Antoni Lenkiewicz - Jozef Pilsudski

Jzef Pisudski

Hero of Poland

by

Antoni Lenkiewicz

Jzef Pisudski: Hero of Poland

By Antoni Lenkiewicz

translated by Peter Obst

Cover design by

This edition published in 2019

Winged Hussar Publishing, is an imprint of

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Back cover by Wojciech Kossak

Copyright Antoni Lenkiewicz

ISBN 978-1-950423-17-0

Bibliographical References and Index

1. History. 2. Poland. 3. Biography

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This publication has been supported by the POLAND Translation Program

Jzef Pisudski

Hero of Poland

by

Antoni Lenkiewicz

Introduction to the 2002 Edition of the Jzef Pisudski Biography

I was a Pisudski admirer even before birth, because my parents were great fans of the Marshal. My mothers grandfather Teofil was brother of Jarosaw Dbrowski (1836-1871). Before Jzef Pisudski helped to recreate an Independent Poland, he had gained the respect of the Dbrowskis by giving high praise to Jarosaw in his first lecture on the January Uprising (February 13, 1912).

Jarosaw Dbrowski was an individual who was at the head of events. A man who was more energetic, bolder and enterprising. Unfortunately, he was arrested before the outbreak of the uprising and had to sit it out in prison.

For me, outside of readings about Pisudski, which I pursued actively and devoured, I only got to know the Marshal and his activities fully during the Solidarity decade (1980-1990). It was during this time that I understood that if we continue to present ourselves and think about our history as a series of defeats, and wait for outside help, we would never recover our independence and conditions for decent life and growth.

During my activities within NSZZ Solidarno (1980-1981), and later in prison where I was held in internment, I realized that my lectures about Pisudski were the most popular and informative. These would inspire Solidarity activists much younger than I and imparted or restored their faith in the possibility of an eventual victory.

Immediately after being released from internment, which in my case lasted from December 13, 1981 to December 23, 1982, I started to arrange the materials and notes to write a popular history about the Marshal. This would be in time for the 50 th anniversary of his death, which in 1985 would be commemorated with great fanfare and resulted in a popular revival of our hopes for independence. The writing turned out to be the straightforward part. It was not as simple as having it published in the underground. In this regard, help came from the Radio Free Europe, where in 1984, my book about Pisudski was being read daily from the typed manuscript.

In 1985, my book appeared in underground circulation. It was published in turn by the publishing initiative Aspect, Fighting Solidarity, Libertas publishing, and by the Silesian Confederation, where I was the director. For my activities in promoting Pisudski, I paid the price with nine months of imprisonment (from 11 November 1985 to 11 August 1986). The Marshal became a prominent figure not just in the Confederation of Independent Poland but in all the regions where Solidarity was active.

In a few dozen Catholic churches around Poland, excluding Legnica which was the main base for the Warsaw Pact, plaques were installed to mark Pisudskis achievements as the recreator of an Independent Poland and a victorious leader in the war against Bolshevik Russia.

After 1990, peoples interest in Pisudski started to fade, but knowledge about him was still not fully accessible, and the possibilities of using this information had only started to open up. There were several reasons for this. Among them was the general feeling of weariness, disillusionment with the post-communist reality, and the fact that Lech Walesa made frequent references to the Marshal. Then there were those who for years had fought against Pisudskis reputation with great vehemence but now, under new circumstances, decided to utilize his connections to socialism and the left.

On the patriotic side, the two great de-popularizers of Pisudski were Jerzy Giedroyc and Piotr Wierzbicki, who kept repeating insistently that Poland cannot be governed from the grave; neither the one at Wawel castle nor the one at Brdno. In this way, Wierzbicki cut himself off from the Pisudski tradition, as well as that which would allow one to learn political philosophy from the many valuable writings of Roman Dmowski.

The effect was terrible. Despite the symbolic references to Pisudskis and Dmowskis graves, there could have been positive effects from applying their ideas and principles. Instead, Poland was governed by terrified post-communists who could only poison the political atmosphere through their servility toward foreign powers or by lack of faith in our own strength, without which the possibility for action in difficult circumstances of our existence in the twenty-first century is seriously diminished.

On 14 October 2001, somewhat late but not without benefit, Polish Television started to broadcast a series of programs about Pisudski. Watching the series, I felt moments of disappointment, but the conviction better late than never and better a little than nothing grew stronger.

In the final reckoning, one can say that Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki, known for such programs as Enigma, a film about Stefan Starzyski, Pielgrzym, A Polish Pope, and Scenes from the Life of the Ruling Establishment, did not disappoint his audiences trust. The underlying difficulty is in the fact that those who know little about the Marshals life and accomplishments can get lost in the material. To fully know the great figures of our times, serial television programs are not enough. We must learn as much as we can about our heroes, read much, think about it, and discuss.

Overall, the series has the great ability to create interest in Marshal Pisudski and compel those who are looking for answers to reach for a book about him on the 135th anniversary of his birth. At the beginning of the third millennium, the words of Pisudski are still topical and important: