The Polish People
Poor Poland! Many are they who have uttered that exclamation as they have read the history of this unfortunate nation. The disappearance from the family of nations of a country…
From: Unknown To: 1913 C.E.
Location: Poland
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Poland of To-Day and Yesterday by Nevin O. Winter, 1913.
Poor Poland!
Many are they who have uttered that exclamation as they have read the history of this unfortunate nation. The disappearance from the family of nations of a country which had existed for eight hundred years is so unusual that it is not easily understood. A feeling of sympathy occurs to many as they travel over those parts of Russia, Germany and Austria which were formerly a part of Poland. One writer has characterized Poland as the knight among nations, and the term is not illy applied. Many of its acts were as erratic and irresponsible as those of any knight-errant of history.
"He is only a Pole,” says some Anglo-Saxon, when he sees a rather short, stocky man working with a pick or shovel on the streets of one of our great cities. And yet this same Anglo-Saxon probably prides himself on his birth because of the achievements of some of his English-speaking ancestors. He may be willing to concede the element of greatness to a few Germans, French and Italians, but he speaks of the Slav as though the latter were in some way an inferior.
“What have the Poles ever done?” someone, who is acquainted only with the members of that nationality who toil with their hands, may ask.
It was a Pole, Nikolaus Copernicus, who first taught that the sun was the centre of the solar system, and thus founded modern astronomy. It was John Sobieski, another Pole, who defeated the Turks at Vienna, and by that victory stopped an invasion of the followers of Mohammed which threatened to overrun all Europe.
Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a native of Poland enlisted with the American forces under Washington, and proved one of his most effective helpers. He was given a vote of thanks by Congress after the Revolutionary War was over, and returned to his own troubled country to help fight her battles. John Huss, the forerunner of Luther, and the real herald of the Reformation, although classed as a Bohemian, was a Slav; and the Poles and Bohemians are first cousins.
Other Poles in later years have likewise achieved distinction. Helen Modjeska, the eminent tragedian, was of Polish birth. Henry Sienldewiczy the author of “Quo Vadis,'' is of the same nationality, as is Paderewski, the eminent pianist and composer. Many other famous writers and musical composers, both old and modern, have been Polish by birth. The Pole really has something to boast of as well as the Anglo-Saxon.
Russia, Germany and Austria, however, through their grasping and covetous sovereigns, decided to divide Poland among themselves. It was not difficult to find a pretext for war when conscience was stifled. As a result there were three different distributions and partitionings, and then Poland existed in name only. The last distribution of spoils was more than a century ago. The very name of Poland disappeared in 1846, when the little republic, with its capital at Cracow, was absorbed bodily by Austria, with the consent of the Powers of Europe.
Of the three countries that participated in the disintegration of Poland, Austria treats her Polish subjects the best. They are allowed practical autonomy in their government, and are subjected to no persecution whatever. Germany is using every effort to denationalize her Poles, and abolish the language. She is at work just as hard as can be to crush out the national spirit. But if they cannot study their language in the schools, the Poles study it and are taught it secretly by the priests in their homes. The language has become almost a fetish to the Pole. To maintain it as a living tongue, and leave it as a heritage to his children, he will suffer and sacrifice much.
Russia might have stood best with the Poles at large had she been wise, because both races are Slavs. “Might have been” and “being” however, are two entirely different terms, and it would be a difficult matter to find a Pole who would say a good word for the czar. The Poles, in many respects, stand out superior in culture, energy and civilization to the Russians proper. And Russia possesses the real marrow of old Poland.
Poland was already a European power, with institutions more or less similar to those of Western Europe, while Russia was still largely Asiatic in character. It was a racial antagonism that arose between the two peoples which never ended until one succumbed. As Pushkin, the great Slav poet, says:
"Already long ago amongst ourselves These races twain have carried on a war; And more than once, first we, then they again, Beneath the alien terror have succumbed.”
In the early part of the seventeenth century Poland had the upper hand. The very heart of Russia acknowledged her rule. The King of Poland had been asked to send his son to rule over Moscow. He responded to the invitation, and the sacred Kremlin was occupied by Poles. But Sigismund asked too much; he refused to surrender the Catholic faith.
Demanding too much, he lost all. When the opportunity came, the Poles were as overbearing and unyielding as the Russians proved to be later when the tide had turned. A spirit was developed among the Muscovites by their adversity which cemented their patriotism. A prince and a butcher led the Russian nationalists, and the Poles were expelled. It is an interesting matter for speculation, whether, had the Poles succeeded in retaining the upper hand, the Russians would have sent weeping patriots to the courts of Europe. Such a result would doubtless have followed, for there would have been a denationalizing of Muscovy.
