POLAND BETWEEN THE WARS, 1918-1939

Also by Peter D. Stachura

NAZI YOUTH IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

THE WEIMAR ERA AND HITLER A Select Bibliography

THE SHAPING OF THE NAZI STATE (editor)

THE GERMAN YOUTH MOVEMENT, 1900-1945 An Interpretative and Documentary History

THE NAZI MACHTERGREIFUNG (editor)

GREGOR STRASSER AND THE RISE OF NAZISM

UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN WEIMAR GERMANY (editor)

THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC AND THE YOUNGER PROLETARIAT An Economic and Social Analysis

POLITICAL LEADERS IN WEIMAR GERMANY

THEMES OF MODERN POLISH HISTORY (editor)

Poland between the Wars, 1918-1939

Edited by

Peter D. Stachura Reader in History University of Stirling Scotland

~

~

First published in Great Britain 1998 by

MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-349-26944-0 ISBN 978-1-349-26942-6 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-26942-6

First published in the United States of America 1998 by

ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010

ISBN 978-0-312-21680-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Poland between the wars, 1918-1939 I edited by Peter D. Stachura. p. em. "Most of the contributions in this volume were originally presented in abbreviated form at a conference "Poland Between the Wars, 1918-1939," organized by the Polish Society at the University of Stirling on II October 1997"-Pref. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-21680-1 1. Poland-History-1918-1945----Congresses. I. Stachura, Peter D. II. Conference "Poland Between the Wars, 1918-1939" (1997: University of Stirling) DK4400.P627 1998 943.8'04-dc21 98-7134

CIP

Selection, editorial matter, preface and Chapters 1, 3 and 4 © Peter D. Stachura 1998 Chapters 2, 5 and 6 © Macmillan Press Ltd 1998

Sollcover reprint or the hardcover I st edition 1998 978-0-333-73680-7

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 07 06 05 04 03 02 01

3 2 I 00 99 98

For Gregory and Madeleine as another gentle reminder of their Polish heritage

Contents

Preface

Notes on Contributors

Abbreviations and Glossary

Map of the Second Polish Republic

The Second Republic in Historiographical Outline Peter D. Stachura

2 Three Insurrections: Upper Silesia, 1919-21

ix

X

xi

XlV

Peter LeSniewski 13

3 The Battle of Warsaw, August 1920, and the Development of the Second Polish Republic Peter D. Stachura 43

4 National Identity and the Ethnic Minorities in Early Inter-War Poland Peter D. Stachura 60

5 Freedom of the Press in Inter-War Poland: The System of Control John M. Bates

6 Poland's Defence Preparations in 1939 Andrzej Suchcitz

Appendix I: Principal Officers of the Second Polish Republic, 1918-39

Appendix II: Chronology: Poland, 1914-39

Select Bibliography

Index

Vll

87

109

137

139

146

148

11

Preface

Most of the contributions in this volume were originally presented in abbreviated form at a conference, 'Poland between the Wars, 1918-193 9', organized by The Polish Society at the University of Stirling on 11 October 1997. The society has no affiliation with the University.

The Polish Society was formed in September 1996 as an academic dis­cussion forum for those interested in the best traditions of Polish history, culture and contemporary affairs, and it has already forged meaningful links with a number of university and research bodies, cultural and histori­cal organizations and archives in the United Kingdom. Meetings, usually with an invited speaker, are held at least quarterly, and invariably take place at the University of Glasgow. Members of all ages are drawn from both a Polish and non-Polish background across Scotland.

I should like to thank my fellow Committee members, Mr Joseph T. Devine (Treasurer) and Mrs Stella K. Neil (Secretary), for their invalu­able assistance in the administration of the Society's affairs since its incep­tion, and in the preparation for the Conference.

The Royal Historical Society, of which I am a Fellow, is thanked most sincerely for awarding a grant towards the conference expenses, and the University of Stirling kindly provided excellent accommodation for the Conference free of charge, as well as the splendid surroundings of its campus.

I am very pleased to record my gratitude to the Polonia Aid Foundation Trust, London, for providing a generous subsidy towards the publication costs of this volume.

Dr Peter D. Stachura Chairman

Bridge of Allan Polish Independence Day, 11 November 1997

IX

Notes on Contributors

John M. Bates studied Russian at Cambridge before taking an M.Phil. and Ph.D. at the University of Glasgow, where he is at present Lecturer in Polish. His research interests lie in Polish censorship, particularly under the Communist regime in Poland, and the transformation of Polish media since 1989. He has several articles in press.

Peter Lesniewski served in the Royal Air Force and worked as an engi­neer in the aerospace industry before commencing his studies in 1989 at the University of Dundee. Since graduating in 1993 he has been preparing a doctoral thesis on Britain's role in Upper Silesia, 1919-22.

