TheSecondWar.pl
pl
← All places

City

Warsaw in the war

40 articles · 1919–1945

In September 1939 Warsaw held out for three weeks before surrendering on 28 September. The Germans walled some 400,000 Jews into the ghetto and from July 1942 deported them to Treblinka; in April 1943 an uprising broke out in the ghetto. On 1 August 1944 the Home Army launched the Warsaw Uprising. After its surrender the Germans expelled the population and demolished the city, whose ruins were taken on 17 January 1945 by the Polish 1st Army and the Red Army.

1919

  1. 14 February 1919 – 18 October 1920BattleThe Polish–Soviet WarFrom February 1919 to October 1920 Poland fought Soviet Russia for the lands of the old Commonwealth. The Battle of Warsaw halted the revolution's march west.

1927

  1. 7 June 1927EventThe assassination of Pyotr VoykovOn 7 June 1927 at Warsaw station the White émigré Boris Koverda shot the Soviet envoy Pyotr Voykov, who shared responsibility for killing the imperial family.

1939

  1. 1 September – 6 October 1939BattleInvasion of PolandFrom 1 September to 6 October 1939 Poland fought Nazi Germany, Slovakia and, from 17 September, the Soviet Union. The campaign ended in partition.
  2. 3 September 1939EventBritain and France declare war on GermanyOn 3 September 1939 Britain at 11 a.m. and France at 5 p.m. found themselves at war with Germany. Warsaw cheered, but no real help arrived.
  3. 8–28 September 1939BattleSiege of Warsaw (1939)Warsaw held out against the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe from 8 to 28 September 1939, surrendering after mass air raids, without water, power or hope of relief.
  4. 9–22 September 1939BattleBattle of the BzuraFrom 9 to 22 September 1939 Kutrzeba's Poznań and Pomorze Armies struck the flank of the German 8th Army. After early success they were encircled and crushed.
  5. 10 September 1939EventThe bombing of WarsawOn 10 September 1939 Warsaw endured one of the worst days of the siege, with over a dozen Luftwaffe raids. Yet it had been bombed since the war began.
  6. 15 September 1939EventThe encirclement of WarsawOn 15 September 1939 the German 3rd Army reached Praga and cut Warsaw off from the east. A day later the defenders rejected a demand to surrender.
  7. 27 September 1939EventEstablishment of the Service for Poland's VictoryOn the night of 26-27 September 1939, in besieged Warsaw, Gen. Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz founded the Service for Poland's Victory, seed of the Home Army.
  8. 28 September 1939EventThe capitulation of WarsawOn 28 September 1939 Generals Kutrzeba and Blaskowitz signed the capitulation of Warsaw at Rakowiec, after its heaviest air raid and a general assault.

1940

  1. 20 June 1940EventExecutions at PalmiryOn 20 and 21 June 1940 the Germans shot 358 Pawiak prisoners at Palmiry, among them Maciej Rataj, Mieczysław Niedziałkowski and Janusz Kusociński.
  2. 19 September 1940EventWitold Pilecki arrives at AuschwitzOn 19 September 1940 Witold Pilecki let himself be caught in a Żoliborz roundup to enter Auschwitz. As prisoner no. 4859 he built a camp resistance network.
  3. 2 October 1940EventThe creation of the Warsaw GhettoOn 2 October 1940 Governor Ludwig Fischer ordered a “Jewish district” to be set up in Warsaw. By mid-November some 250,000 people had been forced to move.
  4. 15 November 1940EventThe Warsaw Ghetto is sealedOn the night of 15–16 November 1940 the Germans sealed the Warsaw Ghetto. Some 400,000 Jews were walled off; hunger and smuggling became daily life.
  5. 3 December 1940EventFirst Government Delegate for PolandOn 3 December 1940 Gen. Sikorski appointed Cyryl Ratajski Government Delegate. A secret civil state administration began to take shape in occupied Poland.

1941

  1. 24 December 1941EventThe fur collection driveOn Christmas Eve 1941 the Germans ordered Jews in the General Government to hand over all furs for troops on the Eastern Front. Hiding a fur meant death.

