warsaw.

Other Polish non-Christian World War Two soldiers