„Notatki w sprawie ukraińskiej” Romana Knolla z grudnia 1917 r.
“Notes on the Ukrainian Question” from December 1917 by Roman Knoll

Summary/Abstract: This article presents a little-known memorial drawn up in December 1917 by a leading activ- ist of the Polish Democratic Centre in Ruthenia, later a diplomat of the Second Republic of Poland, Roman Knoll. It included the author’s synthetic assessment of the revolutionary events on the Dnieper and outlined a programme of action for the reborn Polish state with regard to Ukraine. The memorial’s main thrust was the assumption that the necessary condition for Poland’s safe existence was the division of the former Russian empire into nation-states, par- ticularly the emergence of an independent republic of Ukraine. Knoll postulated support for the Ukrainians’ efforts for independence and counteracting any attempts to tie Ukraine with Russia by federal knots. At the same time, he raised the need to obtain the broadest possible autonomy for the Polish population in Ukraine and to preserve Polish land ownership. As for the future of Polish-Ukrainian relations, Knoll wanted these to be based on democratic prin- ciples and mutual antagonisms to be mitigated. He estimated – too optimistically, as it turned out – that the territorial disputes emerging between Poland and Ukraine could be amicably resolved. Further on, Knoll developed the ideas presented in the document, and they signifi- cantly impacted the formulation of the Eastern policy of the Piłsudski camp.

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