Chapter 82: The Kingdom of Poland (Królestwo Polskie):
The Kingdom of Poland (Polish: Królestwo Polskie), also known informally as the Regency Kingdom of Poland (Polish: Królestwo Regencyjne), was a puppet state of the German Empire at the End of the First Great War and recreated during the Second Great War. The decision to propose the restoration of Poland after a century of partitions was taken up by the German policymakers in an attempt to legitimize further imperial omnipresence in the occupied territories. The plan was followed by the German propaganda pamphlet campaign delivered to the Poles in 1915, claiming that the German soldiers were arriving as liberators to free Poland from subjugation by Russia. A draft constitution was proposed in 1917. The German government used punitive threats to force Polish landowners living in the German-occupied Baltic states to relocate and sell their Baltic property to the Germans in exchange for the entry to Poland. Parallel efforts were made to remove Poles from Polish territories of the Prussian Partition.
Before the onset of war in 1914, for the purposes of securing Germany's eastern border against the Russian Imperial Army, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, the German Chancellor, decided on the annexation of a specific strip of land from Congress Poland, known later on as the Polish Border Strip. In order to avoid adding the Polish population there to the population of imperial Germany, it was proposed that the Poles would be moved to a proposed new Polish state further east, while the strip would be resettled with the Germans. As the First Great War started, the German Emperor William II conceived of creating a dependent Polish state from territory conquered from Russia, since the majority of all Poles had lived in the area ever since the nation vanished from the European maps, after the three splittings of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772-1795.
This putative Polish kingdom, of limited autonomy, would be ruled by a German prince and have its military, transportation and economy controlled by Germany. Its army and railway network would be placed under Prussian command. During the first year of the war, German and Austrian troops quickly conquered the Russian Vistual Land, the former Congress Poland, and in 1915, divided its administration between a German Governor General in Warsaw and an Austrian counterpart in Lublin. The German expansion and its goals in eastern Europe were of a different nature from those in the west. Already through Prussia's victory in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, had the unified Germany reached its western borders which was lost in 1645 at the Treaty of Westphalia. Rather than focusing on mineral and industrial resources, the purpose of eastern expansion was to strengthen German agriculture, expand Junker holdings and acquire large settlement areas for the German farmers and settlers. In this way, the German leadership hoped both to appease the Junker elites and, at the same time, ease the class conflicts in its rural areas. In addition, the confiscation of fertile territories was seen as one way of gaining war reparations from Russia.
In several memoranda sent during 1915 and 1916, Hans Hartwig von Beseler, the Governor-General of the Polish areas under German control, proposed the establishment of an independent Polish state. Under the influence of General Erich Ludendorff, then in effect the director of Germany's eastern European operations, this proposal included the annexation of considerable amounts of land by Prussia, Lithuania and Austria-Hungary. Gerhard von Mutius, cousin of Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg and the foreign office's representative at Beseler's headquarters, disputed the use of annexation, insisting that "if the military interests allow for it, divisions and secessions should be avoided", as such a policy would secure an "anti-Russian inclination toward the new Poland".
