Poland At War Tours

22/12/2024

Do you know how many dishes Poles normally serve on a traditional Christmas Eve? Read my latest Substack to find out, All the best for the festive season everyone!

https://open.substack.com/pub/polandatwartours/p/wesoych-swiat?r=3zrjq6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

22/12/2024

Przedwojenne spotkania takie są! Kraków, 1930 rok.

19/12/2024

15/12/2024

During the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Polish Army used a variety of armaments, which unfortunately were often outdated compared to the modern weapons used by the Wehrmacht. The arsenal of the Polish armed forces included Ma**er wz. 1898 rifles, the Mors machine gun, as well as Browning wz. 1928 light machine guns. The armored forces used, among others, 7TP light tanks, which were distinguished by a modern targeting system and anti-tank cannon, but their number was insufficient.

During the occupation, under partisan conditions, the Polish resistance used a variety of sources of armaments. Weapons captured from the Germans included Luger P08 pistols and Kar98k rifles. Often improvised, creating their own designs, such as the Blyskawica submachine guns, manufactured secretly by Polish engineers. Allied airdrops also played an important role, providing Sten guns, C**t M1911 pistols or hand grenades.

Despite the restrictions, Polish soldiers and partisans showed extraordinary determination and creativity, adapting available means to fight the occupying forces, which became a symbol of their steadfastness.

14/12/2024

Germanization through art

On December 14, 1939, the Germans opened the first theater in occupied Poland in Bydgoszcz, a symbolic step in the process of Germanization and control of culture in the region. The occupation authorities incorporated Pomerania into the Reich, treating these lands as “eternally German.” Theater was a propaganda tool to strengthen German domination while eliminating Polish cultural identity. The organization of such institutions was also intended to weaken the morale of Poles, who were deprived of access to their own artistic creations and places that promoted their culture

For Poles, these actions had a profoundly negative impact. Closing Polish cultural institutions and replacing them with German ones was an attempt to erase national identity. Despite this, Poles undertook resistance activities, organizing clandestine forms of cultural life, such as secret teaching and theatrical performances in hiding. German cultural policy, however, was part of a broader plan to repress and exterminate the Polish intelligentsia, which formed the foundation of social resistance and national identity.

The introduction of the German theater in Bydgoszcz symbolized the attempts to subjugate Poles and suppress their culture, but it also unleashed the will to fight to preserve their identity under difficult occupation conditions.

14/12/2024

How much do you know about the Righteous Among the Nations, those who saved at least one life, but it was “as though they saved all of humanity”? Read my latest Substack to learn more. Never Forget!

https://open.substack.com/pub/polandatwartours/p/the-righteous-among-the-nations?r=3zrjq6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

12/12/2024

Whilst no official document exists, we know that it is likely somewhere between 12-18 December 1941 that Hi**er makes the final decision to enact the Final Solution.

There were two significant events that occurred just prior to this date:

5 December 1941 - The loss and retreat of the Germans at Moscow.

8 December 1941 - The entry of the USA into the war on 8 December 1941.

“the world war is here, the annihilation of the Jews must be the necessary consequence” Hi**er

Never forget!

11/12/2024

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08/12/2024

On 4 December 1942, the Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB; Jewish Combat Organsation of the Warsaw Ghetto) made the following proclamation to the world:

"There can be no doubt that Na**sm has set itself the goal of exterminating all Jews. Its tactics are deceit and hypocrisy. It plunges a knife into the victim's throat and at the same time throws a card at the nearest victim before rushing them to the slaughter. Let's face it openly and boldly! (...) Jews! Citizens of the Warsaw ghetto, be vigilant! Do not believe any words, any actions of the SS bandits. Mortal danger is still lurking. Let us not be deluded! (...) The Germans have again found helpers and minions among the Jewish society. Do not believe Jewish traitors, "shop" managers, foremen. These are your enemies. Do not be deceived. Do not convince yourselves and do not allow us to convince you that better professionals, that older workers with numbers are safe, and therefore the weaker ones should be handed over, Everyone is at risk! Let no one dare to actively or passively assist the handing over of a comrade, neighbor or collaborator to the executioner on the brink of extinction to be a pile of dung, wealth. Help each other. The wicked traitors who help the enemy must be thrown out of society. Don't be exterminated! Long live freedom!”

Never Forget!

07/12/2024

On 7 December 1941, a "day that will live in infamy" was possibly the biggest mistake made by the Axis of Evil. The bombing of Pearl Harbour bought the USA into WWII and the march towards the end of the axis of evil began. We need the USA to be the worlds policeman and allied nations should do everything we can to aid them in that endeavour. Never Forget!

