Did the Soviet Union invade Poland in 1939?
Soviet Union invades Poland On September 17, 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov declares that the Polish government has ceased to exist, as the U.S.S.R. exercises the “fine print” of the Hitler-Stalin Non-aggression pact —the invasion and occupation of eastern Poland.
Who controlled the Stalinist government in Poland?
The Stalinist government was controlled by Polish communists originating from wartime factions and organizations operating in the Soviet Union under Stalin, such as the Union of Polish Patriots. Their leaders at that time included Wanda Wasilewska and Zygmunt Berling.
How long did the Soviet Union occupy Poland?
Soviet forces occupied eastern Poland until the summer of 1941, when Germany terminated its earlier pact with the Soviet Union and invaded the Soviet Union under the code name Operation Barbarossa. The area was under German occupation until the Red Army reconquered it in the summer of 1944.
Why did the Soviet Union intervene in the Polish crisis?
Communist Party leaders in the Soviet Union had closely monitored the situation in Poland since the summer of 1980. Moscow was concerned about the strike wave that poured through factories in July.
When did Poland leave Soviet Union?
The last post-Soviet troops left Poland on 18 September 1993. After ten years of democratic consolidation, Poland joined OECD in 1996, NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.
When did Poland join the Soviet Union?
1939Soviet annexation of eastern Poland, 1939–1941.
Did Poland ever belong to Russia?
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. From 1795 to 1918, Poland was split between Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and Russia and had no independent existence.
Why did the Soviet Union invade Poland in 1939?
The Soviet government announced it was acting to protect the Ukrainians and Belarusians who lived in the eastern part of Poland, because the Polish state had collapsed – according to Soviet propaganda, which perfectly echoed Western sentiment that coined the term "Blitzkrieg" to describe Germany's "lightning war" ...
How many Polish soldiers were on the German border?
The Border Protection Corps forces guarding the eastern border numbered approximately 20,000 men.
What was the Soviet Union's plan for the war with Germany?
In August 1939 the USSR made an offer to the United Kingdom and France to send "120 infantry divisions (each with some 19,000 troops), 16 cavalry divisions, 5,000 heavy artillery pieces, 9,500 tanks and up to 5,500 fighter aircraft and bombers on Germany's borders". Since the USSR shared no border with Germany, this would effectively mean an overwhelming, voluntary occupation of the territories of Poland by the Red Army, which was previously the site of the Polish–Soviet War in 1920. The negotiations failed.
How many Polish people were deported from Siberia?
In August 2009, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance announced that research estimates on the number of people deported to Siberia and those who had perished under Soviet wartime rule amounted to around a total of 150,000 Polish citizens.
What was the German involvement in the invasion of Poland?
German and Soviet cooperation in the invasion of Poland has been described as co-belligerence. The Red Army, which vastly outnumbered the Polish defenders, achieved its targets encountering only limited resistance. Some 320,000 Polish prisoners of war had been captured.
How many troops were in Poland in 1939?
A Red Army force of seven field armies with a combined strength between around 450,000 and 1,000,000 troops entered eastern Poland on two fronts.
What was the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact?
The Soviet (as well as German) invasion of Poland was indirectly indicated in the "secret protocol" of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact signed on 23 August 1939, which divided Poland into " spheres of influence " of the two powers and questioned the future existence of the Polish state.
When did the Soviet Union send people to Siberia?
The Soviet NKVD sent hundreds of thousands of people from eastern Poland to Siberia and other remote parts of the Soviet Union in four major waves of deportation between 1939 and 1941.
Why did Poles surrender to the Soviet Union?
Thousands of Polish troops were taken into captivity; some Poles simply surrendered to the Soviets to avoid being captured by the Germans. The Soviet Union would wind up with about three-fifths of Poland and 13 million of its people as a result of the invasion.
What was the Ribbentrop-Molotov Non-Aggression Pact?
The Ribbentrop-Molotov Non-aggression Pact, signed in August, had eliminated any hope Poland had of a Russian ally in a war against Germany.