Austria-Hungary had three different ideas regarding Poland. One, the "Austro-Polish solution", involved the creation of a Polish kingdom under the Emperor of Austria, who, among his other titles, was already King of Galicia and Lodomeria. German and Magyar (Hungarian) elements within the Habsburg monarchy opposed such a move for fear of creating a predominantly Slavic area. Unlike Emperor Francis Joseph, however, Charles I of Austria, who had acceeded to the Habsburg thrones in 1916, promoted the idea. The other two ideas involved the division of the former Congress Poland between Prussia and Austro-Hungary, or between Austro-Hungary and a state built from Lithuania, Belarus (White Russia) and the remnants of Congress Poland. The Austrians, however, had underestimated Germany's desire to determine Poland's fate. They did recognise, according to Prime Minister Karl von Stürgkh, that "Poles will remain Poles [...] even 150 years after Galicia was joined to Austria, Poles still didn't become Austrians". It was clear to Austrian politicians that the creation of a Polish state along the lines intended by Germany would mean the loss of Galicia, so they proposed its partition and the formation of East Galicia as an Austrian province. Of the candidates for the new Polish throne, Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria (Polish: Karol Stefan) and his son Charles Albert were early contenders. Both resided in the Galician city of Saybusch and spoke Polish fluently. Charles Stephen's daughters were married to the Polish aristocrats Princes Czartoryski and Radziwill. By early 1916, the "Austro-Polish solution" had become hypothetical. Erich von Falkenhayn, the German Chief of the General Staff, had rejected the idea in January, followed by Bethmann-Hollweg in February. Bethmann-Hollweg had been willing to see an Austrian candidate on the new Polish throne, so long as Germany retained control over the Polish economy, resources and army. German candidates for the throne were disputed between the royal houses of Saxony, Wüttenberg and Bavaria. Bavaria demanded that their Prince Leopold, the Supreme Commander of the German forces on the Eastern front, become the new monarch. Württemberg's candidate Duke Albrecht was considered suitable for the throne because he belonged to the Catholic line of the house. The Saxon House of Wettin's claim to the Polish throne was based on Fredrick Augustus I of Saxony, who was made Duke of Waraw by Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars, and also to the election of Augustus II the Strong as the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1697.
With the lost war and the End of the German Empire in 1918 the Kingdom of Poland stopped to exist, but Poland remained independent. But in 1940 the Axis Central Powers guaranteed Poland's independence against the Soviet Union in exchange for retaking the lands they lost in 1918 to the independent polish state. The loss of Germany during the war let Poland gain the Province of Posen, huge parts of West Prussia and Upper Silesia and claim land against the West Ukrainian People's Republic. From February 1919 to March 1921 Poland fought the Polish Soviet War against the Soviet Union, followed by the Polish-Lithuanian War in 1920 none of them leading to satisfying results for all sides. The 1940 Axis Central Power guarantee and the rise of monarchist elements inside the new polish government beside autocratic and fascists elements formed a state very close to Germany and itself also anti-Semitic. Over the next year Poland even leaned closer to the German Empire that promised it's independence, while Austria had suspicious intentions to retake even more once lost parts of it's Empire from Poland. The new Polish Government worked closely together with the Imperial German Army that defender it against the once again growing threat of the Soviet Red Army in the East. Many Polish settled back from the once again German Provinces of the west to strengthen the polish ethnic expansion in the east of their nation against Russian and Ukrainian minorities. Because of the growing Soviet Threat the Germans encouraged the Baltic States to form the United Baltic Duchy as their protectorate north of Poland once again. At the same time the Germans declared the Polish that it would be easy for the Soviet Union to use the Russian and Ukrainian minorities against the Polish State and provoke rebellious insurgencies to undermine and attack it. Because of this danger and the already massed troops at the eastern border of Poland the Polish Government, by now formed out of Monarchist and Polish Nationalist adapted a form of National Monarchism and agreed to new eastern polish borders in favor of a stronger, more united polish national state. Out of Poland Eastern Provinces, the Kingdom of White Ruthenia (White Russia, another German Protectorate) and the Kingdom of Ukrainia (a Protectorate of Austria-Hungary) was formed. Instead of using this two minorities against Poland, now the new Polish state could be assured that they would be used against the Soviet Union.
