AUGUST 1 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

AUGUST 1

1936 

The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin was declared open. The Nazi regime temporarily removed anti-Semitic posters for the duration of athletic events in an effort to "clean up" Germany's image to the world.  The Olympics was a propaganda bonanza for Hitler who tried to showcase Germany to the world as cordial, sane, and tolerant. Meanwhile the Nazis banned many Jewish athletes from competing in the events (though many Jews had boycotted the Berlin Olympics).  Lilli Henoch, a top athlete in the shot put and discus throw was excluded from the games. She was a four time world record holder and 10 time German national champion. Gretel Bergmann was suspended from the German team just days after she set a record of 1.60 meters in the high jump. Hitler wanted the so-called  Aryan German athletes to march away with all the medals, and he was stunned when the American track star, a black man, Jesse Owens had won four gold medals in track and field events.  But as Owens was running for gold, "two Jewish runners for the U.S. team, Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, had been pulled by their coach from the 4×100 meter relay the day before the event, so that they would not humiliate Germany. (Nazi Germans referred to Jews  as " untermenschen", that is sub-human, yet many Jewish athletes were capable of surpassing the Nazi athletes.)  After the closing of the Berlin Olympics, the Nazis resumed their persecution of the Jews. Many of the Jewish athletes that competed in the games were arrested and late died in concentration camps.  Ilja Szraibman, a Polish swimmer, and Roman Kantor, a Polish fencer, later died in Majdanek extermination camp.  Alfred Nakache, was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. He survived and competed in the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

1941

Bialystock Ghetto established by the Nazis: The Białystok Ghetto was set up between July 26 and early August 1941. About 50,000 Jews from the vicinity of Białystok and  surrounding region were forced into a small area of the city, which was turned into the Bezirk's capital. The ghetto was split in two by the Biała River running through it. The Jews were subjected to forced-labor enterprises to serve the German war effort, primarily in large textile, shoe and chemical companies operating inside and outside its boundaries. On August 1, 1941, the Nazis sealed the ghetto, isolating the inmates inside. Following the Bialystok Uprising, the Nazis liquidated the ghetto,  and transported most of the Jews by train to Majdanek and Treblinka extermination camps.

1944

The Warsaw Uprising was launched on August 1, 1944 upon the order of General Tadeusz "Bor" Komorowski, commander of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa).  Their objective was to liberate Warsaw from German occupation, and the uprising was timed with the retreat of the German forces, as the Soviet troops advanced into Poland. The Red Army approached the eastern suburbs of Warsaw, but instead of entering Warsaw, they stopped their advance on the banks of the Vistula River.  The Soviets waited as the German forces regrouped and decimated the Polish Resistance fighters and then razed Warsaw to the ground.  On the first day of the Uprising, Heinrich Himmler ordered the destruction of the city and the extermination of its civilian population.  At an SS Officers Conference, Himmler stated, "The city must completely disappear from the surface of the earth and serve only as a transport station for the Wehrmacht. No stone can remain standing. Every building must be razed to its foundation."  On the first day of the Uprising, the Polish Home Army had military supplies that consisted of 1,000 guns, 1,750 pistols, 300 sub-machine guns, 60 assault rifles, 7 heavy machine guns, 20 anti-tank guns, and 25,000 hand grenades. These were augmented with additional weapons received by allied air drops, or weapons the Poles had seized from German soldiers during battles The Polish Underground also mass produced many weapons, such as grenades, grenade launchers, and flame throwers. The Polish underground resistance movement was the largest resistance in Europe. The Warsaw Uprising was expected to last just a few days but the Polish insurgents fought for 63 days with no military support from their allies, and finally capitulated. The help promised by their allies was too little, too late. The Warsaw Uprising was the single largest military effort undertaken by any European resistance movement during World War II. 

JULY 17 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

JULY 17

1399

Saint Queen Jadwiga of Poland Died:  Jadwiga, the first female monarch of the Kingdom of Poland reigned from October 16, 1384 until her death on July 17, 1399. She was the youngest daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his wife Elizabeth of Bosnia. Jadwiga was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou, but she had more close forebears among the Polish Piasts. Jadwiga was crowned "King" October 16, 1384. Her coronation either signified that the Polish nobility's was opposed to her intended husband, William becoming king, or just emphasized her status as queen regnant. In 1997 she was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.  Numerous legends about miracles were recounted to justify her sainthood. One of them is about "Jadwiga's cross" Jadwiga often prayed before a large black crucifix hanging in the north aisle of Wawel Cathedral. During one of these prayers, the Christ on the cross is said to have spoken to her. The crucifix, "Saint Jadwiga's cross" is still there, with her relics beneath it. Because of this event, she is considered a medieval mystic.

1918

Execution of the Romanov family: By order of the Bolshevik Party and carried out by the Cheka, former emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, their children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei, and retainers were shot at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Their remains were found by an amateur sleuth in 1979 but their existence was kept secret until 1989 during the glasnost period. In 2008, after lengthy legal wrangling, the Russian Prosecutor General's office rehabilitated the Romanov family as "victims of political repressions".  A criminal case was opened by the post-Soviet government in 1993, but nobody was prosecuted on the basis that the perpetrators were dead.

1941

Nazi racial 'philosopher' Alfred Rosenberg was appointed Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories following the German invasion of Russia. Rosenberg was charged with the duty to administer territories seized from the Soviet Union and to replace the previously Soviet-controlled territories with new Reichskommissariats. He was one of the main authors of key National Socialist ideological creeds, including its racial theory, persecution of the Jews, Lebensraum, abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles, and opposition to degenerate modern art. He is known for his rejection of and hatred for Christianity and played an important role in the development of German Nationalist Positive Christianity. After the end of the war he was tried at Nuremberg, and sentenced to death by hanging for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

1942

Himmler watched the gassing of Jews:  On July 17 and 18 Himmler visited Auschwitz-Birkenau to inspect construction and expansion of the crematories. He then observed the extermination process from start to finish of Jews who had arrived on two trainloads from Holland. Kommandant Höss was then promoted.  (After the end of World War II,  on March 11, 1946, British Intelligence captured and arrested Hoss near a farm in Flensburg, Germany. He confessed to his role in the mass killings at Auschwitz in his memoirs and in his trial before the Supreme National Tribunal in Warsaw, Poland.  He was convicted of murder, returned to Auschwitz and hanged on April 16, 1947 at the site of his crimes. Himmler went into hiding after the war, but was captured and interrogated. In May 1945, he committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill. He was dead in 15 minutes.)