1942

  1. 22 July 1942EventThe Treblinka extermination campOn 22 July 1942 the first transport left Warsaw for Treblinka II. The next day the camp began operating; the Germans murdered some 800,000–900,000 Jews there.
  2. 22 July 1942EventThe Great Deportation in the Warsaw GhettoOn 22 July 1942 the Germans began deporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka. By 21 September they had murdered at least 254,000 people there.
  3. 5 August 1942EventThe deportation of Janusz Korczak's orphanageOn 5 August 1942 the Germans deported Janusz Korczak, Stefania Wilczyńska, their staff and nearly 200 children from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka.
  4. 4 December 1942EventThe Council to Aid Jews “Żegota” is foundedOn 4 December 1942 the Council to Aid Jews “Żegota” was founded in Warsaw under the Government Delegation. It gave hiding Jews money, papers and shelter.

1943

  1. 18 January 1943EventThe first armed resistance in the Warsaw GhettoOn 18 January 1943 the Germans resumed deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto. ŻOB fighters first resisted with arms; after four days the action was halted.
  2. 26 March 1943EventAction at the ArsenalOn 26 March 1943 scouts of the Grey Ranks Assault Groups freed Jan Bytnar “Rudy” and 20 other prisoners from the Gestapo in Warsaw.
  3. 19 April 1943EventThe Warsaw Ghetto Uprising beginsOn 19 April 1943, the eve of Passover, ŻOB and ŻZW fighters drove back the Germans entering the Warsaw Ghetto. They soon returned under Jürgen Stroop.
  4. 22 April 1943EventThe burning of the Warsaw GhettoFrom 22 April 1943 Stroop burned the Warsaw Ghetto building by building. The ŻZW left Muranowski Square, but the ŻOB and those in bunkers fought on for weeks.
  5. 16 May 1943EventThe end of the Warsaw Ghetto UprisingOn 16 May 1943 Stroop blew up the Great Synagogue on Tłomackie and declared the Warsaw Ghetto at an end. His report listed 56,065 Jews “caught”.
  6. 30 June 1943EventArrest of General RoweckiOn 30 June 1943 the Gestapo arrested Home Army commander Gen. Stefan Rowecki “Grot” at 14 Spiska Street in Warsaw. Gen. Komorowski took over.

1944

  1. 15 January – 26 October 1944BattleOperation TempestFrom January to October 1944 the Home Army struck the retreating Germans and greeted the Red Army as hosts. The Soviets disarmed its units.
  2. 1 February 1944EventAssassination of Franz KutscheraOn 1 February 1944 soldiers of the Home Army's Kedyw unit "Pegaz" shot Franz Kutschera, the SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw District, in Aleje Ujazdowskie.
  3. 1 August 1944EventThe Warsaw Uprising beginsAt 5 p.m. on 1 August 1944 Home Army units attacked the Germans in Warsaw to liberate the capital before the Red Army entered it.
  4. 1 August – 2 October 1944BattleWarsaw UprisingFrom 1 August to 2 October 1944 the Home Army fought the Germans for Warsaw. After 63 days it capitulated; the city was emptied and razed.
  5. 5 August 1944EventThe Wola massacreOn 5 August 1944 Reinefarth's police and SS began murdering the people of Warsaw's Wola. In three days 10,000 to several tens of thousands of civilians died.
  6. 5 September 1944EventThe Uprising after the fall of the Old TownIn early September 1944 Warsaw fought on after losing the Old Town. Powiśle fell on 5–6 September, and in starving Śródmieście talk of surrender began.
  7. 24 September 1944EventThe Red Army and Berling on the VistulaIn late September 1944 the front in Poland stood on the Vistula and Narew. The Polish 1st Army's Warsaw landing failed; the last men withdrew on 23 September.
  8. 2 October 1944EventThe surrender of the Warsaw UprisingOn 2 October 1944 an agreement ending the Warsaw Uprising was signed at Ożarów. The Home Army received combatant rights; the city's people were expelled.

1945

  1. 12 January 1945EventThe Vistula–Oder offensive beginsOn 12 January 1945 Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Front struck from the Sandomierz bridgehead, opening an offensive that took the Red Army to the Oder in three weeks.
  2. 12 January – 3 February 1945BattleVistula–Oder offensiveBetween 12 January and 3 February 1945 Zhukov's and Konev's fronts drove from the Vistula to the Oder, smashed Army Group A and took Warsaw, Kraków and Łódź.
  3. 17 January 1945EventThe entry into WarsawOn 17 January 1945 units of the Polish 1st Army and the Red Army took the ruins of left-bank Warsaw. A new, communist authority arrived with the troops.
  4. 19 January 1945EventHitler's order of 19 JanuaryAfter the loss of Warsaw, Hitler ordered commanders from division level upwards to report every intended retreat, attack or abandonment in advance.
  5. 28 June 1945EventThe Provisional Government of National UnityOn 28 June 1945 the Provisional Government of National Unity was formed in Warsaw under Osóbka-Morawski, with Gomułka and Mikołajczyk as deputies.
  6. 5 July 1945EventThe powers recognise the Provisional Government of National UnityOn 5 July 1945 the US and Britain recognised the new Polish government in Warsaw and withdrew recognition from the government-in-exile in London.

