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Post by Bonobo on Sept 23, 2009 19:04:16 GMT 1
We need a new thread. Mentions of the books on various aspects of Polish history have been appearing in many threads here, but it`s time to collect them into one place. Let`s start with the military stuff. Here you are: www.ospreypublishing.com/store/No-Greater-Ally_9781846033650
Author: Kenneth K. Koskodan
About this book
There is a chapter of World War II history that remains largely untold; the story of the fourth largest allied military of the war, the only nation to have fought in the battles of Leningrad, Arnhem, Tobruk and Normandy. In a cruel twist of history the monumental struggles of an entire nation have been forgotten, and even intentionally obscured. This book redresses the balance, giving a comprehensive overview of Poland's participation in World War II. Following their valiant but doomed defence of Poland in 1939, members of the Polish armed forces fought with the Allies wherever and however they could. Full of previously unpublished first-hand accounts, information never before seen in English, and rare photographs, this title provides a detailed analysis of the devastation the war brought to Poland, and the final betrayal when, having fought for freedom for six long years, Poland was handed to the Soviet Union.
Contents
* Introduction
* 1: Dawn of Darkness (the pre-war situation and the invasion of Poland in 1939)
* 2: French Misfortunes (The aftermath of the invasion, and the difficulties of the Polish forces trying to re-form in France, the fall of France, and the Polish evacuation to England)
* 3: Everything was in Secret (The story of the largest, most complex and most active resistance movement of the war)
* 4: On Wings of Eagles (Air War over Poland in 1939, over France in 1940, and then in England until the end of the war)
* 5: Warriors from a Wasteland (the fate of the hundreds of thousands of Polish PoWs and civilians deported to Soviet camps, and then the 100,000 survivors allowed to re-form a Polish army following Germany's declaration of war on the Soviet Union.
* 6: A Bloody Job Well Done (1st armored division, their formation, and their role in the Normandy breakout, and on into Germany)
* 7: A Bridge Not Far Enough (the 1st Polish Independant Parachute brigade, their formation, and their role in Operation Market Garden)
* 8: Poles Under Soviet Command (The actions of those Poles unable to leave Russia who fought as part of the 2nd Polish Corps, fighting under Soviet command from Stalingrad to Berlin)
* 9: Glory and Heartbreak (The Warsaw Uprising)
* 10: For Your Freedom (The devastation wrought on Poland by the war, the post-war settlements and the fate of the hundreds of thousands of displaced Polish troops and civilians)
* Notes
* Further Reading
* Index
Hardback; June 2009; 304 pages; ISBN: 9781846033650
--------------------------------------------------------------------  Illustrator: Robert Gretzyngier
About this book
Pilots of the Polish Air Force saw action from the first day of World War 2 until the final victory in Europe. Flying hopelessly outmoded P.11 fighters in defence of their country in September 1939, a handful of aviators inflicted serious losses on the Luftwaffe before being overwhelmed. The survivors escaped to then neutral Hungary and Romania, before being ordered to France by the new C-in-C of exiled Polish Armed Forces, General Sikorski. With the invasion of Western Europe in May 1940, the surviving pilots were once more thrust into desperate action in newly-formed Polish units
Contents
* The Last and the First
* Into Battle
* Sikorski's Troops
* Battle for Britain
* PAF Reborn
* Northolt Wing
* Skalski's Circus
* USAAF Connection
* Invasion and On
* Whatever Happened to the Heroes?
* Appendices
Paperback; July 1998; 100 pages; ISBN: 9781855327269 ----------------------------- 
Author: Steven J Zaloga
Illustrator: Howard Gerrard
About this book
The German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 began World War II in Europe, pitting the newly modernized army of Europe’s great industrial power against the much smaller Polish army and introducing the world to a new style of warfare – Blitzkrieg. Panzer divisions spearheaded the German assault with Stuka dive-bombers prowling ahead spreading terror and mayhem. This book demonstrates how the Polish army was not as backward as it is often portrayed and fielded a tank force larger than that of the contemporary US Army. Its stubborn defence did give the Germans some surprises and German casualties were relatively heavy for such a short campaign.
Contents
* Introduction
* Chronology
* Opposing Commanders
* Opposing Armies
* Opposing Plans
* The German Assault
* The Battle of Warsaw
* The Soviet Invasion
* The Aftermath
* The Battlefield today
* Further Reading
* Index
Paperback; August 2002; 96 pages; ISBN: 9781841764085
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Author: Otto von Pivka
Illustrator: Michael Roffe
About this book
In 1795 the kingdom of Poland fell prey to her stronger neighbours, Russia, Prussia and Austria. Following the death of the king of Poland in 1798, his kingdom was divided among these three neighbouring powers. France became increasingly involved, and protested at Poland's treatment, offering refuge for Polish exiles. On 11 October 1796 the Polish Legion was formed in the French army by General Dombrowski and Napoleon. This book covers the uniforms, dress, organisation and equipment of the infantry, artillery, and cavalry of Napoleon's Polish Troops. Among the cavalry units covered are the Chasseurs and Lancers. This title also provides a summary of the Polish divisions' campaigns in Spain, Russia and within Poland itself.
