100
Years of Polish Regaining Independence: 1918-2018
The Second Polish Republic
(1918–39)
1918
November 11: Polish
Independence Day, After more than a century of foreign rule, an independent
Polish state is restored after the end of World War I, with Marshal Jozef Pilsudski as head of state.
1919
January 23–30: Polish–Czechoslovak
War erupts following border disagreements February 14: Polish–Soviet War begins
February 20: Adoption of Small Constitution. First constitution of the Second Polish
Republic.
June 28: Treaty
of Versailles (Articles 87–93) and Little Treaty ratify Poland as a
sovereign state internationally.
1920
February 10: Poland's
Wedding to the Sea in Puck. A ceremony meant to symbolize restored Polish
access to the Baltic Sea that was lost in 1793 by the Partitions of PolandApril 21: Signing of Treaty of Warsaw - a military-economical alliance between the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic against Bolshevik Russia.
July 5–16: Spa Conference in Belgium. Issues
included the trial of German war criminals and the status of Gdańsk. There was
also discussion of the territorial dispute over Cieszyn Silesia between the
Second Polish Republic and Czechoslovakia.
August 12–25: Miracle
of the Vistula during the Bolshevik invasion. Red Army losses were about
15,000 dead, 500 missing, 10,000 wounded, and 65,000 captured, compared to
Polish losses of approximately 4,500 killed, 22,000 wounded, and 10,000
missing. The anticipated fall of Warsaw
was to be a signal for the start of large-scale communist revolutions in
Poland, Germany, and other European countries, economically devastated by the
First World War. The Soviet defeat was therefore considered a setback for
Soviet leaders supportive of that plan (particularly Vladimir Lenin).
September 1: Polish–Lithuanian
War continues over the Vilnius and Suwałki Regions. No diplomatic relations
between Poland and Lithuania until the ultimatum of 1938.
1921
February 19: Signing of the Franco-Polish alliance. During
the interwar period the alliance with Poland was one of the cornerstones of
French foreign policy. Near the end of that period, along with the
Franco-British Alliance, it was the basis for the creation of the Allies of
World War II.
March 3: Polish–Romanian
Alliance signed in Bucharest. After the German invasion of Poland on
September 1, 1939, Poland declined Romanian military assistance but expected to
receive assistance from its British and French allies through Romanian ports. After the Red Army joined the German attack on
September 17, 1939, with Western assistance not forthcoming, the Polish high
command abandoned the plan and ordered its units to evacuate to France. Many
units went through Romanian borders, where they were interned, but Romania
remained friendly towards Poles, allowing many soldiers to escape from the camps
and to move to France.
March 17: Adoption of March Constitution. The
Constitution, based on the French one was regarded as very democratic. Among
others, it expressly ruled out discrimination on racial or religious grounds. It
also abolished all royal titles and state privileges, and banned the use of
blazons.March 18: Signing of the Peace of Riga with Lenin concludes the Polish-Soviet War.
1926
May 12–14: May
Coup Pilsudski stages a military coup. There follow nine years of autocratic
rule. 1,299 soldiers and civilians killed or wounded.
1932
July 25: Signing of the Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact. The pact was considered at the
time as a major success of the Polish diplomacy, much weakened by the toll war
with Germany, renouncement of parts of the Treaty of Versailles and loosened
links with France. It also reinforced the Polish negotiating position with
Germany.
1934
January 26: Signing of the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact. Both countries pledged to resolve their
problems by bilateral negotiations and to forgo armed conflict for a period of
ten years. It effectively normalized relations between Poland and Germany,
which were previously strained by border disputes arising from the territorial
settlement in the Treaty of Versailles. Germany effectively recognized Poland's
borders and moved to end an economically damaging customs war between the two
countries that had taken place over the previous decade.
