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THE POLISH MISSION TO LIBERIA, 1934–1938: CONSTRUCTING POLAND'S COLONIAL IDENTITY*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2017

PIOTR PUCHALSKI
PIOTR PUCHALSKI*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin–Madison
*
Department of History, Mosse Humanities Bldg, 455 N. Park Street, Madison, WI 53706puchalski.piotr@gmail.com
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Abstract

The Polish mission to Liberia (1934–8) was a series of diplomatic, commercial, and scientific initiatives carried out by Poland's Maritime and Colonial League and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Contextualizing the mission in terms of contemporary attempts to construct Poland's colonial identity, this article argues that Poland's colonial lobby imagined their presence in Liberia as a unique form of colonialism, distinct from its Western counterparts. Many participants in the mission considered Poland to have a special moral mandate in Africa by virtue of its own experience as a recently occupied nation. The grandiose visions of Liberia as a Polish colony and unfulfilled economic promises, however, contributed to the ultimate termination of the mission in 1938. The Poles’ concept of colonialism obscured their plausible objectives in Liberia and distracted them from executing their economic plan. The construction of a Polish colonial identity was a perfect means of rallying patriots around the flag and creating domestic support for Poland's maritime projects, but a colonial ideology was a double-edged sword in foreign affairs.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 60 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 1071 - 1096
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

*

The author submitted an early draft of this article to satisfy a requirement for a Master's degree in History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in May 2016. He would like to thank Profs. Giuliana Chamedes, Kathryn Ciancia, Fran Hirsch, Alfred McCoy, and David McDonald for their help in revising that draft.

References

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37 This danger came to the attention of many famous African and black American activists, for example W. E. Burghardt Du Bois, ‘Liberia, the League and the United States’, Foreign Affairs, July 1933.

38 ‘Request for Assistance Submitted by the Liberian Government. Report by the Representative of Poland’ (League of Nations, 23 Nov. 1932), 4–10, 4606/5, Microfilm/Media Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison.

39 ‘An appeal to Liberia’, Weekly Mirror, 28 Sept. 1932.

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48 Sajous, ‘Copy of the confidential report to the president of Liberia from Dr. Sajous after his visit to Poland’.

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50 Ibid., pp. 5–7.

51 Ibid., pp. 17–18.

52 Ibid., pp. 33–7.

53 Ibid., p. 36.

54 Ibid., pp. 35–6.

55 Ibid., p. 61.

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57 Makarczyk, Liberia, Liberyjczyk, Liberyjka, p. 43.

58 Ibid., p. 80.

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63 Dreszer, Zygmunt, Pionierski rejs: dziennik podróży handlowej do portów Afryki Zachodniej (Warsaw, 1936), pp. 5–7 Google Scholar.

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66 Nnamdi Azikiwe, ‘Poland wants Liberia’, Weekly Mirror, 28 Aug. 1936.

67 ‘Liberia may be gobbled up by Poland's greed’, Pittsburgh Courier, 17 July 1937; ‘Poland aims to grab Liberia’, Pittsburgh Courier, 3 Oct. 1936; ‘Threats of German and Polish aggression dim gayety of Liberia's 90th birthday’, Pittsburgh Courier, 7 Aug. 1937.

68 The Pittsburgh Courier hinted at such a strategy on the part of Liberia in an article from 3 Apr. 1937. See ‘Liberia making foreign alliances’, Pittsburgh Courier, 3 Apr. 1937.

69 See, for example, ‘Niezłomna wola’, Morze i Kolonie, May 1939; Jerzy Świrski, ‘Polska nie może istnieć inaczej, jak tylko w mocnem oparciu o własne wybrzeże morskie’, Morze, Mar. 1933.

70 ‘Offending our friends’, Weekly Mirror, 4 Sept. 1936.

71 ‘Nr. 667 do Stefana Paprzyckiego, Konsula R. P. w Monrowii, od Konsula Generalnego R. P. w Marsylii’, 18 Nov. 1936, 5/1, Archiwum Akt Nowych. Konsulat Honorowy w Monrowii; ‘Polish Foreign Office denies Liberia grab’, Pittsburgh Courier, 4 Dec. 1937.

72 ‘Clifford R. Wharton's telegram to R. Walton Moore’, 26 Nov. 1936, 882.01/62: pp. 406–7, United States Department of State. Foreign Relations of the United States diplomatic papers, 1936. The Near East and Africa (1936). Liberia.

73 ‘The “hungry' powers”: Poland and League collaboration’, London Times, 23 June 1936.

74 Paraphrased in ‘Genewskie Wystąpienie’, Morze, Nov. 1936.

75 Jan Dębski, ‘Polski pominąć nie można’, Morze, Apr. 1938.

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84 Dreszer, Pionierski rejs, pp. 6–7.

85 Ibid., p. 28.

86 Ibid., p. 48.

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88 Ibid., pp. 7–8.

89 Michał Pankiewicz, ‘Nasza wyprawa do Afryki’, Morze, Apr. 1935.

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93 ‘No. KM.5/39 do Konsulatu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej w Marsylii dot. akcji L. M. i Kol. w Liberii.’

94 Makarczyk, Liberia, Liberyjczyk, Liberyjka, p. 12.

95 Hirschler, Ze Lwowa do Liberii, p. 71.

96 Makarczyk, Widziałem i słyszałem, p. 73.

97 ‘Notatka w sprawie akcji L. M. i Kol. w Liberii’, p. 2.

98 See Białas, Liga Morska i Kolonialna, 1930–1939, p. 223.

99 ‘No. KM.5/39 do Konsulatu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej w Marsylii dot. akcji L. M. i Kol. w Liberii’, p. 1.

100 Wanda Firley, ‘P. Armin – plantator z Liberii tęskni za słońcem Afryki’, ABC – Nowiny Codzienne, 3 Apr. 1938, p. 4.

101 ‘Projekt oświadczenia L. M. i K. złożonego Rządowi R. L.’, 25 Nov. 1938, 2, 5/5–7, Archiwum Akt Nowych. Konsulat Honorowy w Monrowii.

102 Ibid.

103 Białas, Liga Morska i Kolonialna, 1930–1939, pp. 223–4.

104 Makarczyk, Widziałem i słyszałem, p. 67.

105 Marian Tarkowski, ‘Wstęp do inwentarza zespołu akt Konsulatu Honorowego RP w Monrowii z lat 1934–1939’, May 1958, p. 1, Archiwum Akt Nowych. Konsulat Honorowy w Monrowii.

106 Rudolf Rathaus, ‘Liga Morska i Kolonialna: agreement with Liberia, 1934’, 18 Apr. 1941, 3/35, Hoover Institution, Poland, Konsulat Generalny (New York) Collection 76004.

107 Ibid.