On 17 September 1939, the President of the Polish Republic, Ignacy Mościcki, who was then in the small town of Kuty (now Ukraine)[1] near the southern Polish border, issued a proclamation about his plan to transfer power and appointing Władysław Raczkiewicz, the Marshal of the Senate, as his successor.[2][3] This was done in accordance with Article 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, adopted in April 1935.[4][5] Article 24 provided as follows: