Polish government-in-exile

The Polish government-in-exile, formally known asthe Government of the Republic of Poland in exile(Polish: Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie),was the government in exile of Poland formed in the af-termath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939,and the subsequent occupation of Poland by Nazi Ger-many and the Soviet Union, which brought to an end theSecond Polish Republic.Despite the occupation of Poland by hostile powers,the government-in-exile exerted considerable influence inPoland during World War II through the structures of thePolish Underground State and its military arm, the ArmiaKrajowa (Home Army) resistance. Abroad, under the au-thority of the government-in-exile, Polish military unitsthat had escaped the occupation fought under their owncommanders as part of Allied forces in Europe, Africa,and the Middle East.After the war, as the Polish territory came under thecontrol of the People’s Republic of Poland, a Sovietsatellite state, the government-in-exile remained in exis-tence, though largely unrecognized and without effectivepower. Only after the end of Communist rule in Polanddid the government-in-exile formally pass on its respon-sibilities to the new government of the Third Polish Re-public in December 1990.The government-in-exile was based in France during1939 and 1940, first in Paris and then in Angers. From1940, following the Fall of France, the governmentmoved to London, and remained in England until its dis-solution in 1990.

1 History

1.1 Establishment

On 17 September 1939, the President of the Polish Re-public, Ignacy Mościcki, who was then in the smalltown of Kuty (now Ukraine)[1][2][3] near the southernPolish border, issued a proclamation about his plan totransfer power and appointing Władysław Raczkiewicz,the Speaker of the Senate, as his successor.[1][2] Thiswas done in accordance with Article 24[4][5] of theConstitution of the Republic of Poland, adopted in April1935,[4][6] which provided as follows:

In event of war, the term of the President’soffice shall be prolonged until three months af-

ter the conclusion of peace; the President ofthe Republic shall then, by a special act pro-mulgated in the Official Gazette, appoint hissuccessor, in case the office falls vacant beforethe conclusion of peace. Should the President’ssuccessor assume office, the term of his officeshall expire at the end of three months after theconclusion of peace.[5]

It was not until 29th[6] or 30th[4][5][7] September 1939that Mościcki resigned. Raczkiewicz, who was alreadyin Paris, immediately took his constitutional oath at thePolish Embassy and became President of the Republic ofPoland. He then appointed General Władysław Sikorskito be Prime Minister[7][8] and, following Edward Rydz-Śmigły's stepping down,[9] made Sikorski Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces.[8][9]

Most of the PolishNavy escaped to Britain,[10] and tens ofthousands of Polish soldiers and airmen escaped throughHungary and Romania or across the Baltic Sea to con-tinue the fight in France.[11] Many Poles subsequentlytook part in Allied operations in Norway (Narvik<refname=""Poles1">The Poles on the Battlefronts of the Sec-ond World War Bellona 2005 Page 29</ref>), France,the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, NorthAfrica (notably Tobruk<ref name=""Poles0">The Poleson the Battlefronts of the SecondWorld War Bellona 2005Page 37</ref>), Italy (notably at Cassino and Ancona),Arnhem, Wilhelmshaven and elsewhere beside other Al-lied forces. Even after the fall of Poland, Poland re-mained the third strongest Allied belligerent, after Franceand Britain. After Germany terminated its 1939 alliancewith the Soviets in June 1941, with Hitler’s attack on So-viet forces occupying eastern Poland, Polish forces grewyet again as all of Poland’s citizens held captive in Sovietforced labour were released under the Sikorski–MayskiAgreement to form military units to fight Nazi Germanyunder Allied command.

1.2 Wartime history

Main article: History of Poland (1939–45)

The Polish Government in Exile, based first in Paris, thenAngers[12] and then in London, was recognized by allthe Allied governments. Politically, it was a coalition ofthe Polish Peasant Party, the Polish Socialist Party, theLabour Party and the National Party,[6] although these

1

2 1 HISTORY

Władysław Sikorski, first Prime Minister of the Polish Govern-ment in Exile.

