my-server
← Wiki

1938 in Poland

Incumbents

On May 15, 1936, president of Poland Ignacy Mościcki designed the government under prime minister Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski. The government was dissolved on September 30, 1939, and it was the last government of the Second Polish Republic which resided in Warsaw.

Members of the government

Other personalities

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

  • June 1. Fire in the biggest Polish glass manufacturer, Kara, in Piotrków Trybunalski. Polish minority parties win local elections in Załozie, garnering almost 11,000 votes,
  • June 3. Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski, the new ambassador of Poland in Italy, comes to Rome. Ten people die in a fire near Olkusz. Iron ore deposits are found near Zdołbunów,
  • June 7. An extraordinary session of the Sejm begins in Warsaw. A hydrobiological station is opened in Pinsk, as the third one in Poland, after stations in Hel, and at the lake Wigry,
  • June 8. A Polish delegation flies to Kaunas, to discuss the opening of air connection between Poland and Lithuania,
  • June 9. Two planes of the Luftwaffe enter Polish airspace near Katowice,
  • June 10. The whole village of Zaklików near Janów Lubelski is burned in a fire,
  • June 11. A train with remains of Saint Andrzej Bobola comes to the border station of Zebrzydowice, greeted by thousands of faithful,
  • June 14. Józef Beck visits Tallinn, where he dines with Estonian minister of foreign affairs, Karl Seiter,
  • June 15. Józef Beck has breakfast with President of Estonia, Konstantin Päts. The first customs office is opened in Landwarow, on the Polish–Lithuanian border,
  • June 19. Marshall Edward Rydz-Śmigły visits Polish Pomerania,
  • June 20. A hailstorm destroys crops in Tarnopol Voivodeship. A funeral of Marshall of the Sejm, Stanisław Car, takes place in Warsaw,
  • June 21. The school year ends in Poland. Five peasants drown while crossing the Bug in the village of Orla, Brzesc County,
  • June 22. Colonel Walery Sławek is elected Marshall of the Sejm. According to government statistics, there are 279,799 registered unemployed in Poland. President Moscicki leaves for vacation in Opatija,
  • June 24. A train from Kraków to Lwów derails in Biezanow on the outskirts of Kraków, 25 people are injured. Gdynia is reported to be the biggest port of the Baltic Sea,
  • June 28. General Wacław Stachiewicz comes to Riga, on the invitation of Chief of Staff of the Latvian Army, General Marins Hartmanis. According to unofficial sources, there are about 30,000 Gypsies in Poland,
  • June 30. General Stachiewicz arrives at Tallinn.

July

  • July 1. Opening of the Polish Radio Station in Baranowicze. A direct air connection between Warsaw and Budapest is opened jointly by LOT Polish Airlines, and Hungarian Airline Malert. A Polish scientific trip sets for Spitsbergen,
  • July 2. A new trade treaty between Poland and Germany is signed in Berlin,
  • July 3. Marshall Edward Rydz-Śmigły is named an honorary citizen of Wilno,
  • July 4. Polish Ministry of Education announces that it plans to open a university in Toruń,
  • July 6. A Museum of Crimean Karaites is opened in Troki,
  • July 8. A group of Polish parliamentarians demands delegitimization of several pro-Nazi German minority organizations,
  • July 9. In Radom, several buildings burn to the ground after a violent thunderstorm,
  • July 10. Snow in the Tatras,
  • July 11. A train with the coffin of King Stanisław August Poniatowski arrives at the Polish–Soviet border station in Stolpce,
  • July 13. Józef Beck comes to Riga, on a plane from Wilno, with a 20-minute break at Kaunas. Flood warning in southern Poland,
  • July 14. Józef Beck visits Jelgava, where he dines with Kārlis Ulmanis. Five people die when a car crashes with a train in Sosnowiec. Secret funeral of Stanisław August Poniatowski takes place in his hometown of Wolczyn,
  • July 15. The number of bicycles in Poland exceeds one million. A direct air connection between Warsaw and Kaunas is opened. In Trans-Olza, Czechoslovak police arrest a number of Polish-minority activists,
  • July 16. Government-sponsored destruction of Eastern Orthodox churches in the eastern part of the Lublin Voivodeship is terminated,
  • July 17. Marshall Edward Rydz-Śmigły visits Zamość,
  • July 20. Józef Beck visits Free City of Danzig, and Gdynia. Two escapees from a State Political Directorate prison in Minsk cross Polish–Soviet border in the area of Stolpce,
  • July 21. Near Pinsk, a skirmish between local police and a group of communists takes place. The communists wanted to illegally cross Polish–Soviet border,
  • July 22. Three crew members die in a crash of a Polish Airlines plane near Cernauti.
  • July 25. Association of Ukrainian Merchants in Tarnopol announces a project "Ukrainians buy only at Ukrainian stores",
  • July 28. After a two-week delay, the Polish government officially informs the public about the funeral of Stanisław August Poniatowski, which took place on July 14,
  • July 29. The opening ceremony of Biały Słoń, a campus of the Polish Astronomical and Meteorological Observatory, takes place on the peak of Pip Ivan,
  • July 30. Polish press announces that between mid-1935, and mid-1938, only 107 kilometres of concrete roads were built in the whole country.,
  • July 31. Józef Beck comes to Copenhagen

