Journey Through the Borderlands

General Lucjan Żeligowski’s dilemmas regarding his national identity reflect the difficult choices faced by millions of people living in the borderlands between Russia and various East-Central European nations over the past several centuries. Born and raised in a Polish-patriotic family in 1865 in the heart of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was controlled by Tsarist Russia, he joined the Russian Army out of poverty and became almost entirely Russified. Seeking a compromise between his Polish and Russian identities, he became interested in Slavophile ideology. By the end of World War I, his Polish identity had prevailed over his Lithuanian and Russian sentiments, and he contributed to the rebirth of Poland. However, he noticed a distinction between Poles from central Poland and himself, a “Polish” or “Slavic Lithuanian”. He was very critical of Warsaw’s policies towards the regions of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania and endeavoured to preserve their separate character. In 1939, he escaped from Poland and joined the Polish émigré authorities. In the West, he returned to Pan-Slavic ideology, hoping it would help bridge the Polish-Soviet chasm. Also, his political views shifted. In interwar Poland, he became an agrarian, but he was moving to the left, dreaming of a “People’s Poland”. This allowed him to stay connected with the Soviets during World War II and later to decide on his return to communist-controlled Poland. He had never found peace of mind and paid a steep price for his numerous identity crises. He was not alone; millions traversed similar mental paths, impacting the entire history of Eastern and East Central Europe.