Poland in the Twentieth Century

by Stachura, Peter D.

• ISBN13: 9780312220273
• ISBN10: 0312220278
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 1999-07-02
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Comprising mostly original essays, this book offers challenging reassessments of some of the most important and controversial themes in Polish history from 1900 until the present. In analyzing Poland's triumphs and tribulations with an informed and searching eye, the author achieves a high level of intellectual coherence and nuanced historical perspective. The overall result is a major contribution to a field of study which has gained even more significance and scholarly impetus since the collapse of Communism in Poland in 1989-90.

Author Biography

Peter D. Stachura is Reader in History at the University of Stirling.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations and Glossary	ix
Acknowledgements	xv
Introduction	1	(6)
Poland's Independence: From Versailles to Yalta, and Beyond	7	(14)
The Second Republic: A Historical Overview	21	(20)
The Polish-Jewish Symbiosis in the Second Republic, 1918--39	41	(18)
Wladyslaw Sikorski: Soldier, Politician and Statesman, 1881--1943	59	(24)
General Stanislaw Maczek: A Biographical Profile	83	(14)
Poles and Jews in the Second World War	97	(16)
The Polish Minority in Scotland: 1945 until the Present	113	(22)
Polish Nationalism in the Post-Communist Era	135	(18)
Conclusion: Poland -- The Millennial Perspective	153	(3)
Appendix I: Chronology: Poland, 1900-99	156	(5)
Appendix II: The Declaration of the Polish Government in Response to the Resolution concerning Poland adopted at the Yalta Conference, London, 18 February 1945	161	(2)
Appendix III: Telegram sent by King George VI to the President of the Polish Republic on the Occasion of VE-Day, London, 6 May 1945	163	(1)
Select Bibliography	164	(10)
Index	174