THE SARMATIAN REVIEW Vol. XXI, No. 2 April 2001

One Great Thing Archilochus

Madeleine Korbel Albright, during whose tenure as the United States Secretary of State three countries of East Central Europe were admitted to NATO. Photo courtesy of the U. S. State Department. 778 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 The Sarmatian Review (ISSN 1059- independent research. The USA, which 5872) is a triannual publication of the Polish In- From the Editor leads the world in research, has never had stitute of Houston. The journal deals with Polish, the habilitacja. Central, and Eastern European affairs, and their Our cover page photo is of Madeleine implications for the United States. We specialize On 26 February 2001 in The Wall Street in the translation of documents. Albright to whom thanks are due for co- Journal, Cecilie Rohwedder and David Subscription price is $15.00 per year for individu- ordinating the admission to NATO of Wessel criticized German universities in als, $21.00 for institutions and libraries ($21.00 Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hun- ways similar to those that Professor for individuals, $27.00 for libraries overseas, air gary. For the sixty million inhabitants of mail). The views expressed by authors of articles Skibniewski employs with regard to Pol- do not necessarily represent those of the Editors these countries, admission to NATO sym- ish universities (“Despite Proud Past, or of the Polish Institute. Articles are subject to bolically meant a readmission to the West- German Universities Fail by Many Mea- editing. Unsolicited manuscripts and other mate- ern world. As Professor Schlottmann sures”). While WSJ authors are less sys- rials are not returned unless accompanied by a self- rightly points out in her article on the addressed and stamped envelope. Please submit tematic than Skibniewski, they point out your contribution on a Macintosh disk together Polish minority in Germany, the notion the same weaknesses in German univer- with a printout. Letters to the Editor can be e-mailed that one belonged to the Western world sities that Skibniewski sees in Poland: a to , with an accompanying has never faded in East Central Europe, lack of competitiveness among profes- printout sent by snail mail. Articles, letters, and even though it is almost totally absent in subscription checks should be sent to sors, a lack of active contact between stu- the historiography of present day Ger- The Sarmatian Review, P. O. Box 79119, dents and professors, poor student reten- many or, more generally, Europe and the Houston, Texas 77279-9119. tion, excessive reliance on once-a-year The Sarmatian Review retains the copyright for all United States. Hopefully, the present gen- exams as opposed to a multitude of small materials included in print and online issues. Cop- eration of East Central Europeans work- ies for personal or educational use are permitted assignments that American students are ing in conditions of freedom will make so familiar with. The result is brain drain: by section 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. up for this wrongful neglect. Permission to redistribute, republish, or use SR some of the best Polish and German in- materials in advertising or promotion must be sub- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright tellectuals and scientists end up at Ameri- mitted in writing to the Editor. made NATO expansion a cornerstone of Editor: Ewa M. Thompson (Rice University). can universities. American foreign policy. The transfer of Professor Anna Cienciala’s thorough Editorial Advisory Committee: Janusz A. Poland, Hungary and the Czech Repub- Ihnatowicz (University of Saint Thomas), Marek review of a book on Gwardia Ludowa- Kimmel (Rice University), Alex Kurczaba (Uni- lic from the Russian bloc to NATO mem- Armia Ludowa compiled by three young versity of Illinois), Witold J. Lukaszewski (Sam bership has changed conventional force Polish scholars is remarkably instructive Houston State University), Michael J. Mikos (Uni- ratios dramatically in favor of the West. in its assessment of primary sources and versity of Wisconsin), Jan Rybicki (Rice Univer- It also wrote finis to one of the darkest sity), James R. Thompson (Rice University), Piotr their interpretations. While Polish schol- chapters of human history. Wilczek (University of Silesia-Katowice and Uni- ars often publish crucial materials, their versity of Illinois-Chicago). The remainder of this issue is dedicated scholarly apparatus owes much to the Web Pages: Lisa Spiro (Rice University). to problems of postcommunism: the situ- conditions of conspiracy under which Web Address: . ation at Polish universities, ethnicity and Sarmatian Review Council: Marla K. Burns (Burns scholarship was conducted under com- ethnic relations in Central and Eastern & Associates), Boguslaw Godlewski (Diagnostic munism. Some unscholarly habits have Clinic of Houston), Iga J. Henderson, Danuta Z. Europe, and the continuing necessity to to be shed off and a standardized tone Hutchins (Buena Vista University), Joseph A. dedicate Central European energies to adopted to find an international audience Jachimczyk (J .A. Jachimczyk Forensic Center of Har- problems that had long been solved in ris County, Texas), Leonard M. Krazynski (Krazynski to which Polish scholars aspire. Western Europe because Western Europe & Associates), Aleksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm. Dr. Bohdan Vitvitsky’s review of Pro- did not suffer half a century of Soviet oc- fessor Roman Szporluk’s important book In this issue: cupation. throws a welcome light on the situation The Sarmatian Review Index...... 779 In that connection, we are pleased to of Ukrainians in Russia. How sad that in Mirosław Skibniewski, Strategic plan- publish a paper comparing American and conditions of free Russia, not one uni- ning and Development Issues for Polish Polish universities. Professor Mirosław versity considers it appropriate to intro- Colleges and Universities...... 781 Skibniewski rightly points out that while duce Ukrainian Studies as an area sepa- Małgorzata Warchoł-Schlottmann, American universities have been chang- rate from Russian Studies. The implica- Polonia in Germany...... 786 ing fast (perhaps too fast), Polish tions of this neglect are many. BOOKS Received...... 792 universities have avoided change at any Finally, one of our book reviewers has Anna Cienciala, Tajne Oblicze GL-AL cost. In conditions of Soviet-occupied Po- important things to say about Jerzy PPR (review)...... 796 land, resistance to change was under- Urban’s Nie, Jerzy Braun’s numerous Bohdan Vitvitsky, Russia, Ukraine and standable, but in present conditions it of- books and booklets, and Jerzy Narbutt’s the Breakup of the SU (review)...... 800 ten amounts to a perpetuation of perks essays. Other reviews deal with histo- Steven Kaminski, Poems...... 801 for the upper lever of a lethargic profes- ries of Poland and Ukraine, a revealing LETTERS...... 801 soriate. We endorse Skibniewski’s call for book on the cult of Witold Gombrowicz Walenty Tyszkiewicz, Polish Diaspora in the abolition of the habilitacja, or the higher in Poland, and more. ∆ Turkmenistan...... 803 doctorate, which hampers the young 1234567890123456789 About the Authors...... 803 scholars’ ability to conduct and publish 1234567890123456789

April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 779 The Sarmatian Review Index American statistics 2000 Poverty rate: 14.8 percent in 1992, 11.8 percent in 1999. Unemployment: 7.5 percent in 1992, 3.9 percent in September 2000. Life expectancy: 75.8 years for those born in 1992, 77.1 years for those born in 2000. Demographics: Hispanic population increased by 33 percent; black population, by 10 percent; whites, by 3 percent. Personal savings rate: 8.7 percent in 1992 (savings as a percentage of after-tax income), -0.1 percent in 1999. Trade deficit: $37 billion in 1992, $353 billion (est.) in 2000. Teen drug use: 14.4 percent in 1992, 25.9 percent in 1999. Obesity (30 pounds or more overweight): 12.7 percent of adult Americans in 1992, 18.9 percent in 1999. Source: Nancy Benac, “New president will inherit richer, healthier, more diverse nation,” Houston Chronicle, 5 November 2000. Health Percentage of Russian prison population who have tuberculosis: 10 percent. Among these, the percentage of those who are developing resistant forms of the disease due to interrupted course of treatment: 30 percent. Estimated total number of AIDS cases in Russia in 2000: 600,000. Source: WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland, as reported by AFP, 3 November 2000. Number of registered cases of AIDS in Russia in November 2000: 71,000. Number of HIV positive cases in Irkutsk, the Russian Federation, in January 1999: 37. Number of HIV positive cases in Irkutsk in November 2000: 7,500. Estimated percentage of drug users among people aged from 15–25 in Irkutsk: 25 percent to 33 percent. Source: AFP, 12 December 2000. Number of people in Russia who are linked to the country's growing drug scene: 4 million. Number of regular drug abusers in Russia: 2 million. Source: Russian prosecutor general Vladimir Ustinov, as reported by AFP (Moscow), 4 November 2000; also AFP, 29 November 2000. Number of drug addicts in Poland: 40,000 to 60,000. Source: AFP (Warsaw), 26 October 2000. Number of registered drug addicts in China in 2000: 681,000. Estimated number of drug addicts in China: four million. Source: John Pomfret, “Emergence of ‘John Dillingers’ spotlights China’s gang woes,” Houston Chronicle, 19 November 2000. Rate of HIV infections in Lithuania in 2000: 6.8 per 100,000 population, or the lowest in Central Europe. Rate of HIV infections in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Russia/Kaliningrad region: Poland, 15.2 HIV positive cases per 100,000; Estonia, 26.1; Latvia, 33.08; Russia's Kaliningrad 350 per 100,000. Source: AFP (Vilnius), 21 November 2000. Percentage of Russians with physical handicaps: seven percent. Reasons for handicaps: massive increase in the number of workplace accidents and two wars in Chechnya. Source: Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matveenko, as reported by AFP (Moscow), 4 December 2000. Demography Numer of persons of Jewish background worldwide: 13,191,500. Number of Jews in the United States: 5.7 million. Source: The American Jewish Committee report, as reported by Houston Chronicle, 23 September 2000. Number of immigrants per year over the next 20 years necessary to keep Germany’s labor force (presently at 40 million) stable: 260,000; the number to increase to one million after 2020. Source: DIW, an economic institute in Berlin, as reported by Economist, 4–20 January 2001. Percentage of ‘non-Germans’ among the German population in 2000: 9 percent; 13 percent, if ethnic Germans from the Soviet Union are included. Amount of DM per month proposed as a bonus to German parents during the first three years of a child’s life (with a view to encounraging German parents to have more children): 1,000, or $484. Source: Bavaria’s premier Edmund Stoiber, as reported by Economist, 4–20 January 2001. 780 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 Reality check on income and budgets Polish budget for 2001 (submitted to the Sejm on 15 November 2000): $39.9 billion. Source: RFE/RL, 16 November 2000. Russian budget for 2001 adopted by the Duma on 14 December 2000 and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on 27 December 2000: $40 billion. Source: AFP, 14 and 27 December 2000. United States budget for 2001: $2,000 billion. French budget for 2001: about $200 billion. Source: AFP, 14 December 2000. Ukraine’s budget for 2001: $7.6 billion. Source: AFP, 26 December 2000. Texas budget for 2001: $110 billion. Source: Houston Chronicle, 19 January 2001. Kaliningrad's GDP in 1999: $500 dollars per person, or five times less than in neighboring Lithuania and 40 times less than the EU average. Source: AFP, 9 January 2001. Economy Number McDonald's restaurants in Poland in 2000 (first restaurant opened in 1992): 181. Source: AFP (Warsw), 3 January 2001. Russian inflation in 1999 and 2000: 36.5 percent and 20.2 percent. Inflation in Russia as anticipated by the 2001 budget and as predicted by economists: 12 percent and 14 percent. Source: AFP (Moscow), 4 January 2001. Number of hectares of privately-owned land in Russia in 1998 and 1999, respectively: 130 million and 129.6 million, or 7.6 percent of the country. Shrinkage in private land ownership in Russia between 1998 and 1999: 400,000 hectares. Percentage of Russian land owned by the government: 92.4 percent. Source: The Federal Land Service in Russia, as reported by Alla Startseva in Moscow Times, 11 January 2001. Russia's total foreign debt in 2000: $148 billion, or 60 percent of the country's GDP. Source: Associated Press, 12 January 2001. Percentage of federal income tax revenue paid by the top 1 percent of the U.S. population (adjusted gross income of $269,496 per year and up) in 1998: 34.8 percent. Source: TheWall Street Journal editorial, 6 February 2001. Cinema Number of tickets sold in Polish cinemas in 2000: 18.5 million (30 percent less than in 1999). Top box office movie in 2000: “The Gladiator,” with 1.35 million tickets; second place, “The Sixth Sense,” an American film; third place, “The Primate,” a Polish film about Cardinal Stefan Wyszyƒski. Total number of tickets sold to Andrzej Wajda’s “Pan Tadeusz” and Jerzy Hoffmann’s “With Fire and Sword” in 1999: 13 million. Source: AFP, 18 January 2001. Crime Estimated number of Chinese in PRCH who belong to organized criminal groups: one million. Estimated difference between the numbers of men and women in China: 70 million more men than women. Source: John Pomfret, “Emergence of ‘John Dillingers’ spotlights China’s gang woes,” Houston Chronicle, 19 November 2000. Internet Number of Internet users in Russia in 2000: 3 million, of whom 25 percent live in Moscow and 12 percent in Petersburg. Source: IREX report on the Russian use of the Internet in David Johnson’s Russia List #5044, 23 January 2001. And the Band Played On Population of Chechnya in 1991: 1.3 million. Population of Chechnya in 2000: 574,000. Numer of Chechen population centers totally destroyed by the Russians (zero population at present): 63 out of 420. Source: Algirdas Jendriukaitis, Secretary of the European Parliament, in a letter addressed to members of the Parliament and to Lord Russell Johnston, President of the European Parliament, as reported by , 12 January 2001. 781 April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW lent to the Polish Ministry of Education that oversees all col- Strategic Planning leges and universities, both public and private. It is likewise poorly understood that American colleges and universities and Development Issues are self-regulated through a number of accreditation bodies with cross-state territorial jurisdiction; however, accreditation for Polish Colleges of an institution or program is not a prerequisite to the con- and Universities duct of education or research. The Carnegie Foundation for Education classifies U.S. in- A View from America stitutions of higher education according to their size, the de- grees they award, and other criteria. The Carnegie Founda- Mirosław Skibniewski tion categories include ‘Research Universities I,’ ‘Research Universities II,’ ‘Doctoral Universities I,’ ‘Doctoral Universi- American and Polish institutions of higher learning are to a ties II,’ ‘Master’s (Comprehensive) Universities and Colleges large extent a reflection of the history and characteristics of I,’ ‘Master’s (Comprehensive) Universities and Colleges II,’ the two respective societies. The history of American higher ‘Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges I,’ and ‘Baccalaureate education dates back to the establishment of the Harvard Colleges II.’ In addition, universities and colleges can be di- College in 1636. Eight of the oldest American colleges and vided into private and state-owned. Among state universities, universities: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, some are referred to as ‘land grant universities.’ This designa- Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale were established in the early tion means that the institution was created on the basis of to mid-1700s. In the 1930s, a New York Herald Tribune writer legislative acts by the federal government: Morrill Acts of coined the term ‘Ivy League’ in reference to these schools. 