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Błażej Stolarski (1880–1939)

We’re in the park-like grounds of the cemetery in the Berlin district of Marzahn. Following the main avenue, we reach the memorial stone to the victims of fascism on the right. Here, we turn westwards, towards urn area 9 U. At the corner of the first intersecting avenue, on the right-hand side, the rows of war graves begin. There are many more of them elsewhere in the cemetery. However, we are particularly interested in section 3 U, where simple stone panels inform us that this is the final resting place of the victims of the Second World War. We know nothing about them; only their surnames (and, very occasionally, their first names) attest to their country of origin. Most of the people buried here – as far as we can guess – are Slavs: Belarusians, Czechs, Poles and Ukrainians. One stone bears the name “Błażej Stolarski”, and below that, the dates of birth and death. The mandatory dates, 1939–1945, tell us that the person buried here was a victim of the Second World War. Although the panel is significantly newer than the others, it looks exactly like them.

The simple gravesite gives no hint of the life story, successes and defeats of one of the greatest campaigners for farmers’ rights in the Second Polish Republic. Neither do we learn of the tragedy that occurred during the first few months of the war that has still not been fully explained even today. It is a story that until recently was known only to his closest family members and a small group of students and academics. There was also no knowledge of the circumstances of his death in October 1939 and place of burial until the Berlin researcher Klaus Leutner, a close friend to Poland, began to take an interest in Błażej Stolarski, the mayor of Będków.

Public Domain, prepared for publication by Marian Stefanowski.

At the frontier between two traditions

Błażej Stolarski, who in the final years of his life was the deputy Marshal of the Senate of the Second Polish Republic, was born on 2 February 1880 to a poor peasant family in Ciebłowice (now in the Tomaszów County). It is not easy to form a clear picture of what kind of person he was. He was self-taught, and his life was generally uneventful; as a campaigner for farmers’ rights and later as a politician, he displayed neither leadership qualities, nor was he a charismatic representative of the people. Aside from his convoluted political career, which is difficult to envisage clearly from today’s perspective, we can be sure that he made a major contribution to laying a positivist foundation, and that he staunchly pursued his goal of expanding his horizon to make it as broad as possible. Stolarski altruistically shared his self-gained knowledge and experience with anyone interested in benefiting from it. He was convinced that all farmers could profit from the progress being made in the country if they were given the right information and taught the necessary skills, including through education and further training. With this in mind, he worked tirelessly to help farmers help themselves (through an agricultural circle), to promote education (through community schools and self-learning courses, which were highly successful)[1], and to develop a cooperative spirit (through agriculture chambers and community councils). And although Stolarski left the Polish People’s Party (Stronnictwo Ludowe) in 1935 after disapproving of their call to boycott the forthcoming elections, he remained loyal to the political idea behind the farmers’ movement until the end of his life. Here, his conspiratorial work in support of Polish independence was grounded in Poland’s romantic tradition.

Stolarski’s political career reached its apex in 1938 after the elections in Poland, when he was made deputy Marshal of the Senate for the fifth legislative period. However, the course of his progress in politics did not only run smoothly, and unlike his business and education projects, with the exception of the threatened liquidation of his agricultural business due to the global economic crisis, he was met with failure as well as success. His political journey was marked by decisions that are baffling from today’s perspective and that are difficult to explain. Even so, here, too, Stolarski’s tenacity stands out, which was rooted in the independence movements in the Kingdom of Poland, which he supported right from the start. His membership of the Polish Military Organisation (Polska Organizacja Wojskowa) in the district of Łódź-Retkinia, which was founded in 1914, and his membership of the temporary state council (Tymczasowa Rada Stanu), which aimed to create the preconditions for an independent Polish state, brought Stolarski into the direct orbit of Piłsudski’s supporters, although this “friendship” was a strained one that was fraught with numerous disappointments.[2] At any rate, like the wing of the People’s Party, the PSL “Wyzwolenie” (Polish People’s/Peasant Party “Liberation”), to which he belonged, Stolarski supported Piłsudski and his “May Coup”.

Initially, it was of no importance to Stolarski that in 1927, the political wing of the farmers’ movement decided not to continue with this course of action after Piłsudski failed to meet the expectations of the organisations that supported him. He was not immediately critical of the reforms of the Sanacja [the conservative Sanation movement initiated and led by Józef Piłsudski following the May Coup in 1926 – translator’s note], or of the manner in which the People’s Party governed the country. That criticism would follow two years later. It is possible that Stolarski distanced himself from the People’s Party following the transition of the PSL “Wyzwolenie” to the “Centrolew” [the political bloc consisting of the centre and left-wing parties – translator’s note]. However, he remained a party member. Probably, this reaction is a reflection of the traits that characterised all of his political activities, namely an adherence to the basic principle of “not burning all one’s bridges” when he abandoned his membership of a party to which he had been close, or whose cause he had promoted. This pattern of behaviour also applied in the case of the Piłsudski bloc. It’s all the more surprising that Stolarski left the People’s Party in 1935,[3] in protest against the party’s decision to boycott the September elections to the Sejm and the Senate. After this, he again forged close ties to Piłsudski’s supporters. In 1937, he joined the Camp of National Unity (Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego) and in 1938, he stood as a candidate for the post of Senator of the Łódź voivodeship in the (preponed) parliamentary elections.

Błażej Stolarski had always been consistent in pursuing his aims. However, he was not a person who gave rousing performances. He had neither the aura of other farmers’ representatives, nor was he a “born politician”. Rather, he was a functionary in the background, the type of person whom we would describe today as a “political realist”.

[1] In his article “Błażej Stolarski. Nieheroiczny życiorys państwowca” Paweł Perzyna writes: Stolarski gained the highest level of recognition as a farmer through cattle breeding. Before the First World War, he brought his cattle stud farm up to such a high standard that it was considered a breeding station for Polish Red Cattle.

[2] In 1929, Stolarski became the first president of the Union of Farmers (Związek Zawodowy Rolników); during the 1930s, he was arrested for his role in organising farmers’ strikes (a weekly market boycott) and sentenced to three weeks in prison.

[3] The party was created on 15/3/1931 from the amalgamation of the PSL “Piast” and PSL “Wyzwolenie” wings of the party, together with the Stronnictwo Chłopskie People’s Party. On the initiative of Błażej Stolarski it was named Stronnictwo Ludowe.