Abstract

Poland's Perennial Problem

Caught up for centuries in East-West, largely German-Russian, power politics, Poland's geographic position invited the partitions, risings and suppressions, which were recurrent themes in its tragic prewar history. The essence of the problem was that Poland had no natural border except in north and south. Circumstances have aligned Poland with the Soviet Union in such a way that it would not want to be "neutral" if this were possible. It is not merely that the "recovered" or former German territories have been valuable acquisitions but that the Soviet Union has the same stake in holding the present Oder-Neisse line, as do the Poles. The main reason for feeling that the Polish problem has been solved is the permanent alienation of Polish opinion, which German cruelty achieved in World War II.