Polish nationality had its beginning in what is now Eastern Germany. The name implies the “dwellers, of the plains.''' We do not know much about the authentic history of Poland until one of her kings, Mieczyslaw, became a Roman Catholic in order to marry a Bohemian princess, which gave the Latin stamp to her civilization. This king then received Bohemia as her dowry. Boleslaw the Brave followed, and with his victorious armies extended his kingdom to the Baltic Sea. Boleslaw II killed a bishop in a fit of anger, but, being pursued by the avenging arm of the Church, died in exile. Several kings followed who loved the cup too much to hold the sceptre straight.
At last Jadwiga, or Hedwiga, married Jagiello, afterwards known as Wladislas II, under the advice of her counsellors in order to gain the territory of Lithuania. The proudest days of Polish history are connected with this house of Jagiello. Then follow successively Sigismund I,
John Casimir, Stephen Batory, John Sobieski, and other great fighters. Name after name occurs of kings who are practically forgotten by all save the Poles themselves.
At one time Poland was the greatest power in Central Europe, and was the chief representative of the Slavonic race. The Slavs are divided into many branches, among which are the Russians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, and Wends. The Russians are subdivided into the Great Russians, Little (Malo) Russians and White Russians. The Poles resemble the Czechs more than any of the other Slavonic branches, although the latter are more sober and less volatile than the former. The Poles themselves were distinguished by dialectical differences.
The original Slav tongue is unknown, although the Bulgars claim to be the oldest of the Slavs. The dialects differ widely today. All are highly inflected, having terminations to mark the seven cases and the genders, but there is no article. The Russians and Bulgarians use the Cyrillian alphabet, which is partly copied from the Greek, but the Poles use the Latin. They employ a number of diacritical marks, however, which give the letters different sounds, so that their alphabet is really more extensive than the English. The Polish language has doubtless wandered farther from the original Slavonic than the Bussian, for it has been more under foreign influence. Many German words will be found in it. The Jesuits introduced many Latin words with Polish terminations and many French words were likewise taken over.
In fact, the language has probably continued in greater purity since the dismemberment than before, for the Poles have found the native tongue the greatest bond of union.
An extremeness in temperament is a characteristic of the Slav. It can be traced in the Russian as well as in the Pole. In the midst of the most autocratic government in the world, we find the most democratic institution—the village commune. A people naturally good-natured and charitable in their views are guilty of the most cruel punishments on the part of the government, and of almost inhuman reprisals on the part of subjects.
So it is and always has been with the Poles. They were and still are idealists. Poland was called a republic—Rzeczpospolita—in reality, it was an elective monarchy. And yet it was a sort of constitutional monarchy long before the other nations of Europe bothered themselves about constitutions.
Individualism was the death of Poland. “It was,” says Mr. Brandes, “an enthusiastic and unpractical people, noble-minded and untrustworthy, pomp-loving and volatile, vivacious and thoughtless, a people who despised severe and fatiguing labour, and loved all intense and delicate, sensuous and intellectual enjoyments, but, above all, who worshipped independence to the point of insanity, freedom to the extent of the liberum veto, and who, when they had lost independence and freedom, remained faithful to their old love.”
Poland is the only example afforded by history of a nation deliberately committing self-destruction for the sake of absolute individual liberty. But it was a liberty only of the landowners, some thousands of selfish country gentlemen who refused to pay any taxes. There were originally two classes of peasants, the free and the bound, but all had been gradually reduced to the condition of serfs. They were finally forbidden to possess property in land. In no other country has the entire destiny of the state been so absolutely dependent upon the character, disposition and habits of the nobles.
The inhabitants of Poland were really divided into five classes: the nobles, the clergy, the burghers, the peasants, and the Jews. The aristocrats themselves practically divided the people into only two classes, the nobles and the ignobles. From the earliest days, however, the clergy occupied an important position in Poland. The Church owned immense estates, and the bishops had seats in the Senate. They were usually appointed by the king and confirmed by the Pope. The burghers included the tradesmen and artisans, and they were, for the most part) composed of Germans and Jews, and, in some places, Armenians.
The burghers were generally governed by special laws. As most of the smaller towns were the property of the nobles, the burghers were practically subjects of the landlord. Nevertheless, some of them became very rich, and had considerable influence in an indirect way. The nobles were exclusively in possession of civil and political rights. These were lost, however, if they engaged in trade. Peasants and burghers were thus absolutely at the mercy of the nobles.
Winter, Nevin Otto. Poland of To-Day and Yesterday. L. C. Page and Company, 1913.
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