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![[Goralenvolk proposed flag]](../images/p/pl!goral.gif)
by Chrystian Kretowicz, 12 Dec 2001
This is quite a rarity - the aborted nation of Goralenfolk.
Gorale - Goralen - Highlanders Mountain people of Tatra region (Podhale)
in southern Poland on the Slovak border. Main towns: Nowy Targ, Zakopane
and Zywiec (very good beer - may be because of that it got promptly annexed
to the 3rd Reich and excluded from Podhale region).
Some historians traced their origin to ancient Sarmatians, others to
Alans. Others yet, Rajasthani professors and linguists, discovered
in 1930s the roots of distinctive words in their dialect in Sanskrit. Linking
all this together, von Ribbentrop nominated them to be potential members
of the "Great Germanic Race"(a total nonsense). After Germans completed
occupation of Tatra region in October 1939, a group,which included dr Henryk
Szatkowski ( a volksdeutch, sports and tourism activist from Zakopane),
Witalis Wieder (a reichsdeutsch-former captain in Polish Army), Waclaw
Krzeptowski - prominent Highlander, chairman of Peasant Party in Nowy Targ
before the war) and Jozef Cukier (president of Highlander Union before
the war) concocted the crazy idea of the formation of the mini-state for
Highlanders under the protection of Grossdeutschland for the next thousand
years. The Germans, independently, were toying with similiar projects,
not only for Highlanders-Goralen, but also for Kashubians -the Kaschubenvolk.
In November 1939, Krzeptowski and Cukier visited their new master, GG governor
Hans Frank, at Wawel Castle in Cracow and received an enthusiastic support
for their looney idea. Both, governor and Goralenfuehrer-to be,delighted
discussing similiarities of Nazi and Goralen swastikas. The later ones
were used as grave markings from ancient and long-forgotten times. Krzeptowski
managed even to impress the governor with his eagerness to fight at the
side of the Nazis against the"greatest threat to our civilization - bolshevism".
And it was still two years before it was to happen. What a vision! Hans
Frank revisited his brand-new "Germanic" compatriots just few days later
in Zakopane, approved the new flag of Goralenvolk proposed by Cukier and
authorized re-establishment of the Highlanders Union giving them also a
go-ahead to conduct the census in 1940 to find out how many willing Goralen
there were.
It was a great dissapointment for the Goralenfuehrer and his cohorts,
but only 18 % of the Highlanders accepted "G" cards (as opposed to "P"
cards for the Poles. Neverless, Hans Frank activated a Highlander Committee
in 1942 as a nucleus of the government for the Goralenvolk. Krzeptowski's
efforts to enlist some young people to the "Goralenlegion" failed miserably
and by the end of 1943 the Goralenvolk project was practically abandoned.
Krzeptowski withdrew from the Committee, refused German offer to evacuate
to the Reich and took refuge in the mountains. Wieder and Szatkowski were
moved to Germany for their safety. Soon after, the special unit of the
Home Army (AK) arrived in the Tatra region to dispense justice to Waclaw
Krzeptowski for high treason. They tracked his hide-out in the wild mountains
and hung him from