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| Edward Bernard Raczynski. Source: Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London |
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| Ambassador Raczyński with wife Cecylia. Photo NAC |
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| Sikorski (left) with Polish General Marian Kukiel, Clementine and Winston Churchill, and Polish ambassador Count Edward Raczyński source: Wikpedia Outpost of Good Hope
Edward
Raczyński in Allied London
by Michal
Karski
Why
didn't the Western Allies start another war instead of handing over Poland to
the Soviet sphere of influence at Yalta in 1945? The answer, of course, lies in
the question.
For
all the bitterness which has been expressed over the years in Polish and
Polonian circles at what is seen by many as perfidious Allied Realpolitik, at
an unforgivable reluctance on the part of the collective West to face down the
regime of the USSR, and more specifically Stalin and his followers, what is
frequently forgotten is that at one point, during the darkest days of World War
II when it looked as if Hitler was unstoppable, Great Britain, of all the
western nations, was Poland's solitary ally and refuge.
The
ambassador to Britain of the Polish Second Republic from November 1934 - and
much later president of the government-in-exile - was Count Edward Raczyński, a
patriot like few others. Honoured and respected abroad, he is probably not so
well known in the Polish diaspora worldwide or even in his native Poland.
Born
in Zakopane, educated in Kraków and later in London, Raczyński was a truly
remarkable and talented person. He was diplomat, writer and statesman and
became someone who dedicated his entire life to the Polish cause, earning
enormous respect among Poland's wartime allies.
After
a period as Poland's representative at the League of Nations in Geneva, he was
appointed ambassador to London, where his role was to prove crucial in securing
the vital anti-Hitler alliance with Great Britain. He was virtually on his own
representing Poland after the catastrophe of the joint Nazi-Soviet invasion and
partition of the country. When the leaders of the Polish government were
languishing in Romanian internment and before the newly-formed administration
under Sikorski and Raczkiewicz arrived in London from Angers after the fall of
France, it was up to Raczyński to look after Poland's interests as the delegate
of the scattered nation whose various armed units continued to fight for the
Allied cause.
Unlike
those Polish combatants who served in various theatres of war abroad or fought
in the Resistance at home, Raczyński deployed his skills in his diplomatic
outpost. Having been pre-war Poland's man in London, he subsequently became a
key member of the Polish wartime government-in-exile serving as both ambassador
and later also as foreign minister. As a fluent English speaker, Raczyński not
only frequently found himself in the role of translator but was very often the
actual spokesman for Poland in the West. After the war he served the
government-in-exile and the Polish cause in general for many years.
By
all accounts a very modest man, he was a consummate diplomat and worked
tirelessly for the benefit of Polish citizens. As an Anglophile, he had a good
understanding of the British and the position of the British government.
Although his memoirs give the impression of a rather self-effacing person who
tends to downplay his own role, nevertheless his efforts were clearly
instrumental in persuading Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to pledge the
all-important guarantee of British assistance to Poland in the event of an
attack by Hitler.
Raczyński's
moderate but determined personal style is illustrated by an incident which took
place immediately before the war in London and which he recounted later in an
interview recorded for Radio Free Europe. At a meeting at which were present,
among others, Lloyd George and the press magnate Lord Beaverbrook, neither of
whom, according to Raczyński, were ever particularly favourably inclined
towards Poland, the question of the Polish attitude to the real threat of
German aggression was raised. One of those present asked Raczyński: "Will
Poland defend its independence?" Before he could reply, Raczyński was
interrupted by Beaverbrook who declared, "Why ask Raczyński? Poland will
succumb to German pressure and will cave in just as the Czechs did and there will
be no war." This was, of course, not only insulting to Poland and
Raczyński himself but also a slight on Czechoslovakia, which would have
attempted to resist Hitler, had its fate not been sealed previously at Munich.
Here Raczyński in turn interrupted Beaverbrook and interposed: "You are
clearly better acquainted with Poland and the Polish position than I am and it
would appear that my opinion is quite unnecessary here since you have spoken on
my behalf so splendidly." This was "received in the spirit in which
it was intended" Raczyński recalled. Red faces can well be imagined. "Naturally",
he continued in his interview, "I then replied to the question as any
other Pole would have replied. Poland will not succumb to pressure. Poland will
fight."
Raczyński's
account of the war years, based on his diaries, 'W Sojuszniczym Londynie' ('In
Allied London') is a fascinating chronicle of his activity on behalf of the
Polish cause and of the political atmosphere of the time. The signing of the
Sikorski-Mayski Pact of 1941, for instance, which followed Hitler's attack on
the Soviet Union, and which enabled the liberation from the gulags of thousands
of Polish citizens, most of whom went on to join the Anders Army, was not
greeted with enthusiasm by everyone in the Polish exile camp. Sikorski came in
for criticism from some of his political opponents for being far too
conciliatory. Nevertheless, it was to Sikorski's great credit – and to the
personal efforts of General Władysław Anders – that so many thousands were
saved from what would otherwise have been certain death in the inhuman
conditions of the mines and the frozen wastes of the labour camps.
