Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, also known as the Sec-ond Commonwealth of Poland or the interwar Poland,refers to the country of Poland between the First andSecond World Wars (1918–1939). Officially knownas the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth ofPoland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska), the Polish statewas recreated in 1918, in the aftermath of World WarI. When, after several regional conflicts, the bordersof the state were fixed in 1922, Poland’s neighbourswere Czechoslovakia, Germany, the Free City of Danzig,Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and the Soviet Union. It hadaccess to the Baltic Sea via a short strip of coastline ei-ther side of the city of Gdynia. Between March and Au-gust 1939, Poland also shared a border with the then-Hungarian province of Carpathian Ruthenia. Despite in-ternal and external pressures, it continued to exist until1939, when Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, theSoviet Union and the Slovak Republic, marking the be-ginning ofWorldWar II in Europe. The Second Republicwas significantly different in territory to the current Pol-ish state. It used to include substantially more territory inthe east and less in the west.The Second Republic’s land area was 388,634 km2, mak-ing it, in October 1938, the sixth largest country in Eu-rope. After the annexation of Zaolzie, this grew to389,720 km2. According to the 1921 census, the numberof inhabitants was 27.2 million. By 1939, just before theoutbreak ofWorldWar II, this had grown to an estimated35.1 million. Almost a third of population came fromminority groups: 13.9% Ukrainians; 10% Jews; 3.1%Belarusians; 2.3% Germans and 3.4% percent Czechs,Lithuanians and Russians. At the same time, a significantnumber of ethnic Poles lived outside the country borders,many in the Soviet Union. The Republic endured andexpanded despite a variety of difficulties: the aftermathof World War I, including conflicts with Ukraine, withCzechoslovakia, with Lithuania and with Soviet Russiaand Ukraine; the Greater Poland and Silesian uprisings;and increasing hostility from Nazi Germany.Poland maintained a slow (see: trade embargo) but steadylevel of economic development. The cultural hubs of in-terwar Poland – Warsaw, Kraków, Poznań, Wilno andLwów – becamemajor European cities and the sites of in-ternationally acclaimed universities and other institutionsof higher education. By 1939, the Republic had become“one of Europe’s major powers”.[1]

1 History

Second Polish Republic between 1921 and 1939 (lightbeige)

Physical map of the Second Polish Republic (1939)Main article: History of Poland (1918–39)

1.1 Beginnings

Germany gained dominance on the Eastern Front ofWorld War I as the Russians fell back. German andAustro-Hungarian armies seized the Russian-ruled partof what became Poland. Berlin set up a German pup-pet state on 5 November 1916, with a governing Councilof State and (from 15 October 1917) a Regency Council

1

2 2 POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

(Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego). The Council ad-ministered the country under German auspices (see alsoMitteleuropa) pending the election of a king. A monthbefore Germany gave up and ended the war on 7 Octo-ber 1918, the Regency Council dissolved the Council ofState and announced its intention to restore Polish inde-pendence. With the notable exception of the Marxist-oriented Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom ofPoland and Lithuania (SDKPiL), most political partiessupported this move. On 23 October the Council ap-pointed a new government under Józef Świeżyński andbegan conscription into the Polish Army.[2]

In years 1918-1919 over 100 workers’ councils sprung upon Polish territories;[3] on 5 November 1918, in Lublin,the first Soviet of Delegates was created. On 6 Novemberthe Communists announced the creation of a Republicof Tarnobrzeg. The same day, a Provisional People’sGovernment of the Republic of Poland was created inLublin under the Socialist, Ignacy Daszyński. On Sun-day, 10 November at 7 a.m., Józef Piłsudski, newly freedfrom 16-month imprisonment by the German authoritiesatMagdeburg, returned by train toWarsaw. Piłsudski, to-gether with Colonel Kazimierz Sosnkowski, was greetedat Warsaw’s rail station by Regent Zdzisław Lubomirskiand Colonel Adam Koc. Next day, due to his popular-ity and support from most political parties, the RegencyCouncil appointed Piłsudski Commander in Chief of thePolish Armed Forces. On 14 November, the Council dis-solved itself and transferred all its authority to Piłsud-ski as Chief of State (Naczelnik Państwa). After consul-tation with Piłsudski, Daszyński’s government dissolveditself and a new government was created under JędrzejMoraczewski. In 1918, Italy was the first country in Eu-rope to recognise Poland’s sovereignty.[4]

Centers of government that were at that time createdin Galicia (formerly Austrian-ruled southern Poland) in-cluded National Council of the Principality of Cieszyn(created in November 1918), Republic of Zakopane andPolish Liquidation Committee (created on 28 October).Soon afterward, a conflict broke out in Lwów betweenforces of the Military Committee of Ukrainians, andthe Polish irregular units made up of students known asthe Lwów Eaglets, who were later supported by the Pol-ish Army (see Battle of Lwów (1918), Battle of Prze-myśl (1918)). Meanwhile, in western Poland, anotherwar of national liberation began under the banner of theGreater Poland Uprising (1918–19). In January 1919,Czechoslovakian forces attacked Polish units in the areaof Zaolzie (see Polish–Czechoslovak War). Soon after-wards, the Polish–Lithuanian War began, and in August1919, Polish-speaking residents of Upper Silesia initiateda series of three Silesian Uprisings. The most importantmilitary conflict of that period however was the Polish–SovietWar, which ended in a decisive Polish victory.[5] In1919, the Republic of Tarnobrzeg and the workers’ coun-cils were suppressed by the government.

