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Belgium–Poland relations are the bilateral relations betweenBelgium andPoland. Official relations were established in 1919, although contacts date back over 1000 years,[1] with frequent migrations in both directions, substantial cultural exchange, extensive trade, and, in the modern era, mutual assistance in times of need. Both nations are members ofNATO, theEuropean Union,OECD,OSCE and theCouncil of Europe.
Contacts between the peoples of Poland and present-day Belgium have a history of over a thousand years,[1] There were close relations between the church in Poland andFlanders andLower Lotharingia in theHigh Middle Ages.[2]Walloons became one of the first foreign immigrant groups in Poland, with Walloons settling inWrocław probably since the 12th century, however, the first written mention of Walloon immigrants in Wrocław comes fromc. 1270.[3] In the 12th century, Walloon brothersAleksander andWalter fromMalonne served as Catholic bishops ofPłock andWrocław in Poland, respectively, and there is a possibility that it was Bishop Walter who brought the first Walloon immigrant group to Poland.[4] In the early 13th century DukeHenry the Bearded invited further Walloon immigrants to the area ofOława andWierzbno to the south of Wrocław.[5]
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In theearly modern period, until the late-18th-centuryPartitions of Poland, Poland's relations were mostly conducted throughout the relations between Poland and the entities ruling modern Belgium, i.e.Spain andAustria. In theRenaissance period, exchanges of scholars and students began betweenKraków andLiège.[7]Flemish architectsAnthonis van Obbergen andWillem van den Blocke designed a number ofmannerist structures in Poland, and Willem van den Blocke also has sculpted multiple lavishly decorated epitaphs and tombs in Poland.[8] During hisGrand Tour in 1624, Polish Prince and future KingWładysław IV Vasa visited the workshop of Flemish painterPeter Paul Rubens.[7]
The notable Flemming noble family of Flemish origin first settled inPomerania in modern Poland in the 13th century with the village ofBuk becoming the first estate of the family in the region.[9] The family eventually reached high-ranking political and military posts in Poland in the 18th century, and their famous descendants were PrincessIzabela Czartoryska, founder of the renownedCzartoryski Museum, and statesmanAdam Jerzy Czartoryski. There are several preserved historical residences of the Flemming family in Poland.
In 1830, both theBelgian Revolution and theNovember Uprising inpartitioned Poland broke out in both nations' efforts to gain independence. The outbreak of the Polish uprising saved the Belgian Revolution, as it forcedRussia andPrussia to abandon their planned military intervention in Belgium, as they were more focused on suppressing the uprising in Poland.[10][11] This contributed to the Belgian victory and establishment of independent Belgium, whereas Poland remained under foreign rule.
The newly formed Belgium was a veryPolonophile country.[12] The Belgian press encouraged the adoption of Polish orphans, and politician Louis de Robiano of the Catholic Party proposed electing a prince from the PolishCzartoryski family as king of the Belgians.[13]
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Some 200 Poles, mostlyintelligentsia and military officers, fled to Belgium, including activistJoachim Lelewel.[14] The Poles received a warm welcome from the Belgian government and population.[13] Polish princess Jadwiga Lubomirska, wife ofEugène, 8th Prince of Ligne, received Poles at her residences inBrussels andBelœil.[15] Poles took up various professions in Belgium. Unique instances include Captain Józef Godebski, who became a lecturer and developed a geometry textbook that was mandatory in all military schools in Belgium, and Feliks Jastrzębski, who established a piano factory, winning a medal at an exhibition in 1841 and later becoming a supplier to Belgian kings.[16] Polish officers were asked to help organize the Belgian army[17] by KingLeopold I of Belgium, however, amid objections from KingLouis Philippe I of France, Belgium's main ally, to the creation of separate legions in the Belgian army, only about 60 Polish officers were employed in the Belgian army in the 1830s.[18] Polish GeneralJan Zygmunt Skrzynecki was in charge of organizing the newly formed Belgian army, and Poles were instructors in the army.[19] Belgian universities recognized Polish diplomas, resulting in an influx of Polish students.[17] TheGreat Emigration marked the first notable wave of Polish migration to Belgium.[20]
Belgium opened two consulates in the territory of partitioned Poland, inGdańsk in 1839 andWarsaw in 1869.