What was Poland overwhelmed by?
Its forces overwhelmed by the mechanized modern German army, Poland had nothing left with which to fight the Soviets. As Soviet troops broke into Poland, they unexpectedly met up with German troops who had fought their way that far east in a little more than two weeks.
Why did Russia come to the aid of its blood brothers?
The “reason” given was that Russia had to come to the aid of its “blood brothers,” the Ukrainians and Byelorussians, who were trapped in territory that had been illegally annexed by Poland. Now Poland was squeezed from West and East—trapped between two behemoths.
Where did Hitler's troops retreat from?
Hitler’s troops were already wreaking havoc in Poland, having invaded on the first of the month. The Polish army began retreating and regrouping east, near Lvov, in eastern Galicia, attempting to escape relentless German land and air offensives.
When did the Soviet Union invade Poland?
Soviet Union invades Poland. On September 17, 1939 , Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov declares that the Polish government has ceased to exist, as the U.S.S.R. exercises the “fine print” of the Hitler-Stalin Non-aggression pact —the invasion and occupation of eastern Poland.
How did the Soviets solve the Polish conflict?
The Soviets preferred to solve the problem without getting their hands dirty: they began to persuade the Polish authorities to introduce martial law. According to Brezhnev, this seemed like a good solution. Defense Minister Dmitry Ustinov was even more determined: “If martial law is not introduced, the situation will become very difficult and even more complicated,” he explained during the Politburo meeting. However, both he and the head of the KGB Andropov were convinced that it was impossible to get involved in the Polish conflict militarily. “We must stick to our strategy: our troops will not be sent to Poland,” emphasized the head of the KGB.
Who was the leader of the Soviet Union in Poland in 1980?
Moscow was concerned about the strike wave that poured through factories in July. Leonid Brezhnev personally met Edward Gierek, the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party while on holidays in Crimea, ...
What did Brezhnev try to do in the Warsaw Pact?
For the next few weeks, a game continued between Warsaw and Moscow in which Brezhnev tried to force the Poles to overcome their fear and fight against their own fellow citizens. On 26 November 1980, the Political Bureau of the Polish United Workers’ Party even considered such a possibility, several of its members urged them to take decisive action against “Solidarity”. However, no final decisions were made. Information about this reached the Kremlin. The Soviet Politburo decided to convince Polish “comrades” to take bolder decisions. On 5 December 1980, a meeting of the Warsaw Pact Political Consultative Committee was convened, to discuss the “issue of Poland”.
What was the Suslov Commission's plan?
The members of the Suslov Commission feared the worst, so they developed a plan of military preparations. They proposed to mobilize three armored divisions, to stand ready to assist the Polish Army in suppressing strikes.
Why was the assessment of the events of December 1980 important from the point of view of Polish history?
It shows that the Politburo planned from the very beginning – through political pressure, disinformation and the use of the “intervention bogey” – to push Polish leaders to introduce martial law. In the long run, it was as a result of this strategy that the Kremlin was able to solve its problem with Polish hands.
How many Soviet soldiers died in Poland?
This is true for all of us. We will never forget that 600,000 Soviet soldiers died on Polish soil, fighting to defend Poland against fascism and for its freedom.
What did the Polish workers' party leaders fear?
Gierek feared both a general strike and foreign intervention. In confidential conversations, he indicated that the entry of the Warsaw Pact troops into Poland was possible: “there is such a possibility, because the situation disrupts the work of the [socialist] bloc, they are entitled to intervene in Poland to defend the system and economic and political interests.” Such a development was also feared by Stanisław Kania, an important member of the Political Bureau, responsible for the supervision of, among others, the secret police. Under such pressure, the government eventually signed agreements with the strikers. This led to the end of the strike wave and opened the way to the creation of “Solidarity”.
What happened in Katyn and Smolensk?
Katyn and Smolensk are critical moments in the most sensitive chapters of Polish history, and they are inextricably linked to September 17, 1939, the day it all began. The Germans attacked first, but Stalin's Soviet Union made that attack possible though its non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany.
