Anniversary of the foundation by Józef Piłsudski, the alleged Polish National Organization.
Today in our calendar we will look at a little-known episode from the activity of Józef Piłsudski – an effort to undermine the authority of Kraków Chief National Committee.
In 1914, Piłsudski participated in the organization by the Austrian intelligence of the 1st Personnel Company, with which he entered the Russian business area, in order to organize the insurrection of the local population. He besides initiated the Polish Military Organization (POW) established in Warsaw. The population of the Kingdom of Poland was not in favour of a staff company. Soldiers were closed doors and windows, rightly regarded as agents and provokers of central states.
Due to the failure of the invocation, Vienna demanded that the company be incorporated into the imperial-king army. Piłsudski felt helpless and depressed; he even considered suicide. Galician politicians found a way out of the situation. On 16 August in Krakow, the Chief National Committee (NKN) was formed with Julius Leo at the head, who, with the approval of the Austrian authorities, subjected himself to a staff company and another already formed branches. NKN immediately began creating higher-ranking units, called the Polish Legions.
Until today, among Poles there is simply a belief about the organization of Legions straight by Piłsudski, which is clearly not true. In September 1914, he stopped supporting NKN and formed his own political organization called the Polish National Organization in Kielce. It was actually independent of the Austrians, but in addition to publishing and intelligence activities for the German army, it did little.
The Polish National Organization was created precisely on 5 September 1914 in Kielce. The adventurer and narcissist Piłsudski, threatened with NKN, in which he could not play a leadership role, established his own competitive structure. He divided it into civilian and military units. The civilian branch appealed to the false National Government, which the uprising announced in August. The Military Pioneer in turn was to deal with a verbunkov action to compete with the Legions under the leadership of NKN, Piłsudski troops.
The smashing action gained support from German intelligence, who reluctantly looked at the Polish-Austrian program, developed by NKN. Thanks to the support of his cells from the 9th Army, a secret Polish-German contract was concluded. Under her power, PON could operate in areas occupied by Germans. In October, the number of PON structures increased to about 300 members of the organization and 500 sympathizers. It was begun to issue a letter about the name “Polish Legionist” which struck the NKN.
At the turn of October and November 1914, there were German failures on the front and moving it far west. In view of the dedication of the territories of the Kingdom of Poland, PON was forced to flee and actually cease operations. At a convention in Vienna held at the end of November, it was decided to dissolve the organization and join the NKN back. Piłsudski was angry, but he surrendered. Soon, as part of the NKN, he started another personnel game against the NKN chiefs, whose final was the division of the brigade and the oath crisis.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
