Polskie Dokumenty Dyplomatyczne 1938

The successive volume in the series Polish Diplomatic Documents comprises 460 documents on Polish diplomatic activity in 1938. The primary sources are, for the most part, materials created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and kept at the Central Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw, and at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London. Other sources come from the Hoover Institution (available on microfilms from the Central Archives of Modern Records), the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America in New York, the Polish Library in Paris, the Papal Institute of Church Studies, and the State Archives in Gdańsk (records of the Polish General Commissioner in the Free City of Gdańśk/Danzig).

The documents are presented in chronological order, and the reader of the volume benefits from an extended subject index and brief descriptions of each document. The name index carries information about public positions filled in 1938.The event which attracted the greatest attention of the Polish diplomatic service in 1938 was the Sudeten crisis, played out between March and October and ending with the Munich conference. The volume contains a wealth of documents presenting the activities of the Polish MFA from the early stages of the crisis up to the 30 September ultimatum sent to Czechoslovakia and the subsequent capture of the Zaolzie (Zaolší) region.

The materials also present the Polish government’s position on the annexation of Austria into Germany in March; and the reports of Polish diplomats in Prague, Berlin and Moscow speak about international reactions to the Anschluss.Another important event in 1938 was the establishment of diplomatic relations with Lithuania, which followed a Polish ultimatum of 17 March.The volume also tracks Poland’s bilateral relations, mostly with Germany, France, Great Britain and the U.S.S.R. Prominence is given to contacts with Berlin, including Minister Back’s visit to the German capital, talks held in the course of the Sudeten crisis, and the October turnaround in Polish-Germany relations.