1862 and 1890, Hatch Act of 1887 and Smith-Lever Act of Among other old institutions, the U.S. Military Academy at 1914. As such, land-grant universities are charged with edu- West Point dates back to 1803, while the oldest civilian tech- cating the general population of their states in the fields con- nical university, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was founded tributing to the local and national economies. Most sustain in 1824. There are approximately 6,600 institutions of post- highly competitive sports teams attracting national visibility secondary education in the United States, including 3,500 and substantial funding from alumni and fans of the institu- four-year institutions granting baccalaureate and 1,200 insti- tion. tutions granting graduate degrees. The oldest Polish institution of higher learning, the Polish academic institutions have never conducted out- Jagiellonian University, was set up in 1364. Among its claims comes assessment of their teaching efforts, nor have they to fame is not only its antiquity but also the fact that it was the followed up on the fates of their alumni. Alma Mater and place of work of Nicholas Copernicus. The ZamoÊç Academy (Akademia Zamojska), was created in the Private universities have been created by acts of wealthy early 16th century. Other Polish universities and polytechnics and influential individuals, religious groups, or corporate en- date back to the 18th and 19th centuries. The Catholic Univer- tities. Their level of excellence varies widely. Princeton, sity of Lublin was established in 1918. Many new institutions Harvard, Yale, MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, Stanford and Cal Tech and branch campuses were created after World War II. In an are at the top, but their precise rankings change yearly. There attempt to make the Polish academic system similar to that of are Catholic universities, such as Notre Dame and the Soviet Union, the post-war period also brought an un- Georgetown, Protestant universities such as SMU or Oral precedented reorganization of all existing Polish universities. Roberts, and Jewish universities such as Yeshiva. Member- This resulted in the creation of specialized colleges for medi- ship in a particular denomination is normally not a prerequi- cal sciences, agriculture, and economics. In Soviet-occupied site to student admission or faculty employment at these in- Poland, the Polish Ministry of National Defense ran military stitutions. colleges granting degrees in engineering, medicine, and the Each branch of the military operates its own military acad- sciences. The early 1990s saw the establishment and rapid emy and offers undergraduate academic programs along with growth of private academic institutions in business manage- basic military training. The Army operates the U.S. Military ment, economics and information technology. Academy at West Point, NY: the monument to Tadeusz The rankings and reputation within the American system KoÊciuszko stands prominently in the center square of the of higher education are not widely understood or appreciated Academy. The Navy has the Naval Academy in Annapolis, in the Polish academic community. Nor is it well understood MD and the Air Force, the Air Force Academy in Colorado that there is no governmental body in the United States equiva- Springs, CO. 782 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 A large American university encompasses virtually all aca- Professor, to the traditional docent-doktor habilitowany; and demic fields of study and research. Thus, unlike in Poland, Professor to either profesor nadzwyczajny (in some cases an engineering college (politechnika), a medical college profesor uczelniany) or profesor zwyczajny (belwederski). (akademia medyczna) or an agricultural college (akademia There is no American equivalent for the honorific title of rolnicza) are integral parts of a university. ‘profesor’ granted by President of the Republic of Poland American academics enjoy perhaps the best working con- (hence the nickname, belwederski). All American professo- ditions by comparison with their peers anywhere in the world. rial appointments, from Assistant Professor to Professor, en- Access to library resources, computing facilities, government able their holders to pursue independent academic research, and private research sponsors are superb. Full time academic apply for external and internal grants, lead research teams, salaries in the U.S. are also among the highest, second only to and conduct other self-initiated activities commensurate with those of Hong Kong and Singapore. All salaries are negoti- the post of an academic. This is not the case for the Polish ated; with a few exceptions, there is no salary scale estab- equivalents of the first two appointments. lished by individual states. In research-intensive universities, Academic tenure, a lifetime employment contract is usu- faculty members are expected vigorously to pursue externally- ally granted at the Associate Professor level. American pro- sponsored research and publish widely in peer-reviewed jour- fessorial appointments are normally made in conjunction with nals. They are rewarded with lighter teaching loads. But there one institution and full time joint appointments between two are many second-rate institutions where teaching loads are or more institutions are usually prohibited. The use of part- four or more courses per semester. time or research-only appointments and titles such as “ad- junct professor,” “research professor, “research scientist” and Academic Degrees, Faculty Appointments and Titles their junior equivalents varies widely among colleges and Academic degrees offered by American universities range universities and should be viewed in the context of historical from Associate of Science or Arts degrees offered by two relationships and current standard practice at a given institu- year institutions, Bachelor of Science or Arts offered by four tion. It is common in some institutions to endow (normally year colleges and universities, Master of Science, Arts, or with external funds if available) some senior professorial ap- Engineering, to doctoral degrees. There is no Polish equiva- pointments and designate them as named or distinguished lent of the Associate degree, as these types of qualifications professorships. This provides means of additional recogni- have been traditionally offered in Poland by either secondary tion of individual scholarly accomplishment and the visibil- technical schools (technikum) or by traditional post-second- ity for the sponsor of the endowment. Equivalents to these ary schools similar to American community colleges (szkoła arrangements are missing in Poland. On the other hand, it is a pomaturalna) outside of degree-granting colleges and uni- common occurrence for a profesor to hold two or more ap- versities. The Bachelor degree can be compared to pointments at different institutions, usually for financial rea- ‘absolutorium’ or in some cases to the newly introduced sons. ‘licencjat’ in Polish private institutions. The Master’s degree can be regarded as equivalent to ‘magister.’ Current Issues and Problems Facing American Academic The origins of the Doctor of Philosophy degree granted in Institutions the United States date back to the tradition of medieval Euro- In America, universities are often sensitive to the annual pean universities. Other doctoral degrees are also awarded by rankings of academic institutions. The best known of such professional schools not requiring research activity; and these rankings are the U.S. News and World Report ranking and the are regarded as terminal professional degrees, such as Doctor Gourman Report. Similar trends are already in place in Po- of Education (other areas include Law, the Arts, Medicine, land, with annual rankings of Polish colleges and universities Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy). In Poland, generated by several widely read popular magazines. While there is no tradition of granting professional doctorates as such rankings generate objections and disagreements, those opposed to research-based doctorates. Nor does Poland have who are ranked low are usually negatively impacted. a tradition of additional licensing credentials administered by American colleges and universities have been engaged in a the licensing boards or by national accreditation bodies. In national discourse concerning the government-mandated af- the United States, these credentials may or may not be readily firmative action programs aimed at insuring a steady intake transferable from state to state on the basis of reciprocity. of racial and cultural minorities into the ranks of college stu- American universities use at least four academic titles: Lec- dents and faculty. Despite attempts by several states to abol- turer, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor. ish race-based criteria in college admissions, affirmative ac- A Lecturer can be compared to asystent or starszy asystent in tion programs appear to be well entrenched. The ‘Americans Polish institutions; Assistant Professor, to adiunkt; Associate with Disability Act’ likewise requires special accommoda- April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 783 tions for disabled students and employees. There is no equiva- tion within the existing system rather than on excellence in lent, at Polish universities, of these pro-active measures, partly student learning or faculty development. This has been par- because after World War II, Poland became one of the most ticularly true in the second half of the twentieth century. In ethnically undifferentiated states in Europe: about 95 percent Soviet-occupied Poland, financial resources for all academic of the population are of Polish nationality, and a similar per- institutions were controlled and distributed by the central gov- centage profess to be Catholic. ernment ministry responsible for the operation of higher edu- cation. In the case of public institutions, this is true to this day. There is an acute shortage of young academics in their There is a dire need for new funding of public colleges and 20s and 30s holding or pursuing doctoral degrees, and little universities; some of these institutions are opening new cam- organized effort to attract non-Polish citizens to academic puses in small towns, as do private colleges in the same loca- positions in Poland. There are also very few international tions, with hopes of attracting new income from student tu- students currently studying in Poland. ition. There is also a gradually increasing dependence on large, politically controlled academic development programs A different dilemma involves the question of academic ten- financed and administered by the European Community. ure and part-time teaching faculty on university campuses. Many Polish institutions find it difficult to compete for fund- There is a growing trend, especially in urban-based institu- ing within these programs due to their elaborate application tions, to increase part-time teaching staff at the expense of and participation procedures to which Polish academics are full-time faculty. Faculty unions, such as the American Asso- not accustomed. ciation of University Professors, are naturally resisting this There is anecdotal evidence that at least a portion of central trend, as well as any attempts to curtail the extent of academic government resources intended for scientific research is dis- tenure and various freedoms. Another issue is the impact of tributed in a manner similar to the distribution of political multimedia and networking technologies on current instruc- ‘pork’ funding by the U.S. Congress. Currently, all research tional delivery modes. The Internet and associated technolo- funding provided by the Polish central government is admin- gies created opportunities to modify traditional classroom istered through the Committee for Scientific Research teaching. A new brand of educational institutions has emerged: (Komitet Badaƒ Naukowych). This funding is subject to com- the so-called ‘virtual university.’ Major corporations operate petition by research universities, basic research institutes op- their own ‘corporate universities’ catering to their own em- erated by the Polish Academy of Sciences, and applied re- ployees. These new institutions may or may not have a physi- search institutions reporting to various government ministries. cal campus, classrooms, and laboratories. The impact of vir- KBN does not employ international independent reviewers tual universities and Internet-based delivery of coursework for research proposals being submitted for funding. It is, how- has already begun to affect some of the private colleges in ever, in the process of creating an international database of Poland, particularly through their linkages to foreign-based research experts with Polish roots in various scientific disci- institutions and their consortia such as the Midwestern Uni- plines. versity Consortium for International Activities (MUCIA). It is difficult to make direct comparisons between the popu- Many universities, including Purdue, Stanford, MIT, Uni- lation attending and graduating from college in the United versity of Michigan and University of Illinois try to commer- States and Poland. Aggregate data on American institutions cialize new technologies being developed in university labo- often include, in addition to four-year programs, also two- ratories. Professors are encouraged to lend their scientific or year programs not offered at Polish institutions. Most Polish technical expertise to a joint startup of a company with pro- colleges and universities offer direct-entry master’s degree fessional business managers, but they are also asked to re- programs requiring nine to ten semesters of study. Only such main active in teaching and research at the university. Major programs are reported in official statistics related to higher universities have created entire research parks and business education in Poland. This has been changing in the 1990s incubator facilities to help newly created ‘high-tech’ startup with the emergence of private colleges and gradual re-intro- firms grow. Similar industrial research parks are now being duction of optional four-year degree programs at public col- constructed with the help of several academic institutions and leges and universities. Efforts are underway to introduce a participation from American and other international firms credit-based system for course offerings and partial transfer- operating in Poland, particularly in the Kraków area. ability of coursework between comparable institutions in Poland and abroad. Current Problems of Polish Academic Institutions Historically speaking, the Polish system of higher educa- In contrast, the general culture at Polish public colleges and tion has been elitist, but nominally, state universities charge universities has been traditionally centered on self-preserva- no tuition and are open to all citizens. Student retention at 784 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 Polish institutions of higher learning has never been a con- fessors without freedom to pursue their own research projects. cern to their administrators, and graduation rates have been In addition, owing to housing problems and a lack of tradi- unusually low by American standards. Some Polish institu- tion of workforce mobility, virtually all senior staff in major tions pride themselves on their low retention rates as evidence public universities are graduates of the same institution, caus- of their demanding curricula. Additionally, there is a relative ing a in-breeding problem. Faculty members elect presidents lack of in-depth knowledge among Polish academic admin- of public institutions to short terms in office, and only from istrators about the academic standing and overall reputation the ranks of full professors at the same institution. Under of the multitude of foreign institutions, including those in the these circumstances, the power and flexibility of presidents United States. As a result of this lack of relevant knowledge to make unpopular decisions are limited. and a desire to rapidly expand international linkages for Pol- Full professors receive their prestigious honorific titles for ish academic programs, a number of ad hoc exchange agree- life from the President of Poland upon recommendation from ments have been forged between some of the top rated Polish the CKK. In addition to senior faculty, these titles are awarded institutions and third or fourth-tier institutions in the United to individuals from publicly supported research institutions. States or Europe. Due to circumstances created in Soviet- The title of profesor is transferable between all Polish institu- occupied Poland, there is still a tendency among academic tions and retained by the individual even if he or she leaves administrators to enter into international linkages and exchange academia. An average age of an individual being promoted agreements at the institutional levels, rather than fostering of to that rank is higher than in America. Despite their prestige the potentially more beneficial one-on-one linkages between in Poland, some senior academics have never worked out- individual professors and their research programs. side their own institution and have little knowledge of cut- ting-edge research abroad. The years of isolation from the Student retention at Polish institutions of higher learn- West, poor knowledge of English and poor record of publica- ing has never been a concern to their administrators, and tions in internationally peer-reviewed journals are all legacies graduation rates have been unusually low by American stan- of Soviet-occupied Poland. For these and other reasons, the dards. past composition of and judgments rendered by the CKK have been frequently subject to controversy. There is little Polish academic institutions have never conducted out- evidence that this practice is about to change. In addition, the comes assessment of their teaching efforts, nor have they fol- quality of undergraduate teaching has traditionally had al- lowed up on the fates of their alumni (outcomes assessment most no impact on promotion in academic ranks. initiatives are still a relative novelty even in U.S. academic There is an acute shortage of young academics in their 20s institutions). No Polish institution of higher learning has ever and 30s holding or pursuing doctoral degrees, and little orga- kept a database on its alumni. These databases must now be nized effort to attract non-Polish citizens to academic posi- built from scratch for fundraising and other purposes. In line tions in Poland and to retain them in these positions. There with the tradition originating in Germany, there is a are also very few international students currently studying in longstanding requirement for senior academic staff to obtain Poland. The Ministry of Higher Education accredited very a Higher Doctorate (the so called habilitacja), the granting of few private institutions to grant doctoral degrees. Over the which is a prerequisite to being considered for full professor- last twenty years, salaries of young academics in public insti- ship. Habilitacja is granted only upon a recommendation tutions have been below poverty levels, forcing the best and from a national committee (Centralna Komisja the brightest to seek employment outside of academe. Joint Kwalifikacyjna). The official explanation for this requirement appointments in public and private institutions are common, is quality control, but in reality habilitacja has often failed to and they dilute effectiveness at both places of employment. become such a measure. As one evidence of this failure, In the 1990s in Poland, a competition has developed be- perhaps also related to the lack of sufficient visibility of tween public and private colleges for students and quality Poland’s domestic research activities