The Polish state didn’t emerge overnight. It was formed as the result of a long process and efforts of all the determined patriots, who often differed in their visions and values.

It was 10 November 1918. Commandant Józef Piłsudski, just released from the Magdeburg prison, arrived in Warsaw by train from Berlin at 7.30 a.m. He was welcomed at the station by members of the Polish Military Organisation and the Board of the former Polish Military Association.

From the train station Piłsudski went to a meeting with a member of the Regency Council, Prince Zdzisław Lubomirski. Then, in the boarding house in Moniuszki Street, he held talks with various delegations, including representatives of political groups, and also, or perhaps first and foremost, with co-associates of the legionary fights.

During these conversations crowds of Warsaw citizens gathered around the building. Piłsudski, from the balcony decorated in national colours and banners with the White Eagle, said: „Citizens! I would like to thank you very warmly for this sincere reception, which you have prepared for me. This is the third time I have been welcomed by Warsaw and I am welcomed as the one who is ready to sacrifice his blood and life to the Homeland and the Polish people at any moment’. And from that moment everything started to progress very fast.

On the next day, 11 November, „the military power and the chief command of the Polish army” was handed over to Pułsudzki by the Regency Council. It was agreed that Piłsudski would form the national government. On the same day, brigadier Henryk Minkiewicz became the commander of Warsaw. The process of disarming Germans, taking over ammunition and institutions by Poles and creating the foundations of independent Poland began. There was a lot of enthusiasm in Warsaw and other Polish cities.

It was not only World War I that ended. Let us recall that on November 11, 1918 Germany signed a ceasefire with the Entente countries and this is also the date of the end of the First World War. Europe entered an era of peace; the Poles began to rebuild their independence lost at the end of the 18th century. In the Second Republic of Poland, 11 November was established as a national holiday. Celebrated throughout its duration, i.e. still during World War II, it was depreciated by the communist authorities after 1945. It was only after 1989 that the Independence Day celebrations of 11 November were resumed.

We can say that 11 November is to a large extent a day of symbolic regaining independence. But in fact, regaining independence was a long process, and the date of 11 November 1918 crowned the efforts of Polish during World War I, but also those since the end of the 18th century. The actions of Józef Piłsudski, his camp and all those who actively joined the process of regaining independence on Polish lands, turned out to be crucial in 1918. In the first phase of the war, Piłsudski worked alongside the central states. He believed that cooperation with the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be helpful in confrontation with the main invader, i.e. Russia. For this purpose, at first he created shooting troops and then Legions, which actively joined the fighting on the front with the Tsarist state.

The actions of the Legions proved to be important from a military point of view. It also initiated the creation of the Piłsudski Camp, extraordinary bonds of people who recognised the authority of the commandant and were imbued with the spirit of battle to the end, until victory. These people were likewise united by pain and suffering, as well as sacrifice resulting also from a certain romantic madness.

Małgorzata Gmurczyk-Wrońska

Abstract of an article that appeared in the monthly magazine “w Sieci Historii” (“in the Web of History”)

Tłum. KJ