InfoEvents
in wich Poland was/is involved
World War II
On September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland.
According to a secret agreement, the Soviet Union joined the invasion on September 17.
Both invaders had their plans to destruct Poland and its population completely.
Thousands of Poles were send to concentration camps in the Soviet Union, or killed in the Katyn massacre.
In june 1941 Germany attacked the Soviet Union by surprise.
This fact forced the Soviet Union to treat the Poles no longer as enemies, but as allies.
Many Polish soldiers joined the British army and took part in the liberation of western Europe.
The Soviet Union also formed a Polish division.
Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution to the Allied war effort,
after the Americans, the British and the Soviets.
Battle of NarvikIn April an May 1940 both German and allied troops tried to get control over the harbor of Narvik, in the north of Norway. The harbor was strategic important but also necessary for the transport of iron from Kiruna in Sweden to Germany. The Norwegian, British, French and Polish army joined their forces in the battle. Because of the German invasion in France, the allied forces hat to withdrew from Narvik in June 1940. Norway had to lay down its arms.
The Holocaust
For the realization of Hitler's plans to destroy all the Jews in the Third Reich, the Germans built concentration camps and extermination camps. Most camps were built in Poland, because about 3 million Jews lived there. For a long time the camps remained hidden for western observers.
The end of the war
Immediately after the war, during the Potsdam Conference, the Allies made important decisions about the fate of the nations of eastern Europe, including Poland. Poland was the only Allied country, that as a result of this conference, lost a part of its surface (20%).
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