| dc.description.abstract | The paper aims at synthesising views on European integration by various Polish thinkers and
groups. The period of the Second World War is often claimed to be crucial for the development
of the Polish political thought on European integration . It was then that the Polish expatriate
community started seeing the unification of Europe as the key to the Polish sovereignty and
independence. One of the most prominent figures promoting this view at the time was Józef
Retinger. However, to claim that he was the first Pole to have addressed the issue of European
integration would be a misrepresentation.
In the Middle Ages, a unified Europe was a given: there were no nation states and the entire
continent was dominated by Latin civilisation. It was only when Europe had been divided
by the Reformation that the views on integration started emerging. Strong divisions and
particularisms exposed Europe, including Poland, to the dangers of Turkish attacks. It is no
wonder, therefore, that the first Polish contribution to the doctrine of European integration
appeared at that time. In 1615, Mikołaj Chabielski wrote Pobudka narodów chrześcijańskich
na podniesienie wojny przeciwko nieprzyjacielowi [Eng. The call for the Christian nations to
declare war on the enemy].
The paper focuses on the last two centuries of the Polish history. In the 19th century, the
subsequent generations of the Polish thinkers associated the idea of their country’s
independence with the notion of European integration. Similarly, during the Second World
War and the following communist period, the current political situation meant that the vision
of a united continent was often juxtaposed with the lack of national sovereignty in Central and
Eastern Europe. Such connections and comparisons were made even though, in the context
of the Cold War divisions, the communication of ideas between Poles at home and Polish
emigrants in the West was seriously hindered. | en |
