The Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny ( WIG ) was the Polish Military Geographical Institute from 1919 until 1949. Colonel Józef Kreutzinger was the Head of the Institute from 1926.
169-537: When Poland regained its independence in 1918 it faced a challenge of making a new set of maps for a new country. The invaders left behind nine triangulation systems with 8 reference points. The Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny , originally called the Instytut Wojskowo-Geograficzny (the "Geographic-Military Institute") was set up in 1919 in Warsaw . Its first task was to form a coherent and updated system from
338-611: A Peenemünde launch, a Special Report 1/R, no. 242 , photographs, eight key V-2 parts, and drawings of the wreckage. Polish agents also provided reports on the German war production, morale, and troop movements. The Polish intelligence network extended beyond Poland and even beyond Europe: for example, the intelligence network organized by Mieczysław Zygfryd Słowikowski in North Africa has been described as "the only [A]llied ... network in North Africa". The Polish network even had two agents in
507-642: A Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland ( Tymczasowy Rząd Ludowy Republiki Polskiej ) in Lublin. On Sunday, 10 November at 7 a.m., Józef Piłsudski , newly freed from 16 months in a German prison in Magdeburg , returned by train to Warsaw. Piłsudski, together with Colonel Kazimierz Sosnkowski , was greeted at Warsaw's railway station by Regent Zdzisław Lubomirski and by Colonel Adam Koc . Next day, due to his popularity and support from most political parties,
676-520: A voivodeship (see Administrative division of Second Polish Republic ). There were three to five areas: Warsaw ( Obszar Warszawski , with some sources differentiating between left- and right-bank areas – Obszar Warszawski prawo- i lewobrzeżny ), Western ( Obszar Zachodni , in the Pomerania and Poznań regions), and Southeastern ( Obszar Południowo-Wschodni , in the Lwów area); sources vary on whether there
845-557: A basis for the American AMS ( Army Map Service ) maps of Poland in the scale 1:100,000 produced from 1944 onwards, as well as for the British 1:250,000 and 1:500,000 air maps of Poland from the same period. After World War II, AMS also produced in 1952 a set of 1:25,000 maps of Poland (AMS 851 series), which was a melange of German (1:25,000, Messtischblatt), Polish (WIG 1:25,000) and Russian (1:42,000, 1:84,000) sources. Last noted use of WIG map
1014-622: A controversial topic. As Polish–Soviet relations deteriorated, conflict grew between the Home Army and Soviet forces. The Home Army's allegiance to the Polish government-in-exile caused the Soviet government to consider the Home Army to be an impediment to the introduction of a communist -friendly government in Poland, which hindered cooperation and in some cases led to outright conflict. On 19 January 1945, after
1183-520: A coup in 1926 , after his death in 1935 Pilsudskites ruling the Republic began to openly discriminate against its Jewish (and, to a lesser extent, its Ukrainian) citizens, restricting Jewish entry into professions and placing limitations on Jewish businesses. The official name of the state was the Republic of Poland . In the Polish language , it was referred to as Rzeczpospolita Polska ( abbr. RP ), with
1352-606: A coverage of southern strip of Poland, up to the line of Katowice (and perhaps further north). After the Soviet Union invaded Poland on 17 September 1939 several officers of the Institute were captured by the Red Army, some executed on the spot, others later murdered in the well-known Soviet Katyń massacre . Of those who survived, some joined the "Anders' Army" marching out of the Soviet Union to Iran in 1942, while others, later on, joined
1521-453: A few days before the outbreak of war. During the German invasion in September 1939 the wartime map distribution system broke down due to unexpectedly rapid German advance, and Polish units often lacked detailed topographic maps of the areas in which they were fighting. After World War II broke out the Institute was evacuated, first to Lemberg (Lwów, Lviv) and via Romania to France , where it
1690-513: A four-colour version became the standard type (known as “normal type” or referred to as the “tactical map of Poland”). By 1939 all 482 sheets for the area of pre-war Poland were published, together with around 280 additional sheets ( wyłącznie do użytku służbowego or “for internal use only”) to cover the adjacent areas of neighbouring countries, i.e., USSR , Lithuania , Germany , Czechoslovakia and Romania . WIG also produced several detailed, multicolour maps of popular tourist destinations (e.g.,
1859-497: A graduate of high school received a big matura , which enabled them to seek university-level education. Before 1918, Poland had three universities: Jagiellonian University , the University of Warsaw and Lwów University . The Catholic University of Lublin was established in 1918; Adam Mickiewicz University , Poznań, in 1919; and finally, in 1922, after the annexation of the Republic of Central Lithuania , Wilno University became
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#17328866239022028-402: A major reform which introduced two main levels of education: common school ( szkoła powszechna ), with three levels – 4 grades + 2 grades + 1 grade; and middle school ( szkoła średnia ), with two levels – 4 grades of comprehensive middle school and 2 grades of specified high school (classical, humanistic, natural and mathematical). A graduate of middle school received a small matura , while
2197-643: A major resource; between the French capitulation and other Allied networks that were undeveloped at the time, it was even described as "the only [A]llied intelligence assets on the Continent". According to Marek Ney-Krwawicz [ pl ] , for the Western Allies, the intelligence provided by the Home Army was considered to be the best source of information on the Eastern Front. Home Army intelligence provided
2366-581: A new edition of 1:100,000 to cover the whole of Poland (known in Poland under the informal name of "Borowa Gora"), and was active until 1949. During the Stalinist purges of the 1940s and early 1950s, most of the senior staff were arrested and the Institute was disbanded. Its functions were taken over by the Oddział Topograficzny (IX) Sztabu Generalnego WP ("Topographic Section IX of the General Staff of
2535-566: A number of places from German control—for example, the Lublin area, where regional structures were able to set up a functioning government—they ultimately failed to secure sufficient territory to enable the government-in-exile to return to Poland due to Soviet hostility. The Home Army also sabotaged German rail- and road-transports to the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union. Richard J. Crampton estimated that an eighth of all German transports to
2704-462: A pre-WW2 eastern border of Poland with the Soviet Union. In the same manner, GSGS produced copies of all of the WIG 1:300,000 maps, which were by 1944 superseded by 1:250,000 maps of Central Europe (GSGS 4346). Also, prior to the partition of Czechoslovakia, Czech army topographers copied some WIG 1:100 000. Although no written sources have been identified, several sheets of those maps are known which indicate
2873-582: A series of three Silesian Uprisings . The most critical military conflict of that period, however, the Polish–Soviet War (1919-1921), ended in a decisive Polish victory. The Second Polish Republic was a parliamentary democracy from 1919 (see Small Constitution of 1919 ) to 1926, with the President having limited powers. The Parliament elected him, and he could appoint the Prime Minister as well as
3042-485: A sewer system unit. Many women participated in the Warsaw Uprising, particularly as medics or scouts; they were estimated to form about 75% of the insurgent medical personnel. By the end of the uprising, there were about 5,000 female casualties among the insurgents, with over 2,000 female soldiers taken captive; the latter number reported in contemporary press caused a "European sensation". Home Army Headquarters
3211-407: A share of 1.6% (solely identifying with a non-Polish ethnic group) or 3.8% (including those identifying with both the Polish ethnicity and with another ethnic group) in 2011. The first spontaneous flight of about 500,000 Poles from the Soviet Union occurred during the reconstitution of sovereign Poland. In the second wave, between November 1919 and June 1924, some 1,200,000 people left the territory of
3380-510: A twenty-day siege. Open organised Polish resistance ended on 6 October 1939 after the Battle of Kock , with Germany and the Soviet Union occupying most of the country. Lithuania annexed the area of Wilno , and Slovakia seized areas along Poland's southern border – including Górna Orawa and Tatranská Javorina - which Poland had annexed from Czechoslovakia in October 1938. Poland did not surrender to
3549-639: A vaccine against typhus. Bronisław Malinowski counted among the most important anthropologists of the 20th century. In Polish literature , the 1920s were marked by the domination of poetry. Polish poets were divided into two groups – the Skamanderites ( Jan Lechoń , Julian Tuwim , Antoni Słonimski and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz ) and the Futurists ( Anatol Stern , Bruno Jasieński , Aleksander Wat , Julian Przyboś ). Apart from well-established novelists ( Stefan Żeromski , Władysław Reymont ), new names appeared in
