Jedrzej Giertych
Encyclopedia
Jędrzej Giertych was a Polish right-wing politician, journalist and writer, son of Franciszek Giertych, father of Maciej Giertych
and grandfather of Roman Giertych
. He was one of the leading persons of the "young faction" of the National Party
, and a close political ally of Roman Dmowski
.
he attended for a time a German-language Lutheran school in Tallinn
, Estonia, then part of the Russian empire
, where his father was deputy manager of a shipyard. His family later moved to Petrograd where they experienced the Russian Revolution, returning to Poland in 1918 after the treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
He was injured at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920 and then became war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War
, supportive of the Nationalists, especially of the Carlists. His reports were later published in book form, Hiszpania bohaterska (Heroic Spain).
Active politically mainly in the interwar period, Giertych was an ally of Roman Dmowski
and a prominent activist of the National Democracy right-wing political camp, mainly the National Party
. He was a member of the Central Committee of the party and was elected to be a member of the Warsaw City council.
During the World War II
he was mobilised into the Polish Navy
. His unit was soon encircled in the course of the battle for the Hel Peninsula
, but he surrendered only on October 2, 1939 and was captured by Germans. He was the first Polish 'incorrigible escaper' to be imprisoned in the Colditz
POW camp Oflag IVC. Moved with the Colditz Polish contigent to Oflag IVB at Dossel, he was one of the survivors when on 27 September 1944 a British bomb carried by a Mosquito aircraft of No. 139 Squadron RAF
, aimed at nearby Kassel, hit the camp in error and killed 90 Polish prisoners.
After the war he exiled himself to England, together with his family. During communist rule in Poland, Giertych lived in London, working as a school-teacher.
. Giertych represented the radical "youth faction" of the National Party. They were sceptic as to the need of the parliamentary system, aiming to change the political system of Poland. In 1938 he observed: "We [young faction] rather grew up as a reaction against the spirit of the 19th century, whose most classic effects were socialism, liberalism, parliamentarism." As to the goals of the "young faction" and the relations with fascism and Nazism, Giertych remarked: "We observe very carefully fascism, hitlerism and other foreign national movements, because we think we can learn a lot from them. We try to learn from their experience, use their lucky ideas, take all positive what they created. Our goal is to take the power in Poland." While living in exile in London, Giertych was expelled from the emigre National Party
because of his extremism and antisemitism. He also strongly criticised the Workers' Defence Committee
(KOR) and supported the introduction of martial law in Poland
in 1981, as he believed Solidarity to be a disguised communist movement dominated by Jewish Trotskyites.
Giertych held also an imperialist views. In a series of newspaper articles of 1939 he suggested that "in the upcoming war" Poland ought to annex parts of East Germany ("the city of Danzig, East Prussia, upper and central Silesia, including the city of Breslau, and central Pomerania, including Kolberg"); moreover, Poland ought to create "a bunch of buffer states" between the rest of Germany and Poland along the rivers Oder and Neisse.
Maciej Giertych
Maciej Marian Giertych is a Polish dendrologist and social conservative politician of the League of Polish Families . He favours state intervention in the economy. He was a member of the Sejm and a Polish member of the European Parliament...
and grandfather of Roman Giertych
Roman Giertych
Roman Jacek Giertych is a Polish politician; he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education until August 2007. He was a member of the Sejm from 2001 until October 2007, and chairman of the League of Polish Families party.- Biography :Roman Giertych comes from a prominent family of Polish...
. He was one of the leading persons of the "young faction" of the National Party
National Party (Poland)
Stronnictwo Narodowe was a Polish political party formed on 7 October 1928 after the transformation of National Populist Union. It gathered together most of the political forces of Poland's National Democracy right-wing political camp. SN was one of the main opponents of the Sanacja regime...
, and a close political ally of Roman Dmowski
Roman Dmowski
Roman Stanisław Dmowski was a Polish politician, statesman, and chief ideologue and co-founder of the National Democracy political movement, which was one of the strongest political camps of interwar Poland.Though a controversial personality throughout his life, Dmowski was instrumental in...
.
Biography
During the World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he attended for a time a German-language Lutheran school in Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
, Estonia, then part of the Russian empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, where his father was deputy manager of a shipyard. His family later moved to Petrograd where they experienced the Russian Revolution, returning to Poland in 1918 after the treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
He was injured at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920 and then became war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, supportive of the Nationalists, especially of the Carlists. His reports were later published in book form, Hiszpania bohaterska (Heroic Spain).
Active politically mainly in the interwar period, Giertych was an ally of Roman Dmowski
Roman Dmowski
Roman Stanisław Dmowski was a Polish politician, statesman, and chief ideologue and co-founder of the National Democracy political movement, which was one of the strongest political camps of interwar Poland.Though a controversial personality throughout his life, Dmowski was instrumental in...
and a prominent activist of the National Democracy right-wing political camp, mainly the National Party
National Party (Poland)
Stronnictwo Narodowe was a Polish political party formed on 7 October 1928 after the transformation of National Populist Union. It gathered together most of the political forces of Poland's National Democracy right-wing political camp. SN was one of the main opponents of the Sanacja regime...