1.2 Nazi-Soviet invasion of 1939

The beginning of the Second World War put an end tothe sovereign Second Polish Republic. The Invasion ofPoland began 1 September 1939, one week after the sign-ing of the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. On that day,Poland was attacked by Nazi Germany and Slovakia, andon 17 September, the Soviets attacked eastern Poland.Organized Polish resistance ended on 6 October 1939after the Battle of Kock, with Germany and the SovietUnion occupying most of the country. The area of Wilnowas annexed by Lithuania, and areas along southernborder were seized by Slovakia including Górna Orawaand Tatranská Javorina which Poland had annexed fromCzechoslovakia in October 1938. Poland did not surren-der, but continued fighting as the Polish government-in-exile and the Polish Underground State. After signing theGerman–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation andDemarcation, Polish areas occupied by Nazi Germanywere either directly annexed to the Third Reich, or be-came part of the so-called General Government. SovietUnion, after rigged Elections to the People’s Assembliesof Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, annexed east-ern Poland either to Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Repub-lic, or Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.The Polish government-in-exile operated in Paris andlater London, between 1939 and 1990, maintaining thatit was the only legal and legitimate representative of thePolish nation. In 1990, the last president in exile, RyszardKaczorowski handed the insignia to Lech Wałęsa, signi-fying continuity between the Second and Third republics.

2 Politics and government

The Second Polish Republic was a parliamentary democ-racy from 1919 (see Small Constitution of 1919) to 1926,with the President having limited powers. The Parliamentelected him, and he could appoint the Prime Minister aswell as the government with the Sejm's (lower house’s)approval, but he could only dissolve the Sejm with theSenate's consent. Moreover, his power to pass decreeswas limited by the requirement that the Prime Ministerand the appropriate other Minister had to verify his de-crees with their signatures. Poland was one of the firstcountries in the world to recognize Women’s suffrage.Women in Poland were granted the right to vote on 28November 1918, with a decree of Józef Piłsudski.[7]

The major political parties at this time were the PolishSocialist Party, National Democrats, various Peasant Par-ties, Christian Democrats, and political groups of ethnicminorities (German: German Social Democratic Party ofPoland, Jewish: General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland,United Jewish Socialist Workers Party, and Ukrainian:Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance). Frequentlychanging governments (see Polish legislative election,1919, Polish legislative election, 1922) and other negative

3

Józef Piłsudski, Chief of State (Naczelnik Państwa) betweenNovember 1918 and December 1922

publicity which the politicians received (such as accusa-tions of corruption or 1919 Polish coup attempt), madethem increasingly unpopular. Major politicians at thistime, in addition to Piłsudski, included peasant activistWincenty Witos (Prime Minister three times) and right-wing leader Roman Dmowski. Ethnic minorities wererepresented in the Sejm; e.g. in 1928 – 1930 there wasthe Ukrainian-Belarusian Club, with 26 Ukrainian and 4Belarusian members.After the Polish – Soviet war, Marshal Piłsudski led anintentionally modest life, writing historical books for aliving. After he took power by a military coup in May1926, he emphasized that he wanted to heal the Polishsociety and politics of excessive partisan politics. Hisregime, accordingly, was called Sanacja in Polish. The1928 parliamentary elections were still considered freeand fair, although the pro-Piłsudski Nonpartisan Bloc forCooperation with the Government won them. The fol-lowing three parliamentary elections (in 1930, 1935 and1938) were manipulated, with opposition activists be-ing sent to Bereza Kartuska prison (see also Brest tri-als). As a result, pro-government party Camp of NationalUnity won huge majorities in them. Piłsudski died justafter an authoritarian constitution was approved in thespring of 1935. During the last four years of the Sec-ond Polish Republic, the major politicians included Pres-ident Ignacy Mościcki, Foreign Minister Józef Beck and

Edward Rydz-Śmigły receiving a Marshal's buława from then-President of Poland Ignacy Mościcki, Warsaw, 10 November1936

the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army, EdwardRydz-Śmigły. The country was divided into 104 electoraldistricts, and those politicians who were forced to leavePoland, founded Front Morges in 1936. The governmentthat ruled Second Polish Republic in its final years is fre-quently referred to as Piłsudski’s colonels.[8]

3 Military

Main articles: Polish armaments 1939–45 Polish army or-der of battle in 1939

Prior to the 1939 invasion, Poland had a considerablylarge army of 283,000 soldiers on active duty: in 37 in-fantry divisions, 11 cavalry brigades, and two armoredbrigades, plus artillery units. Another 700,000 menserved in the reserves. At the outbreak of the war, Pol-ish army was able to put in the field almost one millionsoldiers, 2,800 guns, 500 tanks and 400 aircraft.[9]

