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Poland

Reflections on the Anniversary of World War II

by Prof. Wenceslas J. Wagner

The number of those who lived through World War II is dwindling. For them, the times they experienced will never be forgotten. Sometimes it seems to them that this gruesome period occurred quite recently – maybe yesterday – because it is still so fresh in the memory. In other moments, as they live in a world so different from that of 1939, the pictures from the past appear blurred, as some unreal dreams, in the reality of which it is difficult to believe.

“Oh, what a year!” exclaimed Mickiewicz about the year 1812. For us, the significant year was 1939. We doubted the might of Germany, we had confidence in the assurances of our government that the nation was “strong, united and ready”, and we believed in the military capabilities of our allies in the West – first of all, in France, but also in England. Many people were sure that the armed conflict would not last long and that in a few weeks or months the Third Reich would be smashed. Nobody suspected that the Western powers were not prepared for the action at all. Naturally, the matters became more complicated for Poland when her Eastern neighbor stabbed her in the back on September 17.

German soldiers in Poland, 1939

During long centuries, Poland mightily and successfully resisted all endeavors of other nations to invade her territory and attempts of the hordes from the East and South to conquer civilized Europe. Countless fights with the Tartars and Turks marked by blood of the best Polish sons, and deaths of thousands of her citizens including women and children, and destruction of numerous towns and villages, stopped the onslaught of the enemies. Some Polish Kings and national heroes such as Boleslaus the Pious at Legnica, Ladislas Warnenczyk in distant Bulgaria or Hetman Stefan Zolkiewski at Cecora fell on the field of glory. The lofty calling of Poland and her readiness to fight “for your and our freedom” merited her the honorable nickname of the “bulwark of Christianity”, and in later times, of the “inspiration of the nations”.

In spite of the inborn courage, and frequently even of the bravado spirit, for long centuries the Poles did not wage any aggressive wars, but engaged only in defensive ones. They did not expand their territories by annexations of foreign lands, but by voluntary unions. The Polish freedoms: religious tolerance in the times when other countries’ religious bigotry led to murders, persecutions and wars; respect for human rights and assurance of a quiet cultural development for various ethnic groups resulted in the fact that the Jews, Tartars, Armenians, Germans, were attracted to Poland; also some Scots, Frenchmen and other nationals willingly settled on the land of the “Polish Commonwealth.”

In the course of long centuries the Polish armed forces successfully stood as the guard of the integrity and safety of the state – and frequently of all Europe. Thus, the united Polish and Lithuanian forces stopped the Germanic might of the Teutonic order at Grunwald in 1410; thus some decisive battles in the history of the world have been won by the Polish army. Particularly against the Turkish invasion at Vienna in 1683 and against the Bolshevik attacks in 1920.
The attractive Polish culture appealed to many foreigners, who became Polonized very fast. Many foremost national heroes, officers and commanders had German and Armenian names.

Polish achievements in the field of community life preceded those of other nations and became the envy of the people of other countries. They brought about hatred on the part of autocratic governments of the neighboring states and fear that they threatened the established order of things, inciting the citizens to request democratic reforms. Thousands of peasants, oppressed by an antiquated social system in Russia, fled to Poland in the second half of the XVIII century. Even though forced labor on the land of landowners existed in Poland; the situation of the peasants in our country was much better than in the neighboring states.

Prussia, always eager to conquer foreign territories and to push to the East (Drang Nach Osten), allied with the Czarina of Russia (who was also German), and led Austria into the triumvirate in order to remove Poland from the map of the world. The XIX century witnessed a constant effort of German endeavors to eliminate the Poles altogether from the surface of the globe. Various Wilhelms, Bismarcks and “Hakatists” were the precursors of Hitler, for whom one of the main goals, after “solving” the Jewish problem, was the elimination of our nation.
World War I, conceived by the Germans as a decisive step in the establishment of a German domination in the world, resulted in their defeat. For the first time in centuries their march to the East has not only been arrested but forced to retreat, even though we did not recover all territories taken from us in previous centuries. The Treaty of Versailles re-established the Commonwealth. According to the main representative at the Peace Conference, Roman Dmowski, the current of history has been turned back: “We recover the bulk of what Prussia robbed from us by the partitions; we get back the cradle of Poland, Poznan; by Pomerania we return to the Baltic Sea; at last, the Silesian land joins us… During her centuries-long straggles with her Western neighbor, Poland did not have such a moment from the times of Casimir Jagiellonczyk.“ [1]

The Germans called the Treaty of Versailles a “dictation”. And substantially they were right because they did not have much to say with respect to the provisions of the document. It had been worked out by the allies and submitted to the Germans for acceptance or rejection with the probability, in the latter case, that military operations would resume. During the preparation of the Treaty, and even after the elaboration of its first draft, the British prime minister Lloyd George, who was unfriendly towards Poland, was doing his best so that the defeat of Germany would not result in a complete disaster and the victorious France would not get a position of hegemony in Europe. Yes, the Treaty of Versailles was a kind of a dictation but it was a comparatively mild dictation which let the Germans freely govern themselves, and – which was most important – did not provide for the occupation of their country by the victorious powers.

