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Beck, Colonel Jósef

The Oxford Companion to World War II | 2001 | 700+ words | Copyright

Beck, Colonel Jósef (1894–1944),anti-communist and anti-fascist Polish foreign minister from 1932 until 1939 who followed a policy of non-alignment between Germany and the USSR. He believed that Nazism and Stalinism were equally hostile to Poland's independence, and placed undue trust in the good intentions of the western powers. Having rejected Hitler's proposals for a settlement of German claims on the so-called Polish corridor and for an anti-Soviet partnership, he signed the treaty which produced the British guarantee of Poland (see Poland, Guarantee of). These events led directly to the outbreak of the Second World War. When his country was invaded in the Polish campaign of September 1939 he joined the Polish government in Romania, where he was interned.

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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Beck, Colonel Jósef." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Beck, Colonel Jósef." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-BeckColonelJsef.html

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Beck, Colonel Jósef." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-BeckColonelJsef.html

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