August

  • August 2. Three customs offices are opened on the Polish–Lithuanian border. Józef Beck comes to Oslo,
  • August 4. Violent thunderstorms attack several counties in Nowogródek Voivodeship,
  • August 5. Three Czechoslovak Air Force planes enter Polish airspace near Å»ywiec. Józef Beck returns to Warsaw after a trip to Scandinavia,
  • August 6. Poland celebrates Day of the First Cadre Company,
  • August 7. Seventeen people are injured in a rail crash near Sochaczew,
  • August 8. Union of Poles in Germany protests against questionnaires, suggested by the Nazi Germany government for the German census. The questionnaires exclude the possibility of stating one's nationality. In Łódź, 1600 tailors go on strike,
  • August 9. A delegation of officers of the French Navy comes to Warsaw. In Gdynia, Józef Beck meets with Duff Cooper,
  • August 10. Edward Rydz-Śmigły visits Poznań. Polish press informs that Soviet authorities still have not released three young Polish gliders, who had mistakenly landed in the Soviet Union during a storm on June 26, 1938. The whereabouts and the fate of the gliders are unknown,
  • August 11. Meeting of General Council of Camp of National Unity begins in Warsaw. Seven children from Kowel county, Volhynia, aged 8–11, died after an explosion of a World War I bomb, found by them in the ground. A fire in the town of Łosice destroys 25% of the buildings,
  • August 12. A delegation of three French destroyers, Chacal, Jaguar, and Leopard, leaves Gdynia,
  • August 15. The Day of the Polish Soldier is celebrated across the country.
  • August 16. The Komintern dissolves the Communist Party of Poland,
  • August 17. Polish media inform that Czechoslovak government closed Polish-Czechoslovak border,
  • August 18. Works on the Royal Canal begin in Kobryn,
  • August 19. Polish press informs that the total cost of Gwiazda Polski's the stratospheric flight is 360,000 zlotys. A record number of tourists comes to Hel for summer vacation,
  • August 20. A delegation of Polish Air Force, with General Ludomił Rayski, visits Sofia. Polish government announces plan of construction of a highway from Sandomierz, the capital of the Central Industrial Area, to Warsaw,
  • August 22. Polish destroyers Grom and Błyskawica leave naval base in Oksywie for a visit in Copenhagen,
  • August 23. Mass anti-German demonstrations in Gdynia, Toruń, and other cities of Polish Pomerania, after a group of Nazi activists from Free City of Danzig threw a Polish railwayman Tadeusz Winnicki under a train, and as a result, the victims' legs were amputated. Sixteen passengers are seriously injured in a bus crash in Ożarów,
  • August 24. Polish Government confiscates a letter of Bishop Andrzej Szeptycki, which criticizes destruction of Orthodox churches,
  • August 25. Konrad Libicki becomes general manager of Polish Radio. 200 000 pilgrims come to Jasna Góra Monastery for traditional Black Madonna of Częstochowa holiday,
  • August 25. MS Sobieski is launched in Newcastle,
  • August 30. Two people die when a passenger train derails on the Lublin – Kowel line

