TRUTH ABOUT POLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 23, 28 January 1933, Page 18

TRUTH ABOUT POLAND

In "So This Is Poland" (George Allen and Unwin, Ltd.), a distinguished political journalist, F. W. yon Oertzen, sets out to. describe the extraordinary regime set up in Poland by Marshal Pilsudski;! He gives a vivid account of the dramatic event of the coup d'etat of 1926, by which, while Britain was in the throes of the general strike, the Marshal usurped power and handed over, the government of his country, to a "committee of colonels" of which he is the unofficial but very real head. The story. of the coup is rich in exciting incidents, which Horr yon Oertzen recounts from firstrhand information. Ho then describes the working of the present regime, the suppression of democratic liberties, the excesses against the national minorities, adding details which reveal practices almost unbelievable in the twentieth century. The author's descriptive power, his wide knowledge of Polish politics and conditions, and the feeling with which he writes gave his book a widee irculationo n the Continent. The best tribute to its importance is the fact that it was promptly banned in Poland and that a leading Polish paper went bo far as to say that, if it were made available for English readers it would"strike a fatal blow at Poland's political and moral, prestige in Europe."

Although an acknowledged authority on Poland, F. W. yon Oertzen is quite a young man, being only 34 years old. He fought during the- war, and afterwards became a journalist, joining the political staff of the "Vossische Zeitung" in 1924.. Having acquired a thorough knowledge of Poland during the war and immediate post-war years, he was sent as special correspondent to Upper Silesia, where he studied in particular the Polish minorities. On his return to Berlin a year later he was made entirely responsible for all work dealing with Eastern problems. In the course of this work he travelled all over Poland on many occasions. His exact knowledge of the country and its conditions has won wide recognition from the Polish Press. Professor Stronski, the famous Polish publicist and politician, has called him one of the best informed writers on Poland in Germany.