For a long time, they were a closely guarded secret. Now the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has made the NSDAP membership files (Hitler’s National Socialist Workers’ Party that existed from 1920 to 1945) available online, largely preserved, for the whole world to see. The NSDAP membership files have been made fully accessible for the first time since World War II.

According to NARA, these files are copies of biographical records of the Berlin Document Center’s (BDC) National Socialist German Labor Party (NSDAP) materials and constitute the BDC’s principal sources concerning membership and activities of the NSDAP.

The records for the most part document three basic categories of information, such as membership in the NSDAP; membership in specific professional organizations sponsored by or associated with the NSDAP, and activities of the German Nazi judiciary system.

The NSDAP membership records, sometimes collectively known as the “Master File,” consist of central and special registries and card indexes. Within the “Master File” included are Anträge, Ortsgruppenkartei, Zentralkartei, Party Census (Berlin), Warnkartei, NSDAP Schwarze Listen, and Mitglieder-Sammelstelle der NSDAP. These files record essential biographical and Party membership data for each individual.  More information about the NARA collection on the German Nazi archival collection can be found here: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/12044361

Historical sensation

As reported by NARA, it is possible right now to browse, without registration, “millions of cards with names, dates of birth, membership numbers, dates of joining, and in some cases also portrait photographs of National Socialist Party comrades, both male and female” on the NARA website here:

https://catalog.archives.gov/search-within/12044361

The publication provides insight—though incomplete, because not one hundred percent of the files have survived—into the records of those Germans who, at least on paper, supported the rule and crimes of Germany until 1945.

Many German families remain silent about their ancestors. Today, they can investigate their relatives more easily than ever before.

The German weekly calls the publication of the files a “historical sensation.”

Were the (great-)grandparents Nazis?

By 1945, about 8.5 million Germans—both women and men—had joined the NSDAP. For each member, the party kept several personal data cards: one in the central register in Munich and another in local registers in the places where members lived and belonged to the party.

NSDAP bureaucrats filled out the cards meticulously. The fact that they survived the war is owed to one man: Hanns Huber, director of a paper mill in Munich-Freimann, who, shortly before the end of the war, ignored the party’s order to destroy tons of files and instead hid them in waste paper.

This way, about 80 percent of the files were preserved at least in the local registers maintained for territorial units called “Gau”. After the war, they were confiscated by the American army and transferred to a specially established archive in West Berlin, the Berlin Document Center.

There, the Allies used the files during denazification procedures. This made it almost impossible to deny membership in the NSDAP. In the 1990s, the Americans returned the documents to the German state, making copies for themselves; today they are located in the Federal Archives in Berlin-Lichterfelde.

Germany and “privacy protection”

The German Federal Archives have already digitized these files in the central register and the local registers, but so far cannot make them publicly available online because of the NSDAP members’ right to privacy. In Germany, this protection expires only ten years after a person’s death or 100 years after their birth.

For the youngest NSDAP members born before 1928, this would mean that the last deadlines will expire in 2028. “The goal of the Federal Archives is, of course, to make the entire register available after the protection periods have expired,” a spokesperson said. However, she did not provide an exact date.

Americans outpace German archives

Now the German Federal Archives have been overtaken by the American National Archives. Americans copied the microfilms in the 1990s and have now almost completely digitized them. They made the lists available online at the end of February 2026.

“The American archive did not create media hype around the publication, even though the dataset is not only historically important but also extremely extensive—nearly 16.3 million digitized documents,” wrote Der Spiegel.

Not easy to search among millions of files

Using the search engine on the site, in theory, you can reach an NSDAP membership card with just a few clicks. However, the search interface is not easy to use. “Those expecting a user-friendly database may be disappointed,” writes the German weekly.

“It looks simple, but the search does not work as easily as in Google,” says historian Martin Clemens Winter from the University of Leipzig in an interview with the German weekly. In recent weeks, he has intensively used the digitized NSDAP membership files as part of his research on the Leipzig armaments company HASAG. In the sources, he managed to find several company employees and supervisors from their forced labor camps about whom he previously had no data.

Winter warns that one “should not have overly high expectations” of the American archive. Although full-text search allows millions of entries to be searched and automatic text recognition can even decipher old German handwriting, the system does not work flawlessly. “I see the danger that especially laypeople may be disappointed when they find nothing,” Winter says.

On the Bluesky platform and on his blog, Winter has repeatedly posted tips, discoveries, and context. One user on Reddit has also compiled initial instructions on how to use it. See here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/comments/1rqvwns/nara_has_put_the_membership_card_file_of_the/

Key information: date of joining the NSDAP

In the files, the date of joining the NSDAP is particularly important. Someone who joined before the seizure of power in 1933 was more likely to have been a convinced German Nazi. The party viewed such a person to be an “old fighter.”

If a family member does not appear in the membership files, it does not automatically mean that the person was not involved. About 20 percent of the documents from local registers were lost. Also, not every German with nationalist or antisemitic views automatically joined the party. Sometimes there were long waiting lists, or admissions were suspended. For example, Austrians and Sudeten Germans could not become members until 1938.

Now it is easier to obtain information about the past

To resolve the question of whether ancestors were German Nazis, effort and research may still be required. However, the digitized membership card index at the NARA significantly facilitates the start of the search.

Maria Szonert Binienda

See also:  https://www.dw.com/pl/usa-miliony-akt-nazist%C3%B3w-do-wgl%C4%85du/a-76401572

The post NSDAP membership files on US NARA website appeared first on Polonia Institute.

2025 PI Competition on the History of Poland

Poland – The Betrayal of the First Ally; Poland at the end of WWII

Cullen Lisowski

October 1, 2025

Poland has a very rich history, which spans over 1000 years and is filled with many moments of triumph and defeat. One of the most devastating moments of Poland’s long-tenured existence was the atrocities that were committed against it during World War II and the Cold War. Poland’s mistreatment during World War 2 set the stage for national instability, brutal military takeovers, and repercussions that were still being felt for decades afterwards, but in turn, would reveal the best values of the Polish people.

To comprehend the severity of what happened to Poland during World War 2, we must first understand the events that preceded it. The events start with Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s. After years of abuse, economic failure, and oppression due to its loss in World War 1, the people of Germany were desperate for a change. This is where Hitler decided to step in. He saw that the German people were looking for someone to restore them to their former glory and knew that the moment was right for him to step up and lead.

Hitler first began by gaining support from high-ranking officers to gain the support of the men who served under them. Then he began to gain the support of the millions of German citizens who were tired of being abused by the victors from World War 1 (Michal, 2017). After he gained their support, he began making elaborate promises to gain the rest of the country’s support. These promises ranged from restoring German pride to doing away with the Treaty of Versailles (Michal, 2017). Hitler was a very gifted orator and soon gained increasing support from the German populace.

Having gained support from the people, Hitler’s next step was to strategically climb the ranks of government to begin his new “perfect state.” With the support of his followers, he was able to pressure the sitting president, Paul Von Hindenburg, to appoint him chancellor (Michal, 2017). From this position, Hitler was able to influence many political decisions and soon became commander of the army. From there, he expanded the German military by conscripting and forming a new and improved Air Force. With his army now rebuilt, Hitler had all the pieces necessary to “restore Germany” and began expanding Germany to the surrounding lands.

All of this violated the agreement of the Treaty of Versailles (Michal, 2017). This would lead to further complications for the Polish people because by openly ignoring these violations, the Allies were allowing Hitler to bring Germany back as a world power. It was not until Hitler actively invaded Poland that the Allies declared war, but by then, it was too late.

Poland believed that an alliance with the other allies would be enough to save it from being overrun, but it was sorely mistaken. Poland had a prior agreement with England that stated the two countries would come to each other’s aid in times of need (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2025). When Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in 1939, England did nothing to help. They mistakenly thought their agreement with Poland would be enough to stop the invasion, but they were sorely mistaken (Michal, 2019). Poland was invaded due to a miscalculation by England, and then remained conquered due to a lack of effort and ability. England’s slow response meant that when Germany turned the fight to them, they would be unable to come to Poland’s aid. The lack of aid would eventually be the downfall of Poland.

The fall of Poland marked an agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany, which meant England would now have to enter a war that would soon spread to all corners of the globe (Michal, 2019). Europe found itself divided by conflicts. Conflicts that they thought would be upheld because of the honor felt by their fellow countries. However, once war broke out, the honor that should have upheld the treaties was nowhere to be found. The violation of numerous treaties would mark the start of a global conflict, and this global conflict would lead to a continuous, unworthy betrayal of one of England’s most loyal supporters, which would result in the slaughter of millions of Poles and the continuous occupation by a foreign power well after the war ended.

The Invincible Soldiers

However violent this continuous occupation was for Poland, it allowed for one of the most inspiring stories of World War II, the story of the Invincible Soldiers. The Invincible Soldiers were a group of anti-German, and later anti-Soviet, men who continued the fight for their country, even after their country was conquered (The Doomed Soldier, N/A). These soldiers faced a difficult situation. If they surrendered to the enemy, they would be killed along with their countrymen, and if they continued to fight, they would likely be killed along with the fellow rebels.

While these soldiers faced a difficult choice, they chose to stand for what they believed in and fight for their country. Not the country that was forced to be a puppet state, but the country that lived on in their hearts and spirits. They chose to fight for the country they believed in and hoped to one day see restored. Even though it meant their death, and they knew help was not coming, they were prepared to sacrifice everything they valued, for their beliefs, beliefs in themselves and in their fellow countrymen.

The Poles were willing to fight for their way of life, even when it became clear that Germans weren’t the only enemies they would be facing. At first, they were merely fighting against invaders; the Germans to the west, and the Soviet Union to the east. However, once the Germans were defeated, their fight became against more than just an invader; it became a fight against an oppressor.

The Soviets had initially invaded Poland when they signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany. (Institute of National Remembrance, N/A). This pact divided up Poland, allowing for both Germany and the Soviet Union to lay claim to their respective conquered lands. This pact would hold for several years before Hitler would violate the terms of the agreement, which resulted in a declaration of war from the Soviets against Germany. While this declaration of war meant that Poland and the Soviet Union were now on the same side, the occupation of Poland continued, much to the displeasure of one General Władysław Sikorski.

Death of General Sikorski

General Sikorski was perhaps best known for leading the underground resistance against the occupants of Poland, and when the Soviet Union declared war against Germany, he became a diplomatic contact between Poland and the Soviet Union (Ray, N/A). As one could imagine, the general was not fond of the Soviet occupation of his country, yet he tolerated it while they at least had diplomatic ties and a common enemy. However, diplomatic ties were thrown into jeopardy when the General requested the International Red Cross to investigate a massacre that had taken place under Soviet control (Ray, N/A). This request led to a breakdown of diplomatic relations between the general and the Soviets. While this breakdown might not at first glance appear significant, its future impact is much more important. A few months later, in July of 1943, the general had boarded a plane with minimal security, and shortly after, was reported to have crashed at Gibraltar (Ray, N/A).

