Bereza Kartuska a Bogeyman Hetherington

Unvanquished: Joseph Pilsudski, Resurrected Poland, and the Struggle for Eastern Europe, by Peter Hetherington. 2011

Excellent Mini-Encyclopedia About Pilsudski Authored by a Non-Pole. Bereza Kartuska a Near-Bogeyman

Very rarely does someone who is not Polish acquire a productive fascination with Polish issues and personages. Such is the case with the author of this book, and his interest in Pilsudski. This new and improved second edition, coming out relatively soon after the first one, underscores the author’s commitment to quality and accuracy.

For most readers, there is much to learn about Poland. Hetherington comments: “In many ways, Pilsudski was an embodiment of Polish history…Unfortunately, outside of Eastern Europe most people know little of Polish history, and much of what they `know’ is wrong.” (p. 15). This book goes a long way in correcting this problem!

Hetherington has assembled dozens of books and articles related to Pilsudski, and has interwoven them into one large volume about this key man in Polish history. The citations are presented as footnotes at the bottom of each page. This makes it very convenient for the reader to conduct further reading on a given subject. What’s more, a valuable timeline is provided (pp. 724-726) of Pilsudski’s life, his awards (p. 726), and the birth and death years of his relatives. (p. 728). The book is rounded out with a profuse index.

In no sense is this book a dry historical narrative. The style used by Hetherington makes for enjoyable reading. For example, his description of Pilsudski’s anti-Russian train robbery (p. 191-on) is sure to capture the reader’s interest. Hetherington provides good background to those who may be unfamiliar with Polish history. He also touches on sentimental matters related to Pilsudski’s personal life. For instance, Pilsudski had been an animal lover, and had special rapport with his horse Kasztanka, an Arab mare. (p. 631). After Pilsudski’s death, he got his wish to have his heart buried next to his mother at Rossa Cemetery in Wilno (Vilnius) while the rest of his body was interred in Wawel Cathedral in Krakow. (p. 714).

The author captures the ambiguities surrounding the placement of the borders of the new Polish state and related matters at the Paris peace Conference. However, he could have mentioned the fact that the Riga border was a compromise between the extreme of all pre-Partitioned Poland being reckoned validly Polish, and the other extreme of Polish-only areas near Warsaw being reckoned validly Polish. Poland’s pre-WWII border thus avoided the extremes of “Where there are Poles, there is Poland” and “Where there are ONLY Poles, there is Poland.”

TWO SIDES TO POLISH-JEWISH RELATIONS

The author is refreshingly objective about matters for which Poland is frequently attacked. For instance, Hetherington tacitly realizes that Dmowski’s antagonism towards Jews was motivated by the latter’s own separatism and aloofness from Polish national aspirations. (p. 169). The author refrains from taking an uncritical attitude towards reports of pogroms. (p. 373).

HOW LONG WILL POLES BE BEATEN UP OVER BEREZA KARTUSKA?

Hetherington brings up the Polish internment camp at Bereza Kartuska (pp. 664-665), but puts it in proper perspective. It, having an eventual total of 5,000 inmates and 17 deaths, was a drop in the ocean compared with the Nazi and Soviet (and even British and French) concentration camps.

BEATING HITLER TO THE PUNCH

The author engages in a fascinating description of Pilsudski’s plans for a pre-emptive war against Nazi Germany. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Pilsudski realized Hitler’s aggressive intentions, as well as the fact that it would take some years before Germany would be strong enough to attempt them. Now was the time to act. Pilsudski never imagined conquering Germany. He wanted a joint Polish-French attack on Germany in which Poland would seize Danzig (Gdansk) and end the German provocations there. France would occupy part of western Germany, Hitler would be forced to resign in disgrace, and Germany would again be compelled to observe the Versailles accords. (p. 684-on). However, the French never went along with the plan, and, a few short years later, over 50 million preventable deaths occurred because of Hitler and WWII.

A BROAD-BASED APPROACH

This book is balanced in the choice of topics presented. These include early Polish history, the early life of Pilsudski, the days of Pilsudski as an anti-Russian revolutionary, the resurrection of the Polish State, the pivotal 1920 Polish-Soviet war, the coup of 1926, Pilsudski’s declining years and death, post-Pilsudski Poland, and Pilsudski’s legacy.