Sejm of the Second Polish Republic, 1922 -- 1939, 1922-1939 | Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

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Collection Overview

Title: Sejm of the Second Polish Republic, 1922 -- 1939, 1922-1939

Predominant Dates:1922 -- 1927; 1935 -- 1938; 1938 -- 1939

ID: RG-88/RG-88

Primary Creator: Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1919 -- 1939)

Extent: 2.0 Boxes

Languages: Polish

Abstract

This record group contains records for the sessions of Polish Parliament (Sejm) between 1922 and 1927. The records reflect parliamentary proceedings and debates with regard to lawmaking, social, political, economic questions as well as matters of domestic affairs, foreign affairs and national security.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Stenographic records are in print and published with regard to the parliamentary sessions of November 1922, January 1923, February 1923, March 1923, April 1923, May 1923, June 1923, November 1923, December 1923, February 1924, April, 1924, May 1924, June 1924, October 1924, November 1924, December 1924, January 1926, January 1927, February 1927, March 1927, June 1927, July 1927, November 1927. A stenographic report presents a parliamentary discourse for the given session. In general, a parliamentary session could include an agenda as follows, informational announcements related parliamentary jurisdiction, governmental announcements, various propositions related to parliamentary jurisdiction, lawmaking, interpellations, as well as other points of particular agendas, for example, oath taking ceremonies for the new parliamentarians.

Collection Historical Note

The Lower House of the Polish Parliament, the Sejm, was elected on November 5, 1922. This Sejm sat in sessions from November 1922 to November 1927. Macej Rataj served as Chairman (Marszalek) of the Sejm.

The First Term Sejm, 1922 -- 1927. The Sejm was elected on the premises of the five categories of equality, namely the direct, general, equal, personal and proportional elections.

Macej Rataj was the Speaker (Marszalek) of the Sejm of the First Cadence.

The Sejm of the First Term in a quality of People's Assembly elected three presidents of the Polish Republic,

on December 9, 1922 -- Professor Gabriel Narutowicz;

on December 22, 1922 -- Professor Stanislaw Wojcechowski;

on June 1, 1926 -- Professor Igancij Moscicki

In the result of parliamentary elections the following political parties, organizations, movements and groups receive representation in the Sejm:

- Christian Association of National Unity, Chairman Wojcech Korfanty, number of electoral votes in thousands. 2,789; number of representatives (deputies) 169.

- Block of National Minorities, chairman Izaak Gruenbaum, number of electoral votes in thousands 1,398; number of representatives (deputies) 66.

- Polish People's Movement "Piast," chairman Wincenty Witos; number of electoral votes in thousands 1148; number of representatives (deputies) 70.

- Polish People's Movement "Wyzwolenie," Chairman Stanislaw Thugutt; number of electoral votes in thousands 947; number of representatives (deputies) 49.

- Polish Socialist Party (PPS), chairman Igancy Daszhynski; number of electoral votes in thousands 907; number of representatives (deputies) 41.

- National Workers' Party, Chairman Karol Popiel; number of electoral votes in thousands 473; number of representatives (deputies) 18.

- Association of the Jewish National Movement in Maloposlska Wschodnia (East Little Poland), Chairman Emil Sommerstein; electoral votes in thousands 169; number of representatives (deputies) 15.

- Polish People's Leftist Movement; number of electoral votes in thousands 127; number of representatives (deputies) 4.

- The Communist Union of the Urban and Rural Proletariat; number of electoral votes in thousands 122; number of representatives (deputies) 2.

- National Jewish Union of Malopolska Zachodnia (West Little Poland); number of electoral votes in thousands 87; number of representatives (deputies) 2.

- Agriculturalists (Chliboroby) -- Ruthenians; number of electoral votes in thousands 81; number of representatives (deputies) 5.

- All-Jewish Workers' Union (BUND); number of electoral votes in thousands 81; number of representatives (deputies) 0.

- Polish Peoples' Movement -- The Stapinski Group; Chairman Jan Stapinski; number of electoral votes in thousands 51; number of representatives 2.

- Jewish Democratic People's Bloc; Chairman Noah Prylucki; number of electoral votes in thousands 51; number of representatives 1.

-- Others; number of electoral votes in thousands 308; number of representatives (deputies) 0.

All together; number of electoral votes in thousands 8,748; number of representatives (deputies) 444.

Biographical Note

After the First World War and re-establishment of Polish independence, the convocation of parliament, under the democratic electoral law of 1918, became an enduring symbol of the new state's wish to demonstrate and establish continuity with the 300 year Polish parliamentary traditions established before the time of the partitions. Maciej Rataj emphatically paid tribute to this with the phrase: "There is Poland there, and so is the Sejm".

Józef Beck, Minister of Foreign Affairs, delivers his famous Honor Speech in the Sejm, 5th May 1939.

