The Order of Polonia Restituta by Rafal Heydel-Mankoo

THE ORDER OF
"POLONIA RESTITUA"

(Order of Polish Rebirth / Order Odrodzenia Polski)
By
Rafal Heydel-Mankoo, Copyright: 2004

Officially styled the “Order of Polish Rebirth”, this famous Order is more popularly known by the name emblazoned upon its badge: POLONIA RESTITUTA (Poland Restored). The Polish Parliament instituted the Order of Polonia Restituta on 4th February 1921. The Order ranks third in the Polish Order of Precedence but, given the military nature of the Order of Virtuti Militari, it ranks second amongst civilian decorations. Originally comprised of four grades, a fifth grade was added on 22nd April 1922. The Order’s classes are currently ranked as follows: Grand Cross, Commander’s Cross with Star, Commander, Officer and Knight.

The Order was instituted to recognise those who had rendered great service to Poland and the Polish people. In particular, the Order honours outstanding achievement in the areas of science, art, culture, academia, agriculture and industry, as well as philanthropy and unpaid public service. The Order was also established to reward bravery and work related to diminishing the impact of natural disasters as well as to acknowledge a minimum of 10 years outstanding work in the civil service, the military and related sectors. Since 1937 the Polish President’s prerogative has included the power to confer the ranks of Grand Cross, Commander’s Cross with Star and Commander a motu proprio.1

Whether the Order of Polonia Restituta was a new creation or the revival of a dormant Order has been the source of some debate. Such status notwithstanding, it is generally accepted that the Order of Polonia Restituta is the successor to the extinct and arguably dishonoured Order of St. Stanislaw.

The Order of St. Stanislaw was founded by King Stanislaw Augustus Poniatowski on 7th May 1765. Named after Poland’s patron saint, the single grade Order ranked immediately after the Order of the White Eagle and was awarded primarily to those who had rendered admirable service to the Polish Crown. Its motto, PREMIANDO INICITAT (Encourage by rewarding), could serve as a fitting description of the purpose of all honours.

Excluding the King, Knights of the White Eagle and foreign recipients, all of whom were extra-numerary, statutory restrictions limited the number of Knights of the Order of St. Stanislaw to 100.2 Once nominated, the path to admission was relatively simple. Candidates for the Order were required to demonstrate their noble status by presenting ancestral noble proofs in the form of quarterings. Once admitted, members were obliged, at least in theory, to adhere to the Order’s regulations: Knights were required to bear true allegiance to the King and the State and also to undertake to protect the poor and underprivileged. An invested Knight was required to pay a passage fee of 25 zloties, annual dues of 4 zloties and a further zloty for requiem masses to be held for deceased members.3 Aside from outlining financial obligations, the regulations of the Order also stipulated the manner in which investitures were to be conducted and their location (Warsaw’s Church of the Holy Cross). In reality the Statutes of the Order were not strictly adhered to and monarchs seldom felt bound by their terms.

King Stanislaw Augustus was not frugal with his awards of the Order and he paid scant attention to the Order’s statutory numerical restrictions. Between 1765 and 1795 the King appointed 1774 persons to the Order. Many of these appointments were made at the behest of Russia’s Catherine the Great and, unsurprisingly, did much to denigrate the Order’s prestige. The last official appointments were made on the Feast of St. Stanislaw (8th May) 1793. In 1795, Russia, Prussia and Austria divided that portion of Poland that had escaped earlier partitions. The ancient Polish state vanished from the face of Europe and the Polish monarchy collapsed. Neither these events nor his exile to France prevented Stanislaw Augustus from making new appointments to the Order, however, these appointments notwithstanding, 1795 was the year in which the Order was generally held to have fallen into abeyance.

On 16th February 1809, the Order of St. Stanislaw was revived as an Order of the newly created Duchy of Warsaw. The Order remained virtually unchanged until 1815, when the Duchy of Warsaw gave way to the new Congress Kingdom of Poland. In a decree of 1st December 1815, Tsar Alexander I expanded the number of grades in the Order from one to four. A year later he imposed an annual oblation upon members in support of the Foundling Hospital in Warsaw. New Statutes for the Order of St. Stanislaw were enacted by Tsar Nicholas I in September 1829.4 Aside from expanding the activities that might qualify a person for membership in the Order, the Statutes also granted eligibility to military and civil officials who had been recognised for 35 years unblemished service to the State. Knights of the first grade of the Order were automatically elevated to the ranks of the hereditary nobility.5