1935
April 23: Adoption of Apr Constitution. It
introduced a presidential system with certain elements of authoritarianism
May 12: Death
of Józef Piłsudski
1938
April 1: Territorial changes of Polish Voivodeships
1939
August 23: Signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. It was a neutrality pact between Nazi
Germany and the Soviet Union signed in Moscow The pact was followed by the
German–Soviet Commercial Agreement in February 1940. The pact secretly delineated the spheres of
interest between the two powers, confirmed by the supplementary protocol of the
German–Soviet Frontier Treaty amended after the joint invasion of Poland.
August 25: Signing of the Polish–British Common Defence Pact. The military alliance between
the United Kingdom and Poland was formalized for mutual assistance in case of
military invasion from Germany, as specified in a secret protocol
August 29: Peking
Plan begins, Polish destroyers moved to British ports. It was an operation in which three destroyers
of the Polish Navy, the Burza ("Storm"), Błyskawica
("Lightning"), and Grom ("Thunder"), were evacuated to the
United Kingdom in late August and early September 1939. They were ordered to
travel to British ports and assist the British Royal Navy in the event of a war
with Nazi Germany. The plan was successful and allowed the ships to avoid
certain destruction or capture in the German invasion.
August 31: Gleiwitz
incident, pretext for the German invasion. It was a covert Nazi German
attack on the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz (today Gliwice, Poland). The
attack is widely regarded as a deceitful false flag operation, staged with some
two dozen similar German incidents on the eve of the invasion of Poland leading
up to World War II in Europe. The attackers had been posed as Polish nationals.
Adolf Hitler invaded Poland the next morning after a lengthy period of
preparations
Occupation of Poland (1939–45)
1939
September 1: German
Invasion of Poland begins; Bombing
of Wieluń Nazi Germany invades
Poland. Beginning of World War II as the United Kingdom declares war on Germany
in response to the invasion. Germany begins systematic persecution of the large
Jewish population.
September 8: German
Massacre in Ciepielów of Polish POWs. 300 Polish prisoners of war from the Polish
74th Infantry Regiment of Upper Silesia commanded by Major Józef Pelc were ordered to be shot as partisans by Oberst
Walter Wessel, commander of the German 15th Motorized Infantry Regiment, 29th
Motorized Infantry Division, after the commanding officer of the 11th Company
was killed by a sniper.
September 13: Bombing
of Frampol, up to 90% of the town destroyed and 50% of the population
became casualties.
September 17: Soviet
invasion of Poland. Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between themselves
and treat Polish citizens with extreme brutality. Territory of Eastern Poland
(Kresy) annexed to the Soviet Union.
September 18: Orzeł
incident, ORP submarine escapes to the United Kingdom September 18: The Fall of Warsaw. 140,000 Polish soldiers were killed or captured and 18,000 Polish civilians were killed.
October 6: Poland
completely occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union
November 6: Sonderaktion
Krakau operation against university professors. 184 academics and doctors deported
to Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps.
1940
March 5: Authorization of Katyń massacre. Soviet secret police carry out systematic massacre
of about 22,000 Polish army officers, professionals and civil servants mainly in
a forest near Katyn in Russia's Smolensk Region. May 16: Authorization of German AB-Aktion in Poland. It aimed to eliminate the intellectuals and the upper classes of Polish society across the territories slated for eventual annexation. Most of the killings were arranged in a form of mass disappearances from multiple cities and towns upon the German arrival. In the spring and summer of 1940, more than 30,000 Poles were arrested by the Nazi authorities in German-occupied central Poland. About 7,000 of them including community leaders, professors, teachers and priests were subsequently massacred secretly at various locations including at the Palmiry forest complex. The others were sent to German concentration camps.
November 16 : Warsaw Ghetto sealed off. There were over 400,000 Jews imprisoned
there, at an area of 3.4 km2 (1.3 sq mi), with an average of 9.2 persons per
room with the people barely subsisting on meager food rations. The death toll
among the Jewish inhabitants of the Ghetto is estimated to be at least 300,000
killed by bullet or gas, combined with 92,000 victims of rampant hunger and
hunger-related diseases, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the casualties of the
final destruction of the Ghetto.
1941June 22: Operation Barbarossa: Germany invades Soviet-occupied Eastern Poland and the Soviet Union itself.
