Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I. The Second Republic ceased to exist in 1939, after Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic, marking the beginning of the European theatre of the Second World War. The Polish government-in-exile was established in Paris and later London after the fall of France in 1940.
Republic of Poland | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1918–1939 | |||||||||
Flag
(1927–1939) Coat of arms
(1927–1939) | |||||||||
| Anthem: Mazurek Dąbrowskiego (English: "Poland Is Not Yet Lost") (1927–1939) | |||||||||
The Second Polish Republic in 1930 | |||||||||
Administrative divisions of the Second Polish Republic in 1930 | |||||||||
| Capital and largest city | Warsaw 52°13′48″N 21°00′40″E | ||||||||
| Official languages | Polish | ||||||||
| Recognized regional languages: | List
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| Religion (1931) | Majority: 64.8% Roman Catholicism Minorities: | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Polish, Pole | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1918–1922 | Józef Piłsudski | ||||||||
• 1922 | Gabriel Narutowicz | ||||||||
• 1922–1926 | S. Wojciechowski | ||||||||
• 1926–1939 | Ignacy Mościcki | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1918–1919 (first) | Jędrzej Moraczewski | ||||||||
• 1936–1939 (last) | Felicjan S. Składkowski | ||||||||
| Legislature | Bicameral ㅤ | ||||||||
• Upper chamber | Senate | ||||||||
• Lower chamber | Sejm | ||||||||
| Establishment | |||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||
• End of the First World War | 11 November 1918 | ||||||||
| 28 June 1919 | |||||||||
| 18 March 1921 | |||||||||
| 1 September 1939 | |||||||||
| 17 September 1939 | |||||||||
| 28 September 1939 | |||||||||
| 6 October 1939 | |||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• Total | 388,634 km2 (150,052 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1921 | 25,694,700 | ||||||||
• 1931 | 31,915,779 | ||||||||
| Currency | Marka (until 1924) Złoty (after 1924) | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Poland Belarus Ukraine Lithuania Czech Republic Slovakia | ||||||||
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When, after several regional conflicts, most importantly the victorious Polish-Soviet war, the borders of the state were finalised in 1922, Poland's neighbours were Czechoslovakia, Germany, the Free City of Danzig, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and the Soviet Union. It had access to the Baltic Sea via a short strip of coastline known as the Polish Corridor on either side of the city of Gdynia. Between March and August 1939, Poland also shared a border with the then-Hungarian governorate of Subcarpathia. In 1938, the Second Republic was the sixth largest country in Europe. According to the 1921 census, the number of inhabitants was 27.2 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, this had grown to an estimated 35.1 million. Almost a third of the population came from minority groups: 13.9% Ruthenians; 10% Ashkenazi Jews; 3.1% Belarusians; 2.3% Germans and 3.4% Czechs and Lithuanians. At the same time, a significant number of ethnic Poles lived outside the country's borders.
The Second Republic maintained moderate economic development. The cultural hubs of interwar Poland – Warsaw, Kraków, Poznań, Wilno, and Lwów – became major European cities and the sites of internationally acclaimed universities and other institutions of higher education. Although Polish Jews were some of the biggest supporters of Second Republic leader Józef Piłsudski, even after he returned to politics and consolidated power in 1926, in the 1930s the Republic began to openly discriminate against its Jewish (and, to a lesser extent, its Ukrainian) citizens, restricting Jewish entry into professions and placing limitations on Jewish businesses.