Von der Schulenburg and his notes
Polish soldiers in Vilnius. Photo from the movie
When on September 17, 1939, the Soviets attacked Poland, Vilnius (now – the capital of Lithuania) defended itself for one day. The Joachim Lelewel Foundation is making a film on this subject.
During the staging of fights
Historians will long argue how it happened that Polish military intelligence did not access the secret protocol attached to the non-aggression agreement concluded on 23 August 1939 between the Third Reich and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. This situation meant that both the Polish Army High Command and the state authorities were surprised by the entry of Soviet troops into Polish territory on 17 September 1939.
Wacław Grzybowski and Vladimir Potemkin. Photo: public domain
Continue reading “The Third Reich and the USSR in 1939. Together against Poland”
An English-language version of the film “Blood on the pavement. Grodno 1939” about the defense of Grodno (now in Belarus) against the Soviets in September 1939, was created.
A shocking document has been found in Belarus. It’s a note drawn up by Alexander Voloshin, the Deputy Chairman of the personnel department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus, concerning the unlawful execution of Polish prisoners of war after the taking of the city of Grodno by the Red Army in September 1939. The punishment for this crime was two weeks imprisonment for the perpetrators.
Document signed by Alexandr Voloshyn, courtesy of A. Poczobut
In order to better understand the events related to the Soviet aggression against Poland on September 17, 1939 and their aftermath, it’s worth recalling what the Polish-Soviet borderland – “the border of civilization” – looked like in the interwar period. Strictly guarded on both sides, it was also the site of enormous traffic of goods and people.
Polish soldiers caught the smuggler…
Continue reading “Smugglers on the “frontier of civilization””
In the deliberations of Polish historians and journalists, the topic of Grodno in September 1939 and the lonely struggle of its inhabitants against the Soviet invasion returns every year. This is because it was the longest defensive fight during the aggression of the Red Army against Poland.
Parade of the 81st Regiment of King Stefan Batory’s Grodno Riflemen
We hear: on September 1, 1939, Poland was invaded by the Germans, and on September 17, the Soviets “entered” eastern Poland. Meanwhile, this “encroachment” was also an act of aggression, with battles and crimes committed by this aggressor, which ended with the annexation of this part of the territory of the Republic of Poland. We are irritated when stories appear rom the German side that the aggressors were some nationally undefined “Nazis”. it is taken as obvious the that in the case of the second aggressor we were dealing only with some “Soviets”. We have also come across the opinion that the Soviets were a conglomerate of various ethnicities in which the Russians did not in fact play the main role. It is overlooked that these “other ethnicities” were indeed Russified people, and therefore Russians; Stalin – himself a “Georgian” – was a Russian imperialist, the “Pole” Dzerzhinsky (Dzierżyński in Polish) is still a model for the Russian, and not Polish, secret services. The orders launched on September 17 for the “Soviet” troops, issued by Stalin (who is still revered by the Russians) were in Russian, and that language was used by the aggressor from the east.
On September 1, 1939, “brown” Germany invaded Poland, and on September 17, “red” Russia invaded Poland.
Soviet-German parade in Brześć nad Bugiem (Brest)
After September 17, 1939, the USSR took over the areas inhabited by Belarusians and Ukrainians, who, according to Soviet declarations, were oppressed by Poland. Meanwhile, in Bialystok Voivodeship (province), which was almost fully incorporated into the Soviet Union (Suwałki was taken by Germany), as much as 72% of the population were Poles, 12.5% Belarusians, and 12% Jews. That is perhaps why Białystok was intended to be the capital of the new Polish Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) – eventually, however, it became the seat of government of the so-called West Belarus.
Soviet Army entering Białystok. Photo – public domain
The Soviet occupation of Bialystok began on September 22. The NKVD installed itself in the Voivodeship Office building at Mickiewicza Street and began to spread terror without delay. Arrests and repressions targeted state officials, policemen, foresters, veterans of the Polish–Soviet War of 1920, people known for their patriotic activities, entrepreneurs and owners of factories and land estates.
