JULY 26 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

JULY 26

1939

Hermann Goring established another Zentrastelle in Prague, Central Office for Jewish Emigration, charged with the task of organizing the expulsion of Jews from Czechoslovakia.  There were also Zentrastelle centers located in Amsterdam and Vienna. Adolph Eichmann founded the Vienna branch in the autumn of 1938 and explained its process as follows, " ...I immediately said: this is like an automatic factory, let us say a flour mill connected to some bakery. You put in at the one end a Jew who still has capital and has, let us say, a factory or a shop or an account in a bank, and he passes through the entire building, from counter to counter, from office to office – he comes out at the other end, he has no money, he has no rights, only a passport in which is written: You must leave this country within two weeks; if you fail to do so, you will go to a concentration camp..."

 1941

Nazis Murdered Polish Prime Minister:  Kazimierz Władysław Bartel served as Poland's Prime Minister for three terms during the interwar period (1926 and 1930) and Senator, from 1937 until the outbreak of World War II). He returned to university as professor of mathematics. In 1930 he became rector of the Lwów Polytechnic and was awarded an honorary doctorate and membership in the Polish Mathematical Association.  After the invasion of Poland by the Soviets, he was permitted to continue his lectures at the university.  In 1940 he was summoned to Moscow and offered a seat in the Soviet parliament. On June 30, 1941, following Operation Barbarossa,  the German Wehrmacht entered Lwów and began arresting and killing the local intelligentsia. Two days later, the Gestapo imprisoned Bartel and pressured him to create a puppet government in Poland with himself as the head.  He refused and was charged with treason. Kazimierz Bartel was executed upon the order of Himmler, on July 26, 1941, three weeks after the Massacre of the Lwow.  (see July 4, 1941)

1942

Stefan Korbonski, the head of the Directorate of Civil Resistance (Secret Underground State)  in Poland sent a message to London informing them that the Germans had began mass deportation of Jews to the death camps at Treblinka, the slaughter of the Warsaw Ghetto, and shootings in the streets and in houses.  Over a month had passed before the BBC even broadcast it.  The United States press however was quick to respond and reported the news the next day. Korbonski was among the last officials to hold the post of Government Delegate for Poland.  He was arrested by the NKVD in 1945 but soon after was released and forced into exile. He settled in the United States where he was an active journalist and devoted his life work among the local Polish diaspora. Stefan Korbonski was among the few people whose names were completely eradicated by the communist censorship in Poland. (see June 12, 1980)

WARSAW GHETTO 1943: THE JEWISH UPRISING - 28 DAYS OF RESISTANCE

Warsaw Ghetto Burning

On April 19 sixty-nine years ago, hundreds of Jewish men, women and even children of the Warsaw Ghetto launched an Uprising against the Nazi Germans. For twenty-seven days, the Jews fought with all their might bearing what few weapons and arms they had against the overwhelming Aktion of the German Wehrmacht. It was the largest Jewish resistance movement of World War Two.

On April 20, 1943, the SS Police Leader of Warsaw Ghetto sent a telegram to the High SS and Police Leader East, Cracow. It read as follows:

GERMAN TANK USED AGAINST WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

Progress of the Ghetto Aktion on April 19, 1943. Closing of ghetto commenced at 03.00 hrs.

At 06.00 hrs. the Waffen-SS was ordered to comb out the remainder of the ghetto at a strength of 16/850.(referring to officers and men)

As soon as the units had entered, strong concerted fire was directed at them by the Jews and bandits.  The tank employed in this operation and the two SPW [heavy armored cars] were attacked with Molotov cocktails. The tank was twice set on fire. This attack with fire by the enemy caused the units employed to withdraw in the first stage. Losses in the first attack were 12 men (6 SS men, 6 Trawnicki men**).

About 08.00 hrs. the units were sent in again under the command of the undersigned. Although there was again a counterattack, in lesser strength, this operation made it possible to comb out the blocks of buildings according to plan. We succeeded in causing the enemy to withdraw from the roofs and prepared elevated positions into the cellars, bunkers and sewers. Only about 200 Jews were caught during the combing-out operation. Immediately afterwards shock-troop units were directed to known bunkers with orders to pull out the occupants and destroy the bunkers.

NAZIS WAIT AS JEWISH FIGHTER EMERGES FROM BUNKER

About 380 Jews were caught in this operation. It was discovered that the Jews were in the sewers. The sewers were completely flooded, to make it impossible to remain there. About 17.30 hrs. very strong resistance was met with from one block of buildings, including machine-gun fire. A special battle unit overcame the enemy, and penetrated into the buildings, but without capturing the enemy himself. The Jews and criminals resisted from base to base, and escaped at the last moment through garrets or subterranean passages. About 20.30 hrs. the external closure of the ghetto was reinforced...