June 30 – July 29: Lviv pogroms. 6,000 Jews murdered by the Germans and Ukrainian collaborators.
July 2: Massacre
of Lwów professors. 25 Polish academics and their families killed.
July 10: Jedwabne
pogrom. 340 Jewish men, women and children locked in a barn and set on fire.
August 17: Signing
of the Sikorski–Mayski Agreement in London. Signed between the
Polish-Government-in Exile and the Soviet Union. Stalin agreed to declare all
previous pacts he had with Nazi Germany null and void, invalidating the
September 1939 Soviet-German partition of Poland and releasing tens of
thousands of Polish prisoners-of-war held in Soviet camps.
October 12: Stanisławów
Ghetto Bloody Sunday massacre. Between
10,000 and 12,000 Jews (men, women and children) were murdered.
1942
March 17: Bełżec
extermination camp begins secretive Operation Reinhard. Between 430,000 and
500,000 Jews were murdered here until the camp was closed in June 1943.
May 16: Sobibór
extermination camp starts mass gassing operations. Around 250,000 Jews were
murdered here until it was closed down in October 1943 after 600 prisoners
revolted.
July 22: Treblinka
extermination camp becomes ready for the Grossaktion Warsaw deportations. Between 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were killed
in its gas chambers along with 2,000 Romani (Gypsies) people before 200
prisoners revolted in October 1943.
July 23-September 21: Großaktion
Warschau. 250,000 Jewish men, women and children were deported out of the
Warsaw Ghetto and gassed at the Treblinka extermination camp.
1943
April 19- May 16th: Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising against German attempts to transport the remaining Jewish
inhabitants to concentration camps. Resistance lasts nearly four weeks before
the ghetto is burned down. The Germans announce the capture of more than 56,000
Jews with 13,000 Jews murdered inside the Ghetto.
July 4: Death of Polish military leader Władysław Sikorski
July 11: Bloody
Sunday, the peak of Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. 40,000-
60,000 Poles were murdered in Volhynia and 30,000- 40,000 Poles were murdered
in Eastern Galicia.July 11–12: Zagaje massacre. 350 Poles killed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
1944
February 2:8 Huta
Pieniacka massacre of 1,200 Poles by Ukrainian Grenadier Division of the
Waffen-SS
July 22: Proclamation
of the PKWN Manifesto by Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation
July 25: Operation
Most III begins on the German V-2 rocket
August: Wola
massacre in the opening phase of the Warsaw Uprising. 40,000-50,000 Poles
murdered by the Germans.
August 1 – October 2: Warsaw
Uprising . Polish resistance forces take control of Warsaw in August. The
Germans recapture the city in October and burnt it to the ground. 15,200 Polish
fighters were killed and 200,000 Polish civilians were killed. Between 350,000
and 550,000 Polish civilians were deported out of Warsaw. 90,000 were sent to
labor camps in the Third Reich and 60,000 were shipped to death and
concentration camps (including Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, and Mauthausen.)
1945
February 11: Yalta
Conference concludes. The status of
Poland was discussed. It was agreed to reorganize the communist Provisional
Government of the Republic of Poland that had been installed by the Soviet
Union "on a broader democratic basis." The Polish eastern border
would follow the Curzon Line, and Poland would receive territorial compensation
in the west from Germany. Stalin pledged to permit free elections in Poland
March 17: Poland's
Wedding to the Sea in Mrzeżyn. A
ceremony meant to symbolize restored Polish access to the Baltic Sea
May 8 End
of World War II in Europe
Communist takeover, Polish People's
Republic (1945-1990)
1945 June 18–21: Trial of the Sixteen Polish Underground leaders in Moscow. All captives were kidnapped by the NKVD secret service under a false pretext, tortured, and accused of various forms of 'illegal activity' against the Red Army.
July 10–25: Augustów
roundup of anti-Communist partisans by the Soviets. 2,000 captured and
later executed, 600 deported.
