Der polnische Westgedanke bis zur Wiedererrichtung des polnischen Staates nach Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges. Genese und Begründung polnischer Gebietsansprüche gegenüber Deutschland im Zeitalter der europäischen Nationalismus by Roland Gehrke (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 56I archival sources, it presents a nuanced reading of the 'languages of the lash' that is informed by broader methodological and historiographical issues. Some minor quibbles do remain. The author focuses on knouting and spectacular punishments but not on the more everyday forms of corporal chastisementboth within the context of serfdomand after I86I. Furthermore, the voices of the criminals and the public at large are muted, though this is certainlyalsodue to the natureof the sources.Nevertheless,thisis a fine study, and it deservesa wide readership. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies SUSAN MORRISSEY University College London Gehrke, Roland. Derpolnische Westgedanke biszur Wiedererrichtung despolnischen StaatesnachEnde des Ersten Weltkrieges. GeneseundBegriindung polnischer Gebietsanspriichegegeniiber Deutschland imZeitalter dereuropdischen N'ationalismus. Materialien und Studien zur Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung,8. HerderInstitut ,Marburg,2001. x + 434 pp. Notes. Tables. Maps. Bibliography. Index. DM 75.00. DURING the period of its enforced disappearance from the map of Europe, Polandwas busy planning for its rebirth.One of the most fundamentalissues facing the planners was that of borders. What lands was the reconstituted Polandto inhabit?This volume examines the development of Polishterritorial claims on Germany from the Third Partitionof 1795 to the re-establishment of the PolishRepublic in I9I8. At differenttimes, differentamalgamations of territorieswere foreseen as belonging to the future 'Poland';putative borderswere drawn and redrawn. To the east, most were broadly agreed that the old border of 1772 should be re-established. But in the west, Polish nationalists cast covetous glances not only at the recently Polish regions of Posnania, West Prussia and the Netze District, but also at the more traditionally German provinces of Silesia, Pomeraniaand EastPrussia. On one level, this renewed interest in Poland's western borderlands spawned a rich crop of literatureand scientificendeavour.Just as Romantic authorspenned hymns of praiseto Staropoiska, so anthropologistsand linguists sought out regional peculiarities and obscure dialects. Much of value was produced. But, on another level, Poland's nationalist politicians and publicists were only tangentiallyinterestedin academicrigourand scientificobjectivity.Their most vociferous advocates: Poplawski, Belza and Dmowski amongst them, advanced a series of claims that were founded on a curious combination of ethnic, geopolitical, historicaland economic reasoning.Thus, 'South Prussia' could justifiablybe claimed as ethnically Polish, Silesia could be claimed as historically Polish, whilst East Prussia could be claimed as a geo-strategic imperative. The contradictionsof their positions were only too obvious. Many of their argumentswere based on principlesof ethnicity;theywere incontrovertiblein some cases, but untenable in others. Where suitable, linguistic criteriawere 562 SEER, 8i, 3, 2003 applied;where not an individual'smother-tongue would be declared irrelevant , and the issue of nationality would be decided by the (supposedly)more scientificmeans of anthropology. Double standardswere rife. The germanization experienced in regions such as Posnania was condemned as a heinous crime, yet the polonization of the Lithuanian and Byelorussian elites was viewed as part of a civilizing mission. Furthermore,just as Polish nationalists viewed the Kulturkampf and germanization campaigns as new and dangerous phases in the Drang nach Osten, they, in turn, advocated polonizing the regained 'Western provinces' and spoke freely about 'dominating and assimilating'other nationalities (p. I88). The argument of 'historicterritory' was often based upon a very skewed reading of history. Silesia, for example, could be claimed as an integral part of the medieval Piast kingdom, but this ignored the fact thatit was thoroughlygermanized and had left Polishcontrol in I335, spending the intervening centuries under 'foreign' rule. It was not unlikenineteenth-centuryBritonslodging a claim to Anjou. Though one can readilysympathizewith the plight of Polishnationalistsof the nineteenth century, it is hard to escape the conclusion that, on the territorial issue at least, they wanted it all ways. Some of their assertions verged on the absurd. One publicistwrote of the 'centurieslong sleep of the Polish Silesians' (p. 348). The implication being that once kissed by the attentions of Warsawnationalists, the latter would awaken and realize their long-forgotten love for the Polish nation. The reality, in contrast to this romantic (and simplistic)ideal, was that many Polish Silesianspreferredthe 'devil they knew' and opted to remain in Germany. Indeed, such attitudes often persistedthroughthe borderplebiscitesof the I920S. Gehrke sees one explanation for the nationalist position in a Polish 'inferioritycomplex' towardsits western neighbour. That may well be. But it fails to...