Count Edward Bernard Raczyński (19 December 1891 – 30 July 1993) was a Polish diplomat, writer, and politician who served as President of Poland-in-exile (between 1979 and 1986).

He was the longest living (101), and the oldest serving Polish President (from the age of 88 to 95).

Biography

thumb|left|200px|Relief of the Raczyński family comital coat of arms

thumb|left|200px|[[Nalecz coat of arms]]

Count Edward Bernard Maria Raczyński was born on 19 December 1891 in Zakopane to a Polish aristocratic family, the younger son of Count Edward Aleksander Raczyński of Nałęcz coat of arms, and his wife, Countess Róża Potocka. The Raczyńskis were related to the Austro-Hungarian house of Habsburgs. The full name was "Raczyński z Małyszyna", as they were a branch of the noble family Nałęcz-Małyski from Greater Poland (the area of the town of Wieluń) and about 1540 took their name from the estate of Raczyn near Wieluń. However, the Raczyńskis remained relatively unknown until the 18th century. Raczyńskis were a bookish family who had long been known for using their great wealth to serve patrons of the arts. Following his family's traditions, Raczyński was a well known bibliophile who was well read on a number of subjects. France had signed a defensive alliance with Poland in 1921 and with Czechoslovakia in 1924, which were meant to deter German invasions of both states. Chamberlain believed that if Franco-German relations were improved, then France would abandon its allies in Eastern Europe, which in turn would force Poland and Czechoslovakia into the German sphere of influence, as both states would have no Great Power protector such as France anymore. As the United Kingdom was the world's third largest economy, Raczyński urged that Poland use its new alliance with Britain to furnish Poland with a loan that might allow Poland to catch up with the Reich in the arms race. In addition, the Polish Finance Minister Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski complained on 26 April 1939 to Count Jan Szembek, the deputy secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that the costs of keeping the Polish military semi-mobilised, which had been the case since late March 1939 – was bankrupting Poland. The British embassy in Warsaw estimated that the costs of semi-mobilisation were £2 million pounds per month. Colonel Beck, out of a sense of pride, did not want to ask Britain for a loan and it was the British Foreign Office that first raised the subject of a British loan to assist Poland, both with the costs of keeping the Polish military semi-mobilised and with the arms race on 27 April 1939. In early May 1939, Beck grudgingly ordered Raczyński to ask the British for a loan. On 12 May 1939, Raczyński met with Sir William Strang to ask for a £66 million loan. Raczyński wanted an immediate £24 million pounds in gold to buy arms outside of Britain. In April 1939, Britain had finally made the "continental commitment" by agreeing to send a large expeditionary force and abandoning the "limited liability" defence doctrine. The Chiefs of Staff argued that the Polish request for arms would interfere with the massive needs necessitated by making the "continental commitment". The Chiefs of Staff saw little value in Polish rearmament anyhow, putting Poland 9th on the list of states requiring British arms, behind Egypt, Iraq, Belgium, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, the Netherlands and Romania.

Raczyński was forced to explain to Strang that Poland was a backward country with hardly any arms industry of its own, and the Poles needed £24 million to build an electronic grid to bring electricity to the areas of Poland that currently lacked any electricity. Raczyński argued that in this way by bringing electricity to all of Poland would lay the foundations of an arms industry, and thereby rid Poland of the irksome need to import arms from abroad. Raczyński further noted that the areas of Poland that currently had electricity and were industrialised, such as Upper Silesia, were inconveniently on the border with Germany, while many of the areas in the interior of Poland away from Germany tended not to have electricity. In addition, Raczyński stated that Poland would need at least £18 million pound to buy weapons from abroad as the current lack of an arms industry forced Poland to import almost all of its weapons and another £24 million to import strategic materials that Poland lacked, such as oil. Much to the disappointment of the Poles, the British were only willing to grant a loan made conditional upon the Poles buying only British materials and products, as opposed to the Polish wish to use a British loan to import materials and weapons from wherever they wanted to buy them. After much hard bargaining, the Treasury made an offer to lend Poland £7.5 million pounds on 28 June 1939 in exchange for a promise to devalue the zloty and limit Polish exports of coal from Upper Silesia, which was competing with British coal. On 1 July 1939, the British made a revised offer to provide the Poles with £8 million pounds in credit guarantees for the Polish Army, along with 100 Fairey Battle light bombers and 14 Hawker Hurricane fighters together with £2 million pounds for the electrification of Poland and 1.5 million pounds in cash for the purchase of key supplies. In exchange, Poland was to limit its exports of coal, agree to the devaluation of the zloty, and agree to accept British financial supervision of how it spent the loan, a demand that was considered to be especially crass and insulting in Warsaw. These terms were considered humiliatingly that the Poles rejected the offer of the British loan. In August 1939, Raczyński met with Lord Beaverbrook to ask him to stop his attacks on Poland in his newspapers. Raczyński thought the meeting went well enough as Beaverbrook seemed understanding, but the next day found himself the object of an attack in a front-page leader (editorial) in the Evening Standard that accused him of being an "errant ambassador" who was seeking to muzzle the freedom of the press. Adding insult to the injury was the fact that Beaverbrook had written the leader himself as he sought to portray Raczyński's lobbying as censorship.