Further Poles migrated to Belgium in the 1860s. In 1861, an insurgent Polish organization was formed in Liège, whose members trained for the PolishJanuary Uprising against Russia, which broke out in 1863.[21] After the fall of the uprising, some 200 Poles fled to Belgium, mostly to Brussels,Ghent and Liège.[21] In 1867, the Polish Youth Society was founded in Ghent.[21] Notable immigrants included pianist and composerJózef Wieniawski, and poets Seweryna Duchińska and Henryk Merzbach.[22]
Migration of Poles to Belgium continued also later in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including of writerMaria Dąbrowska née Szumska, who first met her future husband, activist Marian Dąbrowski in Brussels.[15]
DuringWorld War I, Poles from theRussian Partition of Poland conscripted to the Russian Army and Belgians were amongAlliedprisoners of war held by the Germans in aPOW camp inStargard in modern northwestern Poland, and there is one identified grave of a Belgian POW from that period at the war cemetery in Stargard (and more fromWorld War II).[23]
An independent Poland eventually revived after World War I in 1918 and the two countries subsequently established diplomatic relations.Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of the Belgians initiated assistance to Poland during thePolish–Soviet War of 1919–1920, first by organizing fundraising to buy medicines and bandages.[24] Then the Belgians funded sanitary trains and field hospitals for severely wounded Polish soldiers.[24] Belgium also supported Polish war invalids, and donated medicines for typhoid patients and food for children who had lost their homes.[24] Afterwards, many Polish miners migrated to Belgium in theinterwar period.[20]
DuringWorld War II, both countries were invaded andoccupied by Germany. Belgian prisoners of war were held alike Polish and otherAllied POWs in severalGerman prisoner-of-war camps in Poland, includingStalag I-A,Stalag I-B,Stalag II-B,Stalag II-D,Stalag III-C,Stalag VIII-A,Stalag VIII-C,Stalag XX-B,Stalag XXI-A,Stalag XXI-D, Stalag 325, Stalag 369,Stalag Luft III and Oflag VIII-C, and in numerousforced labour subcamps.[25][26][27] Six Poles and one Belgian were among the victims of the German-perpetratedStalag Luft III murders, and there is a memorial to the victims inŻagań, Poland. Belgians, alongside Poles and other nationals, were also among the prisoners of the particularly notorious Nazi German camps inŻabikowo,Miłoszyce,Świecko andSłońsk.[28][29][30][31]
Some Polish POWs were held by the Germans in forced labour camps inGerman-occupied Belgium, e.g. inElsenborn.[32] Some Polish POWs from POW camps and forced labour subcamps in western Germany escaped to German-occupied Belgium, and then either further fled toFrance,Spain orBritain to join thePolish Armed Forces in the West or joined theSecret ArmyBelgian resistance organization and the Polish Armed Forces when they had already reached Belgium with theWestern Front.[33]
The1st Polish Armoured Division liberated parts of Belgium from German occupation in 1944, including the cities ofYpres andTielt.[34] GeneralStanisław Maczek became an honorary citizen of almost everyFlemish town he liberated, and multiple squares and streets were named after either him or his soldiers.[17] In 2024, a museum dedicated to Stanisław Maczek and his soldiers was opened inRoeselare.[35]
After the war, some 9,000 Poles returned from Belgium to Poland.[20]
The Polish diaspora is Belgium is estimated at 120,000, including citizens of Poland who recently migrated to Belgium and descendants of Polish migrants from the 1830s and the interbellum.[20]
Queen Mathilde of Belgium is in part of Polish descent as the daughter of Polish countess Anna Maria Komorowska, born inBiałogard, Poland.
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