Edward Bernard Raczyński

Biography

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.

Raczyński spent most of his childhood in Kraków, in the family palace in Pod Baranami and in the family palace in Rogalin in Greater Poland. He studied law in Leipzig, Kraków, and London (the London School of Economics) and was awarded a doctorate by the Jagiellonian University in Kraków in 1915. In November 1918, Raczynski joined the army of the resurrected Poland, from which he was called to the diplomatic service in May 1919. Until 1925, he worked in Polish embassies and missions in Bern, Copenhagen and London. Back in Warsaw, he became the head of the department of international agreements. In 1932, Raczyński was appointed Polish ambassador to the League of Nations and in 1934, he became the ambassador of the Republic of Poland in the United Kingdom.

Both the British government and the British public at large tended to view Anglo-Polish relations through the prism of Anglo-German relations. In the interwar period, the Treaty of Versailles was widely felt in Britain to be too harsh towards Germany, and the British government tended to sympathise with Germany's demands for the return of the Free City of Danzig (modern Gdańsk), the Polish Corridor and Upper Silesia. The British Foreign Secretary Sir Austen Chamberlain had pursued the Locarno treaty of 1925 largely to facilitate German revanchism in Eastern Europe peacefully. 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. Raczyński himself noted right from the moment that he arrived in London as ambassador that Poland was not a nation that British officials liked very, and the British historian Adam Zamoyski wrote that Raczyński "mobilised all the reserves of his breeding, sense of humour and immense personal charm" to champion Poland's case. Zamoyski noted: "Although he was vivacious and surprisingly active, even in his nineties, Raczynski was not a forceful personality."

The two British politicians whom Raczyński was most close to were Sir Samuel Hoare and Winston Churchill. However, the reasons for the interest of Hoare and Churchill differed. Hoare was an ardent appeaser who favoured a deal under which Poland would allow the Free City of Danzig to rejoin Germany while returning the Polish Corridor and Upper Silesia to the Reich. Churchill, by contrast, favoured a "Grand Alliance" against Nazi Germany. A major aim of the Polish Foreign Minister Colonel Józef Beck was to win Poland an empire in Africa. Raczyński closely followed the talks concerning the German demand for the return of the former German colonial empire in Africa, which he hoped might establish a basis for Poland receiving an African colony. In June 1936, Raczyński reported to Warsaw that the plans by Labour and Liberal MPs for the League of Nations to play a greater role in the ruling of the German colonies held by Britain as mandates was "a red cloth for the imperialist group of Conservatives, the so-called "die hards"" who wanted to annex the former German colonies as British colonies.

The Danzig crisis

During the Sudetenland crisis of 1938, Raczyński reported to his superior, the Foreign Minister Colonel Józef Beck, that Poland's stance in pressing its claim to the disputed Teschen region had made a negative impression both with the British government and the British public. The Polish historian Anita J. Prazmowska wrote that, despite the way that the government of Neville Chamberlain had favoured the German claim to the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, the Chamberlain cabinet regarded Poland's actions in pressing its claims to the Teschen region of Czechoslovakia as a treacherous and base action. Reflecting Beck's interest in an African empire, Raczyński was in close contact with Charles Theodore Te Water, the South African high commissioner in London as South Africa was deeply involved in the colonial talks with Germany as South Africa held the former colony of German South West Africa (modern Namibia) as a League of Nations mandate. In November 1938, Raczyński closely followed the visit of the South African defence minister Oswald Pirow, who arrived in Europe with the aim of effecting a colonial deal that would lead to an Anglo-German alliance. Pirow had been sent by the South African prime minister J. B. M. Hertzog to offer up a deal under which Germany would take over the African colonies of some of the weaker European such as Portugal and Belgium, in exchange for Germany renouncing its claim to Southwest Africa, which Hertzog hoped to annex to South Africa. Raczyński reported that the meeting between Pirow and Hitler at the Reich Chancellery on 24 November 1938 did not go well as Hitler continued to insist that he wanted back all of the African colonies the Reich had ruled in 1914.

On 9 December 1938, the British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax told Raczyński that he wanted to see the League of Nations end its role as the protector of the current status of the Free City of Danzig (modern Gdańsk) by 16 January 1939. The United Kingdom was one of the veto-holding permanent members of the League Council (the executive arm of the League analogous to the Security Council of the United Nations) and thus had much say in the running of the League. The decision to have Carl Jacob Burckhardt, the League of Nations high commissioner for Danzig, pull out created much alarm in Warsaw, as the end of the League's role in protecting Danzig's status would end international involvement in the Danzig question and reduce the issue to a bilateral German-Polish dispute. Raczyński protested very strongly that Poland wanted the League to continue its role in Danzig and succeeded in having the question postponed. In response to Polish protests, the League Council ruled that Burckhardt would stay on as the League of Nations High Commissioner for Danzig until at least late 1939. Anglo-Polish relations were distinctly unfriendly in the first months of 1939. Raczyński reported to Warsaw on 8 February 1939 that the Chamberlain cabinet seemed to accept all of Eastern Europe as being in the German sphere of influence and stated that Chamberlain had a strong dislike of the Soviet Union. Raczyński wrote "one could risk the statement that by this "forgetting" of the Soviets, Prime Minister Chamberlain was flirting with the German partner". On 1 March 1939, Raczyński in a dispatch to Warsaw wrote the Chamberlain government was increasing its military estimates to Parliament, but stated that Chamberlain was still committed to appeasement with the increased defence spending merely being a bargaining tool with the Reich. Raczyński reported that based on his sources within the British government that Chamberlain was primarily concerned about Adolf Hitler's demand that Britain return the former German African colonies administered by Britain as mandates for the League of Nations. Raczyński expressed concern that Chamberlain might strike a deal with Hitler under which Britain would recognise Eastern Europe as being in the German sphere of influence in exchange for the Reich renouncing its claim to its former colonies in Africa. On the other hand, Raczyński predicated that if Britain and Germany failed to reach a settlement on the issue of former German colonies in Africa, then Britain would be more friendly towards Poland as a counterweight to Germany. Raczyński concluded that the future of Anglo-Polish relations depended upon whatever Britain and Germany could reach a settlement over the issue of the former German colonies in Africa. He reported that the failure of the Pirow mission indicated increasing Anglo-German tension over the colonial question, which led him to predict that Britain would soon be interested in Poland.

World War II

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 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.

Later life

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

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.