September

  • September 1. Two checkpoints are opened along the border with Lithuania. Charles Lindbergh with wife land in Kraków, on his way from Moscow to Prague,
  • September 3. Annual Eastern Trade Fair is opened in Lwów,
  • September 5. According to government statistics, Gdynia is the most expensive Polish city, while Wilno is the cheapest,
  • September 7. Józef Beck leaves Warsaw, and via Berlin goes to Bern, for a session of the League of Nations,
  • September 8. Street clashes between Poles and Jews in Lida,
  • September 10. Polish press informs that construction of the new rail line, between Polish Upper Silesia, and Volhynia, has already started. The 400-kilometer line will go from Tarnowskie Góry to Lutsk, via Sandomierz, and Stalowa Wola. Three people die in a motorcycle accident near Lwów,
  • September 12. Albert William Stevens comes to Zakopane, to witness the stratospheric flight of Gwiazda Polski balloon,
  • September 13. Dissolution of the Polish Parliament,
  • September 14. In Czortków, a new steel bridge over the Seret is opened,
  • September 15. Marshall Edward Rydz-Śmigły visits the Polish Army manoeuvres in Volhynia,
  • September 19. In Lutsk, a military parade takes place, to mark the end of the manoeuvres,
  • September 20. Additional units of the Polish Army secure Polish-Czechoslovak border,
  • September 21. Polish envoy to Prague, Kazimierz Papée, demands from government of Czechoslovakia solution of the problem of its Polish minority in the same way as the problem of German minority was solved,
  • September 22. In Trans-Olza, local Poles fight with Czechoslovak police and army during street manifestations which demand the cession of the area to Poland. On the same day in Warsaw, 250 000 people demand the cession of Trans-Olza. It is the biggest demonstration of the Second Polish Republic,
  • September 23. The Soviet government states that if Polish troops enter Czechoslovakia, Moscow will void the Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact,
  • September 24. At Warsaw's Royal Castle, the meeting of key Polish figures (Józef Beck, Edward Rydz-Śmigły, Ignacy Mościcki, Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski) takes place, during which the situation in Czechoslovakia is discussed,
  • September 25. In Zaleszczyki, a bridge over the Dniester, connecting Poland and Romania, is opened,
  • September 26. A LOT plane from Warsaw to Budapest is not allowed to fly over Czechoslovak territory. A clash between Czech soldiers and Poles from Trans-Olza takes place near Zebrzydowice,
  • September 27. A demonstration in Cieszyn, during which local Poles demand the cession of Trans-Olza. Construction of a car factory begins in Lublin,
  • September 28. Land communication between Poland and Czechoslovakia is closed,
  • September 30. Polish government demands the cession of Trans-Olza.

October

November

  • November 1. Upon decree of the President of Poland, Jaworzyna and parts of SpiÅ¡ become part of Poland,
  • November 3. A new, concrete road between Pinsk and Kobryn is opened, after four years of construction,
  • November 4. Due to lack of passengers, all domestic LOT Polish Airlines are closed for the winter, except for the connection Warsaw – Poznań,
  • November 5. In Prague, a joint Polish-Czechoslovak commission draws the new border between the two countries, in the area of Jaworzyna,
  • November 6. General election in Poland,
  • November 8. Rail communication between Poland and Czechoslovakia is reestablished. Sun eclipse in Kraków,
  • November 8 to November 11. Polish legislative election,
  • November 11. Independence Day in Poland. Patriotic demonstrations take place across the country, including Trans-Olza and Lwów,
  • November 12. Local floods in Kaszuby and in the area of Nowogródek,
  • November 15. Polish press informs that construction of main west–east rail line (Upper Silesia – Volhynia) proceeds according to plan,
  • November 16. In Warsaw, leaders of the Jewish minority in Poland declare a month of mourning, protesting against the persecution of Jews in Germany,
  • November 17. SS Pulaski returns to Gdynia from a cruise to South America,
  • November 19. Residents of Lwów celebrate 20th anniversary of Battle of Lwów (1918),
  • November 23. Around 6,000 Jewish refugees, expelled from Nazi Germany, are housed at a transit camp in Zbąszyń, a town on the Polish-German border. Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland accepts construction of two rail lines, Tarnowskie Góry – Zawiercie, and Skierniewice – Łuków,
  • November 24. All Freemasons Lodges in Poland are closed by the President of Poland. Prime Minister Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski hands his resignation to the president Ignacy Mościcki, and Mościcki does not accept it,
  • November 26. Joseph Stalin reaffirms the Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact. Polish envoy to Czechoslovakia, Kazimierz Papée protests against the attack of armed Czechoslovak citizens on Polish soldiers establishing a new border in the area of Čadca,
  • November 27. Polish Army troops seize Jaworzyna,
  • November 28. Sejm and Senate convene in Warsaw for the first time after the election,
  • November 29. Opening of a 22-kilometer rail line Å»ory–Pszczyna,
  • November 30. Polish press informs that only 30 citizens of Poland own their private aeroplanes.