1945

The Potsdam Conference, was held from July 17 to August 2, 1945 among the three great powers, USSR, U.S.A. and the UK, represented by Stalin, Harry Truman, and Britain's new Prime Minister, Clement Atlee.  The conference was convened to discuss the administration of the defeated Nazi Germany, (which had agreed to an unconditional surrender just nine weeks earlier) as well as to establish post-war order, make peace treaties, and counter the effects of the war. Unlike the late President Franklin Roosevelt, U.S. President Harry Truman was suspicious of Stalin's intentions, and recognized that Stalin was pursuing communist expansion throughout eastern Europe, which was in contradiction to the terms of the Yalta Agreement. Among the decisions made  at Potsdam, were first and foremost the demilitarization, denazification, democratization, decentralization, dismantling and decartelization of Nazi Germany;  that Germany and Austria would have to be divided into four occupation zones (as per the Yalta Agreement), and that the capital cities, Berlin and Vienna, would likewise be divided into four zones; all Nazi criminals would be put on trial (i.e. Nuremberg Trials);  all Nazi German annexations to be reversed;  that Germany's eastern border would be shifted westwards to the Oder–Neisse line, thereby reducing the territorial area of Germany by approximately 25% compared to its 1937 borders. Consequently, the provisional western border for Poland would be the Oder–Neisse line (delineated by the Oder and Neisse rivers), and that Silesia, Pomerania, the southern part of East Prussia and the former Free City of Danzig should be under Polish administration.   It was decided to place severe restrictions on Germany's manufacturing and industrial capacity, among other issues.  Since the fate of Poland had already been agreed to by the Big Three at Yalta, the three representatives at Potsdam agreed to recognize the Soviet-controlled Provisional Government of National Unity (known as the Lublin Poles) and at the same time, it signified the end of allied recognition to the legitimate Polish Government in Exile in London.   Polish nationals and military were permitted to return to Poland, but "without guarantee" for their safety. (Editors note: many Polish military who returned to Poland after the end of the war were arrested and imprisoned by the Soviet NKVD, and many were murdered.)

1947

Raoul Wallenberg died (date unknown):   Raoul Wallenberg  was a Swedish diplomat and humanitarian.  During World War II, he rescued tens of thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary from the German Nazis and Hungarian Fascists.  Wallenberg issued protective passports and sheltered Jews in buildings which were designated as Swedish territory - thus providing diplomatic immunity to them.  In one of his missions he raised enough money to rent  32 buildings in Budapest,declared them protected by diplomatic immunity and put up signs such as "The Swedish Library" and "The Swedish Research Institute"and hung huge Swedish flags on the front of the buildings to complete the facade. Wallenberg succeeded in housing almost 10,000 people.  The last time Wallenberg was seen alive was on January 17, 1945, during the Siege of Budapest by the Red Army. He was arrested by SMERSH and charged with espionage and taken away.  According to a Soviet document of February 6, 1957, officials claim that Wallenberg died on July 17, 1947. Here is an excerpt of the report:  "...I report that the prisoner Wallenberg who is well-known to you, died suddenly in his cell this night, probably as a result of a heart attack or heart failure. Pursuant to the instructions given by you that I personally have Wallenberg under my care, I request approval to make an autopsy with a view to establishing cause of death.... I have personally notified the minister and it has been ordered that the body be cremated without autopsy."   Questions surrounding the circumstances of his death remain a mystery and the basis of numerous theories. Raoul Wallenberg has received countless international awards and monuments erected in his memory, such as Honorary Citizen of the United States, of Canada, of Hungary, of Australia, and of Israel. Yad Vashem has designated Wallenberg as Righteous Among Nations.

JULY 10 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

JULY 10

1940

The Battle of Britain began. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by the air forces of Britain and its Allies against the German Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe launched their offensive in conjunction with an air and sea blockade.Their targets were centered on British coastal shipping convoys, ports, and shipping centres such as Portsmouth. By mid-August the Luftwaffe began attacking RAF airfields and infrastructure, as well as factories producing aircraft, and strategic infrastructure.  Eventually the Luftwaffe turned their guns on the British civilians and began a massive bombing campaign (The Blitz) on coastal towns and cities. By early September, the city of London became the target. A great part of the city was bombed and left in a mass of smoldering rubble. The Blitz resulted in 43,000 civilians dead and up to 139,000 injured.  The RAF suffered heavy casualties, a situation which was exacerbated by their inexperienced pilots. To offset these losses, the RAF called in reinforcements from their allies, comprising of 145 Poles, 127 New Zealanders, 112 Canadians, 88 Czechoslovaks, 10 Irish, 32 Australians, 28 Belgians, 25 South Africans, 13 French, 9 Americans, 3 Southern Rhodesians.  Despite being outnumbered, the Royal Air Force and its Allies demonstrated their air superiority over the German air force and won the Battle on October 31, 1940. Victory in the Battle was assured largely due to the participation of the Polish Air Forces, in particular the famous No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron, also called the Kosciuszko Squadron, which contained the largest number of ace pilots in the RAF.  The 303 had the highest RAF kill score in the Battle of Britain.   Commanders Witold Urbanowicz, Jan Zumbach, and Zdzisław Henneberg (just to name a few) were among the many heroic Polish commanders and pilots who fought for Britain.  (Read about the Kosciuszko Squadron)

1941

Jedwabne Pogrom was a massacre of 340 Jews from the village of Jedwabne, Poland.  On this day, a group of at least 40 Polish males were involved, after being summoned in Jedwabne by the order of Mayor Marian Karolak, and German paramilitaries, called Ordnungspolizei. The SS, Gestapo and Einsatzgruppe forces were also complicit. They then rounded up the local Jews as well Jews who sought refuge from the nearby towns of Wizna and Kolno, and took the them to the town square where they were humiliated and beaten. Ultimately, the Jews were forced into a barn, killed and the barn set on fire with them in it. (These are the official findings of the Institute of National Remembrance, which "confirmed by the number of victims in the two graves, according to the estimate of the archeological and anthropological team participating in the exhumation," wrote prosecutor Radosław J. Ignatiew, who headed an investigation in 2000–2003 ordered by the Polish government..)

1942

Himmler gave the order for sterilization experiments at Ravensbrueck:  In a letter from SS-Obersturmbannführer Brandt to Prof. Clauberg, July 10, 1942, read as follows: " Today the Reich Leader SS  (Himmler) charged me with transmitting to you his wish that you go to Ravensbrueck after you have had another talk with SS-Obergruppenführer Pohl and the camp physician of the women's concentration camp Ravensbrueck, in order to perform the sterilization of Jewesses according to your method... (source: Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals - Washington, U.S Govt. Print. Off., 1949-1953, Vol. I, p. 729)

1945

Augustow Roundup:  The Augustów roundup was a military operation against the Polish anti-communist partisans which occurred following the Soviet takeover of Poland. Soviet forces with the assistance of Polish communist units,  conducted the roundup from July 10 to July 25, 1945 in Suwałki and Augustów region (Podlasie) of northern People's Republic of Poland. Out of 2,000 arrested by the Soviet forces, about 600 disappeared.  They were  presumed to have been executed and buried in an unknown location in Russia or Belarus. The Polish Institute of National Remembrance has declared the 1945 Augustów roundup "the largest crime committed by the Soviets on Polish lands after World War II".  The crime has been called "second Katyn", in reference to the Katyn massacre in 1940, when the Soviet NKVD executed over 16,000 Polish officers, soldiers, and intelligentsia.

