Poland WW2

September 17, 2021
Finally a museum about our Polish families in Soviet captivity

On 17 September 2021, to commemorate the day in 1939 when the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, a Museum has opened telling the history of Poles deported to...

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July 31, 2021
Warsaw Uprising: Why I stand to attention at 17.00 on 1 August

"Stańcie do Apelu” - "stand for the roll call" always sends a shiver through my spine. The silence just before a soldier or scout reads this at 17.00 on the...

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May 6, 2020
Why did it take 60 long years for Poles to join the Victory Parade?

The official British Victory Parade to celebrate the end of World War II took place on 8 June 1946, once hostilities with Japan had ended. The Parade was a show...

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February 9, 2020
Survivor accounts:deportation of Poles to Russia

It is 80 years since on 10 February 1940, over 1 million people were sent from the Eastern borderlands of Poland to slave labour in Soviet Russia. A few survivors recorded...

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January 27, 2020
How did you first hear about the Holocaust ? On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

Which books or films influenced your knowledge of the Holocaust?  Although I had heard a little of World War II from my family by the time I was at primary school,...

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August 23, 2019
Wola, Warszawa, echoes of a population destroyed

I first saw the sky high grey concrete communist blocks in the district of Wola to the west of Warszawa’s centre as a child. My second aunt and uncle lived...

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May 16, 2019
After the battle of Monte Cassino – what happened next for the Poles?

The battle of Monte Cassino, part of the Italian campaign is known as one of the decisive battles of WWII. The battles of the II Polish Corps meant the sacrifice of so...

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November 7, 2018
General Stanisław Maczek – finally honoured in the UK

On Saturday 3 November I travelled to Edinburgh for a weekend of 100 year celebrations since Poland regained its independence, yet Saturday itself was all about this forgotten war hero.  The...

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October 26, 2018
The unbelievable tale of Wojtek the bear in Scotland

The story of Wojtek the bear conjures up fond childhood memories of reading Lasocki's book about him at Polish Saturday School. It is a unique and remarkable tale, one I...

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October 23, 2018
What do Poles and Indians have in common?

Separated by 6000 km, what do Poles and Indians most have in common? Pierogi and samosas perhaps? More than anything, it’s definitely an overwhelming sense of hospitality. The Polish saying ‘Gość...

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