02/12/2024

Heroism is not always measured by achievements at the front. Sometimes sacrifice and fortitude are evidenced by deeds that have little to do with military effort, although the background is war. After the defeat of the September campaign, Father Maximilian Maria Kolbe continued his pastoral ministry. He was arrested in February in 1941, ostensibly for aiding Jews. The Germans first interrogated the friar and then sent him to Auschwitz I. There the Franciscan made a dramatic decision that required heroism beyond what one might expect and made the supreme sacrifice.

Franciszek Gajowniczek, a Polish soldier taken prisoner by the Germans, was sent to Auschwitz in 1940 as prisoner number 5659. On July 29, 1941, in response to the escape of one of the prisoners, the Germans decided to punish ten randomly selected prisoners with death by starvation. Gajowniczek was among the condemned and expressed despair for his family. Father Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take his place, explaining his decision with spiritual motivation. The German captain agreed to the swap, and Kolbe was sent to Block 11 with the 9 other prisoners. Each time the guards would check on Kolbe, they found him kneeling and praying. After a week of not succumbing to starvations, the guards murdered him by phenol injection to the heart on 14 August 1941. Gajowniczek survived the war and lived to a ripe old age; he died in 1995, grateful for Kolbe's sacrifice.

After the war, efforts began to elevate Maximilian Kolbe to the altars. There was no doubt that his deed deserved to be remembered by followers of the Christian faith. Fr. Kolbe was beatified in 1971 and canonized 11 years later. Gajowniczek was present for each event also having met Pope John Paul II.

The statue of St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe can be seen on one of our tours in Krakow.

30/11/2024

Did you know there were 2 Treblinka's? Read my latest article to know more. Never Forget!

https://open.substack.com/pub/polandatwartours/p/konzentrationslager-treblinka?r=3zrjq6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

30/11/2024

Amazing photo. Can everyone recognise this as a site used to film Schindler's List? It is part of the movie where the Germans are "clearing the ghetto". In fact this is Kazimierz where many Jews lived prior to WWII. We go through here on our tours through Kazimierz in Krakow.

NeverForget!

W stronę przyszłości. Kraków, 1933 rok.

28/11/2024

What are your favorite places in Poland?🇵🇱
Write in the comments!📩

27/11/2024

Wojtek the bear fights in the Anders Army🐻🇵🇱

Wojtek was an orphaned brown bear bought back by Polish soldiers from an Iranian boy in 1942. As Wojtek grew larger, it became harder for the soldiers to hide him from his superiors. Nonetheless, superior officers understood the morale boost Wojtek gave and allowed him to remain with the army. He was so much loved that he was soon drafted into the Anders Army becoming an official soldier and given his own ration card. Wojtek was also soon promoted to the rank of corporal.

Wojtek, loved wrestling his comrades and riding in the cab of a truck. He received sweet victuals in the form of fruit, syrups and even beer, which he enjoyed. The appearance of Wojtek among General Anders' soldiers caused quite a sensation.

Wojtek found himself in the middle of the fighting for Monte Cassino. He helped by carrying heavy crates of artillery ammunition. He did this extremely carefully without dropping any of them. For this reason, the image of Wojtek the bear carrying a shell soon became the emblem of his unit.

At the end of hostilities in 1945, Wojtek undertook the ocean journey to England with the rest of Anders Army. However, with the demobilisation of Polish troops, it became impossible for Wojtek to remain among them and iIn 1947, it was decided to send him to the Edinburgh Zoo where he lived out the remainder of his life. The Polish soldiers did not forget about their fellow soldier and visited him more than once in his new home. Zookeepers observed that Wojtek would lift his mood whenever he heard the Polish language spoken by visitors.

Wojtek the Soldier Bear died in the Edinburgh Zoo in 1963, and is probably the most famous bear in Poland.

23/11/2024

The fourth Saturday of November each year is Holodomor Remembrance Day - "Day of memory of victims of the Holodomors". Note the plural.

In Ukrainian, Holodomor literal means death by starvation. The Holodomors are a collection of periods in Ukrainian history where the Soviets, and particularly Stalin, insisted that grain harvests in Ukraine would be sent to feed the people of Russia, leaving the Ukrainians without food and painful deaths from hunger.

The periods of the Holodomors were from 1921-1923, 1932-1933, and 1946-1947. However, Holodomor Remembrance Day is generally accepted to be recognising the famine of 1932 to 1933 in which it is recognised that approximately 7,500,000 to 10,000,000 Ukrainians starved to death under Stalin's policies.

It is unacceptable that on this day of remembrance, Ukrainians are once again suffering from the oppression of the Russian State! Never Forget!