on the international scene, faculty. Naturally, the entrenched senior faculty in public in- is the fact that no holder of the Polish habilitacja has ever stitutions want to preserve their privileges and avoid compe- received a Nobel Prize in any scientific discipline. tition. Due to the current lack of comprehensive law govern- The academic staff in Polish institutions has been tradition- ing the operation of institutions of higher learning, private ally hierarchical with little freedom or resources for scientific colleges are perceived as having unfair advantage in their free- inquiry afforded to younger academics. Only senior mem- dom to impose market level tuition and pay much larger sala- bers of the faculty can submit grant proposals to KBN as ries to the top quality faculty they wish to attract. On the other principal investigators, and to direct their own research teams. hand, there is a perceived advantage for faculty in all institu- Younger academics are compelled to work for the senior pro- tions able to teach, research and consult in fields in high de- April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 785 mand by the Polish economy, such as banking, business man- and establish alumni databases and development programs. agement, and law. A disadvantage in research and consulting Consider the use of college athletics for institutional promo- is experienced by faculty in such areas as basic sciences and tion in ways similar to those used at American universities. engineering, due to the preference of international employers Work with national legislators to establish an income tax sys- for new technologies originating in their home countries. tem promoting giving to academic institutions. Abolish the tradition of inbreeding by introducing policies Some suggestions for Polish academia giving preference in faculty appointments to graduates of other There exists evidence of a renewed strife for excellence in institutions. Introduce sabbatical leaves at other institutions teaching, research and service at Polish colleges and univer- including industry. Work toward a future requirement for all sities. Much of it can be attributed to the entrepreneurial ef- academic staff to achieve and demonstrate fluency in En- forts of faculty. Many Polish high schools have a long tradi- glish, and to publish in international journals. Establish a na- tion of academic excellence and superior performance. Pub- tional program, similar to those of Taiwan and South Korea, lic high school standards in Poland have been usually supe- to encourage young academics to obtain their doctorates at rior to those in most Western countries including the United leading international universities and return to work in Po- States. Admission to public universities has been very com- land. petitive. Despite financial problems, the graduates of Polish Reconsider the requirement of habilitacja for promotion to schools and universities compare well with their peers from full professorship. Promote to the rank of full professor younger other countries in academic preparation and achievement. individuals at the prime of their age, those who can excel in Polish-educated scientists and engineers work and achieve academic careers far beyond the time of their promotion. remarkable successes at major universities, research organi- Develop national programs specifically targeting Polish ex- zations and industrial corporations around the world. patriates with high levels of achievement in foreign academic institutions, particularly in the United States, Canada, Austra- The academic staff in Polish institutions has been tradi- lia and Western Europe. Attract these individuals to the posi- tionally hierarchical with little freedom or resources for sci- tions of senior leadership in Polish universities, the KBN, and entific inquiry afforded to younger academics. the Ministry of Education. Such programs have been devel- oped in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore. With these assets in mind, the following possible steps are Introduce a merit-based pay system for all academic ranks. suggested for consideration and discussion among Develop strategies for creating substantial institutional income- decisionmakers in order to generate future solutions to the producing endowments. Introduce endowed faculty positions existing problems. similar to those utilized in the United States. Increase efforts Reorganize KBN and other state funding agencies. Publi- to recruit more international students into Polish colleges and cize opportunities to apply at both public and private institu- universities. Last but not least, develop methods to increase tions. Provide matching funds from government and indus- faculty salaries and student aid packages try to those offered by private international sources such as If implemented, the above recommendations should lessen the Batory Foundation sponsored by George Soros. Make the dependence of Polish academic institutions on the resources Polish academic institutions less dependent on central pro- provided by Poland’s central government and various Euro- grams operated by the European Community, but at the same pean Community programs. Some of these recommenda- time provide appropriate training for all faculty in application tions can be acted upon with relatively few new resources requirements and procedures. Consider appointing to KBN required. A complete action plan to address the presented some senior academics (possibly of Polish background) from recommendations must be developed and acted upon jointly leading international research institutions. Require that all by presidents of all Polish colleges and universities, both public proposals, as well as final reports, be written, or at least sum- and private. This effort is very much needed at this time. ∆ marized, in English. Add more transparency to the awarding of grants. Increase the number of elective offerings in aca- References demic curricula. Begin to emphasize distance-learning tech- Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, 1994, nologies and continuing education among working profes- http://www.carnegiefoundation.org sionals. Forge links with private industry and corporate spon- Chronicle of Higher Education, http://chronicle.merit.edu Critical Comparisons of American Colleges and Universities: In- sors, particularly in the sciences and engineering. Develop dex to Institutions in the Critical Comparisons Database. Memex new mechanisms for university outreach and service to all Press Inc., 1997, http://www.memex-press.com/cc/schools.html constituents. Encourage all colleges and universities to allo- Division of Science Resources Studies, National Science Foun- cate resources to measure teaching and learning outcomes, dation, Washington, D.C. http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/stats.htm Gourman, Jack. “Report of Graduate Programs: a Rating of Gradu- 786 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 ate and Professional Programs in American and International Uni- ties defines a minority as “a group numerically smaller than versities,” 8th Edition. Princeton Review (September 1997). ISBN the rest of the population of a State, one that is in a non-domi- 0679783741. The European Report on Science and Technology Indicators (Brus- nant position and whose members, while being citizens of sels: European Commission, 1994). the State, show a sense of solidarity directed toward preserv- “International Cooperation in Higher Education,” Proceedings of ing their culture, traditions or language.”(Report of the Inter- the Conference organized by the Jagiellonian University Interna- national Commission of Jurists, 1984) Many inhabitants of tional Cooperation Center and Central/East European Fulbright Germany possess all these characteristics with one excep- Center (Przegorzały/Kraków, January 2000). In Polish. Nowak, A.S., Szerszeƒ, M.M., “Research Sabbaticals at American tion: they are not citizens of the Federal Republic of Ger- Universities,” Engineering and Construction, No. 3(1997), pp. 125- many. 128. The journal is published by the Polish Society of Civil Engi- neers and Technologists. In Polish. “Research at Central and East European Universities,” Proceed- In the years 1980–1990, 1,300,000 Poles emigrated to ings of an international conference organized by the Jagiellonian Germany; of these, 800,000 were classified as the Aussiedler. University International Relations Office (Kraków, June 1997). Between 1988–1999, 530,000 Aussiedler left Poland. Ringel, R.L., “A Perspective on University Based Research: The Next Ten Years,” a paper given at the University of California-Davis Fall Conference on the Changing Culture of Academic Research, Among the few minority groups to whom German citizen- September 1999, http://www.purdue.edu/EVPAA/perspective/ ship is a birth privilege are the Danes living close to the Ger- davis.pdf. man-Danish border. This unique status is the result of a joint U.S. News and World Report College Rankings 2000, http:// Bonn-Copenhagen Declaration signed in 1955. (1) The two www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/corank.htm other groups are the Frisians in Schleswik and, after the unifi- cation of Germany, the Sorbs, a Slavic enclave inhabiting areas near Bautzen and Cottbus in the former GDR. The Polonia in Germany Frisians and the Sorbs constitute the so-called autochthonous or historical minorities; they are de jure first of all Germans. The regional governments in Schleswik (for Frisians) and in Małgorzata Warchoł-Schlottmann Saxony and Brandenburg (for Sorbs) oversee the execution of some special rights that these minorities possess, such as In contrast to the United States or Canada, Germany is a soci- education in the ethnic language, ethnic periodicals and bilin- ety that developed cultural homogeneity in the course of its gual road signs in Sorbian areas. (2) long history. This acquired monoculturality has recently been subject to disturbances. During the past fifty years Germany Size and status of the Polish group in Germany has moved toward being a multicultural society. Three fac- In contrast to the groups discussed above, the Polish group tors contributed to this development: the 1955 initiation by in Germany does not have a legal minority status, nor does is the German government of the recruitment of guest workers possess the right of citizenship. The estimates of the Polish from the Mediterranean countries of Europe; a liberal asylum community’s size depend on several presuppositions that are policy in the 1980s; and special provisions for the Aussiedler, not universally shared. According to the German authorities, or people of presumed German origin from East European there are 260,000–300,000 Poles in Germany, whereas some countries. Western European integration and interaction with Polish sources speak of 2 million people of Polish background. the world markets further challenged Germany’s ethno-na- The German authorities count only those Poles who are legal tional homogeneity, contributing to the formation of new eth- residents and possess a Polish passport. Polish sources in- nic minorities. At the turn of the millennium, some 6–7 mil- clude in the count the Aussiedler, or immigrants allegedly of lion people, or 8.5 percent of the population, were not of Ger- German background; legal residents; and illegal residents. The man background. ‘Foreign’ residents constitute more than 25 Ruhr region has an estimated 70,000–200,000 persons of percent of the population in Frankfurt and Stuttgart. The Turk- Polish background in such cities as Bottrop, Essen, Bochum, ish enclave in Berlin is the largest urban settlement of Turks Recklingshausen, Gelsenkirchen, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, and outside Turkey. Dortmund. By that count, about 150,000 Poles live in Berlin, The new ethnic minorities are mostly immigrants from 100,000 in Hamburg, and 15,000 in München. Turkey, Poland, former Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy and Spain; Historically, there have been three major ‘colonization’ smaller groups are from Asia and Africa. However, in spite of waves from Poland to Germany. The first wave went mainly these numbers, the legislation concerning minorities lags far to the Ruhr area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth behind that of other western European countries. century. The second consisted of World War II prisoners and The UN Subcommission on Discrimination and Minori- forced laborers who stayed in Germany after the takeover of April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 787 Poland by the Soviet Union. The third wave consists mostly nority in Poland with all rights pertaining to that status. Un- of the 1980s–1990s immigrants. fortunately, a reciprocal recognition of German Poles has not occurred. While such publications as the CIA World Factbooks The German minority has several guaranteed seats in have acknowledged since 1993 that ethnic Poles constitute a the Sejm, whereas Poles are not represented either in the substantial fraction of the German population, the German Bundestag or in the Landtags (the regional parliaments). authorities continue to refuse to grant Poles minority status. This lack of official recognition does not mean that persons Accordingly, Polonia in Germany is divided into the ‘old’ of Polish origin have no right to cultivate the Polish language, immigration (descendants of the Ruhr immigrants and World culture or traditions; to establish and maintain Polish cultural War II prisoners), and the ‘young ‘immigration (those who institutions; or to solicit financial contributions for their causes. requested asylum during the communist period; those who But it does provide opportunities for overt and covert dis- left Poland during the communist clampdown on the Solidar- crimination, as any Pole living in Germany will tell you. With- ity movement; the unabashedly economic immigrants; and out a minority status some of the provisions of the Treaty Poles with presumed German origin, the largest of these sub- remain valid only on paper. Germany is a federation of 16 groups). states and it possesses 16 regional governments. Poles in The Aussiedler, or Spätaussiedler, began to move to Ger- Germany have to negotiate provisions of the treaty with each many in the 1970s. These were mainly young and well edu- of these 16 governments whose officials are sometimes mali- cated persons whose motivation was at least partly economic. cious or ignorant of these provisions or of the Treaty itself. In the years 1980–1990, 1,300,000 Poles emigrated to Ger- Polish attempts to access the mass media have been uniformly many; of these, 800,000 were classified as Aussiedler. Be- turned down. When Polish groups in Cologne and Bonn asked tween 1988–1999, 530,000 Aussiedler left Poland. In Polish their state governments for financial help in organizing Pol- statistics, they were counted as Poles who left the country; ish courses, they were turned down in Bonn and given vague but in German statistics, they were Germans from Poland promises in Cologne. It should be noted that German groups coming back to the country of origin. in Poland (a much poorer state, and one which suffered 60 Descendants of the Ruhr immigration have German citi- years of foreign occupation owing to Germany’s decision to zenship rights but they are not recognized as a Polish minor- launch World War II) receive financial help from the Polish ity. The Aussiedler have two passports, German and Polish. government to maintain German schools and other institu- Poles who married Germans, as well as those with perma- tions supporting German ethnicity. In 1992, the German mi- nent and temporary work permits, have a status that can be nority in Poland received a 272,000DM subvention from the renegotiated. The euphemistic German term for those who Polish government; in 1993, this grant was increased to live in Germany without the rights of citizenship is 700,000 DM plus two buildings and 18 offices.(4) The Ger- ausländischer Mitbürger, or ‘foreign fellow citizens.’ These man minority is present in the mass media of Katowice and Mitbürger pay taxes (which support political parties, among Opole. In the Opole voivodship, over 100 parishes offer others), but they have no right to vote. There is a group of Masses in German. In 1992/93 in the voivodship of Katowice, Poles whose state is defined as Duldung, or tolerated resi- there opened 20 elementary schools with German as the lan- dence: they can be told to leave at any moment. Finally, there guage of instruction. 120 instructors from Germany help in are thousands of illegal immigrants who do not show up in these schools; their salary is paid jointly by the Polish and German statistics. German governments. There are occasional bright points of reciprocation. In Polonia in Germany after the signing of the Treaty of Bremen, children from Polish families have an opportunity Friendship and Good Neighborliness (1991) to study Polish as the mother tongue in five elementary schools, The end of communism in Poland and East Germany fol- and Polish as the first foreign language in high schools. The lowed by the reunification of Germany created an opportu- so-called ‘Bremer Model’ is an example of how to introduce nity for a new kind of relationship. The so-called “small Treaty” Polish into the German school system. But by and large, the concerning the acknowledgment of the Polish-German bor- policy of the Länder is to avoid any financial, moral or politi- der was signed on 14 November 1990, and it was followed cal support for Polish initiatives. According to Janusz by the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborliness (Vertrag Marchwiƒski, Chairman of the Polish Council in Germany, zwischender Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Republik “while the Treaty obliges Germany to support and protect the Polen über gute Nachbarschaft und freundschaftliche Polish group in its ethnic aspirations in the same way in which Zusammenarbeit) signed on 17 June 1991.(3) Articles 20–22 the German group is supported in Poland, in practice this is of the Treaty acknowledge Polish Germans as an ethnic mi- not done.”