"Today I have issued the order you have been waiting for"
General Bór-Komorowski,
Commander-in-chief of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa)
1st August 1944
Yesterday, 17:00 CET was the 63th anniversary of outbreak of Warsaw Uprising. It's the most important day of year for many citizens of Warsaw. I especially left my office few minutes earlier to be out in the streets at 17:00 - as each year whole Warsaw stopped for one minute to pay a tribute to 200.000 people killed during Uprising - sirens were turned on, people in cars used their car horns, pedestrians, buses, trams, subway, all stopped.
As it is historic forum, so a little bit of background: 1st August 1944 - Red Army approaches Warsaw (is 20 kilometers from Warsaw), Germans are preparing to withdraw - Polish Underground Army - Armia Krajowa (AK) starts Uprising to which it was preparing for long 5 years of occupation. After short time most of Warsaw is liberated, Poles issue newspaper, Radio is broadcasting, people are free at last. But then something horrible happens - Russians stops for half year and watch Germans regrouping, reinforcement with tanks and other heavy equipments enters Warsaw and raze city building by building. Russians not only refuse to help, they also refuse allies to use their airports to refuel their aircrafts that were aiding the resurgents by airdrops.
As a result, after 63 days of heavy fight Warsaw is totally razed, 200.000 people (including 180.000 of civilians) were killed by Germans, rest of inhabitants were expelled.
Aftermatch.
Russians entered abandoned Warsaw in January 1945, they installed puppet regime that denied everything related to Warsaw Uprising - it was forbidden to talk about it, just like about soviet aggression in 1939, Katyń, Charków and Miednoje massacres where Russian murdered tenths thousands of Polish officers, police officers, priests and other 'enemies of revolution'.
If you saw Roman Polański movie 'The Pianists' - there is a scene where Szpilman survived Warsaw Uprising and lives in a city of ghosts - it was how Warsaw looked like when Russians 'liberated' it. From almost 2 millions city left only few thousands people who hid in rumble.
Now the bright side - this Uprising is called a forge of modern Polish nation. Warsaw was rebuild and is again a 2 millions city. Poles showed that will never surrender and some historians thinks that it was the reason why in 1981 there was no soviet tanks in Warsaw, just like it happened in Prague and Budapest earlier. It took 8 more years but finally in 1989 communism in Poland collapsed, (then Berlin Wall fell and other countries followed this path).
Further reading: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/1/newsid_3932000/3932555.stm
http://www.tvn24.pl/-1,8116,1516427,raport_wiadomosc.html
http://www.1944.pl/
General Bór-Komorowski,
Commander-in-chief of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa)
1st August 1944
Yesterday, 17:00 CET was the 63th anniversary of outbreak of Warsaw Uprising. It's the most important day of year for many citizens of Warsaw. I especially left my office few minutes earlier to be out in the streets at 17:00 - as each year whole Warsaw stopped for one minute to pay a tribute to 200.000 people killed during Uprising - sirens were turned on, people in cars used their car horns, pedestrians, buses, trams, subway, all stopped.
As it is historic forum, so a little bit of background: 1st August 1944 - Red Army approaches Warsaw (is 20 kilometers from Warsaw), Germans are preparing to withdraw - Polish Underground Army - Armia Krajowa (AK) starts Uprising to which it was preparing for long 5 years of occupation. After short time most of Warsaw is liberated, Poles issue newspaper, Radio is broadcasting, people are free at last. But then something horrible happens - Russians stops for half year and watch Germans regrouping, reinforcement with tanks and other heavy equipments enters Warsaw and raze city building by building. Russians not only refuse to help, they also refuse allies to use their airports to refuel their aircrafts that were aiding the resurgents by airdrops.
As a result, after 63 days of heavy fight Warsaw is totally razed, 200.000 people (including 180.000 of civilians) were killed by Germans, rest of inhabitants were expelled.
Aftermatch.
Russians entered abandoned Warsaw in January 1945, they installed puppet regime that denied everything related to Warsaw Uprising - it was forbidden to talk about it, just like about soviet aggression in 1939, Katyń, Charków and Miednoje massacres where Russian murdered tenths thousands of Polish officers, police officers, priests and other 'enemies of revolution'.
If you saw Roman Polański movie 'The Pianists' - there is a scene where Szpilman survived Warsaw Uprising and lives in a city of ghosts - it was how Warsaw looked like when Russians 'liberated' it. From almost 2 millions city left only few thousands people who hid in rumble.
Now the bright side - this Uprising is called a forge of modern Polish nation. Warsaw was rebuild and is again a 2 millions city. Poles showed that will never surrender and some historians thinks that it was the reason why in 1981 there was no soviet tanks in Warsaw, just like it happened in Prague and Budapest earlier. It took 8 more years but finally in 1989 communism in Poland collapsed, (then Berlin Wall fell and other countries followed this path).
Further reading: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/1/newsid_3932000/3932555.stm
http://www.tvn24.pl/-1,8116,1516427,raport_wiadomosc.html
http://www.1944.pl/
). We are young people who have nothing to do with it. 
)
