21GRANICE:
The Modern Polish Frontiers (1919-1945)
People who live on islands, or on half-continents of their own, find difficulty in
comprehending the territorial obsessions of landlocked nations. Never having
faced the prospect of ceding Kent to Germany, or California to the USSR, they
tend to look with quizzical unconcern, if not with contempt, on those who
would lay down their lives for an inch of ground or for a dotted line on a map.
In this respect, the passions concerning the history of modern Polish frontiers
are far removed indeed from the main concerns of the Anglo-Saxon world. They
are all the greater, since, with one signal exception, the Poles have not been per-
mitted to fix their frontiers for themselves. One hundred years ago Poland pos-
sessed no territory at all. 'Oh Poland,' wrote Cyprian Norwid, 'how poor you
are. I cannot discern the line of your frontiers. You have nothing left but your
voice.' Nowadays all is changed. Poland's soul has been reclothed with a new
body. But the process of reincarnation was not an easy one. It troubled
European statesmen throughout the first half of the twentieth century, and pro-
vided one of the most intractable problems in the territorial settlements after
both World Wars.^1
The international debate on Poland's modern frontiers was initiated on 29
January 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference, in a memorable tour de force by
the Chief Polish Delegate, Roman Dmowski. Speaking first in idiomatic French,
and then in flawless English, he shocked his audience no less by the contents of
his speech than by its technical brilliance. From this very first moment, however,
it was clear that two very different and incompatible concepts were involved.
Whereas Dmowski was talking of a territory based on the historic pre-Partition
frontiers and containing all the peoples of that vast area, most of his listeners
were thinking in terms of a small mono-national Poland confined to areas
inhabited by ethnic Poles. Whereas the Poles assumed themselves to be masters
of their own destiny, free to determine their frontiers on a basis of equality with
the Great Powers, most foreign observers assumed that Poland was a client state
whose demands must be trimmed to accommodate the interests of its superiors.
On both points, everyone was thoroughly mistaken. As the result of changes
which had occurred during the nineteenth century, it proved quite impossible to
restore an updated version of the old Rzeczpospolita. Equally, as a result of the
intermingling of ethnic groups, it Was quite impossible to draw a simple ethno-
graphic frontier. In the political sphere, it was as unrealistic for Polish leaders to
model their conduct on that of the established powers, as it was for the powers