The Polish Minority Treaty and the Polish idea of generalisation of minority protection commitments within the League of Nations
The Polish Minority Treaty and the Polish idea of generalisation of minority protection commitments within the League of Nations

Summary/Abstract: In 1919 Poland officially accepted its minority protection commitments. Nevertheless, the treaty and the international system of minority protection was still perceived as an unjustified burden and a threat to state sovereignty. The debates in the Legislative Sejm showed both fears and obligations felt by the members of parliament. Already in the 1920s and even more actively in 1930s Polish diplomacy was introducing the idea of generalisation of minority protection commitments to the League of Nations. Poland wanted all members of the LoN to have equal obligations regarding their minorities. The fight for generalisation ended on 13th September 1934 when the Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Józef Beck, declared that Poland would refrain from further cooperation with LoN regarding minority protection until a new 'universal and uniform’ system of such protection was established. The aim of the article is to present, in chronological order, how this idea was developed and what actions were undertaken by Polish diplomacy on this account. Both the starting point: the minority question discussed during Paris Peace Conference, and the ending point: Polish foreign minister Józef Beck’s speech of 13th September 1934, are relatively well-known in historiography. Our goal is to highlight what is frequently omitted or misunderstood, i.e. the perspective of Polish diplomacy on those issues. As we will argue, the idea of generalisation of minority protection commitments was crucial for the Polish approach to the minority question within the League of Nations. The article used the archival resources of: The National Archives in London, Foreign Office, and the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London.

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