Sanation ( pl, Sanacja, ) was a Polish
political movement
A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...
that was created in the
interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...
, prior to
Józef Piłsudski
Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Naczelnik państwa, Chief of State (1918–1922) and Marshal of Poland, First Marshal of Second Polish Republic, Poland (from 1920). He was ...
's
May 1926 ''Coup d'État'', and came to power in the wake of that
coup. In 1928 its political activists would go on to form the
Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government
The Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government ( pl, Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem, ; abbreviated ''BBWR'') was a "non-political" organization in the interwar Second Polish Republic, in 1928–35. It was closely affiliated with ...
(BBWR).
The Sanation movement took its name from Piłsudski's aspirations for a moral "
sanation" (healing) of the Polish
body politic
The body politic is a polity—such as a city, realm, or state—considered metaphorically as a physical body. Historically, the sovereign is typically portrayed as the body's head, and the analogy may also be extended to other anatomical parts ...
. The movement functioned integrally until his death in 1935. Following Piłsudski's death, Sanation split into several competing factions, including "the Castle" (President
Ignacy Mościcki
Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 18672 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany ...
and his partisans).
["''Sanacja''," '' Encyklopedia Polski'', p. 601.]
Sanation, which advocated
authoritarian rule, rested on a circle of Piłsudski's close associates, including
Walery Sławek,
Aleksander Prystor
Aleksander Błażej Prystor (; 2 January 1874 – 1941) was a Polish politician, activist, soldier and freemason, who served as 23rd Prime Minister of Poland from 1931 to 1933. He was a member of the Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist P ...
,
Kazimierz Świtalski
Kazimierz Stanisław Świtalski (; 4 March 1886, Sanok – 28 December 1962, Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish politician, diplomat, soldier, military officer in the Polish Legions and 18th Prime Minister of Poland between April and December 1929.
Ea ...
,
Janusz Jędrzejewicz,
Adam Koc
Adam Ignacy Koc (31 August 1891 – 3 February 1969) was a Polish politician, MP, soldier, journalist and Freemason. Koc, who had several ''noms de guerre'' (Witold, Szlachetny, Adam Krajewski, Adam Warmiński and Witold Warmiński), fought ...
,
Józef Beck
Józef Beck (; 4 October 1894 – 5 June 1944) was a Polish statesman who served the Second Republic of Poland as a diplomat and military officer. A close associate of Józef Piłsudski, Beck is most famous for being Polish foreign minister in ...
,
Tadeusz Hołówko
Tadeusz Ludwik Hołówko (September 17, 1889 – August 29, 1931), codename ''Kirgiz'', was an interwar Polish politician, diplomat and author of many articles and books.
He was most notable for his moderate stance on the "Ukrainian problem" face ...
,
Bogusław Miedziński Bogusław may refer to:
* Bogusław (given name)
* Bogusław, West Pomeranian Voivodeship
* Bogusław, Lublin Voivodeship
See also
* Bogusławski (disambiguation)
* Bohuslav
Bohuslav ( uk, Богуслав, yi, באָסלעוו or ''Boslov'') ...
, and
Edward Rydz-Śmigły
Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły (11 March 1886 – 2 December 1941; nom de guerre ''Śmigły, Tarłowski, Adam Zawisza''), also called Edward Śmigły-Rydz, was a Polish politician, statesman, Marshal of Poland and Commander-in-Chief of Poland ...
.
It preached the primacy of the
national interest
The national interest is a sovereign state's goals and ambitions (economic, military, cultural, or otherwise), taken to be the aim of government.
Etymology
The Italian phrase ''ragione degli stati'' was first used by Giovanni della Casa around ...
in governance, and contended against the system of
parliamentary democracy
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of t ...
.
Background
Named after the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
word for "healing" ("''
sanatio''"), the Sanation movement mainly comprised former military officers who were disgusted with the
perceived corruption in Polish politics. Sanation was a coalition of rightists, leftists and centrists whose main focus was the elimination of corruption and the reduction of inflation.
Sanation appeared prior to the
May 1926 ''Coup d'État'' and lasted until
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
but was never formalized. Piłsudski, though he had been the former leader of the
Polish Socialist Party
The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland.