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#17328866239023718-465: Is on an AMS 1:50,000 map of Czechoslovakia from Bieszczady area, dated mid-1955, which is based on a war-time German 1:50,000 map, which in turn, is a magnified WIG 1:100,000. WIG was re-activated in Warsaw after the war (maps and machinery was returned from Scotland in 1945 - 1948). From 1945 onwards the Institute was active, copying both pre-war maps and producing new ones, particularly, from 1948 onwards,
3887-449: The Kubuś armored car ). Even these light-infantry units were as a rule armed with a mixture of weapons of various types, usually in quantities sufficient to arm only a fraction of a unit's soldiers. Home Army arms and equipment came mostly from four sources: arms that had been buried by the Polish armies on battlefields after the 1939 invasion of Poland , arms purchased or captured from
4056-403: The 1921 census , the number of inhabitants was 25.7 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, this had grown to an estimated 35.1 million. Almost a third of the population came from minority groups : 13.9% Ukrainians ; 10% Ashkenazi Jews ; 3.1% Belarusians ; 2.3% Germans and 3.4% Czechs and Lithuanians . At the same time, a significant number of ethnic Poles lived outside
4225-490: The 1938 Polish ultimatum to Lithuania ). On top of this, there were natural disasters, such as the 1934 flood in Poland . Interbellum Poland was unofficially divided into two parts – better developed "Poland A" in the west, and underdeveloped "Poland B" in the east. Polish industry was concentrated in the west, mostly in Polish Upper Silesia , and the adjacent Lesser Poland 's province of Zagłębie Dąbrowskie , where
4394-736: The Austrian , the Prussian , and the Russian imperial powers, Poland re-emerged as a sovereign state at the end of the First World War in Europe in 1917–1918. The victorious Allies of the First World War confirmed the rebirth of Poland in the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. It was one of the great stories of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference . Poland solidified its independence in a series of border wars fought by
4563-642: The Eastern Front in the Soviet Union, destroying German supplies and tying down substantial German forces. It also fought pitched battles against the Germans, particularly in 1943 and in Operation Tempest from January 1944. The Home Army's most widely known operation was the Warsaw Uprising of August–October 1944. The Home Army also defended Polish civilians against atrocities by Germany's Ukrainian and Lithuanian collaborators . Its attitude toward Jews remains
4732-690: The Free City of Danzig , Lithuania , Latvia , Romania and the Soviet Union . It had access to the Baltic Sea via a short strip of coastline known as the Polish Corridor on either side of the city of Gdynia . Between March and August 1939, Poland also shared a border with the then- Hungarian governorate of Subcarpathia . In 1938, the Second Republic was the sixth largest country in Europe. According to
4901-523: The German Empire , being much more developed and prosperous. Frequent border closures and a customs war with Germany also had negative economic impacts on Poland. In 1924, Prime Minister Władysław Grabski , who was also the Economic Minister, introduced the złoty as a single common currency for Poland (replacing the marka), which remained a stable currency. The currency helped Poland to control
5070-555: The Imperial Russian rouble , the Austrian krone , the Polish marka and the Ostrubel ) and with little or no direct infrastructural links. The situation was so bad that neighbouring industrial centres, as well as major cities, lacked direct railway links because they had been parts of different jurisdictions and different empires. For example, there was no direct railway connection between Warsaw and Kraków until 1934. This situation
5239-704: The Katyn massacre of 1940. Until the major rising in 1944, the Home Army concentrated on self-defense (the freeing of prisoners and hostages, defense against German pacification operations) and on attacks against German forces. Home Army units carried out thousands of armed raids and intelligence operations, sabotaged hundreds of railway shipments, and participated in many partisan clashes and battles with German police and Wehrmacht units. The Home Army also assassinated prominent Nazi collaborators and Gestapo officials in retaliation against Nazi terror inflicted on Poland's civilian population; prominent individuals assassinated by
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5408-643: The Ludowe Wojsko Polskie (the "Polish People's Army" formed in the USSR in 1943). A few officers who returned to Warsaw by 1940, either voluntarily or under threat went back to work for the German-run Institute which became the biggest hub of German war-time map production in Nazi Germany ( Kriegskarten und Vermessungsamt II ). There are reports of some collaboration while, at the same time, a resistance cell
5577-488: The Polish nation and challenging the legitimacy of the communist government in Warsaw. In 1990, the last president in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski , handed the presidential insignia to the newly elected President , Lech Wałęsa , signifying continuity between the Second and Third republics. Armia Krajowa The Home Army ( Polish : Armia Krajowa , pronounced [ˈarmja kraˈjɔva] ; abbreviated AK )
5746-461: The Red Army had cleared most Polish territory of German forces, the Home Army was disbanded. After the war, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, communist government propaganda portrayed the Home Army as an oppressive and reactionary force. Thousands of ex-Home Army personnel were deported to gulags and Soviet prisons, while other ex-members, including a number of senior commanders, were executed. After
5915-476: The Russian-ruled part of what became Poland . In a failed attempt to resolve the Polish question as quickly as possible, Berlin set up the puppet Kingdom of Poland on 14 January 1917, with a governing Provisional Council of State and (from 15 October 1917) a Regency Council ( Rada Regencyjna Królestwa Polskiego ). The Council administered the country under German auspices (see also Mitteleuropa ), pending
6084-561: The Second World War in September 1939 ended the sovereign Second Polish Republic. The German invasion of Poland began on 1 September 1939, one week after Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . On that day, Germany and Slovakia attacked Poland, and on 17 September the Soviets attacked eastern Poland . Warsaw fell to the Nazis on 28 September after
6253-548: The Soviet Union (0.8%) was virtually nonexistent. Czechoslovakia accounted for 3.9%, Latvia for 0.3%, and Romania for 0.8%. By mid-1938, after the Anschluss with Austria , Greater Germany was responsible for as much as 23% of Polish foreign trade. Piłsudski's regime followed the conservative free-market economic tradition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth throughout its existence. Poland had one of
6422-695: The Tatra Mountains ), for walkers and skiers, as well as 1:300,000 road map of Poland, city plans, etc. Between 1927 and 1939 the Institute published, together with a section of Geograficzne Towarzystwo Wiedzy Wojskowej ("Geographic Society of Military Science"), the Wiadomości Służby Geograficznej (the Geographic Service News Quarterly ). Around 50 volumes (up to 300 pages each) are known to have been published. They include valuable historical and geographical information on
6591-494: The Warsaw Uprising began, only a sixth of Home Army fighters in Warsaw were armed. Home Army members' attitudes toward Jews varied widely from unit to unit, and the topic remains controversial. The Home Army answered to the National Council of the Polish government-in-exile, where some Jews served in leadership positions (e.g. Ignacy Schwarzbart and Szmul Zygielbojm ), though there were no Jewish representatives in
6760-589: The fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, the portrayal of the Home Army was no longer subject to government censorship and propaganda. The Home Army originated in the Service for Poland's Victory ( Służba Zwycięstwu Polski ), which General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski set up on 27 September 1939, just as the coordinated German and Soviet invasions of Poland neared completion. Seven weeks later, on 17 November 1939, on orders from General Władysław Sikorski ,
6929-675: The "London government" fully aware of the other's situation. After Germany started its invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the Soviet Union joined the Allies and signed the Anglo-Soviet Agreement on 12 July 1941. This put the Polish government in a difficult position since it had previously pursued a policy of "two enemies". Although a Polish–Soviet agreement was signed in August 1941, cooperation continued to be difficult and deteriorated further after 1943 when Nazi Germany publicised
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7098-402: The 1939 Statistical Yearbook of Poland , the total length of the railways in Poland (as of 31 December 1937) was 20,118 km (12,501 mi). Rail density was 5.2 km (3.2 mi) per 100 km (39 sq mi). Railways were very dense in the western part of the country, while in the east, especially Polesie , rail was non-existent in some counties. During the interbellum period,
7267-512: The Allied armed effort much more effectively than subversive and guerilla activities". The Home Army also conducted psychological warfare . Its Operation N created the illusion of a German movement opposing Adolf Hitler within Germany itself. The Home Army published a weekly Biuletyn Informacyjny (Information Bulletin), with a top circulation (on 25 November 1943) of 50,000 copies. Sabotage
