Italy/ Piłsudski was discussed at the PAN station in Rome

"Józef Piłsudski and Fascist Italy. The figure of the Polish Marshal in the Italian press and journalism of the time" - this was the slogan of the debate held at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Rome in connection with the 90th anniversary of the Marshal's death. Attention was drawn to the extremely different assessments of his achievements and decisions.

Prof. Joanna Sondel-Cedarmas – Italianist, political scientist and historian from the University of Rome La Sapienza and Bartosz Smoczyk – PhD student at the Faculty of History at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, currently an Erasmus scholarship holder at La Sapienza, spoke about how Józef Piłsudski was perceived in Italy by politicians, diplomats and publicists.

Prof. Sondel-Cedarmas recalled that Piłsudski was sometimes considered a revolutionary in Italy and called the "Polish Garibaldi", comparing him to the fighter for the unification of Italy.

Italian nationalists viewed Piłsudski critically.

The victory over the Red Army strengthened Piłsudski's reputation in Italy as a statesman and a defender of Christianity.

Another change in the perception of Piłsudski in Italy was connected with the May Coup. Prof. Sondel-Cedarmas admitted that the Italian ambassador to Poland was initially disoriented, but the communists were clearly critical of Piłsudski's behavior in May 1926. In their opinion, the coup was "a manifestation of the crisis of the capitalist system", and some described it as "fascist".

In the Italian press, there were voices saying that Piłsudski worked to rebuild the country. There were also statements that he loved Poland, but was unable to serve it well and had divided the country. He was called a "dictator" and his associates "people without scruples".

In turn, after Piłsudski's death, the Italian press published much praise for his political role. He was called a "prophet" and a "hero."

Bartosz Smoczyk spoke about how Marshal Curzio Malaparte, a journalist and diplomat who had the opportunity to observe the events in Warsaw as a cultural attaché at the Italian embassy, ​​perceived him.

"During several meetings with Piłsudski, I discovered that he was guided more by his imagination and passions than by logic; he was more conceited than ambitious, and deep down he was richer in willpower than in intelligence," wrote Malaparte.

A positive opinion of Piłsudski was also expressed by the publicist Umberto Nani, who called him a "great Polish patriot". Nani also noted that Piłsudski played an important role even when he was in Sulejówek and "in his solitude he watched over the fate of his nation, to which he gave independence, freedom and dignity".

The publicist Amedeo Giannini also described Piłsudski. He called him the embodiment of "will and power" and wrote that "You could love him or hate him, but you couldn't look at him with indifference."

"He changed the goals and means, but not the program: reconstruction, independence and prosperity of the homeland," Giannini added.

In Rome, in the Parioli district, Piłsudski is the patron of one of the streets (viale Maresciallo Piłsudski). On a granite column there is a bust, made by Henryk Kuna. The inscription in Italian reads: "To him who restored Poland's place in the world". The initiative to commemorate Piłsudski came from General Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski, a close associate of the Marshal and the Polish ambassador in Rome, just before World War II.

From Rome Sylwia Wysocka(PAP)

sw/ irk/ jkrz/

The PAP Foundation permits free reprinting of articles from the Nauka w Polsce Service, provided that you inform us by e-mail once a month about the use of the service and provide the source of the article. In portals and internet services, please include the linked address: Source: naukawpolsce.pl, and in journals the annotation: Source: Nauka w Polsce Service - naukawpolsce.pl. The above permission does not apply to: information from the "World" category and any photographs and video materials.