August 2: Potsdam
Conference concludes between the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the
United States. For Poland it meant that a Provisional Government of National
Unity recognized by all three powers should be created (known as the Lublin
Poles). When the Big Three recognized the Soviet controlled government, it
meant, in effect, the end of recognition for the existing Polish
government-in-exile (known as the London Poles). Poles who were serving in the
British Army should be free to return to Poland, with no security upon their
return to the communist country guaranteed. The provisional western border
should be the Oder–Neisse line, defined by the Oder and Neisse rivers. Silesia,
Pomerania, the southern part of East Prussia and the former Free City of Danzig
should be under Polish administration. However the final delimitation of the
western frontier of Poland should await the peace settlement (which would take
place 45 years later at the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to
Germany in 1990) The Soviet Union declared it would settle the reparation
claims of Poland from its own share of the overall reparation payments
August 11: Kraków
pogrom with one dead victim
1946
June 30: People's
referendum
July 4: Kielce
pogrom. 40 Jews killed and 40 Jews wounded by Polish soldiers, police
officers, and civilians. As the deadliest pogrom against Polish Jews after the
Second World War, the incident was a significant point in the post-war history
of Jews in Poland. It took place only a year after the end of the Second World
War and the Holocaust, shocking Jews in Poland, Poles, and the international
community. It has been recognized as a catalyst for the flight from Poland of
most remaining Polish Jews who had survived the Holocaust.
1947
January 19: Legislative
election rigged, 100,000 ORMO men deployed to intimidate voters. Polish
Communists claim victory.
February 19: Adoption of Small Constitution of 1947. It confirmed the Communist ideology.
April 28: Operation
Vistula begins. Deportation of 141,000 Ukrainian civilians to the Recovered
Territories.
November 24: Auschwitz
trial begins in Kraków. The
best-known defendants were Arthur Liebehenschel, former commandant (sentenced
to death by hanging - carried out) Maria
Mandel, head of the Auschwitz women's camps (sentenced to death by hanging -
carried out); and SS-doctor Johann Kremer (sentenced to death by hanging - commuted
to life imprisonment) . 38 other SS
officers — 34 men and four women — who had served as guards or doctors in the
camps were also tried.
1950
July 6: Signing of the Treaty of Zgorzelec between Poland and East Germany.
1951
July 31: Trial
of the Generals who served in the anti-Nazi resistance during World War II.
Was a Communist show trial. Its purpose
was to cleanse the new pro-Soviet Polish Army of officers who had served in the
armed forces of interwar Poland or in the anti-Nazi resistance during World War
II. All of the accused generals were sentenced to life imprisonment.
1952
July 22: Adoption
of Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland. It was based on the 1936 Soviet Constitution
(also known as Stalin Constitution.) The constitution broke the tradition of
separation of powers, and introduced instead the Soviet concept of "unity
of the state's power". While the ultimate power was reserved for the
dictatorship of the proletariat, expressed as "the working people of the
towns and villages", the Sejm, the
legislative branch of the government, had the paramount authority in government
as per the 'will of the people', and oversaw both the judicial and executive
branches of the government.
October 26: First
Legislative election by the one-party Communist rule
1955
May 14: Signing of the Warsaw Pact by the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany,
Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Albania and Romania.
1956
June 28: Poznań
1956 protests. More than 50-100 people killed and 600 wounded in rioting in
Poznan over demands for greater freedom.
October 21- December: Polish
October. Return of Władysław Gomułka. Diffusion of Polish-Soviet tensions;
armed conflict averted/ End of Stalinist era in Poland, beginning of the
political thaw. Status of forces agreement on Soviet troops in Poland;
withdrawal of many Soviet advisors.
1965
November 15: Letter of Reconciliation of the Polish
Bishops to the German Bishops. It was foremost an invitation to the 1000
Year Anniversary Celebrations of Poland's Christianization in 966. In this
invitation letter the bishops asked for cooperation not only with Catholics but
with Protestants as well. While
recalling past and recent historical events, the bishops stretched out their
hands in forgiveness and are asking for forgiveness. The Polish Communists
countered the Letter with the anti-church campaign which lasted until Gomułka's downfall in 1970.
