O umundurowaniu urzędników administracji ogólnej w Polsce międzywojennej
Concerning Uniforms for Officials of the General Administration in Interwar Poland

Summary/Abstract: The interwar period brought with it a wider interest in the question of uniforms, especially in the context of services acting in the interests of public order and safety. Uniforms for civilian clerks received less attention. The first attempts to introduce uniforms for civil clerks were taken by the temporary administration in the Eastern Borderlands. The move came about as an effort at building respect for Polish government officials among the local people, above all, members of the national minorities, in consideration of the frequent contact between the clerks and the military. In central Poland, where the positions of the first starostas were filled by representatives of the local elites, the introduction of separate uniforms served to show the difference between governmental officials (including local) and civil society. The civil service law of 1922 aimed to settle the question of uniforms. It allowed for the introduction of separate uniforms for clerks, but left the details to subsequent regulation. As a result, regulations governing civil clerks’ uniforms (e.g. railwaymen, customs officials, diplomats, etc.) were left to successive administrations. Talk of uniforms for clerks in the general administration continued, though up until the end of the Second Republic the problem remained unsolved. Among the biggest problems was a lack of money, whether in the state budget or the clerks’ own pockets.

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