It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' ...
, had grown to disapprove of
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
, which he saw as promoting their own interests rather than supporting the state and the people. For this reason, the Sanation movement never led to the creation of a political party. Instead, in 1928 Sanation members created a ''Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem'' ("
Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government
The Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government ( pl, Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem, ; abbreviated ''BBWR'') was a "non-political" organization in the interwar Second Polish Republic, in 1928–35. It was closely affiliated with ...
"), a pro-government grouping that denied being a political party.
History
Although Piłsudski never claimed personal power, he exercised extensive influence over Polish politics after Sanation took power in 1926. For the next decade, he dominated Polish affairs as
strongman of a generally popular centrist regime.
Kazimierz Bartel
Kazimierz Władysław Bartel (; en, Casimir Bartel; 3 March 1882 – 26 July 1941) was a Polish mathematician, freemason, scholar, diplomat and politician who served as 15th, 17th and 19th Prime Minister of Poland three times between 192 ...
's government and all subsequent governments were first unofficially approved by Piłsudski before they could be confirmed by the President.
In the course of pursuing "sanation", Piłsudski mixed democratic and authoritarian elements. Poland's internal stability was enhanced, while
economic stagnation
Economic stagnation is a prolonged period of slow economic growth (traditionally measured in terms of the GDP growth), usually accompanied by high unemployment. Under some definitions, "slow" means significantly slower than potential growth as e ...
was ended by
Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski's reforms. At the same time, the Sanation regime prosecuted
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
parties (on the ostensible formal grounds that they had failed to legally ''register'' as political parties) and sought to limit the influence of
opposition
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...
parties by splitting their forces.
A distinguishing feature of the regime was that, unlike the situation in most of non-democratic Europe, it never transformed itself into a full-scale dictatorship. Freedom of speech and press and political parties were never legally abolished, and opponents were usually dealt with via "unidentified perpetrators" rather than court sentences. Sanation allowed the
1928 election to be relatively free, but was dealt a setback when its supporters in the BBWR came up far short of a majority. Before the
1930 election some opposition parties united into the
Centrolew coalition, calling for a violent overthrow of the government; Sanacja reacted by arresting more than 20 prominent opposition leaders that participated in Centrolew. Under these conditions, the BBWR won over 46 percent of the vote and a large majority in both houses.
Józef Piłsudski's personal cult stemmed from his general popularity among the nation rather than from top-down propaganda; this is notable, considering Piłsudski's disdain for democracy. Sanation's ideology never went beyond populist calls to clean up the country's politics and economy; it did not occupy itself with society, as was the case with contemporary fascist regimes. From 1929, the semi-official newspaper of Sanation, and thus of the Polish government, was ''
Gazeta Polska'' (the ''Polish Gazette'').
Legislative agenda
The Sanation government invalidated the May 1930 election results by disbanding the parliament in August
Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom
' By Andrzej Paczkowski, page 28. and with increasing pressure on the opposition started a new campaign, the new elections being scheduled to November. Using the anti-government
demonstrations
Demonstration may refer to:
* Demonstration (acting), part of the Brechtian approach to acting
* Demonstration (military), an attack or show of force on a front where a decision is not sought
* Demonstration (political), a political rally or prote ...
as a pretext, 20 members
of the opposition parties, including most of the leaders of ''
Centrolew'' alliance (from the Socialists,
Polish People's Party "Piast" and
Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie") were arrested
Atlas of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century
' By Richard & Benjamin Crampton, pp. 102–103. in September without a
warrant, only on the order of Piłsudski and the then-Minister of Internal Security,
Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, accusing them of plotting an anti-government
coup.
Domestic problems and foreign policies of interwar east European states
By Anna M. Cienciala. The opposition members (who included the former prime minister Wincenty Witos, and Wojciech Korfanty
Wojciech Korfanty (; born Adalbert Korfanty; 20 April 1873 – 17 August 1939) was a Polish activist, journalist and politician, who served as a member of the German parliaments, the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag, and later, in the Polish ' ...
