Warsaw
Germans in Warsaw
Before WWII the Polish capital had over one million residents, of which less than two thousand were of German origin. In 1934 a local NSDAP agency started operating at the German embassy in Warsaw. By that time the NSDAP had become the sole legal party in the Third Reich, fully subordinated to Hitler following the rule „one nation, one party, one Führer". The Nazis indoctrinated the Germans living in Warsaw, among others, through a monthly paper entitled „Idee und Wille", spreading Goebbels-style propaganda.
The Germans living in Warsaw fully supported the occupying forces from the very beginning of war. Officials systematically arriving from the Reich joined the German circles in Warsaw. Towards the end of 1943 their number exceeded 30 thousand. They were protected by the great military power of the army stationed in the city but first of all by an efficient terror apparatus. The Third Reich took great care of its civilian employees, providing them not only with special privileges but also with possibilities to illegally amass fortunes.
The outbreak of the Warsaw Rising in August of 1944 posed a great threat to the eastern front. Soon the Germans quit disregarding their enemy and started to mobilise forces to pacify Warsaw and oppose the Soviets. General von dem Bach's Korpsgruppe was constantly receiving reinforcements. In total the Warsaw Rising was combated by about 190
German military and collaboration detachments of various types Despite such overwhelming advantage and a tactic of pacifying one district after another, Germans fought the Insurgents for 63 days, suffering significant losses. Himmler himself admitted: „By breaking the Polish resistance in Warsaw we have defeated one of the most dangerous uprisings of this war"
After the Rising fell the residents of Warsaw were expelled from their city while the Germans consequently carried out the order of their commander. Having taken great public and private wealth out of Warsaw they systematically demolished and blew up one district after another.
Accomplishing Führer's idea of turning left-bank Warsaw into a stronghold, which would be able to halt the Soviet march on the West, soon proved extremely difficult. Festung Warschau was successfully mined and partly surrounded with a ring of bunkers, but the powerful momentum of the January offensive still forced the Germans to retreat from the city. The Red Army along with the 1st Corps of the Polish Army took over the deserted ruins of Warsaw.
As soon as the war ended the Allies began a search for the German war criminals, hiding in their homeland and elsewhere.
In Japan the Americans found Josef Meisinger, chief of SD and Sipo in Warsaw.
Jürgen Stroop responsible for the extermination of the Warsaw ghetto was captured in the Alps. Both were turned over to the Polish judiciary. Meisinger sat in the bench of the accused together with governor Ludwig Fischer, Maks Daume and Ludwig Leist. Still many war criminals responsible for crimes committed during the occupation and the Rising went unpunished, often for procedural reasons. A telling example of Themis's increasing helplessness was the casus of Erich von dem Bach, who was never even charged with war crimes committed during the Warsaw Rising. Another example was Heinrich „Heinz" Reinefarth, also a high-level German commander in fighting Warsaw, absolved of any criminal responsibility „due to insufficient evidence of guilt"
"The Lublin Poland"
In the second half of July 1944, the Red Army seizes Polish land between the Vistula River and the San, Bug and Narew Rivers. Home Army detachments that, in connection with Operation „Burza" ("Tempest"), acting alone or in cooperation with the Soviets, had liberated dozens of towns in the Lublin area alone, are disarmed and interned after coming out of hiding. The civil administration that takes power in the liberated area is treated similarly.
On July 21, Moscow Radio announces the establishment of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN) in Chem. Edward Osóbka-Morawski, an unknown member of the Polish Socialist Party, is put at its head. The manifesto of the PKWN, supposedly issued in Chelm, is read aloud.
In fact, the PKWN is established in Moscow by Polish communists on Stalin's order. Chelm is seized by the Red Army on July 22, but the first members of the PKWN do not reach the city until July 28. The PKWN is fully controlled from the beginning by Soviet authorities, under the direction of Gen. Nikolai Bulganin. The British and American governments do not accept the Committee. On the other hand, they begin putting even more pressure on Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, premier of the Polish Government-in-Exile. They expect his consent to the so-called Curzon Line, running along the Bug River, as the eastern border of Poland.