(5) This German policy was confirmed in the Con- 788 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 vention of the European Council on Minority Protection signed group into three subgroups: those who acquired near-native by 30 countries in Strassbourg on 11 May 2000. In this docu- or native fluency in German (16 persons), those of intermedi- ment, the Germans drew a particularly restrictive declaration ate language competence (9) and those with very poor lan- on the German minorities. guage skills (15). Here is what I found: It should be noted that some of the leaders of the Polish minority in Germany were the first prisoners in the concen- 1. all members of subgroup I were the Aussiedler; all tration camp of Buchenwald in 1939–40. Thus it was implic- members of subgroup III were immigrants without the itly acknowledged at that time that there were in fact persons right of citizenship of Polish ethnicity in Germany. The descendants of the Ruhr 2. all members of subgroup I were working in their pro- Poles in particular meet all international requirements for be- fessions as physicians, engineers, lawyers, or computer ing considered an ethnic minority in Germany. Yet such rec- scientists; in striking contrast, all members of subgroup ognition has not been forthcoming. III were employed as relatively unskilled laborers, e.g., an engineer and a university professor worked as jani- In 2000, some 6–7 million people, or 8.5 percent of the tors, a lawyer worked as a physician’s assistant, a com- German population, were not of German background. puter scientist was a waitress, another engineer was a truck driver, and a physician worked as a shop assis- German citizenship is inherited, and who is a citizen is de- tant cided by ius sanguinis, or bloodright. This archaic custom 3. the average income of subgroup I was two and a half allows present-day inhabitants of some regions of Poland to times higher than that of subgroup III claim hereditary German citizenship because these regions belonged to Germany at some point in history. Not all Ger- This discrepancy suggests the existence of what in Ameri- mans are happy about it, but the law remains. R. Tichy writes: can terms would be called ethnic discrimination. While it is to “Though they do not have any relations with Germany, they Germany’s credit that it received immigrants and continues were not born here, they do not speak German, they do not to help displaced persons in many localities, the institutional understand the mentality of this country—they are declared pattern of ‘closed doors to citizenship’ with regard to those of to be German. Their only evidence of belonging to the Ger- presumed non-German origin can hardly be doubted. In par- man nation is often the fact that their grandfather was a sol- ticular, the treatment accorded to Poles has obviously been dier in the Wehrmacht during World War II.” (6) A journalist not on the agenda of the German civil rights organizations or comments bitterly: “Every day the same sad game: in front of of those German scholars and thinkers who spend time ago- us sit persons from Poland awaiting the confirmation of their nizing over Germany’s actions in the twentieth century. German origin; they behave as if they were Germans, and we For a non-Aussiedler to apply for German citizenship, it is are supposed to believe them.” (7) necessary to fulfill multiple conditions. A candidate must have That does not prevent the occasional Germans revisionist lived in Germany for at least 10 years; he or she must have a claims. Among those was a recent attempt by the extreme permit to reside and a permit to work; he or she must own an right wing German party, “Nationale Offensive,” to establish apartment, speak German well and, last but not least, must itself in the Opole region of Poland, in the village of demonstrate bonding to German culture and the German way Dziewkowice. The Bund der Vertriebenen, an organization of life. It is also required that previous citizenship be relin- representing those expelled from east of the Oder-Neisse line, quished: Germany does not tolerate dual citizenship. For the occasionally expresses revisionist goal and demands that majority of immigrants, among them Poles, the regulation Germans from Germany be allowed to join the German mi- imposing total abandonment of their previous identity is not nority organizations in Poland. “Helmut, you are our chan- acceptable, especially because it is administratively imposed. cellor too:” such posters (in Polish) occasionally appeared in Under present German law, however, citizenship is the only Silesia under the auspices of such German organizations. guarantee of non-discrimination. The outcome of this Catch- My research into these issues indicates that the present 22 situation is predictable: it is only too easy to treat with German laws cause great harm to Polish immigrants. (8) I contempt and a sense of superiority waiters and waitresses, concentrated on the 1980s immigration, and followed closely janitors and shop assistants of foreign background. a group of 40 people, all of whom obtained university de- Poles in Germany expected that the 1991 Treaty would grees in Poland, had no German language skills, had lived in make it possible to have dual citizenship. But paragraph 5 of Germany for at least 8 years, and were of similar age. the Treaty states: “This Treaty does not take into consider- My first criterion of the degree of assimilation and profes- ation the problems of citizenship or ownership.” In the opin- sional success was language acquisition. I subdivided my ion of many Poles, this remark consolidates the discrimina- April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 789 tion of Poles in Germany. While those Polish citizens in Po- anticipation of what happened after several decades of com- land who can prove by means of ius sanguinis that they are munist rule, when the same group began to claim German ‘of German blood’ hold special passes to Germany, just in background. About 65,000 ethnic Germans were also allowed case, Poles who reside in Germany have no comparable ‘dual to stay as needed professionals. exit.’ The 1991 Treaty was extremely advantageous for Ger- After 1956, when communist rule became milder, liberal- mans in Poland but it did not change the status of Poles in ized emigration procedures allowed about 275,000 persons Germany. native to the Oder-Neisse area to leave Poland for West Ger- many. Among them were many autochthons, almost all of Germans and history; Germans in Poland whom were bilingual, speaking a Polish dialect at home and Few Germans wish to remember that the establishment of using German in official communication. As all borderland Poland’s western border along the Oder-Neisse rivers is linked populations, the autochthons were influenced by both tradi- with the incorporation of 46 percent of Poland’s prewar terri- tions; in conditions of post-war Soviet occupation of Poland tory by the Soviet Union and the decision of the three Great and the ensuing destitution, their equivocal national identity Powers to transfer German population from Poland to Ger- suffered. The isolation and discrimination imposed on them many, and the Polish population from Ukraine, Belarus and by Poles who moved in from the East also induced many Lithuania to post-German territories. The forced human dis- autochthons to ‘choose Germanness’ and emigrate when an location, without precedent in modern history, compelled 4.5 opportunity presented itself. Others remained in Poland but million Poles to leave their eastern and rural homelands and gravitated toward a German identity. move to the industrialized region abandoned by the forcibly In 1960, virtually all those who wished to leave did so, expelled millions of Germans. The Germans remember the providing an excuse for the communist government to close tragedy of their dislocation but conveniently forget that of the down German language schools, church services and news- Poles. The Poles, on the other hand, had no access to infor- papers. Only in the 1970s, after West Germany officially rec- mation about what happened during the first years of com- ognized the Oder-Neisse rivers as the border of Poland (this munist terror (1945–50), when disseminating political infor- happened on 7 December 1970), further emigration became mation of that kind led directly to prison. Only in the 1990s possible. Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik allowed a number of per- the tragedy of the Germans began to be remembered and sons who had relatives in West Germany to leave Poland. But written about in Poland. officially, the government of Soviet-occupied Poland pre- tended that there were no persons of German ethnicity in The 1991 Treaty was extremely advantageous for Ger- Poland any longer. mans in Poland but it did not change the status of Poles in The return of Polish national independence in 1989 dra- Germany. matically changed the situation of Germans in Poland. The German Circles of Friendship (Niemieckie Koła Przyjaêni), Before 1939, almost ten million people, among them 1.3 an informal (and illegal) entity during the waning years of million ethnic Poles (so-called autochthons) lived in German communist rule, were transformed into German Social and territories east of the Oder and Neisse rivers. The expulsion Cultural Societies (Niemieckie Towarzystwa Socjalno- of Germans from these territories (as well as from Czecho- Kulturowe) with membership reaching 300,000 at the turn of slovakia and Hungary) was implemented “in retaliation for the millenium. An umbrella organization, the Association of Nazi oppression.”(9) The retaliatory decision was undertaken German Social and Cultural Societies in the Republic of Po- by the Great Powers and not by the government of Poland. land (Zwiàzek Niemieckich Towarzystw Społeczno- Poland was occupied by the Soviets at that time. Of the 3.5 Kulturalnych w Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej) coordinates nation- million Germans remaining east of the Oder-Neisse rivers, wide policies of these groups. The German youth and Ger- the government of Soviet-occupied Poland transferred 2.3 man farmers have their own organizations as well. million between 1946–49. About 3.6 million either fled be- Polish sources say there are 400,000 ethnic Germans in fore the retreat of the German army in 1945 or were evacu- Poland, while German sources speak of as many as one mil- ated by order of the Nazi authorities. According to the Ameri- lion. Over 90 percent of Germans live in Upper Silesia, in the can Bureau of the Census, on 1 January 1949 there were in voivodships of Opole, Katowice, and Cz∏stochowa. The So- West Germany 6.2 million refugees from the East. cial and Cultural Society of Germans in Silesia (Âlàsk Opolski) The transfers halted around 1950. The 1.3 million who were is the strongest political force in the Opole region. allowed to stay were dispersed to support assimilation. The The government of the Third Polish Republic treats the majority of them could demonstrate Polish language compe- Polish-German Treaty very seriously and supports its execu- tence or claimed Polish background, in ironic and reverse tion in every way. In 1992, a special office for minorities was 790 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 created at the Ministry of the Interior, with branches in the inexperience, many of these organizations competed against Ministries of Culture and Education. The German minority each other instead of uniting into a common front. When in in Poland has special privileges in the Parliament: the required the 1990s the German side was ready for a dialog and de- 5 percent clause has been waived in their case in order to manded a partner that would represent the entire Polonia, it allow Germans to be represented in the Sejm. In effect, the could not find such a partner. During a meeting of various German minority has several guaranteed seats in the Sejm, Polish groups in Boppard in June 1995, a Council was se- whereas Poles are not represented either in the Bundestag or lected and charged with preparing the statute of unification in the Landtags (the regional parliaments). that would take into account two separate proposals for unifi- cation, one submitted by the Congress of German Polonia Polish views on the situation of Poles in Germany (Kongres Polonii w Niemczech) and the other, by the forum Among Poles, two views on their situation in Germany are and Association of Poles-Consent. The second meeting in evident. A recent interview with Zbigniew Kostecki, chair- Boppard in November of the same year was the largest Ger- person of the Polish Congress in Germany (Rada Polska w man Polonia meeting in history. 85 organizations were present, Niemczech–Zwiàzek Federalny), articulates the first view. from the trivial to the significant. The meeting was sponsored Kostecki blames the German and Polish governments for the financially by the German Ministry of the Interior. On 19 unhappy situation: the first for discriminating and the second, November 1995, the Polish Council in Germany—A Fed- for its passivity toward discrimination. He also minimizes the eral Association was created. Janusz Marchwiƒski was elected fact of dispersion of Polonia in Germany and its inability to president. The unification had beneficial results: in view of a organize.(10) The other view emphasizes the indolence and united Polonia force, the German government began to spon- apathy of the Poles themselves, their inability to cooperate sor some Polish projects, such as the festival “Ojczyzna na and institutional weakness. This opinion is primarily voiced obczyênie” in Berlin, the Festival of Folklore Groups in by the German officials.(11) Dortmund, and the Song Festival in Bonn.(13) Characteristi- Which side is right? Here are the facts. As stated before, cally, the German government encourages the ‘Cepelia im- until the 1990s the German government largely ignored the age’ activities, while Polonia seems unaware that concerts, presence of significant ethnic minorities in the country. While socials and songs have few if any long-term benefits. there were 6–7 million very visible ‘foreigners’ within In addition to this umbrella organization, the Congress of Germany’s borders, encyclopedias and history books stub- German Polonia remained a viable voice that represented bornly maintained that Germany was an ethnically homoge- Polish patriotism (while the Polish Council in Germany rep- neous country. In contrast, the presence of minorities in Po- resented European pragmatism). The Congress is presently land has usually been taken for granted. Now it appears that proposing a renegotiation of the Treaty of Good Neighborli- the percentage of minorities in Poland is smaller by a factor ness so that the minority status of the Polish group could be- of two than the percentage of minorities in Germany. The come part of it. The Congress considers the attitude of the ironies of history. Polish government to be too conciliatory. It wants to organize The lack (until 1991) of a Polish-German treaty regulating a school system and acquire access to the mass media. It ex- the most basic elements of mutual coexistence further exac- pects financial help from both Polish and German govern- erbated ‘the Polish problem.’ The fact that ‘People’s Poland” ments, since the German minority in Poland receives help was in fact a Soviet-occupied country exerted a negative in- from both governments. The Polish Council stands for ‘inte- fluence on Polish aspiration to exist as a recognized minority. gration without assimilation’ in German society. The integra- The oldest and most meritorious Polish organization in Ger- tion is understood to be a condition for the maintenance of many, Association of Poles (Zwiàzek Polaków, established Polish identity. Operating within the limits of the German in 1922), did not cooperate with the Association of Poles- legal system, the Council uses it as best it can to help Poles in Consent (Zwiàzek Polaków-Zgoda, established in 1950). The professional and social domains. Language competence, good second organization cooperated with the government of jobs, social status are issues with which the Council deals. People’s Poland, whereas the first one repudiated it. In the (14) 1980s, neither organization was prepared to embrace hun- The Polish Catholic Mission in Germany (located in dreds of thousands of Polish immigrants arriving after mar- Würzburg) remains a stable element of the Polonia landscape. tial law was imposed on Poland. The old organizations failed It was formed in 1976. There about 60 Polish parishes staffed to update their ‘Cepelia image’ that was not attractive to the by 70 Polish priests. The most active parishes are in Bremen, young and well educated immigrants. A 1990 guide to Polonia Dortmund, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Lübeck, Hannover, Essen in Germany listed about 300 organizations, clubs, and enter- and München. In Sunday schools, in addition to catechesis, prises possessed of Polish identity. (12) Owing to political children learn the Polish language and get some rudimentary April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 791 information about Polish history and culture. of democracy and constant economic crises evoked the feel- ing shame and jealousy as contrasted with West German pros- Conclusions perity. The discrimination of Poles (and of other ethnic mi- Sociologists have identified three ways of dealing with eth- norities) in Germany has been exacerbated by the extremist nic heredity in conditions of being an ethnic minority: isola- right and its slogans of Deutschland für Deutsche and tion, integration, and assimilation. It appears that Poles in Ausländer raus! Germany all too often chose either isolation or assimilation. Still another problem is the culture shock stemming from The old immigration in particular tended to build ‘little two different perceptions of what Europe really means. To Polands,’ continued to speak Polish almost exclusively, main- Poles, it seems natural that they, together with the Germans, tained social and other ties with Poles only. In contrast, the belong to a common European culture and share a common assimilative strategy has been adopted by the Aussiedler. They religion. This feeling of belonging together is not shared by regard themselves as Germans, but German society regards the Germans. While the Poles accept German culture as part them as Poles. In my opinion, this is the most tragic group. of European culture, the Germans do not see Polish culture as They are often young people, and their personalities were sharing the same cultural roots. While an educated Pole knows formed by a Polish environment. Their attempt to reject it at least some German writers, the opposite is not true of an produces great social and emotional tensions. educated German. The growing realization of this situation, These two extremist strategies are disadvantageous for the the feeling of frustration, anger and resentment not only against people involved. The first invites alienation and segregation, the Germans but also against Polish culture is a natural result, while the second forces one to reject an important part of and some immigrants begin to share the prejudices of the one’s life. The intermediary way is integration; Danuta dominant group. While the emigration of the last 20 years has Mostwin calls it “the third value” because it allows the immi- somewhat softened these problems, they still do exist. grant to accept both societies and feel comfortable in both. In spite of the problems outlined above, many recent Pol- (15) A creative synthesis of two sets of values need not be ish immigrants are self-confident, dynamic city dwellers who merely a compromise. It should develop into an ability to be easily intermarry and join German society. For them, ethnicity affirmative and also critical of both cultures. But the develop- is not the prime category through which they wish to charac- ment of an integrated personality requires a certain balance terize themselves or want to be evaluated by others. In my between Polish and German elements and similar institutional opinion, however, their ethnic indifference if a factor disturb- access to both cultures and languages. These conditions gen- ing their integration. The refusal to acknowledge one’s erate a sense of loyalty to both ethnic groups. Needless to say, ethnicity evokes pejorative associations with the sociologic given a turbulent Polish-German history, such a sense could notion of a ‘marginal man.’ The marginal man stands on the have beneficial effects on relations between both countries in edge of two worlds: a part of both but a partner in neither; he the future. is a man caught between two cultures and does not feel at Alas, the legal conditions afforded by the German political home in either. The marginal man is ‘not here, but not there system act against such harmonious integration. As a result, either.’ A sense of personal identification with an ethnic group, both the Aussiedler and other Polish immigrants usually be- or groups, is essential to the feeling of self-worth; a person lieve that it is better not to reveal Polish identity in Germany. who declares himself or herself to be ‘a European’ or ‘a citi- Countless examples of hostility (extending even to tourists) zen of the world’ is trying to fool himself, but he seldom suc- and discrimination support these conclusions. (16) ceeds in fooling others. The Germans speak arrogantly of Polnische Wirtschaft, Thus it appears that three factors determine the degree of thus confirming the economic differences between the two integration of an ethnic group into political and social life of a countries but conveniently forgetting the German (and Prus- host country: the policy of the host state (granting the ethnic sian) contribution to the destruction of that Wirtschaft. In the group legal rights and guaranteeing the right to maintain an opinion polls about various nationalities, Poles rank lower ethnic identity including support for its cultural activities; ac- than Turks or Russians, and 87 percent of young Germans tive support from the country of origin; and a willingness of regard them as “worse than themselves.”(17) In popular TV the immigrants themselves to organize and identify them- programs, Poles are presented the way blacks were presented selves as an ethnic group. With regard to Poles in Germany, in the American press half a century ago. On the other hand, neither of these factors works in a satisfactory manner. It goes during the time of communism in central and eastern Europe, without saying that in the situation where institutional sup- it was difficult for Polish and other immigrants from commu- port from both Germany or Poland is inadequate, it is up to nism to develop pride concerning their country of origin. The the Poles themselves to make up for these deficiencies and to poverty of eastern and central European countries, their lack exert themselves more than they had done in the past. ∆ 792 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 NOTES communism, “Polish literature and literary culture have shown 1. A. Kuhn, Pirvilegierung nationaler Minderheiten im themselves to be the richest and most vibrant in Europe.” To Wahlrecht der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und Schleswig- check whether you agree with that and to discover new Pol- Holstein (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1990). ish literature, buy this volume from the publisher. It is avail- 2. C. Schmalz-Jacobsen, Kleines Lexikon der ethnischen able from Chicago Review, 5801 South Kenwood Avenue, Minderheiten in Deutschland (München, 1997). Chicago, Illinois 60637. A longer review to follow. 3. A. Timmermann-Lavanas, Die politischen Beziehungen zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Republik Zinstytucjonalizowane formy komunikowania o Polen von 1970 bis 1991: vom Warschauer Vertrag bis zum literaturze: socjologiczna analiza zjawiska Âw. Gombrowicz Freundschaftsvertrag (Saarbrücken, 1991). (Saint Gombrowicz. Institutionalized forms of communicat- 4. Niezaležne Forum Kulturalne, nos. 2–3 (1994). ing about literature: a sociological analysis), by Krzysztof 5. “An Interview with A. Krzemiƒski,” Dialog, no. 1 (1996). Ł∏cki. Katowice. Âlàsk Publishing House. 1997. Bibliogra- Also Roch Kowalski, Dialog, no. 1 (1993). phy, summaries in English and German. 215 pages. Paper. In 6. R. Tichy, Ausländer rein! Verschiedene Herkunft, Polish. Gemeisame Zukunft (München, 1993). The author posits the existence of ‘Gombrowiczology,’ or 7. Der Spiegel, no. 52 (1989). the cult of Gombrowicz, in Polish literary circles. He then 8. M. Warchoł-Schlottmann, “Wpływ czynników attempts to describe the characteristics of that worship. The pozaj∏zycznych na nabywanie j∏zyka drugiego (niemieckiego) na przykładzie polskich emigrantów w point of view is that of a sociologist. Ł∏cki is less interested in Niemczech,” Przeglàd Polonijny, no. 4 (1995). Gombrowicz’s message and more in the sociological phe- 9. Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe (London: Mi- nomena that Gombrowicz’s works have engendered: a divi- nority Rights Group, 1993); Z.A. Kruszewski, The Oder- sion between elitist culture and mass culture, and a breach Neisse Boundary and Poland’s Modernization: The Socio- between insiders and outsiders. Within the context of this book, economic and Political Impact (NY: Praeger, 1972). ‘literary society’ or ‘literary milieu’ are not formal associa- 10. “Niemcy, Niemcy ponad traktat,” Angora, no. 48 (1998). tions but rather informal circles that set the tone of literary 11. “Polskie piekło,” Wprost, no. 49 (1995); an interview with valuations within a culture. J. Marchwiƒski, Dialog, no. 1 (1996). The author concludes that in contemporary democratic 12. J. Górski and D. Tymochowicz, Informator: Polska societies, cultural values tend to be autonomous, and pres- Emigracja i Polonia w Republice Federalnej Niemiec i Berlinie Zachodnim (Warsaw, 1990). sures of belonging to a ‘literary society’ usually prevail over 13. Dialog, nos. 3–4 (1996). other inclinations of society’s members. These literary val- 14. K. Karwat in Dialog, no. 1 (1996). ues adopted by elitist circles strengthen and reconfirm the 15. D. Mostwin, Trzecia wartoÊç (Lublin, 1994). importance of elite unity both in the eyes of members and 16. J. Mazur, “J∏zyk polski jako narz∏dzie komunikacji outsiders. przesiedleƒców z Polski do RFN,” J∏zyki słowiaƒskie wobec This is a sophisticated study of the phenomenon of współczesnych przemian w krajach Europy Ârodkowej i Gombrowicz worship that seems puzzling when observed Wschodniej (Opole, 1993); M. Warchoł-Schlottmann, from this side of the Atlantic. Gombrowicz was a fine writer, “J∏zyk polski w Niemczech—perspektywy zachowania and his Trans-Atlantyk is probably his best work; but in many j∏zyka etnicznego u najnowszej emigracji,” Przeglàd ways, he was a dilettante. His philosophical musings in the Polonijny, no. 3 (1996). Diary Ferdydurke 17. Der Spiegel, 19 September 1994. are often sophomoric, and his is a novel for teenagers. The cult of Gombrowicz in Poland points to the intellectual devastation that occurred in that country dur- ing the half-century of communist censorship. Gombrowicz’s ‘contrariness’ is mistaken for philosophical depth, so thirsty BOOKS BOOKS are Polish intellectuals for the writings of those who ‘disagree and Periodicals Received with the system’—no matter which kind of system. (sb) Historia Polski, 1795–1990, by Hanna Dylàgowa. Lublin. New Polish Writing. Chicago Review, vol. 46, nos. 3–4 Instytut Europy Ârodkowo-Wschodniej. 2000. Bibliography, (2000). Editor: Eirik Steinhoff. Guest editor for this issue: W. indexes. 288 pages. Paper. In Polish. Martin. 396 pages. $8.00. Historia Ukrainy do koƒca XVIII wieku, by Natalia Chicago Review was founded at the University of Chicago Jakowenko. Translated by Ola Hnatiuk and Katarzyna in 1946. This issue contains poems, stories, and essays writ- Kotyƒska. Lublin. Instytut Europy Ârodkowo-Wschodniej. ten during the last decade of the twentieth century. The vol- 2000. Bibliography, index. 397 pages. Paper. In Polish. ume has been carefully edited by W. Martin who also sup- Historia Ukrainy, 1772–1999: Narodziny nowoczesnego plied an Introduction in which he stated that since the fall of April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 793 narodu, by Jarosław Hrycak. Lublin. Instytut Europy 76 pages. Paper. In Polish. Ârodkowo-Wschodniej. 2000. Bibliography, index. 355 pages. Virgo Maria: Rola Marii w historii zbawienia, by Jerzy Braun. Paper. In Polish. An essay. Rome. 1975. 45 pages. In Polish. These three books are sequels in a series published by the When one reflects on the style of writing that Jerzy Urban’s Institute of East Central Europe in Lublin. The series is meant Nie parodies most fiercely, Jerzy Braun’s books come to mind. to encompass the history of four nations: Poland, Lithuania, Braun, a man of letters and educator of Polish youth between Ukraine and Belarus, and it is published simultaneously in the two world wars, took seriously the ideas of Goodness, four languages. No ideological uniformity was intended, and Truth, and Beauty that to postmodern men seem irrevocably none has been delivered. Dylàgowa’s History of Poland is buried in the Romantic past. He entertained these ideas in a crisp and matter-of-fact, with a great many figures, dates, and Christian context, and his writings do contain a measure of names thrown in. Almost an encyclopedia. Jakowenko’s his- pomposity and being out of step with postmodernity. While tory of ‘old’ Ukraine is friendly yet assertive; Hrycak’s narra- Braun’s stylistic mistakes were many, one is puzzled by people tive of recent Ukrainian history should be a must reading for of Urban’s ilk relentlessly ridiculing and grinding to dust these persons of Polish background because it is wonderfully de- seemingly dead forms and ideas. If they are indeed so dead, tailed yet dispassionate, and it includes a discussion of the whence the fury to beat up on the fallen? The answer may be abominable “Wisła Action,” or post-World War II deporta- that, for all of Braun’s shortcomings, the core of his thinking tion of Ukrainians from their ethnic territories in southeastern represented that healthy mix of traditional Catholicism and Poland to western and post-German territories. In addition, proselytizing enthusiasm which Nie supporters hate so much. Hrycak’s book contains a wealth of information about Rus- In Jerzy Narbutt’s Awantury polemiczne (see a review be- sian and Soviet military and political strategies. For instance, low), the author mentions a visit to his high school of a politruk did you know that during the German campaign in the USSR, from ZMP [Zwiàzek MłodzieÏy Polskiej, a communist-run a German soldier was six times as efficient as a Soviet sol- youth organization to which all students were pressured to dier? The assessment comes from American historians. belong after World War II] who divided the class into three Idea restytucji Ukraiƒskiej Republiki Ludowej, 1920–1939 groups. The first was ordered to sing a Christmas carol, the (the idea of reinstitution of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, second, a patriotic song, and the third, a pornographic one 1920–1939), by Robert Potocki. Introduction by Jerzy that the politruk supplied. “The intention was clear,” says Kłoczowski. Lublin. Instytut Europy Ârodkowo-Wschodniej. Narbutt, “the goal was to mix value and worthlessness, thus 2000. Bibliography, indexes, maps, tables. 383 pages. Paper. weakening our sense of propriety.” One recalls here Jerzy In Polish; summaries in English, Russian and Ukrainian. Braun’s Boy Scout song, “Płonie ognisko i szumià knieje…” A detailed and scholarly history of the Semyon Petlura– that acquired a pornographic version in Soviet-occupied Po- Józef Piłsudski alliance, the Polish Kiev campaign of 1920, land. This is the kind of activity in which Urban’s Nie spe- the peace of Riga, Ukrainian emigration, national and mili- cializes, with an apparent hope that cynicism and contempt tary structures, and Polish-Ukrainian collaboration between toward values could be finally and irrevocably instilled in the two world wars. The book is meticulously executed by a Polish youth and society. young scholar who garnered much praise from both the Ukrai- In her Memoirs about incarceration in Auschwitz, Zofia nian and Polish side. Kossak remarked that the goal of concentration camps was to Poland in Christian Civilization, compiled and edited deprave people morally before destroying them physically. by Jerzy Braun. London. Veritas Foundation (4-12 Praed Hence encouragement by camp authorities (starting with the Mews, London W2 IQZ). 1985. ISBN 0-901215-79-1. 633 infamous Kapos) of vulgar and offensive language meant to pages. Index. Hardcover. destroy in human beings a sense of propriety and shame, leav- Muza poezji w celi Jerzego Brauna. Poems edited with an ing only the desire to survive. In Wiek rewolucji seksualnej introduction by Eugeniusz Îuk. Kraków. Eugeniusz Îuk (see below), Marek Czachorowski makes the same point. Publications. 1997. ISBN 83-906969-1-9. 120 pages. Paper. Jerzy Urban supplies this kind of depravity to Polish letters In Polish. today. Under the guise of relaxation, wit, openness, and sar- Rytmy włoskie, by Jerzy Braun. Poems. London. Odnowa. casm, he tries to make sure that his readers’ minds get used to 1974. ISBN 0-903705-08-7. 38 pages. Paper. In Polish. a thorough mixing of vulgarity and sublimity. No wonder Oddech planety, by Jerzy Braun. Poems. Warsaw. Paƒstwowy Jerzy Braun was an unwelcome figure in Soviet-occupied Instytut Wydawniczy. 1977. 89 pages. Paper. In Polish. Poland. In 1951, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and Prometej-Adam, by Jerzy Braun. Poems. London. Odnowa. tortured in the infamous Mokotów, Wronki and Rawicz pris- 1980. ISBN 0-903705-27-3. 70 pages. Paper. In Polish. ons where he lost one eye and had a heart attack. His health Ekumenizm, by Jerzy Braun. Essays. London. Odnowa. 1968. broken, he was released to die. He died in Rome in 1975. (sb) 794 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 Awantury polemiczne (polemical brawls), by Jerzy Druznikov. Translated by Franciszek Ociepka and Maria Narbutt. Katowice. Unia-Jerzy Skwara Publishing House. Putrament. Introduction by Alicja Wołodêko-Butkiewicz. 2000. 144 pages. Paper. ISBN 93-86250-18-6. In Polish. Warsaw. Oficyna Wydawnicza Volumen. 1998. 