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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Piast Concept</span></span>
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</style><table class="infobox vevent"><caption class="infobox-title summary">Piast Concept</caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><div class="infobox-caption">A poster expressing the Piast Concept, produced during the <a href="Second_Polish_Republic" title="Second Polish Republic">Second Polish Republic</a> staking claims to western territory based on the historical reach of Polish lands under <a href="Boles%C5%82aw_I_the_Brave" title="Bolesław I the Brave">Bolesław I the Brave</a>, <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 1918-1939</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Years active</th><td class="infobox-data">1890s-present</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Country</th><td class="infobox-data">Poland</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Major figures</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="Jan_Ludwik_Pop%C5%82awski" title="Jan Ludwik Popławski">Jan Ludwik Popławski</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Influenced</th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">
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<ul><li><a href="National-Democratic_Party_(Poland)" title="National-Democratic Party (Poland)">SDN</a></li>
<li><a href="PZPR" class="mw-redirect" title="PZPR">PZPR</a></li></ul>
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<p>The <b>Piast Concept</b> is a political idea of the Polish state based on its initial territories under the <a href="Piast_dynasty" title="Piast dynasty">Piast dynasty</a>, containing a mostly Polish population. It holds that Poland, composed of primarily Polish parts in the West during the Middle Ages, was a solid Westernized state and was equal to other Western European countries.
</p><p>For its supporters, the Piast Concept is mainly identified with Westernization, attachment to Europe and its ideas, close relationship with Western countries, and pragmatism in international relations while avoiding unwise adventures in the East.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Development_of_the_Piast_Concept">Development of the Piast Concept</h2></div>
<p><a href="Jan_Ludwik_Pop%C5%82awski" title="Jan Ludwik Popławski">Jan Poplawski</a> developed the Piast Concept in the 1890s. It formed the centerpiece of Polish nationalist ideology, especially as presented by the <a href="National-Democratic_Party_(Poland)" title="National-Democratic Party (Poland)">National Democracy Party</a>, known as the Endecja, which was led by <a href="Roman_Dmowski" title="Roman Dmowski">Roman Dmowski</a>. The concept was also supported by Polish peasant parties.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Jagiellon_Concept">Jagiellon Concept</h2></div>
<p>A rival Jagiellon Concept was endorsed by the interwar governments dominated by <a href="J%C3%B3zef_Pi%C5%82sudski" title="Józef Piłsudski">Józef Piłsudski</a>. It looked to the grandeur of <a href="History_of_Poland_during_the_Jagiellonian_dynasty" title="History of Poland during the Jagiellonian dynasty">Poland under the Jagiellonian dynasty</a> in the later Middle Ages, which linked <a href="Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth" title="Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth">Poland–Lithuania</a>, <a href="Crown_of_Bohemia" class="mw-redirect" title="Crown of Bohemia">Bohemia</a>, and <a href="Lands_of_the_Crown_of_St._Stephen" class="mw-redirect" title="Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen">Hungary</a> under Polish kings.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The Jagiellon Concept focused on the underdeveloped eastern territories inhabited chiefly by <a href="Ukrainians" title="Ukrainians">Ukrainians</a>, <a href="Lithuanians" title="Lithuanians">Lithuanians</a>, and <a href="Belarusians" title="Belarusians">Belarusians</a>.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="After_1940">After 1940</h2></div>
<p><a href="Joseph_Stalin" title="Joseph Stalin">Joseph Stalin</a> at the 1943 <a href="Tehran_Conference" title="Tehran Conference">Tehran Conference</a> discussed with <a href="Winston_Churchill" title="Winston Churchill">Winston Churchill</a> and <a href="Franklin_D._Roosevelt" title="Franklin D. Roosevelt">Franklin Roosevelt</a> new post-war borders in central-eastern Europe, including the shape of future Poland. He endorsed the Piast Concept to justify a massive postwar shift of Poland's frontiers to the West. After discussions over many months, Britain and the United States agreed with Stalin on the new borders, but the <a href="Polish_government-in-exile" title="Polish government-in-exile">Polish government-in-exile</a> remained opposed.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<p>After 1945 the Communist government adopted the Piast Concept, using it to support their claim that they were champions of Polish national interests.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Calling the newly acquired formerly German territory the <a href="Recovered_Territories" title="Recovered Territories">Recovered Territories</a>, the Communist regime made an effort to justify the acquisition in terms of the Piast Concept.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>After the Communist regime ended, Poland pursued a western-orientated foreign policy, in line with the ideas of the Piast Concept.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Criticism">Criticism</h2></div>