As the Danzig crisis reached its climax in August 1939, Raczyński remained resolute and self-confident, believing the crisis would be settled peacefully. Raczyński was calm at the news of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, telling Halifax it seemed to be only a "truce", and that if Britain remained firm, Germany would not invade Poland. On behalf of Poland, he signed the Polish-British alliance (25 August 1939), which ultimately led the United Kingdom to declare war on Nazi Germany after the country's invasion. On 26 August 1939, Raczyński was consulted along with Corbin and Tilea about the British reply to Hitler's offer to "guarantee" the existence of the British Empire in exchange for renouncing the alliance with Poland. At about 10:30 am on 1 September 1939, Raczyński phoned Halifax that say Germany had invaded Poland earlier that morning and the cities of Grodno, Brest-Litovsk, Łódź, Wilno (modern Vilnius), Katowice, Kraków and Warsaw had all been bombed. He added that the raid on Warsaw had been especially destructive, killing hundreds of women and children. Raczyński stated it was time to invoke the "guarantee" of Poland along with the Anglo-Polish alliance. During the next two days, Raczyński maintained his aristocratic sang-froid and told Hugh Dalton, the Labour shadow foreign secretary, that he expected Britain to honour its commitments to Poland. In private, Raczyński was deeply troubled by the reports of the destruction wrought in Poland, along with a seeming unwillingness on the part of Britain to declare war. In Paris, the Polish ambassador, Juliusz Łukasiewicz, had stormed into the Quai d'Orsay on the morning of 2 September to demand why France had not declared war yet, and had by all accounts a stormy interview with Bonnet on the subject. Bonnet had told Łukasiewicz that Benito Mussolini had proposed a peace conference to end the war, and France could not declare war yet because of a British "initiative". Immediately after the interview, Łukasiewicz had phoned Raczyński to ask about this British diplomatic "initiative" that Bonnet had referred to. Raczyński told him that he knew of no such "initiative", which led Łukasiewicz to the conclusion that Bonnet had lied to him. On the afternoon of 2 September, Raczyński handed over to the Foreign Office a note saying that the Luftwaffe was mercilessly bombing Polish cities, killing hundreds of innocent people in every raid, and it was imperative that Britain declare war. On the evening of 2 September, Raczyński arrived at the Foreign Office to see Halifax. He stated he learned from Corbin that the major reason for the delay was the desire to present the Anglo-French ultimata to Germany together, leading him to ask if Britain would declare war without the French. Raczyński expressed much mistrust of Bonnet, believing he was using the Italian offer of a peace conference as an excuse not to go to war, saying that he thought that Britain should declare war even if the French had not agreed in advance.