The training of the Polish army was thorough. TheN.C.O.s were a competent body of men with expertknowledge and high ideals. The officers, both senior andjunior, constantly refreshed their training in the field andin the lecture-hall, where modern technical achievementand the lessons of contemporary wars were demonstratedand discussed. The equipment of the Polish army wasless developed technically than that of the enemy and itsrearmament was slowed down as a result of a recrudes-

4 4 ECONOMY

cence of optimism in western Europe and the usual bud-get difficulties.[10]

Sadly war plans (Plan West and Plan East) failed as soonas Germany invaded in 1939, Polish losses in combatagainst Germans (killed and missing in action) amountedto ca. 70,000. 420,000 were taken prisoners. Lossesagainst the Red Army (which invaded Poland on 17September) added up to 6,000 to 7,000 of casualties andMIA, 250,000 were taken prisoners. Although the Polisharmy – considering the inactivity of the Allies – was in anunfavorable position – it managed to inflict serious lossesto the enemies: 14,000 German soldiers were killed orMIA, 674 tanks and 319 armored vehicles destroyed orbadly damaged, 230 aircraft shot down; the Red Armylost (killed and MIA) about 2,500 soldiers, 150 combatvehicles and 20 aircraft. The Soviet invasion of Polandand lack of promised aid from the Western Allies, con-tributed to the Polish forces defeat by 6 October 1939.

4 Economy

Polish pavilion at expo in Paris 1937.

After regaining its independence, Poland was faced withmajor economic difficulties. In addition to the devas-tation wrought by World War I, the exploitation of thePolish economy by the German and Russian occupyingpowers, and the sabotage performed by retreating armies,the new republic was faced with the task of econom-

ically unifying desparate economic regions, which hadpreviously been part of different countries.[11] Withinthe borders of the Republic were the remnants of threedifferent economic systems, with five different curren-cies (the German mark, the Russian ruble, the Austriancrown, the Polish marka and the Ostrubel)[11] and withlittle or no direct infrastructural links. The situation wasso bad that neighboring industrial centers as well as ma-jor cities lacked direct railroad links, because they hadbeen parts of different nations. For example, there was nodirect railroad connection between Warsaw and Krakówuntil 1934. This situation was described by MelchiorWańkowicz in his book Sztafeta.On top of this was the massive destruction left after bothWorldWar I and the Polish–SovietWar. There was also agreat economic disparity between the eastern (commonlycalled Poland B) and western (called Poland A) parts ofthe country, with the western half, especially areas thathad belonged to the German Empire being much moredeveloped and prosperous. Frequent border closures anda customs war with Germany also had negative economicimpacts on Poland. In 1924 primeminister and economicministerWładysławGrabski introduced the złoty as a sin-gle common currency for Poland (it replaced the Polishmarka), which remained a stable currency. The currencyhelped Poland to bring under control the massive hyper-inflation, the only country in Europe which was able todo this without foreign loans or aid.[12] Average annualgrowth rate (GDP per capita) was 5.24% in 1920–29 and0.34% in 1929–38.[13]

Hostile relations with neighbours were a major prob-lem for the economy of interbellum Poland. In the year1937, foreign trade with all neighbours amounted to only21% of Poland’s total. Trade with Lithuania (0% of to-tal) and the Soviet Union (0,8%) was virtually nonexis-tent. Czechoslovakia accounted for 3,9% of Polish for-eign trade, Latvia for 0,3%, Romania for 0,8%, and Ger-many, Poland’s most important neighbour, for 14,3%. Bymid-1938, after the Anschluss, Greater Germany was re-sponsible for as much as 23% of Polish foreign trade.The basis of Poland’s gradual recovery after the GreatDepression were mass economic development plans (seeFour Year Plan), which oversaw the building of threekey infrastructural elements. The first was the estab-lishment of the Gdynia seaport, which allowed Polandto completely bypass Gdańsk (which was under heavyGerman pressure to boycott Polish coal exports). Thesecond was construction of the 500-kilometer rail con-nection between Upper Silesia and Gdynia, called PolishCoal Trunk-Line, which served freight trains with coal.The third was the creation of a central industrial dis-trict, named COP – Central Industrial Region (CentralnyOkręg Przemysłowy). Unfortunately, these develop-ments were interrupted and largely destroyed by the Ger-man and Soviet invasion and the start ofWorldWar II.[15]Among other achievements of interbellum Poland thereare Stalowa Wola (a brand new city, built in a forest

4.2 Transport 5

around a steel mill), Mościce (now a district of Tarnów,with a large nitrate factory), and creation of a centralbank. There were several trade fairs, with the mostpopular being Poznań International Fair, Lwów’s TargiWschodnie, and Wilno’s Targi Północne. Polish Radiohad ten stations (see Radio stations in interwar Poland),with the eleventh one planned to be opened in the autumnof 1939. Furthermore, in 1935 Polish engineers beganworking on the TV services. By early 1939, experts ofthe Polish Radio built four TV sets. First movie broadcastby experimental Polish TV was Barbara Radziwiłłówna,and by 1940, regular TV service was scheduled to beginoperation.[16]

Interbellum Poland was also a country with numeroussocial problems. Unemployment was high, and povertywas widespread, which resulted in several cases of so-cial unrest, such as the 1923 Kraków riot, and 1937peasant strike in Poland. There were conflicts with na-tional minorities, such as Pacification of Ukrainians inEastern Galicia (1930), relations with Polish neighborswere sometimes complicated (see Soviet raid on Stołpce,Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts, 1938 Polish ulti-matum to Lithuania). On top of this, there were naturaldisasters, such as 1934 flood in Poland.