Contents
· Introduction · The Grand Duchy of Warsaw · The Poles in Spain · In Poland, 1809 · Russia 1812 · The Last Act · Uniforms · Colour plate commentary
Paperback; June 1974; 48 pages; ISBN: 9780850451986 -----------------------------------------------------------------  Author: Steven J Zaloga Illustrator: Richard Hook
About this book
Poland was the first of the Allied nations to succumb to German aggression in the Second World War, but by the most tortuous of routes her army managed to remain in the field through all five years of bloody fighting. Polish soldiers fought in nearly every major campaign in the European theatre, and their tale is a complicated and tragic one. This richly detailed text by Steven Zaloga relates the story of the Polish Army during the Second World War, from the first wave of Stukas in 1939 to its eventual conclusion.
Contents
Introduction · The September 1939 Campaign · The Polish Army in Exile · The Underground Army · The Polish People's Army (LWP) · Hope in Ashes · The Plates
Paperback; January 1982; 48 pages; ISBN: 9780850454178 ------------------------------------------------------------------------  Authors: Witold Sarnecki David Nicolle Illustrators: Gerry Embleton Samuel Embleton About this book
The history of Poland is a fascinating story of a people struggling to achieve nationhood in the face of internal and external conflict. Poland became a unified Christian state in AD 966 and by the 12th century a knightly class had emerged - a force that was integral to the defence of Poland against increasingly frequent foreign invasions. Intent on crushing rival Christian states, the Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights all mounted attacks but were beaten back by the Poles, as were invading Mongols and Turks. This book reveals the organisation, equipment and battle histories of the medieval Polish armies as they developed and modernised to emerge as one of the dominant powers of Eastern Europe.
Contents
Introduction - overview of medieval Poland · Chronology of major military events · Early Polish armies, 10th-12th Centuries · Campaigns & tactics of early Piast rulers · The Division of the Provinces, 1138-1320 · The 14th Century unification · 15th Century changes · Polish heraldry
Paperback; February 2008; 48 pages; ISBN: 9781846030147 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Author: Robert Forczyk
Illustrator: Peter Dennis
About this book
Defeated and occupied in 1939, Poland had suffered under the Nazi heel for nearly five years. Undaunted, however, the Poles formed an underground army, the Armia Krajowa (Home Army), and waited for a moment of German weakness. That moment seemed to have arrived in July 1944 as the Soviet armies began to advance into eastern Poland. The AK launched its revolt in Warsaw on 1 August 1944. Though its 5,000 fighters achieved some initial successes, the Germans were able to retain control over both the Vistula River bridges and the airbase, dooming the revolt to isolation and defeat. The SS was put in charge of suppressing the rebellion, beginning a wave of atrocities shocking even by Eastern Front standards.
Contents
* Origins of the campaign
* Chronology
* Opposing leaders
* Opposing forces
* Opposing plans
* The battle for Warsaw
* Aftermath
* The battlefield today
* Bibliography
* Index
Paperback; March 2009; 96 pages; ISBN: 9781846033520 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Author: Richard Brzezinski
Illustrator: Velimir Vuksic
About this book
The Polish hussar was, to quote one of many foreign visitors impressed by them, 'without doubt one of the most spectacular soldiers in the world'. Most dramatic of all hussar characteristics were the 'wings' worn on the back or on the saddle; their purpose has been hotly debated. The hussar's main offensive weapon was a 4–5 metre lance (kopia). This title takes a close look at the origins and development of the Polish 'winged' hussars, and using many years' painstaking research drawn from unpublished Polish sources, provides a rounded view of the training, tactics, appearance and experiences of these legendary and fascinating warriors.
Contents
Introduction: History and Origins · Chronology · Recruitment & Organisation · Equipment · Wings · Horses & Saddlery · Campaign & Camp Life · Experience of Battle · Conclusion · Glossary · Museums · Collecting · Re-enactment · Colour plate commentary · Index
Paperback; July 2006; 64 pages; ISBN: 9781841766508 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Author: Ronald Pawly
Illustrator: Patrice Courcelle
About this book
This book draws on original regimental records to give by far the most detailed account ever published in English of the organization and personalities of the most renowned of the foreign units that served in the Emperor's armies. Unlike most of his foreign troops, these Polish horsemen were true volunteers, who owed their honoured place in his Imperial Guard to their proven courage and dash on battlefields from Spain to Russia. The text is illustrated with rare portraits and photographs, and with detailed colour plates of the Lancers' magnificent uniforms.
Contents
Poland 1806–07 · Formation as Light Horse 1807 · Spain 1808 · Complete conversion to Lancers 1809 – Wagram – organization and uniforms · 1812 – the vain hope of a restored Polish kingdom – the Russian campaign – enlargement to two regiments · The 1813–14 campaigns – Leipzig, and the death of Prince Poniatowski · Elba – the squadron of honour · 1815
Paperback; August 2007; 48 pages; ISBN: 9781846032561 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Author: Richard Brzezinski
Illustrator: Angus McBride
About this book
Few people will realise that at one time the Polish state was one of Europe's great powers. One of the chief instruments of her success was undoubtedly her army, which though small can claim many accomplishments and major successes in the 16th and 17th centuries. Richard Brzezinski redresses this imbalance by providing a portrait of Polish armies from 1569-1696, detailing their history, organisation, arms, armour, insignia and dress, accompanied by numerous illustrations and eight superb full page colour plates by Angus McBride.
