Sanacja Regime

a widespread term used to designate the reactionary regime that existed in Poland during the period 1926–39.

The slogan sanacja (derived from the Latin sanatia, “healing”), pointing to Poland’s political and economic ills, was adopted for demagogic aims by J. Piłsudski and his faction in preparation for the military coup carried out in May 1926. The sanacja regime kept watch over the interests of major landowning magnates and holders of Polish and foreign monopolistic capital. It maintained an aggressive anti-Soviet policy and collaborated with the Nazis. The sanacja regime was strengthened by the reactionary constitution of 1935. The domestic and foreign policies maintained against the interests of the people led Poland to national catastrophe in September 1939 and to its temporary seizure by fascist Germany.