The disobedient women – leaders of the National Organization for Women. A sketch for a group portrait of the National Democracy women activists 1919–1929)

The significance and scale of Endek influence in the nineteenth and twentieth century were not the outcome of stricly party organizations. A social movement, which had been built up since the partition era, reflected the strength of the nationalist camp. Vigorous associations – both secret and conspiratorial – united both men and women of various social backgrounds, economic positions, and professionial affiliations. This included the National Organization of Women (NOK) – founded in 1919 – which was one of the largest and most influential women’s groups in the Second Polish Republic. The following article is an attempt to present selected aspects of the biographies of NOK leaders, which collectively make up a collective portrait of Natinal Democratic women of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The analysis includes such elements as: the intellectual climate of the era, the significance of the partitions in female political activism in indepent Poland, and the role of the Catholic faith (both in its individual and social dimensions). It is also indispensable to discuss the circumstances of the NOK’s founding and the motives propelling Polish women toward activism in the public sphere: first, in the electoral campaign to the Constituent Diet (1919) on behalf of the National Democratic movement, and, secondly, through involvement in the association’s actitivities. In this context, it is wortwhile to pose a question about the roles of men and women in the ranks of the National Democratic movement. This is an issue that deserves to be investigated since the members of NOK, in response to the needs of a newly-independent Polish state, rejected the notion of gender conflict, aiming instead to build a community in which the activism of men and women could be mutually complementary.

Early years of the battle for Gabriel Narutowicz’s place in historical memory

This articles discusses what actions were undertaken to commemorate the first president in the Polish history. Gabriel Narutowicz was elected the President in December 1922 and assassinated by a political fanatic just a few days later, on the second day of holding the office. The death of the chief of state was a climax of fierce political war fought on the Polish political arena in 1922. Right after his assassination for some communities in the Second Polish Republic President Narutowicz became a symbolic victim of Polish national fanaticism, as left-wing formations used him as a tool to fight with right-wing groups in Poland. Their activities included fundraising to commemorate the President by erecting statues, naming streets and public institutions after him, organizing anniversary special events or publishing books, just to name a few. Not only did the results of such actions turn to be effective, they also proved to be incredibly long-lasting.

Polish diplomatic representatives in Romania in the years 1918–1940 Part II 1923–1940

Polish representatives in Bucharest in the interwar period were – what is obvious – executors of the Polish government’s foreign policy, formulated by the successive Ministers of Foreign Affairs. They had to act within that framework. In exceptional circumstances were Linde and Koźmiński, who happened to act in conditions of nonexistence of a single center shaping Polish foreign policy and they often had to demonstrate creativity, without any directives coming from the top. To a certain extent in a similar situation was Raczyński, who also had to act independently, in a state of necessity – as he claimed – ignoring the supremacy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs interned in Romania. Effective professionals efficiently performing the tasks allocated to them were Wielowieyski, Szembek and Arciszewski. Jurjewicz was perceived as much less energetic. His relatively low activity on the position of the envoy, however, was largely derived from minister Seyda’s passive policy towards Romania. Undoubtedly, the most prominent Polish diplomat in Bucharest was Alexander Skrzyński. He not only performed his duties of the representative of the Republic of Poland with the invention but he also showed his own initiative, when Poland was in extremely difficult war situation in 1919–1920.

Some features of economic development of village in the Eastern Galicia in 20–30 years of the 20th century

The article deals with the agrarian policy of the Polish government of the interwar period, which was intended to reform the agricultural system to increase productivity of agricultural production, the development of commodity-money relations and the activation of cooperative movement. The governmental policy has led to the formation of a land market, creating conditions for the origin of independent farms of different types and sizes, which were based on a private property of land. The main component of the agricultural policy of the government was colonization, which was intended to strengthen the eastern borders of the Second Polish Republic by creating economies of the colonists. They have become a social and political support for the government on the “Eastern lands.” This state policy influenced hostilely on millions of the local Ukrainian population. In despite the understanding of a significant number of Polish politicians and scientists such activities harm to the interests of the state, during the interwar period colonization of the land remained the main direction of agricultural policy. The Polish government has openly ignored the problems of the Ukrainian village, which led to a tangle of economic, national and social troubles that impacted on the Polish-Ukrainian aggravation of interethnic relations.