) were imprisoned in the Brest Fortress
Brest Fortress ( be, Брэсцкая крэпасць, '; pl, Twierdza brzeska, russian: Брестская крепость), formerly known as Brest-Litoŭsk Fortress, is a 19th-century fortress in Brest, Belarus. In 1965, the title " ...
, where their trial took place (thus the popular name for the election: the 'Brest election'). A number of less known activists were arrested throughout the country. They were released after the end of the election in the same month. The Brest trial ended in January 1932, with 10 accused receiving sentences up to three years of imprisonment; the appeals of 1933 confirmed the sentences. The government however gave the accused choice of emigrating: five of them took it, the other five to serve the prison term instead.
In April 1935, shortly before Piłsudski's death, a new constitution (the "April Constitution
The April Constitution of Poland ( pl, Ustawa konstytucyjna 23 IV 1935 or ''Konstytucja kwietniowa'') was the general law passed by the act of the Polish Sejm on 23 April 1935. It introduced in the Second Polish Republic a presidential syste ...
") was adopted, which supported Sanation's principal ideas: a strong centralized state with a presidential system of government. Piłsudski died soon after, however, and Sanation faced some serious internal problems. Eventually it devolved into three separate movements:
# "the "Colonels" (''Pułkownicy'', formed around Walery Sławek), which sought a ''modus vivendi
''Modus vivendi'' (plural ''modi vivendi'') is a Latin phrase that means "mode of living" or " way of life". It often is used to mean an arrangement or agreement that allows conflicting parties to coexist in peace. In science, it is used to descr ...
'' with the opposition;
# "the Castle" (''Zamek'', formed around President Ignacy Mościcki
Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 18672 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany ...
, who resided in the Warsaw Castle — hence the movement's name), which became the center; and
# ''GISZ'' (''Generalny Inspektor Sił Zbrojnych'', formed around General Inspector
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...
Edward Rydz-Śmigły
Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły (11 March 1886 – 2 December 1941; nom de guerre ''Śmigły, Tarłowski, Adam Zawisza''), also called Edward Śmigły-Rydz, was a Polish politician, statesman, Marshal of Poland and Commander-in-Chief of Poland ...
), which soon became virtually indistinguishable from the Camp of National Unity
''Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego'' (, en, Camp of National Unity; abbreviated "''OZN''"; and often called "''Ozon''" (Polish for "ozone") was a Polish political party founded in 1937 by sections of the leadership in the Sanacja movement.
A yea ...
.
The first of these Sanation movements soon lost much of its importance, but the other two continued the ideological struggle within the country until the outbreak of war.
World War II
During the 1939 invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...
, many Sanation members were taken prisoner-of-war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
by the Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
, while others evacuated to Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
, where they remained until war's end or were able to go on to France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
or Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
.
Though France insisted on excluding ''Sanationists'' from the Polish Government in Exile
The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...
, many remained highly influential. During the war, Sanation members created several resistance organizations, including in 1942 the Fighting Poland Movement (''Obóz Polski Walczącej'') and the Convention of Independence Organizations (''Konwent Organizacji Niepodległościowych''), which in 1943 became subordinate to the Home Army
The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) es ...
and in 1944 merged into the Union of Independence Organizations (''Zjednoczenie Organizacji Niepodległościowych'').
After World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the Soviet-installed communist regime executed or forced many ''Sanationists'' into permanent exile, and branded them enemies of the state.
Notable members
* Józef Beck
Józef Beck (; 4 October 1894 – 5 June 1944) was a Polish statesman who served the Second Republic of Poland as a diplomat and military officer. A close associate of Józef Piłsudski, Beck is most famous for being Polish foreign minister in ...
* Tadeusz Hołówko
Tadeusz Ludwik Hołówko (September 17, 1889 – August 29, 1931), codename ''Kirgiz'', was an interwar Polish politician, diplomat and author of many articles and books.
He was most notable for his moderate stance on the "Ukrainian problem" face ...
* Janusz Jędrzejewicz
* Wacław Jędrzejewicz
General Wacław Jędrzejewicz (; 29 January 1893 – 30 November 1993) was a Polish Army officer, diplomat, politician and historian, and subsequently an American college professor.
He was co-founder, president, and long-time executive direct ...
