The German occupation of Poland:
Poland and Poles in World War II
Poland and Poles in World War II
* World War II began when Nazi-Germany bombed and invaded the western half of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. The Soviet Union then invaded the eastern half of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939. The German occupation of Poland ended when Soviet forces captured Warsaw, Poland's capital, on January 17, 1945 and brutally installed its own murderous regime. Moscow's military presence finally left Poland on September 18, 1993.
* Poland never collaborated with Nazi-Germany. During the German-occupation of Poland (1939-1945),
Nazi-Germany’s murderous regime imposed a reign of terror and death on the entire population of Poland, not only on Jews. For most Christian-Poles (the vast majority of Poland’s population), daily life in German-occupied Poland was a constant struggle for survival. Christian-Poles lived in constant fear of being executed on the spot, arrested and tortured, or sent to one of Nazi-Germany’s numerous concentration camps or labor camps in German-occupied Europe. Tens of millions of Christian-Poles experienced five years of unspeakable suffering at the hands of Nazi-Germany: poverty, hunger, starvation, the destruction of their homes and life savings, the bombing of their cities, the burning of their villages, the terror of seeing their family members, friends and leaders rounded up and executed, and constant fear caused by the knowledge that they can be shot dead at any moment for no reason. Virtually every Polish-Christian family has at least one family member who was enslaved, imprisoned, tortured, maimed or killed by the Germans in World War II, yet most Western journalists and media organizations continue to focus their attention on the suffering of the Jewish population, as if Jews were the only victims of Germany’s aggression.
* Historians estimate that 2.5 to 3 million Christian Poles (men, women and children), mainly Catholics, were killed by Nazi-Germany. This is consistent with the plans of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, the Gestapo and the concentration camps, who declared: "All Poles will disappear from the world … It is essential that the great German people should consider as its major task to destroy all Poles."
* No country did more to aid Jews in German-occupied Europe than Poland, even though Poland was the only
German-occupied country in which Nazi-Germany imposed an automatic death sentence for aiding Jews in any way (even for giving them a drink of water). The Germans executed both the person giving aid to Jews and his entire household.
Historians estimate that during the German-occupation of Poland, Polish-Christian families aided nearly 450,000 Jews.
* Christian-Poles in over 600 Polish cities, towns, and villages were murdered by Nazi-Germany for aiding Jews during the Holocaust. The world will never know the full extent of Poland's rescue efforts because many Polish rescuers and the Jews they aided are no longer alive.
* While the governments in France, Czechoslovakia, and elsewhere were helping Nazi-Germany, Poland’s Government-in-Exile in London (and its Underground State in German-occupied Poland) notified the British and American governments that Nazi-Germany was murdering Jews by the thousands and appealed to them many times to help halt the genocide. Great Britain and the U.S. always refused.
* The German Third Reich (supported by the German population until Germany began to lose World War II) destroyed over 80 percent of Poland's infrastructure and over 60 percent of Poland's industry. Polish historians estimate that contemporary Germany owes Poland over 800 billion dollars for all of the destruction the German Third Reich caused on Polish soil during the German-occupation of Poland.
* One week before Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland, Adolf Hitler declared the following: "Destruction of Poland is the first priority. Our most important objective is the total destruction of the living resources of Poland and not to reach a particular line drawn on a map. (...) Therefore, I have prepared and ordered my SD [skull and bones] units to kill without mercy men, women, and children of Polish origin."
* During Poland's defensive military campaign of 1939, the Polish Army was not as well equipped as the German Army, yet it still managed to destroy 33 percent of Germany's tanks and 25 percent of it's airplanes. The Polish Army killed 16,000 German soldiers and wounded 32,000.
* Despite being defeated militarily by the German Army (after 5 weeks of fighting), the Polish Government and the Polish-Christian population never surrendered to Nazi Germany. In 1939 the Polish Government-in-Exile established its headquarters in Paris, France. After Germany invaded France in 1940, the Polish Government-in-Exile moved its headquarters from Paris to London, England and continued its military and civilian struggle against Nazi Germany until the Germans were defeated.
* In 1939 Polish cryptologists (M. Rejewski, H. Zygalski and J. Rozycki) broke Nazi Germany's top secret "Enigma" code. This achievement was one of the most important Polish contributions to the victory of the Western Allies over Nazi Germany. It enabled the British to decode Nazi Germany's secret military messages in World War II.