This, in and of itself, is not suspicious, but coupled with the fact that the General had been strongly opposed to the Soviet occupation of Poland and was quite vocal about it, many have speculated that there was some outside, Soviet, involvement in his accident. Whatever the reason, the general’s death led to an increased breakdown in Polish-Soviet diplomacy, leading to more hostile relations. These hostile relations were further intensified when, after the defeat of Germany, the Soviet Union refused to pull out of Poland, and instead annexed it into the U.S.S.R. This continued occupation then led to increased domestic violence in Poland and could have been prevented had the Allies allowed Polish representation at the Tehran Conference.

Tehran Conference

The Tehran Conference’s importance in the fate of Europe during and after World War 2 cannot be understated.  This conference was a meeting between the leaders of the Allies, Roosevelt from the United States, Churchill from the United Kingdom, and Stalin from the Soviet Union. These three leaders secretly met in Iran for a meeting to determine how best to confront the German threat (Daugherty, 2025). This meeting was the first time the three Ally leaders met to discuss strategy. While this meeting was important due to its military value, it had additional importance because of what it failed to accomplish. While the big three were the primary forces fighting the Axis Powers, they were not the only ones. The Axis Powers experienced fierce resistance from other allies such as Canada, the French Resistance, and, of course, Poland itself.

Poland was leading a strong resistance against German invaders in the west and managing an uncomfortable Soviet occupation in the east. Despite all the agreements and involvement the other countries had with the war effort, none of these other countries were included in the conference. The lack of support revealed just how little England cared about its ally, Poland (Michal, 2019). Poland should have had the opportunity to send representative(s) to the Tehran Conference, but due to decreasing diplomatic relationships with the Soviet Union, as stated previously, and a lack of support from England, they were denied this opportunity, leading to continued neglect from the Allied Powers.

Yalta Conference

This lack of representation would be a theme that continued well after World War II. The first blow to the Poles’  representation came in the Yalta agreement, when Churchill and Truman conceded to Stalin’s requests and allowed the Soviet Union to occupy the majority of Eastern Europe (A&E Television Networks, 2025). The Yalta Conference was intended to determine how Europe would be repaired post-World War 2, but instead it became the Western Powers negotiating the surrender of foreign lands to keep the Soviets happy.  While Europe, and especially Poland, owes a debt of gratitude to the Allies, it was also because of them that they were invaded in the first place.

The continued occupation of Poland only occurred because England failed to act on its promise, resulting in the Nazi invasion of Poland, followed by the continued occupation of Poland by the Soviets, which continued to sour relationships between the two countries. In their effort to appease the Soviet Union, the other allies gave away land that did not rightfully belong to them, resulting in the continued oppression of the Poles. Had England upheld their initial agreement or had the decency to intervene on behalf of Poland, the Soviets would not have been allowed to continue their occupation, and the injustice against the Poles would have been greatly reduced.

It is worth noting that the fault does not lie solely with England, but on the other Allies as well. Poland had initially tried to send representatives to the Yalta Conference, but due to Soviet betrayal, these representatives were abducted by the Soviet Union and brought to Moscow for questioning (Polish History, 2019). This interference would only lead to more dire circumstances for their sovereignty as a nation throughout the second half of the 20^th century.

Following the Yalta Agreement, circumstances for Eastern Europe, and especially Poland, only grew worse. The Poles had previously established an underground Polish armed forces to fight the Germans during World War II (Polish History, 2019). This army continued to fight for Poland’s independence against the Soviets after the end of the war, but it was all in vain, as there would be little to no support from the other allies. This lack of support would eventually lead to the demise of the army as the Soviets slowly gained more power in the country.

Following the elections of 1947 in which the Soviets “won”, the Polish army was all but disbanded and failed to receive any official recognition from the other Western powers (Polish History, 2019). This lack of recognition resulted in the spread of Soviet ideals and law, which made communism the official government ideology in Poland (Polish History, 2019). The Soviets would hold more “elections” to present a false sense of representation for the people, but these elections were neither fair nor free and were a clever Soviet way of legitimizing their unjust claim over the nation of Poland. Poland would then go on to see many of its rights and freedoms taken away over the next several years as its citizens began to fight, not against a nation trying to conquer them, but against a nation that was slowly bringing about the loss of identity and national pride.

The demise of the Polish Government in London

While identity and national pride were important to the people of Poland, the biggest blow to their sovereignty was the demise of their legitimate government in London and the other Western powers. As stated previously, England had been steadily growing more distant from its ally, Poland. What had started as ignoring a cry for help soon grew into actively conceding land to appease the Soviets. The Poles had an operating government that had been fighting since the early days of the invasion and following the end of the war (Polish History, 2019).

This government should have been established as the legitimate government of Poland. Had the Allies recognized it for what it was, the sovereign government of Poland, many of the crimes later committed against Poland could have been avoided.

However, the allies chose to instead recognize the Soviet-established government as the official government of Poland to prevent conflict between themselves and the Soviets (Polish History, 2019). This government did not have the interests of Poland at its foundation and instead was focused on promoting a Soviet dictatorship. With the allies refusing to recognize them, the legitimate Polish government was forced to move underground and begin operating against the Soviets.

The fact that the Polish government had to move underground confirms the demise of the legitimate Polish government and national sovereignty in the eyes of England and the other Allied Powers. No longer could the people have a say in what was happening in their country. It was now a proxy country that was merely recognized as an extension of the Soviet Union. This recognition as an extension of the Soviet Union would become an all-too-common theme during the following decades of the Cold War.

Cold War

To fully understand the extent of Soviet control during the Cold War, an understanding of what the Cold War truly was is required. The Cold War marked a period after World War II of increasing tensions between the Western Powers, primarily the United States, and the Soviet Union. While the Western Powers and the Soviets had worked together to defeat the Axis Powers in World War II, the following tensions were brought about by several factors, ranging from differing ideologies to land disputes (A&E Television Networks, 2025).

The Soviets were increasingly distrustful of the American ideal of democracy and freedom for the people, while the Americans were increasingly distrustful of the Soviets and thought they might be planning to conquer the world, similar to what Germany had been trying to do. This, coupled with the fact that the two countries had vastly different ideologies, led to a period of mutual distrust and proxy displays of power known as the Cold War.

In this Cold War environment, Poland would experience severe cruelty under Soviet rule, while the nations of the world stood by and watched. Poland was one of the Eastern European countries that was left in the hands of the Soviets to appease them. The allies did not argue with the Soviets because they hoped that by giving them what they wanted, it would contain the spread of communism. This led to several concessions in which several Eastern European countries had to watch their land be given away without their approval or consultation. This was a very similar tactic to what the Allies had tried at the beginning of World War 2 to keep Hitler happy, but just as it did not work then, it did not work now. The Soviets were able to continue acquiring eastern countries and increase their sphere of influence. While this idea and process of containment made sense for the Allies in western Europe, it meant things were about to get much worse for the people of eastern Europe, especially Poland.

Despite the Cold War being a proxy war between Western Europe and the Soviet Union, it was very much an actual conflict amongst the countries that had been forcibly committed to communism. Poland experienced not only a foreign ruler, but also the “iron fist” of said ruler. From rigging elections against the people to cracking down on basic human rights, Poland experienced it all (Coldwarsites, N/A). Poland had already been devastated by the harsh regime imposed by the Germans. They had watched their people get rounded up and slaughtered, their government officials forced underground, and their allies stab them in the back. Then, they had to watch the same thing again, but this time at the hands of one of their “allies”. Finally, when the war ended and they should have found peace, they were once again exposed to these barbaric tactics.

This time, the Allies not only ignored their cry for help but also supported the conquest of Poland. This conquest would leave Poland crippled throughout the Cold War, and it would take years before some semblance of normalcy was reclaimed, and even more years before Poland could have true freedom again.

Poland was a country that should not have found itself in the position it was forced into. It had its own standing army, its own form of government, its own sovereign state, and most importantly, it was recognized by the rest of the world as being a sovereign state. This recognition is what allowed them to run their own government, sign agreements with other countries, and carry out their own business without interference from foreign powers. The betrayal from Britain marked not only a betrayal of trust but a betrayal of ideals. By all accounts, prior to World War II, Poland was recognized as a sovereign nation and should have been treated accordingly. Instead, it was betrayed by its allies, invaded by the enemy, and then forced to serve as a puppet state to appease a bigger country. Poland’s mistreatment at the hands of the allies shows the world the kind of betrayal that can happen when fear is allowed to rule rather than loyalty and bravery.

Yet for all the odds that were stacked against it, Poland kept on fighting. They fought after being invaded by moving their government and military underground, sabotaging the enemy, providing reconnaissance, and making life very difficult for the German invaders. They then went on to fight against their Soviet oppressors. They fought for fair elections, the rights of the people, and the ability to rule themselves, without having another country pulling the strings. Even though the rest of Europe had abandoned them at their darkest hour, the Poles refused to abandon themselves. They rose to the occasion and continued fighting when they had everything, and eventually nothing, left to lose.

Conclusion

Poland stands as an example for what a country can do when it has nowhere else to turn. When a country can’t rely on its allies, its people rise. They stand against the forces that seek to eliminate their way of life in order that they might preserve their way of life. Throughout World War 2, Poland was consistently beaten down and abused, yet its people did not lose hope. They continued to fight for themselves and their country, which eventually led to their freedom following the fall of the U.S.S.R. Poland’s response to dire circumstances revealed the finest qualities of its people. A people who refused to just let themselves be stamped out. People who choose to sacrifice everything for the hope of a better life.

While Poland can never be fully repaid for all the damages it received at the hands of friend and foe from World War II, it can continue to grow stronger. It can ensure that its people are reminded of their history and serve as a beacon for what a country can accomplish when its people share a common goal. A goal of preserving their identity, despite overwhelming circumstances. A goal of leaving behind a better world for the people of tomorrow.

References

 “Brief History of Poland.” Institute of National Remembrance, Institute of National Remembrance, eng.ipn.gov.pl/en/brief-the-of-poland. Accessed 29 Sept. 2025.

“By the End of the Second World War, a Communist Regime Had Taken Power with the Help of the Soviet Union.” Coldwarsites, coldwarsites.net/country/poland/. Accessed 30 Sept. 2025.

“Cold War: Summary, Combatants, Start & End.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, 27 May 2025, www.history.com/articles/cold-war-history.

Daugherty, Greg. “How the WWII Tehran Conference Tested the Unity of the ‘Big Three’ Allies.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, 18 Feb. 2025, www.history.com/articles/tehran-conference-1943-wwii-importance-roosevelt-churchill-stalin.

Kłosowski, Michał. “Roger Moorhouse: Poland Was Betrayed.” Wszystko Co Najważniejsze, 21 Dec. 2019, wszystkoconajwazniejsze.pl/roger-moorhouse-poland-was-betrayed/#:~:text=In%201939%2C%20both%20the%20British,enough%20to%20stop%20Hitler’s%20intentions. Accessed 29 Sept. 2025.

Michal. “How Did Adolf Hitler Happen?” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, The National World War II Museum, 22 June 2017, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/how-did-adolf-hitler-happen. Accessed 29 Sept. 2025.