Peter D. Stachura is Reader in History at the University of Stirling. His numerous publications on the history of Weimar Germany, including, most recently, The Weimar Republic and the Younger Proletariat (1989) and Political Leaders in Weimar Germany (1992), led to the award in 1994 of the Degree ofDoctor of Letters (D. Litt.). His research interests have been extended to the Second Polish Republic, on which he is presently complet­ing a book. He is Chairman of The Polish Society.

Andrzej Suchcitz, a graduate of the University of London (SSEES), is Keeper of Archives at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London. His primary research interest is in Polish military history, 1918-46, on which he has written, edited and co-edited several books, mainly in Polish. He is a member of a number of editorial committees, including that of Teki Historyczne, published by The Polish Historical Society in Great Britain.

X

Abbreviations and Glossary

Agudat Israel

Ausgleich

BBWR

Blitzkrieg

BRT Bund

Chadecja

C-in-C COP

DBFP Duma Endecja

Endek

FO Folkists Freikorps General Zionists

GHQ Grenzschutz H-K-T Society

HMSO KNP

KPD

A conservative, pro-assimilationist Jewish political party (Poland) Compromise between the Hapsburgs and Magyars, resulting in the establishment of the Dual Monarchy in 1867 Bezpartyjny Blok dla Wsp6lpracy z Rzqdem (Non­Party Bloc for Cooperation with the Government) 'Lightning war', the ultra-rapid strategic operation of the German Army Ship tonnage measurement Abbreviation of the 'General Jewish Workers' Union', a Jewish Marxist and anti-Zionist political party Chrzdcijw1ska Demokracja (Christian Democratic Party) Commander-in-Chief Centralny Okrfg Przemyslowy (Central Industrial Area) Documents on British Foreign Policy Russian parliament Polish name for the National Democratic Party and its successors Polish abbreviation for member/follower of the National Democratic Party Foreign Office (British) Small Jewish political party in the Second Republic Right-wing German paramilitary groups after 1918 Jewish political movement straddling Socialism and Orthodoxy General Headquarters Border Guard units German right-wing, imperialist pressure group in Prussian Poland before 1914 Her Majesty's Stationery Office Komitet Narodowy Polski (Polish National Committee) Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party)

XI

xii

KPP

KPRP

Kreis Kresy Kulturkampf

Landschutz Land tag Litvak

Luftwaffe NBKR OUN

OWP OZON

PAT People's Poland

Pogrom POW

PPS PRO PSL

PSL-Piast PSL- fJ)Izwolenie PWW RAF Reichstag Reichswehr

Ruch Saisonstaat Sanacja

Abbreviations and Glossary

Komunistyczna Partia Polski (Communist Party of Poland) Komunistyczna Partia Robotnicza Polski (Communist Workers' Party of Poland) Small German administrative district Polish term for the eastern borderlands The somewhat grandiose term used to describe Reich Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's struggle against the Catholic Church in Germany after 1871 German provincial militia German provincial parliament Polish (derogatory) term for Jews from Lithuania and environs German Air Force Noel Baker Papers (Churchill College, Cambridge) Organizacja Ukraiftskich Nacjonalistow (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) Ob6z Wielkiej Polski (Camp of Great Poland) Ob6z Zjednoczenia Narodowego (Camp of National Unity) Polish Telecommunications Agency The Soviet-imposed Communist regime in Poland (1944/5-89) A massacre of Jews Polska Organizacja Wojskowa (Polish Military Organization, 1914-19) Polska Partia Socjalistyczna (Polish Socialist Party) Public Record Office, London Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (Polish Peasant Movement) The largest peasant party until 1931 'Liberation', a radical peasant party until 1931 Papers of President Woodrow Wilson of the USA Royal Air Force Federal German Parliament The name of the German Army, 1918-34, when it became the Wehrmacht Association of Railway Bookshops (Polish) Prusso-German term used to denigrate Poland Name given to the post-1926 regime in Poland (denot­ing a 'moral purification')

Schutzbund Selbstschutz Sejm Shtetl Sicherheitspolizei Siegfried Line SL

SolidarnoH: Spartacists

SRO Starosta Szlachta Ugoda USSR uvo Voievode Voievodship Wehrmacht

YIVO

Zloty

Abbreviations and Glossary

German paramilitary organization German self-defence militia Polish parliament Small Jewish town in Eastern Europe German Security Police

xiii

German military defensive line in the West Stronnictwo Ludowe (united Peasant Party set up in 1931) Solidarity movement Radical leftists, precursors of Bolsheviks and Communists in Germany Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh District Administrator (Polish) Polish landed nobility and gentry Polish Government-Jewish agreement in 1925 United Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) Ukrainian Military Organization Regional Governor (Polish) Regional administrative unit Name of the German Armed Forces during the Third Reich Jewish Scientific Institute for Research on Judaism, Wilno Polish currency from 1924 (gold crown)

POLAND of August 31st 1939

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Map of Poland 1939

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