From the very beginning of the post-war period, the Germans began to prepare themselves for revenge. Of course, one of the main reasons of their indignation was the re-birth of Poland, whose western territories were to become, according to the German plans, an integral part of their “Great Reich”. Thus, after recovering from the initial shock caused by the defeat, some German leaders bluntly formulated their plans for the future, and in 1922 Gen. Von Seeckt, who was instrumental in rebuilding the German army after World War I, expressed himself quite clearly on the matter: “Poland’s existence is intolerable and incompatible with the essential conditions of Germany’s life. Poland must go and will go… The obliteration of Poland must be one of the fundamental drives of German policy.” [2]

Little by little, various provisions of the Treaty of Versailles began to be violated by the Germans; in particular; this was true with respect to armament limitations. The desire to have a revenge was ever stronger in the German minds, while the Western powers were resting on their laurels and were unwilling to react energetically. Thus, the developing national-socialistic movement found a well-prepared fertile ground. Just as Napoleon, descendant of an Italian family which settled on Corsica, was able to mobilize the minds of another nation – the French one – Hitler, coming from Austria, succeeded in understanding the atmosphere in Germany, establishing a strong following of the nation, and pushing the endeavors to achieve world domination to the extreme.

The novelty in Hitler’s program was that the cultural and ethnic annihilation of some other nations was to go along with their physical extermination. The “final solution” of the Jewish and Gypsy problems was to precede the elimination of the Polish nation. The children of Germanic type were to be Germanized – and the invaders began this process even before the final victory which they anticipated (particularly in the region of Zamosc), and the remaining Poles were to serve as slaves and be progressively wiped out from our globe. The basic program of Hitler towards the Poles was “ausrotten” (root out).

Remilitarization of the Rheinland, refusal to pay the war debts, reintroduction of a general military service and a fast build-up of military power, including the navy, air force and armored divisions, met only with weak protests. The annexation of the Sudetenland and then of the whole of Czechoslovakia should have opened the eyes of the Western politicians with Chamberlain in the first place, but even in this late moment they preferred to believe in assurances that no further territorial claims would be advanced by a Germany which did not harbor any bad feelings towards the West.

After swallowing Czechoslovakia and integrating that country into its administrative system, Germany was ready for its last step in the direction of re-establishing its old glory. At dawn of September 1, 1939, German tanks crossed the Polish border in numerous places. The war game started.

From this day on, events developed very fast. One famous episode followed another. Westerplatte, the siege of Warsaw, the inundation of the country by the barbarians from the West and East... The action took place first on our territory, and then it was doubled by the events in the West. For a long time, the news arriving in Poland were not good: the German invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands, the collapse of France, the accession of Italy to the war, the occupation of Denmark and Norway, unsuccessful attempts of the allies to land their soldiers at Narvik – and later, the German expansion in Africa and the destruction of the American fleet in Pearl Harbor.

In spite of all this, only a few doubted the final defeat of Germany. Probably, the most extreme acts of desperation took place after the invasion of Poland by the Red Army, when in isolated instances some Poles, particularly officers of the armed forces, committed suicide, being unable to see how their country could be saved. Other Poles continued to fight in changed circumstances. In the West (and then, also in the East) Polish armies were being established. They played a significant part in the war effort of the allies. In Poland itself underground activities were being organized; a secret government was set up; sabotage and diversion was carried out; clandestine detachments were trained to rise against the occupants in proper time. In many places Polish guerillas would disturb the Germans by attacks, destruction of their supplies and robberies of their arms and munitions, and underground tribunals would deliver death sentences on the cruelest henchmen, even though the German repressions were merciless. The activities of the secret authorities and army prevented many German administrators and military men from executing further barbaric and animal-like acts.

The day of September 1, 1939, opened a new chapter in the history of the world – a chapter of a bloody, relentless battle for the life of nations and individuals; a chapter of murders, genocide and de-humanization; a chapter of treason and loss of ethical feelings; but also a chapter of indescribable patriotism, dedication and heroism; a chapter of sacrifices and suffering.

After a long bad period, the horizon began to clear. The German attack on the Soviet Union brought the hope that the two enemies of Poland would destroy each other. Pearl Harbor and the American participation in the war indicated that the tremendous industrial and military potential of this leading nation would tip the scale of victory to the side of the allies. Each day of the occupation was bringing losses to the oppressed nations; but they had to endure and be patient. The events did not develop fast. However, gradually the gigantic bout began to bring ever less success to the Germans. The defeat on the African front; the retreat at the Soviet front and then the disaster at Stalingrad and unsuccessful siege at Leningrad; the invasion of Italy by the allies and the losing battle at Monte Casino; and at last the establishment of a beach-head in Normandy and the beginning of the end.

Poland in 1939	Poland in 1945

Unusual times produce unusual men and unusual deeds. Many people who in normal circumstances would quietly work for their daily bread became either an incarnation of evil, treason, cruelty and sadism – or else outstanding examples of courage and sacrifice. Some of them became national heroes, but the world never learned and will not learn about the great majority of them. The places where martyrdom and executions took place, the tombs of the victims and of the better knownn fighters frequently became honored and attracted pilgrimages in spite of efforts of the communist government to stifle the cult for the A.K. (home army) and patriots who died for a free, democratic Poland.

But the whole Polish soil is soaked with the blood of its citizens. The significant majority of the nation actively participated in underground organizations working against the Germans; but it sufficed to be a Pole to be subjected to persecutions and exterminations. The beginning of the war, which we are celebrating, initially brought a great deal of satisfaction to the greedy invaders, cruel degenerates and murderers; but the end of the adventure was miserable for them and their “Fuehrer”. Most of them disappeared from this world, witnessing the bankruptcy of their endeavors.

The Polish episcopate stated that the Christian faith requires forgiveness from us; but it is impossible to forget the times of war and occupation. They will stay in the memory of mankind, and particularly of the Poles, as a warning and caution against the possibility of unleashing hate and chauvinism, resulting in unmeasearable suffering of humanity and relegating inter-human relations to a level more primitive than in the animal world.

[1] Dmowski, Polityka polska i odbudowanie panstwa (Polish Policy and Re-building of the State), vol. II, p. 32 (Hanover edition, 1947).
[2] Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 616 (1959)