The Order remained in this state until the failed Uprising of 1830-1831, in which Poles vainly tried to break free from the Russian yoke. As part of its retribution, the Russian Government, now led by the authoritarian Tsar Nicholas I, sounded the death knell for Polish honours and, on November 29th 1831, incorporated all the Polish Orders into the Russian honours system. The Polish period of the Order of St. Stanislaw thereby came to an end. As with the Order of the White Eagle, the insignia of the Polish Order of St. Stanislaw was altered to demonstrate its new status as a Russian honour.6 The Order remained part of the Russian honours system until the Revolution of 1917. Thus, although the Polish Order of St. Stanislaw is now extinct, the Russian Order of St. Stanislaw remains a dynastic Order under the protection of HH Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanov, Head of the Imperial House of Russia.7

Following the First World War, the government of the re-born Polish state decided to restore the Order of the White Eagle and the Order of Virtuti Militari but not the Order of St. Stanislaw. The lavish award of the Order by the Russian Tsars, particularly upon those who could only be regarded as enemies of the Polish nation, caused irreparable damage to the image and prestige of the Order of St. Stanislaw. The creation of a new “Order of Poland Reborn” (“Polonia Restituta”) to serve as successor to St. Stanislaw was deemed preferable to the disgraced Order’s revival. That the Order of Poland Reborn is the successor to St. Stanislaw is clearly evidenced by the similarity of the Orders’ Statutes, Ribbon and Sash.8

As Head of State, Marshal Jozef Pilsudski served as the Order’s first Grand Master. After the creation of the position of President it was decided that the Grand Mastership would hitherto vest in the holder of that position. The first awards of the Order of Polonia Restituta were made on 13th July 1921.9 The Chapter of the Order decreed that future investitures would occur on the Order’s Feast Day, 11th November; however investitures have also taken place on other occasions.

Between the first investiture and the outbreak of the Second World War, the Order of Polonia Restituta was awarded to 6,884 individuals, including 79 Grand Crosses.10 At the request of the Polish Foreign Minister, a convention was established whereby the Order of Polonia Restituta became the favoured honour for bestowal upon foreign citizens.11 During the Inter-War period, Knights of the Order of Polonia Restituta were eligible for election to the Polish senate and were also granted the right to a special ceremonial funeral. Candidates for the Order were also required to pay a passage fee. In 1939 the fee schedule was as follows: Class I – 120 zlotys; Class II – 70 zlotys; Class III – 35 zlotys; Class IV - 25 zlotys; Class V – 20 zlotys. The Diploma cost a further 5 zlotys.
The outbreak of the Second World War and the establishment of a London-based Polish Government-in-Exile had only a limited impact on the Order of Polonia Restituta. The Polish President-in-Exile continued to serve as the Grand Master of the Order and it was decided that appointments would continue.12 The Government-in-Exile commissioned new insignia from Spink & Son and, on 28th December 1942, General Adilla Camacho, the President of Mexico, was invested with the Order’s Grand Cross.13 General Frank Macfarlane became the second person to be so honoured when, on 03rd July 1943, he was awarded the Grand Cross in recognition of his assistance in the evacuation of Polish soldiers from France and prison camps in Mirando del Ebro. These awards were presented by General Wladyslaw Sikorski, the Polish Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief. Further wartime awards were made to Allied leaders such as General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Omar Bradley of the United States.14 When honouring a foreign national, the Polish Government adhered to protocol and informed the relevant home government of its desire to honour one of its citizens.

In 1944 the Soviet-supported Polish National Liberation Committee instituted its own version of the Polonia Restituta; the badge differing only slightly from that which continued to be awarded by the Polish Government-in-Exile.15 Between 1945 and 1990 the Polish Government-in-Exile avoided awarding the highest classes of Polonia Restituta; preferring instead to bestow the lower classes upon those Poles, and friends of Poland, who were engaged in charitable, philanthropic, political and cultural work. On 22nd December, 1990, in the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last President of the Polish Government-in-Exile, presented the insignia of the various Polish honours, including the Order of Polonia Restituta, to Lech Walesa, his legitimate successor as the President of a free and democratic Poland.

Today the Order of ‘Polonia Restituta’ continues to be awarded to those who have made an exceptional contribution to Poland. Appointments are announced in the official publication, Monitor Polski. There is no restriction on the total number of members; however, as the diplomatic function of the Order has been taken over by the Order of Merit, the Order of Polonia Restituta is conferred almost exclusively upon Polish citizens. The President of the Republic continues to act as Grand Master for the duration of his time in Office. The Chapter of the Order is appointed by the Grand Master to serve for a period of five years. The Chapter comprises a Chancellor, a Secretary and six members, all of whom must be recipients of the Order. The Order is administered from the office of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, ul Wiejska 10, Warsaw.
Investitures, which most frequently take place during the national holidays of 3rd May and 11th November, traditionally take place at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw. Recent recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta have included the historian, Aleksander Krawczuk, and Countess Karolina Lanckoronska, professor, art historian, philanthropist and founder of the Lanckoronski Foundation. To date, the only post-1990 foreign Grand Cross recipient is Mario Soares, former President of Portugal, invested in 1994.

