The restoration of Polish independence was preceded by numerous debates among the political and intellectual elites. The basic issue discussed in the 19th century was the national cause, to be more exact – the birth of its modern form after independence had been regained. The agenda of compromise (broadly or narrowly understood) specified the not only political but primarily ideological involvement in the specific historical situation. The image of Polish conservative thought, which struggled with the issue of national independence, also carries with it, and sometimes primarily, a collection of values that would represent the fundamental component of the identity of a Pole living in an independent country. Alongside the issue of national interest, the history of conservative thought demonstrates how distinct the Poles’ interests are in comparison with their peers in European culture. It also shows the train of thought of the Polish intellectual elite in shaping of the idea of the nation’s independence and the developmental path of the idea of political realism, which overshadows reflection on the restoration of independence. Tradition, national heritage, consciousness and the national identity, cultural disparity with the West and political realism – these are the values that made their way onto the agenda of the national parties in 1918.

The Great War, before it brought the independence to Poles, led to the exodus about of million of persons of Polish nationality from areas of the Congress Kingdom of Poland (established in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna) and Galicia. In the half the 1915 the offensive of armies of Central States induced Russian authorities for making a decision on the evacuation of residents of these areas. This step changed completely current life of this people. In this sketch I examined selected aspects of the new daily presence of Poles right after the arrival in places of the accommodation.

The Russian revolutions have been a major influence on the activity of the National Democracy (ND). Most importantly, they provided an opportunity for the movement to openly put forward a programme of restoration of an independent, united Polish state. All of its political activities have therefore been subordinated to this cause. One of the movement’s leaders, Stanisław Grabski, discussed the resulting priorities facing the National Democrats in Russia in his open letter dated 20 March 1917, in which he placed paramount importance on promoting the achievement of European peace and stopping Germany’s expansion to the East as a condition for a satisfactory solution to the Polish issue. In Russia, however, the ND had to refrain from speaking out in public on certain issues, such as Poland’s eastern border, as they feared that this would affect the situation of Poles then residing in Russia, if not prompt the latter to conclude a separatist peace with Germany. In this situation, the National Democracy in Russia focused mainly on publicising the anti-German elements of their political agenda and planning the creation of a Polish army to back their pro-coalition policies. Due to Russia’s declining position on the international stage, the political role of the National Democracy’s chapter in Russia was gradually weakened by the departure of its leaders towards Western Europe. Following the October Revolution, their status became precarious; once the Russian-German peace treaty was concluded, their activity had to be limited chiefly to assisting in the transfer of troops to the Polish army in France.

Among the many subjects discussed in the Swiss press during World War I, one of the most interesting was that of foreigners. It was usually analysed in terms of the impact of their presence on Swiss domestic, foreign or even economic policies. Sometimes, however, these articles had a slightly different purpose; those devoted to Poles were such a case. They were consistent with a widespread propaganda campaign aimed at preparing the public opinion to accept and support idea of the independence of the Polish state. The articles devoted to the Polish issue can be divided into several groups. Chronologically, the first type to appear were reports of humanitarian actions conducted on Polish soil. As this theme was deeply embedded in Switzerland’s ethic, it managed to impress the local readers, thus quickly becoming a foundation of the pro-Polish campaign. Poland’s independence was supposed to prevent the recurrence of the tragic events of 1914–1918, when Poles were often forced to fight against each other, while their country was being ruined by a war conducted in someone else’s interests. Humanitarian issues were therefore raised particularly frequently. The second important group of articles were those devoted to Poland’s eminent cultural and scientific personalities, both living and deceased. They were meant to create a positive image of the Poles, as a nation that brought outstanding individuals to European culture and thus deserved independence and unrestricted development. The third group of articles familiarised the Swiss readers with the Polish political scene, both in Poland proper and in exile. The selective nature of the information provided, as well as the usually favourable narrative, created a relatively positive image of the Polish political class, which was to augur well for the political life of the reborn country. And finally, the fourth group consisted of articles describing the Polish province and the customs of its population, as well as its economic potential. These portrayals often covered important ethnicity-related issues. The coexistence of Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Germans, Belarusians and Russians in the same territory turned out to be an appealing topic for the inhabitants of a multicultural Switzerland, and served as evidence of the readiness of the Polish nation towards building a modern, multinational state. The articles devoted to Poles published during World War I should be perceived as a long-term informational campaign conveying a specific message. The Swiss public opinion strongly supported the idea of Polish statehood, which was most often seen as a crucial factor for the peaceful functioning of Europe in post-war conditions. Such propaganda was carried out by almost all significant Swiss periodicals, although to varying degrees.

The aim – to determine how the presentation included in textbooks about the fight for freedom carried out by Poles during the First World War and regaining of independence in 1918 was used to form historical awareness in 1944–1989, while Poland existed as an undemocratic state; method – critical analysis of the content of history textbooks published in the years 1944–1989; results – conducted analysis of the content of textbooks allowed to determine what image of Poles fighting for independence during the First World War and Poland’s regaining of independence in 1918 was presented to students at school and to show its variability and also how those problematic aspects were conducted in political and ideological propaganda.

