The Second Polish Republic (1918-1939) was considered a rural country with nearly 65% of its population working in agriculture. Life was not easy for these people in general and when the economic crisis of the 1930s hit Poland it became even worse.
In 1933 the Institute of Social Economy [Instytut Gospodarstwa Społecznego] advertised a contest for “Memoirs of the Peasants” [Pamiętniki Chłopów]. In total 498 memoirs were submitted 61 of which were published by the Institute in two Volumes (1935; 1936). The memoirs give testimony of social life in Polish rural areas. Peasants often pointed out the difficulties of the present economic situation.
In the following, I would like to let some selected excerpts of these memoirs speak for themselves to give an impression of the reality of the economic crisis.
Farmer, district Błońsk, 1933 (p. 9)
“I started to think whether it would not be better to try to survive this crisis in a different way, so as not to lose the rest of the property, because, after all, I have children and old age awaits me. So, after some consideration, I decided to lease the farm and earn my own income to support my family and that is what I did. I leased the land with the building for 800 złoty a year, paid in advance annually. This was just enough to cover the instalments and taxes. I sold the livestock and the inventory, as well as the crops, and gave money away again, where I owed them. I had 1800 złoty left. For the time being, I was supposed to get a job as a gardener in Warsaw, and I was supposed to put this money up as a deposit, but since I could not collect the cash by the agreed date, they took someone else there, and I was left, as they say, with nothing of the sort.”
Wife of a farmer, district Warsaw, 1933 (p. 26-27)
“It seems to me that, if not on a par with men, then women are even more affected by the crisis in the countryside, as they are physically weaker and, moreover, the woman always has more feeling and therefore bears everything less well. On top of that there is the overworking, especially nowadays, when you can’t afford any help and you have to do everything in the field or in the house yourself. No one in the city can ever imagine how a woman in the countryside has to work, and that work is usually done in the cold and in hhunger. How many times does she have to divide the last piece of bread or the last quart of milk between her husband and hungry children, while she herself usually has to eat bitter tears swallowed secretly. And when again the husband and father spreads his hands helplessly and says, I can do nothing for you, do what you want and goes to a neighbour or somewhere else, just to get down and not look at everything. A woman, however, will not shrug things away and will always do something, think of something, take care so as not to give in to poverty, give advice, cheer up, and it is true that today’s woman in the countryside is a quiet heroine full of merits for which no medal will do justice.”
Source: Pamiętniki chłopów: nr 1–51 (1935): Instytut Gospodarstwa Społecznego, Warszawa.