Serving science versus serving the country : university professors of western neophilologies in Poland, 1918-1923

This chapter discusses the activity of a group of Polish neophilologists (German, English and Romance languages specialists) and their peculiar “suspension” between faithfulness to their research and service for the Polish state, which had only just regained independence in 1918. Poland’s priority was defending the state borders and having them internationally recognized, which did not happen until 1923. Two alliances, with France and Romania, both formed in 1921, were supposed to help achieve that. Due to many post-war difficulties (of military, economic, political and social nature), Poland needed specialists, whose work would support Polish diplomats. Because of the small university network in Poland and merely over a dozen neophilology departments, each Western language specialist was worth his weight in gold. However, not all of them were able to keep the balance between serving science and serving their country, which can be seen for instance in the biography of a Romance languages specialist, Stanisław Stroński.