What happened to the Polish people in 1940?
The Polish people still mistrust Russia, and relations between the neighbors are burdened by more than just the 1939 invasion. People have not yet come to terms with the 1940 mass executions of thousands of Polish officers and other officials by the Soviet NKVD secret police in what is known as the Katyn massacre.
Why was the Red Army portrayed as the "liberator of Europe"?
Praise for the Red Army as the "liberator of Europe" always rung untrue in Poland due to the non-aggression pact between Hitler and Stalin. In the end, even propaganda failed. In 1953, the year Stalin died, Polish filmmaker Erwin Axer tried to reconcile the event and the ideology through his film House of Cards. According to Polish film scholar Piotr Zwierzchowski, "Erwin Axer's film portrays September 17 as the moment of Poland's liberation from its own oppressors." Poland in the interwar period is portrayed as a weak state, a veritable "house of cards," Zwierzchowski argues, adding it was an attempt to reverse collective memory.
What happened on September 17th?
But on September 17, people were robbed of their last vestiges of hope. Fighting came to an end in the East, with Poland's military Commander-in-Chief Edward Rydz-Smigly ordering the military cease the fight against the Bolsheviks. The defeat was was all the more painful as Soviets celebrated together with the Nazis.
When did Putin meet Tusk?
Many observers called Putin's meeting on April 7, 2010 with then-Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the Katyn graves a historic encounter. For a moment, reconciliation seemed conceivable. It was the first time a high-ranking Russian state representative visited the scene of Stalinist crimes to pay tribute to Polish officers — and also the last time to date. Just three days later, a Polish government plane crashed near Smolensk with 96 passengers on board, including Poland's President Lech Kaczynski. The plane was headed to the Katyn massacres commemoration event.
What is the significance of September 17?
According to Polish film scholar Piotr Zwierzchowski, "Erwin Axer's film portrays September 17 as the moment of Poland's liberation from its own oppressors.". Poland in the interwar period is portrayed as a weak state, a veritable "house of cards," Zwierzchowski argues, adding it was an attempt to reverse collective memory.
Why was the reconciliation between Poland and Germany pushed aside?
While reconciliation between Poland and Germany has gradually taken place over decades, the shared history between Poles and Russians, a sensitive topic, was pushed aside to allow room for the compulsory Socialist love among brothers.
Who controlled Eastern Poland?
In Eastern Poland, controlled by the Soviet Union, the middle and upper classes of society were persecuted by the Soviet government, including the massacre of 22,000 Polish military officers ordered by Soviet premier, Joseph Stalin.
Who was the leader of the Soviet Union in Poland in 1948?
In 1948, Gomulka was removed from the leadership of the Polish communist party in favor of Boleslaw Bierut, who initiated a more rapid communization of Poland.
What happened to Gomulka in 1968?
In 1968, riots broke out in Warsaw after an anti-Russian play was banned from being performed, and Gomulka only staved off Soviet invasion by lending Polish troops to the Soviet Union to be used in the Soviet repression of demonstrations in Czechoslovakia.
What was the closest state to the Soviet Union?
Soviet Puppet State. As the closest state to the Soviet Union and well within the U.S. and U.K.-recognized Soviet sphere of influence, Poland stood little chance of gaining complete control over its own affairs after WWII. Indeed, the Polish government was reconfigured to foster the growth of communism and increase Soviet control.
What was the result of the integration of Poland into the Soviet Union?
The country was rapidly industrialized and agricultural land was collectivized and nationalized. The Soviet-backed Polish government even began instituting Six-Year Plans in 1950, mimicking the Five-Year Plans the Soviet Union used to set goals for industrial output.
How long did Poland exist?
Afterward, the Polish state existed peacefully for nearly two decades, before the Soviet Union and Adolf Hitler's newly aggressive Germany secretly agreed to divide Poland up among themselves.
What countries wiped Poland off the map?
Indeed, in the late 18th century, Poland was wiped clear off the map in three separate partitions by Austria, Russia and Prussia.
