Military Training of Foresters in the Second Polish Republic — idea, role, functions and their implementation

Abstract

The text is devoted to a relatively comprehensive description of the PWL (Foresters Military Training), a paramilitary organization established in 1933 by the State Forests of the Second Polish Republic. It presents the legal foundations on which the creation of this organization was based, the theoretical assumptions of its functioning, the profiles of its initiators and later members of the supreme authorities. It also presents an example of a manual dedicated to foresters, in which a large part is devoted to training in the military sphere. It also cites specific examples of the PWL’s activities in various spheres: military training, and patriotic activities, which were an important component of the activities of this organization. The aim of these considerations is to show the specificity of the PWL as a paramilitary organization. This specificity resulted on the one hand from the great possibilities offered by the area where the foresters worked and, on the other hand, from the specificity of forest production, while on the third hand, from the general vision of the organization adopted by one of its creators ‒ A. Loret ‒ based on statism, the authority of Marshal Piłsudski and building a sense of patriotism. Military training was one, but not the main, component. The considerations concern mainly the Interwar period in the years 1933‒1939.