4.1 Major industrial centers

Warsaw in 1939

Interbellum Poland was unofficially divided into twoparts – better developed “Poland A” in the west, andunderdeveloped “Poland B” in the east. Polish indus-try was concentrated in the west, mostly in Polish UpperSilesia, and the adjacent Lesser Poland's province ofZagłębie Dąbrowskie, where the bulk of coal mines andsteel plants was located. Furthermore, heavy industryplants were located in Częstochowa (Huta Częstochowa,founded in 1896), Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski (Huta Os-trowiec, founded in 1837–1839), Stalowa Wola (brandnew industrial city, which was built from scratch in 1937– 1938), Chrzanów (Fablok, founded in 1919), Jaworzno,Trzebinia (oil refinery, opened in 1895), Łódź (the seatof Polish textile industry), Poznań (H. Cegielski – Poz-nań), Kraków and Warsaw (Ursus Factory). Further

east, in Kresy, industrial centers were scarce, and lim-ited to two major cities of the region – Lwów and Wilno(Elektrit). Besides coal mining, Poland also had de-posits of oil in Borysław, Drohobycz, Jasło and Gorlice(see Polmin), potassium salt (TESP), and basalt (JanowaDolina). Apart from already-existing industrial areas,in the mid-1930s, an ambitious, state-sponsored projectof Central Industrial Region was started under MinisterEugeniusz Kwiatkowski. One of characteristic featuresof Polish economy in the interbellum was gradual nation-alization of major plants. This was the case of Ursus Fac-tory (see Państwowe Zakłady Inżynieryjne), and severalsteelworks, such as Huta Pokój in Ruda Śląska – NowyBytom, Huta Królewska in Chorzów – Królewska Huta,Huta Laura in Siemianowice Śląskie, as well as Scheiblerand Grohman Works in Łódź.[17]

4.2 Transport

Industry and communications in Poland before the start ofWorldWar II

According to the 1939 Statistical Yearbook of Poland,total length of railways of Poland (as for 31 December1937) was 20 118 kilometers. Rail density was 5.2 km.per 100 km2. Railways were very dense in western partof the country, while in the east, especially Polesie, railwas non-existent in some counties. During the interbel-lum period, Polish government constructed several newlines, mainly in central part of the country (see also PolishState Railroads Summer 1939). Construction of exten-sive Warszawa Główna railway station was never finisheddue to the war, and Polish railroads were famous for theirpunctuality (see Luxtorpeda, Strzała Bałtyku, LatającyWilnianin).In the interbellum, road network of Poland was dense,but the quality of the roads was very poor – only 7% ofall roads was paved and ready for automobile use, andnone of the major cities were connected with each otherby a good-quality highway. In the mid-1930s, Poland had340,000 kilometers of roads, but only 58,000 had hardsurface (gravel, cobblestone or sett), and 2,500weremod-ern, with asphalt or concrete surface. In different parts

6 5 EDUCATION AND CULTURE

of the country, there were sections of paved roads, whichsuddenly ended, and were followed by dirt roads.[18] Poorcondition of roads was the result of both long-lasting for-eign dominance, and inadequate funding. On 29 January1931, Polish Parliament created State Road Fund, whosepurpose was to collect money for construction and con-servation of roads. The government drafted a 10-yearplan, with road priorities: a highway fromWilno, throughWarsaw and Cracow, to Zakopane (called Marshall Pil-sudski Highway), asphalt highways from Warsaw to Poz-nań and Łódź, as well as Warsaw ring road. However,the plan turned out to be too ambitious, as there was notenough money in the national budget. In January 1938,Polish Road Congress estimated that Poland should spendon roads three times more money to keep up with West-ern Europe.In 1939, before the outbreak of the war, LOT PolishAirlines, which was established in 1929, had its hubat Warsaw Okęcie Airport. At that time LOT main-tained several services, both domestic and international.Warsaw had regular domestic connections with Gdynia-Rumia, Danzig-Langfuhr, Katowice-Muchowiec,Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny, Lwów-Skniłów, Poznań-Ławica, and Wilno-Porubanek. Furthermore, incooperation with Air France, LARES, Lufthansa, andMalert, international connections were maintained withAthens, Beirut, Berlin, Bucharest, Budapest, Helsinki,Kaunas, London, Paris, Prague, Riga, Rome, Tallinn,and Zagreb.[19]

