The Presidents of the Second Republic of Poland The Presidents of the Second Republic of Poland Lesson plan (Polish) Lesson plan (English) The Presidents of the Second Republic of Poland Belvedere Source: Bartosz Morąg, licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0. Link to the lesson Before you start you should know The President is the head of the Polish state. The competences and responsibilities of the President of the Republic of Poland. The Presidents of the Third Republic of Poland. You will learn You will be able to name all the presidents of the Second Republic of Poland. You will know in what situation they were elected and how their time in office ended. You will understand the turbulent history of interwar Poland. Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl nagranie abstraktu The dramac fate of the Presidents of the Second Republic of Poland According to the Polish Constitution of 1921, the President of the Republic was to be elected by senators and deputies in the National Assembly for seven years. Józef Piłsudski decided not to run in 1922, because the presidential competency was in his opinion too limited to influence the fate of the State. On 9, December 1922 the National Assembly finally electected Gabriel Narutowicz to be the first President. However, in the next few days, the far right (nationalists) parties and the press attacked the newly elected President. They claimed, he was elected mainly because of the support of the national minorities and leftist parties. As a result of the tense atmosphere, the President was killed – shot by an assassin – just a couple of days after taking an oath. In compliance with the constitution, the role of the head of state was taken over by the Marshal of the Sejm – Maciej Rataj. You can follow the short presidency of Gabriel Narutowicz on a timeline. The assassination of President Narutowicz was a shock to the young Polish state. The National Assembly quickly elected another President – Stanisław Wojciechowski. He remained in office until 14, May 1926 – the May Coup d’État. Inspired by Marshal Józef Piłsudski the coup was backed by supporters of radical changes to the way Poland was being ruled. Negotiations with President Wojciechowski did not bring satisfactory results and to put an end to this dramatic situation the President decided to resign. The office was, once again, overtaken by the Marshal of the Sejm – Maciej Rataj. On 31, May 1926 the National Assembly elected Józef Piłsudski for President, but he did not accept the office. Ignacy Mościcki became the third President of the Republic of Poland. The rule of the so‐called sanation (“healing”) began. Seven years later, in 1933, the National Assembly reelected Mościcki. In 1935 a new constitution was passed, which granted the President with much greater competence. Unfortunately, the story of Mościcki’s presidency is also a dramatic one – just a couple years later the second world war begins, and the Polish authorities need to flee the country. On 30, September 1939 Ignacy Mościcki passed the presidency over to Władysław Raczkiewicz – the first Polish President in exile. Exercise 1 Fill in the gaps using some of the following expressions. Sovereignty, Russia, Treaty of Versailles, Franz Joseph, Polish Legions, Regency Council, Prime Minister, 123, Prussia, Roman Dmowski, Ignacy Daszyński As a result of the parons, Poland disappeared from the polical map of Europe for long ........................................ years. Only a world conflict in which all the paroning powers (Austria, ........................................ and Russia) took part, became an opportunity for independence. Two big facons were formed - pro-Russian with ........................................, which hoped for the creaon of an independent Polish state through cooperaon with ........................................, and pro-Austrian, which perceived Russia to be the greatest enemy of Poland and counted on the support of the Emperor ........................................ Habsburg. Józef Piłsudski was the leader of this second polical opon. Thanks to his iniave ........................................ were created, which fought on various fronts of the first world war. These efforts of our compatriots to regain independence were noced and appreciated internaonally. With the growing weakening of the invaders, compeve centers of power began to emerge in Poland - such as the ........................................ in Warsaw or the Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland in Lublin with ........................................ as prime minister. Already then, polical divisions in Polish society were visible. ........................................, however, was the common dream of all polical opons. The signing of the ........................................ gave foundaon for our independence on the internaonal level. Among others, it set the inial boundaries of the Second Republic of Poland. The moment of regaining independence was described by the future first ........................................ of the Second Polish Republic, Jędrzej Moraczewski: "It is impossible to describe this intoxicaon, this outburst of joy of the Polish populaon at that moment. (...) Our own state! (...) Chaos? That’s nothing. It will be fine. Everything will be fine, because (...) we will rule for ourselves." However, as it turned out, the reconstrucon of the state was much more difficult and turbulent than it seemed at first. Exercise 2 How was the first President of the Second Republic of Poland elected? in general election he was nominated by Marshal Józef Piłsudski he was elected by the National Assembly Exercise 3 How did the presidency of each of the Presidents end? Match the events to the names of Presidents. lost his office because of a coup d’état, his presidency was cut short because of the outbreak of the second world war, assassinated by a polical opponent Gabriel Narutowicz Stanisław Wojciechowski Ignacy Mościcki Exercise 4 Match the names of presidents of the Second Republic of Poland with their short biographies. Gabriel Narutowicz, Stanisław Wojciechowski, Ignacy Mościcki, Maciej Rataj ................................................ He was a professor at the Technical University in Zurich, a designer of railways and hydroelectric power staons. He has lived in Switzerland for over 30 years, became rich and famous, but missed the Polish sky… This great expert, known and respected Europe-wide, came back to Poland, when it gained independence. ................................................ When he was young, together with his wife he constructed bombs to assassinate the Russian general-governor. In 1926 he took the most important office in the state, 7 years later, he was reelected. On the day of Russian aggression , 17, September, 1939, he le Poland, never to come back again. ................................................ He was the third head of the Polish state aer it regained independence. He became president in very dramac circumstances.His term of office was cut short by a military coup d'état prepared by Marshal Józef Piłsudski. On 14, May 1926, he resigned, and later le the polical scene completely. Exercise 5 Who is this descripon about? He had the most important funcon in the new reborn Polish state. In 1926 he entered Warsaw with his troops, and took power. The Naonal Assembly elected him President, but he did not accept the office. The next couple of years were a struggle to strengthen the polical posion of Poland, and fighng his ever weakening health. The laer bale was lost on 12, May 1935. “Let my heart (...) be buried in Vilnius, where my soldiers are” – were his last words. marshal Józef Piłsudski Roman Dmowski general Władysław Sikorski Exercise 6 Listen to the abstract recording to review the material and new vocabulary. Then do the vocabulary exercise. Match the pairs: English and Polish words. zabójstwo, pare lewicowe, mniejszości narodowe, prezydent na uchodźstwie naonal minories President in exile leist pares assassinaon Keywords the National Assembly, assassination, coup d’état, sanation, President in exile Glossary naonal minories Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie słówka: national minorities mniejszości narodowe President in exile Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie słówka: President in exile prezydent na uchodźstwie leist pares Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie słówka: leftist parties partie lewicowe assassinaon Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie słówka: assassination zabójstwo Lesson plan (Polish) Temat: Prezydenci II Rzeczypospolitej Autorka: Anna Rabiega Adresat: Uczeń klasy 8 szkoły podstawowej. Podstawa programowa: XI. Demokracja w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Uczeń: 5) wyjaśnia zasadę republikańskiej formy rządu; przedstawia sposób wyboru i podstawowe kompetencje Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej; znajduje informacje o życiorysie politycznym osób pełniących ten urząd, które wybrano w wyborach powszechnych, oraz o działaniach urzędującego Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Ogólny cel kształcenia: Uczeń przedstawia podstawowe organy władz publicznych. Cele operacyjne: Uczeń: rozpoznaje wszystkich prezydentów II Rzeczypospolitej. przedstawia okoliczności wyboru każdego z tych prezydentów i sposób, w jaki zakończyło się ich urzędowanie. analizuje burzliwe dzieje międzywojennej Polski pod względem zmian ustrojowych, porównuje pozycję ustrojową prezydenta w konstytucjach okresu międzywojennego i obecnej konstytucji. Kształtowane kompetencje kluczowe: porozumiewanie