NAZI GERMANS SMOKE OUT JEWISH RESISTANCE - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The Warsaw Ghetto was established on October 2, 1940 by Dr. Fischer, Governor and Head of the Warsaw District. All Jews in the surrounding area were ordered to move to residences within the designated areas by the end of the month. For the next year and a half thousands of Jews were deported from nearby cities and towns and herded into the ghetto until eventually there were from 300,000 to 400,000 Jews crowded into an area of only 1.3 square miles. (3.4 squared km).

MAP OF WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING 1943

On November 16,1940, the Germans sealed the Ghetto by building a high wall around it, topped by barbed wire and guarded by armed sentries. Any Jew caught leaving the ghetto compound was shot on sight. Living conditions were deplorable; typhus was rampant, and food limited to barely 184 calories per day per person. The Jews were being starved to death. Over 100,000 ghetto prisoners died.

NAZI POSTER - DEATH PENALTY TO JEWS OUTSIDE GHETTO AND TO POLES WHO HELPED THEM

HEAVILY ARMED NAZIS GUARDING ENTRANCE TO WARSAW GHETTO

CONSTRUCTION OF WALL - WARSAW GHETTO

JEWISH CHILD DIES IN THE STREET - WARSAW GHETTO

JEWISH BABY DIED OF STARVATION - WARSAW GHETTO

The first deportations began on July 23, 1942 and lasted until September of that year. It was carried out on the pretext of "relocating" the Jews to work camps, but instead they were being sent to their deaths at Treblinka. From 254,000 to 300,000 Jews were exterminated. In the beginning there was no resistance to the deportation. By the end of the year it became apparent to the Jews that the so-called deportations were a ruse. By then, the remaining Jews were determined to fight to the death.

WARSAW GHETTO - UMSCHLAGPLATZ - DEPORTATION OF JEWS TO TREBLINKA

Among several Jewish resistance groups, the largest ones were the ZZW (Jewish Military Union), the PKB (National Security Corps) and the ZOB (Jewish Combat Organization). Each rallied for support of the Polish resistance movements of the Armia Krajowa (Polish Home Army, or AK) and the Gwardia Ludowa (Polish Communist army, or People's Guard). Elements from each group joined the Jewish fighters and attacked German sectors posted near ghetto walls, and smuggled arms, ammunition and supplies into the ghetto. Despite Polish efforts the quantity of weapons supplied was woefully insufficient. (Unbeknownst to the Jewish Fighters, the Poles were planning to launch another Uprising which began on August 1st, 1944.)

JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED BY THE NAZIS - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

NAZI GERMANS INTERROGATE CAPTURED JEWISH FIGHTER - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The PKB supplied the Jewish fighters with 2 heavy machine guns, 4 light machine guns, 21 submachine guns, 30 rifles, 50 pistols, and over 400 grenades.  Agents of the Jewish resistance were smuggled outside to the Aryan side of Warsaw to purchase weapons on the black market. Stefan Korbonski was Head of the Polish Directorate of Civil Action (and one of the founders of the Polish Underground). In his book, "Polish Secret State", among the weapons that the Armia Krajowa donated to the Jewish Resistance, was 1 light machine gun, 2 submachine guns, 50 handguns (including magazines and ammunition), 10 rifles, 600 hand grenades with detonators, 30 kilograms of explosives (plastics received from the air drops), 120 kilograms of explosives of its own production, 400 detonators for bombs and grenades, 30 kilograms of potassium to make the incendiary "Molotov cocktails" and finally large quantities of saltpeter that were ingredients necessary to manufacture gun powder. They also provided the ZOB with invaluable assistance and instructions on how to manufacture bombs, hand grenades and incendiary bottles; how to build strong-holds; and where to get rails and cement for their construction.

POSTER DISTRIBUTED BY THE ZOB IN WARSAW WW2

 (English translation)

All people are equal brothers;
Brown, White, Black, and Yellow.
To separate peoples, colors, races -

Is but an act of cheating!

  
 

WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING - JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED BY NAZIS

On April 19th the Germans began to liquidate 35,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto and were surprised by fierce resistance from Jewish Fighters. The next day the Germans brought in tanks and armoured cars in an effort to quash the revolt but the Jews continued to fight back. For the days and weeks which followed there were gunshots, explosions and grenades. By the 28th of April the Germans began to set fires to the houses in the Ghetto, systematically, one by one, block by block until the Warsaw Ghetto was engulfed in flames.

