Poland was re-created as an independent nation at the end of the First
World War, but it soon faced problems as Nazi Germany set about
expanding its control on Europe. The Wehrmacht's attack on 1 September
1939 was followed by a Red Army invasion two weeks later.
The people of Poland were then subjected to a terrifying campaign of
murder, imprisonment and enslavement which only increased as the war
dragged on. Polish Catholics faced violence and deportation as they
adapted to the draconian laws implemented by the German authorities.
Meanwhile, the Polish Jews were forced into ghettos while the plans for
the Final Solution were implemented. They then faced annihilation in the
Holocaust, code named Operation Reinhard.
Despite the dangers, many Poles joined the underground war against their
oppressors, while those who escaped sought to fight for their nation's
freedom from abroad. They sent intelligence to the west, attacked German
installations, carried out assassinations and rose up to confront their
enemy, all against impossible odds. The advance of the Red Army brought
new problems, as the Soviet's dreaded NKVD introduced its own form of
terror, hunting down anyone who fought for an independent nation.
The story concludes with Poland's experience behind the Iron Curtain,
ending with the return of democracy by 1991.