“The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland”,note from the Republic of Poland addressed to United Nations,1942.

parties maintained only a vestigial existence in the cir-cumstances of exile.When Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, the

Polish Government in Exile established diplomatic rela-tions with the Soviet Union,[13][14] despite Stalin’s role inthe earlier dismemberment of Poland. Hundreds of thou-sands of Polish soldiers who had been taken prisoner bythe Soviets in eastern Poland in 1939, and many civilianPolish prisoners and deportees, were released[15] and al-lowed to form military units (the "Anders Army"); theywere evacuated to Iran and the Middle East, where theywere desperately needed by the British, hard pressed byRommel’s Afrika Korps. These Polish units formed thebasis for the Polish II Corps, led by General WładysławAnders, which together with other, earlier-created Polishunits fought alongside the Allies.During the war, especially from 1942 on, the Polish Gov-ernment in Exile provided the Allies with some of theearliest and most accurate accounts of the ongoing Holo-caust of European Jews[16][17] and, through its representa-tives, like the Foreign Minister Count Edward Raczyńskiand the courier of the Polish Undergroundmovement, JanKarski, called for action, without success, to stop it.In April 1943, the Germans announced that they had dis-covered at Katyn Wood, near Smolensk, Russia, massgraves of 10,000 Polish officers[18][19] (the German inves-tigation later found 4,443 bodies[20]) who had been takenprisoner in 1939 and murdered by the Soviets. The So-viet government said that the Germans had fabricated thediscovery. The other Allied governments, for diplomaticreasons, formally accepted this; the Polish Governmentin Exile refused to do so.Stalin then severed relations with the Polish Governmentin Exile. Since it was clear that it would be the So-viet Union, not the western Allies, who would liberatePoland from the Germans, this breach had fateful conse-quences for Poland. In an unfortunate coincidence, Siko-rski, widely regarded as the most capable of the Polishexile leaders, was killed in an air crash at Gibraltar inJuly 1943.[21] He was succeeded as head of the PolishGovernment in Exile by Stanisław Mikołajczyk.During 1943 and 1944, the Allied leaders, particularlyWinston Churchill, tried to bring about a resumptionof talks between Stalin and the Polish Government inExile. But these efforts broke down over several mat-ters. One was the Katyń massacre (and others at Kalininand Kharkiv). Another was Poland’s postwar borders.Stalin insisted that the territories annexed by the So-viets in 1939, which had millions of Poles in additionto Ukrainian and Belarusian populations,[22] should re-main in Soviet hands, and that Poland should be compen-sated with lands to be annexed from Germany. Mikoła-jczyk, however, refused to compromise on the questionof Poland’s sovereignty over her prewar eastern territo-ries. A third matter was Mikołajczyk’s insistence thatStalin not set up a Communist government in postwarPoland.

3

1.3 Postwar history

Standard of the President in exile.

Mikołajczyk and his colleagues in the Polish government-in-exile insisted on making a stand in the defense ofPoland’s pre-1939 eastern border (retaining its Kresy re-gion) as a basis for the future Polish-Soviet border.[23]However, this was a position that could not be defendedin practice – Stalin was in occupation of the territoryin question. The government-in-exile’s refusal to acceptthe proposed new Polish borders infuriated the Allies,particularly Churchill, making them less inclined to op-pose Stalin on issues of how Poland’s postwar governmentwould be structured. In the end, the exiles lost on both is-sues: Stalin annexed the eastern territories, and was ableto impose the communist-dominated Provisional Govern-ment of the Republic of Poland as the legitimate author-ity of Poland. However, Poland preserved its status as anindependent state, despite the arguments of some influ-ential Communists, such as Wanda Wasilewska, in favorof Poland becoming a republic of the Soviet Union.In November 1944, despite his mistrust of the Soviets,Mikołajczyk resigned[24] to return to Poland and take of-fice in the Provisional Government of National Unity, anew government established under the auspices of theSoviet occupation authorities comprising his faction andmuch of the old Provisional Government. Many Pol-ish exiles opposed this action, believing that this govern-ment was a façade for the establishment of Communistrule in Poland. This view was later proven correct in1947, when Mikołajczyk’s People’s Party was defeated inan election which was later shown to have been fraudu-lent. The Communist-dominated bloc was credited withover 80 percent of the vote, a result that was only ob-tained through large-scale falsification. The oppositionclaimed it would have won in a landslide had the elec-tion been honest. Mikołajczyk, who would have likelybecome prime minister had the election been truly free,left Poland again in April 1947, this time never to return.Meanwhile the Polish Government in Exile had main-

