Courage and
reconciliation
The Polish Resistance
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Organizational chart
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What was the Polish Underground State?
The Polish Underground State was formed after the occupation by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and is described as a complex system of military and civilian institutions. The head of the Underground State was the Polish government-in-exile based in London. As the official contact partner of the Allies the government led and coordinated all activities of the Polish Underground State. In the occupied state they established a secret civil administration and an illegal education system. Polish troops (Army in exile), as well as armed partisan troops (also known as Home Army) were under the command of the government-in-exile and fought together with the Allies against Nazi Germany. This system represented a unique phenomenon in occupied Europe and caused considerable problems for both occupying powers. From 1 August to 2 October 1944 the Home Army organized alongside other underground troops the Warsaw Uprising. Until its suppression by German troops over 150.000 people were killed and the majority of the city of Warsaw was destroyed.
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Two governments for one state?
In 1942 the first organized communist group was founded in the Polish resistance. In 1944 the “Polish Committee of National Liberation” (also known as the Lublin Committee), emanates from it and functioned as a communist government under the control of the Soviet Union and competed with the government-in-exile in London until the first free elections in the post-war period (1947). However, the government-in-exile was not able to assert itself against the communists supported by Stalin. After official recognition of the communist government by i.a. Great Britain and the USA, the State National Council of Poland, representing the government-in-exile, resigned on 1 July in 1945. The council announces its resignation with the publication of its political testament, which included the “Program of the Polish Democracy”. The government-in-exile in London continued to exist until 1990.
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