“The Doomed Soldiers: Polish Underground Soldiers 1944-1963 – The Untold Story.” Doomed Soldiers | Forgotten Heroes of the Polish Armed Underground Resistance During And After Second World War (WWII) – Descriptions And Overview of Units, Scope of Activities, Officers, And Soldiers, As Well As Presently Undergoing Investigations Against Members of the Polish Secret Police, the UB, UBP, MBP, And SB (Bezpieka) For Crimes Committed Against the Sovereign Existence of the Polish Nation., www.doomedsoldiers.com/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2025.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica; Encyclopaedia Britannica’s editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree…. “‘peaceful’ Annexations.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 4 Sept. 2025, www.britannica.com/place/Third-Reich/Peaceful-annexations#ref1256225.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Michael Ray Encyclopaedia Britannica’s editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree…. “Władysław Sikorski.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/biography/Wladyslaw-Sikorski. Accessed 29 Sept. 2025.

The End of the Second World War? A Polish Perspective on 8 May 1945 – Polish History, Polish History, 2019, polishhistory.pl/the-end-of-the-second-world-war-a-polish-perspective-on-8-may-1945/.

The post Poland – The Preservation of a Nation appeared first on Polonia Institute.

by Christopher Repak

On November 11, 1918, Poles celebrated as their nation had once again regained independence after over 100 years of political, ethnic, and religious persecution. The aftermath of World War I would return Poland to the map. However, the Poles did not have time to revel in their newly found freedom and independence.

Immediately, the Polish state found its independence threatened by an invasion from the Communist forces of the Soviet Union. The Polish Army was pushed back to Warsaw, where, against all odds, the Poles made a desperate final stand and successfully repelled Soviet forces. British diplomat Lord Edgar d’Abernon called the victory “the eighteenth [most] decisive battle of the world.” He further stressed that the battle was a clash of civilizations.

Just as the Poles had saved Western Civilization when the Polish king Jan III Sobieski defeated the Muslim Turks of the Ottoman Empire at Vienna in 1683, Poland saved Europe from “an even more revolutionary threat, the fanatic tyranny of the Soviets.” After the Soviet-Polish war, Poland would face the next challenge to its independence in 1939, with the Nazi Germany invasion of Poland.

The Polish government initially saw the Soviet Union as the main threat to Poland’s independence. There was distrust between the Republic and the Revolutionary State during the Polish-Soviet War. Furthermore, Germany, the most obvious threat from the Western direction, had been effectively rendered a non-threat in the short term by the Treaty of Versailles.

Under the terms of Versailles, the German army had been reduced to 100,000 soldiers and lacked heavy weapons. Poland had an alliance with France, which would have led to Germany fighting a two-front war. This led Poland to believe its position was secured.

Germany had been weakened in the West, and Poland could count on Western support if it chose to invade. Unfortunately, though, the war did not proceed as the Poles desired. After the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, Germany invaded Poland in the early morning of September 1, 1939, after Poland had rejected German territorial demands. Britain and France, who had promised Poland protection, declared war against Germany on September 3, 1939. While France and Britain had military plans against the German Reich, they did not implement them.

On September 12, the British and French leadership decided not to take military action against the German Reich despite French forces outnumbering German forces 5 to 1 on the Western Front. The Germans took advantage of Western inaction and sought to destroy the Polish state as quickly as possible. In doing so, the German government deployed a relentless “total war” policy that did not discriminate between military and civilian targets.

The Poles fought valiantly and heroically, but upon the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17 in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the collapse of the Polish state appeared inevitable. On October 6, 1939, the final shots of the Polish campaign were heard as Polish soldiers near Kock surrendered after running out of ammunition. While the Poles failed to defend Poland in September of 1939, the Poles did not give up and sought to achieve victories against the unjust aggression placed upon them elsewhere.

The Battle of Monte Cassino

The origins of the Italian campaign would arise when Allied military planners sought to attack Germany from the south. The Polish chief of the armed forces, Wladyslaw Sikorski, believed that such a military operation would lead to a more rapid liberation of Polish territory. Such ambitions logically led the Poles to regroup in the Middle East and North Africa. Originally, Polish resources, especially manpower, were extremely limited. The Poles could only muster one brigade, the Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade. However, Operation Barbarossa paved the way for the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement. This treaty allowed thousands of Poles imprisoned in the USSR to leave the country and assist the Polish military in the war effort to liberate their country.

These rendezvous would be the origins of the Polish Army of the East (APW) and the 2nd Polish Corps from there. The APW consisted of three groups. The “Rameses” were veterans of the North African campaign where Polish soldiers assisted the Allies at Tobruk and the Battle of Gazala. “The Orthodox” were the prisoners who came from the Soviet Union. Finally, the “Lords” were the Polish officers in the Middle East. The APW was deployed initially to garrisons in Iraq, where the Poles suffered from scorching temperatures, sand, storms, and disease.

At this time, Polish units were also being reformed. The APW began to adopt organizational models used by British forces rather than the current Soviet-style organization they were in. This resulted in the troops lacking manpower, as 71,000 men would have been necessary for the Polish force to maintain operational integrity in this model, while Anders only had 62,000 men at his disposal.

Therefore, rudimentary units were liquidated, the 7th Division became the army replenishment center, and the 2nd Tank Brigade was attached to the 6th Lviv Infantry Division (DP).

In 1942, the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad, the British found victory at ElAlamein, and the Americans secured oil facilities in French North Africa. An Allied invasion of Southern Europe became an ever more likely possibility, and on July 9, with the landings in Sicily, it became a reality. On May 27, Sikorski landed in Cairo to inspect Polish troops. Sikorski and British commanders decided to send a Polish unit to Europe. On July 21, the APW was reorganized, and the line units of the army became the famed 2nd Polish Corps.

Polish units were transported to Palestine to prepare to send the troops to Europe. The Poles were set to be combat-ready by January 1, 1944. Some hurdles had to be overcome before sending the troops. When arriving in Palestine, some soldiers of Jewish origin deserted to join the Israeli defense forces due to the influence of Zionist ideology. Furthermore, the previous commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces, Sikorski, was killed in a plane crash.

There were also disagreements about how the 2nd Polish Corps should be utilized. The British hoped the Corps would replace British losses in British units. This suggestion was unacceptable to Anders, who wanted a uniformly large Polish unit. Such a unit could give Poland more leverage at a future peace conference, which could determine the sovereignty of a post-war Poland. The issue was manpower, making such a unit problematic. There were attempts to recruit Poles from the broader Polonia in America and Canada, but these were unsuccessful.

Furthermore, the Soviet Union had forbidden more Poles from leaving the country. This cut off the most significant part of the Polish Army in the East, “the Orthodox.” Anders instead sought to use manpower from German and Italian armies. Many ethnic Poles had been unwillingly impressed with the German Army, and there was also intelligence that suggested the possibility of Poles being used as laborers in Italy. Ultimately, the Poles got their way, and 48,000 soldiers, along with 3,000 officers and 559 Women’s Auxiliary Service volunteers, were deployed to Southern Italy.

Many Polish soldiers soon realized that the harsh conditions of the Middle East would be the easy part of their mission to liberate Poland. In 1944, the Germans took up defensive positions on the Gustav line. The line took advantage of the natural environment, consisting of mountain peaks, gorges, and caves, which provided good cover for any defending army.

Furthermore, the line was littered with machine guns, houses reinforced with concrete, barbed wire, and mines. American forces were the first to approach the Gustav Line, where they suffered heavy casualties. Successive attacks by the French and the many nationalities of the Commonwealth would fare no better.

The future battlefield that would bring fame and glory to the Polish nation was a hill with a monastery founded by Saint Benedict in 524 AD at the top. The monastery was the beginning of the Benedictine Order and, therefore, a significant location for the history and culture of Western Civilization. Saint Benedict had been sure to choose the location of the monastery with care, as armies filled with bloodlust tended to attack churches and other places of worship.

History attests to this fact: by the 11th century, the monastery had already been sacked thrice. The monastery was initially announced as, and for that matter, a neutral zone. This allowed Italian monks to care for the refugees fleeing the war inside the monastery. Allied commanders supposedly believed that the monastery was being used for military purposes by the Germans.

On February 15, 1944, American bombers bombed the complex and turned it into a ruin, killing Italian monks and refugees in the process. The event proved both a diplomatic and military error. Joesph Goebbels was quick to use the destruction of the monastery for propaganda purposes.

Furthermore, the elite German Fallschrimjager took advantage of the opportunity and quickly began to occupy and fortify the monastery. At a standstill, in the spring of 1944, the Allies prepared for Operation Diadem, a large-scale offensive to break through the Gustav line. The plan involved shelling the Gustav line while Allied units at Anzio would strike out and attempt to cut off German avenues of retreat.

This would leave the Germans with two options: being obliterated under the shadow of thousands of artillery shells or being shot by the soldiers blocking their retreat. The Poles were tasked with taking positions near the monastery. Astutely evaluating previous assaults on the monastery, General Anders decided to attack the high ground beyond the monastery, as securing this would make the German occupation of the monastery an increasingly untenable prospect.

The Kresowa Division was tasked with taking Phantom Ridge, Colle Saint Angelo, and Point 575, and the Carpathian Division was ordered to take Point 593 and Point 569. Furthermore, five Cypriot mule companies were employed to manage the logistics of such a task, which would be done in rugged terrain with the constant threat of enemy snipers and artillery.

The thundering symphony of 1600 artillery guns across the Cassino front announced the coming of the offensive. At 1:30 on May 12, the Carpathian Division charged into battle and successfully took Hill 593. While the Poles found initial success, this was not to last. The artillery barrage may have created shock and awe for the Polish and German forces, but the barrage did minor damage to German defenses. Upon the Carpathian Division approaching its second objective at Hill 569, the German 3rd Parachute Regiment launched a counterattack supported by mortar and machinegun fire from the monastery. The fighting was brutal.

Some men fought in hand-to-hand combat as they ran out of ammunition. German forces kept pushing ahead and eventually broke through. The Kresowa division’s task of taking Phantom Ridge was going no better. Like the Carpathian offensive, the Germans successfully utilized support from the monastery to launch a successful counterattack.

While the Polish offensive might have failed, other offensives succeeded because of it, and the battle was not yet over. On May 16, the Poles would begin another assault to secure strategic objectives around the monastery. This time, the 6th Lwowska Brigade of the Kresowa Division would attack Phantom Ridge, the Carpathian Division would take Albaneta and the 2nd Carpathian Division would assault Point 593.

The assault began at 22:30, and the Poles at first suffered heavy losses. However, the offensive’s momentum did not stall as it had previously. By the dawn of May 17, the Poles had captured Phantom Ridge and secured most of Colle Saint Angello. The Germans launched a ferocious counterattack that found initial success. Polish troops were, for a time, cut off from their supply lines. However, contact was eventually restored.

The 2nd Carpathian Division also conquered Point 593. The Poles considered approaching the monastery; however, they forgave such an aim upon hearing of the division’s poor performance in assaulting Albaneta.