The major problem for the new polish state was that the National Monarchists could not agree on a polish aristocratic for the throne of their new monarchistic Kingdom. The Polish Regency Council wished to prevent another situation like in the First Great War and even looked for possible German monarchs, from Bavaria, Wüttenberg and Saxony, to further close it's alliance and ties to the German Empire that just had defeated France and looked like it would be the major hegemonic power in Europe from now on. Their choice felt upon Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony, (born 15 January 1893), because the last King of Poland had come from Saxon too, Georg had becom Catholic and spoke spoke fluid French, Italian, Spanish, English, Czech and Polish. Georg the heir to the King of Saxony, Fredrick August III, until he renounced his right to follow as the King of Saxony. Georg was born on 15 January 1893 in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. He was the son of Prince Frederick Augustus, the later King Friederick Augustus III and his wife, Louise, née Archduchess Louise of Austria-Tuscany. His siblings were the Princes Friedrich Cristian (the later King of Saxony) and Ernst Heinrich and the Princesses Margarete, Maria Alix and Anna Monika. After his parents divorced in 1902, his father took sole parental responsibility for his children. He emphasized the Christian faith and a Catholic lifestyle. The children were educated by private tutors in a "prince's school" established by their father at the Saxon court. Most of the teachers were Protestants; this contributed to his later ecumenical attitude. Georg became Saxony's crown prince at age eleven, when his father acceded to the throne in 1904. After graduating from high school in 1912, Georg studied political sciences for three months at the University of Breslau. He then began to study economics. During this time, he joined the KDSt.V. Winfridia. After completing his studies in 1912, Georg joined the 1st Royal Saxon Lieb-Grenadier Regiment No. 100. His friend and fellow officer Ludwig Renn also served in that regiment; at the time, Ludwig still used his birth name Arnold Friedrich Vieth von Golßenau. Georg held the rank of Captain when he was sent to the front at the start of the First Great War. He suffered a serious leg injury during the first months of the war. In 1915, Kaiser Wilhelm II granted him the Iron Cross first class "in recognition of the services he rendered in the recent battles.". On 27 July 1916, he was added to the staff of Army Group Gallwitz
z. On 30 August 1916, he received the Military Order of St. Henry for his services in this staff. On 30 November 1917, he was promoted to major and made commander of the 5th Royal Saxon Infantry Regiment "Crown Prince" No. 104. He commanded this regiment on both the Eastern and Western. He held this command until 22 May 1918. In the spring of 1918, newspapers announced the prince's engagement to Duchess Marie Amelia, daughter of Albrecht, Duke of Wüttenberg, the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Wüttenberg. The end of the Saxon monarchy in the Weihmar Republic and the prince's desire to become a priest apparently led to the end of the engagement. The duchess died unmarried in 1923. When Germany lost the war, the monarchies in Germany collapsed. Georg's father abdicated on 13 November 1918. This marked a fundamental turning point in his career planning.
In 1919, he decided to renounce his rights on the Saxon throne, and become a Catholic priest instead. This decision was very controversial among people who hoped that the monarchy might one day be restored, and also met with significant concerns from the side of the Catholic Church. For example, Franz Löbman, the Apostolic Vicar for Saxony and Lusatia, and Archbishop Adolf Bertram of Breslau initially held that Georg should continue to hold political responsibility for Saxony. Nevertheless, Georg entered the Franciscan Order. Finding the Franciscan life too intellectually limiting, Georg soon applied to transfer to the Jesuits instead. In the winter semester 1919/20, he studied philosophy at the University of Tübingen. During this period, he joined the A. V. Guestfalia Tpbingen. In the next semester, he studied at the University of Breslau. In the winter semester 1920/21, he began studying theology at the University of Freiburg. He joined the KDSt.V. Hohenstaufen and Saxo-Thuringia. He completed this study in 1923. In the same year, he formally renounced his rights to the Saxon throne and became a Jesuit Priest. He was ordained as priest in Trzebnica on 15 July 1924 by Bishop Christian Schreiber of Meissen. The next day, he celebrated his first mass at the royal palace in Szczodre (German: Sibyllenort. His uncle Maximilian gave the homily during this service. Thereafter, the prince was generally known as Pater Georg (Father George) and used the last name von Sachsen. After his ordination, Georg worked as an auxiliary priest in his native Diocese of Meissen. He then continued his studies at the Jesuit Collegium Canisianum in Innsbrck. In the fall of 1925, he joined the Upper German province of the Society of Jesus, however, in 1927, he switched to the East German province, which included his native Saxony. From 1928 to 1930, he studied at a Jesuit college in Valenburg. From 1933, he did pastoral work in Berlin. He helped building the Jesuit residence Canisius College with the Catholic Gymnasium at Lietzensee. He took his final vows in Berlin in 1936. He gave lectures and spiritual exercises all over Germany. In his lectures, he promoted ecumenism and in particular the Una Sancta movement. Among his friends were spiritual leaders of different religions. During one of his many lectures, he said in Meissen in 1929, referring to the increasing antisemitic agitation by some right-wing parties: Love is the order of the day in the relationship between Catholics and Protestant, and also to our Jewish fellow citizens. So he opposed Nazism from the beginning. He found it unbearable that the Nazi Party and after 1933 the Nazi State vilified and sought to destroy core values that were important to him personally — monarchical and dynastic Saxon traditions and fundamental values of Western Christianity. He felt that his family honor was offended and his work as a pastor was significantly impeded.
