APRIL 23 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

APRIL 23

1660

Treaty of Oliwa was signed:  It was one of the peace treaties which ended the Second Northern War (1655-1660) between Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Habsburgs and Brandenburg-Prussia.  The terms of the treaty included the renunciation by John II Casimir to his claims of the Swedish crown (which his father Sigismund III Vasa had lost in 1599).  Poland also formally ceded to Sweden, Livonia and the city of Riga, which had been under Swedish control since the 1620s. The treaty settled conflicts between Sweden and Poland left standing since the War against Sigismund (1598-1599), the Polish-Swedish War (1600-1629), and the Northern Wars (1655-1660).

1935

The April Constitution of Poland was the general law passed by the act of the Polish Sejm on April 23, 1935. It introduced a presidential system of government with certain elements of authoritarianism. It was accepted in violation of the earlier March Constitution of 1921 and the Rules of the Parliament, and as such it was questioned by most of the opposition to the rule of Sanacja. (Sanacja, or Sanation was created in the interwar period, prior to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 Coup d'État, and came to power in the wake of that coup.)

1937

The Polish Sejm declared November 11 as the National Independence Day. It was celebrated only twice before World War II broke out. After the war, the communist regime of the People's Republic removed Independence Day from the calendar. Even so, the Polish people continued to celebrate it informally. The Soviets officially replaced National Independence Day, with the "National Day of Poland's Revival as Poland's National Day" celebrated on the July 22, the anniversary of the communist PKWN Manifesto under Joseph Stalin.  When Poland emerged from communism in 1989, the original holiday, National Independence Day, on November 11th, was finally restored.

1945

The race to Berlin ended with the Soviet arrival into the capital first. The Soviet 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front continued to tighten the encirclement and severing the last link between the German IX Army and the city. Elements of the 1st Ukrainian Front continued to move westward and started to engage the German XII Army moving towards Berlin.  By the next day elements of 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front had completed the encirclement of the city. On April 25th, the Soviet investment of Berlin had been consolidated, with leading Soviet units probing and penetrating the S-Bahn defensive ring. It became clear that the German defence of the city could not do anything but temporarily delay the capture of the city by the Soviets. The decisive stages of the battle had already been fought and lost by the Germans outside the city. 1,100,000 Soviet personnel who took part in the capture of Berlin from April 22 to May 2, 1945 (Note:  Poland's official Flag Day is held each year on 2 May, the last day of the battle in Berlin, when a solider of the Polish Army hoisted the Polish flag on the Berlin Victory Column.)


Hermann Göring sent a message to Hitler asking for permission to assume leadership of the Third Reich. Interpreting the telegram as an act of treason, Hitler relieved Göring of his official titles and ordered his arrest. The message was translated to English, as follows: "My Fuhrer, General Koller today gave me a briefing on the basis of communications given him by Colonel General Jodl and General Christian, according to which you had referred certain decisions to me and emphasized that I, in case negotiations would become necessary, would be in an easier position than you in Berlin. These views were so surprising and serious to me that I felt obligated to assume, in case by 2200 o’clock no answer is forthcoming, that you have lost your freedom of action. I shall then view the conditions of your decree as fulfilled and take action for the well being of Nation and Fatherland. You know what I feel for you in these most difficult hours of my life and I cannot express this in words. God protect you and allow you despite everything to come here as soon as possible. Your faithful Hermann Göring" On April 25, Hitler issued a telegram to Göring telling him that he had committed "high treason" and gave him the option of resigning all of his offices in exchange for his life. Shortly thereafter, Bormann ordered the SS in Berchtesgaden to arrest Göring. When Hitler discovered, on April 28, that Heinrich Himmler was trying to discuss surrender terms with the western Allies, he ordered Himmler's arrest and had Hermann Fegelein (Himmler's SS representative at Hitler's HQ in Berlin) shot.


In one of the rare actions of the Pacific War that involved a German submarine, U-183 was sunk off the southern coast of Borneo by the American submarine Besugo. After having served in the Battle of the Atlantic,  U-183 sailed from France in July 1943, arriving at Penang on October 27. She operated in that zone for almost two years and  carried out six war patrols. On April 23, 1945, just days before Germany's surrender, she was attacked and sunk in the Java Sea by American submarine Besugo (SS-321).  Only one crew member survived.


