82: Warsaw

82 years ago today (August 1, 1944) the Warsaw Uprising in German-Occupied Warsaw, Poland started.

(Warsaw’s Old Town destroyed by the Germans.)

The 1944 Warsaw Uprising should not be confused with the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (where 56,065 Jewish Men, Women and Children fought and were killed by the Germans.)

The Warsaw Uprising tried to liberate Warsaw from the Germans before the Soviet Communists arrived.

The Uprising lasted 63 days (ending with a German Victory on October 2, 1944.)

Stalin stopped the Red Army on the outskirts of Warsaw at the start of the Uprising so the Germans could kill all the “Anti-Communist Poles” making it easier for the Soviet Union to occupy Poland and place a Pro-Soviet Communist Government in Poland from 1945-1990.

At the start of the Uprising there were over a million Poles in Warsaw.

In Polish-Controlled Territory, during the first weeks of the Uprising, People tried to recreate the normal day-to-day life of their free country. Cultural life was vibrant, both among the Soldiers and Civilian Population, with Theatres, Post Offices, Newspapers, etc.

Boys and Girls of the Polish Scouts acted as Couriers for an Underground Postal Service, risking their lives daily to transmit any information that might help their People.

Near the end of the Uprising, lack of food and medicine,

overcrowding and indiscriminate German air and artillery assault on the city made the Civilian situation more and more desperate.

The Polish Underground was forced to surrender to the Germans on October 5, 1944.

The Underground Members were treated as Prisoners of War.

The Germans then went street-by-street, building-by-building and destroyed Warsaw.

90% of Warsaw was destroyed by 1945 (including 100% of its Railways and Bridges, 95% of its Theaters and Cinemas, 90% of its Industry, 90% of its Hospitals, 90% of its Historical Buildings and Monuments, 725 of its Housing, 70% of its Educational Buildings.