December

  • December 2. Speaking in Sejm, Minister Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski describes a plan of development of Poland for the years 1939–1954,
  • December 5. Speaker of Polish Parliament, Vasyl Mudry of Ukrainian minority demands in his parliamentary speech autonomy for the Ukrainians. In the port of Danzig, Polish ship SS Tczew sinks and two people die,
  • December 8. Three people die in a car crash near Gniezno,
  • December 9. In Warsaw, a delegation of Polish civil servants and bank workers presents to the Army a PZL.37 Łoś, purchased with the money collected by them,
  • December 10. Deposits of copper are found in Podolia, near Zaleszczyki and Horodenka,
  • December 12. A movie theatre burns down in Gdynia,
  • December 13. Papal Nuncio Filippo Cortesi comes to Lwów. A seismic observatory of Warsaw University is opened in Warsaw,
  • December 16. According to the Polish press, there still are around 5,700 Jews, camping in Zbąszyń on the Polish-German border. A cold wave sweeps over Poland, the temperature in Lwów goes down to minus 21 degrees C,
  • December 18. Local elections in several Polish cities,
  • December 19. Three miners die in coal mine Kazimierz in Sosnowiec. A new rail and road bridge over the Vistula is opened in Płock,
  • December 21. Tatra Park of Nature is opened in Jaworzyna,
  • December 22. The Polish ambassador in Berlin, Józef Lipski, meets with Joachim von Ribbentrop,
  • December 24. Fire in the left wing of the Nieśwież Castle. Primate of Poland August Hlond addresses the nation through the radio,
  • December 27. SS Tczew, which sank in Danzig on December 5 is raised and transported to Gdynia for overhaul. Residents of Greater Poland celebrate 20th anniversary of Greater Poland Uprising,
  • December 28. Four people die hit by a train on a railroad crossing in Å»yrardów,
  • December 29. Construction of rail line Tarnobrzeg–Kolbuszowa–Rzeszów begins,
  • December 30. The flu epidemic in Poland; in Warsaw 130,000 people are sick. Archbishop Aleksander Kakowski dies in Warsaw,

Arts and literature

Books

Film

Sports

January

February

March

April

May

June

  • June 5. In Strasbourg, in a 1938 FIFA World Cup match, Poland loses to Brazil 5-6 (see also Poland v Brazil (1938)),
  • June 11. In Rome, Italian wrestling team beats Poland 6–1,
  • June 12. In games of the Ekstraklasa, AKS Chorzów beats at home Warta Poznań 4–0, ŁKS Łódź loses in Łódź to Cracovia 0–1, Pogoń Lwów beats at home Ruch Chorzów 3-1 (att. 6000), Wisła Kraków beats in Kraków Warszawianka Warszawa 3–1, and Polonia Warszawa beats at home Śmigły Wilno 5–2. In Budapest, Hungary beats Poland 13–7, in an international handball game. In Poznań, in a rowing competition, Poland loses to Germany 25–47,
  • June 15. In Poznań, Polish boxing team beats France 14 -2,
  • June 19. In games of the Ekstraklasa, Warta Poznań ties at home 3–3 with Warszawianka (att. 4000), Ruch Chorzów beats at home Cracovia 4-0 (att. 10 000), ŁKS Łódź ties at home with Śmigły Wilno 1-1 (att. 4000), and Wisła Kraków beats in Kraków Pogoń Lwów 1-0 (att. 3000). In international track and field-friendly, Poland beats France 119,5 – 91,5. Ignacy Tłoczyński becomes lawn tennis champion of Poland, after beating Jozef Hebda,
  • June 26. In games of the Ekstraklasa, Cracovia beats at home Ruch Chorzów 3-2 (att. 7000), in Chorzów AKS beats Polonia Warszawa 1-0 (att. 6000), in Wilno, Śmigły beats ŁKS Łódź 4-0 (att. 4000), in Lwów Pogon beats Wisła Kraków 2–1, and in Warsaw, Warszawianka beats Warta Poznań 2-1 (att. 4000). KPW Poznań becomes handball champion of Poland, 2nd is AZS Warszawa, 3rd Cracovia, and 4th ŁKS Łódź.