After taking over the administration in the area of the so-called Lublin Poland, the communists immediately begin to create means of oppression that are supposed to liquidate the underground resistance. They are supported by the forces of the NKVD and the Soviet military counterespionage "SMERSH" ("Death to Spies") units. They terrorize the Home Army soldiers. The communist security authorities are now located in the Lublin Castle - one of the largest German places of execution in occupied Poland. By April of 1945, over 100 officers and soldiers of the Lublin District are murdered there for their affiliation with the Home Army. Posters printed by the communists reading "Home Army - the filthy reactionary dwarf' appear on house walls. The persecution of Polish landowners and aristocracy begins. In the seized area, the PKWN carries out plunder in the name of "land reform" and enforces compulsory conscription to the military
On December 31, 1944, the PKWN is converted into the Interim Government, although it only represents Polish communists and a few other small political groups cooperating with them.
Memory and history
In the post-war Poland run by the Communists, Warsaw insurgents, along with other AK soldiers, are accused of collaboration with the Germans and are called fascists. According to official propaganda, it was first and foremost the People's Army that fought against the Germans, while the "London underground stood with their arms at their sides." Propaganda attacks from the first years after the war change in Stalinist times into attempts to erase the Rising from social memory. It is forbidden to pay homage to the Rising. Anniversaries are not to be celebrated nor statues erected. It is not allowed to include military ranks or insurgent unit names in obituaries of those who pass away.
The mere fact of having taken part in the Rising may become a reason for arrest by the Security Office. Such was the fate of many soldiers from the „Zoska" battalion or the „Radoslaw" group with its commander Col. Jan Mazurkiewicz, who was sentenced to many years of prison. Insurgents are frequently put in the same cells as German war criminals.
After 1956, Communist authorities change their attitude towards the AK soldiers. Their conspirational activity is no longer an excuse for direct persecution. However, the press, history textbooks, novels and films are still full of lies and concealments concerning the Rising. It remains prohibited to erect statues of the Rising or commemorate its commanders. The first plaques commemorating insurgent units and their commanders are placed in churches. A spontaneous form of paying homage is born - every year on August 1 crowds of Varsovians meet at the Powazki Cemetery to visit the quarters used by insurgent groups. In their propaganda, the authorities of the Polish People's Republic (PRL) will continue to distinguish until 1989 between heroic, ordinary soldiers and their cynical, irresponsible and clumsy commanders, who ignited the Rising only to defend the interests of the "London Government" and the "proprietary classes."
An entry in the "Encyclopedia of the Second World War" published in 1975 is a perfect illustration of such way of thinking.
It says: "The AK was an organization with a structure inappropriate for the needs of the ongoing fight against the German occupant, but instead intended to ensure that the Government-in-Exile could take over power in the country through a popular uprising /../ Its command /.../ I gathered a significant part of the patriotic forces and especially youngsters unware of this organization's political aims.
The AK command slowed down the armed struggle in accordance with the Allies' policy of 'the two enemies' (Germany and the USSR) /.../ . During the occupation, they conducted a policy of protection of the interests of the bourgeoisie and landowners."
Operation „Burza ("Tempest")
In October 1943, Commander-in-Chief Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski sends a directive to the country, in which he commands domestic authorities to precede the Red Army's entry into Poland with intensified sabotage and diversionary actions, and recommends remaining undercover. However, the leaders of the Polish Underground State consider it essential to emphasize the presence of legal authorities, subject to the London government, on Polish territory. Thus, in November 1943, the Government Delegate issues a proclamation to the inhabitants of the eastern lands and commands the secret government to act as hosts of the area towards the Red Army. At the same time, the AK command gives the order to initiate the military operation „Burza" ("Tempest") behind the lines of retreating German troops.
On January 4, 1944, the Red Army crosses the Polish border in the Sarny area. Soviet military units are accompanied by secret police formations, which were prepared well in advance to find and liquidate the Polish underground movement.