282 pages. A collection of essays ranging from excellent to abominable. Hardcover. In Polish. Narbutt has to be taken in select doses: his ability to construct This book should have been publicized in English rather commonsensical arguments has to be savored in separation than in Polish. In Poland, analyses of the Soviet capacity to from his occasional prejudices. In these select doses, Narbutt deceive (oneself and others) are like carrying coals to strengthens one’s realization that all too many words have Newcastle. But it is hard to find an American market for a been written and pronounced by individuals who would have volume that, fifty years after Czeslaw Milosz’s The Captive done better to keep silent. As Will Rogers said, it is not igno- Mind, replays many familiar motifs in regard to writer Yuri rance that hurts people; it is what they know that ain’t so. Trifonov and the Soviet [anti] hero, Pavlik Morozov. This There has been an awful lot of nonsense written and said volume of essays is particularly valuable for its analysis of since print was invented. This nonsense is repeated from book Trifonov’s duplicity and self-deceit, and for the detailed story to book, from one newspaper article to another, and it con- of Pavlik Morozov, a peasant boy who denounced his own geals into ‘truth’ in the minds of those who read a lot and father to the Cheka. The father was subsequently executed, think little. It is against this nonsense that Narbutt writes, and and Pavlik was killed by his own grandfather. What happened his weapon is common sense and a serious knowledge of to other members of the family is of some interest, and the Christian apologetics. book offers rich detail in that regard, while at the same time Narbutt is one of those rare writers who are able to supplying information about psychological consequences of deconstruct pretentious and obscure theories, pronouncements, this [in]famous sequence of events. The style is rambling in and propositions; he knows how to say ‘the king is naked’ the best Russian tradition. The volume reads easily. and how to document his opinions. But his idiosyncrasies Druzhnikov is professor of Russian at the University of Cali- regarding the new and struggling countries that have arisen fornia-Davis and an exile from the Soviet Union and from east of Poland’s eastern border have to be condemned. Some- post-Soviet Russia. how he cannot reconcile himself to the fact that people may Against the Grain: The New Criterion on Art and Intel- change national allegiances, and that yesterday’s Poles may lectuals at the End of the Twentieth Century, edited by Hilton be today’s Lithuanians or Ukrainians. This intolerant view Kramer and Roger Kimball. Chicago. I.R. Dee. 1995. xiv mars this otherwise fine book. + 463 pages. Index. Paper. $16.95. Among the pearls of wisdom that Narbutt’s essays provide Roger Kimball had previously written a book blasting is the observation that “not everyone is entitled to every truth,” American academia for its betrayal of ideals that universities a justification for withholding truth from those who would used to espouse. Hilton Kramer is a longtime New York liter- make bad use of it; or that the magnificent Byzantine liturgy ary critic. Together, they compiled an anthology of New Cri- makes religion into an adventure rather than an encounter. terion writings challenging political correctness at American But a crown jewel is the essay against “the psychology of universities. Following Julien Benda’s La Trahison des clercs adjustment” popularized by behavioral psychologists in (1927), Kimball wrote “The Treason of the Intellectuals,” an America. Narbutt points out that “the entire process of hu- essay accusing contemporary intellectuals of politicizing man development consists in overcoming sequential disinte- morality. Kimball ascribes the beginning of the new political grations and moving on toward better and better integration correctness to Nietzsche’s idea of ‘transvaluation of values,’ by means of past failures.” In other words, what really counts He points out that in earlier times, people in power violated in life is not an ability to ‘adjust’ oneself perfectly to the envi- moral rules while acknowledging their validity, whereas after ronment, but rather an ability to use one’s failures to reach Nietzsche, the very notions of good and evil came under sus- greater depth and greater understanding. “It is not the people picion, indeed they were ‘deconstructed’ by European and who suffer from breakdowns or [Freudian] inhibitions that American intellectuals. So far so good; alas, Kimball’s pre- are the misfortune of the world,” points out Narbutt, “but rather scription for improvement is to return to the Enlightenment those who are perfectly ‘integrated’ and adjusted at a very morality and logic, i.e., to a flawed system of reasoning that low level of integration. . . those human automata who so has contributed to the problem to begin with. A much better easily become the janissaries of totalitarian regimes.” prescription is to return to the pre-Cartesian rationalism of St. Even those who disagree with Narbutt will find in his es- Thomas and Aristotle, the rationalism rejected by the Enlight- says a hefty and refreshing dose of Chesterton-like sobriety. enment and almost forgotten by contemporary intellectuals. Rosyjskie mity: od Puszkina do Pawlika Morozowa (Rus- While the book’s j’accuse remains valid, the argument itself sian myths, from Pushkin to Pavlik Morozov), by Jurij is doomed to ineffectiveness because it offers fake solutions. April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 795 Wiek rewolucji seksualnej (the age of the sexual revolu- Soviet Era, by Semyon Reznik. Washington, DC. Challenge tion), by Marek Czachorowski. Warsaw. Ad Astra (P.O. Box Publications. 1996. 275 pages. Paper. Available on 86, 00-963 Warszawa, Poland, tel/fax 48-22—625-1028). Amazon.com for $15.95. 1999. 163 pages. Paper. In Polish. Reznik is a Russian émigré, and his book details aspects of Czachorowski warns of implications of the sex-on-demand Russian culture and thought that escape the attention of the mentality prevailing in postmodern society. starry-eyed optimists who predict Russia’s speedy ‘conver- Facing the Extreme: Moral Life in the Concentration sion’ to democracy and Western rationality. Camps, by Tzvetan Todorov. Translated by Arthur Denner Reznik points out that in the USSR, “the Communist lead- and Abigail Pollak. New York: Henry Holt & Co. (Metro- ership deliberately encouraged Russian nationalism, chauvin- politan Books) 1996. 301 pages. Index. Hardcover. $27.50. ism, and anti-Semitism.” He returns to the now-forgotten fig- This book belongs with other accounts of concentration ures such as Igor Shafarevich whose paranoid Russophobia camps, both Nazi and Soviet, and it explores the influence was hailed in Russia and the West as a book written by a which ‘everyday morality’ had on the inmates of concentra- patriotic Russian. Reznik points out that persons such as tion camps. Todorov argues that the daily habits of decency, Aleksandr Lebed seem tailor-made for assuming the post of willingness to help others, gestures of compassion and dig- a fascist dictator; and that under Gorbachev and Yeltsin, the nity were not lost but reproduced themselves even in the in- anti-Semitic and xenophobic current in Russian thought be- human conditions of camp living. He points out that acts of gan to gain strength and blossomed in the writings and state- heroism in the camps were rare; he mentions Fr. Maximilian ments of such individuals as Valery Yemelianov or the bet- Kolbe, a Polish Roman Catholic priest who consented to death ter-known Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The fact that Russians tend by torture in order to save a Polish farmer, Stanisław to blame ‘foreigners’ for their troubles is well documented in Gajowniczek (who subsequently enjoyed a long and fruitful this book. Issues discussed here should be incorporated into life dedicated in part to giving testimony to Father Kolbe’s the teaching of Russian history and culture in this country. heroism). One wishes that this extraordinary act had been Poland: An Illustrated History, by Iwo C. Pogonowski. analyzed in more detail; Todorov devotes only a page or so to New York. Hippocrene Books ([email protected]). it. Tzvetan Todorov is a philosopher and literary critic and, 2000. 270 pages. Illustrations, maps, tables, index. Hardcover. like Primo Levi, he abandoned purely academic pursuits to $14.95. write about urgent moral matters. This book is a bargain, financially and intellectually. Writ- Churches, States, Nations in the Enlightenment and in ten in a lively style that nonspecialists will enjoy, it covers the Nineteenth Century, Part Four. Edited by Mirosław Polish history from its legendary beginnings to the present. Filipowicz. Lublin. Instytut Europy Ârodkowo-Wschodniej Pogonowski is a master storyteller, and his knowledge of facts ul. M. Curie-Skłodowskiej 58/1, 20-029 Lublin, of Polish history is second to none. He is also a bestselling [email protected]). 2000. 273 pages. Paper. In author among Polonia readers, and he has supplied many ideas English, French, German, Belarusian. to, among others, Malachi Martin. Too bad he remains un- These are papers from a conference organized in 1996 by known in academic circles. Truly an unusual volume. A longer the International Commission of Comparative Ecclesiastical review to follow. History. The authors are mostly academics from East Central Europe. The collection teems with inevitable biases of some Other Books Received: authors who represent the newly independent countries. E.g., Poland in World War II: an Illustrated Military History, by the author of an essay on “Petersburg’s Policy toward the Andrew Hempel. New York. Hippocrene Books Lithuanian Churches in the First Half of the 19th Century” ([email protected]). 2000.117 pages. Numerous pho- never once mentions the fact that the population of what to- tographs, index. Hardcover. day is Lithuania was Polish-speaking in the period under study, A popular and well-written account of Poland’s fate in World and that to speak of ‘Lithuanian churches’ at that time re- War II, with particular attention paid to the armed forces that quires some clarification as to why the Lithuanian language fought on many fronts. was not used by the population. W słoƒcu listopada (in the November sun), by Anna Frajlich. The editing leaves much to be desired. The editor was ap- Drawings by Bartek Małysa. Kraków. Wydawnictwo parently unable or unwilling to supervise the quality of trans- Literackie (www.w.net.pl). 2000. 85 pages. Paper. In Polish. lations. Some of them are extremely poor. There is no unifor- Poems by a mature poet who is deeply steeped in Polish mity in footnotes, no bibliography and no index. A bad edit- poetry and looks back at the ‘life lived’ with melancholy wis- ing job. dom. Drawings and collages by Bartek Małysa are remark- The Nazification of Russia: anti-Semitism in the Post- able. 796 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 Od Kraszewskiego do Parnickiego: główne etapy rozwoju ing mud at the AK. At that time, Mieczysław Moczar be- polskiej powieÊci historycznej (from Kraszewski to Parnicki: came head of the war veterans’ union, ZBOWID (Zwiàzek the development of the Polish historical novel), by Jerzy Bojowników o WolnoÊç i Demokracj∏, or Association of Narbutt. Katowice. Wydawnictwo Unia. 2000. ISBN 83- Fighters for Freedom and Democracy). He worked to make 86250-19-4. 88 pages. Paper. No price given. In Polish. it his power base but could not expand it without including A collection of essays that only vaguely correspond to the veterans of the AK. At the same time, he and his “partisans” title by a popular (and somewhat populist) conservative es- (partyzanci, the popular nickname for Moczar and his group) sayist. came to dominate the historiography of the resistance move- Nazw∏ Ci∏ KoÊciuszko: szlakiem bitewnym Naczelnika w ment with writings touting the Gl-AL, a trend that continued Ameryce, by Barbara Wachowicz. Warszawa. Oficyna until the fall of communism in 1989. wydawnicza Rytm. 2000. 517 pages. Hardcover. Photographs The three-volume set of documents under review aims to and pictures. Hardcover. Price not given. In Polish. show not only that the GL-AL was far less numerous than A book on Thaddeus KoÊciuszko for children. regime historians claimed in the past, but also that it con- sisted mainly of robber bands; that their leaders often col- laborated with the Germans; that they murdered members of Tajne oblicze GL-AL PPR the ‘nationalist’ resistance and, contrary to the long-accepted view of a pro-Jewish AL, that it also murdered Jews. Finally, Dokumenty the aim is to show that regime historians falsified documents (The Secret Face of the People’s Guard-People’s Army of to prove that the GL-AL fought battles with the Germans, the Polish Workers’ Party: Documents) when the lion’s share of the fighting was really done by ‘na- tionalist’ forces. In the 1990s, three young right-wing histori- Selected and edited by Marek J. Chodakiewicz, Piotr ans set out to destroy the PPR-GL-AL legend and, at the same Gontarczyk and Leszek Îebrowski. 3 vols. Warsaw: time, rehabilitate the image of the NSZ. Bourchard Edition. 1997–99. Of the three editors, Leszek Îebrowski is the most active, having published a documentary collection on the NSZ, while Anna Cienciala Piotr Gontarczyk has several articles to his credit including one polemicizing with Ryszard Nazarewicz’s book, Armia The Gwardia Ludowa (People’s Guard) 1942–1944, re- Ludowej dylematy i dramaty (the dilemmas and dramas of named the Armia Ludowa (People’s Army) in January 1944, the Peoples’ Army), Warsaw, 1998 (see Piotr Gontarczyk, was the military arm of the Polska Partia Robotnicza (PPR, “Uwagi o pracy Ryszarda Nazarewicza Armii Ludowej or Polish Workers’ Party), set up to rule postwar Poland. In dylematy i dramaty.,” Dzieje Najnowsze, vol. 31, no. 4 (1999), the first years of the Polish People’s Republic, it was touted as 61–79, henceforth: DN 31/4). The editors of Tajne Oblicze the only underground force that really fought the Germans in (henceforth: TO) have certainly done a great deal of research World War II. This was done to legitimize communist power in the Central Committee archives of the PZPR (Polska in the eyes of the Polish people. Therefore, the main military Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza, or Polish United Workers’ underground organization during World War II, the AK (Armia Party, 1948–90), renamed the Archiwum Akt Nowych (Mod- Krajowa, or the Home Army, that recognized the Polish gov- ern History Archives) in Warsaw. ernment in London), and also the radical right wing NSZ There never was much doubt that the GL-AL numbers were (Narodowe Siły Zbrojne, or National Armed Forces, the mili- vastly exaggerated in communist publications which some tary arm of the Stronnictwo Narodowe, or National Party, communist historians, including the above-mentioned Ryszard which sometimes recognized that government), were con- Nazarewicz, accept today (Ryszard Nazarewicz, “Odpowiedê demned as representing the interests of landowners and capi- na ‘Uwagi’ Piotra Gontarczyka,” DN 31/4, 81–98). The docu- talists, oppressors of minorities, and ‘fascists.’ The AK was ments selected by the editors show that in spring 1944, when said to consist of ‘robber bands’ that not only robbed Polish the AL was at its peak, it did not have 20,000–30,000 mem- people but also exposed them to German retribution. It was bers as claimed, but probably at most 4,000 (TO 1, 23–24). It also charged with attacking the GL-AL units, collaborating was also known during the war that some GL-AL units robbed with the Germans, and murdering Jews, though this was a Polish people by making ‘requisitions’ to support themselves; charge leveled more often at the NSZ. However, in October in particular, they attacked such ‘class enemies’ as landown- 1956 came the liberalization of historical writing at the spe- ers, lower level Polish administrators and police who were cialized monograph level, and, from the mid-1960s onward, allowed to function by the Germans, but who were often also publications dealing with war time resistance ceased throw- members of the ‘nationalist’ resistance, i.e., AK or NSZ. April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 797 Nazarewicz admits this indirectly when he states that the PPR GL-AL slaughter of Jews in World War II are meant not only (Polska Partia Robotnicza, the communist Polish Workers’ to destroy the “legend” of its support for them, but also to Party) prohibited requisitions from “peasants” unless they were counterbalance the well known anti-Semitism of the NSZ paid for. But he also says that while robberies and other vio- and its political arm. Nazarewicz claims that Îebrowski and lent acts were committed by “demoralized” GL-AL units, his collaborators began to attack him after he published some these were severely condemned by the PPR leadership (ND, documents found in the German Federal Archives in Koblenz, 31, 4, 87). Finally, the editors cite a document from a volume showing NSZ collaboration with the Gestapo. These docu- published in Ukraine to show that the task of Soviet partisans ments were subsequently published in Polityka, on 14 No- in former eastern Poland was not only to fight the Germans vember 1992 (ND, 31, 4, 82). Indeed, even without such docu- but also to expose the Poles—who insisted on the restoration ments, the National Democrats’ attitude toward the Jews was of Poland with its prewar eastern frontier and who feared well known. For example, in March 1943, one underground Soviet rule—to German retribution. This much is clear from SN paper, Barykada, thanked the Germans for their signifi- a little known, top secret letter to Stalin of January 1943 from cant help to the Poles in eliminating “the parasite” Jews from Pantaleimon Ponomarenko, the first secretary of the Belarusian Polish soil. On 5 May 1943, during the Ghetto rising, another Communist Party and head of the Central Staff of the Parti- SN paper, Wielka Polska, refused to recognize the rising as an san Movement (TO 3, 249–250 and note 9, p. 253). This rings act of courage and stated that it had nothing to do with the true, but Nazarewicz alleges that this document is not ad- Polish question. (Teresa Prekerowa in Jerzy Tomaszewski et equately identified (ND, 31, 4, 84). al., eds., Najnowsze Dzieje Îydów w Polsce, Warsaw: PWN, 1993, p. 362). For the sake of fairness, however, we should These volumes demonstrate the communist regime’s note, that some SN groups were more moderate. Thus, in July deliberate falsification of wartime history in order to 1943, another SN paper, Walka, condemned the German use bolster its own dubious legitimacy. . . . However, this of force against the Jews, while stating that it did not resign collection of documents can also be compared to a reli- from the economic and political struggle against them (ibid). gious work in which ideological exegesis overwhelms The authors of this article failed to realize that, by that time, at the text. least half of Poland’s three and a half million Jews had al- ready been exterminated by the Germans. Nazarewicz also strongly denies that the GL-AL had a policy As for PPR collaboration with the Gestapo, the most glar- of murdering Jews (ND 31, 4, 86), and the documents pub- ing example in the TO documents is the action carried out on lished in the work under review bear him out. There is a whole 17 February 1944, to seize the anti-communist archives of section on “The Communist Underground and the Jews” (TO the KWC (Kierownictwo Walki Cywilnej, or Civilian Resis- 2, 43–84), but the documents in question indicate that while tance Directorate), kept in an apartment on 27 Poznaƒska Street some individual commanders (including the Volga German in Warsaw, The documents on this action, published in the Karol Lemichow-Hercenberger “Lemiszewski,” Grzegorz Appendix to TO, 2, consist of a report by Home Army