At about 2 am on the night of 2 September, Raczyński was woken up by a phone call from Dalton, who told him that Britain was going to submit an ultimatum to Germany on the morning of 3 September and failing its acceptance, Britain would be at war. Dalton added that he did not expect Germany to accept the ultimatum and was certain that Britain would be at war tomorrow, telling Raczyński "Today both we and France shall be on your side. I hope this news will help you get a little sleep tonight". Raczyński replied "yes, it's true, it makes me feel a little less unhappy". At 12:00 pm on 3 September 1939, there began the first sitting of the House of Commons on a Sunday since 1820. Chamberlain had called a special emergency session that Sunday to announce that Britain was now at war, though many felt that the session was anticlimactic as King George IV had already gone on the radio at 11:00 am to announce the declaration of war. Sitting in the visitor's gallery of the House of Commons were the various ambassadors. Sitting next to Raczyński in a sign of support was the French ambassador Charles Corbin. The Conservative MP Beverley Baxter noted that Corbin's "fine, pale face is utterly impassive, his delicate hands are always still". Baxter thought Raczyński looked exhausted as it appeared that he had not slept for the last two days. Sitting close to Corbin and Raczyński was the pro-appeasement American ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. who was clearly distraught and upset about Britain going to war. Kennedy brought two of his sons, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. and John F. Kennedy, both of whom were in better spirits than their father as they chatted with various ambassadors. Chamberlain announced that at about 8 am that morning, the British ambassador to Germany, Sir Nevile Henderson, had submitted an ultimatum demanding that Germany cease its war against Poland immediately and pull back its forces into the Reich, which had been rejected, and as such, Britain was now at war.

World War II

thumb|Last page "[[Raczyński's Note" – official note of Polish government-in-exile to Anthony Eden, 10 December 1942.]]

Following the 1 September 1939 German Invasion of Poland, Raczyński remained in London, where he continued to serve as the ambassador of the Polish government-in-exile and one of its prominent members. On 18 September 1939, Colonel Beck sent out a message to all Polish ambassadors around the world stating the Polish government had decided to leave Poland along with as many of the Polish Army as possible via Romania with the intention of going to France to continue the war. In response, Germany issued a threat stating that it regarded the droit de passage of the Polish government across Romania as a violation of Romanian neutrality and threatened to invade Romania. Raczyński lobbied Lord Halifax to pressure King Carol II to assure the Poles the droit de passage, saying the continual existence of a Polish government in exile was crucial to the survival of his country. To provide the Romanians with a face-saving excuse, Raczyński devised a plan under which the President Ignacy Mościcki would resign in Romania and name as his successor a Pole living in France while allowing the rest of the Polish government-in-exile to go to Paris.

On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland in accordance with the secret protocols of the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact. Raczyński submitted a protest to Lord Halifax, who reminded him of a secret protocol in the Anglo-Polish alliance of 25 August 1939, which stated that the alliance only applied to an attack on Poland by Germany and as such Britain had no obligation to declare war on the Soviet Union. On 24 September 1939, an article by the former prime minister David Lloyd George appeared in the Beaverbrook-owned Sunday Express which stated the Soviet Union was entitled to annex most of eastern Poland under the grounds that the majority of people who lived were Belarusians, Ukrainians and Jews with Poles only being a minority. Knowing that there was no hope of being allowed to publish a rebuttal in a Beaverbrook paper, Raczyński wrote a lengthy letter to The Times arguing for the Polish claim to the areas just annexed to the Soviet Union, which the Times refused to publish. Raczyński published at his own expense his letter in the form of a pamphlet to be handed out for free on the streets of London, and which he mailed off to 300 prominent people. On 26 October 1939, in a speech to the House of Lords referring to the Lloyd George-Raczyński dispute, Lord Halifax stated: "It is perhaps a matter of historical interest, worth recalling, that the action of the Soviet government has been to advance the boundary to what was substantially the boundary recommended at the time of the Versailles conference by the noble Marquess who used to lead this house, Lord Curzon, who was then Foreign Secretary". Halifax's thinly veiled endorsement of the Curzon line as the Polish-Soviet frontier led to another protest from Raczyński. Lord Halifax had the nickname of "the Holy Fox" on account of his cunning and deep Anglican faith, and was known to have strong anti-Soviet feelings as the devoutly religious Halifax felt uncomfortable with an atheist state. Raczyński learned that the refusal to declare war on the Soviet Union was simply an act of realpolitik as Britain would take on both Germany and the Soviet Union at the same time, and there was still hope that the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact might be temporary.