While not all the offensives were successful, the Germans felt the stress of the Polish advances around them. The Germans decided to abandon their fortifications at the monastery under the cover of night on May 17. Most of the soldiers who retreated were either killed or captured by Polish and British patrols. The Poles learned of the retreat on May 18, and the 12th Podolski Lancers from the Carpathian Division were sent to the monastery. Upon the unit’s arrival, they found no army, only the wounded, the dead, and the ruins of the historic structure.

The Warsaw Uprising

While the achievements of the Polish military in cooperation with Western powers are hard to understate, it is also important to note how Polish-Western-Soviet relations sometimes conflicted. The lead-up to the Warsaw Uprising is a key point in this complex diplomatic situation. While the Poles wanted an independent nation-state, the Soviets wished for territorial concessions and an eastern empire, the British desired to protect Poland, but not at the expense of the Soviet alliance, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt wished to maintain his popularity with American Polonia.

Upon the collapse of the Polish state to the combined German and Soviet offensives, the Polish government in exile was formed. The Prime Minister was Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, the deputy leader of the Peasant Party, the largest political party in Poland. The Polish government-in-exile was massively popular in Poland, where an “underground state” complete with institutions such as a government, schools, and courts backed the government-in-exile.

The Home Army, an underground military organization in Poland, had 400,000 active members in mid-1944. Plans were made for a “general uprising” throughout the country during the occupation. Secret military structures were established, and partisans were trained to launch an insurgency at the most opportune time. While the light of Polish hope was dimmed when a Balkan front did not open under pressure from the Soviet Union, the Italian offensive again filled the Polish imagination with the vivid remembrance of a free Poland. Operation “Tempest” was in its first stages of becoming a reality.

Soviet interests were directly opposed to Polish interests. Stalin had already established a pro-Soviet Eastern Europe in the post-war period. Stalin told the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden a Soviet-British alliance could only exist if the British recognized the so-called “western frontier” of the Soviet Union consisting of eastern Poland, parts of Finland, the Baltic States, Romanian Bessarabia, and northern Bukovina. Further, Stalin suggested a willingness to “negotiate” with Poland if the “Curzon Line” was recognized as the legitimate border between the two states. Stalin also proposed Poland be “compensated” for the territorial losses by having the victorious Allied powers grant eastern German territory to Poland.

The Polish population was opposed to any concessions along its eastern border. The Poles believed that such territory was necessary to save Poland from foreign aggression, just as the eastern territories had done so during the Polish-Soviet War.

Stalin’s manipulation of Poland did not just exist in the field of land but also the realm of politics. Between 1936 and 1938, Stalin ordered the murder of a Polish Communist in Moscow who was part of the Polish Communist Party along with the party’s dissolution. The party was to be replaced by the Soviet-established Polish Workers’ Party (PPR).

Furthermore, Stalin created a Communist-led Polish army in 1943. Berling’s army was one such Polish force created by the Soviets. Its men took the following oath: “I solemnly swear to the Polish soil, dark with blood, to the Polish nation, tortured under German oppression, that I shall be worthy of the Polish name, and that I shall faithfully serve my Fatherland.” The omission of God and the Polish Republic symbolizes the Soviet view of the Polish state, her people, and her values.

Stalin also founded the Committee of National Liberation (PKWN) to challenge the Polish government in exile. In December 1944, the PKWN declared itself the Provisional government of Poland. Moscow unsurprisingly backed such a move.

The British and American governments had differing attitudes to the Polish question. The British government wanted to maintain the British-Soviet alliance it had established in 1942. However, it also sought to do this without dispelling public opinion, as the British public demanded a fair deal for Poland.

In 1942, this dissonance between the government and its people came to a head when the House of Commons reacted in astonishment and horror at the audacity of Soviet territorial demands. Only Roosevelt approaching Stalin and convincing him to concede on some of his demands at the moment could save a British-Soviet alliance.

Roosevelt’s actions in this scenario reflected American policy towards Poland. Roosevelt had no objections to Soviet demands; however, Polish Americans were large supporters of the New Deal, and Roosevelt needed their support to win the 1944 election.

The Great Powers of the Allies came together at Tehran to discuss a post-war Europe. Churchill proposed that the Soviets receive Eastern Poland and that Poland acquire territory in Germany to its north and west. Stalin enthusiastically agreed. Roosevelt agreed as well, but he wished to keep his agreement with the policy a secret as he needed Polish support in the election, a fact he made known to Stalin at the time. When Mikolajczyk sought to establish a “demarcation line,” the Soviets rejected it, leading to Polish fears of the status of a post-war Poland.

There was further concern when Soviet media pushed for the so-called “reconstruction” of the Polish “government-in-exile.” Such a policy would have meant the elimination of “fascist” members of the Polish government.

On July 4, in light of massive Soviet gains, Mikolajczyk radioed both Jan S. Jankowski, a government delegate, and Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, the Commander of the AK, saying the AK and underground state authorities must meet the Soviets upon their arrival and pronounce the authority of the legitimate government of Poland. Especially concerning was the fact that the Soviet general Berling was to call for an uprising while the Soviets organized local administrators in the country.

Mikolajczyk suggested the possibility of a partial rebellion against the Germans to achieve such a task. He also discussed the possibility of the government-in-exile moving from London to Warsaw. Mikolajczyk did not give up hope on negotiations with the Soviets, but his plans ultimately did not come to fruition.

On August 1, the AK began their uprising. Shots rang out around Warsaw as the AK’s 45,000-man strong force emerged from hiding and attacked Nazi installations in Warsaw. The decision to begin the uprising appears to have been made by unconfirmed reports of Soviet tanks near Praga, an eastern suburb of Warsaw. Soviet guns had been heard for several days, and the Soviets had secured the town of Radzymin.

When making the decision, the AK commanders were unaware that several German armored divisions had arrived on the front and would push back the Rokossovsky First Belorussian Front. This information does make the uprising appear untimely. However, such information would have only delayed the uprising for 1 or 2 days.

Furthermore, defeated German troops had been retreating through the city. On July 27, the German governor, Ludwig Fisher, ordered 100,000 Polish men to build fortifications around Warsaw. Mikolajczyk arrived in Moscow on July 30 and requested Soviet planes bomb German airfields and railway junctions.

In Warsaw, the structures of the underground state revealed themselves in the capital city. However, not everyone was thrilled to see Poland flags in the streets of Warsaw once again. Stalin was upset about the uprising, which spoiled his plans of creating a Soviet-dominated Poland. The Soviets immediately stopped their advance to Warsaw upon hearing about the Polish insurgency.

The Soviets also ended artillery barrages and aerial bombardments against the city. The Americans were denied access to Soviet-controlled airfields, preventing them from assisting the insurgents. Therefore, only the Royal Air Force could assist, and its assistance was limited.

The citizen soldiers of the AK had no heavy weapons, and only 10% of the soldiers had a weapon on hand at the time of the revolt. Nonetheless, the citizen army of the AK managed to resist German attempts to retake the city for 63 days. The fighting was brutal. Polish units fought in their homes, shops, and streets with SS soldiers using both captured and homemade weapons.

German Nazi forces committed mass murder throughout the campaign, including areas outside the battle zone. The German Nazi government used units made up of those serving prison sentences. These penal units acted with such malice that even the cruelest SS officers were appalled.

The Poles led a staunch resistance against the German units. For example, on August 20, insurgent forces made up of units of teenage girls attacked the State Telephone Exchange Building. The insurgents forced the Germans upwards by detonating explosives on the lower floors of the building. Then, being equipped with flamethrowers, the insurgents set the building alight.

This left the Germans inside with three options: surrender, fight their way down and be killed, or suicide. Despite the tenacity of the uprising, the Poles found themselves in a shrinking perimeter due to the amount of resources the Germans had thrown at them and the lack of Allied support.

The insurgents finally surrendered on October 2, when it was agreed that the AK troops would be treated as uniformed combatants under the Geneva Convention. The Germans had killed 200,000 Polish civilians in their quest to stamp out the Polish nation. Hitler ordered the destruction of the city after the uprising. 85% of the city’s buildings were demolished. Buildings of cultural and historical significance were destroyed.

Compare and Contrast

The Battle of Monte Cassino and the Battle of Warsaw were both brutal and contained a dreaded loss of life of both the Poles and their enemies. Poles in both battles had fought for the defense of their homeland against unjust aggression from the fanatical tyrannies of German Nazism and Russian Stalinism.

Overall, the battles have similarities but also notable differences. First, the main similarity of the battles was that both were a result of the Polish desire for independence based on the fundamental principles of Polish society. Both were the result of Polish actors who either coordinated with their Western allies or brought the fight to the Germans and Soviets on their own agency. However, the battles overall are more different than they are similar.

First, and perhaps most obviously, two conventional military forces fought the Battle for Monte Cassino, while Polish civilians fought the Battle of Warsaw.

Second, the Battle of Monte Cassino was fought with the cooperation of Allied forces. At the same time, the Battle of Warsaw was conducted essentially alone either because of an inability to help the Poles, as is mostly the case of the Western Allies, or deliberate hostility to their interest, as is the case of the Soviet Union.

Finally, while the Battle of Monte Cassino made international headlines and was well recorded, the Warsaw uprising was seldom heard outside Poland.

First, what is similar about the two battles is that both the Battle of Monte Cassino and the Battle of Warsaw were, for the Poles, a battle for Poland’s political and cultural freedom. On March 11, 1944, General Anders issued the following order to the 2nd Polish Corps:

“Soldiers – we march ahead with the holy motto of God, Honor, Homeland in our hearts, remembering Germany’s bandit attack against Poland, the German-Soviet partitions of Poland, the thousands of ruined towns and cities, the murders and tortures inflicted on hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters, the millions of Poles deported to Germany as slaves, the plight and sorrow of our country, the suffering and exile, with the faith in the justice of Divine Providence.”

Anders’s command sums up the desires of the young and hopeful Polish soldier and the old and wise Polish officer. The Poles fought not just for a vague, ambiguous, and ultimately meaningless freedom of their country but for a meaningful freedom that had certain values attached to it—a freedom that recognized the dignity of human life, the traditions of the Polish people, and the authority of God. This was what the motto “God, Honor, Homeland” meant to the Polish soldier.

The Battle of Warsaw was similarly a fight for Poland’s political and cultural freedom. It was primarily the result of Operation Tempest, a plan the Polish Underground State devised to bring freedom and liberty to Poland. The battle was again for the specific type of freedom mentioned previously.

If the Poles had not rebelled, it is likely the Soviets would have marched through Warsaw and “freed” the Poles from the tyranny of Nazism. This would only have replaced one tyranny with another. Therefore, the Battle of Warsaw was just as much about the German Nazi oppressors of Poland as it was about the Soviet ones.

Both battles were not simply fought for a hatred of the oppressed Polish people but for their love of what they sought to defend. Ultimately, the Poles wished to maintain their free society by maintaining their Catholic and Polish identity.

As mentioned before, the battles were more different than they were alike. First, the Battle of Monte Cassino was fought using conventional armies, while the Battle of Warsaw was fought with an unconventional civilian force. The Battle of Monte Cassino, being fought with a conventional force, was ultimately successful. The troops were trained and, at this point, had some combat experience.

