Polish-German alliance A.D. 1939 from a different point of view

Władysław Studnicki and Stanisław Cat-Mackiewicz in a fight for Polish-German alliance in the time when it was not yet an alternative history – their journalistic struggles are being described by Jan Sadkiewicz in his book Those Who Cannot Convince. The Idea of a Polish-German Agreement in the Journalistic Writing of Władysław Studnicki and the Vilnian “Słowo” (until 1939), comprising a reconstruction of the idea of Polish-German alliance against the USSR made long before the defeat of 1939. It is a story about people who foresaw The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and proposed a way for avoiding a two-front war.

Jan Sadkiewicz gave attention to journalistic work centered around Władysław Studnicki and Vilnian journal “Słowo” [“The Word”], which used to be a small, though more and more appreciated school of political thinking. Sadkiewicz discarded thereby the ex post perspective which, in the light of events of World War II, has imposeda distorted image of the political situation in prewar Poland. The period of time between 1933 and 1938 was the moment of far-reaching warming of relations between Warsaw and Berlin, especially in  reference to incomparably more Anti-Polish politics of Weimar Republic. The work by Sadkiewicz has been based on a detailed analysis of the yearbooks of the Vilnian “Słowo” as well as publications of its journalists and abundant subject literature. The book clearly illustrates how the idea of Polish-German collaboration was formed and how it evolved – beginning from its origins, through the claims of loosening the relations with Berlin – presented in “Słowo”, and journalistic debates about the perspectives of a permanent agreement, ending with the decline of “pro-Germanic” idea on the eve of the war’s outbreak. In the book, there were described forward-looking political projects as well as proposals of specific moves in the international area, along with the journalists’ reactions on the occurring events.