When the Polish government-in-exile arrived in London in 1940, Raczyński's importance vastly increased as he was one of the few Polish officials fluent in English and as the long-time Polish ambassador to the court of St. James was the Polish official best known to British officials. The German historian Julia Eichenberg described wartime London as "a sort of capital for free Europe" as London hosted the governments-in-exile for Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Greece along with the French National Committee that represented Free France. During the war, Raczyński often negotiated with Edvard Beneš, the president of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, along with Hubert Ripka and Jaromír Smutný about the future relations between Poland and Czechoslovakia. Another leader with whom Raczyński was in frequent contact was Paul-Henri Spaak, the foreign minister of the Belgian government-in-exile and an advocate of a federation to be called the United States of Europe to be created after the war. Significantly, Raczyński later entitled his 1962 memoirs In Allied London, which reflected the fact that he negotiated just as much with the other governments-in-exile as he did with the British government. Raczyński wrote in 1943 about the streets of wartime London that he was struck by the sheer diversity of people he encountered, as there were people from all over the world in London, leading him to write: "The streets are full of foreign uniforms, especially Polish ones distinguished by the shoulder badge and four-cornered cap. Lately, I have seen a good many French, who, like the Poles, are easily distinguished by their headgear. A large portion of the British of both sexes are in uniform, which is a novelty as far as the women are concerned".

Between 22 July 1941 and 14 July 1943, he was also the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Władysław Sikorski. In this capacity, he provided the Allies with one of the earliest and most accurate accounts of the ongoing Holocaust ("The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland", Raczyński's Note addressed to the Governments of the United Nations on 10 December 1942") and pleaded for action. Along with Sikorski, Raczyński was deeply involved in talks in June 1942 with the Soviet ambassador to Britain, Ivan Maisky, along with the visiting Soviet foreign commissar Vyacheslav Molotov for the release of the Poles imprisoned in Soviet camps. The British foreign secretary Anthony Eden and the permanent undersecretary Alexander Cadogan served as mediators during the tense Polish-Soviet talks, which came close to breaking down several times. Reflecting their personalities, Molotov played the "hard man" role who lived up to his nickname of "Mr Nyet" while the genial and easy-going Maisky played the more accommodating role. The talks ended with the Soviets agreeing to release a number of the imprisoned Poles, most notably the surviving Polish servicemen taken prisoner by the Red Army in 1939 who left the Soviet Union to form the 2nd Polish Corps under the command of General Władysław Anders. However, Sikorski and Raczyński were unable to secure a promise that the Soviet Union would return the areas of Poland annexed in 1939 under the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact, with Molotov saying that the frontiers established in 1939 would be the post-war Polish-Soviet border.

Raczyński noted that relations between Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle were frequently stormy and tempestuous as the two men did not get along very well, but that Churchill had to tolerate de Gaulle because he was the only non-Communist French leader at large who was not a collaborator and because the British needed a strong France after the war to serve as a bulwark against the Soviet Union. Raczyński wrote: "De Gaulle could afford to irritate British statemen and tell them unpleasant truths to their faces. They might not like it, but they could not afford to abandon him or France. However, they could and did treat the Polish cause and that of the whole of Eastern Europe as something secondary, not a vital interest of their own, but as a debt of honour to be discharged, if possible without excessive effort or risk".

In July 1944, Raczyński told the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden that Warsaw was on the brink of a rebellion and stated that the Polish government-in-exile would soon start "Operation Tempest", a plan for the AK (Armia Krajowa–Home Army) to rise up to seize Warsaw, as it was reported that German forces were pulling out of Warsaw. Raczyński also asked that the BBC's German language service should broadcast a message asking for the Germans to treat the AK as legitimate soldiers entitled to being treated as prisoners of war and not summarily execute captured members of the AK as they usually did as the Germans insist that the AK were guerrillas who were operating outside of the laws of war.

Later life

thumb|Sarcophagus of President Edward Raczyński in Rogalin

After 1945, when the government of the United Kingdom broke the pacts with Poland and withdrew support for the Polish government, Raczyński remained in London, where he acted as one of the most notable members of the Polish diaspora there. He was active in various political and social organisations in exile, including the Fundusz Pomocy Krajowi (Help for the Country Fund), which actively supported the democratic opposition in communist-controlled Poland. Between 1954 and 1972, he was one of the members of the Council of the Three, the collective presidential body of the Polish government-in-exile. He was also a member of the Committee for Polish Affairs and an advisor to various British governmental agencies and ministries.

