Poglądy Jana Stanisława Łosia na kwestię galicyjskiej mniejszości ukraińskiej w Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej

Abstract

Jan Stanisław Łoś’s Views on the Ukrainian Minority in the Second Polish RepublicThe Second Polish Republic’s state policies were often unjust and short-sighted with respect to its Ukrainian minority. Fortunately, there were Poles whose activities were pro-Ukrainian. One of them was Count Jan Stanisław Łoś (1890–1974), a diplomat and publicist representing conservative views. The author of the article attempts to analyse the political standpoint which Łoś presented in his journalistic writings, as well as in his other works on the issues concerning the Ukrainians inhabiting the following voivodships: Lwów, Tarnopol and Stanisławów (today: Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk).The author discusses Łoś’s views on crucial aspects of the minority’s life: education and economy, as well as the politics of the Polish Republic in relation to the Ukrainians. In particular the following problems are dealt with: utraquist schools, the Ukrainian university, land reform, Ukrainian cooperatives, as well as the sensitive issue of the assimilation policies of some Polish governments before 1939. Łoś suggested a few solutions, taking into account both the Polish raison d’état and a just attitude to the Ukrainians. One can only regret that these proposals were not accepted. If they had been, one may speculate that they could have prevented the bloody Polish-Ukrainian conflict that broke out during World War II.