Dziedzictwo

by Roman Dmowski

267 pages

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Roman Stanisław Dmowski was a Polish politician, statesman, and co-founder and chief ideologue of the National Democracy ("ND": in Polish, "Endecja") political movement. He saw the Germanization of Polish territories controlled by the German Empire as the major threat to Polish culture and therefore advocated a degree of accommodation with another power that had partitioned Poland, the Russian Empire. He favored the re-establishment of Polish independence by nonviolent means, and supported policies favorable to the Polish middle class. During World War I, in Paris, through his Polish National Committee he was a prominent spokesman, to the Allies for Polish aspirations. He was a principal figure instrumental in the postwar restoration of Poland's independent existence.

Dmowski never wielded significant political power, except for a brief period in 1923 as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Nevertheless, he was one of the most influential Polish ideologues and politicians of his time. A controversial personality most of his life, Dmowski believed that only a homogenous Polish-speaking and Roman Catholic-practicing nation would be preferable as opposed to Piłsudski's vision of Prometheism which sought a multi-ethnic Poland reminiscent of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth instead. As a result, his thinking marginalized other ethnic minority groups living in Poland, particularly those in the Kresy (which included Jews, Lithuanians, and Ukrainians). He remains a key figure of Polish nationalism and has been frequently referred to as "the father of Polish nationalism". Throughout most of his life, he was the chief ideological opponent of the Polish military and political leader Józef Piłsudski and of the latter's vision of Poland as a multinational federation against German and Russian imperialism.

Reviews

[Dariusz Płochocki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Potworna grafomania i książka z tak dyskretnym kluczem, że bije nas po głowie na każdej stronie. Biedna, przedwojenna prawica...