In March 1979, Raczyński became president in exile, after being previously chosen by the outgoing President Stanisław Ostrowski. In turn, he chose as his successor Prime Minister Kazimierz Sabbat.

During the Raczyński presidency (1979–1986), the Solidarity movement was established in Poland. Raczyński played an important role in raising awareness about the events in Poland in Western countries and in establishing closer ties with the opposition movement in Poland.

President Raczyński at some point considered naming Władysław Bartoszewski as his successor, as he wanted to choose someone "from the country" and with strong ties to the Polish opposition movement. Bartoszewski, however, declined the offer.

After serving a 7-year term, he resigned from his post on 8 April 1986. He was the last Polish President-in-Exile who had held an important office during the era of the 2nd Republic: his successors, Kazimierz Sabbat and Ryszard Kaczorowski, were in their twenties at the outset of the Second World War. As he left office, he received praise for reuniting the Polish political emigration and reshaping the Government-in-exile.

Death and legacy

Raczyński died on 30 July 1993 at his home in London, the last male descendant of his line. His coffin was placed in the mausoleum of his family located at the chapel in Rogalin. In his last will and testament, Count Raczyński bequeathed his family's palace in Rogalin and his library to the Polish nation. He was the longest living head of state in Poland's history and one of the very few centenarians among European politicians of the 20th century.

In 2004, a blue plaque was installed on the house where he lived and died, No. 8 Lennox Gardens in Brompton.

Honours

  • Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland)
  • Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE)
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX from the Pope
  • Doctor Honoris Causa of the Polish University Abroad, London, in 1982; Jagellonian University in 1992
  • Honorary citizen of the cities of Kraków and Poznań

Family

thumb|Funeral of Wanda Dembińska (née Raczyńska) in Rogalin on 27 February 2016

In 1925, Edward Raczyński married Joyous Markham, daughter of a British coal mining mogul, Sir Arthur Markham, 1st Baronet, but she died in 1931.

On 25 August 1932, he married his second wife, Cecylia Maria Jaroszyńska, by whom he had three daughters:

  • Wanda Dembińska née Raczyńska (1933–2016), wife of Capt. Ryszard Dembiński (1924–2008), who was chairman of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in 1979–2003;
  • Viridianna Rey, née Raczyńska (b. 1935), wife of Count Xawery Rey (1934–1987);
  • Katarzyna Raczyńska (b. 1939).

In 1962, his second wife, Cecylia, died.

In 1991, at the age of 99, Edward Raczyński married his third wife, Aniela Lilpop (daughter of architect, Franciszek Lilpop), thus legalising a union of many years.

Bibliography

Raczyński's Works

  • Edward Raczyński, The British-Polish Alliance, Its Origin and Meaning; London 1948.
  • Edward Raczyński, W sojuszniczym Londynie. Dziennik ambasadora Edwarda Raczyńskiego 1939–1945; London 1960. .
  • Edward Raczynski, "In Allied London. The Wartime diaries of the Polish Ambassador", London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962.
  • Omar Khayyám, Rubayat. Polish translation by Edward Raczyński, London, 1960.
  • Edward Raczyński, Rogalin i jego mieszkańcy. London, 1969. .
  • Edward Raczyński, Pani Róża (a Biography of his mother), London 1969. .
  • Edward Raczyński, Od Narcyza Kulikowskiego do Winstona Churchilla. London 1976.
  • Edward Raczynski (with Tadeusz Zenczykowski), "Od Genewy do Jalty. Rozmowy radiowe", London, Puls, 1988.
  • Edward Raczyński, Czas wielkich zmian. Paris 1990. .

Family History

  • Simon Konarski, Armorial de la Noblesse Polonaise titrée, Paris 1958.

Raczyński's Biography

  • Krzysztof Kania, Edward Bernard Raczynski, 1891–1993, Dyplomata i Polityk, Wydawnictwo Neriton, Warsaw, 2014.

See also

  • History of Poland
  • Polish Government in Exile

Books

References

  • Ex-Libris of Edward Raczyński
  • Rogalin palace
  • [http://rogalin.org/rogalin.org] – Information for tourists and citizens.