An issue of the Polska magazine is entirely devoted to Vilnius, described as Józef Piłsudski's beloved city. Pilsudski's statement about that city is quoted, and Vilnius itself is described in the context of how the Marshal saw it. His childhood and school years are described, as well as his later years. The text is richly illustrated and accompanied by city photographs (Source: "Polska", Warsaw 1938, R: 4, no. 26, after: Jagiellonian Digital Library).

A modernised reading of the text

Vilnius, the beloved city of Marshal Piłsudski.

"Vilnius, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The city of my childhood, I love it and longed for it for years. The cause of Vilnius is my martyrdom. Working on the Vilnius issue was one of the most important for me. It was the loss that I cared for the most, the sentiment that exists in every human being.".

Vilnius. This city, dear to every Pole, is inextricably linked with the figure of Marshal Piłsudski. It is also only Vilnius that has a nickname: the city and capital of the Marshal. Vilnius is the hometown of Piłsudski. For many years, Vilnius was the centre of his conspiratorial work, preparing his armed action and fighting a brilliant and ultimately victorious battle, which culminated in the resurrection of the Fatherland and the double liberation of Vilnius. Vilnius is a miracle of nature, it is a city of art, it is a redoubt of the Republic with a magnificent thousand-year tradition.

This town of Gediminas, this capital of Jagiełło and Vytautas, played a special role in Marshal Piłsudski's life. Before we present this Polish 'Florence of the North' in a separate issue, it is extremely interesting to look at how Vilnius was the cradle and starting point of Marshal Piłsudski's secret and armed actions, and how, in the triumph of victory, Marshal Piłsudski received the keys of liberated Vilnius, his beloved city, and the cities of his childhood. When Vilnius fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks in 1918-1919, I was separated from it by some 300 kilometres and German and Bolshevik forces.

The city of my childhood, I love it and I missed it for years. The fate of Vilnius - for me it was a mental knot and a must that dragged me stony. On the great screen of the soul, distant Vilnius was painted as a pink blotch to the north of the great red blotch of fighting Lviv, where necessity ordered reinforcements to be sent. It was to the soul, as to that woman in Wyspianski's 'Wedding': "Mousse is calling me, once around!" She was called by the mousse of youth, love and memories, and - Vilnius, for me, was the legacy of long years of longing and attachment. In creating the concept of Vilnius, I felt that I was creating a beautiful thing. Beloved, dear Vilnius... going, I was teaching my officers to love this city of Mickiewicz and Słowacki.

To no city, conquered by me, did I enter with such feeling as to Vilnius. Those sweet songs of children, those fearful eyes of mothers, those tears, those emotions... I was entering... on horseback... my city was waiting... the triumph of the soul was complete, and how much new and sweet work was still ahead of me. And sometimes there in Magdeburg I thought of Vilnius, I longed for Vilnius. A nice city. A row of walls, hills pressed into the green. The hills, crowded with greenery, caress the walls, the walls gaze longingly at the hills. Nice town. When you reach one of the hills, towers shine upwards through the mist of vapour towards the sky, towers on which, when the bells ring, you don't know whether they are complaining or asking for mercy, or whether they are just raising their voices longingly to the sky. Nice town.

Nice walls, which once caressed me as a child, which taught me to love the greatness of truth. A nice city, with so many experiences. A city - a symbol of our once great culture and power: the Jagiellonian dynasty, which ruled over the turrets of Krakow and the towers of Vilnius with a mighty hand. Vilnius of Stefan Batory, who founded a university and forged new frontiers with a sword. Great poets, soothsayers, who caressed the nation with words and spells, gave life to the enchanted nation, no where else, but here in the same school, where I was running, in these walls beautifully crying out to God, studied, as I once did in the cursed Russian school.

Everything beautiful in my soul - caressed by Vilnius. Here - the first word of love, here - the first words of wisdom, here - everything that a child and a young man lived, caressed with walls and caressed with hills. One of the most beautiful cities in the world... Gentlemen! I speak to you as the Head of the Polish State and as a Vilnius citizen. These two functions are so inseparable for me that I cannot speak otherwise in Vilnius, and if I can safely say that I would not be the Head of the Polish State if I were not a Vilnian, then, conversely, I leave it to history to resolve the question of whether, being a good Vilnian, I managed to be a good Head of the Polish State.

First of all, I will talk about the past. For I am a believer in the principle that he who does not respect and value his past is not worthy of respect for the present, and has no right to the future... ...Vilnius is now entering a new life, a life that is being formed differently from that of its historical past... I am, my lords, at an age when I look calmly into that distance from which no one is returning. I know that after so many emotions of my turbulent life, emotions both rich in applause and whistling, there are few more emotions that fate cooks up for me, few emotions as great and powerful as those I have experienced.

But there are emotions that are so pure and innocent, emotions that are almost those of a child, which will inevitably still be mine. Today is one of them. I am like a child on the naming day of his dear mother. The child's uncritical eye, enraptured by its mother, does not look and ask what the garments on her body are. Whether she is ugly or whether she is pretty to someone else, she is and remains to the child something beautiful and wonderful, and on her name day the touched heart beats joyfully. So like a child, moved to the depths, I cry out: long live Vilnius.

