JULY 5 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

JULY 5

1920

Spa Conference in Belgium: The conference convened between the Supreme War Council and the government of the Weimar Republic in Spa, Belgium from July 5 to 16, 1920.  The discussions included disarmament of Germany and war reparations required by the Treaty of Versailles, trial of German war criminals, status of Gdansk, territorial dispute over Cieszyn Silesia (between the Second Polish Republic and Czechoslovakia). Following the conclusion of the conference on July 28, 1920,  the territory was divided between the states leaving Zaolzie with a sizable Polish minority on the Czech side of the border, a decision  which created more conflicts between the two nations.

1944

Karl Freudenthal, a Kreishauptmann, was responsible for the murder of Jews and Poles in Garwolin and for the deportation of Jews to the ghettos. Freudenthal was assassinated in a plot called Operation Heads (Glowki). It  was the code name used by the Polish Resistance for their plan to conduct a series of assassinations of Nazi officers.  Those targeted for assassination had been sentenced to death by the Special Courts of the Polish Underground for crimes against Polish citizens during the World War II occupation of Poland. The name of the operation, "Operation Heads" was a sarcastic reference to the Totenkopf (Gr. 'skull') 'Death's Head' symbol of SS Nazi German uniforms and headgear.

1945

The British and American governments withdrew recognition of the legitimate Polish Government In Exile, and officially recognized Stalin's Provisional Government of National Unity (ie the TRJN). France had already withdrawn its recognition on June 29, 1945, though the Vatican did not recognize the TRJN.  The TRJN was the puppet government Stalin established in Poland, which had been decided at the Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin (February 4 to 11, 1945) to establish post-war "spheres of influence."  Despite subsequent discussions between the Soviets and Polish Prime Minister Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, the decision was already fait accompli, and Poland had been betrayed into the hands of Stalin by Britain and the United States.   (see January 5, 1945)