Overall, the Poles, as far as one can tell in war, knew what to expect. They had a well-thought-out plan to achieve their military objectives and utilized their units accordingly in the specific task they were specialized for. This differs from the Warsaw uprising.

While the Poles performed a heroic defense, they were outmatched by the relatively more organized German military structure. Even though the Poles in the Warsaw Uprising did face off against German units made up of criminals taken from penal institutions, the Poles still had to face a German army with experienced commanders, better weapons, and an efficient system of logistics. This put the Polish militias at a significant disadvantage compared to the German forces, making it all the more remarkable that they could hold out for so long.

Secondly, the Battle of Monte Cassino and the Battle of Warsaw were different as the Battle of Monte Cassino was fought alongside the Western Allies, while the Poles in the Battle of Warsaw ultimately fought alone. The Battle of Monte Cassino was a part of the large Allied offensive to liberate Fascist-occupied Europe by attacking the “soft underbelly” of Hitler. Ultimately, Allied Leaders hoped an Italian offensive would prove pivotal to the war effort by both putting pressure on Berlin and forcing the Nazi machine to invest resources in defending its Italian ally.

The Poles played a small but essential role in the Italian campaign. The Battle of Warsaw, on the other hand, was different. The Western allies were largely unable to help Poland during the Warsaw Uprising. The British Airforce did attempt to drop supplies to the insurgents fighting for their lives in the city, but it was never going to be possible to supply the vast logistical needs of the AK with simple airdrops. If the Warsaw uprising were to succeed, it would need Soviet support. Such an outcome was unlikely to come.

The Soviets and Poles had fought an initial war in 1920, and westward expansion was the long-term goal of both the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire before it. Upon hearing of the rebellion, the Soviets halted on the eastern side of the Vistula. While the Soviets blamed logistical problems for the military slowdown, the rapid advance of Soviet forces in the previous two months, Moscow’s support of the PKWN, and the historical hostility Moscow showed the Polish state suggest otherwise.

Finally, the battles were also different because the Battle of Monte Cassino was well documented in international headlines and historical sources, while the Warsaw Uprising was less so. The Battle of Monte Cassino was fought over a monastery, and Allied commanders made several assaults and failed. This did not stop Polish bravery from being put on display.

Upon capturing the monastery, the battle made international headlines, even if the fame was short-lived because of the Liberation of Rome and the Normandy landings. Furthermore, the Polish forces showed their solidarity with the Allies against Nazism. The Battle of Cassino is well-documented, brought the 2nd Polish Corps fame, and a Polish military cemetery was made to honor the Polish servicemen who lost their lives at the location.

However, outside of Poland, the Warsaw Uprising is far less known. When Poland became a puppet state of the Soviet Union, Communist authorities systematically purged the non-communist elements of the underground state. Communist historiography referred to the Home Army as a “fascist” system that collaborated with the Nazi government. Although after 1956, this historiography was somewhat moderated, official monuments and commemorations of the uprising were prohibited, and the actions Soviet forces took, or to say it better, did not take, could not be mentioned.

In the West, the story of the uprising is usually unknown. It is usually confused with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 in which Jews who suffered inhumane conditions in the ghetto fought against the Germans. Furthermore, the Warsaw uprising contradicted Western historiography of World War II. Western historiography usually did not focus on the Warsaw Uprising.

In the popular imagination of many in the West, the Soviet Union is portrayed as a heroic ally against Nazism, downplaying events and actions by Soviet forces and their communist allies, such as the Soviet role in starting the conflict through the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Unfortunately, distortions of history have led to the Uprising being thrown into the dustbin of history outside Poland.

Conclusion

Poland was put in a difficult position at the beginning of World War II. If the Western Allies had acted on their promises and engaged in an immediate offensive against Germany, the war would likely have been over fairly quickly.

German commanders, with good reason, were always fearful about fighting a two-front war. To analyze what could have been different to safeguard the Polish state, it is helpful to relate the situation in which it found itself in the 1930s to that of the competing powers in the First World War. The German-Russian alliance established by Bismarck was a key feature of German foreign policy until 1890. When this alliance faded, France attempted to establish a Franco-Russian alliance. Wilhelm II desperately tried to prevent this alliance. However, this proved fruitless, and France and Russia signed a treaty in 1894.

Initially, the Germans devised a plan to strike east first; however, such ideas were scrapped in favor of the Von Schlieffen Plan if a French army managed to take Alsace, there was little to prevent it from moving North along the Rhine with limited divisions on the western front.

The French could have pushed into Germany, causing a military crisis for the German high command. The Germans would have two choices: either maintain their current strategy and risk the Western front completely collapsing and becoming unrecoverable or move troops to the Western front.

The latter option would have slowed down a German offensive in Poland if not prevented the total capitulation of the Polish state. Another way Poland might have been saved would have been through a conditional peace treaty with the Empire of Japan. While many historical works detail the German military fears of fighting a two-front war, fewer works go into detail about the Soviet fear of such a scenario.

In the buildup to World War II, the Soviet Union risked fighting a war on its western front against Germany and in the Far East against Japan. When hostilities broke out with Nazi Germany, Stalin demanded its forces in the Far East to avoid actions that may begin a conflict with Japan. In fact, Stalin kept troops in the Far East, rather than sending them to fight the Germans in Eastern Europe, until he received intelligence that the Japanese Empire was not planning an attack on the Soviet Union.

When discussing Soviet action against Japan with the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, Stalin said that while the Soviets were fighting the Germans, they could not wage a war on two fronts.

Furthermore, when Stalin promised to declare war against Japan at the Tehran Conference, this was only on the condition of German capitulation. To summarize, the Soviet Union was just as fearful of a militaristic Japan as of a militaristic Germany.

This presents an interesting dilemma for Western foreign policy regarding the Soviet Union. The Western Allies, led by the United States, pursued a policy of unconditional surrender supported by Truman and the American public. The successful testing of an atomic bomb only strengthened the appeal of such a foreign policy. However, the unconditional surrender policy did not go without objection.

For example, Henry Stimson, the secretary of war, and Joseph Grew, the navy secretary, called for the Potsdam terms to be altered to allow Japan to keep its monarchical government and current dynasty. This, they argued, would have the Japanese Emperor turn to more moderate elements in his government, which would have encouraged an early surrender. Therefore, it is potentially possible that a more conditional peace treaty could have maintained a highly militaristic, but strategically moderated Japan. Such a Japanese Empire could prove helpful in negotiations over Eastern Europe.

Suppose the Soviet Union was concerned about its security in the Far East. In that case, the Western Allies might have been able to demand the freedom of Central and Eastern European countries in exchange for Soviet demands in East Asia.

Overall, The Battle of Monte Cassino and the Battle of Warsaw were both contributions made by the Polish people in achieving a Europe free of Nazi and Bolshevik tyranny. Both battles were fought by Poles who sought to achieve what had been denied to their ancestors for so long: an independent state that respected and promoted the common good of the Polish people and their values.

Despite their valiant defense, the Poles were outmatched by their German and Soviet enemies and received little help from their Western Allies. It is a shame that so many of today’s youth have neglected history. History affects everything one does in the present moment.

History is the reason one is where they are. In the past, people would have built upon the traditions of their forefathers. However, in contemporary times, people worldwide find their histories under attack. These ideologies, which seek to “deconstruct” people’s identities and values, do not exist to bring people together but to tear them apart and leave nothing but an individual with no ties or obligations to any other component of society.

History is the most significant secular unifier. This is why history is so important to protect and cherish. History and tradition not only shape national identity but are, in many ways, the essence of national identity, without which such national identities could not be said to exist.

Bibliography

1. Tomasz Leszkowicz, “2nd Polish Corps: ‘We were united by the blood we shed together,”  Polish History Museum, August 11, 2024, https://muzhp.pl/en/knowledges/2nd-polish-corps-we-were-united-by-the-blood-we-shed-together

2. Simon Rees, “The Masters of Monte Cassino,” historically, August 12, 2024; https://historicaleye.com/WorldWar2/monte-cassino

3. “75th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino,” Serwis Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, May 17, 2019, https://www.gov.pl/web/iran-en/75th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-monte-cassino

4. Anna M. Cienciala, “The Diplomatic Background of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944: The Players and the Stakes,” The Polish Review 39, No. 4 (1994): 393-413. (August 19, 2024) https://www.jstor.org/stable/27920650

5. John Radzilowski, “Review: Remembrance and Recovery: The Museum of the Warsaw Rising and the Memory of World War II in Post-communist Poland,” The Public Historian, Vol 31, No. 4 (Fall        2009):      143-145,  157.  (August   26,   2024). https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/tph.2009.31.4.143

6. James I. Marino, “The Polish II Corps in Italy,” Warfare History Network, August 19, 2024.

7. Marek Galezowski, “Polish September,” Institute of National Remembrance, August 12, 2024 https://1september39.com/39e/intro/2155,Polish-September.html#last

8. “The year 2024 marks the 80th anniversary of operation ‘Tempest,’” Institute of National Remembrance, August 22, 2024. https://eng.ipn.gov.pl/en/news/10992,The-year-2024-marks-the-80th-anniversary-of-the-operation-quotTempestquot.html?search=412198

9. John Mosier, “France and the Failures of National Defense, 1870-1914” The Myth of the Great War: How the Germans Won the Battles and How the Americans Saved the Allies, (HarperCollins Publishers, 2002), 17.

10. John Mosier, “Germany and the Development of Combined Arms Tactics” The Myth of the Great War: How the Germans Won the Battles and How the Americans Saved the Allies, (HarperCollins Publishers, 2002), 35-36.

11. Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, “Soviet Policy Toward Japan During World War II,” Cahiers du Monde Russe, Vol 52, No. 2/3 (April 2011): 246-247, 254. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41708322

12. Mirosław Szumiło, “Battle of Warsaw, 1920,” Institute of National Remembrance August 15, 2024. https://eng.ipn.gov.pl/en/digital-resources/articles/4397,Battle-of-Warsaw-1920.html

13. “IPNtv: The Unconquered” by IPNtvPL (2017), 0:27 and 2:34.

14. Maciej Korkuć, The Fighting Republic of Poland: 1939-1945, (Warsaw, Publishing House of IPN, 2019), 16-19, 25-30. https://eng.ipn.gov.pl/en/news/3273,quotThe-Fighting-Republic-of-Poland-1939-1945quot-a-popular-publication-for-youn.html

15. “September 1939,” Institute of National Remembrance, August 10, 2024, https://1september39.com/

16. Richard C. Lukas, “Russia, The Warsaw Uprising and the Cold War,” The Polish Review, Vol. 20, No. 4 (1975): 13-15, 17, 23. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25777302

The post Poland Alone; 2024 PI Competition 2nd Prize appeared first on Polonia Institute.

2023 Competition on the History of Poland

German genocide of ethnic Poles in WWII

First Prize – Michael Swiatek

The German Reich’s Brutal Program of Invasion, Incarceration, and Extermination in the Planned Destruction of Poland

 Second Prize – Holstege Max

Poland in WWII: A Terrifying and Turbulent History.