The Marshal's entire life, and finally his will, his death, testify that Vilnius was the nicest of cities to him. "A nice city... A city symbolic of our once great culture and state power... One of the most beautiful cities in the world". What mainly attracted the Marshal to Vilnius? Was it that it was the city of his childhood? Yes, but that was not all. He was bound to it by a youthful tragedy, which ignited in his soul a fountain of rebellion against the oppressor. This tragedy was caused by the Russian school set up within the "dear and holy" walls of the former Vilnius University. He writes of it thus:

"I became a pupil of the first gymnasium of Vilnius, located within the walls of the former Vilnius University, the former Alma Mater of Mickiewicz and Slowacki. It looked naturally different from their times. It was hosted here - taught and educated young people - by Tsarist pedagogues who brought all political passions into the school, and had as their system the possible crushing of the independence and personal dignity of their pupils. For me, the grammar school era was a kind of torture. I was crushed by the gymnasium atmosphere, outraged by the injustice and politics of the teachers, bored and bored by the science lectures. I would not have the stomach for describing the incessant, humiliating taunts from the teachers, the dishonouring of everything I had become accustomed to respecting and loving. How strong the impression of this pedagogical system was on my mind can be judged from the fact that to this day, when I have already passed through prisons and Siberia and have had to deal with miscreants of various sorts, in every unpleasant dream one of my nice Vilnius pedagogues plays one role or another."

"Helpless rage choked me at times, and the shame of not being able to harm my enemies in any way, of having to endure in silence the trampling of my dignity and of having to listen to lying and contemptuous words about Poland, Poles and their history, burned my cheeks... I will always count the years of my stay at the gymnasium among the most unpleasant in my life.

"Everything that was sacred and dear to my childish soul was given to contempt and humiliation. The nobler and more sensitive souls were put on wheels of torment, while the weaker ones were thrown into the wasteland of degradation. In recollection of those times, we, the alumni of this school, are filled with curses". Marszałek once again described those times on the occasion of the presentation of his Doctor of Laws from Jagiellonian University; he said then, among other things: "I am an upbringing - if I am to call the Russian school an upbringing - of a school placed within the honourable walls of the younger sister of the Jagiellonian University, the famous Almae Matris of Vilnius, the Almae Matris of the noblest hearts of our Polish bards. I was educated there at the moment of the greatest humiliation of these walls, at the moment of the glaring negation of the purpose for which they were once erected."

At that time, the Piłsudski family lived at 20 Trocka Street, and occupied the entire first floor there. From Trocka Street, the boys had a short walk to the gymnasium on Św. Jańska Street. During walks they would visit Góra Zamkowa, they were undoubtedly familiar with the more important churches (Św. Jańska, the Cathedral), and from their parents or aunt Stefania Lipmanówna, people who had lived through the recent tragedy of the Uprising of 63, they would hear tales of Łukiska Square and visit the place where patriots were murdered and died heroically.

The first flat in Vilnius was undoubtedly something more epoch-making in Piłsudski's recollections and experiences than the next three (the second - at 2 Św. Anny St.), where a commemorative plaque had already been placed - (the third - at Bakszta St.) Lachwin's house - (the fourth at 18 Nadbrzeżna St., today Zygmuntowska St.).

In the life of the adolescent Ziuk, already a member of the clandestine student organisation, many precious memories and experiences had to be associated with the flat, successively the fifth, occupied by Piłsudski "in the Hausztejn's house" at 8 Bakszta St. From there, from the terrace windows, with a vast view of Zarzecze and Belmont before his eyes, Ziuk would take in the beauty of nature and the Vilnius landscape.

The young boy's conspiratorial and patriotic work was boiling over in this flat, and it was here that he gathered his friends for secret meetings of the Polish secret self-education circle "Spójnia", here that he kept a secret pupils' library, and here that he organised a secret amateur theatre together with his friends, colleagues and with the help of his elders. In those times, when the Polish word was strictly forbidden in all public places, and the Russian theatre, as an imposition, was boycotted in solidarity by Polish society, the performances of this amateur theatre in the Polish home had the taste of forbidden fruit and were a patriotic act.

The mournful and painful memories not only acted as an act of historical justice towards a once brutally destroyed source of learning and education, but also placed Vilnius now in the row of cities once again revived by Polish culture and forever associated with it. However, the year 1920 came, and the Bolshevik hordes rushing towards Warsaw occupied Vilnius again on 14 July, but after they had been crushed near Warsaw, Vilnius was ceded to Kaunas-Lithuania on 25 August. Then, Piłsudski, through General Żeligowski, protested militarily, and as early as 9.X. 1920, the Polish army took Wilno back, forever.

And on February 20, 1922, the local people, through a special Diet, confirmed the state affiliation of the whole Vilnius land to Poland without any reservations. "Nice city. Nice walls, which once taught me as a child... to love the greatness of truth". Vilnius became inextricably intertwined with the Marshal's life. It is interesting to find out when and why Piłsudski came to Vilnius, his city. 1874-1885. In the summer of 1874, following the demise of the manor house in Zułów, Piłsudski's family moved to Vilnius. This period saw the years of his education at a Russian grammar school - death of his mother (1884) - matriculation (1885). 1886-1887.