What happened to the Polish territories in the USSR?
Polish territories were incorporated into the USSR and Vilnius was given back to Lithuania for a short time. The fast sovietisation was accompanied by repressions, mainly four mass deportations of more than 320,000 people in total.
When did the Komintern dissolve the Communist Party of Poland?
On Stalin’s command, the Komintern dissolved the Communist Party of Poland in September 1938 amidst growing suspicions that it might be infiltrated by members of the Polish secret and special services.
What was the Communist Party of Poland?
In December 1918, as a result of the merger of the party Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania and the Polish Socialist Party - Left, the Communist Workers’ Party of Poland was created. Throughout its existence (from 1925 as the Communist Party of Poland - Komunistyczna Partia Polski, KPP) it operated as an illegal organisation. In 1922, the Young Communist League of Poland was created. Autonomous parts of the KPP were: The Communist Party of Western Belorussia, the Communist Party of Western Ukraine and the Communist Party of Upper Silesia. The communists supported the detachment of these regions from Poland, which was one of the reasons for their low popularity.
What was the result of the German-Soviet war?
The outbreak of the German-Soviet war allowed for efforts to rebuild diplomatic connections with Moscow, which resulted in an amnesty for Polish citizens and the creation of an army under the Polish government in exile. Eventually, Polish soldiers were evacuated from the USSR and, in May 1943, after the discovery of mass graves in Katyń, Stalin broke off all diplomatic ties with the Polish government. Simultaneously, he began sowing the seeds for future Communist rule in Poland - the Union of Polish Patriots and military units were created and put under Soviet command. In the occupied country (outside the territory previously annexed by the USSR), a rebuilt Communist party (Polish Workers' Party - Polska Partia Robotnicza, PPR) operated from 1942 onwards.
What was the result of the Polish Round Table Talks?
This resulted in the Polish Round Table Talks (February-April 1989) which led to an agreement on a wide range of reforms regarding the political and economic systems of the PRL. The partially free elections of June 1989 became a plebiscite in which the Polish populace rejected communism.
What was the name of the Polish republic in 1952?
In the constitution of 1952, the name of the country was changed to People’s Republic of Poland (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL). The constitution was edited by Stalin himself.
How did the Polish army develop?
The creation of a military under command of the communists began in 1943. Units were created according to the soviet model in which political officers played a big role. Because of the lack of officers, over 60% of the cadre were officers delegated from the Red Army in the initial stages. After making its way back westwards into Polish territory, the army experienced significant growth, but about half of all officers were still from the Soviet Union. Most of them returned to their motherland following the end of the war; the last Soviet officers left the country in 1948. Units of the Polish Armed Forces in the West did not return to their country. Some soldiers and officers returned individually although many of them were repressed in their home country.
Overview
The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, sixteen days after Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subsequent military operations lasted for the following 20 days and ended on 6 October 1939 with the two-way division and annexation of the entir…
Prelude
In early 1939, several months before the invasion, the Soviet Union began strategic alliance negotiations with the United Kingdom and France against the crash militarization of Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler. In August 1939 the USSR made an offer to the United Kingdom and France to send "120 infantry divisions (each with some 19,000 troops), 16 cavalry divisions, 5,000 heavy artillery pieces, 9,500 tanks and up to 5,500 fighter aircraft and bombers on Germany's borders". …
Poland between the two world wars
The League of Nations and the peace treaties of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference did not, as it had been hoped, help to promote ideas of reconciliation along European ethnic lines. Epidemic nationalism, fierce political resentment in Central Europe (Germany, Austria, Hungary) where 100% of the population had in absentia been declared universally guilty, and post-colonial chauvinism (Ital…
German invasion of Poland and Soviet preparations