Considering
the frequency with which Poland as a nation has been accused of endemic
anti-Semitism over recent years – indeed recent decades - it is instructive to
read Raczyński's comments about his attempts to find homes among the western
nations for those Polish citizens, predominantly Jewish, from eastern Poland,
who were hoping to get to safety in the West. Raczyński notes: "it is
precisely the British dominions which are most energetic and unceremonious in
closing their gates against the Jews" ("…właśnie dominiony brytyjskie
najenergiczniej i najbezceremonialniej zamykają wrota przed żydami" – 'W
Sojuszniczum Londynie' p. 106). He writes about appealing on behalf of the
refugees to a High Commissioner and a Prime Minister. These British Empire
politicians earn no plaudits from him in his memoir.
On
an even more sombre note, it was Raczyński who was primarily responsible for
publishing a warning to the Allies on behalf of the Polish government about the
annihilation of Jews by the Nazis in a booklet of December 1942 entitled The
Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland.
The
information contained in the pamphlet was based on reliable reports which had
been obtained by the Polish Resistance, very often at great personal risk by
heroic individuals such as the famous courier Jan Karski, whom the
government-in-exile introduced to key personages in the British establishment
and who went on to meet Roosevelt in the USA. The reports of Nazi German
genocide were brought to the attention of the western world not only in print
but also by way of radio broadcasts read out on the BBC by Raczyński himself.
The shocking facts, however, were destined to be largely marginalised by
influential western power brokers. The apparent lack of any immediate and
direct response by the Allies to compelling evidence of the Holocaust has been
the subject of recent scholarship which examines the overall context of war
aims, priorities and censorship.
Raczyński's
book includes accounts of the inevitable clashes of personalities between
people who had been on opposing sides in the pre-war political scene in
Poland. He generally writes his
observations like someone who prefers to remain outside the cut and thrust of
party politics, of someone who sees both sides of every argument and is by
nature a mediator. His assessments are usually fair and extremely perceptive
and when he does offer a mistaken analysis he admits this in a later note.
There are candid and revealing sketches of the leading figures of the day, both
Polish and British. Churchill, for instance, appears very resolutely pro-Polish
in the immediate prelude to the war, which makes his subsequent stance at Yalta
and his later self-exculpatory accusations that the Polish government-in-exile 'lacked
a sense of realism' all the more galling for Raczyński, even though he
understood that the British were in a virtually impossible position faced with
Stalin's occupation of Poland. The tone of the memoir, however, is usually
measured and largely free of bitterness, considering the tragic fate of his
country, but there are exceptions. He is clearly angry, for instance, at the
anti-Polish tone taken at one stage of the war by some British newspapers, which
effectively accused the exiled Poles of conducting a private campaign against
the Soviet Union to the detriment of the Alliance. The notes chronicling his
role in the exiled government's desperate efforts to persuade the Allies to
send assistance to the Warsaw Uprising speak for themselves.
Raczyński
foresaw the British government's volte-face towards the Polish allies in the
context of the ruthless politics of the time and did everything in his power to
forestall the inevitable. When the fateful day came in July 1945 and the Allies
withdrew their recognition of the government-in-exile in favour of the USSR's
satellite regime, he could do little else but issue a formal note of protest in
the name of the government at the "fifth partition of Poland, now
accomplished by her Allies." Great Britain and other western countries
offered what compensation they could by offering sanctuary to all those
citizens who could not or would not go back to communist Poland. Here Raczyński
was instrumental in the process of helping Polish military personnel adapt to
civilian life. Unwilling, like so many of his fellow Poles, to go back to a
homeland under communist rule, he remained in Great Britain and devoted his
efforts and diplomatic skills as well as his considerable intellect
unswervingly to the cause of a free Poland.
Although
initially associated with the pre-war administration, Raczyński's subsequent
career had lifted him above party faction. He was first and foremost an ardent
patriot, serving the interests of his beloved Poland and those of all Polish
citizens, but he was also a committed European and saw the future of Poland at
the heart of Europe. By the time he died in London in 1993, at the grand old
age of 101, a figure of enormous stature in both Polish and British circles,
his homeland was completely independent and had once again joined the community
of western nations.
Written
above Raczyński's tomb in the chapel of Rogalin is the statesman's final
admonition to his compatriots: "Nie zmarnujcie niepodległości" - "Don't
let your independence go to waste."
Further
Reading:
Adam
Zamoyski's obituary of Edward Raczyński at the Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-count-edward-raczynski-1488283.html
Raczyński's
memoir: 'W Sojuszniczym Londynie' – London 1960, (English translation 'In
Allied London' – 1962)
The
above article first appeared in the Krakow Post (print edition) in June 2016
M Karski website: https://michalkarski2023.wixsite.com/mysite  lll  Sarcophagus of President Edward Raczyński in Rogalin "Don't let your independence go to waste." By Sylwia Ufnalska - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47212256 |
