Tadeusz Hołówko

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Tadeusz Hołówko (1889 - 1931), codename Kirgiz, was a politician in the inter-war Poland, an active diplomat and an author of many articles and books.

He was most notable for his moderate stance on the "Ukrainian problem" faced by the Polish government, which due to its nationalist policies in the largely Ukrainian and Belarusian populated eastern territories faced increasing tension in those regions. Despite, or perhaps because of being a relative moderate in the policies towards the Ukrainian population, and supporter of peaceful cooperation, he was assassinated in 1931 by two members from the radical Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.

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[edit] Biography

Born on 17 September in Semipalatinsk, Russian Empire (now Semey, Kazakhstan), he became a close coworker of Józef Piłsudski,[1] first in Polish Socialist Party (PPS), later in the Polish Military Organization (POW) and finally in the pro-Sanacja Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem (BBWR) party and Polish government (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). In 1918 he bacame a vice-minister in the first government of Second Polish Republic led by prime minister Ignacy Daszyński.[2]

One of the organizers of POW and BBWR, he was a vicepresident and chief ideologist of BBWR in the Second Polish Republic. From 1930 he was a deputy of the Polish parliament (Sejm); he advocated increasing the presidential and executive powers and decreasing powers of the Sejm. He is credited by many English and Polish authors for advocating and improving the relations with Poland's ethnic minorities, chiefly the Ukrainians and Belarusians.[3][4][5][6] However, certain Ukrainian authors[7][8] consider otherwise pointing out his opposition to granting the autonomy to Ukrainian regions and even to creation of the Ukrainian university in Galicia[9] and to his efforts aimed at convincing the Ukrainian leaders to recall their complaints about pacification submitted to the League of Nations.[10] Modern research however notes he was supportive of giving wide autonomy to the minorities[4][5] and supported their cultural development,[5][11] for example, by advocating for using Belarusian language in schools.[11]

Considered one of the ideologists and activists of the so called "Prometheism" policy[12][4] which tried to destabilize Soviet Union by encouraging national uprisings among non-Russian nations it has conquered, particularly, Ukrainians and nations of the Caucasus,[12] Hołówko took an active part in preparation of the 1929 Soviet-Polish treaty, the so called Litvinov pact from the name of Soviet diplomat, Maxim Litvinov. In his published comments to the Treaty[citation needed], Hołówko stated apparently contrary to the "Prometheian" ideas that the Soviet control over the Dnieper Ukraine is the most beneficial condition for the Polish "solution of the Ukrainian problem" as any genuinely Ukrainian government would have likely raised territorial claims towards Polish state. On the other hand, he was frequently cited as an advocate for independence of Ukraine, Belarus and other countries.[13][12][4]

His controversial stance towards the Ukrainian problem made him a target for the Ukrainian extremists. Approximately 1/3 of population of the Second Polish Republic was formed of ethnic minorities,[14] but their problems were marginalized by the Polish government, whose heavy-handed policies were only serving to antagonize the Ukrainian population.[15][16] Eventually the extremists among Ukranians started sabotage and assassinations campaign and Polish government responded with further respressions. Hołówko was one of the few who tried to deal with that problem with negotiations and compromise; he mediated between willing Polish and Ukrainian politicians and proposed various plans to solve the tensions, from releasing Ukrainians prisoners and granting the minorities more rights,[6] up to giving the Kresy regions, inhabited by those minorities, significant autonomy.[4][5] However, such pro-Polish Ukrainian politicians were viewed collaborators by the radical Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and Hołówko's stance made him an enemy of extremist politicians on both sides, who saw profit in further conflict.[4][6]

He died in Truskawiec (Truskavets) on 29 August, becoming one of the first victims of the assassination campaign carried out by the militant members from the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).[3][6] After experiencing some heart-related illnesses, and unable to go to abroad due to financial problems, he decided to stay in a contemporary health resort of Truskawiec in Kresy region of Poland, an area inhabited by many Ukrainians. Further he chose a guest house run by Greek-Catholic nuns of Basil of Caesarea (Sorores Basyliae), partially as a declaration of his pro-Ukrainian stance, and partially because it was cheaper.[6] Upon the news that he chose that place to spend his vacation, the local police commissioner, unable to change his mind, assigned one of his man to shadow him as a bodyguard. 29 August was the last day of his stay in Truskawiec; unable to leave as planned because he was waiting for cash transfer to pay for his stay, he got further delay because of the storm. Then in his room he was met by two activists from OUN, Vasyl Bilas and Dmytro Danylyshyn, who shot him and left the scene.[6]

His death, widely commented in Polish press, mentioned in international press and even during the contemporary session of League of Nations,[17] was part of the vicious spiral Polish government's brutal reigning in on its ethnically Ukrainian subjects (the pacification campaign)[15][16] and the campaign of terror from the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Some time later, a Polish police commissair in charge of the investigation of Hołówko's death, Emilian Czechowski, became another victim of OUN's assassination.[17]

[edit] Works

  • O demokracji, polityce i moralności życia publicznego
  • Kwestia narodowościowa w Polsce (1922).

