DECEMBER 24 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

DECEMBER 24

1798

Beloved Polish Poet:  Adam Mickiewicz (dob) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator, professor of Slavic literature, and political activist.  He is regarded as National Poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus.  Mickiewicz was a prominent figure in Polish Romanticism, and is regarded as one of Poland's "Three Bards" ("Trzej Wieszcze"). He is widely regarded as Poland's greatest poet and has been compared to Byron and Goethe.  Scholars refer to the "cult of Mickiewicz" as indicative of the great importance he held well beyond his literary masterpieces - he was upheld as a "national prophet".  According to Czeslaw Milosz, the greatest achievement by Mickiewicz was "Dziady" (translated: Forefathers Eve).  It was written over an extended period of time,  and parts II and IV were published in 1823.  Accompanying part III was a long descriptive poem, "Ustęp" (Digression) which expressed Mickiewicz's experiences in, and views about Russia, and portayed the nation as a huge prison. Mickiewicz pitied the oppressed Russian people, and wondered about their future.  Miłosz aptly described the epic poem as a "summation of Polish attitudes towards Russia in the nineteenth century". The poem evoked strong responses from the likes of the great literary icons such as Joseph Conrad (Under Western Eyes)  and Pushkin ("The Bronze Horseman").  In 1901, the poem was adapted for a theatrical performance staged by Stanisław Wyspiański. Milosz described it as "a kind of national sacred play, occasionally forbidden by censorship because of its emotional impact upon the audience."  In fact, in 1968, the communist-controlled Polish government closed down the production of the play, which spurred the 1968 Polish political crisis!  Adam Mickiewicz died on November 26, 1855

1941

Himmler Ordered Confiscation of Jewish Property:  The following is an excerpt translated to English; "Reichsfuhrer Himmler has ordered the collection of all fur coats, furs and hides of any kind whatsoever that have been found amongst and confiscated from Jews; together with those of still existing Jews, which are about to be confiscated immediately, particularly in the ghettos in the General-governement [occupied Poland]. The number is to be regularly reported to me by teleprinter from December 29th 1941, not later than 1800 hours. The Reichsfuhrer has commanded that his order be carried out without delay… The Jewish Councils are to be warned that they themselves, along with any Jews caught in possession of a fur or hide after the stipulated period has expired, will be shot."  (Report of the Nazi German Chief of Security Police)

1946

Polish General Murdered in Soviet Prison:  On December 24, 1946, while imprisoned in Butyrka prison, General Leopold Okulicki was murdered by the notorious Soviet NKVD.   He had been arrested on trumped up charges of distributing propaganda against the Soviet Union, state terrorism, among a slew of other accusations.  He was among several other prisoners subjected to a mock Soviet trial ("Trial of the Sixteen") and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.   Okulicki was a General of the Polish Army and the last commander of the anti-German underground Home Army (Armia Krajowa) during World War II.  During the trials,  Okulicki had remarked that  “In comparison with the NKVD, the Gestapo methods are child's play".  (Note: Poland never collaborated with Nazi Germany.  Poland was not a quisling state. The Polish armed forces supported the Allies and fought against the Nazi Germans throughout the entire war)

NOVEMBER 26 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

NOVEMBER 26

1855

Great Polish Poet Died.  Adam Mickiewicz died on November 26, 1855.  Mickiewicz was a prominent figure of the Polish Romantic period, and is considered as one of the greatest poet in the history of Polish literature, the greatest among Slavic and European poets, as well as one of Poland'sThree Bards (the others being Zygmunt Krasiński and Juliusz Słowacki). His was revered and his fame reached cult status. Mickiewicz has been compared in Poland and in Europe with Byron and Goethe. Upon hearing of Mickiewicz' death, Krasiński wrote: "For men of my generation, he was milk and honey, gall and life's blood: we all descend from him. He carried us off on the surging billow of his inspiration and cast us into the world."  One of his great works was the narrative poem, "Konrad Wallenrod"  (1828), which described battles of the Christian order of Teutonic Knights pitted against the Lithuanians. It  is a thinly veiled allusion to the long feud between Russia and Poland,  the subterfuge against a stronger enemy, and an analysis of the moral dilemmas faced by the Polish insurgents who would soon launch the November 1830 Uprising. To the youth of the era, the poem was seen as a "call to arms" and was praised by Ludwik Nabielak, an Uprising leader. But it was considered controversial to the older generation.   Miłosz described Konrad Wallenrod as "the most committed politically of all Mickiewczi's poems." Though the point of the poem was obvious to the Polish people, it escaped the Russian censors and was published without opposition or censorship. 

