Dmowski's Line

Dmowski's Line () was a proposed border of Poland after World War I. It was proposed by the Polish delegation at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and it was named after Roman Dmowski, Polish foreign minister. Poland wanted Upper Silesia, Pomerelia including Danzig, Warmia and Masuria, and western parts of Belarus, Polesia, Volhynia and Podolia.

Concept of the Dmowski's Line

The entire proposals relating to the borders of the future Polish state were undoubtedly deeply considered. Dmowski tried to enclose within the borders of the proposed state all the major centers of Polish culture, and at the same time to repair the consequences of the neglect of the policy of the former Poland, lacking stable access to the sea and key resources. His starting point was the geographical distribution of the Polish population, associated with economic and political criteria. The latter also referred to the system of the future state. Although Dmowski did not comment on this matter, there is no doubt that he planned for it a Western-type system, based on the principle of allowing the population to choose the authorities. This is indicated both by the general logic of the proposal, based on the assumption that Poland would be a political ally of the West, and by the desire to ensure at least a 60% Polish majority in the proposed state.

The characteristic of this concept, and in the opinion of its critics its fundamental defect, was the lack of offers to nationalities other than Polish living in the area of former Poland. Dmowski accepted the risks of such a stance, although he was not free from doubts that it was not excessive in the Ukrainian-speaking area. This is what he wrote in a letter to Joachim Bartoszewicz in mid-July 1917:

Boundary line

The boundary line to the east was Polish by the notes from the Polish Delegation as follows:

This proposal was rejected, and later withdrawn by the author, Roman Dmowski, who, during the negotiations ending the Polish-Bolshevik war, spoke out against the inclusion of Minsk. He explained the desire to build a country without ethnic minorities; the de facto theme was the desire to prevent the concept of federation (Międzymorze) of Jozef Pilsudski, even to a limited extent. Consequently, in the Treaty of Riga the Polish-Soviet border was demarcated in the distance of about 30 km to the west and north of Minsk. Polish territory according to Dmowski's proposal was supposed to be equal to 447,000 km².Kształtowanie się granic Polski po I Wojnie Światowej

See also

* Intermarium, in Polish, ''Międzymorze''
* Curzon Line
* Foch Line

References

{{reflist

External links

Polish Note on Peace Conference (western borders)



Aftermath of World War I in Poland
Borders of Poland
Western Belorussia (1918–1939)
Eponymous border lines
Intermarium