4.3 Agriculture

In the Second Polish Republic, the majority of inhabi-tants lived in the countryside (75% in 1921), and their ex-istence depended on land. Farmersmade 65% of the pop-ulation, while about 1% were landowners. In 1929, agri-cultural productionmade 65% of Poland’s GNP.[20] After123 years of partitions, regions of the country were veryunevenly developed. Lands of former German Empirewere most advanced – in Greater Poland and Pomerelia,crops were on Western European level.[21] The situationwas much worse in former Congress Poland, Kresy, andformer Galicia, where agriculture wasmost backward andprimitive, with a large number of small farms, unableto succeed on both domestic and international market.Furthermore, another problem was overpopulation of thecountryside, which resulted in chronic unemployment.Living conditions were so bad that in several regions, suchas counties inhabited by the Hutsuls, there was permanentstarvation.[22] Farmers rebelled against the government(see: 1937 peasant strike in Poland), and the situationbegan to change in the late 1930s, due to construction ofseveral factories for the Central Industrial Region, whichgave employment to thousands of countryside residents.

4.4 German trade

Beginning in June 1925 there was a customs’ war withthe revanchist Weimar Republic imposing trade embargoagainst Poland for nearly a decade; involving tariffs, andbroad economic restrictions. After 1933 the trade warended. The new agreements regulated and promotedtrade. Germany became Poland’s largest trading partner,followed by Britain. In October 1938 Germany granteda credit of Rm 60,000,000 to Poland (120,000,000 zloty,or £4,800,000) which was never realized, due to the out-break of war. Germany would deliver factory equipmentand machinery in return for Polish timber and agricul-tural produce. This new trade was to be in addition to theexisting German-Polish trade agreements.[23][24]

5 Education and culture

Main article: Polish culture in the Interbellum

In 1919, the Polish government introduced compulsoryeducation for all children aged 7 to 14, in an effort tolimit illiteracy which was widespread especially in theformer Russian Partition and the Austrian Partition ofeastern Poland. In 1921, one-third of citizens of Polandremained illiterate (38% in the countryside). The pro-cess was slow, but by 1931, illiteracy level dropped to23% overall (27% in the countryside) and further downto 18% in 1937. By 1939, over 90% of children at-tended school.[17][25] In 1932, Minister of Religion andEducation Janusz Jędrzejewicz carried out a major re-form which introduced the following levels of education:

1. common school (szkoła powszechna), with three lev-els – 4 grades + 2 grades + 1 grade,

2. middle school (szkoła średnia), with two levels – 4grades of comprehensivemiddle school and 2 gradesof specified high school (classical, humanistic, natu-ral and mathematical). A graduate of middle schoolreceived a small matura, while a graduate of highschool received a big matura, which enabled themto seek university-level education.

Before 1918, Poland had three universities: JagiellonianUniversity, University of Warsaw and Lwów University.Catholic University of Lublin was established in 1918;Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, in 1919; and fi-nally, in 1922, after the annexation of Republic of Cen-tral Lithuania, Wilno University became the Republic’ssixth university. There were also three technical colleges:the Warsaw University of Technology, Lwów Polytech-nic and the AGH University of Science and Technologyin Kraków, established in 1919. Warsaw University ofLife Sciences was an agricultural institute. By 1939, therewere around 50,000 students enrolled in further educa-

6.1 Largest cities in the Second Polish Republic 7

tion. Women made up 28% of university students, thesecond highest share in Europe.[26]

Polish science in the interbellum was renowned for itsmathematicians – see Lwów School of Mathematics,Kraków School of Mathematics, and Warsaw Schoolof Mathematics. There were well-known philosophers(see Lwów–Warsaw school of logic), Florian Znanieckifounded Polish sociological studies, Rudolf Weigl in-vented vaccine against typhus, BronisławMalinowski wasamong the most important anthropologists of the 20thcentury. In Polish literature, the 1920s were markedby the domination of poetry. Polish poets were dividedinto two groups – the Skamanderites (Jan Lechoń, JulianTuwim, Antoni Słonimski and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz)and the Futurists (Anatol Stern, Bruno Jasieński,Aleksander Wat, Julian Przyboś). Apart from well-established novelists (Stefan Żeromski, Władysław Rey-mont), new names appeared in the interbellum – ZofiaNałkowska, Maria Dąbrowska, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz,Jan Parandowski, Bruno Schultz, Stanisław IgnacyWitkiewicz, Witold Gombrowicz. Among other notableartists there were sculptor Xawery Dunikowski, paintersJulian Fałat, Wojciech Kossak and Jacek Malczewski,composers Karol Szymanowski, Feliks Nowowiejski, andArtur Rubinstein, singer Jan Kiepura. Theatre was verypopular in the interbellum, with three main centers in thecities of Warsaw, Wilno and Lwów. Altogether, therewere 103 theaters in Poland and a number of other the-atrical institutions (including 100 folk theaters). In 1936,different shows were seen by 5 million people, and mainfigures of Polish theatre of the time were Juliusz Osterwa,Stefan Jaracz, and Leon Schiller. Also, before the out-break of the war, there were around 1 million radios (seeRadio stations in interwar Poland).