The Polish-Ukrainian war for Lviv and Galicia was the first military conflict that was fought by Poland after 123 years of subjugation. Polish historiography has seen numerous locally sourced academic and popular history publications on the subject. Many accounts by the participants in the struggle have also been released. Ukrainian historiography is also rich in works on the conflict concerning Lviv and Galicia, although virtually unknown to the average Polish reader. The author of the article attempts to present and discuss the most important Ukrainian publications and published accounts on the Polish-Ukrainian War.

The article discusses the first two years of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ existence, although it does not include analyses and summaries of Polish foreign policy. The topic is the ministry, its organisational structure, the underlying legal regulations, the development of the cadre, and its changing everyday workings. In other words, it is about the several hundred people who were responsible for the foreign relations of the country in its earliest period: from October 1918, when the Ministry of the Exterior was formally established in Warsaw, until the spring of 1921, when the first organisational structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was adopted and the structure matured, which in general survived until World War II. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs was built from scratch. Inspiration was taken from Germany and France, but only to a limited degree. The method consisted in experimenting with various approaches until a solution was adopted that had no simple analogy anywhere in the world. In the latter half of 1921, there were 26 embassies and 4 delegations under the authority of the Ministry. the mission of the General Commissariat of the Republic of Poland in Danzig was accorded special status. The network of consulates was improved and consisted of 49 independent missions, 17 consular departments within embassies, and 19 honorary consulates. In the latter half of 1921, the Ministry employed 632 public servants. After the restoration of independence, the creation of the Polish diplomatic cadre proceeded in two ways as a consequence of there being two centres of foreign policy – the Paris-based Polish National Committee, and the Warsaw-based Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both used various reserves. Their recruitment methods also differed (they were merged in the spring of 1919). One of the officials taking part in the establishment of the Ministry stated that 90% of the candidates who satisfied the requirements were “counts and Jews”. They were also accepted. The former part of the statement was not far from the truth, but only in the case of principal posts in diplomacy. The Ministry in fact accepted many members of noble and aristocratic families. However, not many Jews were employed.

This article is the first in Polish historiography to attempt to show the political activity of Jan Gwalbert Pawlikowski. Pawlikowski was a member of the Galician intellectual elite. He was a well-known economist, columnist, literary historian, cultural patron, climber, pioneer of nature conservation, but also a politician. Throughout his life he was consistently associated with the movement of the National Democracy as many associations, organizations and banks (e.g. Galician Economic Association, Land Reclamation Bank, Parcel Bank, Agricultural Wheel Association, Organization of National Unity, Society Poland). He sat on the Central Committee The National League, co-organized the National Democratic Party in Galicia (in the years 1907–1914 he was the president), sat in the General Council of the People’s and National Union. He participated directly in the most important political events in Eastern Galicia, and after 1918 he became actively involved in public activity in 2nd Polish Republic.

conspirators in the region of Wielkopolska at the end of the partitions of Poland. He was raised in the spirit of solidarity, devotion to the mother country, armed struggle for Poland’s independence and hope for a better future. When the Wielkopolska uprising broke out on 27 December 1918, he was at the epicentre of events, fought against Germans to liberate the city of Poznań and subsequently led troops which were part of the northern front of the Wielkopolska uprising, fighting in the vicinity of Kcynia. Since 18 October 1919, he fought in the 6th infantry regiment of the Legions in the Lithuanian-Belarus Front where he was in command of 2nd Company. He also took part in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1920. In the Second Polish Republic, by 1933 he served as a professional soldier. During WWII he was member of the armed independence conspiracy around Warsaw, Białystok and Kraków. After 1945 he strived to survive communism and support his family, working for example as a farmer. During the Polish October of 1956, he embraced another cause, namely securing the interests of the veterans of the Wielkopolska uprising. On 3 May 1976, during the jubilee celebrations of 600 years of the monastery of the Order of Saint Paul (1382–1982) and the presence of the image of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa he was among the generals who deposited their most precious medals as a symbol of their gratitude to Our Lady for her presence in Poland’s struggle for independence.

The March Constitution of 1921 was a result of a compromise, which was quickly criticised by politicians, lawyers, and scholars alike. Its form was also affected by the personality of Józef Piłsudski – predicting that he would become the head of the state, the right wing of the political scene purposefully weakened the presidential prerogatives. It was not long before the constitution failed to fulfil the hope vested in it. Even its own authors joined the criticism. The main objections included the supremacy of the parliament over other authorities or the excessively strong inspiration drawn from French constitutions. The work on a new constitution began in 1928. Although most of the political parties were aware of the necessity to fix the government system, the deputies opposing the governing camp refused to take part in the work on the constitutional changes and adopted a confrontational attitude. Representatives of individual parties criticised the draft by the Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government and paid little attention to their own initiatives. Despite the absence of the opposition in the Sejm on 26 January 1934, the Constitution was passed and then, after it had been signed by the president, entered into force in April 1935. Rarely did any event or legal act in Poland’s history cause such emotion and controversy. There is rich literature on the subject, but for years, there was no serious polemic, but rather the constitution was debased as a whole, and a substantial analysis has not been undertaken. The focus was on the fact that it was passed illegally and on its articles that could be regarded as not fully democratic. This approach is firmly cemented. The aim of the work is to show the situation related to the government system of the young Polish state in the Interbellum period and the debate that took place in the Polish parliament. The author focuses on the role of the opposition in the discussed events, critiques their conduct during the work and the passing of the constitution. This evaluation is made not only in the context of the internal circumstances but also the geopolitical and international situation, which was highly complicated in the 1930s.