7436-773: The Allies with information on German concentration camps and the Holocaust in Poland (including the first reports on this subject received by the Allies ), German submarine operations, and, most famously, the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket . In one Project Big Ben mission ( Operation Wildhorn III ; Polish cryptonym , Most III , "Bridge III"), a stripped-for-lightness RAF twin-engine Dakota flew from Brindisi , Italy , to an abandoned German airfield in Poland to pick up intelligence prepared by Polish aircraft-designer Antoni Kocjan , including 100 lb (45 kg) of V-2 rocket wreckage from
7605-578: The Allies; 48 per cent of all reports received by the British secret services from continental Europe between 1939 and 1945 came from Polish sources. The total number of those reports is estimated at 80,000, and 85 per cent of them were deemed to be high quality or better. The Polish intelligence network grew rapidly; near the end of the war, it had over 1,600 registered agents. The Western Allies had limited intelligence assets in Central and Eastern Europe. The extensive in-place Polish intelligence network proved
7774-448: The Eastern Front were destroyed or substantially delayed due to Home Army operations. The Polish Resistance carried out dozens of attacks on German commanders in Poland, the largest series being that codenamed " Operation Heads ". Dozens of additional assassinations were carried out, the best-known being: As a clandestine army operating in an enemy-occupied country and separated by over a thousand kilometers from any friendly territory,
7943-600: The German high command itself. The researchers who produced the first Polish–British in-depth monograph on Home Army intelligence ( Intelligence Co-operation Between Poland and Great Britain During World War II: Report of the Anglo-Polish Historical Committee , 2005) described contributions of Polish intelligence to the Allied victory as "disproportionally large" and argued that "the work performed by Home Army intelligence undoubtedly supported
8112-449: The Germans (the forest people are estimated at some 40 groups, numbering 1,200–4,000 persons in early 1943, but their numbers grew substantially during Operation Tempest ). The third, largest group were "part-time members": sympathisers who led "double lives" under their real names in their real homes, received no payment for their services, and stayed in touch with their undercover unit commanders but were seldom mustered for operations, as
8281-419: The Germans and their allies, arms clandestinely manufactured by the Home Army itself, and arms received from Allied air drops. From arms caches hidden in 1939, the Home Army obtained 614 heavy machine guns, 1,193 light machine guns, 33,052 rifles, 6,732 pistols, 28 antitank light field guns, 25 antitank rifles, and 43,154 hand grenades. However, due to their inadequate preservation, which had to be improvised in
8450-399: The Germans in 1943, was Stefan Rowecki ( nom de guerre " Grot ", "Spearhead"). Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski (Tadeusz Komorowski, nom de guerre " Bór ", "Forest") commanded from July 1943 until his surrender to the Germans when the Warsaw Uprising was suppressed in October 1944. Leopold Okulicki , nom de guerre Niedzwiadek ("Bear"), led the Home Army in its final days. The Home Army
8619-691: The Government Delegation for Poland. Traditionally, Polish historiography has presented the Home Army interactions with Jews in a positive light, while Jewish historiography has been mostly negative; most Jewish authors attribute the Home Army's hostility to endemic antisemitism in Poland . More recent scholarship has presented a mixed, ambivalent view of Home Army–Jewish relations. Both "profoundly disturbing acts of violence as well as extraordinary acts of aid and compassion" have been reported. In an analysis by Joshua D. Zimmerman , postwar testimonies of Holocaust survivors reveal that their experiences with
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#17328866239028788-506: The Holocaust to the Western powers, after having personally visited the Warsaw Ghetto and a Nazi concentration camp. Another crucial role was played by Witold Pilecki , who was the only person to volunteer to be imprisoned at Auschwitz (where he would spend three and a half years) to organize a resistance on the inside and to gather information on the atrocities occurring there to inform
8957-419: The Home Army faced unique challenges in acquiring arms and equipment, though it was able to overcome these difficulties to some extent and to field tens of thousands of armed soldiers. Nevertheless, the difficult conditions meant that only infantry forces armed with light weapons could be fielded. Any use of artillery, armor or aircraft was impossible (except for a few instances during the Warsaw Uprising, such as
9126-586: The Home Army had closer ties and ideological similarities. Antoni Chruściel , commander of the Home Army in Warsaw, ordered the entire armory of the Wola district transferred to the ghetto. In January 1943 the Home Army delivered a larger shipment of 50 pistols, 50 hand grenades, and several kilograms of explosives, along with a number of smaller shipments that carried a total of 70 pistols, 10 rifles, 2 hand machine guns, 1 light machine gun, ammunition, and over 150 kilograms of explosives. The number of supplies provided to
9295-576: The Home Army in its own secret workshops, and by Home Army members working in German armaments factories. In this way the Home Army was able to procure submachine guns (copies of British Stens , indigenous Błyskawicas and KIS ), pistols ( Vis ), flamethrowers, explosive devices, road mines, and Filipinka and Sidolówka hand grenades . Hundreds of people were involved in the manufacturing effort. The Home Army did not produce its own ammunition, but relied on supplies stolen by Polish workers from German-run factories. The final source of supply
9464-497: The Home Army in order to survive in hiding, but Jews serving in the Home Army were the exception rather than the rule. Most Jews in hiding could not pass as ethnic Poles and would have faced deadly consequences if discovered. In February 1942, the Home Army Operational Command's Office of Information and Propaganda set up a Section for Jewish Affairs, directed by Henryk Woliński . This section collected data about
9633-468: The Home Army included Elżbieta Zawacka , an underground courier who was sometimes called the only female Cichociemna . Grażyna Lipińska [ pl ] organised an intelligence network in German-occupied Belarus in 1942–1944. Janina Karasiówna [ pl ] and Emilia Malessa were high-ranking officers described as "holding top posts" within the communication branch of
9802-465: The Home Army included Igo Sym (1941) and Franz Kutschera (1944). In February 1942, when the Home Army was formed from the Armed Resistance, it numbered around 100,000 members. Less than a year later, at the start of 1943, it had reached a strength of around 200,000. In the summer of 1944, when Operation Tempest began, the Home Army reached its highest membership: estimates of membership in
9971-402: The Home Army planned to use them only during a planned nationwide rising. The Home Army was intended to be representative of the Polish nation, and its members were recruited from most parties and social classes. Its growth was largely based on integrating scores of smaller resistance organisations into its ranks; most of the other Polish underground armed organizations were incorporated into
10140-639: The Home Army were mixed even if predominantly negative. Jews trying to seek refuge from Nazi genocidal policies were often exposed to greater danger by open resistance to German occupation. Members of the Home Army were named Righteous Among the Nations for risking their lives to save Jews, examples include Jan Karski , Aleksander Kamiński , Stefan Korboński , Henryk Woliński , Jan Żabiński , Władysław Bartoszewski , Mieczysław Fogg , Henryk Iwański , and Jan Dobraczyński . However, Polish historian Ewa Kołomańska noted that many individuals associated with
10309-684: The Home Army, involved in rescuing the Jews, did not receive the Righteous title. A Jewish partisan detachment served in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising , and another in Hanaczów [ pl ] . The Home Army provided training and supplies to the Warsaw Ghetto 's Jewish Combat Organization . It is likely that more Jews fought in the Warsaw Uprising than in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, some fought in both. Thousands of Jews joined, or claimed to join,
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#173288662390210478-460: The Home Army, though they retained varying degrees of autonomy. The largest organization that merged into the Home Army was the leftist Peasants' Battalions ( Bataliony Chłopskie ) around 1943–1944, and parts of the National Armed Forces ( Narodowe Siły Zbrojne ) became subordinate to the Home Army. In turn, individual Home Army units varied substantially in their political outlooks, notably in their attitudes toward ethnic minorities and toward
10647-447: The Jewish resistance would be futile. This reasoning was the norm among the Allies , who believed that the Holocaust could only be halted by a significant military action. The Home Army provided the Warsaw Ghetto with firearms, ammunition, and explosives, but only after it was convinced of the eagerness of the Jewish Combat Organization ( Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa , ŻOB) to fight, and after Władysław Sikorski 's intervention on
