sábado, 27 de septiembre de 2008

Poland (966 - 1922)

Poland as we know it today has a long and rich history with ups and downs like any other country in the world. Thinking of Poland two things come up in my mind. The first one is connected to the role Poland had in the falling apart of the Soviet Union. The second one has to do with the strange role of the country during World War II, being used by the Germans as the base for their "Endlösung", the final solution.  Having seen, years ago, Alan J. Pakula's dramatic movie Sophie's choice, I cannot help to think that "the final solution" initially might have been a Polish solution and that therefore it might not be totally coincidental that Poland played such an import role in "the final solution". 

The borders of Poland as it is today were more or less established about 1000 years ago. The baptizing of Miezco I in 966 is seen as the start of Poland. Miezco's wars might have been inspired by greed but his religion is the message he wanted to broadcast: he christianized Poland. Before he died he gifted the state to the Pope and in return Rome gave Papal protection as described in the "Dagome Iudex" and reserved the rights for reigning Poland to Miezco's second wife and sons. Nevertheless, it was the son born out of the first marriage, Boleslaw I, who kept Poland together by expelling Miesco's second wife and sons, and, after some wars Boleslaw I became the first king of Poland short before he died in 1025.

Boleslaw's son, Miezco II, was king for 9 years and had troubles keeping the country together. He died in 1034 under suspicious circumstances. From 1037 till 1058 the country was unified again and stable under king Casimir I.

Casimir's son, Boleslaw II, crowned himself king in 1076 after having reigned Poland as a Duke for 18 years. But due to conflicts with Polish landlords he had to abdicate and to hand over power to his brother Wladyslaw I Herman in 1079. Wladyslaw abdicted to his two sons, Zbigniew and Boleslaw III in 1102. Boleslaw reunited the country and effectively got rid of his brother in 1107. He defended Poland with success against the Holy Roman Empire (remember: they lost power with Boleslaw I when he kicked out the second wife of his father). Before his death, Boleslaw III split the country into 5 principalities (Silezia, Greater Poland, Mazovia, Sandomir and Kraków) to be devided under his 4 sons. The oldest, Wladislaw II, got 2 principalities and the power to represent the whole of Poland.

Wladislaw II wants to be sole reigner and seeks the help of the Church. But as a division of Poland would get the Church into a stronger position, this is the beginning of the fragmentation of Poland. And although the Duke of Kraków in theory had the power to reign, Poland was no longer a solid political entity in the 13th century.

In 1241 the area suffered a Mongol invasion, after which a Germanization of important parts of formar Poland started. Crusades in other parts of Europe resulted in severe persecution of Jews but in Poland they were protected by law, even against the common  slander, through the whole of Europe, that they were committing ritual murders.

Rich Germans living in the towns of formar Poland increased their power and influence. With their help Leszek II got the power over Kraków from 1278 till 1288 and after him Henryk IV from 1289 till 1290. The Polonization, the wish to make Poland Polish again, was a reaction on this.

Thanks to heritance, secret agreements and help of the Church, between 1278 and 1295, Przemysl II was crowned king over Poland in 1295 by the Archbishop of Gniezno. Poland was reunited again and under the control of Rome. Although one year later the king was kidnapped and killed by other people under direct control of Rome, the Electors of Brandenburg, the kingdom Poland would exist for nearly 500 years.

As in 1492 Jews were expelled from Spain and subsequently from other areas in Europe, Poland became a safe haven for many of them. By the midth of the 16th century about 80 % of the world population of Jews were claimed to have lived in Poland, making it the center of the Jewish world, creating their own Jewish culture in Poland, permitted to have their own leader and their own no-go areas for Christians, allowed to raise their own taxes of which 70% had to be paid to the official government for protection, and living in prosperity next to the original Polish citizens.

In 1648 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (started in 1410) was falling apart, partly as the consequence of the Khmelnytsky uprising. Khmelnytsky, a Jesuit from Ukrainian origin, lead the military operation that was the result of many things, some of them being the envy against the Polish-Jewish welfare and the stimulated feeling of being exploited.

When the Swedish invasion, known as "The Deluge" began in 1655, Poland's golden age ended and the country slowly degraded into anarchy giving eventually space to a partition of the old Commonwealth between Prussia, Russia and Habsburg Austria. The partitions found place in 1772, 1793 and 1795.

After this, the Poles every now and then tried to get back into control and to regain their independance. They were counting on Napolean who recreated a Polish state in 1807 but when Napoleon lost his battle at Waterloo in 1815, their hope vanished again and Poland was split up another time. Europe was redesigned during the Congress of Vienna and Poland came under the control of Russia and Prussia, while later the Austrian controlled Galicia became the centre of Polish cultural life.

In this timeframe we meet Joseph Conrad,  Count Wladyslaw Zamoyski, the young Jospeh Retinger and the spirit to live one day again in a free and independent Poland which eventually was established in 1922, after World War I as the second Polish Republic.

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