Block, Siteadmin, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, delete, edit, move, nsTeam2RO, nsTeam2RW, nsTeam2_talkRO, nsTeam2_talkRW, protect, rollback, Administrators, template
295,703
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 12:
Line 12: + + + + Line 31:
Line 35: − − Samuel Pisar was born in 1929 in the northeastern Polish town of Białystok. His parents were educated in a post-partition Polish territory that had been part of the Russian Empire since the early nineteenth century—they attended a Russian school, spoke Russian, and were part of the overarching [Imperial Russian]] cultural sphere. After a brief interregnum between the two world wars, the nascent [[Second Polish Republic]] was again partitioned under the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]]. Białystok initially fell under [[Soviet]] control, his father’s local taxi business was nationalized, and a young Pisar was sent to a Russian-language school where he joined the youth division of the [[Soviet Communist Party]] and developed an interest in Russian literature—many decades later, he said that he is still able to quote Russian poets [[Pushkin]] and [[Lermontov]] by heart. − − Białystok was occupied by the Germans in 1941. Amid massacres against the [[Jewish]] population, Pisar’s father was arrested and executed for taking part in a resistance group and Samuel was transferred along several concentration camps throughout the war. He was evacuated from [[Auschwitz]] to [[Dachau]] following the [[Red Army]]’s westward offensive. While on a death march near [[Munich]], he said that he and fourteen others fled into the woods after a ground strike by an [[American]] bomber squadron that allegedly mistook his four-thousand-man prisoner convoy for [[German]] soldiers. He was rescued by the [[U.S. Army]] shortly thereafter.
History of Poland (view source)
Revision as of 17:46, September 29, 2023
, 17:46, September 29, 2023no edit summary
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, a complicated set of alliances was established amongst the nations of Europe, in the hope of preventing future wars (either with Germany or Soviet Russia). With the rise of [[Nazism]] in Germany, this system of alliances was strengthened by the signing of a series of "mutual assistance" alliances between [[France]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]], and [[Poland]] (Franco-Polish Alliance and Anglo-Polish Alliance). This agreement stated that in the event of war the other allies were to fully mobilize and carry out a "ground intervention within two weeks" in support of the ally being attacked<ref name="Ajnenkiel"> {{cite book | author =Andrzej Ajnenkiel | title =Polsko-francuski sojusz wojskowy | year =2000 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Academy of National Defence | location =Warsaw | id = | url = | format = | accessdate = }}</ref><ref name="Ciałowicz"> {{cite book | author =Jan Ciałowicz | coauthors = | title =Polsko-francuski sojusz wojskowy, 1921–1939 | year =1971 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe | location =Warsaw | id = }}</ref><ref name="Raczyński">{{cite book | author =Edward Raczyński | title =The British-Polish Alliance; Its Origin and Meaning | year =1948 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =The Mellville Press | location =London | id = }}</ref>
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, a complicated set of alliances was established amongst the nations of Europe, in the hope of preventing future wars (either with Germany or Soviet Russia). With the rise of [[Nazism]] in Germany, this system of alliances was strengthened by the signing of a series of "mutual assistance" alliances between [[France]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]], and [[Poland]] (Franco-Polish Alliance and Anglo-Polish Alliance). This agreement stated that in the event of war the other allies were to fully mobilize and carry out a "ground intervention within two weeks" in support of the ally being attacked<ref name="Ajnenkiel"> {{cite book | author =Andrzej Ajnenkiel | title =Polsko-francuski sojusz wojskowy | year =2000 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Academy of National Defence | location =Warsaw | id = | url = | format = | accessdate = }}</ref><ref name="Ciałowicz"> {{cite book | author =Jan Ciałowicz | coauthors = | title =Polsko-francuski sojusz wojskowy, 1921–1939 | year =1971 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe | location =Warsaw | id = }}</ref><ref name="Raczyński">{{cite book | author =Edward Raczyński | title =The British-Polish Alliance; Its Origin and Meaning | year =1948 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =The Mellville Press | location =London | id = }}</ref>
Samuel Pisar was born in 1929 in the northeastern Polish town of Białystok. His parents were educated in a post-partition Polish territory that had been part of the Russian Empire since the early nineteenth century—they attended a Russian school, spoke Russian, and were part of the overarching [Imperial Russian]] cultural sphere. After a brief interregnum between the two world wars, the nascent [[Second Polish Republic]] was again partitioned under the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]]. Białystok initially fell under [[Soviet]] control, his father’s local taxi business was nationalized, and a young Pisar was sent to a Russian-language school where he joined the youth division of the [[Soviet Communist Party]] and developed an interest in Russian literature—many decades later, he said that he is still able to quote Russian poets [[Pushkin]] and [[Lermontov]] by heart.
Białystok was occupied by the Germans in 1941. Amid massacres against the [[Jewish]] population, Pisar’s father was arrested and executed for taking part in a resistance group and Samuel was transferred along several concentration camps throughout the war. He was evacuated from [[Auschwitz]] to [[Dachau]] following the [[Red Army]]’s westward offensive. While on a death march near [[Munich]], he said that he and fourteen others fled into the woods after a ground strike by an [[American]] bomber squadron that allegedly mistook his four-thousand-man prisoner convoy for [[German]] soldiers. He was rescued by the [[U.S. Army]] shortly thereafter.
===Up to 1939===
===Up to 1939===
At the same time secret German-Soviet talks were held in [[Moscow]] which resulted in signing of the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]] on August 22. The full text of the treaty, including the secret protocol assuming a partition of Poland and Soviet military help to Germany in case of war, was known to the British government thanks to Hans von Herwarth, an American informer in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yet, Poland's government was not informed of this fact either.<ref name="Bohlen">{{cite book | author =Charles E. Bohlen | title =Witness to history, 1929-1969 | year =1973 | editor = | pages =562 | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Norton | location = | id =ISBN 978-0393074765 }}</ref>
At the same time secret German-Soviet talks were held in [[Moscow]] which resulted in signing of the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]] on August 22. The full text of the treaty, including the secret protocol assuming a partition of Poland and Soviet military help to Germany in case of war, was known to the British government thanks to Hans von Herwarth, an American informer in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yet, Poland's government was not informed of this fact either.<ref name="Bohlen">{{cite book | author =Charles E. Bohlen | title =Witness to history, 1929-1969 | year =1973 | editor = | pages =562 | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Norton | location = | id =ISBN 978-0393074765 }}</ref>
====The Phony War====
====The Phony War====