Roman Dmowski

Roman Stanisław Dmowski Polish: [ˈrɔman staˈɲiswaf ˈdmɔfski] (9 August 1864 – 2 January 1939) was a Polish right-wing politician, statesman, and co-founder and chief ideologue of the National Democracy (abbreviated "ND": in Polish, "Endecja") political movement active during the interwar period.

While he never wielded significant political power except for a brief period in 1923 as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmowski was one of the most influential Polish ideologues and politicians of his time. A controversial personality most of his life, Dmowski desired a homogeneous, Polish-speaking and Roman Catholic-practicing nation. Throughout most of his life, he was the chief ideological opponent of the Polish military and political leader Józef Piłsudski and of the latter's vision of Prometheism, a multi-ethnic Poland reminiscent of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

As a result, Dmowski's nationalist rhetoric actively marginalized other ethnic groups living in Poland, particularly those in the Kresy (which included Jews, Lithuanians, and Ukrainians). During the partitions, Dmowski saw the Germanization of Polish territories controlled by the German Empire as the major threat to Polish culture and therefore advocated a degree of accommodation with another power that had partitioned Poland, the Russian Empire. Openly antisemitic throughout his career, Dmowski believed that Poland's Jews were working hand in hand with the Germans to partition Poland and supported economic boycotts and property confiscation against both ethnic groups.

He favored the re-establishment of Polish independence by nonviolent means and supported policies favorable to the Polish middle class. While in Paris during World War I, he was a prominent spokesman for Polish aspirations to the Allies through his Polish National Committee. He was an instrumental figure in the postwar restoration of Poland's independent existence. Dmowski remains a highly polarizing figure. While often denounced as an antisemite, xenophobe, and an admirer of fascism, Dmowski has been highly influential in the history of Polish nationalist movements, and has been frequently referred to as "the father of Polish nationalism".