As we mark 70 years since the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising ’44—the largest single military resistance effort in WWII—the Polish Consulate General in Chicago will hold a special Commemoration on August 1 to honor the heroes of the Warsaw Uprising ’44 as well as the heroes of the other WWII struggles of the Polish Armed Forces in Western Europe.
Among the invitees are representatives of the local American administration, members of the Chicago Consular Corps and leaders in the local Polish and international communities. The program will see soprano Mirosława Sojka-Topór sing Polish patriotic songs from WWII times to the piano accompaniment of Janusz Pliwko, e.g.: “Children of Warsaw” (Warszawskie Dzieci), “Hey Boys, Bayonet on Rifle” (Hej chłopcy, bagnet na broń) and “Red Poppies on Monte Cassino” (Czerwone maki na Monte Cassino).
The Warsaw Uprising ‘44 (Powstanie Warszawskie) was a major WWII operation by occupied Europe’s biggest and best organized resistance – Poland’s Home Army (Armia Krajowa), to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany before the advancement of Soviet troops to underscore Polish sovereignty by empowering the Moscow-independent Polish Government in Exile.
In spite of the outnumbering Nazi German forces, the Poles fought for 63 days with little outside support. On October 3, 1944 the Uprising fell to the overwhelming German forces, which were soon to retreat from the devastated Warsaw.
Many sources prove that the Warsaw Uprising ’44 was the largest single military effort taken by any European Resistance during WWII. Most Polish Home Army fighters, were persecuted and murdered after WWII by the NKVD (Soviet Secret Police) and itsMoscow-backed security service (UB) installed in Poland. Some Warsaw Uprising fighters managed to escape the persecutions by emigrating, also to the United States of America.
Photo: pl.wikipedia.org