The right to defence is a very important indicator of the quality of the rule of law. In the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany, later the GDR, the legal profession underwent a transformation. Individual defence for defendants was not to be totally abandoned, but it was meant to be subordinated to the interest of the socialist state. The academic study, which has served as the basis for this article, shows the development of the legal profession in East Germany. Due to the analysis of a large number (about 1,800) of legal procedures that were carried out in Berlin by the Ministry for State Security (MfS), the course of political trials and the conduct of advocates in such trials have been studied for the first time. Contrary to the show trials of the 1950s, a characteristic feature for the Honecker era was a short secret trial. The trial culture clearly deteriorated, though a reverse trend could be observed since the mid-1980s. The research aim is to analyze how it happened. The recruitment of advocates, their organisation in district bar associations, their education and disciplinary measures were not insignificant. The role of the MfS in exerting control over advocates and political trials has also been studied. Even if there were drastic cases of interference in the proceedings by the MfS – also through secret collaborators – until now, the control of the judiciary by the said ministry in the late GDR was rather overestimated. What was more influential were the so-called “steering meetings”. These assemblies – which were secret and are still underestimated – contributed to the fact that the course of the procedures was quite uniform and conformed to the dictatorship of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).

From the Polish bishop’s perspective, the breakthrough came with the first pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland, when the decision was made to undertake action aimed at normalising the Church–state relations. What was crucial in this regard was the debate on the forum of the Main Council of the Episcopate of Poland that involved the Holy Father. The above analysis discusses the perspective of the Episcopate of Poland on Church–state relations in the period between the end of the 1979 pilgrimage and the outbreak of strikes in July 1980. The first section of the article discusses the unknown background to the decision of John Paul II and Primate Wyszyński to normalise relations with the government; the next section presents an assessments of the outcome of the 1979 pilgrimage and its impact on the religious policy of the Polish People’s Republic; the third section presents the Episcopate’s approach to the normalisation and the related ecclesiastical priorities. The Church has a specific vision of the normalisation of the relations with the government and, after the first pilgrimage, made the decision to strengthen the pressure aimed at forcing the secular authorities to make concessions in key areas: regulation of legal personality, construction of religious buildings (including priestly seminars), establishment of the Joint Commission, and the enrolment of seminarians. With the exception of the latter, the bishops failed to win any concessions. Another issue is the resolution of the dispute related to the construction of a high-speed road in Częstochowa, which was partially dealt with in line with the Episcopate’s opinion, as there was no intention to cause a conflict, and then wholly abandoned in 1981. It ought to be stated that the Episcopate adopted a reasonable tactic that gradually yield the desired results, although certainly not at a rate that would satisfy the bishops.

After signing of the August – September Agreements in 1980, the Polish authorities obligated to legal sanction of them. Serious changes were required in the current, very laconic Trade Unions Act from 1st July 1949. That act did not enable to found an independent trade union in a communistic state. The crucial aim of this article is to define the essential contribution of The Independent Self-governing Labour Union “Solidarity” in assumptions of the act, a description of course and atmosphere of works over its project and the final result of those efforts. On 23rd September 1980 The Council of Polish People’s Republic founded a special team for preparing a draft legislation of Trade Unions. The delegation of The Independent Self-Governing Labour Union “Solidarity” (in Polish NSZZ “Solidarność”) was invited to work on that draft. From 17th October 1980 to 26th April 1981 the team had eight plenary sessions. As a result of those sessions, a complete draft of the Act should have Republic. During those meetings discussions were held on various issues such as: a registration of trade unions, compliance of activities of trade unions with The Polish People’s Republic Constitution and Convention No 87 of International Labour Organization, the agricultural self-government, self-employed professionals, students’ and farmers’ trade unions. What is more a right to strike, acceptable kinds of strikes, payment for a protest, legitimacy of founding workers’ councils, a conception of collective labour agreement for joint professions and a problem of social agreements in workplaces were being widely discussed. Thanks to the participation of “Solidarność” delegation, the prepared draft had a lot of modern solutions. The Council of Polish People’s Republic did not accept a few of them and introduced changes that limited possibility of founding trade unions and organization of strike for a lot of professions. Trade Unions Act was adopted neither at that time nor before 13th December 1981 when martial law in Poland was imposed. It happened upon 8th October 1982. The new act outlawed The Independent Self-governing Labour Union “Solidarity”. On the other hand, only thanks to foundation of “Solidarity” a provision about right to strike was included in that act that was not in the act from 1949.