Contents
Introduction · Chronology · Organisation and Recruitment · Cavalry · Infantry · The Lithuanian Army · Pospolite Ruszenie (Levy of the Nobility) · Flags, Command Insignia and Field Signs · The Plates
Paperback; April 1987; 48 pages; ISBN: 9780850457360 |
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Post by Bonobo on Oct 31, 2009 21:17:15 GMT 1
History of Poland by M. B. Biskupski - fair, objective, moderately toned.  Available online or at libraries. books.google.pl/books?id=QDgaX6q9tycC&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=biskupski+history+of+poland&source=bl&ots=BBGb3y6n4F&sig=J6k725fde75Pv5rBmaTw-e_-G9c&hl=pl&ei=cJnsSpe0C4-omAOc6uiYDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Actually, things have turned out quite well..."
Nick Hodge
The Krakow Post
1st May 2009
www.krakowpost.com/imgsize.php?w=350&img=i/2009/0501-ZAMOYSKI.jpg
Adam Zamoyski ponders partitions, plane crashes and the Polish complex
Although raised amongst post-war émigrés in London, historian Adam Zamoyski now divides his time between England and Poland. He is chairman of the Czartoryski Foundation, which, together with the National Museum, administers Krakow's Museum of the Czartoryski Princes. His first book, a biography of Chopin, was published in 1979, and he has since penned many acclaimed works, including the bestselling 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow. This spring he published Poland: A History, a reworked and extended take on his classic The Polish Way. He is married to the painter Emma Sergeant.
KP: The spy Andrzej Kowerski/Andrew Kennedy once made the ironic remark that the wartime emigration was a positive thing as it provided "a good mix of Polish fantasy and British phlegm." In what respects was growing up outside Poland a help or a hindrance to you as a historian of Central Europe?
AZ: A huge help. Dealing with the history of Poland - certainly until very recently - was almost inevitably an emotional thing, because Polish history had become a political battleground from the 19th century onwards, both in nationalist terms i.e in trying to prove that Poles had not been as hopeless as the Germans or even English and French historiography would have one believe on the one hand, but also ideologically. Because throughout the middle of the 20th century, certainly in the post-war decades, and really up until about Solidarity, the general view of Western intellectuals was that Poles were in some unspecified way reactionary, crypto-fascists. Polish historians in Poland were blissfully unaware of that. But they too felt terribly beleaguered. They were basically writing from within the walls of a besieged fortress. Their entire view of Polish history was necessarily one of trying to work out where it had all gone wrong, and why it had gone wrong. And this inevitably engendered a tendency to try and come up with supposed moments of "what could have been" if somebody had done something else, you know - if only Jan Sobieski had managed to found a dynasty, and limit the liberum veto, everything would have been alright, that kind of thing.
Being outside Poland meant that one was just as much exposed to a sense of being besieged, because Western historians were not interested in Polish history, and as I said, people regarded Poland as a gloomy place inhabited by possibly charming but pretty thick primitives, who were, you know, Jew bashers (was it Keynes who said that Poland's only industry was Jew-baiting? ). But at least, living in London, one could write about Polish history for work, then you could leave your work table, and go out into a normal world, and forget about the partitions, and the Second World War, the Warsaw Uprising and all the horrors. Which meant that you could take a much more detached view.
Of course this has all become largely irrelevant - well a lot of it has become irrelevant - because of what's happened since 1989. Because the Second World War has finally ended. Poland's long Second World War of 50 years is over, and Poland is a perfectly successful country, a vibrant society with, ok, some pretty ridiculous politicians, but who doesn't have them? And actually, now, as you contemplate Polish history, you don't naturally think "where did we go wrong?". Because actually things have turned out quite well. And who knows, maybe the fact that we had a bit of a rough ride for two centuries may have stood us in good stead in other ways. Because if you look at Polish society, in many ways it's a happier society than a lot of Western societies. Certainly in some areas it's more socially cohesive and more at ease with itself.
Until 1989, writing Polish history was a bit like delivering a eulogy at the graveside of a much-loved but slightly hopeless friend who'd drunk himself to death - or who had brought it on himself anyway. Whereas now it is actually recording the history of this country, which sometimes goes through better and sometimes worse times.
And this is what really hit me in the face when I started this latest project. Because originally my publishers had wanted me to brush up The Polish Way, and add a few chapters bringing it up to date. But when I sat down and re-read it (I'd originally written it 25 years ago), it struck me as a book penned in another century by a different person. At first I thought it was only a question of tone and style. So I went through it completely, clearing out the anachronisms, and taking out some of that kind of special pleading that came into the eulogy, because you know, the friend was dead, and you wanted to say that "for all his faults, he was a nice chap and he did do a few good things. " So I did that, and then left it for a month or two. But then I realised that this wouldn't do at all, and that a much more fundamental re-write was needed.
KP: You mentioned in your introduction to your new book, that when you first wrote The Polish Way, "very few people had much of an idea where the country lay or that it had a history worth dwelling on". Growing up in England, did you generally feel that people were politely ignorant that there was a government-in- exile in their midst?