MARCH 15 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

MARCH 15

1923

The question of Vilnius was confirmed by a conference of ambassadors of the Allied powers. (Note: Poland had captured Vilnius in April 1919 which precipitated territorial disputes and armed conflict with Lithuania.  Vilnius briefly fell into Soviet hands during the Polish Soviet war of 1920.  But after Poland's victory in the Battle of Warsaw, Soviets regained control of the city. On October 8, 1920, Polish troops under the command of General Lucjan Żeligowski, marched on Vilnius to "defend the right of self-determination of local Poles." Żeligowski's forces captured Vilnius and proclaimed the creation of the Republic of Central Lithuania with capital in Vilnius. A ceasefire was signed on November 29 which was followed by a prolonged mediation by the League of Nations. Despite their deliberations, the situation did not change, and in 1923, the League accepted the status quo.  Lithuania refused to recognize these developments and broke diplomatic relations with Poland, until the Polish ultimatum of 1938.

1939

Nazi troops invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia despite Hitlers promise to respect the terms of the Munich Agreement.  The Agreement was a form of appeasement by the allies and was signed on September 30, 1938 by Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier, and Mussolini. It gave Nazi Germany permission to annex only the Sudetenland, since Hitler felt Germany had to safeguard the ethnic German minority located in that region of Czechoslovakia.

1940

Himmler stated: "All Polish specialists will be exploited in our military-industrial complex. Later, all Poles will disappear from this world. It is imperative that the great German nation considers the elimination of all Polish people as its chief task." (Editor's note: Himmler's declaration was in line with Hitlers' plans to destroy the Polish nation.)


British RAF bombers dropped propaganda leaflets over Warsaw, Poland over the course of two nights. The leaflets contained messages for the Polish citizens reassuring them that they were "not alone in this war"  and that the British understood how they were suffering and urged them "to be strong, the day of liberation will come!" Following the mission, the Polish Government in Exile protested the action, though General Sikorski approved of it. (source: "Black Propaganda in the Second World War" by Stanley Newcourt-Nowodworski)

MARCH 1 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

MARCH 1

1810

Frederick Chopin (dob) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era who wrote primarily for the solo piano though he also wrote two piano concertos, a few chamber pieces, and some songs to Polish lyrics. Among his major piano works were mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, polonaises, études, and sonatas.  He gained worldwide fame and admiration for being a leading musician of his era. Chopin's "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation." A child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed his earlier works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising.  Chopin was credited with introducing to music a new sense of nationalism. In a 1836 review of the piano concertos, Schumann highlighted the composer's patriotic feelings for his native Poland, writing that "Now that the Poles are in deep mourning (following the defeat of the November Uprising of 1830), their appeal to us artists is even stronger ... If the mighty autocrat in the north ( Nicholas I of Russia) could know that in Chopin's works, in the simple strains of his mazurkas, there lurks a dangerous enemy, he would place a ban on his music. Chopin's works are cannon buried in flowers!" Chopin's music remains very popular and is regularly performed, recorded and broadcast around the world. The International Chopin Piano Competition, founded in 1927, is held every five years in Warsaw. The Frederyk Chopin Institute of Poland lists on its website over eighty societies worldwide devoted to the composer and his music. The Institute site also lists nearly 1,500 performances of Chopin works on YouTube as of January 2014.

1941

Heinrich Himmler paid his first visit to Auschwitz Concentration Camp.  He was accompanied by Gauleiter, and the head of the Upper Silesia SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Brach, the high commander of the SS and the Police in Wrocław SS-Obergruppenführer Ernst Schmauser, SS-Oberführer Glücks, the head of the districts, and the highest representatives of the IG Farbenindustrie complex.  During the visit he ordered Commandant Rudolf Höss to expand the current camp to hold a total of 30,000 prisoners, expand the camp to Birkenau with capacity for 100,000 prisoners, supply 10,000 prisoners to work for the nearby I.G. Farben factory, and to expand the camp's agricultural and industrial output. Rudolf Höss and his family hosted Heinrich Himmler for dinner during Himmler's inspection of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland.

1943

In New York, American Jews held a mass rally at Madison Square Garden to pressure the U.S. government into helping the Jews of Europe. It drew a crowd of 70,000. Subsequently, similar rallies were held in a several cities throughout the United States. The "Rally of Hope” expressed the sympathy of Americans for the Jewish children persecuted in Nazi Europe. The focal point of the rally was a pageant in which 1,000 children and adult actors participated. The meeting was addressed by Senator William Langer of South Dakota, Eddie Cantor and Rep. Joseph Clark Baldwin of New York.

1951

Mokotow Prison Massacres:  On March 1, 1951, the Soviet-controlled Communist Polish secret police, Urząd Bezpieczeństwa (UB), carried out the execution of seven members of the 4th Headquarters of the anti-Communist organization Wolność i Niezawisłość (WiN) in the Mokotów Prison in Warsaw. They were accused of actively participating in anti-Nazi resistance during World War Two.  The executed men were: Łukasz Ciepliński, Karol Chmiel, Adam Lazarowicz, Józef Rzepka, Józef Batory, Mieczysław Kawalec and Franciszek Błażej. The accused were not given an opportunity to refute charges brought against them, despite the fact that on several occasions Ciepliński had stated that he was tortured and that his confessions were extracted with the use of torture. The Communist judges disregarded his testimony. The courtroom was filled with UB functionaries. All seven men were shot on March 1, 1951, at five- to ten-minute intervals. They were executed with a single shot to the back of the head, the standard Communist execution method, and consistent with the executions of Polish officers at Katyn Forest. The executions began at approximately 8 p.m., with Ciepliński being shot first, followed by Batory at 8:05, Chmiel at 8:15, Kawalec at 8:20, Lazarowicz at 8:25, Blazej at 8:35, and Rzepka at 8:45. Two of the executed men, that is, Ciepliński and Rzepka, were previously awarded Poland's highest military decoration for valor, the Cross of the Virtuti Militari. The firing squad consisted of a single man, the notorious Piotr Śmietański, nicknamed by the prisoners the "Butcher of the Mokotow Prison."  Smietanski was believed to have emigrated to Israel in 1968. The burial place of the seven WiN soldiers executed by the Communist regime remains unknown to this day. The 1950 court ruling rendered by the Communist court was overturned in 1992 by the Warsaw Military Court and the seven convicted and executed men were acquitted retrospectively on all counts. In the 1992 court ruling, it is stated that the executed WiN soldiers "Fought and Died for a Free and Sovereign Poland."

