Tadeusz Holówko
Encyclopedia
Tadeusz Hołówko codename Kirgiz, was an interwar Polish
politician, diplomat and author of many articles and books.
He was most notable for his moderate stance on the "Ukrainian problem" faced by the Polish government, which due to its nationalist policies
in Poland's largely Ukrainian
- and Belarusian
-populated eastern territories
, faced increasing tensions there. Despite, or perhaps because of, being a relative moderate in policies toward the Ukrainian population, and a supporter of peaceful cooperation, he was assassinated
in 1931 by two members of the radical Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
.
(now Semey
, Kazakhstan
), Hołówko became a close collaborator of Józef Piłsudski, first in the Polish Socialist Party
(PPS), later in the Polish Military Organization (POW) and finally in the pro-Sanation
Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem (BBWR) party and the Polish government (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). In 1918 he became a vice-minister in the first government of the Second Polish Republic
led by Prime Minister
Ignacy Daszyński
.
One of the organizers of the POW and the BBWR, he was the BBWRs vice president and chief ideologist. From 1930 he was a deputy to the Polish parliament (Sejm
); he advocated increasing the presidential and executive powers and decreasing the powers of the Sejm. He is credited by many English and Polish authors for advocating and improving relations with Poland's ethnic minorities, chiefly the Ukrainians and Belarusians. However, certain Ukrainian authors consider otherwise pointing out his opposition to granting the autonomy to Ukrainian regions and even to creation of the Ukrainian university in Galicia and to his efforts aimed at convincing the Ukrainian leaders to recall their complaints about pacification
submitted to the League of Nations
. Modern research however notes he was supportive of giving wide autonomy to the minorities and supported their cultural development, for example, by advocating for using Belarusian language
in schools.
Considered one of the ideologists and activists of the "Prometheist
" policies that sought to destabilize the Soviet Union
by encouraging national uprisings among the non-Russian nations that had been conquered by the Soviet Union, particularly the Ukrainians
and the peoples of the Caucasus
, Hołówko took an active part in preparing the 1929 Soviet-Polish treaty, called the Litvinov's Pact
after the Soviet diplomat Maxim Litvinov
. In his published comments to the Treaty, Hołówko stated apparently contrary to the "Prometheian" ideas that the Soviet control over the Dnieper Ukraine
is the most beneficial condition for the Polish "solution of the Ukrainian problem" as any genuinely Ukrainian government would have likely raised territorial claims towards Polish state. On the other hand, he was frequently cited as an advocate for independence of Ukraine, Belarus and other countries.
His controversial stance towards the Ukrainian problem made him a target for Ukrainian extremists. Approximately 1/3 of population of the Second Polish Republic
was formed of ethnic minorities, but their problems were marginalized by the Polish government, whose heavy-handed policies were only serving to antagonize the Ukrainian population. Eventually the extremists among Ukrainians started sabotage and assassinations campaign and Polish government responded with further respressions. Hołówko was one of the few who tried to deal with that problem with negotiations and compromise; he mediated between willing Polish and Ukrainian politicians and proposed various plans to solve the tensions, from releasing Ukrainians prisoners and granting the minorities more rights, up to giving the Kresy
regions, inhabited by those minorities, substantial autonomy
. However, such pro-Polish Ukrainian politicians were viewed as collaborators by the radical Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
, and Hołówko's stance made him enemies among extremist politicians on both sides, who saw profit in further inter-ethnic conflict.
He died in Truskawiec (Truskavets
) on August 29, 1931, one of the first victims of an assassination
campaign carried out by militants of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
(OUN). Having experienced heart-related illness, and unable to go to abroad due to financial constraints, he had decided to stay at the health resort
of Truskawiec in eastern Poland's Kresy
, an area with a largely Ukrainian population. He had, moreover, chosen to stay at a guest house run by Greek-Catholic nun
s of Basil of Caesarea
(Sorores Basyliae), partly as a declaration of his pro-Ukrainian stance, and partly because it was less expensive. At the news that he had chosen Truskawiec to spend his vacation, the local police commissioner, unable to change Hołówko's mind, assigned a man to shadow him as a bodyguard. August 29 was Hołówko's last day in Truskawiec; unable to leave as planned because he was waiting for a cash transfer to pay for his stay, he was further delayed by a storm. Then in his room he was met by two OUN activists, Vasyl Bilas and Dmytro Danylyshyn, who shot him and left the scene.
His death, widely discussed in the Polish press, and mentioned in the international press and even at a League of Nations
session, was part of a vicious circle
involving the Polish government's brutal repression of ethnically-Ukrainian citizens (the Polish government's "pacification
" campaign) and the OUN's campaign of terror. Some time later, the Polish police commissioner
in charge of investigating Hołówko's death, Emilian Czechowski, himself became an OUN assassination victim.