10816-507: The Jews from all spheres of social, economic, and cultural life in Poland". The government in response organised the Camp of National Unity (OZON), which in 1938 took control of the Polish Sejm and subsequently drafted anti-Semitic legislation similar to the Anti-Jewish laws in Germany, Hungary, and Romania. OZON advocated mass emigration of Jews from Poland, numerus clausus (see also Ghetto benches ), and other limitations on Jewish rights. According to William W. Hagen , by 1939, prior to
10985-436: The Jews. The fact remains that its leadership did not want to do so." Rowecki's attitudes shifted in the following months as the brutal reality of the Holocaust became more apparent, and the Polish public support for the Jewish resistance increased. Rowecki was willing to provide Jewish fighters with aid and resources when it contributed to "the greater war effort", but had concluded that providing large quantities of supplies to
11154-411: The National Council of the Principality of Cieszyn (established in November 1918), the Republic of Zakopane and the Polish Liquidation Committee (28 October). Soon afterward, the Polish–Ukrainian War broke out in Lwów (1 November 1918) between forces of the Military Committee of Ukrainians and the Polish irregular units made up of students known as the Lwów Eaglets , who were later supported by
11323-403: The Organization's behalf. Zimmerman describes the supplies as "limited but real". Jewish fighters of the Jewish Military Union ( Żydowski Związek Wojskowy , ŻZW) received from the Home Army, among other things, 2 heavy machine guns, 4 light machine guns, 21 submachine guns, 30 rifles, 50 pistols, and over 400 grenades. Some supplies were also provided to the ŻOB, but less than to ŻZW with whom
11492-487: The People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus (22 October 1939), annexed eastern Poland partly to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic , and partly to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (November 1939). Polish war plans ( Plan West and Plan East ) failed as soon as Germany invaded in 1939. The Polish losses in combat against Germans (killed and missing in action) amounted to ca. 70,000 men. Some 420,000 of them were taken prisoners. Losses against
11661-412: The Poles receiving no aid from the approaching Red Army, the Germans eventually defeated the insurrectionists and burned the city, quelling the Uprising on 2 October 1944. Other major Home Army city risings included Operation Ostra Brama in Wilno and the Lwów Uprising . The Home Army also prepared for a rising in Kraków but aborted due to various circumstances. While the Home Army managed to liberate
11830-461: The Poles to regain their national sovereignty, particularly after Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941 and the Soviets joined the Western Allies in the war against Germany. In the end, despite all efforts, most Home Army forces had inadequate weaponry. In 1944, when the Home Army was at its peak strength (200,000–600,000, according to various estimates), the Home Army had enough weaponry for only about 32,000 soldiers." On 1 August 1944, when
11999-404: The Polish 18th Lancer Regiment near Chojnice. This arose from misreporting of a single clash on 1 September 1939 near Krojanty , when two squadrons of the Polish 18th Lancers armed with sabers surprised and wiped out a German infantry formation with a mounted saber charge. Shortly after midnight the 2nd (Motorized) Division was compelled to withdraw by Polish cavalry, before the Poles were caught in
12168-645: The Polish Army (see Battle of Lwów (1918) , Battle of Przemyśl (1918) ). Meanwhile, in western Poland, another war of national liberation began under the banner of the Greater Poland uprising (1918–1919) . In January 1919, Czechoslovak forces attacked Polish units in the area of Trans-Olza (see Polish–Czechoslovak War ). Soon afterwards, the Polish–Lithuanian War (ca 1919–1920) began, and, in August 1919, Polish-speaking residents of Upper Silesia initiated
12337-412: The Polish Army") and Wojskowe Zakłady Kartograficzne (the "Military Cartographic Works"). Nowadays the maps by WIG are a valuable source of information not only for the historians, but also for tourists and people searching for their roots. In recent years mainly the maps of popular hiking areas have been reprinted by several Polish publishers. Currently there is an ongoing effort to collect and scan all
12506-468: The Polish Government constructed several new lines, mainly in the central part of the country (see also Polish State Railroads Summer 1939 ). Construction of the extensive Warszawa Główna railway station was never finished due to the war, while Polish railways were famous for their punctuality (see Luxtorpeda , Strzała Bałtyku , Latający Wilnianin ). In the interbellum, the road network of Poland
12675-575: The Polish Parliament created the State Road Fund, the purpose of which was to collect money for the construction and conservation of roads. The government drafted a 10-year plan, with road priorities: a highway from Wilno, through Warsaw and Kraków, to Zakopane (called Marshal Piłsudski Highway), asphalt highways from Warsaw to Poznań and Łódź, as well as a Warsaw ring road. However, the plan turned out to be too ambitious, with insufficient money in
12844-472: The Polish economy by the German and Russian occupying powers, and the sabotage performed by retreating armies, the new republic was faced with the task of economically unifying disparate economic regions, which had previously been part of different countries and different empires. Within the borders of the Republic were the remnants of three different economic systems, with five different currencies (the German mark ,
13013-517: The Polish–Soviet War, Marshal Piłsudski led an intentionally modest life, writing historical books for a living. After he took power through a military coup in May 1926, he emphasised that he wanted to heal Polish society and politics of excessive partisan politics. His regime, accordingly, was called Sanacja in Polish. The 1928 parliamentary elections were still considered free and fair, although
13182-418: The Red Army (which invaded Poland on 17 September) added up to 6,000 to 7,000 of casualties and MIA, 250,000 were taken prisoners. Although the Polish Army – considering the inactivity of the Allies – was in an unfavourable position – it managed to inflict serious losses to the enemies: 20,000 German soldiers were killed or MIA, 674 tanks and 319 armored vehicles destroyed or badly damaged, 230 aircraft shot down;
13351-464: The Red Army lost (killed and MIA) about 2,500 soldiers, 150 combat vehicles and 20 aircraft. The Soviet invasion of Poland, and lack of promised aid from the Western Allies, contributed to the Polish forces defeat by 6 October 1939. A popular myth is that Polish cavalry armed with lances charged German tanks during the September 1939 campaign. This often repeated account, first reported by Italian journalists as German propaganda , concerned an action by
13520-896: The Regency Council appointed Piłsudski as Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. On 14 November, the Council dissolved itself and transferred all its authority to Piłsudski as Chief of State ( Naczelnik Państwa ). After consultation with Piłsudski, Daszyński's government dissolved itself and a new government formed under Jędrzej Moraczewski . In 1918, the Kingdom of Italy became the first country in Europe to recognise Poland's renewed sovereignty. Centres of government that formed at that time in Galicia (formerly Austrian-ruled southern Poland) included
13689-601: The Regency Council appointed a new government under Józef Świeżyński and began conscription into the Polish Army . In 1918–1919, over 100 workers' councils sprang up on Polish territories; on 5 November 1918, in Lublin , the first Soviet of Delegates was established. On 6 November socialists proclaimed the Republic of Tarnobrzeg at Tarnobrzeg in Austrian Galicia . The same day the Socialist, Ignacy Daszyński , set up
13858-573: The Republic's sixth university. There were also three technical colleges : the Warsaw University of Technology , Lwów Polytechnic and the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, established in 1919. Warsaw University of Life Sciences was an agricultural institute. By 1939, there were around 50,000 students enrolled in further education. 28% of students at universities were women, which
14027-575: The Second Polish Republic in its final years is frequently referred to as Piłsudski's colonels . Interwar Poland had a large army of 270,000 soldiers on active duty: in 37 infantry divisions, 11 cavalry brigades, and two armored brigades, plus artillery units. Another 700,000 men served in the reserves. At the outbreak of the war, the Polish Army was able to put in the field almost one million soldiers, 4,300 guns, around 1,000 armored vehicles including in between 200 and 300 tanks (the majority of
14196-557: The Service for Poland's Victory was superseded by the Armed Resistance ( Związek Walki Zbrojnej ), which in turn, a little over two years later, on 14 February 1942, became the Home Army. During that time, many other resistance organisations remained active in Poland, although most of them, merged with the Armed Resistance or with its successor, the Home Army, and substantially augmented its numbers between 1939 and 1944. The Home Army