Because of that Georg opposed the Nazis and was happy when the Military stopped Hitler and helped Emperor Wilhelm II to come back from Exile and restore the Monarchy. The death of Hitler and the End of National Socialism that was replaced by National Monarchism was a lucky day for Georg because the Catholic priest and a member of the Jesuit order, he was seen as highly suspect by the Nazi regime. He was even shadowed by the Gestapo because he helped Jews opposition politician hiding from the regime. This activities led to a great start inside the renewed German Empire, but Georg refused to claim the Throne of Saxony once again, because he had abdicated his rights as the Crown Prince of Saxony. However, when the Polish Regency Council discussed him as a potential candidate for the Polish Throne because of the Saxon-Polish royal heritage and his Catholic faith and knowledge as a priest he felt honored. About to refuse it was a telephone call from Emperor Wilhelm III that changed Georg's mind and lead to his crowning in Warsaw to become George I., King of Poland (Jerzy I.).
Determent to be a good and just King Jerzy I. started to modernize Poland's infrastructure and increased it's trade with Germany, Austria-Hungary, as well as the Kingdom of White Ruthenia and the Kingdom of Ukrainia who he made treaties of friendship with (just like with the United Baltic Duchy). To protect the polish independence, King Jerzy I. Also expanded and modernized the Royal Polish Army, disbanding parts of the old cavalry regiments in favor of more modern motorized divisions and the first polish tank army, created out from older German models. In the Night of the National Monarchy the new polish King and it's military eliminated parts of the far-right polish nationalists as well as communists and polish royals that posed a threat for his life and the stability of Poland as a nation, claiming it was a Soviet rebellion to destabilize and invade the Kingdom of Poland. With this internal enemies gone, King Jerzy I. Concentrated on further strengthening the renewed Polish Monarchy and state. In one of his first acts he modernized and reformed the government alongside the military and called the Polish Kingdom a free-haven for all minorities and faith, encouraging Jews (who were unwelcome in most of the rest of Europe, just like in Poland before his purges of the Antisemitic Fascist Elements) to settle in the Polish Kingdom. This lead to a increasing Jewish population in Poland coming from all over Europe and partly even Africa. Critics of King Jerzy I. called him a Jewish-Freemason and strongly opposed his idea to settle ethnic Polish people from Russia and Austria-Hungary in his Kingdom to expand the polish border east. Some even believed he wished to claim the Black Sea as a new Polish Ocean after losing the land connection towards the Baltic Sea, but King Jerzy I. just wished to strengthen the polish numbers in the eastern provinces as many White Ruthenia (White Russias) and Ukrainians left Poland to settle in their own independent Kingdoms now. King Jerzy I. would later be remembered in the Kingdom of Poland and among the Polish People as Jerzy the Just, Jerzy the Good and even Jerzy the Pole from Saxon.