Second Prize  – Kucherenko Nikita

The Erasure of Morality: A Detailed Account of the Victimized Polish during WWII.

Third Prize – Okpomo Kenneth

Revisiting Nazi Germany Crimes against ethnic Poles.

Third Prize – Palutis Jeffrey

Nazi Germany’s Attempts at Polish Genocide.

Third Prize – Rocchio Angelina

2023 Polonia Institute Scholarship Essay.

The post 2023 Winning Essays – Polonia Institute appeared first on Polonia Institute.

The German Reich’s Brutal Program of Invasion, Incarceration
and Extermination in the Planned Destruction of Poland

by Michael Joseph Swiatek

2023 Grand Prize

Michael J. Swiatek Essay

The post PI 2023 Competition on the History of Poland Winning Essay appeared first on Polonia Institute.

by  Zbigniew WOJCIK, Polonia Institute

The call to freeze German assets to pay WWII reparations to Poland.

The Meaning of German Leadership in Europe. Russia’s assets were frozen recently by Western countries because of the atrocities Russians committed during the war in Ukraine, 2022-2024. During WWII, Germans committed much more terrible atrocities on Polish citizens and in much greater numbers. Western societies should consider freezing German assets invested in their countries to pay delinquent German reparations because Germany officially refuses the responsibility. Poland demands $1.3T WWII reparations from Germany.

Instead of freezing Germany’s assets to enforce payments of WWII reparations to Poland, the UE blocked paying Poland funds due to COVID-19 pandemic damages, and EU cohesion funds to raise the standard of living in poorer regions. Poland‘s development was slowed by tremendous destruction by Germany during WWII.

German imperialism.

Nazi was a political National Socialist German Workers’ Party [20] created before WWII.  Nazi was de facto a political platform of German imperialism, as the assaultiveness of this country has been observed for over eight centuries, evidenced by “Drang Nach Osten” (19th-century German nationalist intent to expand Germany into Slavic territories of Central and Eastern Europe) and earlier “Northern Crusades” [2] (medieval 12th to 13th-century military expeditions). Germans created NAZI and made it prevalent in the nation, enriching antisemitism and anti-Polonism. Nazi’s principles, goals, and positions on domestic and foreign affairs were in line with German imperialism.

Germans show their caution against repeating history in a peculiar way.

Protests are organized in Germany against the intent to deport millions of immigrants. [7] “People traveled from across Germany to attend Saturday’s [Feb. 2024] protest, saying they felt it was important to be there in order to show their opposition to racism and caution against repeating history.” [7] If  Germans are indeed against repeating history, they should rather pay overdue reparations to Poland. Neo-Nazi politicians are considered far-right in Germany. The leftists support immigrants instead of discouraging the repetition of Germany’s history.  Slogans appeared during pro-democratic demonstrations in Germany such as “Never Again is Now,” “Against Hate” and “Defend Democracy.”[8]

Support of costly illegal immigration in Germany may be missing the target of “caution against repeating history’ and “Never Again” as German politicians reject paying Poland the reparations for WWII. Leftist German leadership created the above slogans to spread leftist propaganda and direct efforts of protesting Germans toward misleading causes. Millions of victims of German atrocities in Poland would definitely prefer financial payments to the Polish country as some form of compensation for all the unimaginable crimes committed by Germans during WWII instead of listening to fake leftist propaganda. Preparations for leftist demonstrations are very costly and time-consuming, and do nothing positive for the “Never Again”  movement, as far as repeating the imperialistic history of  Germany’s failures to win through their atrocities against humanity.

Germany supports leftist/post-communist politicians in the EU, e.g. Donald Tusk in Poland.

Germans installed oppressive Donald Tusk’s regime in Poland.

‘The Polish President Andrzej Duda [on January 2024] criticized the European Commission (EC) for blocking EU funds in what he said had been “an attempt to force Poland to change” its government’ [11]. President Duda did not want to accept EU law as superior to the Constitution of Poland.  The new pro-EU government in Poland, led by Donald Tusk since Dec 13, 2023, has pledged to regain access to the funds the EU did not want to release to the conservative government of Poland.

Fig.1. Hostile gesture of the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, towards the friend of Poland, the U.S. President, Donald Trump. Angela Merkel watches the situation (on the left in a green jacket). Picture of the author’s TV taken when playing a Polish TV Republika channel

Because of his false promises, Tusk gained a lot of supporters.  This is a perfect example of German imperialism, as the European Commission with German President, Ursula von der Layen, extended its power by gaining political and economic control [12] of Poland and loudly expressed her support for Tusk. Tusk expressed his hostility towards America by shooting his fingers into the back of President Donald Trump and clearly wanted the German top politician Angela Merkel to notice his act, see Fig.1.

The control of Poland by hostile Germany is historically brutal, especially during WWII. These competition essays remind the atrocities of German imperialism during WWII, which, unfortunately, started to resume nowadays, and German politicians still do not feel responsible for actively practicing their imperialism on Poland and Poles.

 An example is the brutality committed by the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, derided by the Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland as a “servant of Berlin” [9] and by Tusk’s top hitman, Adam Bodnar, the Minister of Justice in Poland. The Polish Priest Michal Olszewski was accused of receiving money from the “Justice Fund” dedicated to helping victims of crimes and domestic abuse in Poland. The “funds were allocated following the procedures in Poland governing the use of the fund” to help the victims of crimes [4], so they were used according to rules. The Priest “was constantly urged to testify „something” [3] after arrest. He has been subjected to the “practices of denying water and toilet access’, which “have been classified as torture under the 1984 UN Convention against Torture [4]. The treatment of Priest Olszewski is “reminiscent of the communist era of repression in the 1950s’ in Poland under Soviet occupation”. The torture of the priest was ordered to be kept secret.[5]

Torturing Priest Olszewski by Tusk’s regime also reminds the torturing of Father Popieluszko by communist Jaruzelski’s regime under the Soviet occupation of Poland in 1984 [19].  There were “more than 3,000 priests martyred in Poland under the Nazi and Communist regimes which dominated the country from 1939-1989.” [3] Tusk’s regime continues torturing Polish priests as a way to suppress Polish patriotism.  For his commitment to “European [read: German] understanding”, Tusk was awarded a special German prize in September 2024. [3]  Adam Bodnar, the top Tusk minister, was sent to Germany to accept the prize on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Tusk selected tricky people for his regime government.

Adam Bodnar, today Prosecutor General of the  Ministry of Justice in the Tusk government of Poland, was the Ombudsman in Poland and a member of the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation in the past [18]. Polish Bishop Antoni Długosz asked Bodnar: “You publicly defended the murderer of a 10-year-old girl, deploring the handcuffs and night-time interrogation… Why did the handcuffs on a child murderer bother you but not the handcuffs on an arrested priest?” [6]  “The Częstochowa bishop also spoke about the torture to which the priest [Olszewski] was subjected while in custody and about the rejection of requests to visit his family or religious superior.”

Propaganda supporting “German leadership in the EU.”

Propaganda supporting the need for terrifying activities of the Tusk regime in Poland was carefully prepared, as Tusk was also the Prime Minister of Poland several years earlier. In 2022, it was clear that Donald Tusk would likely win the executive power in Poland in the next elections, and he was trusted in Germany to do the job. So, the necessity of using an oppressive regime like Tusk’s regime in Poland had to be supported earlier by German-directed propaganda so that Tusk would win the election.

For example, research papers in high-level research journals prepared Poles, Europeans, and the world to see Tusk as a rescuer no matter what atrocities he commits, e.g., paper [10]. It is very far-going propaganda, and perhaps naive researchers publishing scientific papers are not a match to ruthless and cynical politicians.  See the propaganda [10] excerpt: “On 25 July 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) communicated a new round of 37 cases filed against Poland based on complaints that the right to a fair trial envisaged in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated because Polish courts no longer met the standards of independent tribunals established under the law…”

As presented above and specifically in [10], German leadership in Europe brings impressive propaganda to positively characterize planned atrocities to be committed by “servants of Berlin.”  Propaganda becomes visible before the atrocities appear to be seen as very positive and even patriotic to average citizens, and not ugly.

German imperialistic spirit

German imperialistic spirit is best represented by the genocide of Poles during the Warsaw Uprising of Aug. 1, 1945. Because of the overwhelming retreat on the eastern front, Germans could attempt to stop the Russians by immediately withdrawing from Warsaw and leaving arms and ammunition inside the city. The Polish Home Army would get the power to withstand the Soviets, which would enormously complicate the relationships inside the Allies block because of the Polish army fighting with the Allies in the West of  Europe. Polish Home Army fighting against the Soviets in Warsaw would stop the Red Army going toward Berlin. Many more German civilians would survive WWII because the Western Front would get more time to reach even Berlin, and maybe the German capital would not be destroyed so entirely by the Soviets.

Instead of focusing on their own survival, Germans preferred murdering hundreds of thousands more Poles in Warsaw and leaving mounds upon mounds of human corpses. If Germany does not pay Poland the reparations for WWII, they will continue their genocides as German people today do not know what their predecessors were doing in the past.

My uncles told me an unfortunate story about Germans pushed west by Russian forces at the end of WWII. Poles were forced to dig defensive tranches for the German troops occupying territory near Sochaczew. After the Soviets came in, these tranches were filled with naked human corpses. Most of them were likely Germans because nobody knew these dead people. The explanation is that these dead Germans did not manage to evacuate ahead of time, trusting German propaganda. The corpses were robbed of everything because of a complete shortage of everything in the territories occupied by Germany. If not for German imperialism, there would not be tranches full of German corpses in Poland. What is a better way to tell Germans they are repeating their history? Paying reparations for mistakes is better than being terrible victims again of the errors of imperialistic politicians.

The unification of Germany was likely a mistake.

During my interviews with U.S. intelligence in 1986/86 I recommended the unification of East and West Germany into one country. [17] Poles worked with foreign intelligence when Poland was not a sovereign country or independent at the time of WWI; see, e.g., the activities of Dmowski and Piłsudski when they fought for the independence of Poland. WWII reparations were on the table during the Cold War when I was talking to the CIA officers and Germany started to pay them to Israel. At that time, in the 1980s, the collapse of the Soviet Block would not have recreated the monster “Leader of Europe” if Germany had been occupied with paying WWII reparations, also to Poland.  We hoped that unified Germany would continue the well-played mission of West Germany to oppose considerable Russian power in the future.

Unfortunately, under today’s “German leadership” in the EU, the Constitution of the Republic of Poland is no longer superior to UE laws [1] as seen by Germany, and Poland is no longer treated as a sovereign country of Europe. The real problem is with Western politicians who made Germany militarily weak.  Together with other West-European countries [13], Germany does not protect Europe [15], and the top German politicians used to collaborate with Russia, e.g. chancellors of Germany Gerhard Schröder [14] and Angela Merkel [16]. Close cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 led to WWII. Therefore, our essays describing the atrocities committed by Germans during WWII are crucial to prevent history from repeating. What more can we do?

