Sixty years ago in Warsaw...

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Sixty years ago, on the 1st of August 1944 in Warsaw people rose against the evil of Nazi occupation. They had enough of terror, of constant danger, uncertainty of tomorrow, humiliation.

One evil was to be replaced by another. The Soviets were to take over from the Nazis. Should the uprising have succeeded, the legal authorities would have been able to act as hosts of the land, preventing the Soviet take-over.

On the very first day, however, it became apparent that chances were more than just slim. Most of the city was controlled by the Poles, but the Nazis kept all the strategic points such as police stations. Communication roads also remained in Nazi hands. Of 40000 people mostly too young to be soldiers (troop leaders didn't typically exceed the age of 20), but experienced by several years of conspiracy and fuelled by unsquelched spirit, only 13% were equipped with fire arms. The rest had only hand grenades and bayonets. Even fire arms were often just hand guns more suitable for resistance conspiracy than open fight. Machine guns were scarce. Practically no artillery or anti-air weapons. Bottles filled with petrol and rags served in place of heavy arms, against tanks and transporters.

On that same first day, 2000 of those young people gave life. The Nazis lost 500 men.

The Polish resistance troops were scattered and communication between them was difficult to impossible, often only available through centrals in London.

The Nazi forces respected no law, feared no justice. Shot soldiers and civilians alike, women and children alongside men. Bombed hospitals, slaughtered the wounded, used women and children as living shields, forcing them to run before the assaulting tanks. Murder, rape, pillage and destruction threaded the path of SS and von dem Bach's forces.

For 63 days they continued the fight doomed from the very first day, standing young, often weak, diseased, shocked, against machine guns, tanks, artillery and aircraft, sneaking like canal rats through the rubbles of their home city.

More than a half died, if not in the fights, then in POW on concentration camps. The fate of the civilians was no better, including medical personnel and clergy.

The Soviets were on the opposite bank of the river, allowing the Nazis to deal with the force representing the legal government of the nation, and the element that would not submit to Soviet rule. In fact, they made matters even worse by refusing to allow allied pilots dropping supplies for the fighting Poles to use airports in the Polish land controlled by the Soviet army.

Those who survived harassment by the Nazis were harassed by the Soviets and the new "Polish" authorities the Soviets installed after the Allies betrayed Poland, breaking all alliances and treaties they signed, and sold her to Stalin.

Yesterday, the still surviving insurgents, after 60 years, received military and civil medals from the hands of... Aleksander Kwasniewski, the current President and a communist. Together with him showed up other reds from the government appointed by a democratically elected parliament. Oh, irony. After all they did and endured.

From the German side, Chancellor Schröder came to take part in the celebrations, representing the official stance of the German authorities, including visiting the famed but modest monument of a child in an obviously too big uniform and helmet, holding a gun. In Berlin, however, Erika Steinbach holds her own celebration in honour of... the Nazis who quelled the uprising... against youngsters, women and children with tanks, machine guns, aircraft and no regard for any laws. Whereas on the Polish side, the surviving insurgents understood and appreciated the gesture of Chancellor Schröder, shook his hand and talked to him kindly, some self-proclaimed patriots would whistle and shout "shame". Just who they are? Better defenders of this country than those who actually were there? Did they actually see that, go through it, had they even been born then at all?

The Polish commies of the government and parliament bow their necks when they have cameras right against their facet and roll their eyes even before the cameras drift away to the next commie.

The Russian ambassador has issued a letter in which he praised the "liberating" Russian army, stopping short of demanding gratitude for the pillage, murder and rape that they delivered. The commies in the Polish goverment lack the guts to reply to the Russians, let alone to say a few words of bitter truth about Teheran and Yalta to our new allies who have already betrayed us twice and now swear another treaty that God only knows how worthless would show if it were again our turn to need help.

Thanks to the spirit and the sacrifice of those people, however, neither the Nazis nor the Soviets broke this nation. The insurgents lived in the memory of those of the nation who would not bow to tyranny and oppression.

They are going. With each year, there is a couple of times less of them. By now, no more than 3000 are still alive, while 15000 were even several years ago. Those couldn't see this day, when a museum was finally commmissioned to hold the souvenirs and the memories of those events and those brave people. Each of them, contributing pieces of equipment, photographs, maps or whatever else they had, felt as though leaving a piece of himself or herself for the future generations.

At the hour 5 pm, sirens resounded and the city froze. Silence took over for a little moment and drivers left their cars, standing on the streets. The communists haven't managed to destroy the legacy of the uprising and the insurgents. Let their tormented bodies rest in peace and their unbroken spirit live in the future generations.

 

Er, where did you get that from? The jewish author Ralph Giordano and Kardinal Karl Lehmann would not attend an event where Nazis are honoured.

 

That was a really bad time, dude. For everyone.

However, you know that it won't ever quite work that way again. It's a rough tavern, but the rest of your mates are sitting at the table alongside you.

Bring it.

 

How come the Soviet is responsible for this slaughter? They didn't help the rebellion, but they didn't start it (IMO the one who started it is the real evil here), or crushed it either. And according to your post, the allies did betray Poland too, so are they not evil?

What I'm trying to say is that don't place all the blame on the Soviet. Because after all, they are the one who suffered the most casualties after the war. Do you forget that already? And communist is not evil, just like the Christian church.

 

GI makes good points.

The soviet response of doing nothing was morally reprehensible IMHO, but they had good reasons to do so. Poland was their enemy and the poles involved in the uprising were not the ones the soviets wanted to see in control of Poland after the war.

The german response was perhaps also morally reprehensible, but IMO less so than the soviet one because brutally crushing rebellions was the normal way of doing things on the east front. The polish resistance was well aware of that.

The allies certainly betrayed Poland, so they are also morally reprehensible. It's all realpolitik though, UK and US had little choice but to give away eastern europe to the soviets.

That's true. You can also say that capitalism is not evil just because USA is.