<p><a href="Geoffrey_Hosking" title="Geoffrey Hosking">Geoffrey Hosking</a> and <a href="George_Sch%C3%B6pflin" class="mw-redirect" title="George Schöpflin">George Schöpflin</a> argue that the Piast Concept "rested on a simple and persuasive historical myth".<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> They summarize the essence of this "myth" as follows:
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</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>A thousand years ago and more, the Polish population had supposedly lived on its ancestral land in unity and harmony, ruled by the benevolent hand of its first legendary ruler, a peasant called Piast ... however, the Poles lost their unity and lost control of their native land. All manner of aliens and intruders – Germans, Jews, Ukrainians, and Russians ... took large parts of Poland's towns and countryside for themselves ... Poland was robbed of her inheritance. So the message was clear. All patriotic Poles had a duty to unite and drive all foreigners from their native soil: "Poland for the Poles!"<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p></blockquote>
<p>Historian <a href="Norman_Davies" title="Norman Davies">Norman Davies</a> says that Dmowski based his vision of Poland on the "primitive" Piast period, "uncorrupted by alien influence".<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2></div>
<div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references">
<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">
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</style><cite class="citation web cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/">"Wiadomości - Wiadomości w Onet - Najnowsze i Najważniejsze Wiadomości z Kraju i Świata"</a>. <i>Onet Wiadomości</i> (in Polish)<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2024-03-22</span></span>.</cite></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/">"Wiadomości - Wiadomości w Onet - Najnowsze i Najważniejsze Wiadomości z Kraju i Świata"</a>. <i>Onet Wiadomości</i> (in Polish)<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2024-03-22</span></span>.</cite></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFVictor_S._Mamatey1978" class="citation book cs1">Victor S. Mamatey (1978). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%5B%5BJ%C3%B3zef+Pi%C5%82sudski%5D%5D.+%22Jagellon+concept%22#q=%22glowingly+of+the+grandeur+of+the+%22Jagellon+system%2C%22&tbm=bks"><i>Rise of the Habsburg Empire, 1526–1815</i></a>. Krieger. p. 24.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Tony Sharp, "The Origins of the 'Teheran Formula' on Polish Frontiers", <i>Journal of Contemporary History</i> (1977) 12#2 pp. 381–393 <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/260222">in JSTOR</a></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFDavies" class="citation book cs1">Davies. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lMQei5CPZUgC&pg=PA286"><i>Heart of Europe</i></a>. pp. <span class="nowrap">286–</span>87.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFGeneviève_Zubrzycki2009" class="citation book cs1">Geneviève Zubrzycki (2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6HI5Bbn9e8sC&pg=PA61"><i>The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-Communist Poland</i></a>. University of Chicago Press. pp. <span class="nowrap">61–</span>62.</cite></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">T. David Curp, <i>A clean sweep?: the politics of ethnic cleansing in western Poland, 1945–1960</i> (2006)</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Główne kierunki polityki zagranicznej rządu Donalda Tuska w latach 2007–2011. By Paweł Musiałek, p. 14</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFGeoffrey_A._Hosking_and_George_Schöpflin1997" class="citation book cs1">Geoffrey A. Hosking and George Schöpflin (1997). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=UoOpBJk52GcC&pg=PA152"><i>Myths and Nationhood</i></a>. Routledge. p. 152.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFGeoffrey_A._Hosking_and_George_Schöpflin1997" class="citation book cs1">Geoffrey A. Hosking and George Schöpflin (1997). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=UoOpBJk52GcC&pg=PA152"><i>Myths and Nationhood</i></a>. Routledge. p. 152.</cite></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFNorman_Davies2001" class="citation book cs1">Norman Davies (2001). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=yWi-WLvY_v0C&pg=PT197"><i>Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland's Present</i></a>. Oxford University Press. p. 197.</cite></span>
</li>
</ol></div>
<p>1. Ewolucja systemu politycznego w Polsce w latach 1914-1998. T. 1. Odbudowanie niepodległego państwa i jego rozwój do 1945 r. Cz. 1, Zbiór studiów 1999. Polska myśl zachodnia XIX I XX wieku Czubiński Antoni
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