POLAND: Guardian

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First European statesman to appreciate the menace of Nazi Germany to the peace of Europe and to understand the Messianic mind of Adolf Hitler was the late Marshal Josef Pilsudski, for nine years revered dictator of Poland. When Herr Hitler first came to power Marshal Pilsudski proposed to France a joint "preventive" war against Germany. The French laughed at the suggestion. On his own hook the Marshal then got in contact with Führer Hitler, delivered an ultimatum which, in effect, said: "Do you want war or peace? If war, our Army marches tomorrow morning. If peace, sign here."

Nazi Germany had then scarcely begun to rearm. The last thing it wanted was a fight with the large, well-trained Polish Army. Führer Hitler chose peace, signed a ten-year, non-aggression pact with Poland. Oddly enough, the pact has been scrupulously observed and Führer Hitler has shown few signs of going back on his word. In fact, Marshal Pilsudski's belligerent tactics, far from being resented, were so greatly admired by the belligerent Führer that even today few Hitler speeches on general Nazi policy in Eastern Europe omit a friendly reference to the late Polish dictator. Often has the Pilsudski method been suggested as Lesson 1-A for other powers dealing with Nazi Germany.

When Marshal Pilsudski died in 1935 the three most important heirs to his power were aging, cultured President Ignacy Moscicki, former professor of electrochemistry at Lwów Polytechnic School; General Edward Smigly-Rydz, Inspector General of the Polish Armed Forces (job held by Pilsudski); and Lieutenant Colonel Josef Beck, the Foreign Minister.

Of these, President Moscicki, under the Polish Constitution, theoretically holds most power. Because in his job he represents the politically powerful Army, however, Marshal Smigly-Rydz has become by far the strongest figure in post-Pilsudski Polish domestic affairs. But Colonel Beck was the old Marshal's most intimate friend. As Foreign Minister he had been personally schooled in what the Marshal thought the "principles" of Polish foreign policy should be. On his deathbed Marshal Pilsudski received only one of his ministers, Colonel Beck. And since young Poland's survival must inevitably depend upon how well her foreign rather than her domestic affairs are conducted, it was Colonel Beck who became the "guardian of Pilsudski's testament"—an unwritten but nevertheless precise outline of Polish foreign policy—and hence the key figure in Polish if not Eastern European politics.