The Illusion of Freedom: Deserters from the Polish Army in Czechoslovakia and from the Czechoslovak Army in Poland before 1939 in the Light of Polish Documents
The Illusion of Freedom: Deserters from the Polish Army in Czechoslovakia and from the Czechoslovak Army in Poland before 1939 in the Light of Polish Documents

Summary/Abstract: A small number of Czech conscripts served in the multinational interwar Polish Army, most of whom came from the region of Volhynia. In the national reports prepared by the Polish Army before World War II, it is difficult to find criticism of Czech recruits from Volhynia. Between 1918–1939, thousands of soldiers serving in various regiments escaped from Poland and fled abroad. Only a few Czechs deserted from the multinational Polish Army, whilst the number of Slovak deserters was even smaller. During the 1920s most deserters from the Polish Army to Czechoslovakia were Ukrainian nationalists, who were usually looking to make contact with the Ukrainian Military Organization that functioned in Prague between 1920–1925. However, Jews and Poles also deserted to Czechoslovakia. In the interwar period, Czechs, Slovaks, Jews and Poles serving in the Czechoslovak Army also fled to Poland. Based on Polish documents, it is impossible to determine the exact scale of these desertions, but it is known that many Czech deserters were communists who viewed Poland simply as a transit country on the way to the Soviet Union. Despite many differences, deserters from Poland and Czechoslovakia had a lot in common. Escaping to a neighboring country was often an attempt to avoid criminal liability for crimes committed in the home country, and many deserters believed that they could start again and build a better life outside Poland or Czechoslovakia. Usually, however, this was an illusion of freedom.

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