Stronnictwo Narodowe wobec konfliktu polsko-litewskiego w marcu 1938 r

ENThe events of March 1938, inaugurated by the Anschluss of Austria, inclined leaders of the opposition National Party to embark upon an attempt at balancing the increased impact exerted by Germany by demanding the inclusion of Lithuania into the Polish sphere of influence. A Polish-Lithuanian frontier incident served as a pretext for the opposition to initiate a coordinated campaign consisting of the mobilisation of Polish public opinion under the slogan of expanding Polish impact across Lithuania. After the announcement of the contents of the Polish ultimatum addressed to Lithuania and its acceptance by the latter, the National Democrats did not conceal their disappointment. They recognised that the demand made by Polish diplomacy and entailing only an adjustment of diplomatic relations was insufficient and did not secure Polish interests in this part of Europe within the context of rising German influence. The analysed source material leaves no doubt that the attitude of the National Party towards the Polish–Lithuanian conflict remained distant from the policy of the Polish government aimed at maintaining the status quo. The failure of the campaign undertaken by the National Party meant that its leaders remained passive at the time of the Czechoslovak crisis. Some National Democratic politicians were of the opinion that they did not have at their disposal instruments necessary for the realisation of a policy alternative to the one pursued by the government. After March 1938, others, such as Jędrzej Giertych, forced through a conception of organising a campaign focused on the protection of Czechoslovakia. The attitude represented by the National Party in March 1938 is particularly noteworthy in the history of inter–war Europe: it was an exceptional attempt at the implementation of an alternative political conception targeting at the creation by Poland of a bloc composed of states situated between Germany and the Soviet Union.