After the Polish state was reestablished in 1918, American Polonia had to redefine many of the goals that previously had been tightly tied to the struggle for Polish independence. Although some American Poles returned to Poland following the war, the vast majority remained in the United States. Those who returned often came back disappointed with the economic and social conditions of the country as well as its political instability. In the meantime, new immigration restrictions decreased the flow of immigrants into Polish-American communities to a trickle of about six thousand a year. Polonia increasingly turned toward its own internal affairs and developed a more domestic focus. Membership in fraternals increased significantly, and the Polonia press flourished. As Polish immigrants participated in the post-war economic boom, their communities began developing a middle class based on ethnic businesses and professional enterprises. Social mobility and the acquisition of consumer goods facilitated a growing assimilation. The newspapers gradually introduced English into their pages. The immigrants deplored the Americanization of the second generation and showed concern for the growing gap between themselves and their children. Polish-American historian Karol Wachtl best expressed those anxieties over the need to redefine an ethnic identity: “We lost our way into the future. Before, all here knew where they were going: toward free Poland! But Poland went her way and we—in a different country, in an entirely different society, have to go along different routes. And what are these routes? Not entirely Polish and not quite American.”14 As James S. Pula put it, in the 1920s the signs of assimilation were unmistakable while the “mantel [sic] of leadership passed from the immigrant to the second generation.”15
Community leaders initiated a debate on the role of American Polonia in order to find its place in a changed international political situation as well as to face the challenges of assimilation. Their response became a slogan adopted in the 1920s with the broad support of the immigrant masses: wychodźstwo dla wychodźstwa (emigrants for themselves), which indicated a drastic shift in focus for Polish Americans.16 At the same time, the creation of cultural organizations, such as the Kosciuszko Foundation, the Polish Museum of America, and the first Polish Arts Clubs, attested to increased efforts to preserve not only Polish cultural heritage, but that of Polonia as well.17
In the 1920s Poles in Poland faced a multitude of problems stemming from the difficult task of overcoming the grim legacy of the partitions. These problems included the unification and reconstruction of the Polish economy, the building of a democratic political system, the establishment of relations with all neighboring countries, and a variety of social and educational reforms. The 1921 census showed that 25 percent of the Polish population lived in towns, and 75 percent in the countryside. Peasants constituted 64 percent of the population, and an additional 10 percent were landless agricultural laborers. Gradual industrialization resulted in a decrease of 5 percent in the rural population between 1921 and 1938. The industrial proletariat accounted for 17 percent of the population; 5 percent were professionals and intelligentsia; 2 percent were entrepreneurs; and less than 1 percent were owners of large estates.18 In 1931 ethnic Poles constituted 69 percent of the total population; Ukrainian, Jewish, Belorussian, German, Lithuanian, and Czech minorities formed the remaining part of society.19
Polish society changed dramatically during the interwar decades. Perhaps the most noticeable transformations took place in the rural population, which, despite the economic hardships, showed an increased radicalization and political involvement, particularly in the southern provinces. Land reform in 1919 and 1920, limited though it was, increased land ownership among peasants. Both rural areas and towns benefited from the reorganization of the educational system, one of the most sweeping reforms in interwar Poland. The number of schools rose considerably, and illiteracy was substantially reduced.
The Polish economy eventually revived, too, albeit after a long period of struggle to integrate the infrastructures, currencies, tax systems, and financial institutions of the three partitions. During the 1920s a series of reforms supervised by Władysław Grabski introduced the złoty (zloty) currency, established the Bank Polski (Bank of Poland), and initiated government investments in public works and rural improvements. In the next decade the electrification campaign, construction of the seaport in Gdynia, and establishment of the foundations for the Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy (Central Industrial Region) were among the brightest achievements of the period. Although in the late 1930s Poland was still an underdeveloped country, its economy showed strong signs of improvement.20
After decades of suppression by the partitioning powers, intellectual and cultural life in Poland flourished with extraordinary intensity. The twenty years between the two world wars were filled with scholarly and scientific achievements, as universities became vigorous centers of intellectual life. Talented intellectuals contributed to the expansion of journalism, book publishing, theater, film, and art exhibits, which in turn received strong support from the Polish public.
The Polish intelligentsia (inteligencja) led the way in the development of national culture. The intelligentsia represented a specific social stratum that developed in Poland and Russia in the second part of the nineteenth century. As a result of the political and economic changes in Poland at that time, “members of the ‘déclassé’ fraction of the landed nobility, seeking to maintain in an urban environment their traditional style of life, had to separate themselves from the ‘bourgeois’ middle class.”21 They were united in sharing a specific set of values, beliefs, moral attitudes, and political behaviors formulated by a group of intellectual leaders. Among the most significant values and goals of the intelligentsia were humanistic education and creative activity. Moreover, the members of this “charismatic stratum” saw their fundamental social role in the leadership of the nation “to its destiny.” Accepting the call to serve the nation as their credo, members of intelligentsia adopted a number of national causes, including the struggle for independence and social work for the benefit of the lower classes.22 By the end of the interwar period, the intelligentsia included urban professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and government employees, as well as teachers, scholars, intellectuals, writers, journalists, artists, and the higher ranks of the military. They continued their traditional political and cultural leadership, replete with strong patriotic and nationalistic accents.
The changes of the interwar period influenced both those Poles who were born during the partition but then experienced twenty years of freedom, and the younger generation that was fortunate enough to grow up in an independent Poland. They witnessed the social, economic, and spiritual rebirth of the nation and participated in its growth, however uneasy and troubled it was at times. For decades afterward, émigrés were inspired by their memories of Polish modernization and its accompanying spirit of patriotism, optimism, and unrealized potential.
The war that began on the morning of September 1, 1939, ended this brief period of Polish independence. Wartime brought renewed suffering and loss. The country was again divided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and Polish citizens everywhere faced unparalleled terror. Poles suffered under the extermination policies of the German oppressor, including prisons, concentration camps, prisoner-of-war camps, slave labor, and indiscriminate killing. The Polish nation responded with a widespread resistance movement that culminated in the Warsaw uprising in 1944. In the Soviet occupation zone, Polish citizens, deprived of any legal protection, were harassed, imprisoned, and deported into brutal labor camps in Siberia. The population movements that took place in the Polish territories were unprecedented. In addition to prisoners, slave laborers, and deportees, there were civilians who crossed the Polish borders in search of safety. Polish armed forces formed in the West and later in the Middle East. All in all, about 6 million Poles remained outside Polish borders in 1945. Wherever the polskie drogi (Polish roads) led the refugees, they established communities and tried to repair the torn fabric of their lives. They also planned for the future, keeping Polish culture alive and taking care of the education of their children.
The war became a turning point for an entire generation. The Polish post-war diaspora had already become a reality during the war. Although emigrants did not commonly invoke the term diaspora, other Polish phrases in common use expressed a similar meaning.23