Poland during World War 2 Essay -- essays research papers

I. History of PolandAfter the Partitions of Poland (1772-1795), which had decreased the size of the country, giving most of the land to Russia, Prussia, and Austria-Hungary. The First human beings War provided a practical chance for Poland to restore its independence. The powers, which had separated the country more than one light speed years earlier, were fighting on opposite sides. Germany with the Austro-Hungarian Empire (the Central Powers) fought regal Russia everyied with France and Great Britain. Polish troops, under their own banners, also joined the fight. At first, under the command of the anti-Russian revolutionary Jzef Pisudski, Polish battalions were organise to fight Russia. But in 1917, after a number of successful operations against Russians, the legions were disbanded and Pisudski was tossed into jail when the Polacks refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Central Powers. Meanwhile, with the crepuscule of its monarchy, Russias grip on Poland began to slo wly decrease to nothing. This enabled the Polacks to organize a Polish army in France to fight against the Central Powers. Russia was defeated first and Germany and Austria soon followed. Finally, on November 11, 1918, Poland re-emerged as a free nation after 123 years of captivity. However, some problems remained. After the Communist Revolution Russia was determined to carry the flame, so successfully enkindled at home, to Poland, Germany and beyond. In 1920, not quite two years after regaining independence, Poland was forced to fight again to maintain its sovereignty and to defend Europe. II. Pre World War IIThe brief, nineteen-year period of peace following the war and lasting until 1939 was marked by a consolidation of the three partitioned territories, which for over one hundred years had belonged to an alliance of different countries. It also marked a time of vigorous economic growth for Poland. In the early 1920s German intrigues in the Free City of Gdansk prevented the free flow of Polish trade through that port. Polands response was to build a new port in the small search town of Gdynia. By 1938, Gdynia became the busiest port in the Baltic Sea and provided serious competition for Gdansk. In south-central Poland, construction of an industrial complex began in 1936. It had hydroelectric power plants, steel works, aircraft manufacturing, machinery, ammunition and fertilizers. In 1938 P... ...d and they were rounded up and sent to ghettos in towns and cities. The two largest ghettos were established in Warsaw and Lodz.Between 22nd July and tertiary October 1942, 310,322 Jews were deported from the Warsaw ghetto to these extermination camps. Information got back to the ghetto what was happening to those people and it was decided to resist any further attempts at deportation. In January 1943, Heinrich Himmler gave instructions for Warsaw to be free of all Jews by Hitlers birthday on 20th April.Warsaw contained several resistance groups. The largest was the Polish Home Army. There was also the Jewish soldiery Union and the communist Jewish Fighter Organization (ZOB) led by Mordechai Anielewicz, Yitzhak Zuckerman, Gole Mire and Adolf Liebeskind.On 19th April 1943 the Waffen SS entered the Warsaw ghetto. Although they only had two machine-guns, fifteen rifles and viosterol pistols, the Jews opened fire on the soldiers. They also attacked them with grenades and petrol bombs. The Germans took heavy casualties and the Warsaw military commander, Brigadier-General Jrgen Stroop, ordered his men to retreat. He then gave instructions for all the buildings in the ghetto to be set on fire.