SS NAZI STROOP WATCHES GHETTO IN FLAMES- WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

GERMAN TROOPS BURN DOWN WARSAW GHETTO - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

On May 6, 1943, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita published a statement of the Polish Government Delegatura, which vehemently denounced the German crimes against the Warsaw Ghetto.The Delegatura paid homage to the Jewish fighters and made an urgent appeal to all Polish citizens to help the Jews escape from the Ghetto. It was a heroic appeal but few had the courage to respond.  But to have helped the Jews would have meant certain death. (In 1941, the Nazis issued an edict that any Poles who helped the Jews would be condemned to death.)
 

The Jews suffered heavy casualties, but continued to

fight heroically, weapons in hand. They managed to kill

over 300 Germans and wounding 1,000 more.

Throughout the Uprising the secret Polish radio station SWIT, under the direction of Stefan Korbonski made numerous radio transmissions to the allies, giving daily reports on the course of the fighting in the Ghetto, and pleading for allied intervention. But their appeals feel on deaf ears. The Uprising ended in catastrophe and enormous loss of life. Tens of thousands of Jews were captured and deported, murdered or burned alive by the Germans.

JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED AND LINED UP AGAINST THE WALL - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

According to the underground newspaper Economic Bulletin, by May 15th, about 100,000 Jews had been killed during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 2,000 industrial locations and 3,000 commercial establishments and factories were completely burned or blown up. As the Germans were liquidating the Ghetto, several Jewish commanders and fighters of the ZOB were able to escape the Warsaw Ghetto with the help of their Polish compatriots, guided through the maze of underground sewers. Many Jewish fighters joined the Polish Underground and went on to fight in the Warsaw Uprising.

WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING - JEWISH WOMEN AND CHILDREN SURRENDER

JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED BY NAZIS - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ended tragically, and like that of the Warsaw Uprising which followed in 1944, became symbolic of the unquenchable determination and courage of the Poles and of the Jews to fight against impossible odds - even to the death. They held fast to the conviction that is was far better to die fighting, than to die on one's knees. This blog post is in tribute to the heroic Jewish fighters, and the Polish compatriots who risked their lives to help them.

ZOB FLAG - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

MONUMENT TO JEWISH FIGHTERS OF WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

SPY WEEK Famous Polish Spies - Stefan and Zofia Korbonski

Stefan and left with Zofia

Stefan and Zofia Korbonski

Stefan Korbonski (2 March 1901- 23 April 1989) was a Polish agrarian politician, lawyer, journalist and a notable member of the wartime authorities of the Polish Secret State. Among others, he was the last person to hold the post of the Government Delegate at Home. Arrested by the NKVD in 1945, he was released soon afterwards only to be forced into exile. He settled in the United States, where he remained active among the local Polish diaspora.

An active journalist, he was among the few people whose names were completely banned by the communist censorship in Poland.

Stefan Korboński was born March 2, 1901 in Praszka near Olesno but grew up in Częstochowa, where he was schooled at local gymnasium. In 1918 he volunteered for the ranks of the Lwów Eaglets and fought in the Defence of Lwów. After the besieged city was liberated, he returned home and volunteered for the Polish Army at the outbreak of the Polish-Soviet War. Following the end of hostilities, and subsequent demobilization he did not return home but instead volunteered for the third time - joining the ranks of Polish troops in the Third Silesian Uprising. For his valor in service he was awarded with the Virtuti Militari and the Silesian Cross.

Stefan Korbonski

"Lwow Eaglets, Defenders of the Cemetery"

Painting by Wojciech Kossak. 1926

Oil on Canvas, 90x120cm

Polish Army Museum, Warsaw

Command of the Polish Cavalry Regiment during Polish-Soviet War 1920

Silesian Insurgents

Zofia Korbonska

When border conflicts ended, Korbonski passed his matura exams and enrolled at the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan, where he graduated from the faculty of law. During his studies he became involved in politics and joined the Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie"  and then People's Party in 1931. Soon after he began working in the local Prosecutors Office and in 1929 started up his own practice in Warsaw. Meanwhile he rose through party ranks  and by 1936 became its chairman for the Bialystok Voivodeship (1919-1939). Korbonski married Zofia Antonina Ristau on 10 July 1938.Zofia was born in Warsaw on May 10, 1915. After graduating from the University of Warsaw's Institute of Political Science, she became her husband's dedicated partner in the cause of Polish patriotism.


