Download Meeting 9

Political and Social History of CEE in 20th Century
Meeting 9. (8.11.2016)
The Second World War – Poland. Part II – international political
developments. CEE in the Second World War. The international
dimension of CEE – meetings in Teheran, Yalta, Potsdam and
their impact on CEE.
Synopsis
In 1939 Poland supposedly had allies in the West and non-aggression treaties with
neighbours. Yet August 1939 did not provide Poland security, even though Poland signed
a treaty with GB. When the war started Poland’s allies immediately declared war on
Hitler. And .... did nothing. Soviet aggression on 17th September ended first part of the
struggle. Poland reconstructs its government and army in France, yet France fails. Polish
troops fight the Battle of England from England and form the biggest ally army to the
British.
In June 1941, with Hitler’s attack on Stalin Polish government in exile faces a dilemma.
Is the enemy of our enemy our friend.
Under allied pressure Poland constructs an army in USSR, which will eventually leave
for the Middle East to be trained and armed by the British and fight in Italy. Stalin forms
his own, communist, loyal Polish army making fools of Roosevelt and Churchill.
1939
14 March – announcing of the forming of Fascist Slovakia of rev. J.Tiso
16 March – proclamation of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
23 March – Hitler signs an alliance with Slovakia
31 March – Chamberlain’s speech on guarantees for Poland
7 April – Italy starts a war against Albania
16 April – Calling to life of Czechoslovak National Committee by Jan Masaryk
22 May – “Steel Pact” signed between Mussolini and Hitler
23 August – Ribbentrop-Molotov Treaty
25 August – Polish – British Treaty
1 September – Nazi attack on Poland
3 September – Great Britain and France declare war on Germany
17 September – Red Army enters Poland– announcements are made that Russians’
kinsmen in Byelorussia and Ukraine are liberated from Polish “lords”
17/18 September – Polish government leaves Polish territory heading for Romania –
Romania interns Polish authorities
30 September – Władysław Raczkiewicz becomes president of Poland in France
1 October – Władysław Sikorski becomes p.m. and forms government-in-exile in France
(Angers): Polish Army in France numbers 80,000
18 October – agreement about organising Polish Military Fleet in Great Britain
October – talks in London; question of Polish borders (British politicians suggest the
Curzon line); British proposal of a post-war union of Poland-Czechoslovakia-Hungary
17 November – Czechoslovak National Committee recognised by France as
representative of Czech interests in France (20 Dec. By GB)
9 December – calling to life of Rada Narodowa (State Council) – a representative
advisory semi-parliament under Ignacy Paderewski
1940
4 January – agreement concerning the status of Polish army in France (constructed since
September 1939)
10 May – Germany begins war in Western Europe (France)
June – Polish government transferred to G. Britain
9 July – Temporary Czechoslovak Government established in London (recognized by
British on 21 July)
July – Spring 1941 – Battle of Britain – Polish planes within RAF; 203 German planes
shot down by Poles out of the total of 1733
5 August – Polish-British military treaty signed concerning the forming and financing of
Polish armed forces in Great Britain
August – Baltic States become Soviet Republics
30 August – Second Vienna Award – Hungary receives Transylvania
7 September – Romania gives Dobrudja to Bulgaria under Hitler’s pressure
27 September – “Pact of Three” signed in Berlin (Germany, Italy and Japan)
11 November – Polish and Czechoslovak governments-in-exile sign a declaration about
future co-operation after the war
4 Freedoms Speech
In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded
upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in
the world.
The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic
understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its
inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide
reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will
be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere
in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world
attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the
so-called “new order” of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a
bomb.
Lend-Lease Act
A law passed by Congress on March 11, 1941, during World War II, allowing the
president to “sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of”
weapons and materials to help defend nations vital to U.S. security. Suggested by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in December 1940 to help countries fighting the Axis, it
provided $31.6 billion to Britain and $11 billion to the USSR.
