Professor Joshua Zimmerman, ’s Eli and Diana Zborowski Chair in Holocaust Studies and East European Jewish History, recently had his book, Józef Pilsudski: Founding Father of Modern Poland, translated into standard Mandarin Chinese. Readers in Taiwan can now enjoy the book, which has become the definitive biography of the military leader and statesman who led Poland to independence in 1918, defended Jewish rights, and championed Ukrainian statehood.

What is the interest in this Polish statesman in Taiwan one may ask? It seems that some in Taiwan see similarities between its situation as a small island under threat of invasion from a much larger military force in the government of China, and Poland’s own fight for independence from neighboring Russia. The war in Ukraine also has similar dynamics, with Russia promoting the narrative that Ukraine is part of Russia, similar to what China is saying about Taiwan.

Józef Pilsudski was one of the first champions of Ukrainian independence, saying back in 1919, “there can be no independent Poland without an independent Ukraine.” 

“Clearly, Pilsudski saw Ukraine as a key buffer between Russia and the West,” said Prof. Zimmerman. “Taiwan identifies with Pilsudski’s efforts to separate from an imperial power and assert its own identity as a free country. In writing this book, I have become witness to a personality in Pilsudski who was way ahead of his time by stating to the world you can’t suppress Ukrainian independence.”

Now with the war in Ukraine raging over just that issue and Taiwan being a perennial focus of China, Zimmerman’s book has landed just in time to give Taiwanese, and many others around the world, background on these seismic shifts in foreign affairs.

Next up for Prof. Zimmerman, in June, he will give a talk on Pilsudsky’s relationship with Jews at the in Krakow, Poland.

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