Insignia:

The badge features a ball-tipped Maltese Cross. The white enamelled obverse incorporates a central roundel, enamelled red, containing a crowned white eagle displayed (spread eagle); all within a blue band bearing the motto: POLONIA RESTITUA. The gilt reverse incorporates a central roundel containing the year 1918 on a red background.

The Star of the Order incorporates a central roundel, enamelled white, containing the initials RP; all within a blue band bearing the motto: POLONIA RESTITUA.

Grand Cross measures 68mm in length
Commander’s Cross measures 58 mm in length
Officer’s Cross measures 53 mm in length
Knight’s Cross measures 42 mm in length

Members of the 1st and 2nd Classes receive a silver star measuring 74 mm in diameter.

The Grand Cross is suspended from a Sash worn over the right shoulder. Grand Officers and Commanders suspend their crosses from a neck ribbon whilst Officers and Knights suspend their crosses from a ribbon worn on the left breast.

The silk moire ribbon (35 mm), neck ribbon (42 mm) and sash (100 mm) of the Order are crimson with narrow white stripes towards the edges. The ribbon of an Officer of the Order is marked with a rosette.

ENDNOTES

1. Government Ministers may also recommend an award for good cause a motu proprio

2. Knights of St. Stanislaw who were also Knights of the White Eagle suspended the insignia of St. Stanislaw from a neck ribbon.

3. Monies collected from passage fees were intended to benefit a Warsaw hospital.

4. The new Statutes expanded the various accomplishments that would normally qualify a person for membership in the Order.

5. After 1831 members of all grades of the Order were elevated to the ranks of the hereditary nobility.

6. The Polish badge of the Order featured a gold, ball-tipped maltese cross, enamelled red. Uncrowned eagles displayed and enamelled white filled the principal angles of the cross (later badges featured crowned eagles). The centre of the badge featured a roundel, enamelled white, depicting St. Stanislaw holding a staff with the letter “S” on either side of him—all within a green laurel wreath emblazoned with the motto of the Order. The reverse of the roundel featured the King’s initials.

7. An organisation styling itself “The Order of St. Stanislas” and headed by a man purporting to be a former Polish President-in-Exile should not be confused with the true, and extinct, Polish Order of St. Stanislas. The self-styled group is a private organisation.

8. The Sash and Ribbon of both Orders are crimson with white stripes towards the edges.

9. Jan Dabski, Wladyslaw Abraham, Bernard Chrzanowski, Jan Karol Kochanowski, Jacek Malczewski, Kajetan Boleslaw Olszewski, Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz, Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont, Michal Siedlecki, Heliodor Swiecicki, Zofia Szlenkerowna, Wlodzimierz Tetmajer, Leon Wyczolkowski, Jadwiga Dzialynska-Zamoyska, Kazimierz Zenkteler.

10. It is interesting to note that the largest number of awards (1158) was made in 1938 -- the last full year in which the Order was awarded prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. Inter-War period Grand Cross recipients include Jozef Pilsudski, Stanislaw Wojciechowski, Ignacy Moscicki, Jozef Beck, Kazimierz Sosnkowski, Karol Szymanowski, Edward Smigly-Rydz, and Maurycy Zamoyski.

11. Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting Movement, was one such recipient (1927); the tradition of bestowing the Polonia Restituta upon foreign citizens continued under the Communist regime; however in 1974 it was decided that the new Order of Merit was a more fitting honour for foreigners.

12. Polish Presidents-in-Exile and Grand Masters of the Order of ‘Polonia Restituta’: Wladyslaw Rackiewicz (1939-1947); August Zaleski (1947-1972); Dr. Stanislaw Ostrowski (1972-1979); Count Edward Raczynski (1979-1986); Kazimierz Sabbat (1986–1989); Ryszard Kaczorowski (1989-1990).

13. The Spink decorations were similar to those of the pre-war period except for the inclusion of detailed feathering on the Polish Eagle on the badge and the removal of the wreath from the Star of the Order.

14. It is

15. Aside from minor stylistic alterations, the insignia of the Polonia Restituta awarded by the People’s Republic of Poland differed in three significant areas: the year displayed on the badge was changed from 1918 to 1944; the eagle’s crown was removed; and the initials on the star were changed from RP to RPL.

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