6 Administrative division

The administrative division of the Republic was based ona three-tier system. On the lowest rung were the gminy,local town and village governments akin to districts orparishes. These were then grouped together into powiaty(akin to counties) which, in turn, were grouped as wojew-ództwa (voivodeships, akin to provinces).

Administrative map of Poland (1930)

Polish voivodeships 1922–39

On 1 April 1938, the borders of several western and cen-tral voivodeships were revised.

6.1 Largest cities in the Second Polish Re-public

7 Demographics

Historically, Poland was a nation of many nationali-ties. This was especially true after independence wasregained in the wake of World War I and the subse-quent Polish–Soviet War ending at Peace of Riga. Thecensus of 1921 allocates 30.8% of the population inthe minority.[27] According to the 1931 Polish Census:68.9% of the population was Polish, 13.9%wereUkraini-ans, around 10% Jewish, 3.1% Belarusians, 2.3% Ger-mans and 2.8% – others, including Lithuanians, Czechs,Armenians, Russians, and Gypsies. The situation of mi-norities was a complex subject and changed during theperiod.[28]

8 8 GEOGRAPHY

Language frequency in 1931 across Poland; red colour: morethan 50% native Polish language speakers; green colour: morethan 50% native language other than Polish, including Yiddish,Hebrew, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian and less frequent others

Poland was also a nation of many religions. In 1921,16,057,229 Poles (approx. 62.5%) were Roman (Latin)Catholics, 3,031,057 citizens of Poland (approx. 11.8%)were Eastern Rite Catholics (mostly Ukrainian GreekCatholics and Armenian Rite Catholics), 2,815,817 (ap-prox. 10.95%) were Greek Orthodox, 2,771,949 (ap-prox. 10.8%) were Jewish, and 940,232 (approx. 3.7%)were Protestants (mostly Lutheran).[29]

By 1931 Poland had the second largest Jewish populationin the world, with one-fifth of all the world’s Jews residingwithin its borders (approx. 3,136,000).[27] Urban popula-tion of interbellum Poland was rising steadily – in 1921,only 24% of Poles lived in the cities, in the late 1930s,the ratio grew to 30%. In more than a decade, the popu-lation ofWarsaw grew by 200,000, Łódź by 150,000, andPoznań – by 100,000. This was due not only to internalmigration, but also extremely high birth rate.[17]

7.1 Prewar population density

8 Geography

The Second Polish Republic was mainly flat, with aver-age elevation of 223 m above sea level (after World WarII and its border changes, the average elevation of Polanddecreased to 173 m). Only 13% of territory, along thesouthern border, was higher than 300 m. The highest

Poland’s population density in 1930

Pillar near the summit of Popadia in Gorgany. During the Sec-ond Republic, this marked the Polish-Czechoslovak border.

elevation was Mount Rysy, which rises 2,499 m in theTatra Range of the Carpathians, 95 km south of Kraków.Between October 1938 and September 1939, the highestelevation was Lodowy Szczyt (known in the Slovak lan-guage as Ľadový štít), which rises 2,627 meters above sealevel. The largest lake was Lake Narach.

9

The country’s total area, after annexation of Zaolzie, was389,720 km2, it extended 903 km from north to southand 894 km from east to west. On 1 January 1938, totallength of boundaries was 5,529 km, including:

• 140 kilometers of coastline (out of which 71 kilo-meters were made by the Hel Peninsula),

• 1412 kilometers with Soviet Union,

• 948 kilometers with Czechoslovakia (until 1938),

• 1912 kilometers with Germany (together with EastPrussia),

• 1081 kilometers with other countries (Lithuania,Romania, Latvia, Danzig).

Among major cities of the Second Polish Republic, thewarmest yearly average temperature was in Kraków (9.1°C in 1938) and the coldest in Wilno (7.6 °C in 1938).

8.1 Extreme points

• Northernmost point: N55*51'8,45”(N55,852250*); Przeświata River in Somino,located in the Braslaw county of the WilnoVoivodeship

• Southernmost point: N47*43'31,8”(N47,725492*); spring of Manczin River lo-cated in the Kosów county of the StanisławówVoivodeship

• Easternmost point: E28*21'44,3” (E28,362371*);Spasibiorki (near railway to Połock) located in theDzisna county of the Wilno Voivodeship

• Westernmost point: E15*47'12,4” (E15,786773*);Mukocinek near Warta River and Meszyn Lakelocated in the Międzychód county of the PoznańVoivodeship

8.2 Drainage

Almost 75% of the territory of interbellum Poland wasdrained northward into the Baltic Sea by the Vistula (to-tal area of drainage basin of the Vistula within bound-aries of the Second Polish Republic was 180,300 km2),the Niemen (51,600 km2), the Odra (46,700 km2) andthe Daugava (10,400 km2). The remaining part of thecountry was drained southward, into the Black Sea, bythe rivers that drain into the Dnieper (Pripyat, Horyn andStyr, all together 61,500 km2) as well as Dniester (41,400km2)

9 See also• History of Poland (1918–39)

• 1938 in Poland

• 1939 in Poland

• First Polish Republic; 1788-1795; "...our state is arepublic under the presidency of the King.”