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
politician, diplomat and author of many articles and books.
He was most notable for his moderate stance on the "Ukrainian problem" faced by the Polish government, which due to its nationalist policies
Polonization
Polonization was the acquisition or imposition of elements of Polish culture, in particular, Polish language, as experienced in some historic periods by non-Polish populations of territories controlled or substantially influenced by Poland...
in Poland's largely Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
- and Belarusian
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
-populated eastern territories
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
, faced increasing tensions there. Despite, or perhaps because of, being a relative moderate in policies toward the Ukrainian population, and a supporter of peaceful cooperation, he was assassinated
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
in 1931 by two members of the radical Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organization which as a movement originally was created in 1929 in Western Ukraine . The OUN accepted violence as an acceptable tool in the fight against foreign and domestic enemies particularly Poland and Russia...
.
Life
Born on September 17, 1889, in Semipalatinsk, Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(now Semey
Semey
Semey , formerly known as Semipalatinsk and Alash-kala , is a city in Kazakhstan, in the northeastern province of East Kazakhstan, near the border with Siberia, around north of Almaty, and southeast of the Russian city of Omsk, along the Irtysh River.-History:The first settlement was in 1718,...
, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
), Hołówko became a close collaborator of Józef Piłsudski, first in the Polish Socialist Party
Polish Socialist Party
The Polish Socialist Party was one of the most important Polish left-wing political parties from its inception in 1892 until 1948...
(PPS), later in the Polish Military Organization (POW) and finally in the pro-Sanation
Sanacja
Sanation was a Polish political movement that came to power after Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 Coup d'État. Sanation took its name from his watchword—the moral "sanation" of the Polish body politic...
Bezpartyjny Blok Współpracy z Rządem (BBWR) party and the Polish government (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). In 1918 he became a vice-minister in the first government of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
led by Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Ignacy Daszyński
Ignacy Daszynski
Ignacy Ewaryst Daszyński was a Polish politician, journalist and Prime Minister of the Polish government created in Lublin in 1918....
.
One of the organizers of the POW and the BBWR, he was the BBWRs vice president and chief ideologist. From 1930 he was a deputy to the Polish parliament (Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
); he advocated increasing the presidential and executive powers and decreasing the powers of the Sejm. He is credited by many English and Polish authors for advocating and improving relations with Poland's ethnic minorities, chiefly the Ukrainians and Belarusians. However, certain Ukrainian authors consider otherwise pointing out his opposition to granting the autonomy to Ukrainian regions and even to creation of the Ukrainian university in Galicia and to his efforts aimed at convincing the Ukrainian leaders to recall their complaints about pacification
Pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia (1930)
Pacification of Ukrainians refers to the punitive action by police and military of the Second Polish Republic against the Ukrainian minority in Poland in September–November 1930 in response to a wave of more than 2,200 acts of sabotage against Polish property in the region...
submitted to the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
. Modern research however notes he was supportive of giving wide autonomy to the minorities and supported their cultural development, for example, by advocating for using Belarusian language
Belarusian language
The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
in schools.
Considered one of the ideologists and activists of the "Prometheist
Prometheism
Prometheism or Prometheanism was a political project initiated by Poland's Józef Piłsudski. Its aim was to weaken the Russian Empire and its successor states, including the Soviet Union, by supporting nationalist independence movements among the major non-Russian peoples that lived within the...
" policies that sought to destabilize the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
by encouraging national uprisings among the non-Russian nations that had been conquered by the Soviet Union, particularly the Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
and the peoples of the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, Hołówko took an active part in preparing the 1929 Soviet-Polish treaty, called the Litvinov's Pact
Litvinov's Pact
Litvinov's Pact was concluded on February 9, 1929 in Moscow. It is named after the best-known and most successful Soviet diplomat who organized the negotiations, Maxim Litvinov...
after the Soviet diplomat Maxim Litvinov
Maxim Litvinov
Maxim Maximovich Litvinov was a Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet diplomat.- Early life and first exile :...
. In his published comments to the Treaty, Hołówko stated apparently contrary to the "Prometheian" ideas that the Soviet control over the Dnieper Ukraine
Dnieper Ukraine
Dnieper Ukraine , was the territory of Ukraine in the Russian Empire , roughly corresponding to the current territory of Ukraine, with the exceptions of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and Galicia in the west, which was a province of the Austrian Empire. Galicians sometimes call it Great Ukraine...
is the most beneficial condition for the Polish "solution of the Ukrainian problem" as any genuinely Ukrainian government would have likely raised territorial claims towards Polish state. On the other hand, he was frequently cited as an advocate for independence of Ukraine, Belarus and other countries.