14365-507: The Soviets. The largest group that completely refused to join the Home Army was the pro-Soviet, communist People's Army ( Armia Ludowa ), which numbered 30,000 people at its height in 1944. Home Army ranks included a number of female operatives. Most women worked in the communications branch, where many held leadership roles or served as couriers. Approximately a seventh to a tenth of the Home Army insurgents were female. Notable women in
14534-401: The USSR for Poland. It is estimated that some 460,000 of them spoke Polish as the first language. According to the 1931 Polish Census : 69% of the population was Polish, 14% were Ukrainian, around 10% Jewish, 3% Belarusian, 2% German and 3% other, including Lithuanian, Czech, Armenian, Russian, and Romani. The situation of minorities was a complex subject and changed during the period. Poland
14703-584: The Ukrainian state were suppressed and any existent violence or terrorism initiated by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists was emphasised to create the image of a "brutal Eastern savage". The Second Polish Republic was mainly flat with an average elevation of 233 m (764 ft) above sea level , except for the southernmost Carpathian Mountains (after the Second World War and its border changes,
14872-686: The West (the Silent Unseen ). The basic organizational unit was the platoon, numbering 35–50 people, with an unmobilized skeleton version of 16–25; in February 1944, the Home Army had 6,287 regular and 2,613 skeleton platoons operational. Such numbers made the Home Army not only the largest Polish resistance movement, but one of the two largest in World War II Europe. Casualties during the war are estimated at 34,000 to 100,000, plus some 20,000 –50,000 after
15041-592: The Western Allies about the fate of the Jewish population . Home Army reports from March 1943 described crimes committed by the Germans against the Jewish populace. AK commander General Stefan Rowecki estimated that 640,000 people had been murdered in Auschwitz between 1940 and March 1943, including 66,000 ethnic Poles and 540,000 Jews from various countries (this figure was revised later to 500,000). The Home Army started carrying out death sentences for szmalcowniks in Warsaw in
15210-415: The armored vehicles were outclassed tankettes ) and 745 aircraft (however, only around 450 of them were bombers and fighters available to fight as of 1 September 1939). The training of the Polish Army was thorough. The non-commissioned officers were a competent body of men with expert knowledge and high ideals. The officers, both senior and junior, constantly refreshed their training in the field and in
15379-527: The average elevation of Poland decreased to 173 m (568 ft)). Only 13% of territory, along the southern border, was higher than 300 m (980 ft). The highest elevation in the country was Mount Rysy , which rises 2,499 m (8,199 ft) in the Tatra Range of the Carpathians, approximately 95 km (59 mi) south of Kraków . Between October 1938 and September 1939, the highest elevation
15548-704: The bulk of coal mines and steel plants was located. Furthermore, heavy industry plants were located in Częstochowa ( Huta Częstochowa , founded in 1896), Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski ( Huta Ostrowiec , founded in 1837–1839), Stalowa Wola (brand new industrial city, which was built from scratch in 1937 – 1938), Chrzanów ( Fablok , founded in 1919), Jaworzno , Trzebinia (oil refinery, opened in 1895), Łódź (the seat of Polish textile industry), Poznań ( H. Cegielski – Poznań ), Kraków and Warsaw ( Ursus Factory ). Further east, in Kresy , industrial centres included two major cities of
15717-549: The chaos of the September Campaign, most of the guns were in poor condition. Of those that had been buried in the ground and had been dug up in 1944 during preparations for Operation Tempest, only 30% were usable. Arms were sometimes purchased on the black market from German soldiers or their allies, or stolen from German supply depots or transports. Efforts to capture weapons from the Germans also proved highly successful. Raids were conducted on trains carrying equipment to
15886-632: The characteristic features of the Polish economy in the interbellum was the gradual nationalisation of major plants. This was the case for the Ursus Factory (see Państwowe Zakłady Inżynieryjne ) and several steelworks, such as Huta Pokój in Ruda Śląska – Nowy Bytom, Huta Królewska in Chorzów – Królewska Huta, Huta Laura in Siemianowice Śląskie , as well as Scheibler and Grohman Works in Łódź. According to
16055-565: The counties inhabited by the Hutsul minority, that there was permanent starvation. Farmers rebelled against the government (see: 1937 peasant strike in Poland ), and the situation began to change in the late 1930s, due to the construction of several factories for the Central Industrial Region , which gave employment to thousands of rural and small town residents. Beginning in June 1925, there
16224-485: The country's borders. The Second Republic maintained moderate economic development. The cultural hubs of interwar Poland – Warsaw , Kraków , Poznań , Wilno , and Lwów – became major European cities and the sites of internationally acclaimed universities and other institutions of higher education. Although Polish Jews were some of the biggest supporters of Second Republic leader Józef Piłsudski , even after he returned to politics and staged
16393-508: The crucial confrontation that, it was assumed, would determine the fate of Poland. ... [However,] to the Home Army, the Jews were not a part of 'our nation' and ... action to defend them was not to be taken if it endangered [the Home Army's] other objectives." He added that "it is probably unrealistic to have expected the Home Army—which was neither as well armed nor as well organized as its propaganda claimed—to have been able to do much to aid
16562-771: The east (located in the Dzisna county of the Wilno Voivodeship ); and Mukocinek near Warta River and Meszyn Lake to the west (located in the Międzychód county of the Poznań Voivodeship ). Almost 75% of the territory of interbellum Poland was drained northward into the Baltic Sea by the Vistula (total area of drainage basin of the Vistula within boundaries of the Second Polish Republic
16731-610: The election of a king . More than a month before Germany surrendered on 11 November 1918 and the war ended, the Regency Council had dissolved the Provisional Council of State and announced its intention to restore Polish independence (7 October 1918). With the notable exception of the Marxist -oriented Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania ( SDKPiL ), most Polish political parties supported this move. On 23 October
16900-483: The eleventh one planned to be opened in the autumn of 1939. Furthermore, in 1935, Polish engineers began working on TV services. By early 1939, experts of the Polish Radio built four TV sets. The first movie broadcast by experimental Polish TV was Barbara Radziwiłłówna , and by 1940, a regular TV service was scheduled to begin operation. Interbellum Poland was also a country with numerous social problems. Unemployment
17069-652: The end of the Second World War , and the establishment of the later states of the Polish People's Republic and the Third Polish Republic , the historical state is referred to as the Second Polish Republic . In the Polish language, the country is traditionally referred to as II Rzeczpospolita ( Druga Rzeczpospolita ), which means the Second Republic . After more than a century of partitions between
17238-430: The end of the German occupation, a general armed rising to be prosecuted until victory. Home Army plans envisioned, at war's end, the restoration of the pre-war government following the return of the government-in-exile to Poland. The Home Army, though in theory subordinate to the civil authorities and to the government-in-exile, often acted somewhat independently, with neither the Home Army's commanders in Poland nor
17407-570: The enrollment of Jews into universities. The political movement National Democracy ( Endecja , from the abbreviation "ND") often organised anti-Jewish business boycotts. Following the death of Marshal Józef Piłsudski in 1935, the Endecja intensified their efforts, which triggered violence in extreme cases in smaller towns across the country. In 1937, the National Democracy movement passed resolutions that "its main aim and duty must be to remove
17576-440: The first half and summer of 1944 range from 200,000, through 300,000, 380,000 and 400,000 to 450,000–500,000, though most estimates average at about 400,000; the strength estimates vary due to the constant integration of other resistance organisations into the Home Army, and that while the number of members was high and that of sympathizers was even higher, the number of armed members participating in operations at any given time
17745-550: The former Russian Partition and the Austrian Partition of eastern Poland. In 1921, one-third of citizens of Poland remained illiterate (38% in the countryside). The process was slow, but by 1931 the illiteracy level had dropped to 23% overall (27% in the countryside) and further down to 18% in 1937. By 1939, over 90% of children attended school. In 1932, Janusz Jędrzejewicz , the Minister for Religion and Education, carried out
17914-471: The front, as well as on guardhouses and gendarmerie posts. Sometimes weapons were taken from individual German soldiers accosted in the street. During the Warsaw Uprising, the Home Army even managed to capture several German armored vehicles, most notably a Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer light tank destroyer renamed Chwat [ pl ] and an armored troop transport SdKfz 251 renamed Grey Wolf [ pl ] . Arms were clandestinely manufactured by