People

Born or died here

  • Adam CzerniakówChairman of the Jewish Religious Community of Warsaw (1939), chairman of the Warsaw Judenrat (1939–1942)
  • Albert ForsterNSDAP Gauleiter in Danzig (1930–1945), head of state of the Free City of Danzig (1939), Reichsstatthalter of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (1939–1945)
  • August Emil FieldorfHead of the Directorate of Diversion (Kedyw) of the AK High Command (1942–1944), organiser of "NIE", deputy commander of the Home Army (1944–1945)
  • Edward Rydz-ŚmigłyCommandant of the POW (1917–1918), commander of the 3rd Army and the Central Front (1920), Inspector General of the Armed Forces (1935–1939), Marshal of Poland (from 1936), Commander-in-Chief (1939)
  • Emanuel RingelblumHistorian of the Jews in Poland, activist of the Joint and Jewish Social Self-Help, founder and head of the Oyneg Shabes archive (1940–1943)
  • Janusz KorczakPaediatrician, writer, co-founder and director of the Orphans' Home in Warsaw (1912–1942), co-founder of the Nasz Dom children's home (1919)
  • Józef BeckHead of the Minister of Military Affairs' office (1926–1930), Deputy Prime Minister (1930), Foreign Minister of Poland (1932–1939)
  • Józef PiłsudskiCommander of the 1st Brigade of the Legions (1914–1916), Chief of State (1918–1922), Marshal of Poland (from 1920), after 1926 Minister of Military Affairs and twice Prime Minister
  • Juliusz RómmelCommander of the 1st Cavalry Division (1920), army inspector (1929–1939), commander of the Łódź Army and the Warsaw Army (1939), major general
  • Jürgen StroopSS and Police Leader of the Warsaw District (1943), Higher SS and Police Leader in Greece (1943) and in Rhine-Westmark (1943–1945), SS-Gruppenführer
  • Konstantin RokossovskyCommander of the 16th Army (1941–1942), the Don Front (1942–1943), the Central Front (1943) and the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts (1943–1945), Marshal of the Soviet Union (from 1944), Marshal of Poland and Polish Minister of National Defence (1949–1956)
  • Ludwig FischerHead and, from 1941, Governor of the Warsaw District of the General Government (1939–1945)
  • Mordechai AnielewiczHashomer Hatzair activist, commander of the Jewish Combat Organisation (1942–1943), commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943)
  • Pyotr VoykovCommissar for Supply of the Ural Regional Soviet (1918), head of the Soviet delegation to the mixed commissions of the Treaty of Riga (1921–1924), Soviet envoy to Poland (1924–1927)
  • Roman DmowskiLeader of the National League and the National Democrats (from 1893), President of the Polish National Committee (1917–1919), delegate to the Paris Peace Conference (1919), Foreign Minister (1923)
  • Stefan StarzyńskiCommissarial Mayor of Warsaw (1934–1939), Civil Commissioner to the Warsaw Defence Command (1939)
  • Tadeusz Boy-ŻeleńskiTranslator, theatre and literary critic, columnist; head of the chair of French literature at Lwów University (1939–1941)
  • Tadeusz RozwadowskiChief of the General Staff of the Polish Army (1918 and 1920–1921), commander of the East Army (1918–1919), head of the Polish military mission in Paris (1919–1920), lieutenant general
  • Werner von FritschChief of the Army Command (1934–1935), commander-in-chief of the army (1935–1938), Colonel General
  • Witold PileckiCo-founder of the Secret Polish Army (1939), organiser of the resistance in KL Auschwitz (1940–1943), Kedyw officer of the AK High Command and Warsaw insurgent (1943–1944)
  • Wojciech KorfantyMember of the Reichstag (1903–1912, 1918), commissioner of the Supreme People’s Council (1918–1919), Polish plebiscite commissioner in Upper Silesia (1920–1921), Deputy Prime Minister (1923)