July

  • July 16. Swimming championships of Poland begin in Bielsko-Biała,
  • July 17. Quarterfinal games of the President of Poland's Football Cup take place in four cities,
  • July 29. International female lawn tennis match Poland – Czechoslovakia begins in Warsaw,

August

  • August 1. In a two-day track and field match in Cernauti, Poland beats Romania 96 – 48. In a friendly football match, Ruch Chorzów beats at home SK Jugoslavija 5–2,
  • August 2. In a friendly football match, SK Jugoslavija beats ŁKS Łódź 2–0,
  • August 3. In a friendly football game in Warsaw, Poland loses to Hungaria Budapest 1-3 (att. 6000),
  • August 5. In a friendly football match in Łódź, Poland beats Hungaria Budapest 1–0,
  • August 7. In an international boxing match in Venice, Poland loses to Italy 4–12. In semifinal games of President of Poland's Football Cup, Lwów beats at home Łódź 3–2, and Kraków beats Warsaw 3-2 (in Warsaw). Syrena Warsaw becomes team cycling champion of Poland,
  • August 10. In an international track and field match in Oslo, Poland beats Norway 95–93. In Rimini, Poland ties 8–8 with Italy, in the second leg of a boxing match,
  • August 21. In games of the Ekstraklasa, Warta Poznań beats at home AKS Chorzów 4–3, Cracovia beats ŁKS Łódź 6–2, Wisła Kraków beats Warszawianka Warszawa 3–2, Polonia Warszawa beats Śmigły Wilno 3–0, and Ruch Chorzów beats Pogoń Lwów 3–1,
  • August 28. In games of the Ekstraklasa, Pogoń Lwów beats at home Warszawianka Warszawa 3-0 (att. 5000), Wisła Kraków beats at home Śmigły Wilno 4-1 (att. 4000), Ruch Chorzów beats away AKS Chorzów 4-2 (att. 12 000), in Łódź, ŁKS Łódź ties 0–0 with Warta Poznań, and in Warsaw, Polonia Warszawa ties 2–2 with Cracovia (att. 5000),
  • August 29. In an international lawn tennis game in Žilina, Czechoslovakia ties 3–3 with Poland. In games of the Ekstraklasa, ŁKS Łódź ties with Warta Poznań 0-0, Ruch Chorzów beats at home AKS Chorzów 4-2 (att. 15 000), Pogoń Lwów beats Warszawianka Warszawa 3-0 (att. 3500), Wisła Kraków beats Śmigły Wilno 4–1, and Cracovia ties with Polonia Warszawa 2-2. In qualifiers to the Ekstraklasa, Garbarnia Kraków beats at home Union Touring Łódź 2–1, and in Luck, local team PKS loses to Śląsk Świętochłowice 1-4 (att. 3000),

September

October

November

  • November 1. In a postponed game of the Ekstraklasa, Cracovia loses at home to Polonia Warszawa 0-2 (att. 4000),
  • November 5. In Poznań, Poland loses to Italy 1–6 in a wrestling match,
  • November 13. In international football game, which takes place in Dublin, Poland loses to Ireland 2–3, with goals by Ernest Wilimowski and Leonard Piątek. In Breslau, in a double boxing game, Germany beats Poland 12–4. In Toruń, Polish "B" boxing team beats Latvia 12–4,
  • Final matches of Polish boxing championship begin, with such teams, as Elektrit Wilno, IKP Łódź, Lechia Lwów, Okęcie Warszawa, Wisła Kraków, LSW Lublin, HCP Poznań, Goplania Inowrocław, Warta Poznań, Strzelec Janowa Dolina and IKB Świętochłowice. The championship is won by Warta Poznań,
  • November 27. In Lwów, in the final game of the President of Poland's Football Cup, Lwów beats Kraków 5–1,

December

  • December 4. In a football friendly, the team of Breslau beats at home the team of Warsaw 2–0,
  • December 8. In an international boxing friendly in Warsaw, Poland beats Switzerland 12–4,
  • December 11. In an international boxing match in Łódź, Poland beats Estonia 10–6,
  • December 19. In Katowice, ice-hockey tournament of four cities (Katowice, Kraków, Vienna and Berlin) takes place. The tournament is won by Kraków,
  • December 26. Games of Polish ice-hockey championship begin,

Births

Deaths