The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-04-11
Prized Poland, Buffeted Through History,
 Again In Middle Of European Tug of War
Many Nations Knives Have Cut Polish Slices
BY WILLIS THORNTON
 NEA Service Staff Writer

Somebody wanting a chunk of Po- land. Somebody cutting himself 8 slice. The Poles trying to get it back.
 A good part of European history for the last thousand years is series of variations on that theme.
 So when Adolf Hitler snarls and gestures menacingly toward the broad northern plain below the Bal tic, he is doing no more than the Turks, Swedes, Russians, Prussians, Austrians, Hungarians and French have done in the past.
 If Belgium has been the Cockpit of Europe" Poland has been the slaughterhouse. Since Prince Ziem- ovit snatched from the ruins of the Moravian Empire in the 10th cen- tury a bit of land between the Car pathians and the Bug river, there has been a Polish land.
 War has been almost its chronic fate since that time. Conqueror af- ter conqueror snatched at its lands and its people.
 ONCE MIGHTY
 MONARCHY
 Hitler's weapons are pointed to- ward these same lands at the mo- ment, while the Poles once more pre- pare to defend themselves. They nev- CT forget that in the 16th century, while America was pitiful huddle of log-hut settlements clinging to the Atlantic seacoast, Poland was a great nation under King Stephen Batory, who took Danzig, pushed back the Russians as far to the northeast as Pskov, and came near to restoring her power down through the Ukraine all the way to the Black Sea.
 The first deliberate despoiling of Poland in modern times, however, came just before the Americans be- gan to fight for freedom at Lexing- ton. Using tactics that today have a familiar ring, Russia's minister to Poland, Repnin, fomented internal trouble in the country, backing up a dissatisfied element against the re- gime. Badly split over religion, Po- land was in no position to resist.
 So in 1772 Prussia and Russia, first surrounding Poland with troops ready to march, sat down at a table and cut themselves slices of the country, also generously cutting one for Austria. One-fourth of Poland's territory, almost 4000 square miles, and one-f1fth of her people, nearly 100000, were parceled out among the conspirators without shot be- ing fired.
 They granted Poland 8 constitu- tion, however, and progress was made in liberalizing 1t. But the Em- press Catharine of Russia didn't like that, and threatened an invasion. Poland, foreseeing this, had made an alliance with Prussia, but Prussia threw her down at the last moment
 When Russian troops marched in to restore the old reactionary con- stitution, a small Polish army stood alone to bar its path. Poland also had to watch the Prussians march in from the west to make sure that, if there were pickings, Catharine would not get them all.
 CARVING
 ACT
 So in 1793, the year terrorists were executing King Louis in France and while Washington sat in the Ameri- can presidential chair, Russia carved off the whole eastern section of Po- land, quarter of a million square miles, while Prussia took most of Great Poland, including Danzig. Po- land had been reduced to a third of her former size, and had only B. 500,000 people left.
 Against this degraded condition,