After his expulsion from Kharkiv University and a short stay in St Petersburg, Piłsudski returned to Vilnius. 1892-1899. In the second half of 1892, after a 5-year exile in Siberia, the Marshal saw the city he held dear. His stay was unpleasant, as he was under constant surveillance by the Russian police. Nevertheless, he organised the First P.P.S. Convention (1893) in the Ponary mountains (near Vilnius). He edits, prints and distributes "Robotnik" (1894-1899), which was combined with frequent trips to Kaunas, Warsaw, abroad, etc. 1902. In the spring, a year after his famous escape from prison, Piłsudski dropped in from London to Vilnius, in order to reorganise the P.P.S. 1903. In June, he convened a conference in Vilnius, despite letters from the police, ochrana and gendarmerie.

This trailing of the Russian authorities behind the Marshal did not allow for longer stays in the country. 1908 - This is the toughest period in the history of the militant organisation. The reaction of the Russian government rages monstrously. Torture of arrested fighters, courts-martial, death sentences - all this threatened the ultimate annihilation not only of the organisation, but also of the very idea of the struggle for independence. It was at such a time that Piłsudski decided to take stronger action.

He chose Vilnius. Here he worked on a plan for the so-called 'Bezdańska' action from early January to July. After a short stay of a couple of weeks in Małopolska, he returned to Vilnius at the end of July to prepare the final act of the struggle, and remained there until 26th September, i.e. until the day of the armed stand-off at Bezdan. Stefan Batory University, closed and destroyed by the Muscovites, resurrected by Marshal Pilsudski. 1919.

It was not until 11 years later that J. Pilsudski arrived in Vilnius again, but no longer as a hidden conspirator, but as Head of State, as the liberator of his beloved city. It was on 19 April, at Easter. That same year, on 11 October, he arrived at the resurrection of Vilnius University (U.S.B.). 1922, from 15 to 20 April, he takes charge of Central Lithuania on behalf of the Republic and incorporates it into the Polish State. On 23 August he is Marshal at the dedication of the banner of the 22nd Cavalry Division, which took place in Lukiska Square.

On November 1, he takes part in the consecration and decoration with the "Virtuti Militari" of the banners of the 1st and 6th p.p. Legions. 1923, from 13th to 25th August, Piłsudski gives lectures on the Commander-in-Chief. 1924, from 27-29 October, he gives military lectures on the Vilnius expedition, and participates in the unveiling of the project for a monument to Mickiewicz on the banks of the Neris River, a composition by Pronaszko. 1925 r. On 7 March, the garrison casino hosted a rave in honour of the Marshal, who in his speech wished Vilnius "more courage". 1927 The Marshal was in Vilnius 3 times: 2 July at the coronation of the image of Our Lady of the Dawn Gate, on 9 October he received the parade on the anniversary of the recapture of Vilnius in 1920, and on 23 November, visiting his sick sister, Sophia Kadenacowa.

1928, the 7th Congress of Legionaries took place on 12 August, at which the Marshal delivered a magnificent speech in the Grand Theatre (W. Pohulanka), revolving around the fate of Vilnius, and which was a pre-mortem indication for the ceremony of placing the Marshal's Heart on the Rossa among the soldiers' graves of the liberators of the city. 1929 r.

Restful stay of Marshal in Vilnius and Pikieliškės. 1930. On 9 August the Marshal receives the French Minister of Aviation Eynac at the Representative Palace. 1931 In June, the Marshal receives delegations of municipalities of the Vilnius Voivodeship. 1932 Marshal stays briefly in February, then from 29 July to 7 August in Vilnius and Pikieliškės, receiving the parade on the feast day of 1 p.p. Leg. at Lukiskie Square. He arrives again that year in December. 1933, he was Marshal in January, 19 March and 6 August, visiting Adamowo P. 1934 - on his name-day. 1935 A very ill Marshal arrives in Vilnius for the funeral of his sister, Zofia Kadenacowa (7-9 February); then he comes, as he has done for many years, for his name-day in Pikieliszki.

This was the last stay of the living Marshal in Vilnius. 1935 r. On 31 May, the Marshal's heart was solemnly transported from the Belvedere to the Ostrobramskaya Church. 1936 r. - On 12 May, the first anniversary of the Marshal's death, a solemn funeral of the Mother and the Heart of the Son was held on Rossa, in the cemetery of those killed in the battles for Vilnius. I would like to see the fulfilment, as soon as possible, of my fervent desire for this city to become one of the great capitals of the world, a centre of culture, a new Athens that would radiate not only to the whole country but also far beyond its borders, and thus establish a thread of tradition with its glorious past as the city of Śniadeckis, Lelewel and Mickiewicz.

The work of reuniting the Vilnius area with the Republic of Poland, crowned by the Allied Powers' approval of its eastern borders, made Piłsudski's dream of uniting Vilnius with the Motherland a reality.