On March 27, the Home Army Infantry Division, together with Soviet troops, captures Turzysk and battles in the area of Kowel and Wiodzimierz Wolynski. During talks, Maj. Jan Kiverski „Oliwa" the leader of the division, agrees to operative subordination to Soviet command, but clearly declares full subjection to the London government. The Government Delegate and Council of National Unity approve. Unfortunately, not long after that agreement Russians begin to disarm Home Army formations and force the enlistment of Polish soldiers into Berling's army. Maj. Tadeusz Sztumberk-Rychter „Zegota", who took over command of the division after the death of Maj. Kiwerski (April 18, 1944), manages to break through the frontline with some of his troops to the area of Lublin.
From July 6 to 13, 1944, units of the Wilno and Nowogródek Home Army Districts, consisting of about 15 thousand soldiers, proceed with Operation „Ostra Brama", bringing freedom to Wilno.
The Red Army also participates in the battle for Wilno. On July 17, the commander of the Wilno district, Col. Aleksander Krzyia-nowski „Wilk', is arrested. District Government Delegate at Home Zygmunt Fedorowicz „Albin" suffers the same fate.
Fighting in the Home Army Iwow District begins in March.
Between July 22 and 27, 1944, Poles fight for Lwow in cooperation with the Soviet army. When the battle ends, the district commander, Col. Wladyslaw Filipkowski „Janka" is forced to disband and disarm his troops, and later - despite negotiations on creating an infantry division - is put under arrest on the night of August 2.
Similar events also take place to the west of the River Bug.
On July 27, 1944, the District Government Delegate at Home in Bialystok, Józef Przybyszewski „Grzymala", reveals his identity.
On August 7, he is arrested and deported to Russia. Earlier, in Bialystok the Russians appoint the City Council of Workers' Delegates and clearly are about to incorporate the area of Bialystok into the Soviet Union. The District Government Delegate at Home in Lublin, Wadyslaw Cholewa „Lukasz Pasnik", faces a similar fa-te. He begins open activity on July 25, and on July 31 he is forced by Soviet authorities to cease it. He is arrested on August 3, 1944. The next day, the Soviets arrest Col. Kazimierz Tumidajski „Edward", commander of the Home Army in the Lublin District. Deported deep into Russia, he is murdered on July 4, 1947 in Skopin.
The beginning of the war
On September 1, 1939, in accordance with the Ribbentrop-Molotow pact signed in August 1939, which divided Poland between the aggressors on the line of the rivers Narew, Wista and San; the Third Reich attacks Poland by land, sea and air. Yet another world war becomes a reality.
On September 3, France and Great Britain, in alliance with Poland, declare war on Germany, but do not get militarily involved.
Despite determined resistance, the overwhelming German forces quickly advance, crushing the Polish army on their way. On September 6, the Polish army is ordered to retreat behind the Wisia-San line, and a day later Germans reach Warsaw.
On September 17, 1939, the Soviet Union joins Germany, violating former agreements with Poland: "If there is no government in Poland anymore, there is no non-aggression pact either" - Polish Ambassador Waclaw Grybowski is told in Moscow.
After the Soviet aggression, subsequent points of resistance fall: Oksywie (September 19), Warsaw (September 28), Modlin (September 29), Hel (October 2).
The last regular troops of the Polish Army under the command of Gen. Franciszek Kleeberg surrender near Kock on October 5, 1939.
The occupation begins. Its cruelty exceeds everything that Poles have experienced over past centuries of Prussian and Russian servitude. On the basis of the pact signed on September 28, the two occupants divide the territory of Poland into two approximately equal parts. On October 12, Germans create the "General Government of the occupied Polish territory" covering an area of 98 thousand km? and divided into four districts: Kraków, Radom, Lublin and Warsaw. The Soviets incorporate the seized territory into the Ukrainian and Byelorussian Soviet Republics. Lithuania is granted the Wilno district, and part of the Polish Carpathians is incorpo rated into Slovakia.
Both occupants introduce the policy of extermination of Polish leaders.