18083-421: The ghetto resistance has been sometimes described as insufficient, as the Home Army faced a number of dilemmas which forced it to provide no more than limited assistance to the Jewish resistance, such as supply shortages and the inability to arm its own troops, the view (shared by most of the Jewish resistance) that any wide-scale uprising in 1943 would be premature and futile, and the difficulty of coordinating with
18252-611: The government with the Sejm ' s (lower house's) approval, but he could only dissolve the Sejm with the Senate 's consent. Moreover, his power to pass decrees was limited by the requirement that the Prime Minister and the appropriate other Minister had to verify his decrees with their signatures. Poland was one of the first countries in the world to recognise women's suffrage . Women in Poland were granted
18421-413: The interbellum – Zofia Nałkowska , Maria Dąbrowska , Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz , Jan Parandowski , Bruno Schultz , Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz , Witold Gombrowicz . Among other notable artists there were sculptor Xawery Dunikowski , painters Julian Fałat , Wojciech Kossak and Jacek Malczewski , composers Karol Szymanowski , Feliks Nowowiejski , and Artur Rubinstein , singer Jan Kiepura . Theatre
18590-462: The internally divided Jewish resistance, coupled with the pro-Soviet attitude of the ŻOB. During the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Home Army units tried to blow up the Ghetto wall twice, carried out diversionary actions outside the Ghetto walls, and attacked German sentries sporadically near the Ghetto walls. According to Marian Fuks , the Ghetto uprising would not have been possible without supplies from
18759-610: The invaders, but continued fighting under the auspices of the Polish government-in-exile and of the Polish Underground State . After the signing of the German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation on 28 September 1939, Polish areas occupied by Nazi Germany either became directly incorporated into Nazi Germany, or became part of the General Government . The Soviet Union, following Elections to
18928-413: The land and peoples of pre-war Poland. Polish topographic maps published by WIG were highly regarded in pre-war Europe and should have increased the combat effectiveness of the Polish armed forces. However, to help keep their wartime deployment locations secret most combat units were not issued the needed topographic maps in peacetime. Instead, the maps were to be delivered only after mobilization started,
19097-467: The lecture hall, where modern technical achievement and the lessons of contemporary wars were demonstrated and discussed. The equipment of the Polish Army was less developed technically than that of Nazi Germany and its rearmament was slowed by confidence in Western European military support and by budget difficulties. The Polish command system at the level of the entire Polish military and the armies
19266-630: The lowest taxation rates in Europe, with 9.3% of taxes as a distribution of national income. Piłsudski's regime was also heavily dependent on foreign investments and economies, with 45.4% of Polish equity capital controlled by foreign corporations. After the Great Depression , the Polish economy crumbled and failed to recover until Ignacy Mościcki 's government introduced economic reforms with more government interventions with an increase in tax revenues and public spending after Piłsudski's death. These interventionist policies saw Poland's economy recover from
19435-436: The majority of citizens lived in the countryside (75% in 1921). Farmers made up 65% of the population. In 1929, agricultural production made up 65% of Poland's GNP. After 123 years of partitions, regions of the country were very unevenly developed. The lands of the former German Empire were the most advanced; in Greater Poland , Upper Silesia and Pomerelia , farming and crops were on a Western European level. The situation
19604-448: The maps by WIG and make them available online. Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic , at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland , was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I . The Second Republic ceased to exist in 1939, after Poland
19773-625: The maps of Polish territory originally drawn by the partitioning powers ( German , Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires ). The maps in various scales were the foundation of the 1:100,000 scale Polish maps. By 1926 40% of the area of Poland was mapped. From 1927 onwards, WIG began to draw a uniform triangulation network and to print its own, original 1: 100,000 map, known as “type two”. These maps were two-coloured (black topographic elements, brown contour lines), some sheets contained two more colours added by overprinting. From 1929 onwards “type three”, i.e. two- and four-coloured maps were published. In 1931
19942-508: The massive hyperinflation . It was the only country in Europe able to do this without foreign loans or aid. The average annual growth rate ( GDP per capita ) was 5.24% in 1920–29 and 0.34% in 1929–38. Hostile relations with neighbours were a major problem for the economy of interbellum Poland. In the year 1937, foreign trade with all neighbours amounted to only 21% of Poland's total. Trade with Germany, Poland's most important neighbour, accounted for 14.3% of Polish exchange. Foreign trade with
20111-456: The mid-1930s, Poland had 340,000 km (211,266 mi) of roads, but only 58,000 had a hard surface (gravel, cobblestone or sett ), and 2,500 were modern, with an asphalt or concrete surface. In different parts of the country, there were sections of paved roads, which suddenly ended, and were followed by dirt roads. The poor condition of the roads was the result of both long-lasting foreign dominance and inadequate funding. On 29 January 1931,
20280-530: The modern Third Polish Republic. Historically, Poland was almost always a multiethnic country. This was especially true for the Second Republic, when independence was once again achieved in the wake of the First World War and the subsequent Polish–Soviet War , the latter war being officially ended by the Peace of Riga . The census of 1921 shows 30.8% of the population consisted of ethnic minorities, compared with
20449-943: The national budget to pay for it. In January 1938, the Polish Road Congress estimated that Poland would need to spend three times as much money on roads to keep up with Western Europe . In 1939, before the outbreak of the war, LOT Polish Airlines , which was established in 1929, had its hub at Warsaw Okęcie Airport . At that time, LOT maintained several services, both domestic and international. Warsaw had regular domestic connections with Gdynia - Rumia , Danzig - Langfuhr , Katowice-Muchowiec , Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny , Lwów-Skniłów , Poznań-Ławica , and Wilno-Porubanek . Furthermore, in cooperation with Air France , LARES , Lufthansa , and Malert , international connections were maintained with Athens , Beirut , Berlin, Bucharest , Budapest , Helsinki , Kaunas , London, Paris, Prague , Riga , Rome, Tallinn , and Zagreb . Statistically,
20618-526: The newly formed Polish Army from 1918 to 1921. The extent of the eastern half of the interwar territory of Poland was settled diplomatically in 1922 and internationally recognised by the League of Nations . Over the course of the First World War (1914-1918), the German Empire gradually dominated the Eastern Front as the Imperial Russian Army fell back. German and Austro-Hungarian armies seized
20787-484: The open by German armored cars. The story arose because some German armored cars appeared and gunned down 20 troopers as the cavalry escaped. Even this failed to persuade everyone to reexamine their beliefs—there were some who thought Polish cavalry had been improperly employed in 1939. Between 1945 and 1990, the Polish government-in-exile operated in London, presenting itself as the only legal and legitimate representative of
20956-479: The organisation. Wanda Kraszewska-Ancerewicz [ pl ] headed the distribution branch. Several all-female units existed within the AK structures, including Dysk [ pl ] , an entirely female sabotage unit led by Wanda Gertz , who carried out assassinations of female Gestapo informants in addition to sabotage. During the Warsaw Uprising , two all-female units were created—a demolition unit and
21125-650: The outbreak of the war, there were approximately one million radios (see Radio stations in interwar Poland ). The administrative division of the Second Republic was based on a three-tier system, referring to the administrative division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . On the lowest rung were the gminy , local town and village governments akin to districts or parishes. These were then grouped together into powiaty (akin to counties), which, in turn, were grouped as województwa ( voivodeships , akin to provinces). This administrative system passed into
21294-537: The politicians received (such as accusations of corruption or the 1919 Polish coup attempt ), made them increasingly unpopular. Major politicians at this time, in addition to General Piłsudski, included peasant activist Wincenty Witos (Prime Minister three times) and right-wing leader Roman Dmowski . Ethnic minorities were represented in the Sejm ; e.g. in 1928 – 1930 there was the Ukrainian-Belarusian Club, with 26 Ukrainian and 4 Belarusian members. After
21463-463: The pro-Piłsudski Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government won them. The following three parliamentary elections (in 1930 , 1935 and 1938 ) were manipulated, with opposition activists sent to Bereza Kartuska prison (see also Brest trials ). As a result, the pro-government party Camp of National Unity won huge majorities in them. Piłsudski died just after an authoritarian constitution