1968
March: Political
crisis. Political crisis within the Polish United Workers' Party due to
reformist demands. The crisis resulted in the suppression of student strikes by
security forces in all major academic centers across the country and the
subsequent repression of the Polish dissident movement. It was also accompanied
by mass emigration of 13,000 Polish Jews following an antisemitic (branded
"anti-Zionist") campaign waged by the minister of Internal Affairs,
General Mieczysław Moczar, with the approval of First Secretary Władysław
Gomułka of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR).
August 20: End
of Prague Spring with the invasion of Czechoslovakia (by the Soviet Union,
Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary.) Among them were 28,000 soldiers of the Polish
2nd Army from the Silesian Military District,
1970
December 7: Signing
of Treaty of Warsaw. In the treaty, both Poland and West Germany committed
themselves to nonviolence and accepted the existing border—the Oder-Neisse
line, imposed on Germany by the Allied powers at the 1945 Potsdam Conference
following the end of World War II.
December 7: Warschauer Kniefall. It was a gesture of
humility and penance by German Chancellor Willy Brandt towards the victims of
the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
December 14: 1970
protests begin. The protests were sparked by a sudden increase
of prices of food and other everyday items. As a result of the riots, which
were put down by the Polish People's Army and the Citizen's Militia, at least
42 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded.
1978
October 16: Election
of Pope John Paul II. Born Karol Józef Wojtyła in Wadowice, Poland. He was
the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years. He was also the first Polish Pope.
1980
August: Gdańsk
Agreement. The Agreement resolved the worker’s strikes on the Baltic Sea
with the 21 demands of MKS. The strikes exposed the corruption and negligence
within the state's leadership. In recognizing individual rights, such as the
freedom of expression, the government is opened for the creation of civil
societies. This allows citizens to come together where all people can agree on
human rights regardless of party beliefs. The problems caused by the labor
movements and the ensuing Gdańsk Agreement led to the removal of Edward Gierek
and the installation of Stanisław Kania in September 1980.
September 17: Solidarność (Solidarity) was created. The
independent trade union that emerged from the Lenin Shipyard strike, was unlike
anything in the history of Poland. Even though it was mainly a labor movement
representing workers led by chairman Wałęsa, it attracted an assorted
membership of different citizens which quickly rose to unpararelled proportion
of a quarter of the country's population: 10 million people nationwide. Due to
its enormous size and newly found power, the union assumed the role of a
national reform lobby able to change politics in Poland forever.
1981
December 13: Martial
law begins. The authoritarian
communist government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted
normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political
opposition. It included strict censorship and rationing. Thousands of
opposition activists were jailed without charge and as many as 91 were killed.
1983 Solidarity
leader Lech Wałęsa receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
July 22: Martial
law ends. 700,000 Poles had fled to
the West.
1989
April 4: Signing
of the Round Table Agreement. Round-table talks between Solidarity, the
Communists and the Catholic Church pave the way for fall of communism in
Poland. Partially free elections see landslide win for Solidarity, which helps
form coalition government.
April 7: April
Novelization. Restoration of the Senate of Poland and the post of the
president of Poland (the latter annulling the power of the Polish United
Workers' Party general secretary)The introduction of the National Council of
the Judiciary (Krajowa Rada Sądownictwa), changes to the electoral legislation,
in order to make elections more free and fair, powers of the Sejm were adjusted
August 2:4 Tadeusz
Mazowiecki becomes first non-communist prime minister in the Eastern Bloc
December 31: The
People's Republic of Poland becomes the Republic of Poland
Democratic Republic of Poland
(1990-Present)
1990
November 14: Signing of German–Polish Border Treaty.
Under the terms of the treaty, the contracting parties reaffirmed the frontier according to the 1950
Treaty of Zgorzelec with its subsequent regulatory statutes and the 1970 Treaty
of Warsaw; declared the frontier between them inviolable now and hereafter, and
mutually pledged to respect their sovereignty and territorial integrity;
declared that they have no territorial claims against each other and shall not
raise such claims in the future.