* Adam Koc
Adam Ignacy Koc (31 August 1891 – 3 February 1969) was a Polish politician, MP, soldier, journalist and Freemason. Koc, who had several ''noms de guerre'' (Witold, Szlachetny, Adam Krajewski, Adam Warmiński and Witold Warmiński), fought ...
* Leon Kozłowski
* Ignacy Matuszewski
Ignacy Hugo Stanisław Matuszewski (born September 10, 1891, in Warsaw, died on August 3, 1946, in New York City) was a Polish politician, publicist, diplomat, Minister of Finance of the Second Polish Republic, colonel, infantry officer and intel ...
* Bogusław Miedziński Bogusław may refer to:
* Bogusław (given name)
* Bogusław, West Pomeranian Voivodeship
* Bogusław, Lublin Voivodeship
See also
* Bogusławski (disambiguation)
* Bohuslav
Bohuslav ( uk, Богуслав, yi, באָסלעוו or ''Boslov'') ...
* Ignacy Mościcki
Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 18672 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany ...
* Bronisław Pieracki
Bronisław Wilhelm Pieracki (28 May 1895 in Gorlice – 15 June 1934 in Warsaw) was a Polish military officer and politician.
Life
As a member of the Polish Legions in World War I, Pieracki took part in the Polish-Ukrainian War (1918–1919). ...
* Józef Piłsudski
Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Naczelnik państwa, Chief of State (1918–1922) and Marshal of Poland, First Marshal of Second Polish Republic, Poland (from 1920). He was ...
* Aleksander Prystor
Aleksander Błażej Prystor (; 2 January 1874 – 1941) was a Polish politician, activist, soldier and freemason, who served as 23rd Prime Minister of Poland from 1931 to 1933. He was a member of the Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist P ...
* Edward Rydz-Śmigły
Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły (11 March 1886 – 2 December 1941; nom de guerre ''Śmigły, Tarłowski, Adam Zawisza''), also called Edward Śmigły-Rydz, was a Polish politician, statesman, Marshal of Poland and Commander-in-Chief of Poland ...
* Adam Skwarczyński
Adam Skwarczynski (''Stary, Adam Sliwinski, Adam Plomienczyk'', 1886–1934) was a Polish independence activist and politician, one of main ideologists of the Sanacja movement. A supporter of Józef Piłsudski and his policies, Skwarczynski als ...
* Walery Sławek
* Kazimierz Świtalski
Kazimierz Stanisław Świtalski (; 4 March 1886, Sanok – 28 December 1962, Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish politician, diplomat, soldier, military officer in the Polish Legions and 18th Prime Minister of Poland between April and December 1929.
Ea ...
See also
* Bereza Kartuska prison
Bereza Kartuska Prison (, "Place of Isolation at Bereza Kartuska") was operated by Poland's Sanation government from 1934 to 1939 in Bereza Kartuska, Polesie Voivodeship (today, Biaroza, Belarus). Because the inmates were detained without tri ...
* Law and Justice
Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński.
It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct s ...
, founded in 2001, one of Poland's major political parties today often considered a modern successor to the Sanation movement
* European interwar dictatorships
* Intermarium
* Piłsudski's colonels
Piłsudski's colonels, and in the Polish Army (particularly during the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1920, prior to Piłsudski's 1923 resignation as Chief of the Polish General Staff). They had held key, if not necessarily the highest, military ...
* Polish Underground State
The Polish Underground State ( pl, Polskie Państwo Podziemne, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Gover ...
* Prometheism
Prometheism or Prometheanism ( Polish: ''Prometeizm'') was a political project initiated by Józef Piłsudski, a principal statesman of the Second Polish Republic from 1918 to 1935. Its aim was to weaken the Russian Empire and its successor stat ...
Notes
References
*
*
* Adam Zamoyski, ''The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and Their Culture'', New York, Hippocrene Books, 1994, .
* '' Encyklopedia Polski'' vi
Google Books, p. 601–
.
{{Authority control
Military dictatorships
Józef Piłsudski
Second Polish Republic
Political history of Poland
May Coup (Poland)
Political movements in Poland