Poland - Key To Europe Review

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(More customer reviews)In this mini-encyclopedia of Poland (1918-1939), one learns about matters as diverse as the Polish achievement in constructing the port of Gdynia from scratch (p. 159), the crushing poverty of the peasantry (pp. 20-21), the stunting effect of government intervention on the growth of free enterprise (p. 185), and much more.
Buell's analysis of Poland's treatment of her minorities is critical but relatively fair. He realizes that the imposed Minorities Treaty was hypocritical in that the Powers weakly followed it (p. 240, 316), that Polish fears of her neighbors using it as a tool against her were factually-based (pp. 242-244), and that the Polish government never actually repudiated it. (pp. 244-245). The perceptive reader can see how, using modern parlance, parts of the Treaty advanced special rights. For instance, its full implementation would not only mean that Jews would be required to be allowed to use Yiddish in courts and public institutions, but also that multitudes of Poles would be forced to learn Yiddish in order for this to be realized. (pp. 295-296).
The discriminatory policies intended to end Jewish economic dominance hurt Poland. Polish merchants and tradesmen couldn't duplicate the output of the Jewish ones they had replaced. (p. 314). Without intending to, Buell highlights the magnitude of the economic disenfranchisement of the Poles.
He rejects the notion that Polish anti-Semitic policies were simply an imitation of Nazi ones in (prewar) Germany. For instance, Poland never enacted the Nuremberg laws, in part because racialist thinking did not fit into this Catholic society. (p. 316). To the contrary: In spite of the self-imposed Jewish apartheid (my term), and contrary to Heller's ON THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION, Poland's Jews were accepted to a counterintuitive extent. Buell comments: "The ordinary Jew speaks Yiddish...and is influenced by a particularly formidable type of orthodoxy, or rabbinism, of the Tsadika or Wunderabbi variety. While some Jews contend that the government obstructs assimilation, there is little doubt that the most powerful factor which keeps the Jew separate from the Pole is the type of orthodoxy which dominates a large part of the Jewish population. The American visitor unaccustomed to the Polish tradition wonders why more interracial disputes have not occurred when, on visiting a typical village, he sees the Orthodox Jew, wearing his skullcap, black boots, long double-breasted coat, curls and beard, mingling with the Poles proper. The government may think that it is in its interest to support the Orthodox Jews against their more assimilated brethren, but the foreign observer is nevertheless struck by the readiness of the ordinary Poles to accept the assimilated or baptized Jew as an equal. In government departments, in the army, in the banks, and in newspapers, one finds the baptized Jews occupying important positions. This class, which in Nazi Germany is subject to bitter persecution, has been freely accepted in Poland. With the growth of nationalist spirit among both Jews and Poles, the trend toward assimilation seems to have been arrested. It remains true, however, that the Polish attitude towards the Jew is governed by racial considerations to a lesser degree than the attitude of other peoples." (pp. 308-309).
Buell characterizes the German minority as one that was well-off (pp. 246-247), prone to make frivolous complaints (p. 243), and enjoying far greater privileges than the Polish minority in (pre-WWII) Nazi Germany. (p. 251). Recounting the history of the region, Buell rejects the premise that Polish rule over Ukrainian-majority areas was a form of imperialism (pp. 80-81), and realizes that the granting of greater autonomy to the Ukrainians could increase separatist impulses instead of weakening them. (p. 284). Finally, he suggests that Jews be more sensitive to ending their abuses, as well as realizing that the middleman-peasant relationship is an outdated one. (pp. 317-318).
Owing to the fact that, except for the last paragraph as an add-on, it was written before WWII, this book escapes being colored by it. Therefore, fascinating is the fact that Buell recognized not only the long-term Nazi plans (e. g., Hitler and Rosenberg) for the conquest of the Slavic east and the replacement of the local population by German settlers (pp. 10-11), but also the fact that these lebensraum plans most probably implied that the Poles (and Jews) would have to be exterminated. (p. 11).


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POLAND KEY TO EUROPE POLAND KET TO EUROPE by RAYMOND LESLIE BUELL SECOND EDITION, REVISED 1 9 3 g ALFRED . A KNOPF NEW YORK LONDON PREFACE WHEN I visited Poland in the early summer of 1938, I in tended to write only a report to be published by the Foreign Policy Association on the problems confronting that country. But these problems proved so complex, and so fascinating, that I decided to write a book. My decision was affected by the fact that, so far as I know, no other volume has yet appeared which endeavours to survey and analyse the problems of modern Poland in a sympathetic but scientific spirit. As a country which in fifteen years will have as large a population as France, Poland is important in itself. Its rise as one of the great powers of Europe during the later Mid dle Ages, its partition and disappearance in the eighteenth century, and its resurrection at the end of the World War constitute one of the most romantic chapters of history. But this history is still unfinished. Germanys growing power in Europe has once more made Polands future un certain. Although public opinion in the Western democracies is inclined to hold Poland responsible for its plight, this judg ment is too severe. Poland is confronted by two fundamen tal problems, the solution of which depends not on Poland alone, but on the international situation as a whole. These problems are security against foreign aggression and secu rity against internal want. Entering the world of commer cial rivalry only at the close of the World War, Poland finds itself barred from many foreign markets. It has the most rapidly increasing population in Europe, yet lacks the resources to provide a decent living on the basis of self PREFACE sufficiency. Today at least a quarter of its people are liv ing close to starvation. If Poland could export enough of its agricultural and industrial products to industrialize the country, if it could borrow abroad, if it could continue to send out as many emigrants as before the World War, its economic problem might be solved. But because of eco nomic nationalism, the world economy on which the solu tion of such problems depends has almost disappeared. Po land cannot adequately develop its export trade it cannot find foreign loans its emigrants are no longer welcome in foreign countries. As a result of causes largely beyond its own control, Poland can no longer rely on a collective peace system for defence against aggression neither can it rely on a world economy to meet its fundamental economic needs. It is consequently forced more and more to live on a basis of autarchy, while internal maladjustments become intensified. In other countries economic nationalism of this sort has led to fierce anti-Semitism, countless refugees, political dic tatorship, and a terrifying imperialistic psychology. These symptoms have appeared from time to time in Poland, but in a far less acute form. It would be inaccurate to regard Poland as a Fascist state it has not succumbed to the to talitarianism of either Germany or Italy. Although it has adopted a number of measures indirectly injuring the Jew, Poland so far has refrained from enactment of the Nurem berg laws, or the numerus chums legislation of Hungary, despite the fact that it has the largest Jewish population in Europe. Through lack of wisdom the Western democ racies contributed to the overthrow of the German Repub lic and the rise of Hitler. The analogy is not complete, yet today a false appraisal of the Polish situation on the part of the Western powers may have almost equally disastrous re PREFACE VII suits. If the great democracies show a proper understand ing of the serious problems confronting Poland and make some effort to co-operate in meeting them, Poland may re main outside the totalitarian camp, and thus help to main tain the equilibrium of forces in Europe, which is important if Western civilization is to be saved...

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