AZ: Yes. Well, in England I was always conscious of an enormous amount of sympathy for the Poles amongst the upper-middle classes, where there were wartime memories of comradeship and a sense that something not very good had happened in 1945. But that changed dramatically in different social spheres, for instance amongst the lower middle classes there was no real knowledge of Poland at all. And amongst intellectuals, who were all fashionably lefty, there was a fundamental antipathy.
I remember at Oxford, a friend of mine, a very nice guy, who wasn't very bright - he had a rowing scholarship - well, he was actually in Prague on holiday in 1968 when the tanks rolled in. But even so, he would actually uphold to my face that communism was good for Poland - it was amazing. That was exasperating.
KP: Did London's bastions of the emigration such as the Ognisko Polskie club make a strong impression on you as a child?
AZ: Oh absolutely. I lived on the one hand a very English life, and on the other hand a very Polish one. A lot of Polish émigrés - family and others - used to come to our flat, and at Christmas or Easter, solitary old generals would come along - marvellous fellows. And I certainly remember Ognisko very well, with Anders sitting there looking elegant, and Bór-Komorowski, and other generals who all seemed so charming and such fun. There was a marvellous man called General Prag³owski, whom I really liked – he had such a twinkle in his eye. He was the man who was chief of staff to the cavalry division and saved the day at the Battle of Komarów in 1920. And indeed I remember old Colonel Krzeczunowicz who led the famous last charge at Komarów, as a mere captain of the 8th Lancers. It was all rather wonderful.
Of course, a lot of it was slightly comic to my brother and me as children. We used to laugh at a lot of it. All these people sitting around discussing where the boundaries should run - you know, they were still fighting the war, and there was a lot of discussion about what the politics of Poland should be if and when they won it.
But a lot of it was also very sad. Some of these people were magnificent, and you felt incredibly sorry for them. A lot of them had nothing else to sustain them. They were pretty hard up. My parents were very lucky - they had a huge number of English friends, as well as relatives across Europe, and so you could sort of step back from it all. But many of them were just stranded. And of course, because they were strapped for cash, the only English people they knew were lower middle class or working class, who didn't know and didn't care, and who just thought they were strange and foreign.
KP: Did you feel that your Polishness was something that weighed on you or was it something that you embraced gladly.
AS: I embraced it. Not everyone did. For instance my siblings didn't. Ironically, my sister, who is nine years older than me, was given Polish lessons by one eminent professor, Polish history lessons by another eminent professor and Polish literature lessons by another eminent professor. My brother was given Polish language lessons. By the time I came along my parents had rather given up on that sort of thing. And now [laughs], neither of my siblings speaks particularly good Polish, and they know nothing about the country's history or literature.
Of course, a lot of my Polish contemporaries whom I met at school or at Oxford used to say they were British, and that was that (some of them even changed their names). Some of those, ironically, have since then become more Polish than the Poles, and some have actually moved here. I can think of one I met at Oxford who, the first time I met him and said "Ah, you're Polish," told me aggressively that he was British. He's now living in Warsaw with a Polish wife.
But I embraced it, because I felt there was some fun in it. My problem was that there was a kind of gulf between home and the outside world. Whenever I left home, I suddenly stepped out of the Polish world, and even a European world, and stepped into an English one. Which was very "Little English" then. I was always interested in history, and actually I found that history was one way of bridging that gap. I was mainly interested in Polish history. But I always chose, almost subconsciously, areas of Polish history which connected with other European trends or areas. Indeed, when writing my first history of Poland 25 years ago, I consciously tried to reconnect it. Because if you picked up a book on European history written in the 60s or 70s, Europe seemed to end somewhere around Vienna. If you looked up Poland there would be three mentions. I wanted to rebuild the links between these two rolds. Because I felt they must be somewhere.
For many, being Polish was being nagged at by your mother to speak Polish at home, being sent to Sunday school, and so on. Or else embracing that and joining the Polish scouts, and living in a sort of ghetto, which some of them did, and then feeling out of place and ill at ease in England. For me I turned it into my hobby and then into my work. Which actually made the whole thing perfectly normal.
KP: Your father was ADC to General Sikorski. Recently, there have been a lot of sensationalistic articles - and indeed films - about his death on the Liberator plane. Aside from that, could I ask what your father told you of Sikorski as a man and as a leader?
AZ: My father adored him and they got on very well together. Sikorski I think was very fond of my father and nicknamed him "Bohun" after the character in the Sienkiewicz novels. I've still got a signed photograph of Sikorski saying "Kochanemu Bohunowi" – it must have been some secret joke between them.
My father didn't actually get to England until quite late in 1940 as he was cut off in Vichy France, and he had to trudge across France, and then he was picked up by a British submarine and brought to England.
As he had been to school in England during the First World War, he was incredibly useful as he knew English perfectly, which very few Poles did in those days. Also, my father was extremely well-connected, he'd met Churchill before the war. He knew loads of people and was able to ring up people and say, "this is who you need to talk to".
But this whole Sikorski business is such a nonsense. It's going to be like the Kennedy assassination or the Princess Diana thing, you know, people won't give up.
People always approach these things from the wrong side; of course, if a couple got on badly and the wife fell down the stairs and killed herself, and the man had actually been standing behind her when she tripped and fell, and he inherited a large amount of money from her and then married his mistress, it is tempting to conclude that he pushed her. And that's rather how people think.
