EN
The article by Mieczysław Ryba concerns the political development of the two largest political camps in the Lublin region during World War I: the National Democrats and the group centered around Józef Piłsudski. At the outbreak of the war, these two political circles had radically different definitions of the Polish national interest. Piłsudski's supporters affiliated themselves with the Central Powers, while the National Democrats adopted a decidedly anti-German attitude. In the course of the war, the political objectives of both groups began to converge. Particularly after the internment of Józef Piłsudski in the summer of 1917, his supporters openly opposed the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary). Since the Germans finally lost the war, both political camps won tremendous public support. In November 1918, it was these groups that took up the final struggle over the shape of the newly restored Polish state. The author of the article describes this struggle and the events in the Lublin region that accompanied Piłsudski's takeover of power in the independent Polish state.