10 References[1] The End, TIME Magazine, 2 October 1939

[2] RichardM.Watt, Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate, 1918–1939 (1998)

[3] “Rady Delegatów Robotniczych w Polsce”. Internetowaencyklopedia PWN. Retrieved July 30, 2015.

[4] Andrzej Garlicki, Józef Piłsudski, 1867–1935 (1995)

[5] Norman Richard Davies, White Eagle, Red Star: thePolish-Soviet War, 1919–20 (2nd ed. 2003)

[6] Seidner, Stanley S. (1975). “The Camp of National Unity:An Experiment in Domestic Consolidation”. The PolishReview 20 (2–3): 231–236.

[7] A. Polonsky, Politics in Independent Poland, 1921–1939:The Crisis of Constitutional Government (1972)

[8] Peter Hetherington, Unvanquished: Joseph Piłsudski, Res-urrected Poland, and the Struggle for Eastern Europe(2012); W. Jędrzejewicz, Piłsudski. A Life for Poland(1982)

[9] David G.Williamson (2011). Poland Betrayed: The Nazi-Soviet Invasions of 1939. Stackpole Books. p. 21.

[10] Walter M. Drzewieniecki,"The Polish Army on the Eveof World War II,” Polish Review (1981) 26#3 pp 54–64in JSTOR

[11] Nikolaus Wolf, “Path dependent border effects: the caseof Poland’s reunification (1918–1939)", Explorations inEconomic History, 42, 2005, pgs. 414–438

[12] Godzina zero. Interview with professor WojciechRoszkowski, Tygodnik Powszechny, 04.11.2008“Takżereformę Grabskiego przeprowadziliśmy sami, kosztemspołeczeństwa, choć tym razem zapłacili obywatele zwyższych sfer, głównie posiadacze ziemscy.”

[13] Stephen Broadberry, Kevin H. O'Rourke. The CambridgeEconomic History of Modern Europe: Volume 2, 1870 tothe Present. Cambridge University Press. 2010. pp. 188,190.

[14] (1929-1930) Angus Maddison. The World Economy Vol-ume 1: A Millennial Perspective Volume 2: HistoricalStatistics. Academic Foundation. 2007. p. 478.

[15] Atlas Historii Polski, Demart Sp, 2004, ISBN 83-89239-89-2

10 11 FURTHER READING

[16] 70 years of television in Poland, TVP INFO, 26.08.2009

[17] Spłata długu po II RP, by Witold Gadomski

[18] Piotr Osęka, Znoje na wybojach. Polityka weekly, July21, 2011

[19] Urzędowy Rozkład Jazy i Lotów, Lato 1939.Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Komunikacji, Warszawa1939

[20] Sprawa reformy rolnej w I Sejmie Âlàskim (1922–1929)by Andrzej Drogon

[21] Godzina zero, interview with Wojciech Roszkowski.04.11.2008

[22] Białe plamy II RP, interview with professor Andrzej Gar-licki, December 5, 2011

[23] Wojna celna (German–Polish customs’ war) (InternetArchive), Encyklopedia PWN, Biznes.

[24] Keesing’s Contemporary Archives Volume 3, (October1938) p. 3283.

[25] Norman Davies (2005), God’s Playground A History ofPoland: Volume II: 1795 to the Present. Oxford UniversityPress, p. 175. ISBN 0199253390.

[26] B. G. Smith. TheOxford Encyclopedia ofWomen inWorldHistory: 4 Volume Set. Oxford University Press. 2008 p.470.

[27] Joseph Marcus, Social and Political History of the Jews inPoland, 1919–1939, Mouton Publishing, 1983, ISBN 90-279-3239-5, Google Books, p. 17

[28] Norman Davies, God’s Playground, Columbia UniversityPress, 2005, ISBN 0-231-12819-3, Google Print, p.299

[29] Powszechny Spis Ludnosci r. 1921

11 Further reading

• Davies, Norman. God’s Playground. A History ofPoland. Vol. 2: 1795 to the Present. Oxford: Ox-ford University Press, 1981. pp 393–434

• Latawaski, Paul. Reconstruction of Poland 1914–23(1992)

• Leslie, R. F. et al. The History of Poland since 1863.Cambridge U. Press, 1980. 494 pp.