* In World War II, Poland was the only country in German-occupied Europe to organize a fully functioning
Underground State with 12 Government Departments and a "Home Army" (Armia Krajowa) numbering nearly 380,000 soldiers, which fought the Germans on Polish soil from Feb. 14, 1942 to the end of the war. Numerous Polish military organizations fought the Germans before the Home Army was established in 1942.
* Throughout the city of Warsaw numerous commemorative plaques and monuments mark the spots where Christian Poles were executed by German soldiers.
* Christian-Poles were prisoners in nearly every camp in the extensive camp system in German-occupied Europe.
* The German concentration camp of Auschwitz (built and run by Nazi Germany) started operating in June 1940 and was intended primarily for Christian Poles. It was not until 1942 that Jews were transported to the camp in large numbers.
Historians estimate that at least 70,000 Christian-Poles were killed in Auschwitz. At least 140,000 Christian-Poles were imprisoned here.
* In the German concentration camp of Dachau every third victim was a Christian Pole. The camp held over 3,000 members of the Catholic clergy, including 2,720 Catholic priests. Of the 1,034 Catholic priests who were killed in the camp, 858 were Polish.
* The American and British governments refused to help the Jews in German-occupied Poland, so the Polish-Christian population took the matter into their own hands. On Dec. 4, 1942, in cooperation with the Polish Government-in-Exile in London, the Polish Underground State in Warsaw founded the Council for Aid to Jews (known by its code-name “Żegota”), a secret national organization that provided assistance to the Jewish population in German-occupied Poland. Żegota was the continuation of an earlier secret committee set up for this purpose, called the Provisional Committee for Aid to Jews
(Tymczasowy Komitet Pomocy Żydom), founded in September 1942 by Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz.
* The efforts of Christian-Poles to rescue Jews during the brutal German-occupation of Poland were acts of altruistic heroism, NOT a moral obligation, since BOTH Christian-Poles and Jews were targeted VICTIMS of Germany’s ruthless terror apparatus from 1939 to 1945. Christian-Poles in German-occupied Poland lived in constant fear and every day was a struggle for survival.
* During the Jewish Holocaust, thousands of Jews were rescued by Catholic religious orders in Polish monasteries and convents.
* In World War II, Polish Armed Forces fought alongside the Western Allies in nearly every major military campaign.
* Thousands of Jewish soldiers were part of Poland's Armed Forces in German-occupied Europe.
* On May 18, 1944 the 2nd Polish Corps (under the command of General Wladyslaw Anders) won the Battle of Monte Cassino, one of the most important battles in World War II. Three previous attempts to take the German-occupied monastery had already been made by the American Fifth Army, an Algerian formation of the French Corps, units of the British Eighth Army, and the New Zealand Corps, but without success.
* After the Polish victory at Monte Cassino, the Polish 2nd Corps liberated Loreto, Ancona, Faenza, and Bologna.
* In 1944 Poland's Home Army, composed mainly of Christian-Poles, organized the "Warsaw Uprising" (Aug. 1st
to Oct. 2, 1944). During the Uprising, Nazi-Germany killed nearly 200,000 Christian-Poles (180,000 civilians and nearly 20,000 members of Poland's Home Army.) Over 100,000 Polish civilians and 25,000 Polish Home Army soldiers were wounded. After 63 days of intense fighting and numerous military successes, the Warsaw Uprising ended when most of the Home Army's supplies were used up. The Soviet Army, an ally of the U.S. and England, stood idly by on the banks of the Vistula River and refused to give the Home Army any military assistance.
* During the days of Aug. 5-7, 1944 Hitler's German SS slaughtered 50,000 to 60,000 Christian-Poles (civilians), including women, children and the elderly, in Warsaw's Wola neighborhood. None of the Germans who were responsible for this genocide were ever punished for these war crimes.
* After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising (on Oct. 2,1944), Nazi-Germany punished the Polish-Christian population of Poland by destroying 87 percent of Warsaw, Poland's capital.
* During World War II, almost one fifth of Poland's population was killed by Nazi Germany.
* Despite large Polish contributions and sacrifices for the victory of the Western Allies in World War II, the people of Poland were betrayed by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill at the Yalta Peace Conference (1945). They handed over Poland to the Soviet Union and its communist terror apparatus.
