Sunday, November 11, 2018

100 Years: Polish History


                               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 Poland

April 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.
1941

June 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. 
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. 

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