From the very first days there are numerous carefully planned deportations, expulsions, various types of persecution, administrative harassments and executions. The requisition of private property becomes common. Food supply disturbances threaten the biological existence of the whole nation. For the smallest offenses one can be punished with death, imprisonment or internment in a concentration camp. The first camp Stutthof is established as early as 1939, to be followed by Auschwitz-Birkenau (1940), Majdanek (1941), Plaszow (1944) and others. The existing social and moral order col-lapses. Polish syllabuses are forbidden and on the German-occupied territory school education is limited to an absolute minimum.
The Soviets try to keep up appearances by allowing Polish as the language of instruction - but in return there is intense communist indoctrination. Denunciations become common.
On the areas occupied by the Germans, Jews are particularly persecuted. The Germans force them to live in ghettos: the first was created in October 1939 in Piotrkow Trybunalski, the next in Eóds in 1940, and yet another in October 1940 in Warsaw. Starting in December 1941, the Germans murder Jews in extermination camps in Chelmno, Sobibór, Belzec, Treblinka, and Auschwitz-Birkenau.
On the Polish territory controlled by the Soviet Union, the aggressor tries to ignite antagonisms between the nationalities living there, skillfully provoking conflicts between Ukrainians, Jews, Byelorussians and Poles, who are treated as an ideologically hostile element.
Insurgent failures
After capturing the Old Town on September 2, the German army storms Powisle, capturing it on September 6. Insurgents hope for a Soviet attack on Praga.
On September 10, the Army of the Is Byelorussian Front begins the Praga offensive to drive the Germans back over the bridges. The let Polish Army units under the command of Gen. Zygmunt Berling fight as part of the 47th Soviet Army.
On September 13, Soviet troops enter the suburbs of Praga. The Germans retreat to the left bank of the Vistula River and blow up capital's bridges. On September 14, the Praga offensive ends; there are only a few skirmishes that result in final cleanup of the area.
In this situation, the German command concentrates on organizing a front on the left bank of the Vistula River. All German forces in the Warsaw area support Gen. von dem Bach's corps.
The la Polish Army troops cross the Vistula River to support the Rising. On the night of September 15, the first group of soldiers from the 9th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division crosses the river from Saska Repa to Solec. Over the next few days, more soldiers land on the left bank of the river, at Czerniakow, North Powisle and Zoliborz. On September 17, the first group of the 8th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division get to Powisle and take control over the Kosciuszkowskie Shore in the area of the crosstown bridge, and begin the attack. A strong German counterattack causes the landing to fail. On September 21, a German assault stops the landing force of the 6th Infantry Regiment at Kepa Potocka. The Czerniakowski Bridgehead falls on September 23. From the moment the insurgents are cut off from the bank of the Vistula River and the la Polish Army is unable to cross the river, the enemy starts tightening the noose around the three remaining centers of insurgent resistance: Zoliborz, City Center and Mokotow.
The insurgents and civilians suffer from famine and the lack of effective help results in growing depression and hopelessness Insurgents can count only on themselves. Airdrops cannot change the feeling of solitude in the battle. The long distance from Italian bases and lack of Stalin's permission to make Soviet airfields available limit the possibilities of allied help. An expedition of American "flying fortresses" arrives so late (Sept. 18) that it has very little influence on the Rising. Soviet airdrops, which do not begin until September 13, are done without parachutes, which damages a huge part of the weapons and ammunition.
The remaining forces fighting in the Polish capital wait in vain for the main Soviet attack. The expected "ally" acts as a bystander. This is very convenient for the German forces in their arrangements for the final battle. The area defended by insurgents becomes smaller day-by-day. One by one, the last centers of insurgent resistance are taken over by the Germans.
On the night of September 26, the dramatic evacuation of the Mokotów insurgent troops begins. Mokotów capitulates on September 27. The „Kampinos" group is defeated in the battle of Jaktorow on September 29. Zoliborz capitulates the next day. The situation of insurgent Warsaw is catastrophic. The High Command of the Home Army begins negotiations with the German side regarding Warsaw's capitulation. The capitulation treaty is signed on October 2.
