In Poland the subject of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 is seen from many different perspectives and, like all battles, has its own specific circumstances: military, political, social and – seen from Poland’s history of uprisings – cultural. Yet, while no longer suppressed, as it was in the years of communism and Cold War, it still remains a battle relatively unknown outside of Poland today.

Fought from 1 August-2 October 1944, the outcome of the 63-day battle is a tragedy. An estimated 18,000 Polish insurgents lost their lives and between 180,000-200,000 civilians died during the uprising. Warsaw became a city of ruins. However, despite the catastrophic end, it is also a story of tragic beauty, heroism and fierce resistance against the odds.

A history of uprisings

With the German and Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939, Polish resistance to the occupiers was instant. Poland had only relatively recently regained its independence at the end of World War I, following 123 years of Russian, Prussian and Austrian partitions, and building underground secret networks against an enemy occupier was something of a second nature. Generations of Poles had fought for independence – in the Kosciuszko Rising in 1794, with Napoleon for the Duchy of Warsaw from 1807-1815, the November Uprising of 1830, the January Uprising of 1863 and in Piłsudski’s Legions in WWI, all fighting for the rebirth of the Polish state.

By 1940 Poland’s armed resistance movement had formed as the Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej (Union of Armed Struggle) and developed into the Armia Krajowa (AK or Home Army) in 1942 – the biggest underground army in occupied Europe. By 1944 an estimated 400,000 soldiers carried out military training, diversionary activities, sabotage operations and intelligence gathering in preparation for an armed national insurgency.

Occupation

The occupation in Warsaw, Poland’s capital city with around 1.3 million inhabitants in 1939, was particularly brutal from the very start. Germans confiscated property, renamed streets and put up “Nur für Deutsche” (only for Germans) signs across the city. Every citizen was forced to carry their ‘kennkarte’ ID card, work and residence permits to show any German official on patrol at any given time.

The German authorities imposed strict food rationing. The average adult in Warsaw lost ten kilograms in weight during the occupation. Monetary depreciation meant loss