Colonels' group

:"Colonels' regime redirects here. For the Greek colonels' regime, see Greek military junta of 1967–1974."Colonels' group, colonels' regime(s) or Piłsudski's colonels [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,787573,00.html Pilsudski Bros.] , TIME, Monday, Apr. 07, 1930] [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,746610,00.html Colonels' Constitution] , TIME, Monday, Dec. 25, 1933] refers to the group of prominent individuals in the Second Polish Republic that dominated the Polish government from 1926 to 1939 (and in some context, the term is meant to refer primarily to their last period, 1935-1939).Jerzy Jan Lerski, Piotr Wróbel, Richard J. Kozicki, "Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945", Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, ISBN 0313260079, [http://books.google.com/books?id=FPxhOu_n1VYC&pg=PA368&dq=Pi%C5%82sudski+%22colonels%27+group%22&as_brr=3&ei=ImigSJqTI5XAigGWxcT7BA&sig=ACfU3U2DqoU0O0Uj7br0Bj0bwKBAFQAWwg Google Print, 368] ] Close allies of Józef Piłsudski, most were former members of the Polish Legions and Polish Military Organisation (POW), cite book
last=Leslie
first=R. F.
authorlink=
title=The History of Poland Since 1863
year=1983
publisher=Cambridge University Press
location=Cambridge
isbn=0521275016, [http://books.google.com/books?id=0tYVKUsnw9IC&pg=PA170&dq=Pi%C5%82sudski+%22colonels%27+group%22&as_brr=3&ei=ImigSJqTI5XAigGWxcT7BA&sig=ACfU3U152sscGc3dVtNs0C1_BCWToTQiDA Google Print, p.170] ] and members of the Polish Army (particularly in years 1919-1920, during the Polish-Soviet War, before Piłsudski's resignation). They held the key but not necessarily highest offices and ranks in the Polish Army during Piłsudski's May Coup. [pl icon [http://encyklopedia.interia.pl/haslo?hid=101472 SANACJA] , Encyklopedia Interia] Later they became important figures in Piłsudski's sanacja movement and members of several government cabinets. After the "BBWR's" 1930 victory Piłsudski left most internal matters in the hands of his "colonels," while he himself concentrated on military and foreign affairs.cite web |last=Chojnowski|first=Andrzej|url=http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=3957301|language=Polish|title=Piłsudski Józef Klemens|work=Internetowa encyklopedia PWN|accessmonthday=January 15|accessyear=2008|publisher=PWN]

They included: Józef Beck, Janusz Jędrzejewicz, Wacław Jędrzejewicz, Adam Koc, Leon Kozłowski, Ignacy Matuszewski, Bogusław Miedziński, Bronisław Pieracki, Aleksander Prystor, Walery Sławek, Kazimierz Świtalski, Adam Skwarczyński

The times of the colonel's regime can be divided into three eras: 1926-1929, 1930-1935, and 1935-1939.pl icon Jacek Piotrowski, [http://www.mowiawieki.pl/artykul.html?id_artykul=1742 Piłsudczycy u władzy] , "Mówią wieki" (05/2006)] During the first period, after the May Coup, the colonels (and sanacja in general) cemented their control of the Polish government. The second period, after the Brest elections in 1930, was the period of colonel's regime under Piłsudski's guidance, with closet power held by the closet allies and friends of Piłsudski, such as Walery Slawek and Aleksander Prystor (both of whom known Piłsudski since their time in "bojówki" in 1905). After Piłsudski's death in 1935, the hardliners "colonels' group", led by Walery Sławek, lost influence to the "castle group" of Ignacy Mościcki and Edward Rydz-Śmigły.Jerzy Jan Lerski, Piotr Wróbel, Richard J. Kozicki, "Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945", Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, ISBN 0313260079, [http://books.google.com/books?id=FPxhOu_n1VYC&pg=PA368&dq=Pi%C5%82sudski+%22colonels%27+group%22&as_brr=3&ei=ImigSJqTI5XAigGWxcT7BA&sig=ACfU3U2DqoU0O0Uj7br0Bj0bwKBAFQAWwg Google Print, 368] ] Nonetheless the "colonel's regime" and sanacja still dominated the Polish government in the years 1935-1939 (till the German invasion of Poland), [Raymond Leslie Buell, "Poland - Key to Europe", READ BOOKS, 2007, ISBN 1406745642, [http://books.google.com/books?id=-KcfGbrKptoC&pg=PA118&vq=colonels&dq=Pi%C5%82sudski+%22colonels'+group%22&as_brr=3&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U15G8sG37ERuVLpklhnL-3QPECSAQ Google Print, p.118] ] and some scholars actually distinguish between the "Piłsudski's period" (1926-1935) and the "true colonel's period" (1935-1939).Peter D. Stachura, "Poland, 1918-1945: An Interpretive and Documentary History of the Second Republic", Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0415343577, [http://books.google.com/books?id=Nr5uqSHsGEAC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=%22Colonels'+regime%22+Poland&source=web&ots=8ab97fhFfE&sig=7vDPuGYjfg_-EQo0aF860H44t5c&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA68,M1 Google Print, p.68] ] From 1937, the new official front of the colonel's group would be the Camp of National Unity (OZON). [Abraham J. Edelheit, Hershel Edelheit, "History of the Holocaust: A Handbook and Dictionary", Westview Press, 1994, ISBN 0813322405, [http://books.google.com/books?id=ilnACY97x4kC&pg=PA187&dq=Pi%C5%82sudski+%22colonels%22&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=zHKgSNGUBof-jgGet6D7BA&sig=ACfU3U1H9MK7-VeasSvXJVelNBfS40Sgrg#PPA187,M1 Google Print, p.187] ] In that last period, the Polish government - seen as a "dicatorship without a dictator" - in order to gain more support from the citizens, adopted some of the nationalistic, anti-minority policies paradoxically opposed by Piłsudski and advocated by his most vocal opponents, the "endecja" faction. [Paul N. Hehn, "A Low Dishonest Decade: The Great Powers, Eastern Europe, and the Economic Origins of World War II, 1930-1941", Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002, ISBN 0826417612, [http://books.google.com/books?id=nOALhEZkYDkC&pg=PA65&dq=Pi%C5%82sudski+colonels&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=fnWgSOGgCYTMigGu_cn6BA&sig=ACfU3U1gz4Lj4OYv047fGmJJh-PpjGPl6w#PPA65,M1 Google Print, p.66] ]

Notes

ee also

*Pi%C5%82sudskiite

Further reading

*H. Wereszycki, "Towards a Total Dictatorship (1931-1939)", History of Poland, Warsaw, 1968, p.689-709