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| {{Infobox country|name=Republic of Poland|native_name=Rzeczpospolita Polska|image_flag=Flag_of_Poland_(1927–1980).svg|image_map=Poland_1930.svg|map_width=290|largest_city=[[Warsaw]]|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|government_type=Unitary Bourgeois Republic|capital=[[Warsaw]]|official_languages=Polish|regional_languages=German<br>Belarusian<br>Lithuanian<br>Ukrainian|area_km2=388,634|population_estimate=35,100,000|population_estimate_year=1939}} | | {{Infobox country|name=Republic of Poland|native_name=Rzeczpospolita Polska|image_flag=Flag of the Second Polish Republic.png|image_map=Poland 1930.png|map_width=290|largest_city=[[Warsaw]]|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|government_type=Unitary Bourgeois Republic|capital=[[Warsaw]]|official_languages=Polish|regional_languages=German<br>Belarusian<br>Lithuanian<br>Ukrainian|area_km2=388,634|population_estimate=35,100,000|population_estimate_year=1939}} |
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| The ('''Second''') '''Polish Republic''', officially the '''Republic of Poland''', was a state in [[Central Europe]] which existed from 1918 to 1939. | | The ('''Second''') '''Polish Republic''', officially the '''Republic of Poland''', was a state in [[Eastern Europe]] which existed from 1918 to 1939. |
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| == History == | | == History == |
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| The majority of Poles (74%) were [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic]], although there were also sizable Jewish, [[Protestantism|Protestant]], and [[Orthodox Catholic Church|Orthodox]] minorities within the country. Indeed, of the estimated six million Jews who were later murdered in [[The Holocaust]], three million were Polish. | | The majority of Poles (74%) were [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic]], although there were also sizable Jewish, [[Protestantism|Protestant]], and [[Orthodox Catholic Church|Orthodox]] minorities within the country. Indeed, of the estimated six million Jews who were later murdered in [[The Holocaust]], three million were Polish. |
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| == Education ==
| | == Status of Minorities == |
| In 1919, in an effort to improve literacy rates (which while high in [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Northern Europe]], were alarmingly low throughout Eastern Europe), compulsory education was introduced for children aged between 7 and 14. In 1915, 67% of people in former [[Kingdom of Poland (1815–1915)|Congress Poland]] were illiterate; by 1930 only 30% were.<ref>"[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014519/1930-07-25/ed-1/seq-27/ POLES CONQUERING LANGUAGE PUZZLE]." (1930-07-25). [[New Britain Herald|''New Britain Herald'']]. Retrieved 2023-07-09.</ref> By the late-1930s, illiteracy had been all but eradicated in the central and western parts of the country, but still remained a problem in more rural, eastern areas (especially in [[Western Ukraine]] and [[Western Belorussia|Belarus]]).
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| == Status of Ethnic Minorities == | |
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| === Jews === | | === Jews === |
| Poland, like most of [[Europe]] at the time, was a hotbed of [[antisemitism]]. During the Polish–Soviet War, thousands of Jewish soldiers in the [[Polish Land Forces|Polish army]] were separated from their units and sent to [[Jabłonna internment camp|an internment camp]] at [[Jabłonna, Legionowo County|Jabłonna]] (a village near [[Warsaw]]) for the crime of being Jewish. Jews were denied employment in both the public and private sectors, Jewish-owned businesses faced boycotts organised and supported by the State, Jewish religious practices were made illegal, universities limited the number of Jewish students and faculty that were allowed to enroll and [[Ghetto benches|forced Jews to sit at specific seats in classrooms under the threat of expulsion]], and [[Pogrom|pogroms]] weren't unheard of. When [[Poland Action|17,000 Polish Jews were expelled from Nazi Germany in 1938]], Poland refused to take them in, and the Jews were forced to live in makeshift encampments along the German–Polish border. | | Poland, like most of [[Europe]] at the time, was a hotbed of [[antisemitism]]. During the Polish–Soviet War, thousands of Jewish soldiers in the [[Polish Land Forces|Polish army]] were separated from their units and sent to [[Jabłonna internment camp|an internment camp]] at [[Jabłonna, Legionowo County|Jabłonna]] (a village near [[Warsaw]]). Jews were denied employment opportunities in both the public and private sectors, Jewish businesses faced boycotts supported by the State, Jewish religious practices were made illegal, universities limited the number of Jews that were allowed to enroll and [[Ghetto benches|forced Jews to sit at specific seats under the threat of expulsion]], and [[Pogrom|pogroms]] weren't unheard of. When [[Poland Action|17,000 Polish Jews were expelled from Nazi Germany in 1938]], Poland refused to take them in, and the Jews were forced to live in makeshift encampments along the German–Polish border. |
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| === Ukrainians ===
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| Ukrainians were treated as second-class citizens in the Polish Republic. Starting in 1921, many large plots of land (previously owned by Russian nobility) in majority-Ukrainian regions like [[Volhynia]] and [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] were broken up into smaller plots. Instead of being given to the Ukrainian farmers who already lived there and needed the land however, these plots of land were either given or sold to Polish [[Colonialism|colonists]] (particularly army veterans).
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| In 1924, a law was passed, excluding the Ukrainian language from use in government institutions while also replacing the word 'Ukrainian' with the archaic term '[[Ruthenians|Ruthenian]]'.
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| While some bilingual Polish-Ukrainian schools were established during the Second Republic, it has been noted by some observers that leading subjects were almost always taught in Polish.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[The Northern Miner (Queensland)|The Northern Miner]]|title='POLONISATION' OF THE UKRAINE.|date=1933-05-30|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/81221170|retrieved=2023-06-12|quote=}}</ref> One Ukrainian college in [[Ternopil]] was shut down by the government because some of its students were suspected of treason, but once cleared of all suspicion, the college was not allowed to reopen.
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| Orthodox churches were destroyed or converted to Catholic churches, to the detriment of Ukrainians (most of whom were Orthodox), and some Polish colonists took it upon themselves to harass Ukrainian citizens with the goal of converting them to Catholicism.
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| [[Prosvita]] (an organisation for the preservation and development of Ukrainian culture) was viciously attacked by the Polish authorities. Of nine "District Prosvitas" in Volhynia, seven were shut down by the Polish State, and of 140 "Village Prosvitas" in [[Lutsk]], none were allowed to survive.<ref name=":1" />
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| The harsh treatment of the Ukrainian minority in Poland only contributed to the Ukrainian nationalism and terrorism in the country as many Ukrainians, disillusioned with the Polish government, would turn to groups such as the [[Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists]].
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| == Women's Rights ==
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| On 28 November 1918, Piłsudski passed a decree giving Polish women the right to vote.
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| On 11 July 1932, the [[1932 Polish Penal Code]] was enacted, and Poland became the second country in Europe to legalise abortion in cases of rape or threat to maternal health (behind the Soviet Union). Up until then, abortion in Poland had been illegal under any and all circumstances.
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| == References == | | == References == |
| <references /> | | <references /> |
| [[Category:History of Poland]] | | [[Category:History of Poland]] |
