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5423968_11_0625.xml
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5423968_11_0625.xml
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<bibl><title>Dziennik Związkowy</title>,
<date when="1910-09-02">Sept. 2, 1910</date>.
<title level="a">What Other Nationalities Say of Poland</title><title level="a" type="sub">(Editorial)</title></bibl>
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<publisher>The Newberry Library</publisher>
<pubPlace>Chicago, Illinois</pubPlace>
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<note>Transcribed from digital images contributed to the Internet
Archive by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.</note>
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<item>POLISH</item>
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<item>III H</item>
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<div type="citation">
<bibl><title>Dziennik Zwiazkowy</title>,
<date when="1910-09-02">Sept. 2, 1910</date>.
<title level="a">WHAT OTHER NATIONALITIES SAY OF POLAND</title><title level="a" type="sub">(Editorial)</title></bibl>
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<body>
<p>Several weeks ago the Dziennik Zwiazkowy wrote about a new book on Poland. The authors of this book, which is excellently written, are the Frenchmen Maurice and Ary Leblond, the well-known brothers. The American press has called our attention to this book, and many of our readers have sent us quite a number of clippings taken from American periodicals which publish brief accounts of the work of the Leblond brothers.</p>
<p>It will be necessary to quote several of the most important items in these articles in order to show why the Americans are so interested in Poland. It is evident that the American publishers selected only those parts of the book which impressed them the most, those which they thought would have the greatest effect upon their readers.</p>
<p>"We left for Poland," the Leblond brothers said, "to find out whether Poland was just a geographical term, just the memory of a heroic nation or a <pb facs="5423968_11_0626.jpg" n="2"/>political reality, a living nation, even if governed by three gigantic empires.</p>
<p>The questions which primarily interested the French authors and which must also impress the Americans, are: Did the hundred-year administrative power of these empires succeed in destroying the unity of Poland and of the Polish nation? Is Poland still one united whole, or have such great changes taken place in the annexed parts as to render them incapable of becoming again a unified Poland?</p>
<p>A Pole would not be puzzled by these questions, since he has the answers for them impressed in his heart and soul. Moreover, a Pole knows better the present conditions in Poland, so that he has no doubt in his heart that the triple enslavement not only was unsuccessful in annihilating the country, but also failed to shatter the people's spirit. This opinion, however, is not shared by the French, the English, and the American, who have been taught for many years--through the press, in the school, and in literature--that the Polish cause is nonexistent, that the only thing that remained of Poland <pb facs="5423968_11_0627.jpg" n="3"/>was the internal affairs of the Polish provinces in Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Under these circumstances, it is little wonder that an entirely erroneous opinion of the Poles was created in the countries of Western Europe, as well as in America. The peoples of these countries have become accustomed to consider Poland as a nation of the past. They feel sorry for what has happened to her during the past hundred years, feeling compassion for the Poles and ridiculing them at the same time, but that is all.</p>
<p>At the recent peace conference held in Stockholm, more was said about Armenia, Macedonia, and even Finland than about Poland, which was not even mentioned, just as if she had never existed.</p>
<p>Naturally, other governments know of the true situation, because it is their business to know. The public at large, however, is kept in ignorance, and, since governments are influenced by public opinion, the Polish cause suffers greatly as a result of misunderstandings, especially among peoples who have no intention of harming Poland.</p>
<p>This is the manner in which the Leblond brothers correct this erroneous <pb facs="5423968_11_0628.jpg" n="4"/>opinion of Poland. "We traveled through Poland for a period of two years, during which time we made a thorough investigation, gathering our information from people in all walks of life. The result of our investigation is that Poland is today stronger,more powerful, and more hopeful than ever. Poland is waging, with awe-inspiring bravery and undaunted faith in her regeneration, a successful battle against all forms of persecution.</p>
<p>"Poland does not ask for pity; she does not appeal to the sympathy of Europe, but calls the latter's attention to her interests, to her political demands, and to future events in which she will undoubtedly play a very important role in the future.</p>
<p>"What did the hundred years of tyranny accomplish? They only awakened a greater love for the motherland among the Polish people, who feel as one family, regardless whether they live in the Russian, the Prussian, or the Austrian part of Poland."</p>
<p>Such is the reply of an alien investigator to the most important question.</p>
<pb facs="5423968_11_0629.jpg" n="5"/>
<p>The hundred years of slavery killed neither the patriotism nor the feeling of national solidarity of the Poles; on the contrary, this period of tyranny served only to deepen these feelings and to make more acute the desire for freedom.</p>
<p>"When we returned to Paris," the French authors further state, "we were asked: What do the Poles expect? We made the following reply:</p>
<p>"The greatest strength of the Poles lies in this: that their demands are not limited to any type of political program. They demand the same rights other European nations enjoy. They have seen how peoples of other countries--Italians, Greeks, Rumanians, Serbs, Bulgarians--who for hundreds of years were kept in abject slavery, are now gradually gaining their freedom. They see this and ask: Did we accomplish less for civilization than the Bulgarians? Austria already feels the influence and strength of the Poles. Russia and Germany will also feel it in the very near future, and we Frenchmen will again see the Polish kingdom, or probably a Polish republic, upon the map of Europe."</p>
<pb facs="5423968_11_0630.jpg" n="6"/>
<p>The Frenchmen would have never felt such respect for the Poles and would have never written of Poland's future with such certainty had they, in their two years of investigation, met only with demands of preserving the language and religion, of bettering material existence, or of some indefinite type of autonomy, as some Polish newspapers in Europe attempt to talk us into.</p>
<p>The thing that impressed them most is the fact that nowhere, in none of the annexed parts, are the Poles satisfied with any local political program. They all demand what others already possess--complete freedom, that is, political independence. Therein lies the power and the strength of a subjected nation.</p>
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