Nation and Memory in Russia, Poland and Ukraine

Lecture 16The Second Polish Republic

Week 5, Spring Term

Outline

1.Geostrategical position2.Domestic policy3.Poland – a nation state?4.Ukrainians in Poland6. Conclusion

Second Polish Republic

398,000 sqkm 27 Million people

Without 40% of territory and 16 Million people of 1772With 35,000 sqkm and 3 Million people which had not been part of Poland in 1772

Dmowski in Paris: borders in West – ethnographical argumentsborders in East – historical arguments

Borders in West: result of Peace Treaties, Uprisings (Upper Silesia and Posen) and plebiscites (East Prussia, Upper Silesia)Borders in East: Military power and peace Treaty with Soviet Russia in 1921, later confirmed by Western Allies

Putzger, Historischer Weltatlas, p. 122 f

• Borders confirmed by Allies (until 1924) and Treaty of Riga, 18 March 1921 with Soviet Russia• Status quo power and member of the League of Nations• Poland has to sign first Minority Treaty in June 1919• Territorial disputes with Germany (Posen, West Prussia, Upper Silesia), Soviet Union (Western Ukraine and Western Belarus), Czechoslovakia (Teschen), Lithuania (Wilna/Vilnius)• Between two revisionist powers: Germany and Soviet Union• Allies are France (and Britain)• 1925 Treaty of Locarno – Germany recognises western, but not eastern borders• 1925-1932 Polish-German Trade War• 1933 Hitler comes to power, Pilsudski thinks about preventive war• 1934 Polish German non-aggression Treaty• 2 October 1938 Polish Occupation of Teschen• 1 September 1939 German attack• 17 September 1939 Soviet attack

Foreign Policy

Poland in the 20th century (source: Putzger)

Outline

1.Geostrategical position2.Domestic policy3.Poland – a nation state?4.Ukrainians in Poland6. Conclusion

Domestic Policy

• Destruction in First World War, Polish-Soviet War and Polish-Ukrainian War• Three different judicial and administrative systems• Infrastructure and communication had to serve imperial interests (for example railway system: Railway Lwów – Vienna, Posen – Berlin, Warsaw-Moscow, but not Posen-Lwów-Warsaw• Different mentalities after 123 years partition• Uneven development: Poland A (West) and Poland B (East)• Hyperinflation 1922/23 until zloty was introduced• Political divisions: 1921 – 1926 Poland parliamentary democracy but no party has majority. First elected president Narutowicz murdered by a national democrat• Bloc of Minorities in Sejm (Parliament): Integration of minorities and growing anti-Semitism• Widespread dissatisfaction with new Polish state• 1926 Coup of Pilsudski: Sanacja regime, authoritarian• After 1930 dictatorship: 1935-1939(after Pilsudski’s death: regime of the colonels)• Economic crisis 1930 ff

Piłsudski with officers 1934

Roman Dmowski

Józef Piłsudski

Outline

1.Geostrategical position2.Domestic policy3.Poland – a nation state?4.Ukrainians in Poland6. Conclusion

Census in Poland 1931

Poles 21,993,000 68.9%Ukrainians 4,442,000 13.9%Jews 2,733,000 8.6%Belorussians 990,000 3.1%Germans 741,000 2.3%Tutejszi 707,000 2.2%Other 271,000 1.0%

National minorities in interwar Poland

Outline

1.Geostrategical position2.Domestic policy3.Poland – a nation state?4.Ukrainians in Poland6. Conclusion

Polish Nationality Policy in 1920s

l Towards Ruthenians (Ukrainians): assimilationl Towards Jews: exclusion (National Democrats) or

assimilation (Pilsudski, Socialists)l Strengthening of the Polish element in the kresy

(Eastern borderlands) – Polish settlers l Preferential treatment of ethnic Polesl Closing of Ukrainian schools or transformation into

bilingual schoolsl Polonisation of universities and public spacel In Volhynia more flexible than in East Galicia

Henryk Józewski (1892 - 1981)

Ukrainian reaction

Radical nationalistsl Boycott of elections in Polandl Secret military organisationsl Terrorist attacks and

assassination attemptsl Foundation of the Organisation

of Ukrainian Nationalists (1929)

Moderatesl Participation in electionsl Political cooperation with other

national minoritiesl ‘Organic work’: cooperative

movementl Limited cooperation with Polish

authorities

Founding congress of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, 1929 in Vienna

Evhen Konovalets (b. 14.6.1891, d. 23.5.1938) —Colonel, Commander-in-Chief of the "Sichovi Stritsi" corps of the Ukrainian Army; founder and head of the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO) and of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN); murdered by an NKVD agent

Policy of the Polish government in the 1930s

l ‘Carrot and stick’l ‘Pacification’ of Ukrainian villages in reaction to terrorist

attacks 1930/31, 1938/39l Polish military settlers in kresyl Efforts to win over moderate Ukrainiansl Suppression of any resistancel Growing anti-Semitism

Pacifications 1930

Tadeusz Holówko

(1889-1931)

Outline

1.Geostrategical position2.Domestic policy3.Poland – a nation state?4.Ukrainians in Poland6. Conclusion

Poles in Poland: Nation building in their own nation state. Problem: who belongs to the nation and how to deal with ethnic minorities?

Ukrainians in Poland: Organic work or armed resistance, fight against assimilationist tendencies. Political goals: autonomy in Poland or independent Ukrainian state?