Conclusion

Given the tricky murderous activities of the Tusk regime taking place in Poland under the “German leadership,” a reminder in the form of historical essays about German crimes during WWII is essential. Germany’s unification after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc did not bring the expected mission of big Germany opposing much greater Russian power. Instead, close collaboration between Germany and Russia appeared, which in the past led to the burst of WWII, followed by the extermination of people on an industrial scale, see the essays.

Bringing a neighboring country, Poland, under German control, similar to the annexation of neighbors by Hitler before WWII, is a fact: the Tusk regime was installed in Poland.  The long-lasting torture of the Polish priest Olszewski by the Tusk regime is a fact. Tortures make an enormous impression: people will be afraid to oppose Germans. Sophisticated propaganda in support of the Tusk regime is a fact; see papers like [10]. German propaganda was also very impressive before WWII erupted. The predecessors of the Tusk regime in Poland possibly made mistakes, but torturing a priest is a too-far-going escalation.

Also, millions of Germans were killed during  WWI and WWI as a result of German imperialistic politics, and despite this experience, Germany turned imperialistic again. Our essays should be recommended in Germany for reading in all schools. “German leadership” in Europe is a wrong political platform.

It is still time to fight German imperialism by: i. letting people know about German NAZI as a platform, having a new platform as “German leadership in Europe” today, and first of all, ii. forcing Germany to pay WWII reparations to Poland, the country suffering the most because of German atrocities. Our 2023 essays describing German atrocities are timely and valid given the resumption of German imperialism through the support for the Tusk regime.  Stabilization of the center of Europe through the friendship and presence of the U.S. in Poland is necessary [17], and not by depriving Poland of sovereignty through the aggressive “German leadership” in the E.U. Reparations paid to Poland would build more substantial territory between two imperia: Russia and Germany and prevent WWIII, as the two countries fought WWI and WWII.

References:

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/08/world/poland-court-eu-treaties-ruling-intl/index.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drang_nach_Osten

[3] https://wpolityce.pl/facts-from-poland/697607-60-hours-of-hell-or-fr-olszewskis-letter-from-jail

[4] https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/07/allegations-of-priests-torture-in-custody-outrage-poland/

[5] https://www.radiomaryja.pl/informacje/ks-bp-a-dlugosz-w-obronie-ks-m-olszewskiego-panie-ministrze-bodnar-dlaczego-pan-milczy/

[6] https://niezalezna.pl/polska/kosciol/glos-kosciola-ws-ks-olszewskiego-biskup-pyta-bezposrednio-bodnara-dlaczego-teraz-pan-milczy/526489

[7] https://apnews.com/article/germany-afd-far-right-protests-bundestag-berlin-90d8497434a424ded198ce3d6d5fabb9

[8] https://apnews.com/article/germany-far-right-protests-extremism-afd-747b80d0865a22679aea02ac3aa7ef75

[9] https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/tusk-cancels-trip-to-germany-amid-deteriorating-relations/

[10] ANNA ADAMSKA – GALLANT, “Backsliding of the Rule of Law in Poland – a Systemic Problem With the Independence of Courts, International Journal For Court Administration”,  Dec 2022. https://iacajournal.org/articles/474/files/638de114b92e9.pdf

[11] https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/polish-president-criticizes-eus-executive-for-blocking-funds/article67762769.ece

[12]  https://www.britannica.com/topic/imperialism

[13] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/alarm-grows-over-weakened-militaries-and-empty-arsenals-in-europe/ar-AA1liSDK

[14] https://www.dw.com/en/putin-and-schr%C3%B6der-a-special-german-russian-friendship/a-55219973

[15] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60155002

[16] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/world/europe/angela-merkel-russia-putin.html

[17] Zbigniew Wojcik, “Slaying the Soviet Beast. … WHAT NEXT”, Liberty Hills, 2019.

***
See also Introduction to the Winning Essays by the Jury Member Zbigniew Wójcik here:

https://poloniainstitute.net/competition-on-the-history-of-poland/2023-competition/the-meaning-of-german-leadership-in-europe/

The post The Meaning of German Leadership in Europe appeared first on Polonia Institute.

The House of Commons, July 7^th, 1943

We learned yesterday that the cause of the United Nations had suffered a most grievous loss. (Hear, hear.)
It is my duty to express the feelings of this House and to pay my tribute to the memory of a great Polish patriot and staunch ally General Sikorski.  (Sympathetic cheers.) His death in the air crash at Gibraltar was one of the heaviest strokes we have sustained.

From the first dark days of the Polish catastrophe and the brutal triumph of the German war machine until the moment of his death on Sunday night, he was the symbol and the embodiment of that spirit that has borne the Polish nation through centuries of sorrow and is unquenchable by agony.  When the organized resistance of the Polish Army in Poland was beaten down, General Sikorski’s first thought was to organize all Polish forces in France to carry on the struggle, and a Polish army of over 80,000 men presently took its station on the French fronts.  This army fought with the utmost resolution in the disastrous battles of 1940. Part fought its way out in good order into Switzerland, and is today interned there. Part marched resolutely to the sea, and reached this island.

Here, General Sikorski had to begin his work again. He persevered, unwearied and undaunted. The powerful Polish forces that have now been assembled and equipped in this country and in the Middle East, to the latter of whom his last visit was paid, now await with confidence and ardor the tasks that lie ahead.  General Sikorski commanded the devoted loyalty of the Polish people now tortured and struggling in Poland itself.  He personally directed that movement of resistance which has maintained a ceaseless warfare against German oppression in spite of sufferings as terrible as any nation has ever endured. (Hear, hear.)  This resistance will grow in power until, at the approach of liberating armies, It will exterminate the German ravagers of the homeland.

I was often brought into contact with General Sikorski in those years of war. I had a high regard for him and admired his poise and calm dignity amid so many trials and baffling problems.  He was a man of remarkable pre-eminence, both as a statesman and a soldier, His agreement with Marshal Stalin of July 30^th, 1941, was an outstanding example of his political wisdom. Until the moment of his death, he lived in the conviction needs of the common struggle and the faith that a better Europe would arise in which a great and independent Poland would play an honorable part.  (Cheers.)  We, the British here and throughout the Commonwealth and Empire, who declared war on Germany because of Hitler’s invasion of Poland and in fulfillment of our guarantee, feel deeply for our Polish allies in their new loss.

We express our sympathy to them, we express our confidence in their immortal qualities, and we proclaim our resolve that General Sikorski’s work as Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief shall not have been done in vain. (Cheers.) The House would, I am sure, wish also that its sympathy should be conveyed to Madame Sikorski, who dwells here in England, and whose husband and daughter have both been simultaneously killed on duty.

General Sikorski.

by Karol Estreicher, 1944

By cruel fate, General Wladyslaw Sikorski was killed a year ago in an air crash near Gibraltar.  His death came at a moment when Poland needed him perhaps more than ever before, for though the war situation had begun to improve even this did not save Poland from suffering many setbacks.

Sikorski was a statesman, outstanding among the leaders of the Second World War.  This position he owed to his character, his faith in ultimate victory, his clearness of decision, and his energy in all actions.  I should like to speak about him, pointing out not only what he meant to Poland, but to the whole of Europe, and to show the reader the values which he brought with him and which will forever be connected with his name.

This is his life:

He was born in 1881, at a time when Poland was not even spoken of in European politics. Her name had been blotted out from the map and she was partitioned between Russia, Austria, and Germany.  The Polish nation, however, never accepted such a situation and towards the end of the 19^th century, Sikorski’s generation believed as firmly as previous generations had done in the ultimate liberation of Poland.  Maybe the young generation, in whose political life Sikorski took an active part, believed in it even more strongly before the outbreak of the First World War, hoping that the fight between her three oppressors would bring freedom to the Polish nation.

After leaving school, Sikorski entered the Technical Institute in Lwów.  As he himself often used to tell his friends, he did not go in for humanistic studies or law because he foresaw that the future of the world lay above all in the technical developments brought about by the 20th century.  In his later life, his technical qualifications as a road and bridge builder were a great help.  They were useful in his career as a soldier and also, as we shall see later, in his career as a statesman.  They taught him the power of swift decision, gave him a sense of reality, and the conviction that the fate of mankind depends chiefly on man himself.

Long before the First World War, Sikorski had already begun his military studies. He was one of the organizers of the underground forces formed in those parts of Poland which had been occupied by the Austrians.  At the outbreak of war in 1914, a National Committee was formed in Cracow which soon afterward led to the organization of the Legions of Joseph Pilsudski, and in that Committee, thirty-three-year-old Colonel Sikorski became chief of the military department and immediately began to act with dynamic energy.

The idea of the National Committee in Cracow was to create Polish military units which, during the last phase of the war, would play a deciding part in the fate of the Polish nation.

After the war, Sikorski occupied an important position in the organization of the Polish State,  He fought for the liberation of Lwow and Przemysl in 1919, and in the Polish-Russian War of 1920, gaining great popularity in Poland as an outstanding soldier. During the Russian offensive against Warsaw, he commanded the Northern Army, winning one of the decisive battles of the war. He was not only a victorious general on the front lines, but he also became a prominent organizer of the young Polish army during the post-war period, when he was chief of the General Staff.

In 1922, internal political conflicts in Poland put Sikorski at the head of the government. Within a short time, he carried out essential reforms and guided foreign policy in a direction that gained the approval and cooperation of the League of Nations, while he also obtained recognition of Poland’s Eastern frontiers by Great Britain, France, and the U.S.A.  As a Prime Minister, he won universal respect and popularity in Poland.

He was a Democrat and a supporter of Parliament.  In spite of the many facilities that an anti-constitutional regime would bring with it, he never changed his convictions. They estranged him completely from the party of Marshal Pilsudski. While this political group was in power, Sikorski remained in opposition. He foresaw that this system was not the right one for Poland and that events would take a different course.  The catastrophe of 1939 found him at the head of the opposition and consequently, the whole nation looked to him for guidance.

These are Sikorski’s activities during the Second World War:

While remaining in political opposition, Sikorski had not been inactive.  It was his conviction that political parties are a necessity in the life of a nation and that their right balance constitutes a parliamentary system.  He was trying to smooth out the differences between the various parties and unite them before the outbreak of the coming world war.

He was looking for those who would support his views at home and abroad.  He made friends with Ignacy Paderewski, the statesman and musician, and with Vincent Witos, the leader of the Polish peasants.  He also worked as a writer, publishing books dealing with a future war and strategic problems, besides writing political articles for various papers.

He warned Poland and the whole of Europe of the growing power of Germany.  Sikorski was well known in political circles in France as an irreconcilable enemy of Fascism and Hitlerism.

It will be worthwhile to remind the reader here that the attempt made in 1935 by the dethroned King Alphonse XIII to win over Sikorski to an  ” anti-Bolshevist Crusade ”  in Spain failed completely. Sikorski saw clearly that the real danger in Europe was not radical socialism, but reactionary politics which were weakening Europe, and made her unable to defend herself against the growing Teutonic doctrine of brute force.

