The Polish American Congress commemorates the 80th anniversary of Warsaw Uprising.
Today, we commemorate all the brave men and women who stood up against the terror of the German occupation during the Warsaw Uprising, on August 1st, 1944.
On this day, 80 years ago at 5 pm local time, Poland’s Home Army (Armia Krajowa), started “The Warsaw Uprising”, which was a major operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It was led by the Polish resistance Home Army. The uprising was timed to coincide with the retreat of the German forces from Poland ahead of the Soviet advance. The Uprising was fought for 63 days with little outside support. It was the single largest military effort taken by any European resistance movement during WWII.
It’s estimated that about 16,000 members of the Polish resistance were killed and about 6,000 badly wounded. In addition, between 150,000 to 200,000 Polish civilians died, mostly from mass executions.
On September 1, 1939, German armed forces led by Adolf Hitler attacked the Second Polish Republic, and on September 17, 1939, Soviet forces led by Joseph Stalin attacked Poland. After the surrender of the Modlin Fortress on October 5, Poland, and all Eastern Europe, was partitioned according to the Secret Protocols of the Molotov– Ribbentrop Pact, which was signed on August 23, 1939.
Without a declaration of war, Adolf Hitler issued the command to invade Poland with orders “to send to their deaths mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish origin and language.” In Poland, traditionally a tolerant country that was home to Europe’s largest Jewish population, German occupying forces established death camps, where millions were murdered, already then there was a death sentence for citizens of Poland.
Germans established a death sentence for helping Jews, despite this the citizens of Poland having the highest count of individuals, who were recognized by Yad Vashem as the Polish Righteous Among the Nations, for saving Jews from extermination during the World War II. Adolf Hitler’s decision from, February 6th, 1944, that “Warsaw must be destroyed as soon as the opportunity arises,” is supported by photos and it was a planned and systematic demolition of Warsaw, that Germans conduced from September to October 1944.
Until today, Poland and Germany have not signed a treaty to end the Second World War. Therefore, the issue of reparations and compensation remains open and must be resolved.
The war losses caused by Germany are irreversible and have halved the Poles’ ability to generate the wealth and determined the fate of future generations of Poles.
There can be no doubt that Germany started the Second World War and committed both war crimes and crimes against humanity and caused massive material losses in Poland. The Olympics 2024 is taking place right now, Germans had no mercy for women, children and elderly, neither for the athletes. Janusz Kusociński Poland’s Gold Medalist at the Olympics in 1932 in Los Angeles, was killed in Palmiry on June 21, 1940 together with other noble society members and Olympians Feliks Żuber and Tomasz Stankiewicz.
In starting the Second World War, Germany breached the terms of Hague Convention, which states in Article 3:
“A belligerent party which violates the provisions of the said Regulations shall, if the case demands, be liable to pay compensation. It shall be responsible for all acts committed by persons forming part of its armed forces.”
Germany dissociated itself from German Nazi crimes, its politicians asked the victims for forgiveness, but they have ignored the material side of reparations and refused to pay compensations to Poland.
By Małgorzata Margo Schulz
The Polish American Congress National Vice President for Media and Publicity