JANUARY 29 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

JANUARY 29

1919

Roman Dmowski made a concerted bid at the Peace Conference for the restoration of Poland's pre-partition boundaries. As a Polish delegate at the Paris Peace Conference and a signatory of the Versailles Treaty, Dmowski wielded considerable influence. At the meeting, Dmowski stated that he had little interest in laying claim to areas of Ukraine and Lithuania that were formerly part of Poland, but no longer had a Polish majority. But he pressed for the return of Polish territories , ie those with Polish-speaking majorities taken by Prussia from Poland in 1790s. Dmowski was disappointed with the Treaty of Versailles partly because he was strongly opposed to the Minority Rights Treaty imposed on Poland and partly because he wanted the German-Polish border to be somewhat farther to the west than what the Versailles had allowed.

1940

Germany renamed Reichsgau Posen, in occupied Poland, to Reichsgau Wartheland.  It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent areas. Parts of Warthegau matched the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen. The name was initially derived from the capital city, Posen (Poznań), and later from the main river, Warthe (Warta). The Governor of Reichsgau Wartheland, Arthur Greiser, embarked on a program of complete removal of the formerly Polish citizenry upon his nomination by Heinrich Himmler. The plan also entailed the re-settling of ethnic Germans from the Baltic and other regions into farms and homes formerly owned by Poles and Jews. He also authorized the clandestine operation of exterminating 100,000 Polish Jews (about one-third of the total Jewish population of Wartheland), in the process of the region's complete "Germanization.

1942

Heinrich Himmler issued a directive that established the SS Sonderkommando Dirlewanger as a volunteer formation of the SS. This formation, which drew its personnel from concentration camps and hardened criminals, would become notorious for its war crimes against civilians in Poland. (Note: They were referred to as the Dirlewanger Brigade. On August 5, 1944, they killed 35,000 Polish men, women, and children. The commander of the unit, Oskar Dirlewanger. Historians have described him as "a psychopathic killer and child molester" by Steven Zaloga, "violently sadistic" by Richard Rhodes, "an expert in extermination and a devotee of sadism and necrophilia" by J. Bowyer Bell, and "a sadist and necrophiliac" by Bryan Mark Rigg.According to Timothy Snyder, "in all the theaters of the Second World War, few could compete in cruelty" with Dirlewanger.

1943

Nazis ordered all Gypsies arrested and sent to extermination camps. The Nazis referred to the Romani people as "a-socials" or "habitual criminals" and sent them to concentration camps. Nearly every concentration camp in Germany had Romani prisoners. In the camps, all prisoners were forced to wear markings of various shapes and colors, which identified them by category of prisoner. Roma wore black triangular patches, the symbol for "a-socials," or green ones, the symbol for "professional" criminals.

1944

Koniuchy Massacre was perpetrated by Soviet partisan units under the command of the Central Partisan Command in Moscow. The raid was carried out by over 100 partisans from various units, which included 30 Jewish partisans from the "Avengers" and "To Victory" units (under the command of Jacob (Yaakov) Prenner.  According to the findings of the Institute of National Remembrance, at least 38 Polish men, women and children were murdered indiscriminately and homes destroyed. (Note: There remains controversies about the Koniuchy Massacre, that is, some historians believe that Koniuchy was a "pro-German" town that was used as a staging ground for German attacks against the partisans.)

1945

German submarine U-763 was scuttled in the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Königsberg after being damaged in a Soviet air raid. ( On February 4, 1944, U-763 shot down a RAF Liberator bomber of 53 Squadron in the Bay of Biscay. The next day, she successfully warded off three separate air attacks by the RAF, resulting in damage to a Liberator of 53 Squadron, a Wellington bomber of 172 Squadron and the loss of a Halifax bomber from 502 Squadron. She was also part of the wolf pack (Rugen 3)

Warsaw Uprising 1944: September 21 Poles Are Fiercest Adversaries says Himmler

Polish Insurgents have been waiting for the First Polish Army to make a landing and have fled burning buildings to take positions in the trenches along the banks of the Vistula. They are waiting, but the declared aid has not arrived.

General Monter has sent a radio message to the commanding officer of Zoliborz Sector ordering the him to expand and fortify his territory.  Though Polish Command had pleaded for weeks for Russian assistance, the Polish strategy is now to invite Soviet commanders to come to them, rather than vice versa. It is a decision that is widely supported by Polish political leaders in Warsaw as well as by the Delegatura.

Polish civilian and military authorities have assembled in the Centre City Sector. The Deputy Prime Minister, the Delegatura are making preparations to welcome the Red Army.  Polish troops of the Armia Krajowa will be concentrated in the same region to provide security in the event of any hostile activities or provocation. The Government Delegate of the city of Warsaw will direct the civilian administration for the interim.  Briefings among civilians and military personal are underway to establish an attitude of friendliness and willingness to cooperate with the Red Army, on the condition however, that Polish authorities are respected.

The AK have been wiped out by the German forces.  Throughout the onslaught, Russian spies had infiltrated Warsaw. During the month of September there were a total of five Red Army shortwave stations operating inside Warsaw reporting everything to Soviet Headquarters. Since the beginning of the Uprising, a Russian officer by the name of Captain Kalugin had linked up with AK command in Warsaw, and throughout the Uprising Kalugin was sending messages to Stalin through the AK short-wave stations. One of those messages from early August has been translated and contains a request for Soviet assistance in key areas of Warsaw.

Soviet reconnaissance planes have been spotted flying over the fires of Warsaw while the Polish Communists have infiltrated the city, intermingling with civilians and the AK. The communists secretly gathered information and gauged conditions in Warsaw as well as the general morale of the civilians and secretly dispatched their reports through messengers and other means to the Soviet-backed "Lublin Committee", in other words, they went directly to Stalin.

German Command proposed surrender to Czerniakow Sector but the insurgents declined. The battle continues. The Germans blew up the remaining pumping stations at Koszykowa Street as well as the public wells, which were the only source of potable water in the city. Enemy forces have exerted continuous pressure on the Czerniakow beachhead.

Polish civilians queue for water at the pump in early September  Warsaw 1944

Water fills a huge crater created by German bombing Warsaw 1944

Ryszard Bialous "Jerzy"

Polish troops under the command of Captain Ryszard Bialous “Jerzy” linked with soldiers from the First Polish Army under the command of Major Stanislaw Latyszonek, now hold control of only a patch of the riverbank and two houses located at 53 Solec Street and at 1 Wilanowska Street on the corner of Solec Street. Srodmiescie is being pounded continuously by heavy artillery fire. Meanwhile insurgents have managed to destroy an enemy barricade on the corner of Aleje Jerozolimskie and Bracka Street. In the western part of Srodmiescie, they were able to fight off a German attack on Borman’s factory on Towarowa Street.