21632-516: The recession. The basis of Poland's gradual recovery after the Great Depression was the mass economic development plans of the new government (see Four Year Plan ) under economist Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski , which oversaw the building of three key infrastructural elements. The first was the establishment of the Gdynia seaport, which allowed Poland to completely bypass Gdańsk (which was under heavy German pressure to boycott Polish coal exports). The second
21801-473: The region – Lwów and Wilno ( Elektrit ). Besides coal mining, Poland also had deposits of oil in Borysław , Drohobycz , Jasło and Gorlice (see Polmin ), potassium salt ( TESP ), and basalt ( Janowa Dolina ). Apart from already-existing industrial areas, in the mid-1930s an ambitious, state-sponsored project called the Central Industrial Region was started under Minister Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski . One of
21970-675: The right to vote on 28 November 1918 by a decree of General Józef Piłsudski. The major political parties at this time were the Polish Socialist Party , National Democrats , various Peasant Parties , Christian Democrats , and political groups of ethnic minorities (German: German Social Democratic Party of Poland , Jewish: General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland , United Jewish Socialist Workers Party , and Ukrainian: Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance ). Frequently changing governments (see 1919 Polish legislative election , 1922 Polish legislative election ) and other negative publicity
22139-411: The second largest Jewish population in the world, with one-fifth of all the world's Jews residing within its borders (approx. 3,136,000). The urban population of interbellum Poland was rising steadily; in 1921, only 24% of Poles lived in the cities, in the late 1930s, that proportion grew to 30%. In more than a decade, the population of Warsaw grew by 200,000, Łódź by 150,000, and Poznań – by 100,000. This
22308-465: The situation of the Jewish population, drafted reports, and sent information to London. It also centralized contacts between Polish and Jewish military organizations. The Home Army also supported the Relief Council for Jews in Poland ( Żegota ) as well as the formation of Jewish resistance organizations . From 1940 onward, the Home Army courier Jan Karski delivered the first eyewitness account of
22477-513: The start of the Second World War. Other achievements of interbellum Poland included Stalowa Wola (a brand new city, built in a forest around a steel mill), Mościce (now a district of Tarnów , with a large nitrate factory), and the creation of the central bank Bank Polski SA . There were several trade fairs, with the most popular being Poznań International Fair , Lwów's Targi Wschodnie , and Wilno's Targi Północne . Polish Radio had ten stations (see Radio stations in interwar Poland ), with
22646-582: The state was referred to in Polish as Republika Polska , instead of Rzeczpospolita Polska . Both terms mean the Republic ; however, republika is a general term, while Rzeczpospolita traditionally refers exclusively to Polish states. Additionally, between 8 November 1918 and 16 August 1919, the Journal of Laws of the State of Poland referred to the country as the State of Poland ( Polish : Państwo Polskie ). Following
22815-457: The summer of 1943. Antony Polonsky observed that "the attitude of the military underground to the genocide is both more complex and more controversial [than its approach towards szmalcowniks ]. Throughout the period when it was being carried out, the Home Army was preoccupied with preparing for ... [the moment when] Nazi rule in Poland collapsed. It was determined to avoid premature military action and to conserve its strength (and weapons) for
22984-856: The term Rzeczpospolita being a traditional name for the republic when referring to various Polish states, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (considered to be the First Polish Republic, Pierwsza Rzeczpospolita ), and later, the current Third Polish Republic . In other regionally-used official languages, the state was referred to as: Republik Polen in German , Польська Республіка ( transcription : Polʹsʹka Respublika ) in Ukrainian , Польская Рэспубліка ( transcription : Poĺskaja Respublika ) in Belarusian , and Lenkijos Respublika , in Lithuanian . Between 14 November 1918 and 13 March 1919,
23153-490: The war (casualties and imprisonment). The Home Army was intended to be a mass organisation that was founded by a core of prewar officers. Home Army soldiers fell into three groups. The first two consisted of "full-time members": undercover operatives, living mostly in urban settings under false identities (most senior Home Army officers belonged to this group); and uniformed (to a certain extent) partisans, living in forested regions ( leśni , or "forest people"), who openly fought
23322-618: The war, Polish Jews were threatened with conditions similar to those in Nazi Germany. The pre-war government also restricted the rights of people who declared Ukrainian nationality, belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church and inhabited the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Polish Republic. Poland was consequently refusing to grant Ukrainians any form of autonomy . The goal was to completely Polonize them, including changing their religion to Roman Catholicism . Ukrainian
23491-406: The war. Air drops were infrequent. Deliveries from the west were limited by Stalin 's refusal to let the planes land on Soviet territory, the low priority placed by the British on flights to Poland; and the extremely heavy losses sustained by Polish Special Duties Flight personnel. Britain and the United States attached more importance to not antagonizing Stalin than they did to the aspirations of
23660-517: Was 180,300 km (69,600 sq mi), the Niemen (51,600 km or 19,900 sq mi), the Oder (46,700 km or 18,000 sq mi) and the Daugava (10,400 km or 4,000 sq mi). The remaining part of the country was drained southward, into the Black Sea , by the rivers that drain into the Dnieper ( Pripyat , Horyn and Styr , all together 61,500 km or 23,700 sq mi) as well as Dniester (41,400 km or 16,000 sq mi) The beginning of
23829-461: Was 5,529 km (3,436 mi), including: 140 km (87 mi) of coastline (out of which 71 km (44 mi) were made by the Hel Peninsula ), the 1,412 km (877 mi) with Soviet Union, 948 kilometers with Czechoslovakia (until 1938), 1,912 km (1,188 mi) with Germany (together with East Prussia ), and 1,081 km (672 mi) with other countries (Lithuania, Romania, Latvia, Danzig). The warmest yearly average temperature
23998-471: Was Allied air drops , which was the only way to obtain more exotic, highly useful equipment such as plastic explosives and antitank weapons such as the British PIAT . During the war, 485 air-drop missions from the West (about half of them flown by Polish airmen) delivered some 600 tons of supplies for the Polish resistance. Besides equipment, the planes also parachuted in highly qualified instructors ( Cichociemni ), 316 of whom were inserted into Poland during
24167-414: Was Lodowy Szczyt (known in Slovak as Ľadový štít ), which rises 2,627 m (8,619 ft) above sea level. The largest lake was Lake Narach . The country's total area, after the annexation of Trans-Olza, was 389,720 km (150,470 sq mi). It extended 903 km (561 mi) from north to south and 894 km (556 mi) from east to west. On 1 January 1938, total length of boundaries
24336-425: Was a Northeastern Area (centered in Białystok – Obszar Białystocki ) or whether Białystok was classified as an independent area ( Okręg samodzielny Białystok ). In 1943 the Home Army began recreating the organization of the prewar Polish Army, its various units now being designated as platoons, battalions, regiments, brigades, divisions, and operational groups . The Home Army supplied valuable intelligence to
24505-440: Was a customs' war, with the revanchist Weimar Republic imposing a trade embargo against Poland for nearly a decade; it involved tariffs and broad economic restrictions. After 1933 the trade war ended. The new agreements regulated and promoted trade. Germany became Poland's largest trading partner, followed by Britain. In October 1938, Germany granted a credit of 60,000,000 RM to Poland (120,000,000 zloty , or £ 4,800,000) which
24674-835: Was active in the institution, smuggling out maps to pass them on to the underground movement (the Armia Krajowa or "Home Army"). At the turn of 1943, probably due to the German counter-intelligence efforts, most of the members of the resistance inside the institution were arrested and executed. From at least 1936 onwards, Germany incorporated WIG maps into their own Großblatt (1:100,000) mapping system, re-issuing WIG maps both in black and white and in colour, with some minor updates. 4-sheet reprints, mainly in colour, alongside 1:25,000 maps were also published. The latter were either copies of pre-1939 Polish 1:25,000 maps, or blown-up copies of 1:100,000 or (from 1944 onwards and in limited numbers) new sheets based on Polish cartographic materials captured in 1939, but with minor updates. WIG maps were also
24843-424: Was also a nation of many religions. In 1921, 16,057,229 Poles (approx. 62.5%) were Roman (Latin) Catholics , 3,031,057 citizens of Poland (approx. 11.8%) were Eastern Rite Catholics (mostly Ukrainian Greek Catholics and Armenian Rite Catholics ), 2,815,817 (approx. 10.95%) were Orthodox , 2,771,949 (approx. 10.8%) were Jewish, and 940,232 (approx. 3.7%) were Protestants (mostly Lutheran ). By 1931, Poland had
