Władysław Berkan (1859-1941) emigration in his fight for independent Poland

Abstract

Throughout the 19th century in the Prussian territory of partitioned Poland, the war for Polish national survival continued. The paper is a biographical record of Władysław Berkan’s life, one of the participants in that war. It has been prepared on the basis of Berkan’s own writings and the literary heritage of his daughter, Kazimiera. Berkan was born on the 16th of February 1859 in Samplawice, a small village in Pomerania. After the completion of elementary school he was apprenticed to a tailor. He supplemented his education throughout his life. „Continuous self-improvement” was Berkan’s motto which he applied to both his private life and profession. He claimed that the Poles could withstand germanization if they were superior to Germans in every respect (personal values, efficiency at work etc.). After Berkan had received his certificate qualifying him for a tailor, he went to Germany in order to acquaint himself with German achievements in needlecraft. In 1888, Berkan moved to Berlin where he opened his tailor’s shop. He did very well on account of the high standard of his services. In Berlin he joined Polish migration groups and participated in their social activities. He held many important offices in the community.

Berkan treated his stay in Germany as a transitory stage in his life. He intended to make a fortune and once he was rich go back and work in Poland. However, the social situation in the newly-liberated Poland disappointed him. When he realized that it was not work but rather personal connections that decided a man’s career he became discouraged, withdrew from social activity and stayed aloof. Afteer the Nazis’ invasion of Poland in 1939, Berkan left for Zakopane under a false name and remained in hiding till the day of his death on the 30th of January 1941.