(Jerusalem Post) Robert Cherry - In 1944, despite limited resources, combatants led by the Polish Home Army rose up in Warsaw and withstood the Nazi response for 63 days, resulting in the destruction of more than half the city, the execution of upwards of 100,000 after the defeat, and tens of thousands of Poles being transported back to Germany for slave labor. The Home Army leadership hoped to begin the uprising a day or two before Soviet forces entered Warsaw, just as De Gaulle did with the Paris invasion, and take credit for the liberation. Despite receiving new reports that Nazi forces had successfully pushed back the Soviet advance, the Home Army uprising in Warsaw went forward. During the uprising, a modest number of surviving Warsaw Jews came out of hiding to join the efforts. The response of the Home Army was either to drive them away or kill them. This attitude was similar to the Home Army's approach to the Jews that had escaped to the forests, who were often hunted down by Home Army contingents. The writer is a Broeklundian professor of economics at Brooklyn College.
2017-07-14 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive