New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915 - April-September, 1915 by Various
page 317 of 430 (73%)
page 317 of 430 (73%)
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our hatred for these birds of prey, could we wish that the new Poland
should absorb these 2,000,000 genuine Germans? If the region of Königsberg remains Prussian and the Masurian Lakes region is added to Poland, why not leave to Germany the strip of land along the coast, including Dantzic, in order that Eastern Prussia may thus be joined to Germany at one end? Another question: There is in Prussian Upper Silesia a district, that of Oppeln, rich in iron ore, which was severed in the Middle Ages from Poland, but which has remained mostly Polish and which adjoins Poland. If the majority of Polish residents there demand it, would it not be well to join it once more to Poland, which would become, by this addition, contiguous to the Czechs of Bohemia? To sum up: Without laying hands on the German district of Königsberg, united Poland, by absorbing all the territory at present held by Prussia, in which the majority of the inhabitants are Poles, will take from the latter 70,000 square kilometers and 5,700,000 inhabitants. With these, the new Poland would have 24,000,000 inhabitants, including Eastern Galicia. If Russia gave to this Poland in lieu of actual independence the most liberal autonomy and reconstructed a Polish kingdom under the suzerainty of the Czar--a Poland with its Diet, language, schools and army--would not the present war seem to us a genuine war of liberation and Nicholas II. a sort of Czar-liberator? |
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