“Polish nationalism defends Poland’s right to exist and must not be reduced to rejection of the other.” Adobe Stock
FIGAROVOX/MAINTENANCE – On November 11, Poland celebrates its independence. In connection with the conflict in Ukraine and the mass reception of war refugees, Professor Piotr Biłos returns to the conception of Polish nationalism.
Piotr Biłos is university professor of modern and contemporary Polish literature and responsible for Polish studies at Inalco, Paris.
FIGAROVOX. – What is Poland celebrating on November 11?
Piotr BILOS. – The Polish National Day is celebrated on November 11th. At the end of World War I, Poland regained its independence, thanks in particular to the strategic and military efforts of Józef Piłsudski, nourished by the socialist thinking and imagination of Polish romantic poets. Piłsudski embodied the tradition of old Poland, which was open to the unification of ethnic groups with which that of social classes was linked. The Separatist elites fought for the liberation of Poland from Imperial Russia in the 19th century, then from the middle empires (Austria-Hungary and the German Empire).
Also read When Poland shook the communist world
It was at this time that historian Joachim Lelewel, Professor of Adam Mickiewicz at the University of Vilnius (a Polish institution that was the largest university in the world…
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