Background
Ciołkosz was born in Krakow, but a year later his family moved to TarnóWest His father, Kasper, was an active progressive and independence agitator. His mother, Maria Idzikowska, was the daughter of a veteran of the January Uprising.
Ciołkosz was born in Krakow, but a year later his family moved to TarnóWest His father, Kasper, was an active progressive and independence agitator. His mother, Maria Idzikowska, was the daughter of a veteran of the January Uprising.
Ciołkosz graduated from a Gymnasium in Tarnów and later studied law at the Jagiellonian University.
In Gynasium, Ciołkosz joined 1st Scouts Squad, "Zawisza Czarny". During World War I, he lived in Vienna and still was active. In October 1918, he and National Emergency Squads of the Polish Scouts, which he had formed and led with POWs, forced Austrian forces to surrender in TarnóWest
In November, he was one of the young scouts who participated in battle for LwóWest
In 1919, Ciołkosz was promoted to a junior lieutenant. He was also an organizer of Polish scouting movement in Warmia and Mazury and fought during Silesian Uprising.
At age of 27 (1928), he was elected a Sejm Member from the Polish Socialist Party. He was re-elected in 1930, but this time Sanacja authorities didn"t allowed him to take office as with many others of the opposition.
He was one of the most outspoken critics of the Sanacja regime and was tried and sentenced to three years in prison during Brest trials in 1931 for plotting anti-government coup.
Ciołkosz was an active politician in exile and soon was elected party leader. He led Parliamentary Private Secretary in exile until his death in London. A strong anti-Stalinist, he opposed Soviet domination in the Eastern Europe after 1945.
After the German invasion into Poland in 1939, Ciołkosz, his wife Lidia née Kahan of Jewish background (also a prominent socialist from UJ), and son Andrzej Ciołkosz fled first to Romania, and later France and England.
While a student, Ciołkosz became a member of the socialists movement.