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Józef Piłsudski in German prisons

Magdeburg is known in Poland above all as the place where Józef Piłsudski was interned. The fortress there is a frequent reminder of the imprisonment of the leader of the Polish legions and one of the fathers of Polish independence. But the city was not the only one where Piłsudski was held prisoner. Most of the buildings in which Piłsudski was imprisoned no longer exist today. The fortresses in Wesel and Magdeburg were destroyed years ago. The small wooden house in which Piłsudski was interned during his time in Magdeburg, also fell into disrepair before it was handed over to Poland in the 1930s and finally rebuilt near the Belvedere in Warsaw as a precious historical testimony to the work of the man who was already revered as a cult figure during his lifetime. The future Marshal of Poland was detained for almost one and a half years from 22nd July 1917 to 8th November 1918.

Piłsudski and Sosnkowski during their internment in the Magdeburg Fortress, 1918

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Years later, Aleksandra Piłsudska recalled this time as follows:

“It was extremely difficult to dream of stopping work; the food was terrible: soup, barley and awful bread that you could scarcely swallow. I ate in canteens because cooking at home was impossible due to the lack of fuel. Butter and other fats were rare. There was no flour in the shops either.”

In Magdeburg Piłsudski heard the sad news of the death of his brother Bronisław in Paris - a much-travelled ethonologist who had explored the Far East and previously lived in exile. About this time he began to record his memories of his time as a legionnaire. The first edition of “Moje pierwsze buje” (My First Battles) was published in 1925. When, at the end of August 1918, the German authorities decided to transfer Kazimierz Sosnkowski from the Magdeburg military prison to the fortress, Piłsudski's agonizing loneliness came to an end. The two men now spent their time playing chess, having discussions and taking walks outside the fortress walls.

Sosnkowski remembered: “After lunch we went about our business. The Commander wrote about his memories of the battlefields in the days of the Legion. (...) I must confess, however, that we often indulged in chess, and our passion for this sophisticated pastime sometimes caused a little friction between us.”

Their detention was now more like an internment with comforts. There were many trips into the city for visits to the cathedral, the museum, parks and other places of interest.

Piłsudski was also allowed to order food from the city. The first supplier was the Magdeburger Hof hotel restaurant (Alte Ulrichstrasse 4), and later the Patzenhofer beer restaurant at Bärstrasse 1. The receipts from this period indicate the reason for the change of supplier: the excessive prices at the Magdeburger Hof. It charged the Polish prisoner around 700 Marks a month for vegetable soup with meat and an evening meal, while the Patzenhofer restaurant only charged 350 Marks. The German government paid 250 marks a month for his meals. The rest was taken over by the General Government in Warsaw, which provided him with three grants of 1,000 marks. Further funds came from Polish party friends, which meant that Piłsudski received a total of ten thousand marks. Despite the Revolution, the balance of 1,445 marks was later met by the German state.