Sejm of the Second Polish Republic, 1922 -- 1939, 1922-1939
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Brief Description: 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.
Held at:
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
100 S. The Grove Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone: 323-651-3704
Fax: 323-843-9518
Email: archive [at] lamoth.org
Record Series Number: RG-88/RG-88
Created by: Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1919 -- 1939)
Volume: 2.0 Boxes
Biographical Note for Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1919 -- 1939) :

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
All-Jewish Workers' Party (BUND), political party, Poland, interwar period
Block of National Minorities, political party, Poland, interwar period
Christian Association of National Unity, political party, Poland, interwar period
Communist Union of Urban and Rural Proletariat, political party, Poland, interwar period
Documents in Polish language
Election to the Sejm and Senate of the Second Polish Republic, 1918 -- 1939
Emil Sommerstein, lawyer, member of Polish parliament, philosopher, contributor to Chwila
Expose, interpellations, speeches, inquiries, the Sejm (parliament) of the Second Polish Republic
Foreign political affairs, Poland, interwar period
Husbandmen (Chliboroby) -- Ruthenians, political party, Poland, interwar period
Ignacy Daszynski, political figure, Poland, interwar period
Internal political, social, economic, cultural, national, religious affairs, Poland, interwar period
Jewish Democratic People's Block, political party, Poland, interwar period
Narratives in Polish language
National Jewish Union of West Little Poland (West Galicia), political party, Poland, interwar period
National Workers' Party, Poland, interwar period
Noach Prylucki, Member of Constituent Assembly, Folkist, Jewish national-democrat in 1922 -1927
Noach Prylucki, Polish-Jewish politician, folkist, member of Polish Sejm, 1919 --1921; 1922 - 1927
Pledge of elected parliamentarians, Sejm, Poland, interwar period
Poland (1918--1939)
Polish People's Movement, left wing, political party, Poland, interwar period
Polish People's Movement - The Stapinski Group, Political Party, Poland, interwar period
Polish People's Movement Piast, political party, Poland, interwar period
Polish People's Movement Wyzwolenie, political party, Poland, interwar period
Polish Socialist Party (PPS), 1918 --1939
Political parties in Poland, interwar period
Political spectrum of the Second Polish Republic, 1918 -- 1939
Political system of the Second Polish Republic, 1918 -- 1939
Presidential elections by the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic, interwar period
Sejm and Senate of the Second Polish Republic, 1918 -- 1939
Stanislaw Thugutt, political figure, Poland, interwar period
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
United Jewish National Movements in East Little Poland (Eastern Galicia), Poland, interwar period
Wincenty Witos, political figure, Poland, interwar period
Wojcech Korfanty, political figure, Poland, interwar period
Languages of Materials
Polish [pol]