Alfred M. Karwowski, M.A.
phi966.org
* Poland never collaborated with Nazi-Germany. During the German-occupation of Poland (1939-1945),
Nazi-Germany’s murderous regime imposed a reign of terror and death on the entire population of Poland, not only on Jews. For most Christian-Poles (the vast majority of Poland’s population), daily life in German-occupied Poland was a constant struggle for survival. Christian-Poles lived in constant fear of being executed on the spot, arrested and tortured, or sent to one of Nazi-Germany’s numerous concentration camps or labor camps in German-occupied Europe. Tens of millions of Christian-Poles experienced five years of unspeakable suffering at the hands of Nazi-Germany: poverty, hunger, starvation, the destruction of their homes and life savings, the bombing of their cities, the burning of their villages, the terror of seeing their family members, friends and leaders rounded up and executed, and constant fear caused by the knowledge that they can be shot dead at any moment for no reason. Virtually every Polish-Christian family has at least one family member who was enslaved, imprisoned, tortured, maimed or killed by the Germans in World War II, yet most Western journalists and media organizations continue to focus their attention on the suffering of the Jewish population, as if Jews were the only victims of Germany’s aggression.
* Historians estimate that 2.5 to 3 million Christian Poles (men, women and children), mainly Catholics, were killed by Nazi-Germany. This is consistent with the plans of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, the Gestapo and the concentration camps, who declared: "All Poles will disappear from the world … It is essential that the great German people should consider as its major task to destroy all Poles."
* No country did more to aid Jews in German-occupied Europe than Poland, even though Poland was the only
German-occupied country in which Nazi-Germany imposed an automatic death sentence for aiding Jews in any way (even for giving them a drink of water). The Germans executed both the person giving aid to Jews and his entire household.
Historians estimate that during the German-occupation of Poland, Polish-Christian families aided nearly 450,000 Jews.
* Christian-Poles in over 600 Polish cities, towns, and villages were murdered by Nazi-Germany for aiding Jews during the Holocaust. The world will never know the full extent of Poland's rescue efforts because many Polish rescuers and the Jews they aided are no longer alive.
* While the governments in France, Czechoslovakia, and elsewhere were helping Nazi-Germany, Poland’s Government-in-Exile in London (and its Underground State in German-occupied Poland) notified the British and American governments that Nazi-Germany was murdering Jews by the thousands and appealed to them many times to help halt the genocide. Great Britain and the U.S. always refused.
* The German Third Reich (supported by the German population until Germany began to lose World War II) destroyed over 80 percent of Poland's infrastructure and over 60 percent of Poland's industry. Polish historians estimate that contemporary Germany owes Poland over 800 billion dollars for all of the destruction the German Third Reich caused on Polish soil during the German-occupation of Poland.
* One week before Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland, Adolf Hitler declared the following: "Destruction of Poland is the first priority. Our most important objective is the total destruction of the living resources of Poland and not to reach a particular line drawn on a map. (...) Therefore, I have prepared and ordered my SD [skull and bones] units to kill without mercy men, women, and children of Polish origin."
* During Poland's defensive military campaign of 1939, the Polish Army was not as well equipped as the German Army, yet it still managed to destroy 33 percent of Germany's tanks and 25 percent of it's airplanes. The Polish Army killed 16,000 German soldiers and wounded 32,000.
* Despite being defeated militarily by the German Army (after 5 weeks of fighting), the Polish Government and the Polish-Christian population never surrendered to Nazi Germany. In 1939 the Polish Government-in-Exile established its headquarters in Paris, France. After Germany invaded France in 1940, the Polish Government-in-Exile moved its headquarters from Paris to London, England and continued its military and civilian struggle against Nazi Germany until the Germans were defeated.
* In 1939 Polish cryptologists (M. Rejewski, H. Zygalski and J. Rozycki) broke Nazi Germany's top secret "Enigma" code. This achievement was one of the most important Polish contributions to the victory of the Western Allies over Nazi Germany. It enabled the British to decode Nazi Germany's secret military messages in World War II.