But there are two fundamental things here which everybody forgets. One is that Sikorski - I know that this will upset a lot of people - Sikorski was simply not important enough to warrant being liquidated. Stalin knew by then that he could do what he wanted, and no number of Sikorskis could possibly stand in his way.
That is point one. But the really, really crucial thing is this. And this was brought to my attention by a marvellous man called Group Captain Stanis³aw Wandzilak, a fighter pilot who had commanded 315 Squadron. He had transferred to the RAF after the war, and in the 50s and 60s he was head of Accident and Investigation for the RAF. Wherever there was an accident, whether it was in Australia or Singapore, or Scotland, he would look into it. He investigated dozens of accidents involving that kind of plane. And he had flown it himself on many occasions. What he said to me was this:
"Look, none of the things that have been suggested, you know, the steering cables being jammed and so on - none of that would have actually guaranteed that the plane would (a) take off, or (b) fall into the sea. With all my experience, which is far greater than anybody who might have wanted to sabotage that plane would have had, with all my experience - even given plenty of time - there is no way that I could fix things so that that plane would take off and fall into the sea. If I'd been told to kill those people, I'd have shoved a bomb on the plane that was timed to detonate over the Bay of Biscay - no one would have been able to investigate it as the place was crawling with German submarines. "
And that's the point – it wasn't feasible.
KP: There seems to be some tension/ awkwardness between those members of the intelligentsia who stayed in Poland and those who remained in emigration - as to who "the true Poles" are and the true guardians of Polish culture. Is that a fair assessment?
AZ: I don't think that that was true of the older generation. When people first started coming to Poland in the 60s and 70s, people were just so happy to have a breath of fresh air that they were very welcoming. But in the 80s and 90s, more and more people came, and the fact that they could come and go and that they had a decent life to go back to, elicited a rather silly reaction amongst a lot of people here, with insinuations such as: "You're not real Poles."
They never did it to me, because I started coming here in the 60s. But I remember people saying that "these people are not real Poles". And I would answer: "They're just as good as you," and they'd say " Oh, well they never stood in queues, they don't know what it's like to face ZOMO". And I'd say: "Hang on, you didn't fight on the barricades of Warsaw in 1944, and you didn't fight in the Charge at Somosierra (1809), that doesn't mean you're not a real Pole."
There was a bit of tension. I wouldn't say it was not so much amongst the intelligentsia really, more amongst the sort of middle classes. There was a bit of that. And a bit of one-upmanship from people who would say: "I was in Solidarity" and so on.
KP: Your uncle, Augustyn Czartoryski, was the last pre-war guardian of the Czartoryski Museum. The family regained an influence in 1990. Now you are the chairman. It seems that the survival of the museum is one of Poland's little miracles.
AZ: My function in the museum has been from the beginning as the kind of link between people here and my cousin who didn't come to Poland a lot and who didn't know Polish. When I first started coming in the 60s, I made contact with some of the old staff of the museum who were still very loyal to the family, and who were determined that it should remain separate, because there were endless attempts to try and absorb it. My cousin, Adam Czartoryski, still doesn't speak Polish, but he's very patriotically- minded, and to all intents and puposes I'm just carrying out his will. We are preparing a huge project to totally redesign the museum.
It is one of the miracles. And there is something unique about that museum. I think its roots lie in the extraordinary personality of the founder, Princess Izabela (1745-1835) who had a wonderful gift of engaging people of every class and intellectual level into her work. That's why everybody joined in the salvage operation in 1831. And it's why curators, a hundred years later, did everything to remain true to her intention and vision.
And indeed it's why I feel (God, I wish I could pass it on to someone else because it's a frightful task, a terrifying undertaking, it's exhausting and takes a lot of energy, and I don't know where I'm going to find the money and all that) but I just feel I owe it to her and I'll give it everything I can. It's really her and her extraordinary spirit hovering around that collection.
KP: Is there a role for an aristocracy as such in today's Poland?
AZ: Well, I think that every epoch creates its own aristocracy. You don't have to call it an aristocracy, you can call it a leading class or whatever you like. Certainly Poland is in dire need of leadership; you only have to see the respect for people like W³adys³aw Bartoszewski. People want moral authorities, they want role models. Unfortunately, people see very few of them around. And I don't think that many of the former aristocracy are up to it. I mean, there are some very fine people, but I don't know whether they've got the potential.
However, what is evident is that when somebody capable who has one of the historic names does take on something, it's a magic combination. For instance, in ZamoϾ, there is such a good atmosphere, a feeling of peace and calm, which is largely due to the fact that people feel that the right man is in the right place. The head of the Zamoyski family, Marcin Zamoyski, is the president of the town, and he wanders around looking like a kindly local aristocrat who is simply running his estate well. There it does produce a very positive feeling, and very positive results.
There is a huge need for leadership of one sort or another, as indeed there is in most Western societies. And people do rather expect, that if you have one of the old names, you have to do something, which some find rather difficult to live up to.
KP: You wrote a book about Król Staœ (Stanis³aw Poniatowski, the last king of Poland). The king was famed for his Thursday dinners, to which he invited cultural luminaries of the day. If you could assemble a dinner of characters from Poland's past who would be on your guest list?