counter- Korczyƒski, Eugeniusz Iwaƒczyk and Władysław intelligence; a report by the anti-communist section of the Sobczyƒski) ordered their units on occasion to kill Jews, it national underground, “Antyk;” the communist Security Po- was not PPR-GL-AL policy to do so. Furthermore, lice interrogation testimony of the chief organizer of the ac- Nazarewicz points out that the cases against Korczyƒski and tion, the communist Bogusław Hrynkiewicz, and an uniden- some others previously charged with murdering Jews, were tified man named Jerzy Fronkiewicz. The last two men dropped for lack of evidence. (ND, 31, 4, 96). Thus, the tradi- claimed that Marian Spychalski, then AL chief of staff, had tional image of the PPR- GL-AL as supportive of the Jews approved the action, as well as the agreement with the Ge- seems justified. Indeed, one of the editors of the work under stapo that the anti-communist part of the archive should go to review, Marek J. Chodakiewicz, explains why the two were PPR and the rest to the Gestapo. This testimony was given natural allies: the PPR-GL-AL needed more supporters, the when Spychalski was in jail (1952) and “evidence” was be- Jews needed help to survive, and both looked forward to lib- ing collected against him. eration by the USSR. (TO 1, note 9, 34). It is interesting to The editors state that Władysław Gomułka, PPR leader in note that at the time of the infamous Kielce pogrom of 4 July 1944, confirmed the information when interrogated at the same 1946, which resulted in the loss of some forty Jewish lives, time, though no force was used against him (TO 2, 227). Iwaƒczyk was the Kielce governor while Sobczyƒski was However, the work cited there, Andrzej Garlicki’s Z tajnych the head of the Security Police in the Kielce Governorship archiwów (Warsaw: BGW, 1993, p. 145), quotes Gomułka (UB, or Urzàd Bezpieczeƒstwa, TO 1, note 29, 24). as saying that Spychalski showed him the captured archive, The reader may gain the impression that the documents on but not that Gomułka had approved the action. Nazarewicz 798 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 claims that Gomułka learned of the action after it was over being at the party’s disposal is Czesław Madajczyk. He is and says the PPR had nothing to do with it (DN, 31, 4, 93). charged with stating in the preface to documents on the corre- Whatever the case may be, it is curious that the Gestapo did spondence between the PPR Secretaries and the Comintern, not use the opportunity to capture both the alleged AL raiders that their radio contact was due to friendship and the telecom- and the director of the archive, Wacław Kupecki, who was, munication services provided by Moscow (TO 2, p. 12). What after all, a member of the Security Department of the Gov- Madajczyk actually wrote was the following: ernment-in-Exile Delegate’s Office. We are told however that the AL men poisoned Kupecki with cyanide; that some The PPR, though not a section of the unaidentified persons who were with him at the time of the Comintern, felt itself to be part of the interna- raid disappeared without a trace; and that the Gestapo ac- tional workers’ movement, hence the constant cepted its share of the archive, whatever that was. Thus, this contact between the party leadership and the alleged PPR cooperation with the Gestapo is murky at best. Comintern and its Secretary. The PPR leader- ship regularly informed the executive commit- TO What riles the editors (especially Leszek Îebrowski) tee of the Comintern of the more important most is that the party historians ‘doctored’ reports and mem- events connected with its activity, and the oirs by individual veterans, and that they falsified documents Comintern, in turn, transmitted this informa- in order to support the myth that the GL-AL was the only real tion to Polish communists in the USSR. This force to resist the Germans. The editors certainly demonstrate type of information was destined not so much how this was done, though in at least one case they commit for the Comintern as for an ally in the war. This an error of their own. They state that a name was changed by is confirmed by the fact of maintaining this the copiers of a document (from Władysław Konowicz to contact even after the dissolution of the Lazar M. Kaganovich) and then go on to say that the latter Comintern in the spring of 1943. was Stalin’s father-in-law (TO 2, 17, note 14). In fact, Lazar (Korespondencja mi∏dzy sekretarzami PPR a sekretarzem generalnym mi∏dzynarodówki M. Kaganovich (b. 1893) was only 14 years younger than komunistycznej, Warsaw: Wojskowa Akademia Stalin (b. 1879). It was his son who married Stalin’s daughter Polityczna, 1967, p. 1, trans. A. M. C.) Svetlana, but she soon divorced him. For some reason, the editors also fail to mention that Helena Woliƒska, who fig- Of course, these statements camouflage the realities of the ures in several documents, later was appointed a judge by the PPR-Comintern relationship, but they may have been the price communist regime, and in that capacity, she condemned the agreed with the censor for publishing the documents in the Home Army leaders to death. Since the late 1990s, the Polish first place. It should also be noted that Madajczyk edited a government has been trying to have her extradited from En- collection of documents on the Soviet mass murder of Polish gland. prisoners of war in spring 1940 (Dramat Katyƒski, Warsaw: What is more questionable than these lacunae, however, is Ksiàžka i Wiedza, 1989). the TO editors’ wholesale condemnation of the historians who, The three volumes of TO documents are not an easy read they claim, were at the party’s disposal and wrote whatever because, for almost every document, there are numerous was needed. There were, indeed, such historians but not all endnotes in which the editors, mainly Leszek Îebrowski, write who wrote about the resistance movement belonged to this polemical comments. This collection can be compared to a category and those that did sometimes changed their minds. religious work in which exegesis overwhelms the text. It would Maria Turlejska, who is cited as the author of the first falsified have been far more readable if the editors turned into authors history of GL-AL (TO 1, pp. 5, 11,17, see also index, vols. 2 and wrote a book citing documents to support their arguments. and 3) was, indeed, an ideological communist who followed However, they probably assumed this would open them to the party line for many years, but later she turned against it. It the charge of using documents to demonstrate their views— is surely worth mentioning that she published a book in the which is what they have done anyway. The work is valuable underground press under the pen name Łukasz Socha, Te in that it demonstrates the communist regime’s deliberate fal- pokolenia žałobami czarne. Skazani na Êmierç i ich s∏dziowie, sification of wartime history in order to bolster its own dubi- 1944–1954 (these generations black with mourning: those ous legitimacy. But the reader not well versed in Polish his- condemned to death and their judges, 1944–1954, 1st ed. in tory might well wonder if all the GL-AL units were murder- Krytyka, Poland, 1986, 2nd ed. in Aneks, Paris, 1989). The ous bandits praying on the Polish population, or whether the book documents the rigged trials and death sentences im- PPR was just a puppet of Moscow? After all, some AK and posed on individuals and on whole groups targeted by the NSZ units also committed crimes and it is known that at least communist authorities in the Stalinist period of Soviet-occu- some Polish communists were ideologically motivated. pied Poland. Another historian whom the editors classify as Władysław Gomułka, a prewar communist and PPR leader April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 799 in 1943–48, was certainly not a puppet. During the war, he Nordhausen and Krahelska at Ravensbrück. There is no proof often followed his own line, while after the war he opposed whatever that any of them collaborated with, or spied for, the forced collectivization and the expulsion of Yugoslavia from PPR. The order to murder the first three is, indeed, thought to the Cominform. He suffered for his independent views, along have been given by Witold Bieƒkowski of the Internal Af- with many of his supporters, in the years 1947–55. fairs Department of the Government Delegate’s office, to two The Gontarczyk-Nazarewicz polemic is worth reading for counter-intelligence officers, Władysław Niedenthal and the information it provides on the controversial subject of Władysław Jamontt, both known for their extreme right wing communist and anti-communist historiography concerning views and thus good candidates for such an accusation the AL and the PPR (DN, 31, 4, pp. 61–98). Even without (Grzegorz Mazur, Biuro Informacji i Propagandy SZP-ZWZ- knowing Nazarewicz’s arguments, however, a reader can note AK 1939–1945, Warsaw, 1987, pp. 286–289). In fact, the at least one instance where the editors’ interpretation of a docu- majority of the people working in the Information Office of ment is more than dubious, while the lack of comment on BIP, that is, with Makowiecki, were either Social Democrats another reveals their ideology. The first case is an excerpt or Social Democrat sympathizers. This meant they supported from a document stating the following: “Makowiecki denied Socialism—but one based on the ballot box, so they could the information about a list of communists allegedly prepared not have supported communism. However, this subtle point by BIP, which was allegedly in the hands of the Gestapo.” escaped their enemies, for the BIP Information Office was The note to this document says this is a typed report from viewed by the SN and its sympathizers as the heart of the December 1943, but does not say to whom Makowiecki made “left” in the underground movement. Furthermore, the fact this statement, or who signed the report. Nevertheless, after that there were “Jews” among them reinforced the SN stereo- identifying Makowiecki a.k.a. “Malicki” as the director of type of “Jewish Communism.” Some right wing officers in the information department of BIP (Biuro Informacji i AK counter-intelligence shared this view and intensified their Propagandy), and also the chairman of the “Democratic Party” attacks on BIP in 1944 to such a degree that its head, Lt. Col. [he was a Social Democrat, A.M.C.], the note goes on to say Jan Rzepecki, protested. In writing to AK chief of staff, Gen- that he was shot on 13 June 1944 on the orders of the Counter- eral T. Pełczyƒski in late August 1944 (during the Warsaw Intelligence of the [Polish] Government Delegate’s office and Uprising!), he complained of “a heap of rumors, guesses and the AK. The note continues that for many years, the execu- stupidities about BIP” contained in a counter-intelligence re- tion was attributed to NSZ, but “The above GL report con- port by Samuel “Jakub” Kostrowicki (head of section “996” firms his collaboration with the communists.” (TO 2, p. 215, of counter-intelligence in Department II of the AK High Com- doc. no. 108). Now, by any scholarly standards, the excerpted mand). Rzepecki stated he had grounds to believe that “the statement by Makowiecki fails to “prove” such collabora- counter-intelligence had not ceased ferreting out Jews, ma- tion. The second case concerns the lack of editorial comment sons and communists in BIP, and that it is continuing to prac- on an AK counter-intelligence report of March 1944 about tice this sport in a highly unintelligent fashion.” (ibid, pp. 288– “communist and NKVD agents in AK and the Government 289, trans. A. M. C.) Delegate’s office.” The report lists Jewish members of BIP, To proceed to something on a lighter note, the editors also including Wokulski a.k.a. Tomasz, a.k.a. Makowiecki, as well fail to question the NSZ claim that General Zygmunt Berling, as his secretary Werschell [Widerszal, a Social Democrat, commander of the KoÊciuszko Division and then the Polish A.M.C.]; also the historian Marceli Handelsman, who alleg- First Army that fought alongside the Red Army, was a Jew. In edly occupied a high position in the AK, and Halina Krahelska, support of this, they cite a biography of Berling stating that a publicist and a Social Democrat. The AK report labels all of the latter gave “the Mosaic faith” as his religion when a stu- them, along with other “Jews,” as communist spies. (TO 3, dent at the Jagiellonian University (TO 3, p. 147, note 3, and doc. no. 60, pp. 193–197). There are no end note polemics p. 243, note 2, citing Stanisław Jaczyƒski’s Zygmunt Berling, with this document, suggesting the editors’ agreement with Warsaw: Ksiàžka i Wiedza, 1993, p. 147). What they fail to these charges, as well as with the anonymous author’s advice notice is the information contained earlier in the same book: that such “tentacles” should be “surgically removed.” Indeed, that on 4 May 1896, the infant Berling was baptized in his this opinion is repeated by the editors at least twice elsewhere parents’ parish church in Limanowa (ibid., p. 18). When he in TO. As it happened, Makowiecki and his wife, also his was a student, Berling may have proclaimed the Jewish faith secretary, Ludwik Widerszal, were murdered, while as an act of rebellion against the upbringing received from his Handelsman (who didn’t occupy a high position in the AK), parents, or as a simple prank, or a challenge to the staid au- and Krahelska were denounced to the Gestapo by unknown thorities of the Jagiellonian University. persons in 1944. They were taken to German concentration Tajne Oblicze has not aroused much interest in Polish his- camps where they died in 1945: Handelsman at Dora- torical circles, except for some communist historians. The 800 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 most prominent of these is Professor Ryszard Nazarewicz, between and among urbanization, modernization, empire, with whom Leszek Îebrowski conducted polemics both in assimilation, and the politics of language and historical the text (TO 3, pp. 10–11) and in many of his notes. Gontarczyk memory, all within the context of Eastern and Central Eu- repeated many similar charges in his attack on Nazarewicz’s rope. book, which the latter answered, it must be admitted, in a The sixteen essays include “Dilemmas of Russian National- very effective fashion (DN 33, 4, pp. 81–98). ism;” “The Soviet West—or Far Eastern Europe?”; “After In conclusion, one can agree with the 1997 evaluation of Empire: What?”; “Ukraine: From an Imperial Periphery to a Professor Paweł Wieczorkiewicz, then head of the Historical Sovereign State;” and “The Fall of the Tsarist Empire and the Institute at University of Warsaw, who wrote a comment on USSR: The Russian Question and Imperial Overextension.” vol. 1 and whom the editors quote in vol. 3: “Tajne Oblicze... is a malicious, publicist gloss to PRL [Polska Republika In 2000, not a single Russian university offered Ukrainian Ludowa , or the Polish People’s Republic] hagiography. . . . Studies, whereas ten Polish universities have been offering this is a publicist book— it should not pretend to be called a these Studies for years. historical work. . . . However, it is precisely its exposure of the ‘output’ of PRL historiography that is most important in Tajne It is rare to encounter a scholar writing in English about Oblicze. The book shows the mechanism of falsification.” twentieth-century Eastern and Central Europe whose analy- (TO 3, pp. 11–12). Îebrowski accepts the positive judgment sis is informed by such a thorough and broad-ranging famil- but rejects the “publicist” label in a lengthy note. iarity with writings in Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, German Tajne Oblicze was published with the aid of the Foundation and English. Part of this is perhaps due to serendipity. Ro- “Niezaležny Zespół Badawczy” (Independent Research man Szporluk is an ethnic Ukrainian who was raised in Po- Group), whose address, telephone number and bank account land and educated at Lublin, Oxford and Stanford universi- are provided on the last page of vols. 1 and 3. According to ties. For the last ten years, he has held the Hrushevsky Chair the statement printed with the above information, the in Ukrainian History at Harvard. Szporluk’s writings are also foundation’s goal is to “support and disseminate scholarly informed by some of his more theoretical interests that hap- research, mainly in the field of most recent Polish history, on pen to have an unusually direct bearing on what has hap- topics neglected in Poland for ideological reasons. The NZB’s pened in Eastern and Central Europe. He is the author of, interest is directed particularly at the younger generation” among others, Communism and Nationalism: Karl Marx ver- [trans. A.M.C.]. One may assume that the NZB foundation sus Friedrich List (1988). sympathizes with the right wing views of recent Polish his- Sarmatian Review readers might find Szporluk’s insights tory. ∆ into certain continuities in the Polish-Russian ‘encounter’ of special interest. For example, he notes that “[a]fter 1945 the Russia, Ukraine, and the Breakup Poles challenged Soviet communism just as their nineteenth and early twentieth-century predecessors had historically done of the Soviet Union from the Kosciuszko Insurrection of 1794 to the workers’ and students’ strikes in Warsaw and Lodz in 1905.” (412) by Roman Szporluk. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution And, “it was precisely because of the fact that the Polish [Soli- Press. 2000. 437 pages. Paper. $24.95. Available from darity] strikes were organized by workers and led by an elec- the Hoover Institution Press (800-935-2882) and trician whose proletarian credentials were impeccable (and Amazon.com. certainly more authentic than those of any of the leaders in Poland or in the USSR), that Poland could delegitimate the Soviet model on its own ground. This feat could not have Bohdan Vitvitsky been achieved by peasants or intellectuals or priests or stu- dents. The fact that the workers were both Polish and Catho- This is a particularly illuminating set of essays that explore lic added a broader historical perspective to their struggle— various connections and relationships that, at least in the lit- making it another act in the centuries-long contest between a erature available in English, are often either ignored, miscast Catholic Poland and an Orthodox Russia.” (412) or misunderstood. The principal focus of these essays, writ- Lastly, it is striking how some things have changed, e.g., ten between 1972–97, is the connections and relationships Poland’s attitude towards its neighbors, while the Russians’ between Ukraine and Russia, Poland and Ukraine, Poland insistence on remaining stubbornly delusional has not. Con- and Russia, and Czarist Russia and the USSR. But Professor sider the following: Szporluk notes that in 1993–4, at least ten Szporluk is also very much interested in the interrelationships Polish universities and colleges offered Ukrainian studies, and April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 801 most students enrolled in these programs were ethnic Poles Even beggars like us could feast for days, rather than Ukrainians. In contrast, not a single Russian uni- versity offers Ukrainian studies. And, at a 1994 Russo-Ukrai- But Simone Weil died for want of food, nian conference in Moscow, “during a difficult moment in And the flies could scarcely find words for God’s bounty. the discussion a Russian delegate proposed that in 1995 Rus- sians and Ukrainians celebrate together the two-hundredth anniversary of the third partition of Poland” (p.335). ∆ Letters

