The Image of Interwar Poland in the Book Pologne, Pologne... by Olivier d’Etchegoyen
The Image of Interwar Poland in the Book Pologne, Pologne... by Olivier d’Etchegoyen

Summary/Abstract: This work is a travel book published by a nowadays obscure French count in Paris in 1925. The author had formed part of the French military mission sent in the newly restored Polish state. The intention, moreover praiseworthy, was to cast a truer light on this Central European country, which had been acquiring, according to the author, a ‘misty, legendary image’. Nevertheless, the narrative is confined to only a part of Poland, namely the eastern one, chiefly that which had been under Tsarist domination – including the capital – and parts of 21th-century states Lithuania and Belarus. This work is upon the general eclectic, mixing descriptions of urban centres with those of the life of the aristocracy, the clergy, peasants, and ethnic minorities such as the Jews. There is also a chapter on Bolshevism. This book aspires to being a great fresco, but in our opinion it does not succeed in this. Some aspects are treated in detail, including figures, whereas others are superficially written about and even overlooked. The general aspect is that of a more negative rather than positive picture of Poland, whereas the sources quoted are often subjective.

• Details
• Contents