AZ: Gosh. Well, I'd certainly like to have Król Staœ. He'd be absolutely number one. Actually I'm not sure if I'd want them all at the same table. But certainly I'd love to have had dinner with Król Staœ, I would love to have had dinner with Chopin, who was quite clearly a man with a huge sense of humour and a very attractive person. I think I would have quite liked to have had dinner with Drucki-Lubecki, and Piotr Micha³owski the artist, an interesting man. I'd have loved to have had dinner with Pi³sudski. And Szymanowski, one could go on....
KP: In the last chapter of your new book, you raised the subject of IPN (The Institute for National Remembrance) , and you mentioned that whilst many minor informers had been exposed, some of the communists who had blood on their hands had gotten off scot free. Do you think that more should have been done to purge the state apparatus and public offices of communists? Or do you think that the bloodless revolution should be celebrated, and the consequences necessary?
AZ: The revolution was bloodless, and that is to be celebrated. And I don't think that anybody needed to be shot or hanged. It should always have remained a civilised process - as it indeed it was most of the time.
But I think what was a huge mistake was the announcement of the "Gruba Kreska" [/li][li]. Just the fact of announcing it was a blunder. Because I remember distinctly in the autumn of 89, although they were still largely in power, the commies were shitting bricks; they were lying low, paralysed by the sheer strangeness of the situation. They didn't know which way to jump. The minute the "Gruba Kreska" was announced, they suddenly came out from under the beds and their hiding places, and began merrily asset-stripping and accommodating themselves to the new system. That was a great tactical mistake, and caused untold damage. KP: You mentioned the post 2004 immigration to England in your book, and suggested that many young Poles had become disgruntled with Polish politics, and that many had left the country "despite the existence of jobs at home."Do you think there's a danger that English readers might not grasp that the key impulse came through economic desperation? AZ: I don't think I said there were plenty of jobs in Poland. Of course the emigration is mostly economic, and it is mainly from areas where there is high unemployment. But undoubtedly there is an element within it of people who simply find Polish politics or the atmosphere in Poland oppressive or enervating. I think that on the whole today's immigrants are pretty popular in Britain. That's going to change when all the hard-working ones come back. Because already there are a lot of shysters coming over and trading on the reputation of the first lot, and doing bad work. And there are a lot of benefit scroungers turning up now, who are getting up to unbelievable tricks. And I think there's going to come a moment when British people are going to say "hang on", and get rather cross about that. KP: Are you working on a new book at the moment? AZ: Sort of - I haven't got very far. I'm supposed to be writing a bit of a sequel to The Congress of Vienna. The working title is The War on Terror: 1815-1848. The interesting thing is that the moment they'd put the evil genie Napoleon back in the bottle as it were, and corked him up on St. Helena, people like Metternich and Tsar Alexander, and even Lord Liverpool in Britain, suddenly woke up to the fact that they were now going to have to police Europe, and they very quickly developed a paranoid obsession that there were hundreds of thousands of people and sects which were working to destroy the old European order and bring down all the thrones and to start a great revolution and so on. And they became quite irrational and actually quite mad. The period between 1815-1848 is when most European countries organised proper police forces for the first time, and secret police networks. Before that only Austria had a proper police, but after 1815 everyone started up their own, and indeed, they didn't stand down their armies. That's what I'm supposed to be researching, but I'm not getting very far at the moment... [/i] Poland by Adam Zamoyski: review
Harry de Quetteville praises a dramatic new history of Poland by Adam Zamoyski that captures the spirit of its people
By Harry de Quetteville
telegraph.co. uk
07 May 2009
Despite a recent improvement in international relations under the government of Donald Tusk, Poland's foreign policy concerns of the 21st century appear to be much the same as those of the 20th: the hulking great neighbours that flank it to the east and west.
Viewed from Warsaw, Russia is the big bad bear that harries Poland economically, while Germany refuses to squash the territorial aspirations of Second World War "Prussian expellees". Together the two giant powers conspire to cut Poland out of the loop on energy with a gas pipeline, described by more paranoid Poles as a reincarnation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
We in Britain, witness to the recent influx of cheap labour and religious devotion from Poland, may consider Warsaw's accession to the EU in 2004 its most significant club membership of recent years. But in Poland it was joining Nato in 1999 that seemed more significant. It didn't come with the economic benefits of the EU, but it seemed to rule out annihilation.
It may seem incomprehensible here, but the extent to which Poland still fears such a fate can be seen by its determination over the past few years to house America's missile defence shield on its soil, in the face of nuclear intimidation from Moscow. Nato promises of mutual assistance in the event of an attack are one thing, Poland's Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told me last year, but boots on the ground are better. "The British didn't come through in 1939," he said then. "You declared war but you didn't go to war. That's why we're demanding capabilities on the ground, not just parchment."
It is inevitably this threat of national "liquidation" during the 20th century that forms the most dramatic section of Adam Zamoyski's excellent and authoritative Poland: a History. No one, no matter how familiar with the details, can fail to be moved by his descriptions of the scale of Poland's national misery, over such a long time. Indeed, Zamoyski argues eloquently that while the horrors of war destroyed Poland's infrastructure and its Jewish population, the effects of the 45 years of Soviet domination afterwards were at least as profound, destroying the ideas that had sustained the nation for a millennium.
