Polskie Drużyny Strzeleckie

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Replica of a badge by the Polskie Drużyny Strzeleckie from 1913, silver-plated and polished

The Polskie Drużyny Strzeleckie ( German  Polish Rifle Squadrons ) were a paramilitary unit of the Polish independence movement founded in 1911 , which was essentially absorbed by the Polish legions when the First World War broke out in 1914 .

history

In 1908, Polish National Democrats in Galicia , the part of Poland occupied by Austria-Hungary , founded the Polski Związek Wojskowy (German: Polish Military Association) in two university cities: 1908 in Krakow and 1909 in Lviv . In the association, Poles should be trained as future officers in an armed struggle against the Russian occupiers in the Weichselland . A little later, the first shooting clubs came into being: in 1910 Józef Piłsudski set up such an organization in Kraków. Around the same time, Władysław Sikorski founded the Związek Strzelecki (German: Rifle Association) in Lemberg. The Polski Związek Wojskowy in turn founded the Armia Polska (German: Polish Army), another organization that was supposed to prepare the freedom struggle. The Armia Polska founded the Polskie Drużyny Strzeleckie in 1911 , which was able to legally operate shooting clubs in the relatively liberal Galicia. The Russian authorities viewed the increasing organization and armament of Polish freedom fighters in the neighboring state with suspicion. In contrast, the Austro-Hungarian army saw the rifle clubs as a training facility for Polish troops, which could be deployed in an expected confrontation with Russia.

The founders of Polskie Drużyny Strzeleckie included Norwid Neugebauer (1884–1954), Marian Januszajtis-Żegota (1889–1973) and Henryk Bagiński (1888–1973). Women were also accepted into the Drużyny . They took on intelligence duties and worked as couriers or nurses. The organization was similar in structure and orientation to the Związek Strzelecki , with which it therefore cooperated. We also worked closely with the Drużyny Bartoszowe (Bartosz departments).

By 1912 the Drużyny grew to around 650 members. By July 1914, the organization already had around 6,000 members in 127 clubs. From 1912 to 1914 Januszajtis-Żegota was the unit's commander. When the war broke out, the best fighters of the Drużyny joined the Piłsudskis legions. The majority of the members of the Związek Strzelecki also reported to the legions. Others formed the core of the newly established Polska Organizacja Wojskowa (POW).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jerzy Jan Lerski (also: George J. Lerski), Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945 , ISBN 0-313-26-007-9 , Greenwood, Westport 1996, p. 575
  2. ↑ a b c Studia historyczne , Volume 42, Polskie Towarzystwo Historyczne, Kielce; Polska Akademia Nauk, Komisja Nauk Historycznych, Państwowe Wydawn. Naukowe, 1999, p. 235
  3. ^ A b Roy Francis Leslie, The History of Poland Since 1863 , ISBN 978-0-521-27501-9 , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 1980, p. 107
  4. ^ Ingrid Sharp and Matthew Stibbe, Aftermaths of War: Women's Movements and Female Activists, 1918-1923 , Volume 63 of: History of Warfare , ISBN 978-9-004-19172-3 , Brill, 2011, pp. 267f.
  5. ↑ The Drużyny Bartoszowe were created in 1908 to activate the Polish youth in the eastern part of Galicia. (Diethelm Blecking, The Slavic Sokol Movement: Contributions to the History of Sport and Nationalism in Eastern Europe , Research Center East Central Europe, 1991, p. 126) They were financed by Polish nationalists in the Russian governorate of Podolia (Patrice M. Dabrowski, Commemorations and the Shaping of Modern Poland , Indiana University Press, 2004, p. 187)
  6. ↑ Kai Struve, Farmers and Nation in Galicia: On Belonging and Social Emancipation in the 19th Century , Volume 4 of the writings of the Simon Dubnow Institute , Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH KG, 2005, ISBN 978-3-525-36982-1 , p. 292