During the interwar period of Poland's independence, the first Legislative Sejm of 1919, a Constituent Assembly, passed the Small Constitution of 1919, which introduced a parliamentary republic and proclaimed the principle of the Sejm’s sovereignty. This was then strengthened, in 1921, by the March Constitution, one of the most democratic European constitutions enacted after the end of the First World War. The constitution established a political system which was based on Montesquieu's doctrine of separation of powers, and which restored the bicameral Sejm consisting of a lower house (to which alone the name of "Sejm" was from then on applied) and an upper house, the Senate. In 1919, Roza Pomerantz-Meltzer, a member of the Zionist party, became the first woman ever elected to the Sejm.

The legal content of the March Constitution allowed for Sejm supremacy in the system of state institutions at the expense of the executive powers, thus creating a parliamentary republic out of the Polish state. An attempt to strengthen executive powers in 1926 (through the August Amendment) proved too limited and largely failed in helping avoid legislative grid-lock which had ensued as a result of too-great parliamentary power in a state which had numerous diametrically-opposed political parties sitting in its legislature. In 1935, the parliamentary republic was weakened further when, by way of, Józef Piłsudski's May Coup, the president was forced to sign the April Constitution of 1935, an act through which the head of state assumed the dominant position in legislating for the state and the Senate increased its power at the expense of the Sejm.

On 2 September 1939, the Sejm held its final pre-war session, during which it declared Poland's readiness to defend itself against invading German forces. On 2 November 1939, the President dissolved the Sejm and the Senate, which were then, according to plan, to resume their activity within two months after the end of the Second World War; this, however, never happened. During wartime, the National Council (1939–1945) was established to represent the legislature as part of the Polish Government in Exile. Meanwhile, in Nazi-occupied Poland, the Council of National Unity was set up; this body functioned from 1944 to 1945 as the parliament of the Polish Underground State. With the cessation of hostilities in 1945, and subsequent rise to power of the Communist-backed Provisional Government of National Unity, the Second Polish Republic legally ceased to exist.

Subject/Index Terms

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Document/Artifact of Item-Level:

[Document/Artifact of Item-Level 1: RG-88.01, Sprawozdanie Stenograoficzne, 1 posiedzenia Sejmu RP (Stenographic report of the 1st session of the Sejm), November 28, 1922],
[Document/Artifact of Item-Level 2: RG-88.02, Sprawozdanie Stenograoficzne, z 6 posiedzenia Sejmu RP Stenographic report of the 6 session of the First Term Sejm, January 16, 1923],
[Document/Artifact of Item-Level 3: RG-88.03, Sprawozdanie Stenograoficzne, z 7 posiedzenia Sejmu RP (stenographic report of the 7 session of the First Term Sejm), January 19, 1923],
[Document/Artifact of Item-Level 4: RG-88.04, Sprawozdanie Stenograoficzne, z 8 posiedzenia Sejmu RP, January 20, 1923],
[Document/Artifact of Item-Level 5: RG-88.05, Sprawozdanie Stenograoficzne, z 9 posiedzenia Sejmu RP, January 22, 1923],
[Document/Artifact of Item-Level 6: RG-88.06, Sprawozdanie Stenograoficzne, z 10 posiedzenia Sejmu RP, January 23, 1923],
[Document/Artifact of Item-Level 7: RG-88.07, Sprawozdanie Stenograoficzne, z 11 posiedzenia Sejmu RP, January 26, 1923],
[Document/Artifact of Item-Level 8: RG-88.08, Sprawozdanie Stenograoficzne, z 12 posiedzenia Sejmu RP, February 6, 1923],
[All]

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 2: RG-88.02, Sprawozdanie Stenograoficzne, z 6 posiedzenia Sejmu RP Stenographic report of the 6 session of the First Term Sejm, January 16, 1923

Stenographic report of the 6 session of the First Term Sejm (parliament) of the Second Poligh Republic, January 16, 1923

Subject/Index Terms:: Expose, interpellations, speeches, inquiries, the Sejm (parliament) of the Second Polish Republic; Interpellations of parliamentarians, the First Term Sejm (parliament), Poland, interwar period; Introductions of new bills, statutes and acts, the First Term Sejm (parliament), Poland, 1922 - 1927; Jewish parliamentary circle in the First Term Sejm (parliament), Poland, interwar period; Political parties in Poland, interwar period; Political spectrum of the Second Polish Republic, 1918 -- 1939; Political system of the Second Polish Republic, 1918 -- 1939; Sejm and Senate of the Second Polish Republic, 1918 -- 1939; Stenographic report of the 6 session of the First Term Sejm (parliament), Poland, January 16, 1922; Stenographic reports of the sessions of the Sejm, the Second Polish Republic, 1918 -- 1939; The First Term Sejm and Senate of the Second Polish Republic, 1922 -- 1927; Ukrainian parliamentarians in the First Term Sejm (parliament), Poland, interwar period; Poland (1918--1933); Documents in Polish language; Narratives in Polish language

Creators:: Secretariat of the First Term Sejm (parliament) of the Second Polish Republic, 1922 – 1927 (1922 -- 1927); The First Term Sejm (parliament) of the Second Polish Republic, 1922 -- 1927 (1922 -- 1927)