For what, he asks, is Poland? "The Polish nation had never been based on ethnic, territorial, religious or political affinities," he writes, describing the collapse of the uprising against Russia in the 1860s and the "disintegration" of Poland's component parts. "`Polishness' had become a condition which defined itself."
Zamoyski is exhaustive about those cultural and constitutional developments over hundreds of years that evolved into precisely that sense of Polishness. Importantly, he couches the events from 1939 to 1989 within the millennium-long national narrative, drawing two important conclusions. The first is that Poland has frequently fluctuated between grandeur and extinction, coming close to the latter not just in 1939, but also in 1863 and in 1795 when, despite heroics on the battlefield, the assault of its neighbours on each other proved too much to fend off. Then, as in the future, Poland's allies mourned but did little to prevent what Zamoyski describes as "the unceremonious liquidation of one of the states of Europe".
His second conclusion is that despite military feats, ethnic tolerance and constitutional advances, there is an aspect of Polishness that has, over the centuries, colluded in this oscillating fortune. It seems snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is a national trait. Knowing what is to come, the refusal, at several opportunities, to dispatch the Teutonic order of Prussia once and for all will almost provoke a reader to shouted protest.
Contriving, in three years, to turn Woodrow Wilson's 1917 declaration of global support for "a united, independent and autonomous Poland" into Lloyd George's outburst that "the Poles have quarrelled with all their neighbours and are a menace to the peace of Europe" is no less a self-defeating achievement.
Such an extraordinary national trajectory demands an accessible and scholarly accounting. Zamoyski succeeds admirably in providing both.
Poland: a History
by Adam Zamoyski
448pp, Harper Press, £14.99 Although raised amongst post-war émigrés in London, historian Adam Zamoyski now divides his time between England and Poland. This spring he published Poland: A History, a reworked and extended take on his classic The Polish Way.
Review by Stefan Wagstyl
Published: May 11 2009 06:06 | Last updated: May 11 2009 06:06
Book cover of Poland: A HistoryPoland: a History
By Adam Zamoyski
Harper Press £14.99, 448 pages
FT Bookshop price: £11.99
The young Alfred Tennyson was so taken with Polish history that he wrote what he called “a beautiful poem on Poland, hundreds of lines long”. Sadly, he never got a chance to publish it because a housemaid used the paper to light a fire.
The poem’s fiery end is one of the many disasters suffered by Poland in its efforts to maintain its place in the world. As Adam Zamoyski relates in Poland: a History, one of the largest states in 17th-century Europe disappeared from the map altogether in 1795 and did not return until 1918. A brief flurry of independence ended in the second world war, Nazi terror and Soviet domination. Only since 1989 has Poland truly recovered the freedom it lost in 1939.
The last 20 years, Zamoyski argues, perspectives on Polish history have utterly changed. Before, it was justifiably written as the story of “a failed state”. Today, it is the tale of a “society that created a social and political civilisation of its own”. He says in his preface: “There is a great difference between writing up a bankrupt business and writing up one that has been through hard times and turned the corner.”
Zamoyski’s immediate aim is to explain why he has rewritten a book he published in 1987 as The Polish Way. But he has a greater purpose too, highlighting how interpretations of history change in response to events. In 1630, for example, Krzysztof Opalinski, the Palatine of Poznan, surveyed the wars consuming Poland’s neighbours, and wrote: “Poland is a spectator who stands safely on the seashore, calmly looking on at the tempest raging before him.” Within a few decades, the neighbours had started invading and the proud Polish Commonwealth had begun its long slide to extinction.
Swept along by his lively prose, Zamoyski covers more than 1,000 years. Anecdotes abound, not least his loving account of his 16th-century ancestor Jan Zamoyski, who rose from the gentry to serve as both chancellor and hetman (military commander).
Despite Zamoyski’s claims to an up-to-the-minute interpretation, his work is a traditional national history, in which the main theme is Poland’s survival in the face of incredible odds. The views of the country’s many enemies get short shrift. There is also a close focus on the deeds of the great, with perhaps too little emphasis on the fate of the lowly, who often suffered miserably, whoever was in charge.
There is a good account of the second world war and its aftermath that brings out the appalling destruction in which 6m people died. The sensitive issue of wartime Polish-Jewish relations is carefully handled, with equal weight rightly given to the anti-Semitic tendencies of some Poles and the huge risks faced by those who bravely tried to save Jews.
Zamoyski relates how both Hitler and Stalin exploited tensions between the ethnic and religious communities, including Germans, Ukrainians and Belorussians, as well as Jews and Catholic Poles. The occupiers finally destroyed the multi-ethnic state that had existed for centuries, leaving an almost mono-ethnic Polish entity to emerge from the ruins.
The book concludes with an effective summary of the fall of communism and its aftermath, highlighting the key role of the Solidarity movement, which began in 1979, well before mass protests in other communist countries. While it praises the achievements of post-communist Poland, he does not spare its faults.
There are some curious omissions. A strong account of Polish culture in the 19th century is not matched by anything similar on the 20th. While Zamoyski mentions the composer Andrzej Panufnik, there is no space for the greater lights of Karol Szymanowski or Witold Lutoslawski.
