The National Radical Camp (Polish: Obóz Narodowo Radykalny, ONR) was a Polish extreme right[1][2] anti-semitic,[2] anti-communist,[2] and nationalist political party, formed on 14 April 1934 mostly by the youth radicals who left the National Party of the National Democracy movement.[2]
The party was created on the insistence of former members of the Camp of Great Poland (Obóz Wielkiej Polski),[2] most notably Jan Mosdorf, Tadeusz Gluziński and Henryk Rossman. The organisation proclaimed changes in the government based on the nationalist ideology.[2] It supported class solidarity, nationalisation of foreign and Jewish-owned companies and introduction of anti-semitic laws.[2] At the same time it supported defence of private property and a centralised state. The leading members of ONR-ABC included Henryk Rossman, Tadeusz Gluziński, Stanisław Piasecki, Jan Jodzewicz, Wojciech Zaleski, Tadeusz Todtleben and Jan Korolec. The leading members of ONR-Falanga included Bolesław Piasecki, Wojciech Wasiutyński, Wojciech Kwasieborski and Marian Reutt.
The ONR was popular mostly among the students and other groups of urban youth. ONR openly encouraged anti-Jewish pogroms, and became main force in the organization of anti-Jewish violence[3] Because of its involvement in boycott of Jewish-owned stores,[4] as well as numerous attacks on left-wing worker demonstrations,[5] the ONR was delegalised after three months of existence, in July 1934.[2] Several leaders were interned in the Bereza Kartuska Detention Camp, where the organisation split into two separate factions: the ONR-Falanga (Ruch Narodowo-Radykalny) led by Bolesław Piasecki and the ONR-ABC (Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny) formed around the ABC journal and led by Henryk Rossman.[2] Both organizations were officially illegal.[2]
During World War II both organisations created underground resistance organizations: ONR-ABC was transformed into Grupa Szańca (Rampart Group) whose military arm became the Związek Jaszczurczy (Lizard Union),[2] while the ONR-Falanga created the Konfederacja Narodu (Confederation of the Nation). They were not supportive of the mainstream Polish Secret State related to the Polish government in exile.[2] During Nazi occupation of Poland, many of the former ONR activists belonged to National Armed Forces resistance groups. Some, on the other hand, actively helped Nazis[6], seeing Jews, not Nazis as the main threat to Poland. After World War II, the forced exile of many ONRs was made permanent by the communist regime, which branded them enemies of the state.