George Matulaitis Journal

270 His Excellency Archbishop Teodorowicz and Father Kazimierz Lutos = awski, both National Democratic delegates to the Warsaw Parliament, came to call on me. Father Lutos = awski, in particular viewed the situation in a harsh and uncompromising manner. According to him, Vilnius and those areas with greater numbers of Belorussian Catholics must be annexed to Polish territory as a matter of course. The Belorussians are not a nation, merely the raw material from which a nation can be created. When the Belorussians are engulfed in a network of Polish schools, they will become polonized. As for the Jews, the Poles must wage a battle to the death with them. The Lithuanians in Kaunas must be forced into union with Poland. If they refuse, they can keep Samogitia. His Excellency Archbishop Teodorowicz talked less and did not seem to grasp the situation here. I tried to calm Father Lutos = awski as much as I could by reminding him that in presenting matters in such a harsh way he would provoke people even more. I said that I did not interfere in pol- itics, but inasmuch as I knew the Lithuanians, they might agree to Osmo = owski’s and Pi = sudski’s program. Otherwise, God only knows what may happen—perhaps new quarrels and bloodshed. According to what Father Lutos = awski said, the majority of the Warsaw Parliament regards Pi = sudski and Osmo = owski and their policy as “traitors to the national cause” [ Zdrajcy sprawy narodowej] . From Father Lutos = awski’s words one could see that the Poles have a great deal of self-confidence. They are sure of their forces and of the pre- sent situation. Ostensibly, the Entente wants them to take charge of the situation not only in Lithuania, but in Russia as well. Speaking with him made me very uneasy. This determination of the Polish nationalists to take Vilnius and the polonized areas around it away from the Lithuanians and also to take over the Belorussians and polonize them, did not seem to me to bode well. Iustitia elevat gentes . In the words of Holy Scripture: Only truth and justice make nations great and powerful.