Captain Bialous had fought in defense of Warsaw during the September Campaign of 1939. He was a platoon commander in the 8th Battalion of Sappers Infantry Division. He was seriously wounded in both legs and was hospitalised for four months.  After he was discharged from the hospital he founded the organisation of the famous Grey Ranks. By 1943 he became head of the organization and was known by the code-name Zygmunt. During the Uprising he has been commander of the battalion "Sophy". On August 31st after the death of John Caius Andrzejewski, Bialous became commander of the brigade diversion "Broda 53" in the Radoslaw regiment of the Armia Krajowa. By the end of the Uprising, the "Sophy" Battalion will have lost over 360 soldiers,(KIA, MIA) or 70% of its fighting force. Bialous was promoted three times: in January 1941, Lieutenant reserves; May 1943, Lieutenant; and September 1944, Captain.  He was decorated with the Cross of Valour three times and the Order of the Virtuti Militari V Class.

Cross of Valour - Poland WW2

Virtuti Militari V Class - Poland WW2

In Zoliborz, a German assault on Kepa Potocka has stopped the landing of the 6th Infantry Regiment. Survivors managed to cross over to the right bank of the Vistula. Unaware of that, insurgent troops, unaware of their presence, attack Marymont at dawn. They reached Promyka Street and waited for soldiers of the 6th infantry regiment, who were supposed to break through from across the river. Realizing their isolation, Home Army soldiers retreated destroying the fortifications of the German positions they had managed to seize.

"This is the fiercest of our battles since the start of the war. It compares to the street battles of Stalingrad." 

SS chief Heinrich Himmler to German generals on 21 September 1944

During September, 42 planes of the Squadron 1586 flew 17 combat missions to Warsaw, 16 to Italy, 7 to Yugoslavia and 2 to Bulgaria. Eight crews perished in flights to Warsaw. There were no losses in flights to other countries. The last flights to Warsaw were on 20 and 21 September. Total losses of Squadron 1586 for the months of August and September 1944 were 17 crews, 15 in flight to Warsaw, one crew while delivering supplies to other zones in Poland, and one in northern Italy.

Flight conditions to Warsaw were extremely hazardous and every plane that returned had been hit. Even parachutes inside the planes were riddled by German bullets or explosives.

Lt. John Ward is a British soldier and member of the Armia Krajowa.  From the very outset of the Uprising, Ward has been dispatching secret coded messages to London detailing the events in Warsaw.  He is also the "voice" of an Underground Polish radio station, transmitting regular reports to Polish civilians around Warsaw.

Warsaw headquarters of the Polish Home Army have established direct contact with the Soviet forces on the east bank of the Vistula. Liaison is carried out by two wireless operators who landed in Warsaw by parachute on the area occupied by Polish troops.

Warsaw Uprising 1944: August 5 - POLES LIBERATE JEWISH PRISONERS

Zoska, the elite Home Army battalion led an assault today on a German concentration camp "Konzentrationslager Warschau" on Gesia Street freeing 383 prisoners including 348 Jews. These Jewish men and women were left to assist in the destruction of the evidence of mass murder and in the end would also have met certain death.  Many of the survivors including Jews joined the Zoska unit to fight in the Uprising. Members of the Zoska battalion have captured two German tanks and used them in the rescue mission.  The Polish insurgents were dressed in German uniforms they had stolen as well as German weapons confiscated during battle. Polish uniforms are scarce. Though AK units are wearing German uniforms they are easily distinguished by their red and white AK armbands. However, it has caused considerable confusion during fighting and in some case of mistaken identity, insurgents were shot mistakenly by their own people.

Photo: L-R: Wojciech Omyła "Wojtek", Juliusz Bogdan Deczkowski "Laudański" and Tadeusz Milewski "Ćwik". Milewski was killed on the same day. Omyla was killed several days later on August 8, 1944.

Zoska Battalion captured German tank

Zoska Fighters Liberate Jewish Prisoners

Emblem of Zoska Battalion

Halifax drops supplies over Warsaw 

At 1:00 am this morning three British Halifax planes air dropped weapons and ammunition over the region of Wola. Containers landed in the cemeteries, Wolski Hospital and Fort Bem.  Flights are being carried out mostly by Squadron 1586, Polish Special Duties Flight of the Polish Air Force from bases in Bari and Brindisi. Polish Squadrons are flying B-24 Liberators, Handley Page Halifax, and Douglas C-47 Dakota planes.

One Halifax bomber (call number of JP-276A)was shot down near the outskirts of Dabrowa by German fighter aircraft. The Canadian pilot, Arnold R. Blynn, and seven crew members, 5 Canadians and 2 British were killed: George A. Chapman, Harold L. Brown, C. B. Wylie, Arthur G. W. Liddell, Frederick G. Wenham and Kenneth J. Ashmore. The plane spiralled to the ground in a ball of fire and exploded on impact. The force of the impact was so great that the engines and the hull of the aircraft were driven into the ground at a dept of three to four metres. The plane was heavily laden with fuel and ammunition

The commander of Halifax F/L Pilot Arnold R. Blynn RCAF

Aircrew loads supplies for Warsaw insurgents

Halifax Bomber

Himmler ordered his army to shoot every Polish man, woman, and child. Massive executions began early yesterday. The notorious Storm Brigade RONA and SS Brigade Dirlewanger arrived in Warsaw yesterday and began a massacre against Polish residents in Wola and Ochota Sectors. In this the second day of murderous rampage, has become the largest massacre in the history of Poland. The death toll varies according to sources from 65,000 to as high as 100,000 people. Among the dead are not only civilians but POWs, killed by the Germans.

German SS and Cossacks- Warsaw Uprising

Cossacks in the Kaminsky and Dirlewanger brigades carved a path of rape, torture, fire and murder throughout the districts. The elderly, women and their children have been murdered, including hospital staff, priests and the wounded and sick in hospitals at Wolski and St. Lazarus. The Nazis are conducting this massive and brutal pacification in their efforts to suppress the Uprising and terrorize the people of Warsaw. They have succeeded in only hardening the hearts and will of all Polish people to fight the German scourge to the death.

Storm Brigade RONA August 1944 Warsaw

After four days of fighting, the Germans began a systematic strategy in the effort to suppress the Uprising. Block by block, the Germans began to destroy buildings and shooting insurgents and civilians with fire power. The Polish insurgents are putting up a tough fight and Germans have commenced counterattack with planes, tanks and artillery to open west-east corridor through the city. German command units, the 1131 Infantry Brigade, the Hermann Goering Divisions, XXXIX Panzer Corps, IV SS Panzer Corps, 45 Infantry Division and 19 Panzer Division are all concentrating their defence of the Vistula between Warsaw and the Soviet positions.