• Lukowski, Jerzy and Zawadzki, Hubert. A Con-cise History of Poland. Cambridge U. Press, 2nded 2006. 408pp. excerpts and search

• Pogonowski, Iwo Cyprian. Poland: A Historical At-las. Hippocrene, 1987. 321 pp. new designed maps

• Stachura, Peter D. Poland, 1918–1945: An Interpre-tive andDocumentary History of the Second Republic(2004) online

• Stachura, Peter D. ed. Poland Between the Wars,1918–1939 (1998) essays by scholars

• Watt, Richard M. Bitter Glory: Poland and Its Fate,1918–1939 (1998) excerpt and text search, compre-hensive survey

11.1 Politics & diplomacy

• Cienciala, Anna M. “The Foreign Policy of JózefPi£sudski and Józef Beck, 1926–1939: Misconcep-tions and Interpretations,” The Polish Review (2011)56#1 pp.111–151 in JSTOR; earlier version

• Cienciala, Anna M. Poland the Western Powers,1938–1939. A Study in the Interdependence of East-ern and Western Europe (1968) online

• Cienciala, Anna M., and Titus Komarnicki, FromVersailles to Locarno, Keys to Polish Foreign Policy,1919–1925, (Kansas U. Press 1984) online

• Drzewieniecki, Walter M. “The Polish Army on theEve of World War II,” Polish Review (1981) 26#3pp 54–64.

• Garlicki, Andrzej. Józef Piłsudski, 1867–1935(New York: Scolar Press 1995), scholarly biogra-phy; one-vol version of 4 vol Polish edition

• Hetherington, Peter. Unvanquished: Joseph Pilsud-ski, Resurrected Poland, and the Struggle for EasternEurope (2012) 752pp excerpt and text search

• Jędrzejewicz, W. Piłsudski. A Life for Poland(1982), scholarly biography

• Polonsky, A. Politics in Independent Poland, 1921–1939: The Crisis of Constitutional Government(1972)

• Riekhoff, H. von. German-Polish Relations, 1918–1933 (Johns Hopkins University Press 1971)

• Rothschild, J. Piłsudski’s Coup d'État (New York:Columbia University Press 1966)

• Wandycz, P. S. Polish Diplomacy 1914–1945: Aimsand Achievements (1988)

• Wandycz, P. S. Soviet-Polish Relations, 1917–1921(Harvard University Press 1969)

• Wandycz, P. S. The United States and Poland (1980)

• Zamoyski, Adam. Warsaw 1920: Lenin’s FailedConquest of Europe (2008) excerpt and text search

11

11.2 Social and economic topics

• Abramsky, C. et al. eds. The Jews in Poland (Ox-ford: Blackwell 1986)

• Blanke, R. Orphans of Versailles. The Germans inWestern Poland, 1918–1939 (1993)

• Gutman, Y. et al. eds. The Jews of Poland BetweenTwo World Wars (1989).

• Landau, Z. and Tomaszewski, J. The Polish Econ-omy in the Twentieth Century (Routledge, 1985)

• Moklak, Jaroslaw. The Lemko Region in the SecondPolish Republic: Political and InterdenominationalIssues 1918–1939 (2013); covers Old Rusyns, Mo-scophiles and National Movement Activists, & thepolitical role of the Greek Catholic and OrthodoxChurches

• Olszewski, A. K. An Outline of Polish Art and Ar-chitecture, 1890–1980 (Warsaw: Interpress 1989.)

• Roszkowski, W. Landowners in Poland, 1918–1939(Cambridge University Press, 1991)

• Staniewicz, Witold. “The Agrarian Problem inPoland between the TwoWorldWars,” Slavonic andEast European Review (1964) 43#100 pp. 23–33 inJSTOR

• Taylor, J. J. The Economic Development of Poland,1919–1950 (Cornell University Press 1952)

• Wynot, E. D.Warsaw Between the Wars. Profile ofthe Capital City in a Developing Land, 1918–1939(1983)

• Żółtowski, A. Border of Europe. A Study of thePolish Eastern Provinces (London: Hollis & Carter1950)

11.3 Primary sources

• Small Statistical Yearbook, 1932 (Mały rocznikstatystyczny 1932) complete text (in Polish)

• Small Statistical Yearbook, 1939 (Mały rocznikstatystyczny 1939) complete text (in Polish)

11.4 Historiography

• Kenney, Padraic. “After the Blank Spots Are Filled:Recent Perspectives on Modern Poland,” Journal ofModern History (2007) 79#1 pp 134–61, in JSTOR

• Polonsky, Antony. “The History of Inter-WarPoland Today,” Survey (1970) pp143–159.

12 External links• Borders of the Second Republic shown on GoogleEarth

Coordinates: 52°13′N 21°00′E / 52.217°N 21.000°E

12 13 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

13 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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• (Załącznik Nr 2 do Statutu) Uchwała Nr XX/340/2004 Rady Miasta Katowice z dnia 9 lutego 2004 r. ws. uchwalenia Statutu MiastaKatowice (Dz. Urz. Woj. Śląskiego z 2004 r., Nr 14, poz. 539)

• Uchwała Rady Miejskiej w Katowicach z dnia 17 grudnia 1936 r.• Zarządzeniem Ministra Spraw Wewnętrznych z dnia 29 maja 1937 r. ws. zatwierdzenia herbu miasta Katowic (Monitor Polski Nr128, poz. 204)

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• Józef Wybicki (lyrics, not here performed)• The United States Navy Band

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14 13 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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