Members of the 358th and 359th U.S. Infantry Regiments liberated Flossenbürg on April 23, 1945. Flossenburg was  a Nazi German concentration camp built in May 1938 in Bavaria, Germany, near the border with Czechoslovakia.  Before its liberation, more than 96,000 prisoners passed through the camp, around 30,000 of whom died. An American military tribunal tried 46 former staff from Flossenbürg concentration camp for crimes of murder, torture, and starving the inmates in their custody. All but 5 of the defendants were found guilty, 15 of whom were condemned to death, 11 were given life sentences, and 14 were jailed for terms varying from 1 to 30 years.

POLISH INDEPENDENCE DAY NOVEMBER 11: CELEBRATION OF THE REBIRTH OF A NATION

Polish Independence Day (00:04:00m)

November 11 is Independence Day in Poland. More than a national holiday, it is a day sacred to the hearts and souls of all Poles in Poland and around the world. It marks the day in which the Polish nation was finally reborn after having been virtually obliterated from the map for 123 years. History is a testament to the courage and steadfastness of the Polish people in the face of terror and subjugation. Their fierce determination and most especially their faith has carried them through many a Tribulation.

Poland's resurgence as a nation-state came at the end of World War I - the result of US President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points. On January 8, 1918, just ten months before the armistice with Germany, Wilson had delivered his speech before US Congress setting the terms for peace negotiations.

US President Woodrow Wilson

Among the Fourteen Points, Wilson called for the evacuation and restoration of several occupied territories in Europe including that of Poland. Point 13 referred to specifically to Poland, that is 
"An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant."

Within this context, Wilson introduced the idea of the League of Nations as the means with which to preserve international peace and security, for large and small nations alike. (It was the forerunner to the United Nations). He hoped that this international organization would be able to prevent another global conflagration from ever occurring again.

US President Woodrow Wilson addresses Congress

Jozef Pilsudski

On November 11, 1918, Jozef Pilsudski was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces by the Regency Council, and was bestowed with the duty of creating a national government for the newly independent nation.(The Regency Council was formed by Germany and Austria-Hungary in September 1917 in the occupied Polish territories, and functioned as the highest authority in the Kingdom of Poland, albeit a semi-autonomous and temporary one. The Council was intended to serve only until such time that a King or Regent (ie. Head of State) would be appointed. The members of the Regency were Cardinal Aleksander Kakowski (the Archbishop fo Warsaw); Prince Zdzislaw Lubomirski (the President / Mayor of Warsaw); and Jozef Ostrowski, (former Chairman of the Polish Club in the Duma in St. Petersburg who was a conservative politician and a landowner of substantial means). On November 14 of the same year the Regency passed all authority to Pilsudki and a week later he officially assumed the role of Supreme Head of State.

Regency Council: L-R Ostrowski, Kakowski, Lubomirski

Jozef Pilsudski quickly established a coalition government whose ideology was largely socialist. He introduced policies that had long been proposed by the Polish Socialist Party, such as the eight-hour work day, free school education, and women's suffrage. Despite these changes, Pilsudski was not a socialist nor a proponent of partisan politics. Rather he sought to rebuild a shattered nation - a nation that had been ruthlessly exploited and pillaged by its' occupiers. Foremost among his objectives was the consolidation of disparate systems of law, economics and administration, among others. (During the years of occupation, Poles were subjected to nine systems of jurisprudence, five currencies, 66 types of rail systems, with 165 models of locomotives.)

Initially, Western governments regarded Pilsudski with suspicion because of his cooperation with the Central Entente during the war, and because of the socialist governments of Daszynski and Jedrzej Moraczewski. However his image, and that of Poland drastically improved months later when world-renowned pianist Ignacy Paderewski became Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Poland.

The fledging nation was in danger of teetering on the precipice of civil war - what with the co-existence of two Polish governments each claiming to be the legitimate power - that of Pilsudski`s in Warsaw, and that of Dmowski`s in Paris. But Paderewski succeeded in convincing them, both fierce rivals, to join forces: Pilsudski would act as Provisional Chief of State and Commander-in-Chief, while Dmorski and Paderewski represented Poland at the Paris Peace Conference.