US Military Dictionary
1941
6 January – 4 Freedoms proclamation by FDR (speech, worship, from want, from fear)
31 January – a Polish- Czechoslovak Committee formed
11 March – Lend-Lease Act – empowers the President to supply war materials to any
country whose defence appears vital for USA
March – Head of Yugoslav government travels to Berlin to join Germany and Italy; coup
d’etat in Belgrade
6 April – new Yugoslav government; an attack on Yugoslavia begins (Germany, Italy,
Bulgaria, Hungary)
22 June – German attack on USSR; Churchill offers USSR help
5 July – beginning of Polish-Soviet talks in London (USSR agrees to the forming of
Polish, Czechoslovak and Yugoslav committees in USSR and the creating of independent
Poland within the borders of Nazi-Soviet agreement of 18 September 1939)
12 July – GB and USSR sign a treaty concerning common action of both governments
against Germany during the war
18 July – Treaty of collaboration against Germany signed between Czechoslovak
government in London and USSR (28 September – agreement on Army forming)
30 July – Sikorski-Mayski treaty signed in London (question of Polish borders). Forming
of Polish army on Soviet territories (questions of supplies; leadership; allowing Polish
citizens to join the army) – commander in chief – gen. Władysław Anders
9-12 August – Atlantic Charter drafted by Roosevelt and Churchill on board of “Prince of
Wales”; signed on 14th
14 August – Polish-Soviet military agreement – Polish army to be formed in USSR
4 December – the so-called Stalin-Sikorski Declaration announced (organizational issues
and the future of international relations)
7 December – Pearl Harbour; 8 Dec USA declares war on Japan;
11 December – Germany & Italy declare war on USA
1942
1 January – Washington Pact – declaration by 26 nations at war with the Axis powers not
to conclude separate armistice (Declaration of the United Nations)
January – 21 Polish embassy agencies start to function in USSR
23 January – Polish-Czechoslovak Treaty on confederation after the war (Sikorski-Beneš
Treaty)
24 March – 4 April – Polish army evacuated to Persia (34 thousand soldiers; 12.5
thousand civilians). Last troops leave at the end of August (total of 116,543 including
78,631 soldiers)
26 May – USSR & GB alliance treaty concerning relations after the war
11 June – Treaty between USA and USSR on cooperation at war
18-26 June – 2nd Washington Conference – establishing of second front
August – talks in Moscow regarding measures against Germany (Harriman represents
FDR)
30 August – evacuation of Polish army from USSR to Iran
Fall – Jan Karski finds his way from occupied Poland to Britain; meeting Churchill and
F.D.Roosevelt (July 1943) he tells them about Holocaust – no reaction; during a meeting
with the US president, the latter interrupted account about extermination of Jews asking
what was the situation of horses in Poland
1943
14-24 January – Casablanca Conference – Roosevelt and Churchill decide on landing in
Sicily and Germany’s “unconditional surrender”
19 April – rising in the Warsaw Ghetto
25-26 April – USSR breaks contacts with Polish government in London (the question of
Katyń)
12-25 May – Washington Conference – Roosevelt and Churchill decide on operation
“Overlord”
3 June – last meeting of Polish-Czechoslovak Committee – Czechoslovak politicians pull
out due to Soviet pressure
3 June – French Liberation Front of De Gaulle formed in Algiers
4 July – gen. Sikorski killed in a plane accident at Gibraltar
8 July – gen. Sosnkowski becomes commander in chief; Mikołajczyk (Peasant Party)
becomes P.M.
10 July-17 August – landing in Sicily by Allies
29 September – surrender of Italy
19-30 October – talks in Moscow regarding co-operation until final victory ; Polish case
is discussed by Eden, but Molotov attacked saying Poland violated the 1941 treaty
22-26 November – Cairo Conference – Roosevelt, Churchill, Chiang Kai-Shek operations against Japan
28 November-1 December – Teheran Conference – Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin –
decisions on war strategy and Polish borders; Stalin attacks Polish underground, but
Churchill and Roosevelt accept Poland’s borders on Curzon line and Oder river
December – Eden in talks with Polish government declares that Teheran is not binding
(Allies still need 114,000 Polish troops in Italy).
1944
3-4 January – Red Army crosses Polish pre-war border (initiation of „Burza” – anti-Nazi
Home Army rising lasting till January 1945)
18 January – Churchill demands of Poland (gvt in exile) that it recognises the Curzon line
24 January – Polish government announces that it will not negotiate on Soviet conditions
17-18 May – battle of Monte Cassino (923 killed in action) in Italy
May – Communists representing Krajowa Rada Narodowa visit Moscow; Stalin presents
them as Poland’s representatives
6 June – landing in Normandy (operation “Overlord”)
mid-July – Mikołajczyk announces his willingness to talk with Moscow
22 July – forming of Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego in Lublin (PKWN) –
Polish Committee for National Liberation
30 July – Mikołajczyk in Moscow
1 August – Warsaw Rising (till October 3rd)
An attempt by the underground Home Army (Armia Krajowa) to liberate Warsaw in the
summer of 1944 as the Red Army was advancing towards central Poland. On 1st August
signal was given to start military struggle in effect of which practically all left bank
Warsaw was liberated. Soviet Army (with Polish troops) stood on the other side of the
river allowing for the Nazis to systematically put down the rising and annihilate the city.
