{"id":1021,"date":"2015-08-01T08:35:05","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T12:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/poland.leonkonieczny.com\/blog\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2015-08-01T08:35:30","modified_gmt":"2015-08-01T12:35:30","slug":"pamietem-i-remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poland.leonkonieczny.com\/blog\/?p=1021","title":{"rendered":"Pami\u0119tam — I remember"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was born less than eight years after the start of the Warsaw Uprising, which began at 5 PM \u00a0local time in Warsaw on 01 August 1944. It did not end well. While the Soviet army sat idly by across the river from Warsaw and watched their destruction, the Polish Home Army fought against the German Nazi occupiers of Warsaw. At the end of nearly two months of fighting, the battle was lost. The Allies stood idly by. Churchill, to his credit, begged Roosevelt to intercede with Stalin. Roosevelt, who like Stalin has the blood of millions on his hands, refused.<\/p>\n

And so the battle was eventually lost. What had been a city of 1.3 million before the war, and of 700,000 at the start of the Warsaw Uprising, saw the deaths of over 16,000 Polish soldiers (men, women, and children) and the deaths of up to 200,000 citizens, mostly murdered by the German Nazis out of spite and in retaliation. But even after the battle was lost, Hitler wanted the ultimate revenge, and vowed to wipe Warsaw (and the Poles) off the face of the earth–the German Nazis systematically destroyed the whole city, blowing up everything, building by building, block by block. At the end of World War II, no more than maybe a thousand people were left.<\/p>\n

\"583px-Destroyed_Warsaw,_capital_of_Poland,_January_1945\"<\/a>
\n“Destroyed Warsaw, capital of Poland, January 1945<\/a>” by M. Swierczynski – Stanis\u0142aw Jankowski, Adolf Ciborowski “Warszawa 1945 i dzi\u015b” Wydawnictwo Interpress, Warszawa, 1971, page 66Wies\u0142aw G\u0142\u0119bocki; Karol M\u00f3rawski (1985<\/span>) Kultura Walcz\u0105ca 1939-1945, Warsaw<\/a>: Wydawnictwo Interpress, pp.\u00a0p.64 ISBN 83-02-00773-0<\/a>Antoni Przygo\u0144ski<\/a> (1980<\/span>) Powstanie Warszawskie w sierpniu 1944 r.; Tom 1, Warsaw<\/a>: Polskie Wydawnictwo Naukowe ISBN 83-01-00293-X<\/a>. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons<\/a>.<\/span><\/h6>\n

But the story does not end there. Though Poland was handed to the Soviets by her “allies” (Churchill and Roosevelt), Warsaw did not perish. Though after the war the Soviet Communists persecuted the Polish Home Army, imprisoning and murdering all they could find, Warsaw rebuilt. And finally in 1989, Poland threw off the oppressive yoke of Communism they endured due to Churchill and Roosevelt’s abandonment, and arose as an again free nation.<\/p>\n

Today Warsaw is a vibrant city of 1.7 million with a metropolitan area of nearly 2.7 million, the capital of Poland, and a center of Commerce. Yet at 5 PM every August 1st, the city stand still for one minute to remember the Warsaw Uprising–and it’s terrible consequences:<\/p>\n