Adam Koc Adam Ignacy Koc ( born 31 August 1891 in Suwałki , Congress Poland , died 3 February 1969 in New York City ) was a Polish politician , soldier and journalist . Koc , who had several noms de guerre ( Witold , Szlachetny , Adam Krajewski ) , fought in Polish units in the World World One , and in the Polish - Soviet War . In the Second Polish Republic , he was a politician , deputy to the Sejm , officer of the Polish Army , journalist and a member of the Grand Orient of Poland . Together with younger brother Leon Waclaw , who later became Colonel of the Polish Army , Adam Koc attended a Boys High School in Suwalki . During the Revolution of 1905 , he was a member of a strike committee at his high school . After graduation Koc joined Polish military organizations Union of Active Struggle and the Riflemen ' s Association . In 1912 , he completed officer ’ s course organized by the Association near Limanowa , in Austrian Galicia . On August 10 , 1914 , Koc came to Warsaw , to take command of the local branch of the Union of Active Struggle . Soon afterwards , the Union of Active Struggle and the Riflemen ' s Association in Congress Poland united under leadership of Karol Rybasiewicz . Koc became his deputy , and on October 22 , 1914 , the new body was named the Polish Military Organisation ( POW ) . In May 1915 Koc , under pseudonym “ Witold ” , left Congress Poland with reports for Jozef Pilsudski . Afterwards , he joined the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Polish Legions , and on September 18 , 1916 , he was severely wounded in the Battle of Sitowicze , Volhynia . After the Oath crisis , Koc was on July 17 , 1917 interned in the camp at Beniaminow , while his brother Leon was imprisoned at Szczypiorno . Adam Koc was released in April 1918 , and returned to his activities in the Polish Military Organisation , taking command of the POW ’ s branch in Warsaw . On November 10 , 1918 , together with Prince Zdzislaw Lubomirski , he welcomed Jozef Pilsudski , who returned by train to Warsaw from internment in Magdeburg . On December 17 , 1919 , Koc officially became a soldier of the newly created Polish Army , and on January 1 , 1920 he was attached to the Fifth Department of the Polish General Staff , and in the Polish – Soviet War , Koc commanded a division of volunteers . In the early 1920s , he attended Warsaw Military School , and on October 15 , 1924 , he was promoted to the rank of officer of the General Staff , and began working for the Second Army Inspectorate in Warsaw , under General Lucjan Zeligowski . On February 1 , 1925 , Koc was appointed deputy commandant of Army Training Center in Rembertow , and in 1926 he was trasferred to the Fourth Military District in Lwow . In March 1928 Koc returned to Warsaw , where he decided to start his political career . Officially , Koc retired from the military on April 30 , 1930 . As a member of the Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government ( BBWR ) , Adam Koc was a deputy to the Sejm . In 1929 , he was a founder and editor - in - chief of the Gazeta Polska daily newspaper . On December 16 , 1930 , he was named deputy minister of treasury , and in the first half of 1936 , he was manager of Bank Polski . After dissolution of the BBWR , Koc was among founders of Camp of National Unity , of which he was the first leader . On Sunday , July 18 , 1937 , in his villa at the village of Swidry Male near Otwock , a man named Wojciech Bieganek tried to assassinate him , but failed and was himself killed by his own bomb . Koc was a Sejm deputy in 1928 – 1930 ; 1930 – 1935 ; and 1935 – 1936 . He also was a senator in 1938 – 1939 . In the first days of the German Invasion of Poland , Koc was again named deputy minister of treasury . It happened on September 11 , 1939 , and the reasons are unknown ; probably he was tasked with transferring Polish gold reserves abroad . In December 1939 , Koc became Minister of Treasury in the government of Wladyslaw Sikorski ( see Polish government - in - exile ) . In the autumn 1940 , Koc left Europe for the United States , where he settled in New York City . His tasked in the USA was to protect Polish bank accounts . Koc co - founded the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America ( 1942 ) , he also worked for the Polish Embassy in Washington , D . C . After the war , he was a chef at a pension in Sea Cliff , and at Waldorf Astoria New York . At the same time , he was a board member at the Jozef Pilsudski Institute of America . Koc died on February 3 , 1969 in New York . He was buried in grave L2 - 245 at Wolvercote Cemetery in England ; his symbolic grave ( marked kw . A12 - 7 - 29 ) is located at Warsaw ’ s Powazki Cemetery