Therefore, it was not surprising that when Sikorski found himself in Paris on September 24th, 1939, he should be chosen as the head of the new Polish Government and Commander-in-Chief.  In this way, he united in himself two of the most important state positions which he interpreted, not in the manner of a dictator, but as a ruler who needed such powers to help him to act decisively with the Allies at times of critical difficulty.

He immediately formed a government that included representatives of the four most important political parties and several specialists.  Sikorski’s government summoned a National Council in exile as a kind of provisional parliament, proving that the Government wished to exercise its authority in a democratic spirit.

At Sikorski’s appeal, Poles from all over the world began to arrive in France and the Middle East to join the newly organized Polish army. Most of them had managed to escape from Poland. Sikorski considered it of great importance that Poland’s war effort should be considerable and it is thanks to him that the Polish forces have grown to such an extent, and are today fighting on all fronts, and gaining universal respect.

Sikorski’s most important political contributions, however, were those made during the Second World War, with regard to Polish foreign policy.  Already while organizing the Polish army in November 1939, he went to London, he had no doubt that the war would spread over the whole world. Speaking of the war, he said:

“This is no ordinary war for material interests or territorial ambitions. It does not resemble those conflicts of the past, the outcome of which was decided in a single battle.

Whether the world will achieve the realization of the highest ideals or be defeated by a primitive barbaric materialism that reduces men to beasts depends on the outcome of this war.

We are fighting a mortal war, which will decide the fate of nations, of continents, and of the whole world. Such is the true nature of this war.”

He foresaw Germany’s attack on the neutral countries, America’s entry into the war, and the attack on Russia. With this constant desire to find understanding for the Polish cause through­out the world, he repeatedly attended conferences with all the allies.

Sikorski was truly one of the architects of the confederation of the United Nations.

At that time Sikorski also began to organize the underground movement in Poland.  Underground fighting, famous in Polish history, once more energized the whole nation.

During the defeat of France, Sikorski did not give way to despair and doubts. His arrival in England and Churchill’s quick decision after a conference with him on June 18th, 1940, to evacuate the Polish army from France, enabled half of it to get away safely.

Sikorski’s faith in an ultimate victory for Great Britain never wavered for an instant. He represented the Polish nation, which in spite of the most cruel persecutions and the most terrible oppression remained faithful to a cause for which it had begun to fight on September 1st, 1939. Polish airmen distinguished themselves during the Battle of Britain; the Polish army in Scotland began to reorganize and prepare for a possible German invasion, and units of the Polish Navy were fighting side by side with the victorious Royal Navy.

All through 1940 and 1941 Sikorski worked untiringly to further diplomatic relations between the allies.  He was a warm supporter of a Central European federation, especially of a close relationship between Poland and Czechoslovakia.

His visits to the United States and his collaboration with the allied leaders showed him to be not only an outstanding member of the Polish nation but also one of Europe’s foremost personalities.

Then Germany’s star began to decline and the position of the allies improved considerably.  For a long time Sikorski had been expecting a German attack on Russia and had foreseen the latter’s victorious fight.  He soon made it clear that he was willing to come to an understanding with Russia in the name of the Polish Government, and that he was prepared to forget all neighborly misunderstandings alienating Poland from Russia.  This would enable the two nations to fight side by side against the enemy of all humanity.

The Russian-Polish agreement of 1941 and the subsequent meeting with Stalin in Moscow were largely due to Sikorski’s political realism of which he gave constant proof during his lifetime. The Polish-Russian pact facilitated the mutual under­standing and closer relationship between Russia, Britain and America.  Although in 1943, for various reasons, the agreement had broken down, it remained none the less a foreshadow of a future when the misunderstanding between two Slavonic nations would come to an end and the desire for collaboration would prevail.

Sikorski died at the very moment when his country most needed his help in the difficult situation in which it found itself after the failure of the Polish-Russian agreement (after the Katyn mass graves were discovered). His death meant an irreparable loss to Poland, a loss which will be even more noticeable after the war when the Polish State will have to be rebuilt. There still remain, however, Sikorski’s principles, his methods of political action, and his character, which will be an example to Poles for many years to come.

And finally:

Although he was a soldier by choice and profession, his ideas were anything but militaristic.  He knew the difficult art of distinguishing between the position of a politician and a soldier, always finding the right balance between the two. He was a great believer in law and exact legal structures and a practical and realistic man, ready to interpret a situation and to compromise between theory and practice.

As a politician, he was a statesman without obsessions.  He never looked back on the past but preferred to look forward to a brighter future.

Sikorski combined in his character all that was best in the Polish Nation.  He understood not only his own people, but he envisaged the world of the future as well.  That was the reason why he so easily found support in carrying out his ideas, and in Great Britain, he made friends among politicians of all parties.  He moved with the times on social as well as international questions.

Wladyslaw Sikorski bequeathed much to those he left behind, and the fact that Poland’s name became famous during the war was largely due to him.  Great Britain lost in him a great friend and one of the champions of a just and wise world policy.

The post Churchill’s Tribute to General Sikorski appeared first on Polonia Institute.

The Story of Tadeusz Nowak, Codename “Szperacz”

IPN’s educational series of short films entitled “Not Only the Ulmas” presents well-researched examples of Poles who risked their own lives and the lives of their loved ones to save Jews under the German occupation of Poland during World War II. Each episode focuses on a separate person, and most often a family or several families, whose members risked, and most often lost, their lives trying to protect their Jewish fellow citizens.

The short video series “Not Only the Ulmas” was created by the IPN Media Bureau in cooperation with researchers at the IPN’s Historical Research Department and IPN’s Office of International Relations.

One such short film tells the story of Tadeusz Nowak, one of the Polish workers in the Skarżysko-Kamienna munition factory run by occupying German forces. He worked as a locksmith in this factory, and at the same time, served as a soldier of the Home Army, a Polish resistance movement. He smuggled ammunition to fight against the Germans.

Despite the death penalty announced by the occupiers for even the lightest help to Jews, Nowak and his group were delivering food and mail to Jewish prisoners. Just before Easter of 1943, Tadeusz Nowak was caught by the German security service (Werkschutz) while providing such assistance. On April 21, 1943, he was sentenced to public execution by hanging for these activities. During the execution the rope broke, so the Werkschutz commander shot the Polish brave man, killing him on the spot. Tadeusz Nowak’s body was hung on the factory gate in order to scare off other workers and discourage resistance. According to some witnesses, a plaque with the inscription “This Pole gave bread to Jews” was mounted on his body.

Watch this thirteenth episode in the series of short videos entitled “Not Just the Ulmas”. The IPN’s educational series of short films presents well-researched examples of Poles who risked their own lives and the lives of their entire families to save Jews in Poland under German occupation during WWII.

Watch the film on Facebook and YouTube and share it with others! Thank you!

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=828972132600277&id=100064624934616&rdid=3kYFUPEHyKnM1i7M

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3Rt1Ny0Ccc&list=PLqh0OnxCcUeQyNYehvw5m60GCz7FpMq3K

IPN

https://ipn.gov.pl/en/news/11205,quotBecause-he-offered-bread-to-Jewsquot-The-Story-of-Thaddeus-Nowak-Codename-qu.html

The post Becasue he offered bread to Jews… appeared first on Polonia Institute.

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https://poloniainstitute.net/

For Immediate Release:  

 March 17, 2024

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Polonia Institute Announces 2024 Competition on the History of Poland 

The Battle for Rome and the Battle for Warsaw 80 years later

Compare and contrast both battles

First Prize – $3,000

The Battle for Rome, also known as the Battle of Monte Cassino, was of primary importance to the Allied effort to defeat the Axis Coalition in World War II. The Monte Cassino Monastery, well-fortified by the Germans, stood in the way of the Allied effort to take over Rome.

On May 16, 1944, the Polish Second Corps launched the final assault on the Germans at Monte Cassino. On May 18, 1944, soldiers of the Polish Second Corps raised the Polish flag over the ruins of the Monte Cassino Monastery. As a result of this historic Polish victory, the German Senger Defense Line collapsed.

The Battle for Warsaw, also known as the Warsaw Uprising, was a major World War II operation to liberate Poland from German occupation. The battle began on August 1, 1944, as part of a nationwide Operation Tempest, launched at the time of the Soviets advancing towards Berlin. The main Polish objectives were to drive the Germans out of Warsaw while helping the Allies defeat Germany. But it was equally important to liberate Warsaw with the Polish armed forces before the Soviets reached Warsaw on their way to Berlin.

Essay:

In your essay, please analyze the following issues: 1) The formation of the Second Polish Corp in the Middle East; 2) Political considerations of sending the Polish Second Corp to the Italian front, 3) The Polish victory in the Battle of Monte Cassino; 4) The impact of the victory at Monte Cassino on the people in occupied Poland; 5) Dilemmas of the Polish Government in London how to liberate Poland; 6) Operation Tempest; 7) The Battle for Warsaw; 8) Political struggle in the Allied Coalition over the support to Warsaw; 9) Russian game over Poland; 10) Liberation of Paris; 11) Fall of Warsaw; 12) German demolition of Warsaw after the surrender; 13) compare and contrast results of both battles; 14) analyze the differences. Any ideas whether there was a better solution to liberate Poland?

Please reach out for sources of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance here: https://ipn.gov.pl/en. Do not use references to Wikipedia.

Essay Requirements:

The essay shall reflect the contestant’s own research and original thinking.

The paper shall not exceed 20 typed pages (including bibliography), should be typed in 12-point font, double-spaced with 1” margins; pages shall be numbered. The essay shall be submitted in the English language. All entries become the property of the Polonia Institute.

Eligibility:

The 2024 Competition on the History of Poland is open to adults at least 18 years and older as of September 1, 2024. Proof of age is required. A copy of a valid document showing the date of birth is acceptable.

Deadline:

September 1, 2024. Results will be announced on or about November 11, 2024.

Awards:

First Prize is $3,000. Additional monetary and non-monetary awards may be offered. Additional essays may be considered for recognition and publication.  Polonia Institute reserves the right to publish selected essays or excerpts of selected essays in future publications, newsletters, and other materials.

Procedure:

The Application Form is here: 2024-PI-Competition-Application-Form

Email your essay with the Application Form and proof of age to:

info@poloniainstitute.net  with  cc to: mszonert@yahoo.com

For more information, send an email to: mszonert@yahoo.com

FOR THE RESULTS OF THE 2024 COMPETITION ON THE HISTORY OF POLAND SEE:

https://poloniainstitute.net/polands-history/2024-winners-of-pi-competition-on-the-history-of-poland/

The post 2024 Competition on the History of Poland – Announcement appeared first on Polonia Institute.

We ask Americans for help in obtaining WWII reparations from Germany.

Poland – the greatest victim of Nazi Germany – is the only country not compensated for enormous losses!

This is a moral imperative to compensate Polish victims for German atrocities in WWII!

You can find this document in pdf here:  Germany owes Poland WWII Reparations!

Also see: https://poloniainstitute.net/recommended/germany-paid-reparations-to-all-ocuppied-countries-except-poland/

The post American Polonia demands WWII reparations from Germany appeared first on Polonia Institute.