. He was a member of the Central Committee of the party and was elected to be a member of the Warsaw City council.
During the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was mobilised into the Polish Navy
Polish Navy
The Marynarka Wojenna Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej - MW RP Polish Navy, is the branch of Republic of Poland Armed Forces responsible for naval operations...
. His unit was soon encircled in the course of the battle for the Hel Peninsula
Hel Peninsula
Hel Peninsula |Nehrung]]) is a 35-km-long sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is located in Puck County of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.- Geography :...
, but he surrendered only on October 2, 1939 and was captured by Germans. He was the first Polish 'incorrigible escaper' to be imprisoned in the Colditz
Colditz
Colditz is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, near Leipzig, located on the banks of the river Mulde. The town has a population of 5,188 ....
POW camp Oflag IVC. Moved with the Colditz Polish contigent to Oflag IVB at Dossel, he was one of the survivors when on 27 September 1944 a British bomb carried by a Mosquito aircraft of No. 139 Squadron RAF
No. 139 Squadron RAF
No. 139 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron that was fighter unit in World War I and a bomber unit from World War II until the 1960s.-Formation and World War I:...
, aimed at nearby Kassel, hit the camp in error and killed 90 Polish prisoners.
After the war he exiled himself to England, together with his family. During communist rule in Poland, Giertych lived in London, working as a school-teacher.
Political views
Jędrzej Giertych spent his political life aiming to build a Poland made up of nationalist traditionalist Catholic citizens ready to sacrifice their life for the greater good of PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Giertych represented the radical "youth faction" of the National Party. They were sceptic as to the need of the parliamentary system, aiming to change the political system of Poland. In 1938 he observed: "We [young faction] rather grew up as a reaction against the spirit of the 19th century, whose most classic effects were socialism, liberalism, parliamentarism." As to the goals of the "young faction" and the relations with fascism and Nazism, Giertych remarked: "We observe very carefully fascism, hitlerism and other foreign national movements, because we think we can learn a lot from them. We try to learn from their experience, use their lucky ideas, take all positive what they created. Our goal is to take the power in Poland." While living in exile in London, Giertych was expelled from the emigre National Party
National Party (Poland)
Stronnictwo Narodowe was a Polish political party formed on 7 October 1928 after the transformation of National Populist Union. It gathered together most of the political forces of Poland's National Democracy right-wing political camp. SN was one of the main opponents of the Sanacja regime...
because of his extremism and antisemitism. He also strongly criticised the Workers' Defence Committee
Workers' Defence Committee
The Workers’ Defense Committee was a Polish civil society group that emerged under communist rule to give aid to prisoners & their families after the June 1976 protests & government crackdown...
(KOR) and supported the introduction of martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
in 1981, as he believed Solidarity to be a disguised communist movement dominated by Jewish Trotskyites.
Giertych held also an imperialist views. In a series of newspaper articles of 1939 he suggested that "in the upcoming war" Poland ought to annex parts of East Germany ("the city of Danzig, East Prussia, upper and central Silesia, including the city of Breslau, and central Pomerania, including Kolberg"); moreover, Poland ought to create "a bunch of buffer states" between the rest of Germany and Poland along the rivers Oder and Neisse.
Works
- My Młode Pokolenie (We, the Young Generation) (1929)
- Tragizm losów Polski (1936)
- Hiszpania bohaterska (Heroic Spain) (1937)
- O wyjście z kryzysu (1938)
- Polityka polska w dziejach Europy (Polish Politics in the History of Europe) (1947)
- Polityka polska w dziejach Europy. Polityka Olszowskiego (1953)
- U źródeł katastrofy dziejowej Polski: Jan Amos Komensky (1964)
- Kulisy powstania styczniowego (1965)
- Rola dziejowa Dmowskiego (Historic Role of Dmowski) (1968)
- W obliczu zamachu na Kościół (1969)
- Polski Obóz Narodowy (Polish National Camp) (1977, 1978)
- Józef Piłsudski 1914–19 (1979–1982)
- Rozważania o Bitwie Warszawskiej 1920-go roku (1984)
- O Piłsudskim (On Piłsudski) (1987)
See also
- Franciszek Giertych
- Maciej GiertychMaciej GiertychMaciej Marian Giertych is a Polish dendrologist and social conservative politician of the League of Polish Families . He favours state intervention in the economy. He was a member of the Sejm and a Polish member of the European Parliament...
- Roman GiertychRoman GiertychRoman Jacek Giertych is a Polish politician; he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education until August 2007. He was a member of the Sejm from 2001 until October 2007, and chairman of the League of Polish Families party.- Biography :Roman Giertych comes from a prominent family of Polish...