Pole position
Taki
Gstaad s everyone who has ever read history knows, Poland is the country most trodden on by bad guys, set as she is at the heart of Europe between two, er, shall we say voracious powers, Germany and Russia. Throughout the centuries bad guys have tried to enslave the Poles, the bravest and most devout Christian people in Europe. They, in turn, did not exactly roll over and play dead a la Belgians in the first and second world wars. They rose against the Russkies in 1830, 1863 and 1905; fought the Bolshies in 1920-1; finally rose against the Nazis in 1944 only to be betrayed by the murderous Stalin whose armies just sat across the Vistula outside Warsaw and watched the capital reduced to rubble and hundreds of thousands of courageous Polish fighters killed.
So much for those scummy types who until 1989 believed Uncle Joe to have been a nice sort of person. We, of course, were not much better. We supposedly went to war against Hitler for Poland, but in reality all we did was to declare a state of war against Germany, which was not exactly the same thing as going to war to help the beleaguered Poles. In fact, we did the contrary. The Poles retreated in orderly fashion in the first two weeks of September 1939, hoping that an Anglo-French expeditionary force would come to their aid. Count Potocki, who had resisted the Anglo-French-Polish treaty, knew that this was horsefeathers. Neither the Brits nor the French were capable of helping anyone in 1939, so why sign the treaty? On 17 September someone did come, in the name of the Soviet hordes who attacked from the east. So what did we do? Did we declare war on Stalin? Yes, we did, and if you believe that you also believe that the Russian oligarchs are honest businessmen.
Mind you, if we had, the British trade unions would have overthrown the government. So what did the Poles do in return for the Allied betrayal? Easy. They volunteered en masse, saved England with their airmen during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940, and distinguished themselves as the bravest soldiers fighting for the good guys. (Not such good guys in my not so humble opinion.) And the Allies continued to thank them by betraying them in Yalta when Churchill and Roosevelt connived to appease Stalin by ceding Polish territory to him. No people have ever been betrayed as much by so many. Even Napoleon, under the influence of the wonderful Marie Walewska, betrayed Poland, although he had 2,000 Polish lancers come all the way to Spain to break the stubborn Spanish resistance in the Somosierra ridge. (Once the Poles took it, Napoleon bared his head in saluting them, the only time in his career he did so.) What does all this have to do with 'High life'? Well, as some readers of this column may have noticed, I am a very big Polish fan and try to praise them whenever the opportunity arises. Sometime last winter I received a letter from the Lady Belhaven and Stenton. Polish-born and active in her country's affairs, she suggested that I have my portrait painted and hung at the Polish Club, 55 Exhibition Road. I agreed, and a very talented Polish artist, Barbara Kaczmarowska Hamilton, finished it in pastel after just three sittings. In return I gave a dinner at the Polish Club for the unveiling. My friend Prince Radziwill, with typical Polish generosity of spirit, flew back from Gstaad for the dinner, as did the mother of my children. (John Radziwill's uncle was the same Count Potocki who was against the shameful treaty.) Barbara Hamilton's portraits are in the De Laszlo style, soft pastel hues, lending her subjects a dream-like quality. I was very happy with my portrait, wrinkles and all. Bravo, Basia.
Given that my own country Greece was, like Poland, second to none in its gallant resistance to both the Nazi and communist tyrannies, I felt extremely honoured by the unveiling. The chairman of the Polish Hearth Club and the Polish Council both pointed out this fact in brief speeches. The Russians have never apologised to the Poles, not have Britain. France and the United States, for betraying them as cruelly and cynically as they did. Mind you, neither the Americans nor the British have ever apologised or recognised their responsibilities for the murder of millions of innocent women and children via their bombing. At least the Germans have. The sacking of Warsaw was no less a crime than the bombing of Dresden, Tokyo and Munich, except for the fact that our ally Stalin could have prevented it. I am very happy for my likeness to be near that of the great General Sikorski. If there's one person I could have chosen to be near, it certainly would have been him.
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