Germans Soldiers Execute Polish Civilians

Casualties rising among Polish insurgents

General Bor, ignoring the advice of the Polish government-in-exile*, has decided to remain in Warsaw. He said it was not possible to command the AK unless he was present and adamantly refused to relocate AK headquarters outside the city perimeters. Meanwhile, he is receiving reports twice daily by radio from General Monter regarding developments in the Uprising.


About 300 Polish insurgents fiercely defended their positions in Ochota against overwhelming forces of the RONA brigade In Ochota, the two insurgent redoubts are separated from each other: the Tobacco Monopoly on Kaliska Street ("Kaliska Redbout") under the command of Second Lt. Andrzej Chyczewski "Gustaw" and No. 60 Wawelska Street (Wawelska Redoubt") under the command of Second Lt. Jerzy Golembiowski "Stach". The two units have succeeded in defending a vital thoroughfare - the Poniatowski Bridge.

Polish Victims of the Holocaust

The Holocaust was the most horrible of atrocities to have ever occurred in the history of mankind, though there were many cases of genocide before and since.  Nothing parallels that which befell the Jews during World War II.  Though the Jews were the primary victims of Hitler's "Final Solution", they were not the only  targets of the Holocaust.  Six million Jews perished in the ghettos,concentration camps and death camps.  But there were another five million people who were also murdered, among whom were Polish Christians, many other nationalities, the Roma, homosexuals, people with physical and mental disabilities, resistance fighters, and dissident Germans. The Nazis considered the Polish people as  "untermenschen", that is, subhuman.  It was Hitler's plan to destroy Poland, and all Poles, both Jews and Christians, to make room for the so-called aryan race. 

As painful as the memory of the Holocaust is to survivors and their families, the tragedy of the Holocaust is further compounded by the failure of nations to honour the memory of the other victims, in particular the Poles. Millions have been forgotten.  In many articles and books written on the subject of the Holocaust, most have given only fleeting mention, if at all, to Polish losses. The time has come to redress this omission and recognize that Polish Christians were also victims of the Holocaust and to pay due respect to their memory, as well as to all the victims.

Central Poland was delineated by the Nazis as the "General Gouvernment". Though Poles were not interned in ghettos like the Jews, they were nevertheless inmates of what was in essence a vast penal colony. Poles were frequently rounded up and executed by Nazi squads. Many others were interned in concentration camps and death camps. The first inmates at Auschwitz were Polish Christians, though later Jews would make up the majority of its prisoners there and elsewhere.

Auschwitz was one of the largest of the German concentration camps, and was the German name given to the Polish town of Oswiecim. It consisted of a network of adjoining camps which included Auschwitz I (the Stammlager, or base camp), Auschwitz II-Birkenau (Vernichtungslager or exterminaton camp); and Auschwitz III-Monowitz, a labor camp, as well as 45 satellite camps.

Auschwitz I was the original camp which was used as the Nazi administrative center.  At this location there were 16 one-story buildings which had previously been constructed and used as barracks for the Polish Army Artillery.  The Nazis evicted the townspeople, as well as some 1,200 people who were living around the vicinity of the army barracks.  From 1940 to 1941, the Nazis expelled about 17,000 Polish and Jewish residents from western districts of Oswiecim and from the vicinity of the concentration camp. People from the nearby towns were also evicted, namely,  Broszkowice, Babice, Brzezinka, Rajsko, Plawy, Harmeze,  Bor, and Budy rendering the area completely isolated from public scrutiny.  About 300 Jewish residents of Oswiecim were forced to lay foundations for the Camp.

The first inmates were 30 German criminals transferred from the Sachsenhausen camp and who were appointed as functionaries of the camp system. The first shipment of prisoners arrived on June 14, 1940 consisting of 728 Polish prisoners, of which only 20 were Jewish.  From then on the camp population increased rapidly with the addition of thousands of Poland's intelligentsia, dissidents, and members of the Polish Resistance. However, as time went on, Jews comprised 90% of the Auschwitz inmates.

On September 3, 1941, the deputy camp commander Fritzsch began a series of experiments using  highly lethal levels of cyanide-based pesticide, Zyklon B.  The first victims to be gassed were 600 Russian POWs and 250 Polish inmates. They were assembled in the basement of the infamous Block 11 and gassed to death. By 1942, over 60,000 inmates were killed in this way.

Auschwitz II was designed by Heinrich Himmler, and designated as the location to conduct the "final solution of the Jewish question in Europe".  From 1942 to 1944, Jews were deported from all over Nazi-occupied Europe and transported by train to Auschwitz gas chambers.

Rudolph Hoss, the camps first commander, confirmed in his testimony at the Nuremburg Trials that up to 3 million people had died there; 2.5 million were exterminated and 500,000 from disease and starvation. Also deported to Auschwitz were 150,000 Poles, 23,000 Roma and Sinti, 15,000 Soviet POWs  and tens of thousands of other nationals.  70,000- 100,000 Poles died in Auschwitz.
 
Auschwitz III-Monowitz was the largest of the Auschwitz work camps and was developed into an industrial camp by 1943. It initially produced synthetic rubber and liquid fuel at the Buna Werke plant, owned by
IG Farben.  Among the slave laborers, about 7,000 worked at chemical plants and 8,000 in the mines. 
About 40,000 worked in labor camps nearby.  Nazi doctors made regular visits to select the weak and the sick for gas extermination.

Among the 45 satellite camps, prisoners were forced to work in the German armaments industry, nine camps functioned in the capacity of metal works, six camps were located near coal mines, six camps supplied prisoners for chemical plants, and three for the light industry.

Countless numbers of Polish Christians were murdered in Camps such as Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek,Stutthof, Plaszow, Gross-Rosen, Dachau, Budzyn, Janowska, Poniatowa, Skarzysko Kammiena, Starachowice,Trawnicki, and many others. When the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, they captured 400,000 Polish prisoners of war, many of whom were imprisoned in labor camps in Poland and Germany. Their numbers reached well over 1.5 million spread across 440 labor camps.  Many POW camps were also established by the Nazis, the largest at Torun and Lodz.  Among the smaller labor camps located within the General Gouvernment were Stalag 307 (Biala Podlaska and at Deblin), Stalag 315 (Przemysl), Stalag 319 (Chelm),  Stalag 325 (Zamosc and at Rawa Ruska), Stalag 327 (Jaroslaw), Stalag 328 (Lwow),  Stalag 333 (Ostrow-Komorowo), Stalag 359 (Poniatowa), Stalag 366 (Siedlce), Stalag 369 (Krakow and at Kobierzyn).  In areas annexed to Germany there were many more labor camps as follows;

