Roman Dmowski - First World War

First World War

In 1914, Dmowski praised the Grand Duke Nicholas's Manifesto to the Polish Nation of August 15, 1914 which vaguely assured the Tsar's Polish subjects that there would be greater autonomy for "Congress Poland" after the war, and that the Austrian provinces of East and West Galicia together with Pomerania province of Prussia would be annexed to the Kingdom of Poland when the German Empire and Austria-Hungary were defeated. However, subsequent attempts on the part of Dmowski to have the Russians make firmer commitments along the lines of the Grand Duke Nicholas’s manifesto were met with elusive answers.

In 1915, Dmowski went abroad to campaign on behalf of Poland in the capitals of the western Allies. During his lobbying efforts, his friends included such opinion makers as the British journalist Wickham Steed. In particular, Dmowski was very successful in France, where he made a very favorable impression on public opinion. In 1917, in Paris, he created a Polish National Committee aimed at rebuilding a Polish state. In September 1917, the Polish National Committee was recognized by the French as the legitimate government of Poland. The British and the Americans were less enthusiastic about Dmowski's National Committee, but likewise recognized it as Poland's government in 1918. However, the Americans refused to provide backing for what they regarded as Dmowski's excessive territorial claims (Dmowski's Line). The American President Woodrow Wilson reported, "I saw Mr. Dmowski and Mr. Paderewski in Washington, and I asked them to define Poland for me, as they understood it, and they presented me with a map in which they claimed a large part of the earth."

In part, Wilson's objections stemmed from dislike of Dmowski personally. One British diplomat stated, "He was a clever man, and clever men are distrusted: he was logical in his political theories and we hate logic: and he was persistent with a tenacity which was calculated to drive everybody mad." Another area of objection to Dmowski was to his antisemitic remarks, as in a speech he delivered at a dinner organized by the writer G. K. Chesterton, that began with the words, "My religion came from Jesus Christ, who was murdered by the Jews." A number of American and British Jewish organizations campaigned during the war against their governments recognizing the National Committee. Another leading critic of Dmowski was the historian Sir Lewis Namier, a Jew who served as the British Foreign Office's resident expert on Poland during the war and who claimed to be personally offended by antisemitic remarks made by Dmowski. Namier fought hard against British recognition of Dmowski and "his chauvinist gang".