tained its existence, but France on 29 June 1945,[6]then the United States and United Kingdom on 5 July1945[6][25] withdrew their recognition. The Polish ArmedForces in exile were disbanded in 1945, and most of theirmembers, unable to safely return to Communist Poland,settled in other countries. The London Poles had to va-cate the Polish embassy on Portland Place and were leftonly with the president’s private residence at 43 EatonPlace. The Government in Exile became largely sym-bolic of continued resistance to foreign occupation ofPoland, while retaining some important archives fromprewar Poland. The Republic of Ireland, Francoist Spainand the Vatican City (until 1979) were the last countriesto recognize the Government in Exile, though the Vat-ican – through Secretary of State Domenico Tardini –had withdrawn diplomatic privileges from the envoy ofthe Polish pre-war government in 1959.[26]

In 1954, political differences led to a split in the ranks ofthe Government in Exile. One group, claiming to repre-sent 80% of 500,000 anti-Communist Poles exiled sincethe war, was opposed to President August Zaleski's con-tinuation in office when his seven-year term expired. Itformed a Council of National Unity in July 1954, andset up a Council of Three to exercise the functions ofhead of state, comprising Tomasz Arciszewski, GeneralWładysław Anders, and Edward Raczyński. Only afterZaleski’s death in 1972 did the two factions reunite.Some supporters of the Government in Exile eventuallyreturned to Poland, such as PrimeMinister Hugon Hankein 1955 and his predecessor Stanisław Mackiewicz in1956. The Soviet-installed government in Warsaw ac-tively campaigned for the return of the exiles, promis-ing decent and dignified employment in communist Pol-ish administration and forgiveness of past transgressions.Despite these setbacks, the Government in Exile contin-ued in existence. When Soviet rule over Poland came toan end in 1989, there was still a president and a cabinet ofeight meeting every two weeks in London, commandingthe loyalty of about 150,000 Polish veterans and their de-scendants living in Britain, including 35,000 in Londonalone.In December 1990, when Lech Wałęsa became the firstpost-Communist president of Poland since the war, hereceived the symbols of the Polish Republic (the presi-dential banner, the presidential and state seals, the presi-dential sashes, and the original text of the 1935 Constitu-tion) from the last president of the Government in Exile,Ryszard Kaczorowski.[27] In 1992, military medals andother decorations awarded by the Government in Exilewere officially recognized in Poland.

2 Government and politics

4 5 REFERENCES

2.1 Presidents

2.2 Prime ministers

3 Armed forces

Main article: Polish contribution to World War II

• Association of Armed Struggle (Związek WalkiZbrojnej, ZWZ)

• Home Army (Armia Krajowa)

• Grey Ranks (Szare Szeregi)

• Polish resistance movement in World War II

• Polish Armed Forces in the West

• Polish Armed Forces in the East

4 See also

• Jan Karski, resistance fighter.

• Tadeusz Chciuk-Celt, special envoy of the govern-ment.

• Ignacy Schwarzbart

• Szmul Zygielbojm

• Henryk Leon Strasburger, Finance Minister andMinister in the Middle East for the Sikorski govern-ment; Ambassador to London for Mikolajczyk.

• Juliusz Nowina-Sokolnicki, alternative President ofthe Republic of Poland (1972–1991).

• Polish Committee of National Liberation (PolskiKomitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego, PKWN), 1944–1945.

• Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland(Rząd Tymczasowy Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej,RTRP), 1945.

• Provisional Government of National Unity (Tym-czasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej, TRJN), 1945–1947.

• People’s Republic of Poland (Polska RzeczpospolitaLudowa, PRL), 1944–1952 (unofficial), 1952–1989(official).