* In World War II, Poland was the only country in German-occupied Europe to organize a fully functioning
Underground State with 12 Government Departments and a "Home Army" (Armia Krajowa) numbering nearly 380,000 soldiers, which fought the Germans on Polish soil from Feb. 14, 1942 to the end of the war. Numerous Polish military organizations fought the Germans before the Home Army was established in 1942.
* Throughout the city of Warsaw numerous commemorative plaques and monuments mark the spots where Christian Poles were executed by German soldiers.
* Christian-Poles were prisoners in nearly every camp in the extensive camp system in German-occupied Europe.
* The German concentration camp of Auschwitz (built and run by Nazi Germany) started operating in June 1940 and was intended primarily for Christian Poles. It was not until 1942 that Jews were transported to the camp in large numbers.
Historians estimate that at least 70,000 Christian-Poles were killed in Auschwitz. At least 140,000 Christian-Poles were imprisoned here.
* In the German concentration camp of Dachau every third victim was a Christian Pole. The camp held over 3,000 members of the Catholic clergy, including 2,720 Catholic priests. Of the 1,034 Catholic priests who were killed in the camp, 858 were Polish.
* The American and British governments refused to help the Jews in German-occupied Poland, so the Polish-Christian population took the matter into their own hands. On Dec. 4, 1942, in cooperation with the Polish Government-in-Exile in London, the Polish Underground State in Warsaw founded the Council for Aid to Jews (known by its code-name “Żegota”), a secret national organization that provided assistance to the Jewish population in German-occupied Poland. Żegota was the continuation of an earlier secret committee set up for this purpose, called the Provisional Committee for Aid to Jews
(Tymczasowy Komitet Pomocy Żydom), founded in September 1942 by Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz.
* The efforts of Christian-Poles to rescue Jews during the brutal German-occupation of Poland were acts of altruistic heroism, NOT a moral obligation, since BOTH Christian-Poles and Jews were targeted VICTIMS of Germany’s ruthless terror apparatus from 1939 to 1945. Christian-Poles in German-occupied Poland lived in constant fear and every day was a struggle for survival.
* During the Jewish Holocaust, thousands of Jews were rescued by Catholic religious orders in Polish monasteries and convents.
* In World War II, Polish Armed Forces fought alongside the Western Allies in nearly every major military campaign.
* Thousands of Jewish soldiers were part of Poland's Armed Forces in German-occupied Europe.
* On May 18, 1944 the 2nd Polish Corps (under the command of General Wladyslaw Anders) won the Battle of Monte Cassino, one of the most important battles in World War II. Three previous attempts to take the German-occupied monastery had already been made by the American Fifth Army, an Algerian formation of the French Corps, units of the British Eighth Army, and the New Zealand Corps, but without success.
* After the Polish victory at Monte Cassino, the Polish 2nd Corps liberated Loreto, Ancona, Faenza, and Bologna.
* In 1944 Poland's Home Army, composed mainly of Christian-Poles, organized the "Warsaw Uprising" (Aug. 1st
to Oct. 2, 1944). During the Uprising, Nazi-Germany killed nearly 200,000 Christian-Poles (180,000 civilians and nearly 20,000 members of Poland's Home Army.) Over 100,000 Polish civilians and 25,000 Polish Home Army soldiers were wounded. After 63 days of intense fighting and numerous military successes, the Warsaw Uprising ended when most of the Home Army's supplies were used up. The Soviet Army, an ally of the U.S. and England, stood idly by on the banks of the Vistula River and refused to give the Home Army any military assistance.
* During the days of Aug. 5-7, 1944 Hitler's German SS slaughtered 50,000 to 60,000 Christian-Poles (civilians), including women, children and the elderly, in Warsaw's Wola neighborhood. None of the Germans who were responsible for this genocide were ever punished for these war crimes.
* After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising (on Oct. 2,1944), Nazi-Germany punished the Polish-Christian population of Poland by destroying 87 percent of Warsaw, Poland's capital.
* During World War II, almost one fifth of Poland's population was killed by Nazi Germany.
* Despite large Polish contributions and sacrifices for the victory of the Western Allies in World War II, the people of Poland were betrayed by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill at the Yalta Peace Conference (1945). They handed over Poland to the Soviet Union and its communist terror apparatus.
Alfred M. Karwowski, M.A.
phi966.org
RECOMMENDED READING:
The German and Soviet occupations of Poland during World War II.
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