Soviets, who approached the city and had full control of the skies, allowed for Nazis to
carry out their work. In the end 18-25,000 insurgents were killed and 120-200,000
civilians (many of whom were executed in cold blood by the Nazis). Left bank Warsaw
was systematically destroyed.
21 August –7 October – Dumbarton Oaks Conference (USSR, USA, G. Britain, China) –
draft of UN Charter
9-18 October – Moscow meeting; spheres of influence (Churchill, Eden, Stalin)
15 December – Churchill speaks in the House of Commons claiming that there is no
possibility of co-operation between London government and PKWN (suggests the
Curzon line as border)
31 December – Rząd Tymczasowy (Temporary Government) called to life by
Communists in Poland
1945
4-11 February – Yalta Conference – future of liberated Europe
8 May – Germany surrenders
26 June – the United Nations charter signed in San Francisco
17 July – 2 August – Potsdam Conference (Truman, Churchill/Attlee, Stalin)
– decisions reached about the occupation of Germany, Poland’s western border,
resettlement of population of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, war with Japan
POLISH UNDERGROUND STATE
1939/1940 at least 150 underground organizations formed (mostly in GG, much more
difficult in Germany and Soviet Union)
September/October 1939 – forming of Służba Zwycięstwu Polski (SZP)
December 1939/January 1940 – SZP changed into Związek Walki Zbrojnej (ZWZ) under
the command of Polish government in France
1940
June – ZWZ headquarters transferred to occupied Poland
24 February – Political representation Polityczny Komitet Porozumiewawczy called to
life (changes into Krajowa Rada Polityczna in March 1943 and next to Rada Jedności
Narodowej in 1944).
Civic underground administration
1941
Following Hitler’s attack on Soviet Union, all pre-war Poland comes under Nazi rule.
Groups of Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian population welcome/back Nazis against Soviet
occupation (question of Jedwabne).
August – pro-Soviet Kościuszko radio formed in Soviet Union broadcasting to occupied
Poland
December – Grupa Inicjatywna (the Initiative Group) of Polish Communists lands in
occupied Poland – Nowotko, Mołojec, Finder 
1942
5 January – forming of Polska Partia Robotnicza (PPR) – Polish Workers’ Party –
changes the political situation in occupied Poland – so far Communists had no
representation 
January – “Final solution “ announced (Endlosung der Judenfrage)
15 August – Armia Krajowa (200,000 soldiers)
August-September – beginning of the liquidation of Jewish ghettos
27 September – forming of Żegota – Committee for Helping Jews
1943
January-June –  forming of Związek Patriotów Polskich in Moscow (1 March) 
February – talks in occupied Poland between  PPR  and London underground
12/13 April – Nazi propaganda announces the discovery of Katyn mass tombs
May –  forming of Peoples’ Polish Army (Ludowe Wojsko Polskie) in USSR 
April-May – uprising in the Warsaw ghetto
Estimates of Jewish survivors 30-60 thousand among Polish population; 10-15 thousand
in forests with guerrilla troops; 20-40 thousand in Nazi camps; 200 thousand in USSR.
31 December/1 January – forming of Krajowa Rada Narodowa (National State
Council) – representation of PPR and Communists on Polish territory 
1944
3-4 January – Red Army crosses Polish pre-war border 
9 January – forming of Rada Jedności Narodu (Committee for National Unity – by
London camp)
20 July – forming of Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego (PKWN) – Polish
Committee of National Salvation 
22 July – Lublin Manifesto of PKWN 
1 August – beginning of the Warsaw Uprising (final stage of Home Army’s “Burza”
[Tempest] plan) – Warsaw surrenders on 2 October – left-bank city is burnt to the ground
by Nazis
31 December – calling to life of Tymczasowy Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej –
Temporary Government of the Polish Republic 
1945
19 January – dissolution of Armia Krajowa