Stalag I B: Hohenstein / Olsztynek
Stalag I F: Sudauen / Suwalk
Stalag 56: Prostken / Prostki
Stalag II B (313): Hammerstein-Schlochau / Czarne Czluchowski
Stalag II D: Stargard Stargard / Szczecinski
Stalag II H: Raderitz Nadarzyce Walecki
Stalag 302 and 323 and Oflag II D: Gross-Born / Borne Szczecinecki
Stalag 351: Berkenbrugge / Brzezinj
Oflag II B: Arnswalde / Choszczno
Oflag II C: Woldenberg / Dobiegniew Strzelecki
Stalag Luft IV: Gross-Tychow / Tychowo
Stalag III C: Alt-Drewitz / Kostrzyn P
Stalag XX A (312): Thorn / Torun
Stalag XX B: Marienburg / Malbork
Stalag XXI A: Schildberg / Ostrzeszow
Stalag XXI B: Thure / Turek
Stalag XXI B, Oflag XXI B and Oflag 64: Schubin / Szubin
Stalag XXI C/H: Wollstein / Wolsztyn
Stalag XXI D: Posen / Poznan
Oflag XXI A and Oflag XXI C: Schokken / Skoki
Oflag XXI C: Schildberg / Ostrzeszow
Oflag XXI C/Z: Grune bei Lissa / Leszno

This is only a small list of what was massive network of camps.That there were about 2,000 concentration camps in Poland is testament to fact that the Nazi planned the annihilation of the Poles - both Christians and Jews.  Sadly, the world knows little or nothing about the Polish Christians who were also  victims of the Holocaust. Few survived. And of those even fewer have given their testimonies. But among those who survived - as well as those who perished, their names read like a list from Who's Who of Polish society.  It is chilling evidence of the determination of the Nazis to try to decapitate Polish government and society and render it completely powerless.

The Holocaust was a tragedy of the Jewish people, and we are behooved to render our deepest respect to their memory.  But so too do we need to remember the "Other Victims" who perished. This is not meant to diminish the enormous calamity that befell the Jewish people nor refute the events of history.

The following is a list of just some of the Polish Christians who died, or by miracle survived the nightmare of Nazi concentration camps,death camps and labor camps. I have included a few, with their names and photos in order to give a tangible and indelible credibility to the fate of so many Polish Christians and lift them out of the din of what has been an eternal obscurity.  Though the names and faces of many Polish victims will never be known, it is certain that they were the second largest group of victims of the Holocaust.

Jan Komski (at left, standing)

Jan Baras-Komski

Polish Painter

He fought in the Polish Resistance. Was sent to Auschwitz. Escaped in 1942 but was captured and sent to Montelupich prison. He was moved to Auschwitz, then to Buchenwald, Gross-Rosen Hersbruck

and Dachau. He survived and after the war immigrated to the United States.
Died July 20, 2002 in Virginia, USA

Norbert Barlicki

Polish Lawyer, Publicist, Politician

Died in Auschwitz, September 27, 1941 

Kazimierz Bartel

Polish Mathematician

Served as Prime Minister of Poland three times (1926-1929)

The Nazis arrested him shortly after invasion of Poland and made him an offer to act as Prime Minister of a Polish Puppet government. He refused and on the order of Himmler, was executed at Brygidki prison on July 26, 1941 (after the mass murder of his colleagues).

Wladyslaw Bartoszewski

Imprisoned in Auschwitz September 22, 1940 to April 8, 1941

Was a member of Armia Krajowa (Polish Home Army) and

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland after 1989 (twice)

Tadeusz Borowski

Polish writer

Survived Dachau and Auschwitz.

Died July 1, 1951 

Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski

Polish gynecologist, writer, poet, critic, and translator of over 100 French

literary classics into Polish.  He was arrested by the Nazis in Lwow

and murdered for being a Soviet spy.
Massacre of Lwow Professors July 4, 1941

Antoni Cieszynski

Polish physician, dentist, surgeon.

Murdered by German in Massacre of Lwow Professors.

on July 4, 1941

 

Jozef Cyrankiewicz

Survived Auschwitz

Was Prime Minister of Poland after the war from

February 6, 1947 to November 20, 1952 and again

March 18, 1954 to December 23, 1970.

and Chairman of Polish Council of State 1970-1972.

Died on January 20, 1989

Bronislaw Czech

Polish skier

Polish champion 24 times.

Participated in Winter Olympics of 1928, 1932, and 1936.

He was murdered in Auschwitz 1944.

Wladyslaw Dobrzaniecki

Polish physician and surgeon

Murdered by Germans in Massacre of Lwow Professors

on July 4, 1941

Xawery Dunikowski

Polish sculptor and artist; famous for neo-romantic sculptures

and Auschwitz-inspired art.  He survived Auschwitz

Died January 26, 1964. 

Wladyslaw Fejkiel

Polish prisoner and chief physician for camp infirmary.

Block 20, main camp of Auschwitz 1944.

Stefan Wicenty Frelichowski

Polish priest

imprisoned at Stutthof,  Grenzdorf, Sachsenhausen.

Died at Dachau  February 23, 1945
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 7, 1999

Franciszek Gajowniczek

Polish Army Sergent

Survived Auschwtiz. His life was saved when Maximilian Kolbe took his place.

Died March 13, 1995

Edward (Edek) Galinski

Served in the Polish Army after Invasion of 1939
Was POW at Tarnow Prison and transferred to Auschwitz
On June 24, 1944 Edek escaped wearing a stolen SS uniform together with Mala Zimetbaum (to whom he was romantically linked). The Nazis did not detect their absence until later that evening. They were re-captured on July 6, 1944 as they were trying to cross the border into Slovakia and were transferred to the notorious Block 11 where they were tortured, but neither implicated the other.  In August or September 1944 (date cannot be verified) Edek was publicly hanged together with five other male prisoners.  HIs last words were " Long Live Poland!"

Jozef Garlinski

Survived Auschwitz
He became best selling Polish writer of books about Auschwitz and WWII,

including book, "Fighting Auschwitz"

Died November 28, 2005

Witold Hulewicz

During the Nazi occupation, he was Chief Editor of the underground Polish magazine, Polska Zyje.

He was arrested by the Nazis in 1940. A year later he was executed.

Name of concentration camp is not known.

Stefan Jaracz

Polish actor and theater director

He survived Auschwitz but died of TB on August 11,1945.

A Polish theatre is named after him. The Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Lodz. 

Stanislaw Ketrzynski

Polish historian and diplomat

Survived Auschwitz

Died May 26, 1950 

Antoni Kocjan

Polish glider instructor, and contributed to Polish intelligence

network for the Polish Home Army.

Murdered by Gestapo August 13,1944 in Auschwitz

Maximilian Kolbe

He volunteered to die in the place of a stranger in Auschwitz. on August 14, 1941

He was canonized October 1, 1982 by Pope John Paul II.