• Western betrayal

5 References[1] Count Edward Raczynski In Allied London Weidenfeld

and Nicolson 1962 Page 39

[2] Editor Waclaw Jedrzejewicz Poland in the British Parlia-ment 1939-1945 Volume I Jozef Pilsudski 1946 Page 317

[3] John Coutouvidis & Jamie Reynolds Poland 1939-1947ISBN 0-7185-1211-1 Page 20

[4] Jozef Garlinski Poland in the Second World War, ISBN0-333-39258-2 Page 48

[5] Editor Waclaw Jedrzejewicz Poland in the British Parlia-ment 1939-1945 Volume I Jozef Pilsudski 1946 Page 318

[6] Editor Peter D. Stachura Chapter 4 by Wojciech Ro-jek The Poles in Britain 1940-2000 ISBN 0-7146-8444-9Page 33

[7] Johbjkuinhojvn Coutouvidis & Jamie Reynolds Poland1939-1947 ISBN 0-7185-1211-1 Page 26

[8] Editor Kieth Sword Sikorski: Soldier and Statesman ISBN0-901149-33-0

[9] Jozef Garlinski Poland in the Second World War, ISBN0-333-39258-2 Page 49

[10] Jozef Garlinski Poland in the Second World War, ISBN0-333-39258-2 Pages 17-18

[11] Jozef Garlinski Poland in the Second World War, ISBN0-333-39258-2 Page 55-56

[12] Jozef Garlinski Poland in the Second World War, ISBN0-333-39258-2 Page 81

[13] Stanislaw Mikolajczyk The Pattern of Soviet DominationSampson Low, Marston & Co 1948 Page 17

[14] Wojciech Roszkowski The Shadow of Yalta ISBN 83-60142-00-9 Page 27

[15] Stanislaw Mikolajczyk The Pattern of Soviet DominationSampson Low, Marston & Co 1948 Page 19

[16] Note of the Foreign Minister Edward Raczynski “Themass extermination of Jews in German occupied Poland,Note addressed to the Governments of the United Na-tions on December 10th 1942”, also published (30 De-cember 1942) by the Polish Foreign Ministry as a pub-lic document with the aim to reach the public opinions ofthe Free World. See: http://www.projectinposterum.org/docs/mass_extermination.htm

[17] Martin Gilbert, Auschwitz and the Allies, 1981 (Pimlicoedition, p.101) “On december 10, the Polish Ambassadorin London, Edward Raczynski sent Eden an extremely de-tailed twenty-one point summary of all the most recent in-formation regarding the killing of Jews in Poland; confir-mation, he wrote, “that the German authorities aim withsystematic deliberation at the total extermination of theJewish population of Poland” as well as of the “many thou-sands of Jews” whom theGermans had deported to Polandfrom western and Central Europe, and from the GermanReich itself.”

7.1 Multimedia 5

[18] J.K.Zawodny Death in the Forest ISBN 0-87052-563-8Page 15

[19] Louis Fitzgibbon Katyn Massacre ISBN 0-552-10455-8Page 126

[20] J.K.Zawodny Death in the Forest ISBN 0-87052-563-8Page 24

[21] John Coutouvidis & Jamie Reynolds Poland 1939-1947ISBN 0-7185-1211-1 Page 88

[22] (Polish)"Among the population of Eastern territories werecirca 38% Poles, 37 % Ukrainians, 14,5 % Belarusians,8,4 % Jewish, 0,9 % Russians and 0,6 % Germans”Elżbieta Trela-Mazur (1997). Włodzimierz Bonusiak,Stanisław Jan Ciesielski, Zygmunt Mańkowski, MikołajIwanow, ed. Sowietyzacja oświaty w Małopolsce Wschod-niej pod radziecką okupacją 1939-1941 (Sovietization ofeducation in eastern Lesser Poland during the Soviet oc-cupation 1939-1941). Kielce: Wyższa Szkoła Pedagog-iczna im. Jana Kochanowskiego. p. 294. ISBN 83-7133-100-2., also in Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie, Wrocław,1997.

[23] John Coutouvidis & Jamie Reynolds Poland 1939-1947ISBN 0-7185-1211-1 Pages 103-104

[24] John Coutouvidis & Jamie Reynolds Poland 1939-1947ISBN 0-7185-1211-1 Page 107

[25] Peter D. Stachura, Editor The Poles in Britain 1940–2000,Frank Cass, 2004, ISBN 0-7146-8444-9, Paperback FirstEdition, p. 8.

[26] Phantoms in Rome, TIME Magazine, 19 January 1959

[27] Peter D. Stachura, Editor The Poles in Britain 1940–2000,Frank Cass, 2004, ISBN 0-7146-8444-9, Paperback FirstEdition, p. 45.