Reverse Genealogy In Response to September 2000 Issue Given our rivalry with England, most Scots would be de- lighted with Rodi Wout’s description of the reception accorded by Steven Kaminski the Polish Forces in 1940 by the English in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. Nevertheless, I must counter some of What unknown man carved his farm out of the steppes the negative impressions his letter might provoke. That welcomed all history in, between the Tatras and the Nearly all of the 27,000 Poles who arrived in Britain from Urals? France were located in Scotland from 1940 until 1944. They Years and years as if a silent sentry, and then my grandfather formed the nucleus of the British Army’s First Polish Corps, Wore the colors in Pilsudski’s Legions, including the Polish Independent Parachute Brigade. Arriv- And before him, his father Augustyn, with no allegiance but ing in the wake of Britain’s withdrawal from Dunkirk (which the pope, was then being portrayed here as a deliverance rather than a Never knew his country but in old men’s burnished memo- defeat), the Polish servicemen undoubtedly benefited from ries. the atmosphere of the day. There developed a strong attach- ment between the Scottish people and the Polish soldiers, Thirteen, when my father lost his father, sailors and airmen, one that lasted throughout the war and And the rest of the stories that could have been passed down afterwards. Seeped into a legionnaire’s last home, As to Rodi Wout’s observation that ‘there is no monument Hewed out of the ground, expertly as only in the United Kingdom to the Polish Air Force, Army, and A Great War veteran could have done. Navy’,’ this is not entirely correct. When I started attending school in the small Scottish town of Kirriemuir in 1948, the Do I guard some flicker of the past, only visible connection I had with my father’s Poland was a Coaxing it to flame with borrowed breath plaque on the outside of the town hall. It was placed there by And still a peasant’s cunning, the townspeople four years earlier to commemorate the pres- Cross myself in the Roman way, ence of the Polish soldiers serving in the area. The Kirriemuir Snap to some pale imitation of attention, Town Council renovated it this year. Also, a Polish military Due to my grandfather’s devotion? section has been opened in St Andrews museum. St Andrews Or does every faint line or idiot’s thrust also has a monument to General Sikorski and the Polish Forces. Stem from swallows of vodka and a peasant girl’s scream, There are some ninety similar plaques and memorials to the Spirit and stain mixed centuries ago? Polish forces in Scotland. The only non-Scottish uniform currently on view at the new Scottish Military Museum in Edinburgh Castle, is that of Simone Weil’s Dream a Polish captain who settled in Scotland after 1945. There are memorials to the Polish Air Force at Northholt, West Lon- by Steven Kaminski don, and Newark, Lincolnshire, England. A memorial to the Polish forces in Britain was unveiled on Simone Weil dreamt on her pallet 29th August 1997, at Peebles, a small town on the Scottish That Plato thought her talk like poetry. border. The Polish Ambassador to Britain was invited, and Opposite, the Tree of Life bowed down its branches, the Royal Air Force presented a show. In a speech delivered Children capering in its leaves, during the placing of a time capsule below the memorial, the Fruit-devoted limbs grazed the ground, Convener of Border Council, Andrew L. Tulley, said: “We And rotting apples lay in heaps. are here to commemorate and pay tribute to the part played 802 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 by the people of the Polish nation in overcoming the forces of same trade. That the Phoenicians were every bit as important fascism during the Second World War. We are also here to in the trade of this vital material that essentially underwrote remember those who gave their lives in that conflict and transactions in the equally vital tin or kassiterite trade is very to recognize the contribution made to the life of Scotland and clear. Disputes of this sort (over Spanish silver, kassiterite and the Borderland by those Poles who settled here during and maybe bursztyn) seem to have been important causes of the after the war.” second and third Punic wars. Roman industry disliked being The University of Dundee has set up an archive dedicated held to ransom by Sarmatians and Phoenicians with their to the experiences of the 200,000 Polish servicemen who were kassiterite and bursztyn as much as we dislike being held to located in Scotland at various periods during the war and ransom in matters of oil and petrodollars. shortly afterwards. I myself am conducting oral history inter- That the Phoenicians traded Baltic bursztyn or succinite views with the surviving members of the 12,000 or so Polish through west Danish ports seems well proven, and the reason servicemen who settled in Scotland after the war. The archive for it supportingly sensible. Despite the distances, the trans- would be pleased to accept memoirs, testimonials, letters and port cost would have merited the exercise if combined with documents from Polish veterans who served in Scotland dur- tin-buying trips subsequently to Cornwall, England and Ire- ing the war. I’ve written to Rudi Wout inviting him to partici- land (which were major tin/kassiterite suppliers and bursztyn/ pate in the project. succinite users). I find your journal highly informative and a privilege to There is interesting anecdotal evidence for a Phoenician read. presence in the Baltic itself that has to have been related to the Peter Lesniewski, Honorary Research Fellow, University bursztyn/succinite business. of Dundee, Scotland In such a case, and given the Sarmatian ascendancy on land in the bursztyn-producing areas, there must have been A Query from Scotland about bursztyn (amber) some type of Phoenician-Sarmatian commercial relationship. I am seeking information and opinions, surmises even, on Such a relationship, if proven, would shed a new light on the something that could best be started in a populist way by story of Romano-Sarmatian military legacies in Britain and talking about the recent film Gladiator, which, despite its be- the Arturian legends that spring from that. ing aimed at the supermarket audiences, had its story well My interest however is not with that. It is with Sarmatian rooted in fact. and Phoenician trade. If any readers of the Sarmatian Review The film starts with an excellent battle scene as the Em- have an interest or knowledge of such things, I would much peror Marcus Aurelius attacks the German tribes in his drive enjoy a discussion on it. towards the Odra and then the Wisła. The film did not make it As a footnote, though Carthage was “delenda” long before clear as to whether the Germans deserved such punitive treat- the times under discussion here, the Phoenician trade net- ment; that is a matter for educated surmise by those qualified work continued largely unbroken long after both that date to judge. and the times of Marcus Aurelius—as did all Punic efforts to What is fairly clear is that Marcus Aurelius, having failed circumvent all possible duties, taxes, liens and, of course, the to suppress the Sarmatian war and trade machine on the iron control of Black Sea outlets at the hands of Pontics and Danube, then tried a ‘left hook’ through Germany in order to Romans. reach the Baltic coasts which he could then control. If he suc- My email address is [email protected] ceeded, the bursztyn [amber] trade and Sarmatian control of Rodi Wout, Pertshire, Scotland it would fall into Roman hands, and the loss of profits from that trade would severely curtail the very expensive Sarmatian armaments inventory. Worthy objectives for any Roman emperor with a Sarmacki problem. . . which he had! When one considers that bursztyn, if not the US dollar of The Polish Diaspora in Turkmenistan its day (for that was gold) was at least the Yen or DeutscheMark A Colonial Narrative of that time, then the motives are perfectly understandable. Just as today British troops campaign at the behest of their (continued from the September 2000 issue) own and western governments to capture and control the rebel- Walenty Tyszkiewicz held diamond fields of Sierra Leone, so did Marcus Aurelius endeavor to control his similar problem in a similar way then. The center called “Turkmenistan Polonia” was formed in October Sarmatian control of the bursztyn business is well docu- 1992. While our desire is to reach those Poles who were deported mented and entirely logical. Much mention is made of it. Much generations ago as well as those who were deported during World less mention is made, if any, of the Phoenician presence in the War II, we cannot fully satisfy this desire: in Turkmenistan at present, April 2001 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW 803 it is forbidden to place ads in the paper informing readers that such the Polish authorities and institutions does not help either. a Center exists. This sounds strange to American ears, but such is I have recently read some documents concerning Turkmenistan reality in many post-Soviet countries. The only way we can reach issued by the U.S. Congressional Committee, and by OSCE. Their people is by word of mouth. We also realize that older people might evaluation of the political situation here is quite negative. How- have died, while the younger ones were assigned another national- ever, we cannot be too vocal in this regard. Our caution allows us to ity under pressure. We have been able to gather together 5,000 exist: other than the Polish group, no other ethnic organization persons of Polish nationality or background; we have no means to has ever existed in Turkmenistan. find out what the real figure is. Archival materials are still consid- Our address in Ashkhabad is as follows: ered state secrets. Last but not least, the authorities have so far Centrum Polonia Turkmenska refused to register us as an organization, and this is another reason Pan Walenty Tyszkiewicz why some Poles are afraid to contact us.. ul. B. Karryjewa 64, m.1 Other white minorities in Turkmenistan have left or are in the 744000 Aszchabad, Turkmenistan. process of leaving. The Germans are all gone. The Russian Em- bassy has a list of 37,000 persons wishing to leave. We Poles do not Our bank account number is have that option. In order to emigrate to Russia, one has to show a 3737717, Walentin Tyshkewich, Inwestbank of Turkmenistan birth certificate proving that one had been born there, or that one 54 Khodjow Annadurdyiev Street, Ashgabat 744000, has relatives there. So we Poles are forced to remain in a country Turkmenistan, Telex: 228119 BUNCH TM. whose culture and religion are alien to us. We cannot even travel SWIFT: INVA TM 2X. abroad because our wages are too low to afford travel. What are our chances of repatriation to Poland? This is possible only if a county or a district invites a particular family and offers that family a place to live, a job, medical insurance etc. About 2,000 About the Authors persons from Kazakhstan managed to leave in this way. We know Anna M.Cienciala is Professor of History at the University of Kan- that their situation in Poland is difficult, but we are not looking for sas and author (with Titus Komarnicki) of From Versailles to luxuries but for an opportunity to return to Poland. So far, the Pol- Locarno: Keys to Polish Foreign Policy 1919-1925 (1984). Her ish Embassy has not done anything substantial for us. WWWeb textbooks on the history of East Central Europe can be Since Turkmenistan Polonia is tiny by comparison with other found at http://www.ukans.edu/kansas/Cienciala/. Central Asian Polonias, few organizations take interest in us. This Steven Kaminski is Assistant Director for the Society for College is a vicious circle. We know that it is difficult to sponsor a family, and University Planning, an affiliate of the School of Education at but each of us would be so grateful for an opportunity to emigrate. the University of Michigan. If even a few families left, the rest would feel encouraged and hope- Peter Lesniewski has recently completed his PhD thesis titled “Brit- ful. ain and Upper Silesia, 1919–1922” dealing with the misinforma- In the meantime, we have to live in conditions in which we find tion and manipulation practiced by the British and German Gov- ourselves. We try to help each other. Even though the authorities ernments over the Polish claim to Upper Silesia. have not granted us legal status and have refused to register us as an Mirosław Skibniewski is Assistant Executive Vice President for organization, they are not persecuting us either. Economically, the Academic Affairs and Professor of Civil Engineering at Purdue Center is in difficult conditions. For eight years, we have been ask- University. ing Polish organizations and Polish diplomats for help. We have Bohdan Vitvitsky is a lawyer, writer, and lecturer residing in New not received much help. In the meantime, some of us managed to Jersey. He is the author of The Other Holocaust: Many Circles of emigrate to Russia; others fell ill; some two dozen died because of Hell (1980). harsh conditions. In 1995, my wife died; in 1996, my deputy in the Małgorzata Warchoł-Schlottmann is lehrbeauftragte Dozentin at Center, Włodzimierz Îuków, and several other persons passed away. the Institut für Slavische Philologie at Ludwig-Maximilians No financial, educational, cultural or moral help was forthcoming Universität in München and at the Institut für Slavistik, Universität from Poland. None. But in spite of everything—we survived. Regensburg in Ratisbona. Today, things are better. Hunger is less acute, stores are full, and Rodi Wout is a consultant in deep sea fisheries and trawler build- even some medicines are available. Owing to the selfless enthusi- ing, and his historical specialty is deep sea fishery and trade back to asm of some of us, we built our organization, we introduced courses 3000 BC. in the Polish language, we sent our children to Poland for the sum- Correction mer, and we even managed to place a few students at Polish uni- In the January 2001 issue, we failed to identify one of our authors, versities. We very much hope that the authorities will finally regis- John Radzilowski, in About the Authors. He is Program Associ- ter the Catholic church here so that we can say our prayers in Pol- ate at the Center for Nations in Transition, Hubert H. Humphrey ish. Starting with October 1997, two Catholic priests have visited Institute, University of Minnesota. in Ashkhabad: Father Andrzej Madej and Father Radosław Zmitrowicz. Unfortunately, we do not yet have the permit to register the Catholic church. We still are subjected to threats, and a lack of support from 804 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW April 2001 Lecture Central Europe Study Group Thank You Note Medieval Studies Group The Sarmatian Review would like to thank the following Rice University individuals and institutions for their donations to the Sarmatian Review Publication Fund:

Paul W. Knoll Professor and Mrs. Donald Bushaw; Professor University of Southern California M.K. Dziewanowski; Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Jachimczyk, M.D., J.D; Professor and Mrs. Marek and Barbara Kimmel; Professor and Mrs. Witold Jagiellonian University J. and Alicia M. Lukaszewski; Mr. Michael J. McGinley and Professor Theresa McGinley; Pro- of Cracow fessor and Mrs. Edward and Elisabeth Rozek. in the Life Thank you—we rely on your support. of 15th Century Poland

RADIO COURIER 309 Sewall Hall, 7:30 PM Polish American Radio Network April 6, 2001 (Friday) P.O. Box 130146, Houston, Texas 77219 Wine-and-cheese reception to follow the lecture. Polish Language Program This is a rare opportunity to hear a distinguished American medi- Saturday 11:00 AM, 1520 KYND evalist speak on Central European topics. Do come. tel./fax: (281) 872-1062 email: [email protected] Leonardo da Vinci and the Splendor of Poland A and M Technical Services Inc. The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston Metallurgical Testing Laboratory December 8, 2002–February 16, 2003 407 Sylvester Road Houston, Texas 77009 More information in forthcoming issues of SR. Anthony Rudnicki The Polish American Historical Association (PAHA) seeks Chief Metallurgist new members. Membership in associations such as PAHA is Phone: 713-691-1765 Fax: 713-695-7241 essential to keep the Polish American discourse going. To ask for membership forms, write to PAHA, St. Mary’s Col- lege, Orchard Lake, MI 48324. The Anya Tish Gallery 1740 Sunset Boulevard. Houston, Texas 77005 phone/fax: 713-524-2299 Give where it really Artwork and paintings from Central and Eastern Europe counts:

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