Hitler tried to dissuade Britain and France from interfering in the upcoming conflict and on 26 August 1939 proposed to make Wehrmacht forces available to Britain in the future. At midnight of 29 August, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop handed British Ambassador Nevile Henderson a list of terms that would allegedly ensure peace with regard to Poland. Under the terms, Poland …
Soviet invasion of Poland
On the morning of 17 September 1939, the Polish administration throughout the whole territory of the six eastern voivodeships was still fully operational and functioned partly in several additional five voivodeship territories of eastern Poland as schools remained open in mid-September 1939. Polish Army units concentrated their activities on two areas – on southern (Tomaszów Lubelski,
Aftermath
In October 1939, Molotov reported to the Supreme Soviet that the Red Army had suffered 737 deaths and 1,862 wounded men during the campaign,a casualty rate that widely contradicted Polish specialist's claims of up to 3,000 deaths and 8,000 to 10,000 wounded. On the Polish side, 3,000 to 7,000 soldiers died fighting the Red Army as between 230,000 and 450,000 men were taken priso…
Communist and later censorship
Politburo jargon would stylize the invasion a "liberation campaign" from its inception. The term would consequently be utilized throughout Soviet history among official references and publications. Despite the 1979 publication of a recovered copy of the secret protocols of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in the western media, the Soviet Union continued to deny their existence until 1989. Attempts to record the factual and fully detailed history of the 1939 Soviet i…
See also
• History of Poland (1939–1945)
• Germany–Soviet Union relations, 1918–1941
• Polish Operation of the NKVD 1937–1938
• Gestapo–NKVD conferences 1939–1940
Overview
The history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of communist rule imposed over Poland after the end of World War II. These years, while featuring general industrialization, urbanization and many improvements in the standard of living, were marred by early Stalinist repressions, social unrest, political strife and severe economic difficulties.
Stalinist era (1948–1956)
As in other Eastern Bloc countries, there was a Soviet-style political purge of communist officials in Poland after 1948, accused of "nationalist" or other "deviationist" tendencies. The half-hearted in Poland campaign included the arrests and imprisonments of Marian Spychalski from May 1950, and Michał Rola-Żymierski five months after Stalin's death. In September 1948 Władysła…
Establishment of communist-ruled Poland (1944–1948)
Before World War II, a third of Poland's population was composed of ethnic minorities. Poland had about 35 million inhabitants in 1939, but fewer than 24 million in 1946, within the respective borders. Of the remaining population over three million were ethnic minorities, such as Germans, Ukrainians and Jews, most of whom would soon leave Poland. Poland suffered the heaviest proporti…
Gomułka's road to socialism (1956–1970)
Beginning on 28 June 1956, workers in the industrial city of Poznań, who had repeatedly but in vain petitioned the authorities to intervene and improve their deteriorating situation, went on strike and rioted in response to a cut in wages and changed working conditions. Demonstrations by factory workers turned into a huge citywide protest. 16 tanks, 2 armoured personnel carriers and 30 vehicl…
Gierek decade (1970–1980)
Gierek, like Gomułka in 1956, came to power on a raft of promises that everything would be different from now on: wages would rise, prices would remain stable, there would be freedom of speech, and those responsible for the violence at Gdynia and elsewhere would be punished. Gierek was believed to be an honest and well-intentioned man, and his promises bought him some time. …
Final decade of the Polish People's Republic (1980–1989)
By 1980, the authorities had no choice but to make another attempt to raise consumer prices to realistic level, but they knew that doing so would likely spark another worker rebellion. Western financial companies and institutions providing loans to the regime at a meeting at the Bank Handlowy in Warsaw on 24 April 1980 The bankers made it clear that the state could no longer subsidize artifici…
See also
• Former eastern territories of Germany and Recovered Territories
• Cursed soldiers
• Polish People's Republic
• Administrative division of the Polish People's Republic
Citations
1. ^ Antoni Czubiński, Historia Polski XX wieku [The History of 20th Century Poland], Wydawnictwo Nauka i Innowacje, Poznań 2012, ISBN 978-83-63795-01-6, pp. 235–236
2. ^ Robert A. Guisepi (2001). "World War Two Casualties. Killed, wounded, prisoners, and/or missing". World War Two. World History Project, USA. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2016.