25012-432: Was approved in the spring of 1935. During the last four years of the Second Polish Republic, the major politicians included President Ignacy Mościcki , Foreign Minister Józef Beck and the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army , Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły . The country was divided into 104 electoral districts , and those politicians who were forced to leave Poland founded Front Morges in 1936. The government that ruled
25181-420: Was construction of the 500-kilometre rail connection between Upper Silesia and Gdynia, called the Polish Coal Trunk-Line , which served freight trains with coal. The third was the creation of a central industrial district named COP – Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy ( English : Central Industrial Region). Unfortunately, these developments were interrupted and largely destroyed by the German and Soviet invasion and
25350-456: Was coordinated by the Union of Retaliation and later by Wachlarz and Kedyw units. Major Home Army military and sabotage operations included: The largest and best-known of the Operation Tempest battles, the Warsaw Uprising, constituted an attempt to liberate Poland's capital and began on 1 August 1944. Polish forces took control of substantial parts of the city and resisted the German-led forces until 2 October (a total of 63 days). With
25519-410: Was dense, but the quality of the roads was very poor – only 7% of all roads were paved and ready for automobile use, and none of the major cities were connected with each other by a good-quality highway. In 1939 the Poles built only one highway: 28 km of straight concrete road connecting the villages of Warlubie and Osiek (mid-northern Poland). It was designed by Italian engineer Piero Puricelli. In
25688-401: Was described by Melchior Wańkowicz in his book Sztafeta . In addition to this was the massive destruction left after both the First World War and the Polish–Soviet War . There was also a great economic disparity between the eastern (commonly called Poland B ) and western (called Poland A ) parts of the country, with the western half, especially areas that had belonged to Prussia and
25857-440: Was divided geographically into regional branches or areas ( obszar ), which were subdivided into subregions or subareas ( podokręg ) or independent areas ( okręgi samodzielne ). There were 89 inspectorates ( inspektorat ) and 280 (as of early 1944) districts ( obwód ) as smaller organisational units. Overall, the Home Army regional structure largely resembled Poland's interwar administration division, with an okręg being similar to
26026-415: Was divided into five sections, two bureaus and several other specialized units: The Home Army's commander was subordinate in the military chain of command to the Polish Commander-in-Chief ( General Inspector of the Armed Forces ) of the Polish government-in-exile and answered in the civilian chain of command to the Government Delegation for Poland. The Home Army's first commander, until his arrest by
26195-453: Was due not only to internal migration, but also to an extremely high birth rate. From the 1920s, the Polish government excluded Jews from receiving government bank loans, public sector employment, and obtaining business licenses. From the 1930s, measures were taken against Jewish shops, Jewish export firms, Shechita as well as limitations being placed on Jewish admission to the medical and legal professions, Jews in business associations and
26364-425: Was high, and poverty in the countryside was widespread, which resulted in several cases of social unrest, such as the 1923 Kraków riot , and 1937 peasant strike in Poland . There were conflicts with national minorities, such as the Pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia (1930) , relations with Polish neighbours were sometimes complicated (see Soviet raid on Stołpce , Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts , and
26533-407: Was immensely popular in the interbellum, with three main centres in the cities of Warsaw, Wilno and Lwów. Altogether, there were 103 theatres in Poland and a number of other theatrical institutions (including 100 folk theatres). In 1936, different shows were seen by 5 million people, and main figures of Polish theatre of the time were Juliusz Osterwa , Stefan Jaracz , and Leon Schiller . Also, before
26702-446: Was in Kraków among major cities of the Second Polish Republic, at 9.1 °C (48.4 °F) in 1938; and the coldest in Wilno (7.6 °C or 45.7 °F in 1938). Extreme geographical points of Poland included Przeświata River in Somino to the north (located in the Braslaw county of the Wilno Voivodeship ); Manczin River to the south (located in the Kosów county of the Stanisławów Voivodeship ); Spasibiorki near railway to Połock to
26871-464: Was invaded by Nazi Germany , the Soviet Union , and the Slovak Republic , marking the beginning of the European theatre of the Second World War . The Polish government-in-exile was established in Paris and later London after the fall of France in 1940. When, after several regional conflicts, most importantly the victorious Polish-Soviet war , the borders of the state were finalised in 1922, Poland's neighbours were Czechoslovakia , Germany ,
27040-408: Was loyal to the Polish government-in-exile and to its agency in occupied Poland, the Government Delegation for Poland ( Delegatura ). The Polish civilian government envisioned the Home Army as an apolitical, nationwide resistance organisation. The supreme command defined the Home Army's chief tasks as partisan warfare against the German occupiers, the re-creation of armed forces underground and, near
27209-424: Was much worse in parts of Congress Poland , the Eastern Borderlands , and what was formerly Galicia , where agriculture was quite backward and primitive, with a large number of small farms, unable to succeed in either the domestic or international market. Another problem was the overpopulation of the countryside, which resulted in chronic unemployment. Living conditions were so bad in several eastern regions, such as
27378-412: Was never realised, due to the outbreak of war. Germany would deliver factory equipment and machinery in return for Polish timber and agricultural produce. This new trade was to be in addition to the existing German-Polish trade agreements. In 1919, the Polish government introduced compulsory education for all children aged 7 to 14, in an effort to limit illiteracy, which was widespread, especially in
27547-408: Was obsolete. The generals in command of armies had to ask permission from the high command. The Polish military attempted to organize fronts made of army groups only when it was already too late during the Polish Defensive War in 1939. After regaining its independence, Poland was faced with major economic difficulties. In addition to the devastation brought by the First World War, the exploitation of
27716-477: Was re-activated. After the fall of France in 1940 WIG was evacuated again, to Great Britain , where it produced maps for the Polish army in the West, and copies of pre-war maps for the underground Polish resistance movement (a full set of 482 sheets). Quite separately, in 1941, British GSGS produced their own set of approx. 220 copies of WIG 1:100,000 maps (series number GSGS 4177), which covered (in colour) central Poland and (in black-and-white) an irregular section of
27885-414: Was restricted in every field possible, especially in governmental institutions, and the term "Ruthenian" was enforced in an attempt to ban the use of the term "Ukrainian". Ukrainians were categorised as uneducated second-class peasants or third world people, and rarely settled outside the Eastern Borderland region due to the prevailing Ukrainophobia and restrictions imposed. Numerous attempts at restoring
28054-458: Was smaller—as little as one per cent in 1943, and as many as five to ten per cent in 1944 —due to an insufficient number of weapons. Home Army numbers in 1944 included a cadre of over 10,000–11,000 officers, 7,500 officers-in-training (singular: podchorąży ) and 88,000 non-commissioned officers (NCOs). The officer cadre was formed from prewar officers and NCOs, graduates of underground courses, and elite operatives usually parachuted in from
28223-399: Was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II . The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the aftermath of the German and Soviet invasions in September 1939. Over the next two years, the Home Army absorbed most of the other Polish partisans and underground forces. Its allegiance
28392-416: Was the second highest share in Europe. Polish science in the interbellum was renowned for its mathematicians gathered around the Lwów School of Mathematics , the Kraków School of Mathematics , as well as the Warsaw School of Mathematics . There were world-class philosophers in the Lwów–Warsaw school of logic and philosophy. Florian Znaniecki founded Polish sociological studies. Rudolf Weigl invented
28561-483: Was to the Polish government-in-exile in London, and it constituted the armed wing of what came to be known as the Polish Underground State . Estimates of the Home Army's 1944 strength range between 200,000 and 600,000. The latter number made the Home Army not only Poland's largest underground resistance movement but, along with Soviet and Yugoslav partisans, one of Europe's largest World War II underground movements. The Home Army sabotaged German transports bound for
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