Arka Bożek – Polish minority activist in Silesia, politician and publicist

Arka Bożek was born on 12 January 1899 in Markowitz / Markowice (today a district of Racibórz). His parents were Karol Bożek, owner of a medium-sized farm, and Bernardyna née Sławik, daughter of a miller. The Bożek family had lived in Markowice since at least the middle of the 16th century. At home, they spoke the Silesian dialect as well as Polish. Arka started learning German at primary school. Arka’s parents were interested in social affairs and often hosted Polish activists. As a child, Bożek visited Kraków and Jasna Góra (Częstochowa) with his father. However, at that time he was influenced by German culture and the propaganda of the superpowers. Against his parents’ convictions, he joined the Imperial German Army in the spring of 1915. He experienced discrimination in the army because of his origins, which led to him developing a sense of Polish national identity. In the immediate post-war period, Bożek was temporarily aligned with the German left, a move that saw him accused of communism for years. Nevertheless, the principles of social justice remained important to him throughout his life. He related them to the national question: for him, the Polish-speaking Silesians were the exploited people, subordinate to the German capitalists and the administration. 

Before becoming politically active in his region, Bożek concentrated on his private life. In late 1918, he took over his father’s farm and married Jadwiga Komor (1900–1992), the daughter of wealthy farmers. His modest, hard-working and selfless wife became a true beacon of strength and a great support for Arka. The couple had three daughters (the first was born in 1922) and a son who died in infancy. 

Bożek campaigned publicly during the time of the struggle for the future of Silesia, which heightened tensions between the various population groups. He quickly renounced his involvement in the German left (Spartacus League), which favoured Silesia becoming part of Germany. After finally deciding to support the Polish side, Arka joined the Polish Peasant/People’s Party (Polska Partia Ludowa, PPL), which was founded by the ZPwN in 1922. He won a seat on the Markowice municipal council in the local elections and became known as a gifted orator who knew how to connect with ordinary people. Like many Polish veterans, Bożek joined the Polish Military Organisation of Upper Silesia. He was not involved in the direct fighting during the First Uprising in August 1919, but he took part in blowing up a bridge near Ratibor (Racibórz). In the period leading up to the referendum, he campaigned among the Polish-speaking Silesian Catholics to vote in favour of Poland. During the Third Uprising in 1921, Bożek fought in the ranks of the 4th Infantry Regiment deployed in Racibórz. He commanded a company and organised the medical service. He also tried to keep a check on violence against the civilian population or clashes between the feuding Germans and Poles. The demarcation of the German-Polish border in 1922 placed the Bożek family farm directly at the border on the German side. Despite being at personal risk, Bożek decided to stay in Germany and stand up for the interests of the Polish minority. He became a member of the PPL election committee and campaigned in favour of Polish candidates for Prussian and German parliaments. 

Bożek was also involved in the activities of the Association of Poles in Germany (Związek Polaków w Niemczech, ZPwN), which was founded in the summer of 1922. He initiated the establishment of a local group in his hometown of Markowice and also supported the founding of other local groups. In 1924 he became a member of the Council of District I of the ZPwN and was also delegated to the ZPwN Congress in Berlin in the summer of the same year. Despite his young age and some controversy over his youthful involvement in the extreme left-wing movement, he gradually consolidated his position. He was valued for his boldness, his perseverance, his civic courage and his ability to connect with people. Between 1927 and 1930, Bożek was deputy chairman of District I of the ZPwN, and from 1930 secretary of the board. He made efforts to establish direct contact with local members, travelling to the region on numerous occasions. He was also involved in the scout movement, in education (he was chairman of the Union of Polish School Associations in the Opole region), in agricultural circles and in many other cultural and economic initiatives, such as the Upper Silesian Agricultural Association. Bożek’s high esteem in Polish circles was reflected in the fact that he even became one of the two representatives of the Polish minority in the Mixed Commission for Upper Silesia. This commission had been set up by the Geneva Convention (also: German-Polish Agreement on Upper Silesia of 15 May 1922) and met in Katowice. His speeches and interventions often proved effective, even though he had no formal education in most of the issues he dealt with, especially not in law. However, he was a talented autodidact who constantly sought to develop his knowledge. Bożek soon published numerous journalistic texts that were printed in Polish magazines in Germany. 