World War II

Before the outbreak of World War II he was mobilized as part of the Polish Army and commissioned to the 57th Infantry Regiment in the rank of First Lieutenant. During the Polish Defensive War his unit was surrounded by the Red Army and Korbonski taken prisoner by the notorious NKVD. Fortunately he managed to escape. When reached the German-occupied part of Poland he was helped found the Polish underground and was an an active member of the Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ) and then the Armia Krajowa. Simultaneously, he was also one of the leaders of the clandestine People's Party, active within the system of the Secret Polish State.

In 1940 he became a member of the Political Communications Committee, a clandestine political division that was part of the underground army and slated to become the nucleus of the future Polish Parliament. In April of  1941, he became the Chief of the Directorate of Civil Struggle, whose mandate included the coordination and organization of civilian resistance, information and propaganda. During his term, Korbonski extended the scope of responsibilities of the Directorate by including the duty to maintain law and order as well as organizing a net of underground civil courts and coordinating the carrying out their verdicts by the National Security Corps.

Zofia Korbonska helped organize the underground radio station in 1941 which she used to send coded radio transmissions to the Polish government in exile in London. The Nazis prohibited the possession of radio equipment and to have been caught would have meant certain death for Zofia and her colleagues. Her dispatches spread the news about German atrocities committed against the Jews in Poland. The information was subsequently broadcast by the BBC.

In 1942, Stefan Korbonski became the head of Directorate of Civil Resistance and by July 1943, was also the head of the Social Resistance Department of the Directorate of Underground Resistance. Following the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, he also became Chief of the Department of Internal Affairs, a de facto Minister of internal affairs of occupied-Poland.   As a member of Armia Krajowa, Korboska also took part in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. In June 1945, she was arrested by NKVD together with her husband.

When Warsaw fell, Korbonski and his wife managed to evacuate the city as civilians and continued their duties in hiding. In March 1945, after the NKVD arrested Jan Stanislaw Jankowski, Korbonski became the last Government Delegate at Home and worked to rebuild a Government Delegacy.  Stefan and Zofia Korbonski were arrested by the NKVD in June of that year.

Stefan and Zofia were released from the Soviet prison following the creation of the communist-controlled Provisional Government of National Unity. He returned to the bar and active politics within the reactivated Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, the most popular party in Poland at the time and the main opposition to the Soviet-backed communist regime. Thirty of the 145 seats in the post-war government were offered to non-Soviet supported group and it was planned for Korbonski to be part of the post-war government but his name was removed by Bierut. In the forged 1947 elections he was also an elected member of the Sejm but with the rise of Stalinism, the small margin of political freedom that existed in Poland was extinguished. Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, Korbonski and his wife were forced to flee Poland, making their way to Sweden, hiding in a ship transporting coal and then made their way to the United States where they lived since November 1947.  Zofia worked in the Voice of America and Polish American Congress.

Korbonski continued his political career in the U.S. within Polish emigree circles. He headed the New York office in 1950 and became a noted journalist, a head of the Polish Council of Unity and a member of the International PEN Club. Among many awards, he received the Alfred Jurzykowski Prize in 1973,   the Righteous Among the Nations medal, in 1980, conferred by Yad Vashem Institute. He was also the recipient of the Cross of the Home Army, the 1939-1945 War Medal, Golden Cross of Merit and the Order of the White Eagle (posthumously in 1995).

In 2006 Zofia Korbonska was conferred the title of Honorary Citizen of the Capital City of Warsaw. President of Poland Lech Kaczyński decorated her with the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. She struggled with illness for several years before her death on 16 August 2010 and was buried at the Polish Cemetery in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (awarded to Zofia Korbonska.)

MEDALS AWARDED TO STEFAN KORBONSKI

 

 Virtuti Militari

 Silesian Cross Medal

 Righteous Among Nations Medal

Cross of the Home Army

Polish War Medal

Golden Cross of Merit

Order of the White Eagle

Source: Wikipedia

Suggested links:
Read Complete Book online of "Warsaw Fighting" by Stefan Korbonski

Announcement of Directorate for Civil Action - Responses to Acts of Treason

Source for Collection of Stefan Korbonski's Papers - For Researchers

Zofia Korbonski, Polish Patriot

August 16, 2010 Death of Zofia Korbonska, Washington Post 

Editors Note:  FYI:  The images of medals posted here may or may not be the exact version which was awarded to the recipient.  There are several classes for each medal depending on various factors such as type of military (or civilian) service, rank of officer (or soldier), class of award, year in which it was awarded, etc   The lack of sufficient information on the web (or omission) has compounded the difficulty in selecting the correct class of medal. I apologize for any inaccuracies.