ABSTRACT

This chapter explains Jozef Hieronim Retinger in his international context and in the Polish world into which he was born and really never left. In the postwar era, Retinger was active in the movement for European unity, serving as co-founder of the European League for Economic Cooperation, and Secretary General – "his favorite function" – of the European Movement. Observers of Retinger's long career have repeatedly confronted severe difficulties. Documentary evidence concerning his highly secretive "diplomatic" activities is exceedingly rare, fragmentary, and contradictory. In reality, Retinger was guided by simple goals the fundament alone being how to serve Poland. In the midst of the interwar era, Retinger met with General Wladyslaw Sikorski and they became both close friends as well as having many shared political beliefs. Retinger's fascination with European unity through federalism became especially evident during World War II when he became the chief political advisor of the Polish exile government under Sikorski.