There is also the odd mistake. Habsburg Pressburg is wrongly given as modern-day Brno, in the Czech Republic, when it is Bratislava, the Slovak capital.
But these are minor quibbles. This is an excellent book for those new to Polish history, including perhaps those planning a trip to Poland.
Stefan Wagstyl is the FT’s East European editor
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b463db7e-3b5e-11de-ba91-00144feabdc0.htmlAlthough raised amongst post-war émigrés in London, historian Adam Zamoyski now divides his time between England and Poland. This spring he published Poland: A History, a reworked and extended take on his classic The Polish Way.
Review by Stefan Wagstyl
Published: May 11 2009 06:06 | Last updated: May 11 2009 06:06
Book cover of Poland: A HistoryPoland: a History
By Adam Zamoyski
Harper Press £14.99, 448 pages
FT Bookshop price: £11.99
Ooops. I have just read an interview about 1989 revolution. Zamojski seems a poor historian in it. I highlighted the part. Zamoyski: Reflections on the Bloodless Revolution Nick Hodge The Krakow Post 3rd June 2009 www.krakowpost.com/imgsize.php?w=350&img=i/2009/0603-zamoyski.jpgHistorian Adam Zamoyski considers the Collapse of Communism
KP: In your new book, Poland: A History, you raised the issue that whilst many minor informers had been exposed, some of the communists who had blood on their hands had gotten off scot free. Do you think that more should have been done to purge the state apparatus and public offices of communists?
AZ: The revolution was bloodless, and that is to be celebrated. I don't think that anybody needed to be shot or hanged. It should always have remained a civilised process - as indeed it was most of the time.
But what I think was a huge mistake was the announcement of the Gruba Kreska [/li][li]. Just the fact of announcing it was a blunder. I remember distinctly that in the autumn of '89, although they were still largely in power, the commies were shitting bricks; they were lying low, paralysed by the sheer strangeness of the situation. They didn't know which way to jump. And the minute the Gruba Kreska was announced, they suddenly came out from under the beds and their hiding places, and began merrily asset-stripping and accommodating themselves to the new system. That was a tactical mistake, and caused untold damage.[/b] But I think that there's another thing which is almost more important. And it lies at the root of the divisions that you've got at the moment in Poland. It is that two of the country's largest political parties basically believe in exactly the same thing, but they cannot cooperate because they are nourished by fundamentally different points of view. One party is psychologically and emotionally descended from the group of communist youth - Michnik, Geremek, Kuron, Mazowiecki, et tutti quanti, who were essentially of the aristocracy, or the ruling class of the communist state. And in a sense, they carried out a palace revolution. They saw that the system wasn't working and they tried to turn it into a democracy. And they succeeded. But they had never been aware - because they had been brought up in a different world - of what 90 percent of the Polish people had been through. They just didn't know, because they had no contact. The other party largely reflects the point of view of that other 90 percent. That other 90 percent suffered both physically and morally, they were the underprivileged - they represent downtrodden Poland: the workers, the peasants as well as the pre-war elites. They came together with the others to carry through the Solidarity revolution and fought shoulder to shoulder with them. But when the dust settled, it became immediately apparent to them that these other guys hadn't clocked the real situation. Which was indeed true, because the Mazowiecki lot, once they'd got the contractual government, thought: "Right, well now let's get on with it - this is fine." And basically - without quite saying it - said to Wa³êsa and the others: "Now you go back to work. You've done your bit." Of course it's not quite as simple as that, but there was a whiff of that about it. And the others said: "Well hang about - the revolution has only been partial." Also it behove the Polish government, the new authorities, the new Republic, at some stage in its first couple of years, to at least openly condemn - you didn't necessarily need to go and find them and drag them in front of a court of law - but actually just to say: "This government and this state - the new Poland - condemns all those who took part in these and these and these activities, and does not wish any of them to occupy high positions." You don't need to carry out great purges, just to say: "These people are persona non grata," and give them to understand that if they ever try anything or raise their heads they'll get walloped. Take the question of pensions [/li][li]: not even addressing that was an insult, even though it was probably the result of carelessness - carelessness borne of a lack imagination, and a lack of awareness. And this created a huge wound at the heart of the new Poland, and divided people who were basically on the same side. And that's what we're seeing at the moment. The PO/PiS thing is ridiculous - they all believe in exactly the same things. And yet, they are divided by just the way they look at very simple things. And I think that is the major problem. And it all goes back to the Gruba Kleska. This situation is certainly not helped by the ridiculous way in which the IPN [Institute of National Remembrance] has been run, which makes no sense at all. One section of the public, journalists and historians - I mean, who's a journalist, who's a historian... .? Well, I can turn up and say I want to see a file, anybody who's doing research can go and dig dirt on people. And yet for people to get access to their own files is really quite difficult, it takes a long time. Yet meanwhile, the dirt is chucked. And they don't even reveal the whole file. If you're going to publish a file, then publish the whole thing for everyone to see. You can't just say that somebody has a file - you've got to say what's in it. And so I think that the IPN is a complete mess, and I don't think it's doing any good. I think if anything it's doing a great deal of harm at the moment. [/i] |
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