1919

Ryszard Kaczorowski was born on November 26, 1919 in Bialystok, Poland.  He completed his education in commerce and served as a Scouting instructor of a local branch of the Polish Scouting Association.  When Poland was invaded on September 1, 1939, Kaczorowski created the scouting movement clandestinely (in opposition to Soviet authorities) and became a head of the Białystok banner of the Szare Szeregi.  In 1940 he was arrested by the NKVD and sentenced to death, which was later changed to 10 years in a concentration camp in Kolym.  Following the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement of 1941 he was released among the hundreds of thousands of other Poles, and enlisted in the General Władysław Anders' Army. After having evacuated from the Soviet Union, Kaczorowski joined the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division, where he completed divisional secondary school. He fought in most major battles of the Polish 2nd Corps, including the Battle of Monte Cassino.  After the war he settled in the United Kingdom as a political emigrant. Following the demobilisation he completed a college course in foreign trade. Until 1986, he worked in business as an accountant. From 1955 to 1967, he was the Chief Scout, and, subsequently, President of the émigré Polish Scouting Union (ZHP). As such, he presided the Polish delegation for the 1957 Jamboree.  From 1989 to 1990 he served as the last President of Poland in exile. He succeeded Kazimierz Sabbat and resigned his post following Poland's regaining independence, and the election of Lech Wałęsa as the first democratically elected president of Poland since World War II. Kaczorowski passed the presidential insignia to Wałęsa, thereby ending the 45-year era of the Polish government in exile.   Tragically, he died in the plane crash on April 10, 2010 in Smolensk, Russia.  On the plane were 96 other dignitaries - the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria,  the chief of the Polish General Staff and other senior Polish military officers, the president of the National Bank of Poland, Polish Government officials, 18 members of the Polish Parliament, senior members of the Polish clergy and relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre. The group was arriving from Warsaw to attend an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, which took place during World War II near  Smolensk.   Conspiracy theories abound that the crash was not accidental, and that the Soviets were responsible for this tragedy.  Opinion polls conducted in 2012 and 2013 indicated that one-third of Poles think it was possible that the Smolensk crash was an assassination.

1943

British ship HMT Rohna was sunk. On November 25, 1943 at 12:30 hrs, Rohna and four other troop ships departed French Algeria and was joined later by Convoy KMF 26 which was passing on its way from Britain to Alexandria.  The next day at around 1630 hrs the convoy, situated just off Bougie was attacked by approximately 30 Luftwaffe Heinkel He 177A heavy bombers, escorted by Junkers Ju 88 aircraft and followed by six and nine torpedo bombers. Meanwhile the convoy was greatly disadvantaged having only limited air escort of four land-based Free French Air Force Spitfires, which were later relieved by RAF Spitfires. The He 177As  launched about 60  Henschel Hs 293 radio-guided, rocket-boosted glide bombs on the convoy.  In return, the convoy launched its combined anti-aircraft fire, and shot down at least two enemy aircraft and damaged several others. The Rohna also joined in the attack, with machine guns, Oerlikon autocannons and about 20 rounds from her 12-pounder gun. In the battle, the Rohna was the only casualty. At about 1715 hrs an He 177A, piloted by Hans Dochtermann, launched a glide bomb, striking Rohna at the after end of her engine room and Number Six troop deck on her port side. Though the impact was about 15 feet (5 m) above the water line,  it flooded the engine room and knocked out all electrical equipment including her pumps, and setting the ship on fire.  About 90 minutes after the missile hit the ship there was a rending noise, probably due to the collapse of a bulkhead aft. Clouds of smoke came from Number Three Hold and the ship settled by the stern, at which point the men threw the last four rafts overboard and abandoned ship. Casualties were 1,138 men killed, which included 1,015 US personnel, five of the Rohna's officers.  The attack was the largest loss of US troops at sea due to enemy action in a single incident. An additional 35 US troops later succumbed to their injuries.  USS Pioneer rescued 606 survivors.