[edit] Quotes

  • "Influence of communism diminishes with progress... [In a wealthy, educated village], a communist agitator has nothing to do. Thus two things are needed do combat influences of communism: objective, independend and just administration, and cultural work."[18]
  • "Independence of Poland is inconcivable without independent Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Ukraine and Belarus. Independence of Poland is only one of many examples of a process seen throughout modern Europe - freeing of nations from political slavery. If Poland is alone, if other countries created on the ruins of Russian Empire will fall - dark will be Poland's future."[13]
  • ..."such policies [needs to be used] that ethnic minorities would feel good in Poland, not attempting to break away from Polish state, but on the opposite, they would see such a break away as a defeat. [...] [Thus] those national movements must be supported [...] Therefore that population which would have complete freedom within borders of the Republic would not be loured by Russia."[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pracownia Literatury Ukraińskiej. Instytut Slawistyki PAN (Department of Ukrainian Literature. Institute of Slavistics, Polish Academy of Sciences. Last accessed on 30 September 2006
  2. ^ (Polish) w dziejach i kulturze Polski (Lublin in history and culture of Poland). Last accessed on 30 September 2006
  3. ^ a b Orest Subtelny, Ukraine: A History, University of Toronto Press, 2005, ISBN 0802083900, Google Print, p. 428, Google Print, p.445
  4. ^ a b c d e f Timothy Snyder, Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist's Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine, Yale University Press, 2005, ISBN 030010670X, Google Print, p.33, p.41, p.75
  5. ^ a b c d e Marian Siemakowicz, Założenia programowe głównych obozów politycznych wobec szkolnictwa dla ludności białoruskiej w II Rzeczypospolitej (Plans of main Polish political camps towards education of Belarusian minority in the Second Republic). Last accessed on 30 September 2006
  6. ^ a b c d e f (Polish) Włodzimierz Kalicki, Gazeta Wyborcza, 2002-08-29, 29 VIII 1931: Morderstwo podczas burzy (29.8.1931: Murder during the storm). Last accessed on 30 September 2006
  7. ^ Petro Mirchuk. "Narys istoriï Orhanizatsiï ukraïnskyh natsionalistiv.." LCCN 76-244029 Section "Vbyvstvo polskogo posla Tadeusha Holufka" in V Chastyna: Rozdil 2
  8. ^ Zynoviy Knysh. "V sutinkah zrady (Ubuvstvo Tadeusha Holufka na tli zrady Romana Baranovskoho)", LCCN 20-618275
  9. ^ "Peace to his sole, Holowko was absolutely against any autonomy thoughts, wherever they came from. More than that. He was against the creation of the Ukrainian university anywhere in Galicia. He, and for very good reasons, considered that in the current state of affairs, when the painful for us problem is yet always presented as the political one, giving to the Ukrainian population any kind of autonomy or University is only to preserve and aggregate this political issue, and by this, separatism, and as such to make the realization of the program impossible..."
    Słowo Polskie, October 5, 1931, as quoted by Petro Mirchuk.
  10. ^ "His government activity consisted in conducting negotiations... His main task were negotiations with UA politicians to convince them to recall from Geneva their complaints on Pacification.", Nashpud, October 2, 1931
  11. ^ a b Eugeniusz Mironowicz, Oleg Łatyszonek, Historia Białorusi. Last accessed on 30 September 2006.
  12. ^ a b c Timothy Snyder, Covert Polish missions across the Soviet Ukrainian border, 1928-1933' in Cofini, Silvia Salvatici (a cura di), Rubbettino, 2005, (p.1, p.2, p.3, p.4, p.5).
  13. ^ a b From 'Wolni z wolnymi, równi z równymi' book as quoted on publisher's page. Last accessed on 30 September 2006.
  14. ^ Norman Davies, God's Playground, Columbia University Press, 2005, ISBN 0231128193, Google Print, p.299
  15. ^ a b Timothy Snyder, The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999, Yale University Press, ISBN 030010586XGoogle Books, p.144
  16. ^ a b Davies, God's Playground, op.cit., [1]
  17. ^ a b (Polish) Wojciech Kujawa Ukraińcy w międzywojennej Polsce (Ukrainians in the pre-war Poland). Last accessed on 30 September 2006.
  18. ^ (Polish) Andrzej Chojnowski - Piłsudczycy wobec komunizmu (Piłsudskiites and communism). Last accessed on 30 September 2006.

[edit] Further reading

  • WERSCHLER Iwo; Z dziejów obozu belwederskiego. Tadeusz Hołówko, życie i działalność. Warszawa 1984 PWN
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