As a result of the Second World War over five thousands Polish reached Lebanon to find their safe haven. Although their colony was not more numerous compared to other nationalities, between 1943-1950 they built up a politically and socially recognizable group. This work describes the historical and political context of those surprising Polish-Lebanese relations.
Commemorative plaque funded by the refugees, Church of the Maronite Patriarchal Seminary, Ghazir, 1947. (fot. MZS)
When Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939, followed by the Soviet Union on 17 September 1939, a number of Polish nationals managed to leave their occupied country via Romania, Hungary and the Balkans heading towards Palestine and Lebanon (respectively under British and French mandate) and then reach Polish troops in France. In Beirut they could count on the help of the Polish Consular Agency (established in November 1933), Polish Capuchins and a small Polish diaspora, in particular the Miklasiewicz and Manasterski families.
The presence of this community dated back to the 19th - century. In 1861, following a conflict between the Christians and Druze in Mount Lebanon, the “Sublime Porte” forced by France, Russia, Britain, Austria and Prussia agreed to create the autonomous Mutasarrifiyah of Jabal Lubnan under the Christian governor - general (Mutasarrif). One of them, Muzaffar Pasha, alias Władysław Czajkowski (Czaykowski), 1902-1907, was of Polish origin. He was a son of Sadyk Pasha Michał Czaykowski, founder of a Polish Cossack Brigade in the Ottoman army formed to fight against the Russians. Ottoman authorities were obliged also to keep a Christian garrison charged to maintain the peace in the region. This duty was assigned to the Polish regiment of Dragoon of the Imperial Ottoman Guards under command of Colonel Jan Gościmiński (Tuffan bey) and Colonel Ludwik Sas Monasterski (Lutfi bey). Existing between 1865 and 1889, it was one of the last Polish military formations after partitions of Poland in the 18th - century. With the growing number of recruits arriving to Beirut, General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, decided to create, as of April 1940, a Polish unit in the French territory of Levant under command of the then Colonel, General Stanisław Kopański. The newly formed Carpathian Brigade was part of the French Army of the Levant and was established in Homs, Syria. However after French defeat in June 1940 the Polish unit was ordered to leave territory under authority of Vichy government from that time on. After difficult negotiations with new French authorities in Beirut, the Carpathian Brigade defected with arms to Palestine to join British forces. It was reorganized in Egypt and renamed: The Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade. As a part of the British 8th Army, it took an active and a decisive role in Tobruk’s defence. In 1942 it formed the backbone of the 3rd Identity card received by the Polish recruits arriving to a port in Beirut. (Piotr Jaroszczak Carpathian Rifle Division and then the Polish II Corps. www.kki.pl/piojar/brygad/brygad/formow/formow. html).