Colonels' group

Piłsudski's colonels, or the colonels' regime (in Polish called simply "the colonels"), dominated the government of the Second Polish Republic from 1926 to 1939. In some contexts, the term refers primarily to the final period, 1935–39, following the death of their mentor and patron, Józef Piłsudski.

Close allies of Józef Piłsudski, most of "the colonels" had been officers in the Polish Legions and Polish Military Organization (POW), and in the Polish Army (particularly from 1919–1920, during the Polish-Soviet War, prior to Piłsudski's 1923 resignation as Chief of the Polish General Staff). They had held key, if not necessarily the highest, military ranks during Piłsudski's May 1926 coup d'état.

Later they became important figures in Piłsudski's Sanation movement and ministers in several governments. After the BBWR's 1930 electoral victory (the "Brest elections"), Piłsudski left most internal matters in the hands of his "colonels", while himself concentrating on military and foreign affairs.

The "colonels" included Józef Beck,Janusz Jędrzejewicz,Wacław Jędrzejewicz,Adam Koc, Leon Kozłowski, Ignacy Matuszewski, Bogusław Miedziński (), Bronisław Pieracki, Aleksander Prystor,Adam Skwarczyński, Walery Sławek, and Kazimierz Świtalski.

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