POLAND’S CRY OF DISTRESS

New Zealand Tablet, 29 April 1915, Page 11

POLAND’S CRY OF DISTRESS

THE RAVAGES OF WAR, . A cable message states that unemployment and starvation are increasing daily in Poland. The misery exceeds the official methods of relief. Five thousand five hunvillages have been devastated and pillaged and 1000 utterly destroyed. Five hundred towns have, been partially or entirely destroyed. Agriculturists have lost heavily, the losses of small farmers amounting, to £6,800,000 and those of the larger proprietors to £2,300,000. The total agrarian loss is estimated at £4 62,250,000. Regarding the state of affairs in the eastern theatre of the war a writer in the Catholic Times says : During the war the people of these islands have heard a great deal of the sufferings of Catholic Belgium, and it is well that it has been so, for in the course of the conflict no sentiment has contributed more effectively to the. defence of the cause of justice than sympathy with the brave and afflicted Belgian people. But little has been heard of the sufferings of the Catholic Poles, though in many respects they are as trying as those of the Belgians. The Poles are more distant from us; the names of persons and places are not so well known; and news concerning the sufferers excites less interest amongst the readers of the newspapers. Yet in Poland the ravages of the war have been terribly destructive. Tn Belgium the Germans have held the ground pretty well since they, first occupied it. In Poland the tide of war has been ebbing and flowing, and some of the Russian, Austrian, and Prussian Poles have had to endure again ind again the bitterest results of warfare. It would seem as if the unfortunate race were doomed to misfortune. History records nothing More Iniquitous than the Partition of Poland. . The nation was robbed of 82,000 square miles of its finest provinces. Later its territory was further reduced. When under Kosciusko the Poles rose to defend their rights and liberties they fought bravely, but were overpowered. In numbers and discipline the enemy was superior to them. Their country was laid- waste with fire and sword. Their heroic leader, Kosciusko, was defeated and captured. Courland'was annexed to Russia, and their King, Stanislaus 11., was compelled to resign his crown and conveyed as a prisoner to St. Petersburg. Russia, Austria, and Prussia entered into a pact, in accordance with which the name of Poland was erased from the list of independent States. When the areas of the appropriated territories were defined after the Congress of Vienna, it was found that Russia had 220,500 English square miles; Austria, 35,000 ; and Prussia, 26,000. The Poles have never given up the idea of regaining their national unity and freedom. Like the Irish, with whom they have often been, compared, they have persistently upheld the cause of faith and fatherland. What they have had to bear with in their struggles words would fail to , describe. The severity of their

■- oppressors was , unrelenting, •- and the - Poles were sub- . jected to many a reign of terror.; Arrests, banishments, executions, confiscations, and : enforced contributions were made familiar to them. ,Any display of love of country, which has such a large place in the Polish heart,; was ruthlessly suppressed. ■ The sacred ministers .of religion were persecuted. In . Prussian Poland an immense amount of money has been spent for the. purpose of expropriating and replacing them by Germans, but without any marked success. The Poles, despite all the adverse conditions, have increased and multiplied and have preserved 1 , their national spirit. Russia made fair promises to them at the beginning -of - the war, and Austria and Prussia have also been offering them pledges. The end of the conflict will, it is hoped, be a turning point in the fortunes of the Poles. There is a prospect of a bright future for them, but at present they are sorely tried. Poles are fighting against Poles, some fighting for Russia and others for Austria and Prussia. The whole of Poland is a battlefield. The fields are broken by trenches; many of the houses are mere ruins. ' ’ Entire villages have been pitilessly wrecked. The population are victims of hunger, cold, and misery in various other forms. In support of an appeal for help addressed to the Christian- world on behalf of the Poles by Mgr. Sapieha, Prince-Bishop of Cracow, the Nova Reforma, a Polish paper published in that city, raises a cry of distress. ‘ Twelve million Poles are (it says) plunged deeply in misery at this moment. Several millions of them Are Literally Perishing of Cold and Want. It is not a question of one province, but of all the Polish people. A horrible tragedy is being enacted on Polish soil. But no one pays any attention to us. America does not think of us. W 7 e have not only lost everything, but we are daily obliged to see thousands of our fellow-citizens dying of cold and starvation. Mothers lose their senses through grief at not being able to appease their children’s hunger. Great numbers of our people have no homes but abandoned trenches and no food except the bark of trees. All the countries watered by the Dunajec, the Wisloca, the Vistula, the Nida, the Pilica, and the Wartha have been .turned into a vast desert, covered with burnt houses and tombs. One may travel a long distance without meeting a single living person as ell on the banks of the Dunajec and the San as on those of the Vistula, places which were lately inhabited by people in easy circumstances.’ The ruin Caused by the military operations is widespread. The thought that the nations are indifferent to their trials makes the bitterness of the suffering through which the Poles are passing more acute. ‘ Surely (says the Nova Reforma) they will not allow us to perish of hunger and misery. If there is still a civilisation, still a conscience in Europe, if compassion is still felt for the misfortunes of others, they cannot refuse to give us, as soon as possible, the help of which we are in need. It is the duty of the civilised countries to come to our assistance. We who have constantly defended civilisation have a right to call upon the whole world to save our people.’ This is a cry of distress which evidently comes from the soul. There is, I am glad to see, a ‘ Great Britain to Poland ’ Committee which has been established to raise funds for the relief of the Poles, and a branch of it has just been formed in Manchester under the chairmanship of Dr. Weisse, Vice-Chancellor of the University. Whether the Catholic members of the population are represented on the committee I do not know, but either through this or some other agency they will, no doubt, show practical sympathy with their Polish co-religion-ists. Let us comfort Poland in her sorrow, and, when the time comes, rejoice with her in her joy.