1939: How the sanation regime of Poland declared his will to fight till the last Polish citizen will be dead

 

The Polish Supreme Leader meant Warsaw should have such a strong air defense as London, and this was unfortunately not the case. We are strong, ready, united! The Polish army will be victorious! — he repeatedly asserted. His countrymen believed him and despised him for that later. It would be a reasonable thing to judge such an quixotic attitude as some political or perhaps also mental illness, instead to make some attempts to depict that as great and tragic.

„«Poland has decided to fight for Danzig if she has to fight alone,» Marshal Edward Smigly-Rydz told this writer in an exclusive interview.”

(Poland Will Fight for Danzig, Alone if Need Be, Says Marshal. No Repetition of Czecho-Slovakia, Smigly-Rydz Warns in Interview, By MARY HEATON VORSE, Evening Star, Washington D. C., July 17th, 1939, p. 22/B-4)

So, who was this writer woman?

According to English language Wikipedia: "Mary Heaton Vorse O'Brien (1874–1966) was an American journalist, labor activist, social critic, and novelist. She was outspoken and active in peace and social justice causes, such as women's suffrage, civil rights, pacifism (such as opposition to World War I), socialism, child labor, infant mortality, labor disputes, and affordable housing."

She was a left-liberal, rather radical journalist and writer. You may call them a member of the US East Coast establishment. She first wrote for the daily newspaper Philadelphia Ledger, but in 1939 she was already a freelancer and sold her interviews and essays to many different US newspapers. As a result, this and that from their work is now accessible to all interested persons thanks to some free press archives.

Based on the content of this essay and interview, which should explain to the English speaking readers the whole situation around Gdansk in the form of an interview with the leader of the sanation (or ROP Sanitation) regime, we come to the conclusion that Wikipedia in this case does not have very accurate information as well. At that time, the woman was obviously convinced that another World War could be a proper answer, anyway a better way out than the Nazi regime's domination of Eastern Europe.

The old lady praised to high heaven the Marshall and his indomitable nation

“The marshall of Poland has a unique position. There is no other commander in chief whose position or prestige is like that of Marshal Smigly-Rydz. The marshal is the heart of Poland. He is the heir of the great and idolized Pilsudski and his appointed successor. To the simple people of the country the marshal personifies Poland. He is the core of their army, which guards their liberty and national independence, dearer to them than anything else, even life itself.”

Many thousands of wealthy Polish citizens, being not dependent on the local press and radio anymore, used such excursion offers to port cities of Western Europe to emigrate to South America, crossing the Atlantic Ocean aboard a passenger steamer. The more courageous wanted only spend the worst weeks in neutral European countries, and then bring their belongings back to order, after the worst bombardments would be ceased.

“Marshal Smigly-Rydz received me without ceremony in his simply furnished study at the headquarters of the general staff (G. I. S. Z.) and immediately launched into the question of Danzig.”

The question of Gdansk/Danzig — Gdansk necessary to Poland

“We will exhaust all methods of settling the question of Danzig peacefully. Then, if Germany persists in her plans for Anschluss, Poland will fight, even if she fights alone and without allies. The whole nation is agreed to this. The whole nation to the last man and woman is ready to fight for Poland's independence; for, when we say we will go to war over Poland, we shall be fighting for our independence. Poland does not want a war. but there are things which are worse than war to us. and one is the loss of our freedom.

He took me over to the map which fills the wall of his study. «Danzig is necessary for Poland. Who controls Danzig controls our economic life. Our commerce floods through Danzig and Gdynia. Whoever controls Danzig controls Gdynia. We have only a small outlet to the sea — 140 kilometers. Last year. 16.000.000 tons of our growing commerce passed through these two points.»”

The Marshall made not a notice of the size as well as of importance of Polish exports, handled then by selling goods between different ports. In fact, the corresponding number in 1938 was more than 12 million tonnes. Despite the fact that the port in Gdine/Gdingen/Gdynia was developed into the largest seaport on the Baltic Sea, the importance of Gdansk/Danzig for Poland was in fact still immense. It spent 41 per cent of the Polish maritime exports traffic capacity, which provided the Second Republic with the largest source of convertible foreign currencoes, namely the pay for hard coal sold to the Scandinavian countries, Italy and Argentina.

“The taking of Danzig by the Germans would be an act which re-calls to mind the partition of Poland. That is why I mobilized four months ago when Hitler again made demands for Danzig and the corridor. Believe me. that mobilization was no mere demonstration. At that time we were ready to go to war if necessary.”

This country stand “united, ready and strong”

”I asked the marshal if he would care to say a few words about Poland’s military situation. He answered with a little smile: «Poland’s army is not as big as Germany’s, but it is a pretty good army. But in case of war, every man and every woman of whatever age would be a soldier of Poland.»"

The entry of the Soviet troops into Poland two months later was to prove a great surprise to him

“The small Baltic countries would probably not wish to expose themselves and would maintain a strict neutrality. […] We have a non-aggression pact and an economic treaty, but whether we could count on raw materials from Russia would depend on a variety of factors. Russia is going to get all the advantages she can for herself out of the present situation.”

He was only able to foresee somehow correctly an attitude of Hungary and Romania

"Rumania is our ally, our friendship with Hungary is historic. I do not believe she would allow German troops to attack us over her frontier. I do not think she would take part in a war against us."

A journalist had published his open letter to Hitler in one of the newspapers published in Lemberg/Lvov/Lviv

“Nobody is afraid of you in Poland, Mister! [...] You can probably start a war. Although we find the fact surprising that you did not do so sooner, as the merger of Poland, France and the UK was not yet perfect and had not yet led to the encirclement of Germany. You should attack us before the Polish defense industry has worked at full capacity, while the possibilities for preparing the Third Reich for war have already reached their limits. It seems to us that although you despise pacifism, the decision to start the war somehow comes hard to you.”

(I cóż dalej, Panie Kanclerzu? List, który może dojdzie do Hitlera, „Głos Poranny”, 30 czerwca 1939, S. 2)

How are you going, Herr Hitler? So he mocked the most dangerous great power of Europe of that time. The Polish press and public meetings were full of such allegations and threats. The propaganda campaign lasted half a year, from February to the first days of September 1939.

The idyll was rapidly broken by a bloodshed

The war was inevitable now, but only few were able to notice this fact. “July 1939 is reminiscent in many ways of July 1914. At that time, too, the political horizon of the world darkened, and terrified humanity awaited the terrible thunderbolt of war that was to kill so many people and destroy entire empires. Even then, as now, repeated attempts were made to save peace. To save the peace and to prevent the worst calamity, which is the mutual slaughter of the civilised peoples.”

(Z. Felczak, Zwycięstwo solidarności narodowej, Dziennik Bydgoski, 16 lipca 1939, s. 1)