6 Further reading

• Cienciala, Anna M. “The Foreign Policy of the Pol-ish Government-in-Exile, 1939–1945: Political andMilitary Realities versus Polish Psychological Re-ality” in: John S. Micgiel and Piotr S. Wandyczeds., Reflections on Polish Foreign Policy,NewYork:2005. online

• Davies, Norman. God’s Playground: A History ofPoland, Vol. 2: 1795 to the Present (2005)

• Kochanski, Halik. The Eagle Unbowed: Poland andthe Poles in the Second World War (2012) excerptand text search

7 External links

• Statement of the Polish government in exile follow-ing the death of General Sikorski (1943)

• Publications on the Polish Government (in Exile)1939-1990

• Stamp Issues by the Polish Government in Exile

• Polish Chancellery website: Prime Ministers IIndRepublic of Poland in Exile

• Polish World War II website on the Polish Govern-ment in Exile

7.1 Multimedia

Republic in Exile tells the story of the Polish Government-in-Exile in the form of five short episodes available on theYouTube channel: Polish Embassy UK

• “Republic in Exile, Episode 1: War” on YouTube(12 December 2014), Polish Embassy UK

• “Republic in Exile, Episode 2: Poland outsidePoland on YouTube (19 December 2014), PolishEmbassy UK

• “Republic in Exile, Episode 3: Polish voice in theworld onYouTube (26December 2014), Polish Em-bassy UK

• “Republic in Exile, Episode 4: Solidarity onYouTube (9 January 2015), Polish Embassy UK

• “Republic in Exile, Episode 5: Free Poland onYouTube (16 January 2015), Polish Embassy UK

Coordinates: 52°13′N 21°02′E / 52.217°N 21.033°E

6 8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

8 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1 Text• Polish government-in-exile Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_government-in-exile?oldid=669147908 Contributors: Bryan

Derksen, Szopen, Leandrod, IZAK, Paul Benjamin Austin, Delirium, Kingturtle, John K, Wik, DJ Clayworth, SEWilco, Adam Carr,Altenmann, Naddy, Halibutt, MaGioZal, Nichalp, HangingCurve, DO'Neil, Gzornenplatz, OverlordQ, Piotrus, Emax, Soman, Neutral-ity, Lacrimosus, Esperant, Sfeldman, Rich Farmbrough, Smyth, Darwinek, Pearle, Craigy144, Logologist, Seaweasel, Alai, LIU, Man-darax, Rjwilmsi, BlueMoonlet, Czalex, The wub, Valip, Austrian, Almog~enwiki, Ksyrie, SEWilcoBot, Rjensen, Srinivasasha, Molobo,Gadget850, Wknight94, TransUtopian, Spliffy, Curpsbot-unicodify, Appleseed, SpLoT, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Elonka, Renanschnei-der~enwiki, Gubby, Mauls, Hmains, Tom Szczepanik, Timbouctou, Cattus, Papa November, Xx236, OrphanBot, Intelligent Mr Toad,Akulkis, Mathiasrex, Vumba, Illythr, Dl2000, ChrisCork, Triumph Sisyphus, BeenAroundAWhile, W guice, Kowalmistrz~enwiki, Cyde-bot, Aszumila, Poeticbent, Bellerophon5685, Thijs!bot, Marek69, Nick Number, Gustavo Szwedowski de Korwin, Smith2006, MER-C,Magioladitis, VoABot II, The Anomebot2, Jniech, DukeOfDuchessStreet, CommonsDelinker, Bushy moustache, Zeisseng, Notreallydavid,Mrg3105, Lulo.it, Martin451, Mkpumphrey, SieBot, Caltas, Mimihitam, ImageRemovalBot, ClueBot, Rumping, Jacurek, P. S. Burton,Pernambuko, Jaro7788, SchreiberBike, DerBorg, Addbot, AVand, Captain-tucker, Friend of the Facts, Lightbot, JDavid, Jim1138, Citationbot, Marek2~enwiki, GrouchoBot, HRoestBot, Full-date unlinking bot, Cusio, The Catholic Knight, EmausBot, Magggy~enwiki, ZéroBot,Philafrenzy, Brigade Piron, TRAJAN 117, ClueBot NG, Helpful Pixie Bot, Klunzbach, Wikiwatchv2, SD5bot, Stefan.wisniowski, Spiritof Eagle, Elevatorrailfan and Anonymous: 53

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