Waldemar KAISER: "Piłsudski had a different vision of Poland than ours"

**Peterski** · 10-30-2018, 05:14 PM

"Poland without Greater Poland - this is how Piłsudski's vision of Poland looked like in 1918.

Maybe this is why 11 November 1918 for Poseners and other Greater Poles is mainly celebrated as St. Martin's Day, not as Independence Day" - writes Waldemar KAISER for "Poznań. Nasze Miasto":

http://poznan.naszemiasto.pl/artykul...t,t,id,tm.html

"11 November 1918 is considered as the day, when Poland regained independence, but... without Prussian-ruled Polish territories - Greater Poland, Pomerania and Silesia - within its borders... Piłsudski, who was a native of Lithuania, wanted to build Poland based on territories of Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus. Germany was supposed to be his ally, not enemy. Germans knew what Piłsudski's views were very well. In his discussion with the delegate of the German Foreign Ministry, Count Harry Kessler, Piłsudski said that Poles were not going to fight for Posen and Pomerelia. That was AGAINST President Wilson's Declaration of 8 January 1918. Germans released Piłsudski from Magdeburg prison on 9 November 1918. Next day he arrived in Warsaw and on 11 November he took power over the Polish Army from the Regency Council. (...)"

From "Poznań Histories" Blog:

http://poznanskiehistorie.blogspot.c...wi-poznan.html

"It is not a mystery, that Marshall Józef Piłsuski has never been specially respected in Poznań and the rest of Greater Poland. The list of accusations is long. He was accused for example for not providing help to Greater Poland Uprising against German rule in Prussian Provinz Posen and West Prussia. He was criticized for his excessive attachment to Polish Eastern Borderlands at the expense of Polish Western Lands, and for his Pro-German attitude during WW1. Posen was the Bastion of National Democracy - political party hostile to Piłsudski.

But one thing that Greater Poles dislike Piłsudski the most for, is his May 1926 Coup d'Etat, as the result of which democratically elected government was abolished and Piłsudski gained almost dictatorial power. Large part of Geater Polish military units supported the legitimate government against Piłsudski's Coup in 1926, and Poznań politicians called for a fight to defend Polish democracy.

From "Club of Polish Intelligentsia":

http://www.klubinteligencjipolskiej....ni-zwycieskie/

"Authorities of modern Poland, gloryfing Sanacja and Piłsudski, celebrate only anniversaries of failed uprising and lost wars. On the other hand, the only fully victorious - Posener Aufstand against German rule in Greater Poland - and partially victorious Silesian Uprisings against German rule in Upper Silesia, are being erased by them from collective memory of the Polish people."

"The beginning of the Greater Poland Uprising was caused by Prussian persecution of the crowd gathered in Poznań after Ignacy Paderewski's arrival on 26-27 December 1918. (...) On 11 January 1919 general Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki became the commander in chief of all forces of the insurgents. His official title was "Commander In Chief of Polish Armed Forces of the Former Prussian Partition".

It was thanks to Dowbor-Muśnicki and Wojciech Korfanty that the Greater Poland Uprising succeeded and liberated most of the territory of the former Prussian-occupied Poland. At its peak the Insurgent Army numbered over 75,000 soldiers. Plans to liberate also entire Upper Silesia, Pomerania, Gdańsk and Masuria failed only because units of insurgents had to be sent East to help Polish self-defence forces defending Lwów (Lviv) against Ukrainian nationalists. That was caused by Piłsudski's mistakes in command.

In the Spring of 1919 Dowbor-Muśnicki planned a major offensive towards the Baltic Sea in order to regain Gdańsk for Poland [it had been lost in the 2nd Partition of 1793], but at the request of Ignacy Paderewski he had to send his regiments to Lwów. During the Polish-Bolshevik War, units from Greater Poland - hardened in fights against Germans - were among the most efficient and played a very important role. (...)"

**Peterski** · 10-30-2018, 05:18 PM

"He does not understand Poland, he is a combination of an Old Polish Romantic with a Russkie Bolshevik; nominated to the role of God by idiots who surround him, he is trying to be greater than God made him. He constantly reminds me of an ox, who thinks he is a bull and tries to fuck a cow." - this is how Roman Dmowski, the leader of National Democracy, described Piłsudski in 1919. Many Greater Poles would applaud that description during the 1920s and 1930s.

From "Józef Piłsudski in Greater Poland: a Hero or a Necessary Evil?":

https://gloswielkopolski.pl/jozef-pi...czne/ar/727655

**Peterski** · 10-30-2018, 05:33 PM

11 November (when the Regency Council ceded power to Piłsudski) is now celeberated as Poland's Indepenence Day in Warsaw.

However, for us in Wielkopolska - or for Silesians, or for Kashubians, etc. - this date is of no significance.

A much better day for us would be 7 October (when the Regency Council published Poland's Declaration of Independence on the basis of U.S. Presiden'ts Wilson 14 Points - where Point 13 mentioned establishment of Poland from all territories of Polish character and with secure access to the Baltic Sea).

Also 8 January would be a good date to celebrate - that was when Wilson proclaimed his 14 Points to the U.S. Congress.

Greater Poland did not regain independence on 11 November - it remained under German rule until 27 December, when German repressions against crowds spontaneously gathering to greet Ignacy Paderewski, caused the outbreak of Uprising, which soon spread over the whole region.

The uprising was originally planned to encompass all of ethnically Polish areas of Prussia, but it was insufficiently coordinated with Poles in other Prussian regions (that's why Polish uprisings in Upper Silesia started much later, only in the Summer of 1919, when the Greater Poland Uprising was already over).

However we still celeberate 11 November as St. Martin's Day.