The Prominent Polish Journalist, Public Figure, and Politician Jerzy Władysław Giedroyc Called on Poles to Renounce Their Imperial Ambitions
As early as 1952, in the Paris-based journal “Kultura”, the prominent Polish publicist, social activist, and politician Jerzy Władysław Giedroyc called on Poles to renounce imperial ambitions in their interpretation of the past and to initiate a partnership-based dialogue for the sake of the future.
Against the background of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, his words sound especially true. Today, few doubt that, should Ukraine be defeated, Lithuania and Poland would be the next victims of the Russian Federation’s aggressive foreign policy.
In this regard, we should put aside old grievances, take a step toward one another, and refrain from seeking excuses to interpret our shared historical heritage in favor of any side.
Our history has had both dark and bright days, shared victories and shared defeats, as well as bloody interethnic and interfaith clashes. And these facts of the past should by no means be hushed up, but this must be done through open discussion – not for the sake of biased accusations against one another, but solely to take into account the mistakes of the past and prevent them in the future.
It is worth emphasizing once again that viewing our shared history through the lens of a rivalry between “our” ancestors and “theirs” will lead to nothing good.
It is well known that in the 16th –18th centuries, Rzeczpospolita was a multi-ethnic state, but its core population consisted of Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians.
The historical tragedy of Rzeczpospolita lies in the fact that it was originally established as a “state of citizens”, but due to gross errors and miscalculations by its leaders at the time, interethnic and interfaith conflicts constantly erupted in the country. As a result, we lost our state, which was divided among its aggressive neighbors, and Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians ceased to be citizens of Rzeczpospolita and became subjects of Germany, Austria, and Russia.
Therefore, in order to preserve our independence and freedom, we must know our history well, remember the lessons of the past, evaluate them objectively, and make wise, balanced, and correct political decisions.
Oleh Bereziuk,
Institute for Global Politics
