Where Is Poland? | Poland Imagined

Chapter 8

Poland Imagined

In 1898, Brandes travels to the Austrian partition of Poland, known as Galicia. The region, ruled by EmperorFranzJoseph, is allowed a far greater degree of autonomy. Brandes visits Kraków and Lwów; alongside Zakopane, the cities are the centres of an artistic vision of Poland, where the past intertwined with the present.

A portrait of Franz Joseph I. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The 'good emperor'

Poles living in Galicia tended to follow a conciliatory policy. They did not dissent against Austrian rule; instead they made the most of their relative autonomy and were loyal towards Emperor Franz Joseph. This attitude was largely inexplicable to their compatriots living under Russian and Prussian rule.

The painter, author and architect Stanisław Witkiewicz wrote: 'There is complete freedom in Galicia. One can freely talk and sing "Poland Is Not Yet Lost", one can speak of rebuilding, one can wear traditional Polish garb and sabres. This freedom comes from the fact that no one believes that She is not lost, no one is trying to rebuild Her, and the clothes and swords have become an ethnographic marker distinguishing Poles from among throngs of loyal subjects.'

Peasants and Jews in particular cultivated the legend of a 'good emperor' taking good care of his subjects. Peasants regularly made pilgrimages to Vienna on the assumption that if anyone might support them in their clash against their local lord or parish priest, it would be their 'good emperor'. They identified with the Austrian state and sung a certain folk song that went: 'We are Poles, Austrian boys!'. Bruno Schulz, who lived in Drohobych, recalled:

The world at that time was circumscribed by Franz Josef I. On each stamp, on every coin, and on every postmark his likeness confirmed its stability and the dogma of its oneness. This was the world, and there were no other worlds besides, the effigies of the imperial and royal old man proclaimed. Everything else was make-believe, wild pretence, and usurpation. Franz Josef I rested on top of everything and checked the world in its growth.

Elections to the Galician Parliament. Kraków, 1907. Source: Wikimedia Commons

'Breathing free air'

From 1869, Poles living in Galicia enjoyed wide-reaching autonomy: Polish was the official language in schools, public offices and courts, they had their own Sejm with elected representatives to the parliament in Vienna, and the universities in both Kraków and Lwów lectured in Polish.

Polish cultural and academic institutions flourished, including the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, the Ossolineum Foundation and the Dzieduszycki Museum. There were also numerous other Polish groups and associations, and Lwów was home to Poland’s first football clubs.

People travelled to Galicia from the Russian partition to ‘breathe free air’, and from the most severely Germanised corners of Silesia and Pomerania to learn Polish history. Freedom activists hid out in Galicia to avoid persecution, and forbidden literature was printed and distributed there.

These differences were noted by Brandes. He discovered the wealth of (lawful!) Polish life in Lwów, something quite unimaginable from the familiar perspective of the Russian partition. He met representatives of literary and artistic circles, Polish university professors and members of the 'Sokół' Gymnastics Society – a quasi-military organisation with a strong patriotic slant.