November 25: Presidential
election. They were the first direct presidential elections in the history
of Poland, and the first free presidential elections since the May Coup of
1926. Lech Wałęsa was elected President.
December 22: Lech
Wałęsa becomes President. Market reforms, including large-scale
privatisation, are launched.
1991 Poland participates in
the Gulf War coalition sending 319
soldiers. It is the first time since World War 2 that Poland has fought
alongside the West US, the UK, France,
etc.)
July 1: Dissolution
of Warsaw Pact (Albania had left in 1968 and East Germany had left when it
reunited with West Germany in 1990.)
October 27: Parliamentary
election. First parliamentary elections since fall of communism.
October: Soviet troops
start to leave Poland. At the time there were 58,000 Soviet troops in Poland
1992
October 17: Adoption
of Small Constitution. It was a constitution regulating relations between
the legislative and executive branches of Poland, and the local self-government.
It was voted by the Poland's first freely-elected Sejm (parliament) since
1928. It annulled some of the most
outdated parts of the Stalinist 1952 Constitution of the People's Republic of
Poland, particularly replacing statements about Poland being a communist and
socialist state with those for a liberal democracy and market economy. It was the second major adjustment of the
1952 constitution, after the April Novelization of 1989.
December 21: Signing
of Central European Free Trade Agreement
1993
September 18: The last Soviet/Russian troops left Poland.
1997
April 2: Adoption
of Constitution. It replaced the
temporary amendments put into place in 1992 designed to reverse the effects of
the communist dictatorship, establishing the nation as "a democratic state
ruled by law and implementing the principles of social justice"
1999
January 1: 16 new voivodeships created in Polish
local government reforms
1999
March 12: Accession
of Poland to NATO
2001 Poland permits
citizens to apply to see the files kept on them by the secret police during the Communist era
2003
June: European
Union membership referendum. 76% of Polish voters approve EU membership
2004
May 1: Accession
of Poland to the European Union
2005
April 2: Death
of Pope John Paul II
December 23: Lech
Kaczyński becomes President
2008
September: Poland's last Communist leader, General
Wojciech Jaruzelski, goes on trial in connection with the imposition of martial
law in 1981. Jaruzelski evaded most court appearances citing poor health.
2010
April 10: Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash killing Polish
President Lech Kaczyński. President
Lech Kaczynski and many other senior officials are killed in a plane crash
while on his way to a ceremony in Russia marking the 70th anniversary of the
Katyn massacre during World War II.
July 4: Bronisław Komorowski elected President.
July 4: Bronisław Komorowski elected President.
2014
April 27: Canonization
of Pope John Paul II
April: Poland
asks NATO to station 10,000 troops on its territory, as a visible mark of
the Alliance's resolve to defend all its members after Russia's seizure of
Crimea.
May 25: Death of Wojciech Jaruzelski
September: Prime Minister Donald Tusk resigns to take
up the post of president of the European Council
2015
April: Poland announces purchase of US Patriot surface-to-air missiles amid
rising tension with Russia.
August 6: Andrzej
Duda becomes President
2017
May: Tens of thousands of people take part in a march in the capital,
Warsaw, to protest against what they see as curbs on democracy imposed by the
governing Law and Justice Party.
2018
March: Act
on the Institute of National Remembrance. The 2018 amendment made further changes to the 1998 Act and 2007
amendment, including the addition of Article 55a, which makes it a crime to
"ascribe Nazi crimes to the Polish Nation or to the Polish State";
and Article 2a, concerning crimes perpetrated against Poland or Poles by
Ukrainian nationalists. The amendment caused an international controversy.
November 11: Poland celebrates the 100th anniversary of regaining its
independence.
As you can see Poland has endured many trying and over-whelming events in the past 100 years yet the Poles continue to embrace their history, culture and traditions while at the same time the modern-world.
As you can see Poland has endured many trying and over-whelming events in the past 100 years yet the Poles continue to embrace their history, culture and traditions while at the same time the modern-world.
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