Roman Dmowski

Pilsudski and Dmowski held widely differing views and were often at odds with each other concerning their vision of Poland. And on January 5, 1919, several Dmowski-supporters attempted a coup against Pilsudski and Moraczewski, but failed.

On February 20 Pilsudski declared that he would return his powers to the newly elected Sejm, (the Polish Parliament) but the Sejm reinstated Pilsudski's office in the Little Constitution of 1919, by striking the word "Provisional" from his title. Thus, Pilsudski held his position until December 9, 1922.

Pilsudski envisaged the creation of a Polish federation stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and comprising the independent Baltic states, Belarus and the Ukraine. The plan was referred to as "Intermarum" and emulated somewhat the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth before Poland was partitioned. However his plans were met with fervent opposition by neighbouring countries, and lead to the outbreak of several border wars: the Polish-Czechoslovakian conflict erupted in 1918 followed by the Polish-Ukrainian War (1918-19), the Polish-Lithuanian War (1920), and most notably the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921.

L-R Jozef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły- 1920 during Polish-Soviet War

Before the outbreak of the Polish-Soviet war, the Bolsheviks had launched a propaganda campaign alerting Europe that Poland's capital city Warsaw would soon fall, and that it would be the signal for the beginning of the communist revolutions in Poland and throughout Europe.

On August 12, 1920 the Red Army, commanded by Mikhail Tukhachevsky advanced toward Warsaw, and the Modlin Fortress but were forced to withdraw by Polish counterattacks from the south. International political experts were convinced that Polish troops would be utterly defeated. Instead the Polish troops, led by Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, achieved a stunning victory, in what has been called the "Miracle at the Vistula".  Russian casualties amounted to 10,000 KIA, 500 MIA, 30,000 WIA and 66,000 taken prisoner. Even Lenin commented that the Bolsheviks "suffered an enormous defeat" at the hands of the Poles.  In the ensuing months, Poland had several more victories which helped the nation to secure it's independence and which led to the signing of peace treaties with Soviet Russia and the Soviet Ukraine. It ensured the sovereignty of Poland's eastern frontiers - at least for the next twenty years.

1920 Polish-Soviet War
Polish soldiers display captured Soviet battle flags after the Battle of Warsaw.

Despite his membership in the Polish Socialist Party, Pilsudski was an ardent Polish nationalist. His political beliefs were formed in his youth, when in 1894 he was editor of an underground socialist newspaper called the "Robotnik", meaning "the worker". His was the position that doctrinal matters had only minimal importance, and that socialist ideology had to meld with that of nationalist ideology to ensure the restoration of Polish independence.

Pilsudski was born in the village of Zalavas, which is today Lithuania. He came from a Polish noble family, and was brought up with Polish traditions despite efforts of "russification" by the Russian government. Polish history and literature were vigorously suppressed by the regime but served only to fan the flames of rebellion. His father, also named Jozef fought in the January 1863 Uprising against the Russian occupation in Poland.

In 1885, while studying medicine at Kharkov University (in the Ukraine) Pilsudski became involved in the revolutionary movement, Narodniki. A year later he was suspended for having participated in political demonstrations, and was barred from entry to University Dorpat (in Tartu, Estonia). On March 22, 1887, Jozef Pilsudski was arrested on suspicion of plotting to assassinate Tsar Alexander III and was exiled to Siberia for five years. In fact it was his elder brother, Bronislaw who was actually embroiled in the conspiracy. He was arrested and sentenced to fifteen years of hard labour in eastern Siberia.

In the aftermath of World War I, Pilsudski encountered colleagues of his early revolutionary days. They addressed him as "Comrade" and attempted to solicit his support for their revolutionary agenda but he refused to reply in kind. Instead he stated,

"Comrades, I took the red streetcar of socialism to the stop called Independence, and that's where I got off."


"...and I must close with a wish for the next eleventh of November. Even if the month brings storms which roar in the chimney and shriek of death and terror, I know that restoration of the body and the soul’s rebirth give strength and beauty. In them we find an inward warmth which baffles the damp and poison. And may you smile then as on the magic eleventh of November in 1918! May the autumn sun burn your cheeks and a gentle breeze cool them, and may we laugh together from happiness at being great-souled and reborn! This, men and women and dear children, I wish you all."      

Jozef Pilsudski