In the 1920s, he continued to take an active part in election campaigns as a member of Polish election committees. He also ran, albeit unsuccessfully, in the elections to the Prussian state parliament as a representative of the farming community. Following the local elections of 1924, Bożek became the mayor of Markowitz, but the German authorities prevented him (and other elected Poles) from taking office quickly. It would take a fight in the courts and complaints to the Mixed Commission for Upper Silesia for this to be happen. From 1928 he was also a member of the provincial parliament in Oppeln and the district council in Ratibor, and held the office of mayor until 1933. During the global economic crisis, he made efforts to secure tax cuts for the farming population and lower prices for electricity in rural areas. 

His considerable activism, his temerity and his penchant for criticising not only national conditions, but also social issues, occasionally caused controversy and were used by the Germans for personal attacks and attempts to discredit him, including in the media. At times, propaganda allegations even prompted some Polish activists, especially those with socially conservative views, to distance themselves from Bożek. His sharp tongue, which he deployed especially at political rallies, led to complaints and even brought him before the court in Kreuzburg (Kluczbork) in 1932, which was tasked with deciding whether he had insulted German President Paul von Hindenburg – Bożek was acquitted. He had a reputation for being trustworthy, personally honest, incorruptible and courageous, which was rather unusual for politicians at the time. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, when political rifts became apparent in Polish circles against the backdrop of the attitude towards political rivalry in Poland between the supporters of Wojciech Korfanty and the Sanacja (Engl. Sanation, colloquial term for the ruling camp in the Second Republic from 1926 to 1939), Bożek consistently took a position loyal to the association and repeatedly called for the unity of the Polish community in Silesia and throughout Germany to be preserved. 

The political situation in Germany began to deteriorate in the early 1930s. During the election campaign in March 1932, in which Bożek ran again for the Prussian parliament, his farm was searched for alleged possession of weapons. Once again, the Polish list did not receive enough support to win even one seat. Voters, especially the younger generation, were no longer drawn to the Catholic Centre Party, but rather to far-right movements, including the NSDAP. In the parliamentary and local elections in March 1933, which were held under the repressive conditions of the rising National Socialist dictatorship, Bożek did not even make it into the provincial parliament; in any case, this no longer mattered as the political parties were dissolved and the seats declared invalid. 

In the years that followed, work opportunities for Polish organisations and institutions were restricted, children and young people were indoctrinated with National Socialist ideology, intimidation by the SA and SS and discrimination against those who professed Polish identity became the order of the day. This was met with protest, unfortunately without success, by Arka Bożek and other Polish activists in the Mixed Commission, which existed between 1922 and 1937; even the temporary improvement in official German-Polish relations in the Oppeln region after 1934 made no difference. Bożek’s personal situation became increasingly precarious. In August 1937, a series of arrests and searches were carried out in Polish institutions and private homes, including the Bożeks’. 

Despite these serious problems, preparations for the celebrations to mark the 15th anniversary of the ZPwN continued. Bożek was very active at the Polish Congress, which was held in Berlin in early March 1938. His public presence and journalistic activities attracted the attention of the Gestapo. On the last day of December 1938, the authorities ordered Bożek’s expulsion from the province of Silesia and at the same time banned him from other eastern provinces as well as Westphalia and the Rhineland, where most of the Poles living in Germany had settled. He was prohibited from giving public speeches. This came as a shock to both Bożek and his family. After bidding farewell to his wife and children, he travelled to Berlin in January 1939, where he came under Gestapo supervision. 