His controversial stance towards the Ukrainian problem made him a target for Ukrainian extremists. Approximately 1/3 of population of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
was formed of ethnic minorities, but their problems were marginalized by the Polish government, whose heavy-handed policies were only serving to antagonize the Ukrainian population. Eventually the extremists among Ukrainians started sabotage and assassinations campaign and Polish government responded with further respressions. Hołówko was one of the few who tried to deal with that problem with negotiations and compromise; he mediated between willing Polish and Ukrainian politicians and proposed various plans to solve the tensions, from releasing Ukrainians prisoners and granting the minorities more rights, up to giving the Kresy
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
regions, inhabited by those minorities, substantial autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
. However, such pro-Polish Ukrainian politicians were viewed as collaborators by the radical Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organization which as a movement originally was created in 1929 in Western Ukraine . The OUN accepted violence as an acceptable tool in the fight against foreign and domestic enemies particularly Poland and Russia...
, and Hołówko's stance made him enemies among extremist politicians on both sides, who saw profit in further inter-ethnic conflict.
He died in Truskawiec (Truskavets
Truskavets
Truskavets is a city in western Ukraine's Lviv Oblast , near the border with Poland. The city is designated as a separate raion within the oblast....
) on August 29, 1931, one of the first victims of an assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
campaign carried out by militants of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organization which as a movement originally was created in 1929 in Western Ukraine . The OUN accepted violence as an acceptable tool in the fight against foreign and domestic enemies particularly Poland and Russia...
(OUN). Having experienced heart-related illness, and unable to go to abroad due to financial constraints, he had decided to stay at the health resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
of Truskawiec in eastern Poland's Kresy
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
, an area with a largely Ukrainian population. He had, moreover, chosen to stay at a guest house run by Greek-Catholic nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
s of Basil of Caesarea
Basil of Caesarea
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great, was the bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor . He was an influential 4th century Christian theologian...
(Sorores Basyliae), partly as a declaration of his pro-Ukrainian stance, and partly because it was less expensive. At the news that he had chosen Truskawiec to spend his vacation, the local police commissioner, unable to change Hołówko's mind, assigned a man to shadow him as a bodyguard. August 29 was Hołówko's last day in Truskawiec; unable to leave as planned because he was waiting for a cash transfer to pay for his stay, he was further delayed by a storm. Then in his room he was met by two OUN activists, Vasyl Bilas and Dmytro Danylyshyn, who shot him and left the scene.
His death, widely discussed in the Polish press, and mentioned in the international press and even at a League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
session, was part of a vicious circle
Vicious Circle
Vicious Circle is an album released in 1994 by L.A. Guns. Most of the songs have Phil Lewis on lead vocals, but the track "Nothing Better to Do" features Kelly Nickels on lead vocals, and "Tarantula" is instrumental. MC Bones drums on several songs. Lewis and Bones also played together in the band...
involving the Polish government's brutal repression of ethnically-Ukrainian citizens (the Polish government's "pacification
Pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia (1930)
Pacification of Ukrainians refers to the punitive action by police and military of the Second Polish Republic against the Ukrainian minority in Poland in September–November 1930 in response to a wave of more than 2,200 acts of sabotage against Polish property in the region...
" campaign) and the OUN's campaign of terror. Some time later, the Polish police commissioner
Commissioner
Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ....
in charge of investigating Hołówko's death, Emilian Czechowski, himself became an OUN assassination victim.
Works
- O demokracji, polityce i moralności życia publicznego
- Kwestia narodowościowa w Polsce (1922).
Quotes
- "Influence of communism diminishes with progress... [In a wealthy, educated village], a communist agitator has nothing to do. Thus two things are needed do combat influences of communism: objective, independent and just administration, and cultural work."
- "Independence of Poland is inconcivable without independent Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Ukraine and Belarus. Independence of Poland is only one of many examples of a process seen throughout modern Europe - freeing of nations from political slavery. If Poland is alone, if other countries created on the ruins of Russian Empire will fall - dark will be Poland's future."
- ..."such policies [needs to be used] that ethnic minorities would feel good in Poland, not attempting to break away from Polish state, but on the opposite, they would see such a break away as a defeat. [...] [Thus] those national movements must be supported [...] Therefore that population which would have complete freedom within borders of the Republic would not be loured by Russia."
Further reading
- WERSCHLER Iwo; Z dziejów obozu belwederskiego. Tadeusz Hołówko, życie i działalność. Warszawa 1984 PWN