Zofia Kossack-Szczucka

Polish writer, and Resistance fighter

Co-founder of Zegota

Was interned at Auschwitz and released through intervention by Polish underground

Died April 9, 1968

Jozef Kowalski

Oldest Military Veteran In The World (born 1900) and the only living veteran

from the Polish Soviet War. He fought in the September Campaign, was

captured by the Nazi and interned in a concentration camp.

He resides in Tursk, near Sulecin in a care home.

Cardinal Adam Kozlowiecki

Survived Auschwitz and Dachau

Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka in Zambia

In 1937 he was ordained a Jesuit priest; In 1939 he and 24 of his confreres were arrested

and sent to Auschwitz and then to Dachau until the end of the war. Died September 28, 2007

Janusz Kusocinski

Athlete;  1932  Olympic gold medalist Mens athletics

Executed at Palmiry June 21,1940 

Antoni Lomnicki

Polish mathematician

Murdered by Germans during Massacre of Lwow professors

July 4, 1941

Count Bernhard of Lubienski

Polish nobleman

Died 1942 Auschwtiz

Count Mauritz of Potocki

Polish noble

Died 1942 Auschwitz

Jan Mosdorf

Polish right-wing politician

Director of nationalist organization, "All Polish Youth"

Member of political party "National Radical Camp"

Murdered by Gestapo in Auschwitz on October 11,1943 for helping the Jews.

Igor Newerly

Polish novelist and educator

Survived Auschwitz

Died October 18, 1987

Jozef Noji

Polish track and field athlete

Participated in 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin

Murdered by camp SS guard Auschwitz for allegedly smuggling a letter.

on February 15, 1943

Ignacy Oziewicz

Polish Army Officer

First Commandant of Narodowe Sily Zbrojne

Survived Auschwitz and Flossenberg

Died 1966

Witold Pilecki

Polish soldier

Was the only known person to voluntarily be imprisoned at Auschwitz.

He escaped bringing vital information to the Allies about the atrocities being inflicted upon the Jewish people, but they did not believe him. He was later captured by Soviets and executed May 25,1948.

He was 47

Kazimierz Proszynski

Pioneer of Polish Cinema

improved the cinema projector for Gaumont Company

and invented Aeroscope camera.

Died at Mathausen on March 13,1945 shortly before liberation.

Dawid Przepiorka

Chess player; Chess Olympian

Executed in Palmiry April 1940 (estimated)

Nicolaus Rossini

Famous Polish painter

Executed at Krakow Plaszow in August 1943

Stefan Rowecki

Polish General, journalist, and leader of Armia Krajowa

Imprisoned at Oranienberg. Executed August  2,1944 by order of Himmler

Jan Rubczak

Painter, graphic artist

Murdered on May 27,1942 in Auschwitz

 

Stanislaw Ruziewicz

Polish mathematician

Murdered by Germans at Massacre of Lwow Professors

July 4, 1941 

Roman Rybarski

Polish historian, economist and politician.

Connected with right-wing National Democracy.

Shot on March 6,1942 in Auschwitz

 

  Leon Jerzy Wojciech Schiller

Polish theatre and film director, critic and theortician,

composer, and wrote theatre and radio screenplays.

Survived Auschwtiz
Died: March 25, 1954

 

Wladyslaw Slebodzinski

Polish Mathematician

During WWII he lectured at underground

universities and was imprisoned in several camps.

He survived Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen and Nordhausen.

After the war he became professor at Wroclaw University, and a few

years later, professor at Poznan University of Technology.

Died January 3, 1972

 

Tadeusz Sobolewicz

Polish actor and author

Survivor of six Nazi concentration camps, Gestapo prison and 9 day death march

Sygmund Sobolewski

He was the 88th prisoner of Auschwitz on the first transport on June 14, 1940.

He was imprisoned because of the anti-Nazi activities of his father (who was mayor

of a small Polish town.)  After the war he settled in Alberta, Canada

He is a strong opponent of Holocaust deniers and has often confronted neo-Nazis and

anti-Semites.In 1967 he wore a facsimile of a Holocaust prison uniform and picketed the appearance

of a neo-nazi leader on Canadian television. Years later he did the same to protest Holocaust-denier,

Jim Keegstra, and in 1990 he picketed Aryan Fest (a neo-nazi festival organized by Terry Long in

Alberta, Canada). He has traveled the world making numerous appearances before audiences, recounting his experiences in Auschwitz and warning of the dangers of Holocaust denial.

His life is retold in the book "Prisoner 88: The Man In Stripes" written by Rabbi Roy Tanenbaum.

Stefan Starzynski

Polish politician, economist, statesman, writer

President of Warsaw before and during Siege of Warsaw 1939

At the start of the invasion he refused to leave Warsaw with the other officials and diplomats.

He was a hero and symbol of the Defense of Warsaw and its citizens. His daily radio announcements

are the stuff of legends. He organized the distribution of food, water and supplies and fire fighting brigades, providing shelter for civilian refugees, and maintained the morale of the citizens. On October 27, 1939 he was arrested by the Gestapo and held at Pawiak Prison. It is believed that he was then transferred to Moabit Prison in Berlin and from there to Dachau concentration camp where he died.

His fate is undetermined as is the date: estimated to be October 17, 1943. 

Jozef Szajna

Polish scenery designer, stage director, playwright,

theoretician of the theatre, painter and graphic artist.

Survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald

Died June 25, 2008

Tadeusz Tanski

Polish automobile engineer, and designer of among others

the first Polish car CWS T-1.

Murdered in Auschwitz March 23, 1941

Wlaydslaw Tatarkiewicz

Polish philospher, historian of philosphy and art,

esthetician, ethicist.  He conducted underground lectures

in occupied-Warsaw.

Survived the war. Died April 4, 1980

Count Andreas Pius Cyril of Zoltowski-Romanus

Polish Nobleman

Died in Auschwitz on September 4, 1941. Age 59

 

"The world rightly knows what happened

to our Jewish brothers and sisters,

but it knows so little about us.  

We should not be forgotten."  

Reverend Jan Januszewski

Sources and Suggested Reading:

Wikipedia List of Inmates and Victims of Auschwitz

Wikipedia List of Holocaust Survivors

Wikipedia Auscwhitz Concentration Camp

Wikipedia List of Victims of Nazism

Wikipedia Nazi Crimes Against Ethnic Poles

Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau

Poles -Victims of the Nazi Era (USHMM)

Poles - Victims of Nazis (USHMM) (a pdf of booklet for download)

Polish Victims (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - USHMM)

Bibliography of Polish victims of Holocaust (USHMM)

Poland`s Holocaust 6 Million Citizens Dead (3 Million Christians and 3 Million Jews)

(PBS website) Auschwitz Inside the Nazi State Auschwitz 1940-1945 (Surprising Beginnings)