In June 1939, Bożek decided to leave Germany illegally. He travelled to Warsaw and from there to Katowice, where, thanks to the efforts of his friends, he was given a job in the office of the mines of Pless / Pszczyna belonging to the Prince of Hochberg. He was very concerned about his wife and children, who were subjected to all manner of harassment. It was a very difficult time for Bożek, who had spent his entire adult life fighting for the Polish cause in Silesia and who, despite his extensive experience – like many Poles abroad – had a rather idealised image of Poland. His contacts in the mines of Pless told him about the miners’ low standard of living and about the, in their opinion, poor administration of Polish Silesia and the discrimination against Silesians. Bożek was very troubled by this, but he tried to stress the need for national unity in the face of the increasingly clear threat of war with Germany. Nevertheless, his reflections during this time were to influence his views and attitude to political issues in the years that followed. 

After the outbreak of the Second World War, he found himself in Lwów, where thousands of Polish refugees had arrived. Bożek was shaken by Poland’s swift defeat. After the Soviet aggression, he decided to go to Romania, from where he reached France via Yugoslavia and Greece in November 1939. His farm was confiscated at this time. Jadwiga Bożek and her daughters became forced labourers on their own farm and were monitored by the police and the local administration. 

Bożek remained very active during his period of emigration. He became a member of a Polish delegation sent to the USA to seek financial support and encourage members of the Polish immigrant community to join the nascent Polish army. After the de facto capitulation of France in 1940, he reached London. The National Council (Rada Narodowa), a kind of parliament in exile, became the most important forum for Bożek’s political activities and he was an independent member of the council until 1945. As he was not part of the pre-war Polish political elite, Bożek remained an outsider despite the gradual expansion of his contacts. He liked to highlight not only his Silesian but also his farming origins. Ideologically, he was close to the socialists and farmers represented in the council. He was in favour of agrarian reform, the development of cooperatives and the nationalisation of certain sectors of the economy. He saw the social reforms as an opportunity to give Silesians themselves their rightful place in Polish society after the war. The fate of Silesian prisoners of war and deserters from the German army was very close to his heart: he argued that they should be drafted into the Polish armed forces as soon as possible and treated equally. 

Bożek often spoke in the National Council about changing the western border in favour of Poland or about the future model of Silesian administration. Like other Silesian activists, he expected ethnic relations in the area to change after the war due to the disappearance of the German population. His pre-war experiences, but also knowledge of German crimes in Poland, certainly contributed to such views. Bożek was one of the most active Silesian and indeed Polish activists in exile and one of the co-initiators of the founding of the Working Group of Silesians in Great Britain. In late 1942, this circle proposed in a memorandum to the Polish centres of power in exile that the Polish border be established along the Oder and the Lusatian Neisse, a position that went further than the territorial demands of the Polish government at the time. At the same time, Bożek was in favour of a confederation of Poland and Czechoslovakia, emphasising the need for Slavic unity. He appears to have been unfamiliar with the goals of Soviet policy and the characteristics of Soviet communism itself due to a lack of personal experience. His views were shaped above all by his experiences of harassment and repression in Germany. Towards the end of the Second World War, Bożek became increasingly vocal in his demands for large territorial gains for a territorially reduced Poland at the expense of Germany. The distance between Bożek and the mainstream of the Polish émigré community, which rejected any political concessions, became ever clearer. 

Arka Bożek saw no reason to remain in exile after the end of the war. He missed his family and his homeland tremendously and wanted to play a part in the process of integrating the Silesian territories into the new Poland. After a Polish government had been formed under the auspices of the ‘Big Three’ (Soviet Union, USA, Great Britain) and with the participation of the former Prime Minister in exile, Stanisław Mikołajczyk, Bożek decided to return at the beginning of July 1945. He joined Mikołajczyk’s party, the Polish Peasant Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL). In mid-August, he was appointed deputy voivode of Silesia. The Silesian activists supported the appointment and the people of the Opole region welcomed him with high hopes. Bożek was responsible for important departments: agriculture, healthcare, food supply, communication and estimation of war losses. He was particularly interested in the course of the national review and the settlement programme. He wanted to ensure that these were carried out fairly; nevertheless, he advocated for the complete expulsion of the Germans. Bożek believed that mere membership in National Socialist organisations due to partially being forced to join should not be a reason to reject an application for recognition of Polish citizenship from Silesians. He himself would repeatedly issue certificates of Polish citizenship to people he had known before the war and intervened in favour of the local population on a number of occasions. These activities displeased the Communists, who even accused Bożek and other Silesian activists of defending German nationalism. 

The most important issue for Bożek was the integration of Silesia into Poland. He was convinced of the need for Poland to develop and maintain the “regained territories”, regarding this as an act of historical justice. He was less interested in other political issues of the time or underestimated their importance. Bożek quickly distanced himself from the politics of the PSL and became involved in the Peasant/People’s Party (Stronnictwo Ludowe, SL), which was a subordinate party to the Communists. He was involved in propaganda activities relating to the western territories and the course of the border. In the parliamentary elections in January 1947, which were rigged by the authorities, he won a seat as a member of parliament. After the so-called “Unification of the Peasant Movement”, Bożek found himself in the United Peasant Party (Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe, ZSL) in 1949. Time and again, he emphasised the importance of the social reforms that had been introduced, which for him represented a democratisation of life and a path to the emancipation of all social classes. It seems that Bożek sincerely believed in these slogans, and his critical views of the Polish elite, which he brought back from exile, even encouraged him in his decision to collaborate with the Communists. He was convinced that Germany continued to pose a threat to Poland.

Towards the end of the 1940s, the Communists’ attacks on Bożek intensified. They had already begun to purge Silesian activists who had been active before the war from the party or to marginalise them. The security apparatus had monitored them, including Bożek, from the very beginning. According to the mechanism of Stalinist criticism, Bożek became a masked enemy, a disruptive factor in the efforts to create a socialist society. He was dismissed from his post as deputy voivode at the end of August 1950. This was a bitter time for Bożek, who was in poor health. He was also disappointed by the consequences of the incorporation of the Silesian territories and the unjust treatment of the indigenous population. Bożek remained a member of parliament until 1952, but was no longer able to appear as actively in public as before. He was attacked in the press. As he was prevented from working due to illness and was dependent on his children, he was only granted a small pension in 1953. He died on 28 November 1954. 

During the period of de-Stalinisation, people began to remember Bożek – also thanks to Edmund Osmańczyk. Bożek’s memoirs were published. A memorial plaque was unveiled in Markowice in 1958. Streets and schools were named after him, as was the radio station in Opole. The first biography of Bożek by Ryszard Hajduk was published in 1963. During the 1970s, when the Communist authorities were looking for heroes outside the Communist pantheon and used Silesian themes in their propaganda, Bożek was a popular example. A memorial room (izba pamięci) dedicated to him was set up in Markowice. A monument to him was unveiled in Racibórz in 1980, with a fragment of his speech after his return home in 1945 placed on the plinth: “Our strength lies within ourselves.” After the political upheaval of 1989, Bożek was accused of having supported the Communists and of being a careerist. Nevertheless, his character and achievements were also honoured, including with a memorial plaque in Bytom in 2022. New books were written. In 1941, while in exile in London, Bożek himself described his path in life as follows: 

“I was neither a saint nor a bastard. I was a mere mortal with a simple peasant mind who had the misfortune to live in the world in such crazy times. Heaven and fate drove me as they pleased, and that is why I was talked about. There’s only one thing I can blame myself for, and that is that I didn’t resist my fate.” 

 

Małgorzata Ruchniewicz, August 2023

 

Literature (selection)

- Gmitruk, Janusz / Ratyński, Mateusz: Arka Bożek (1899-1954) i jego czasy, Warszawa 2022.

- Hajduk, Ryszard: Arka Bożek, Warszawa 1963.

- Kisielewicz, Danuta: Arka Bożek (1899-1954). Działacz społeczno-polityczny Śląska Opolskiego, Opole 2006. 

- Masnyk, Marek: Dzielnica I Związku Polaków w Niemczech 1923-1939, Opole 1994.

- Nowak, Alfred: Działalność Arki Bożka w latach 1945-1954, Racibórz 2001.