- Zamość Uprising
The Zamość Uprising refers to the actions by Polish resistance (primarily
Armia Krajowa andBataliony Chłopskie ) against the forced expulsion of Poles from theZamość region (Zamość Lands, "Zamojszczyzna ") under theNazi Generalplan Ost . The uprising lasted from 1942 to 1944.The defense of the Zamość region is considered to be among the largest actions of the Polish resistance.pl icon [http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=3871190 Armia Krajowa] .
Encyklopedia PWN . Last accessed on 14 March 2008.]German atrocities
In 1942, the
Zamość region, due to its fertile black soil, was chosen for further German colonisation in theGeneral Government as part ofGeneralplan Ost .www.deathcamps.org/occupation/zamosc%20ghetto.html "Zamosc Ghetto". Last retrieved on March 16, 2008] Joseph Poprzeczny, "Odilo Globocnik, Hitler's Man in the East", McFarland, 2004, ISBN 0786416254, [http://books.google.com/books?id=gjOO6ui8SIkC&pg=PA110&vq=Zamosc&dq=%22Zamo%C5%9B%C4%87+Uprising%22+-wikipedia&source=gbs_search_s&sig=YlJNpg9GF1yU8bl99WYizvmGUys Google Print, p.110-111] ] In fact the Zamość region expulsions and colonization can be considered the beginning of the large-scale implementation of the Generalplan Ost.Joseph Poprzeczny, "Odilo Globocnik, Hitler's Man in the East", McFarland, 2004, ISBN 0786416254, [http://books.google.com/books?id=gjOO6ui8SIkC&pg=PA181&vq=Zamosc&dq=%22Zamo%C5%9B%C4%87+Uprising%22+-wikipedia&source=gbs_search_s&sig=QhqJQ3XIroQcCnh-QQJTz4uzU3c Google Print, p.181] ] The city itself was to be renamed "Himmlerstadt" (Himmler City), later changed to Pflugstadt (Plow City), which was to symbolise the German "plow" that was to "plow the East". The German occupiers had planned the relocation of at least 60,000 ethnic Germans to the area before the end of1943 . An initial "test trial"expulsion was performed in November 1941, and the whole operation ended in anti-partisanpacification operations combined with expulsions in June/July 1943 which were codenamed Wehrwolf Action I and II.Over 110,000 Polish people from approximately 300 villages were expelled to make room for German (and to a lesser extent, Ukrainian) settlers as part of Nazi plans for establishment of German colonies in the conquered territories (
Generalplan Ost ).Norman Davies, "God's Playground: A History of Poland", Columbia University Press, 2005, [http://books.google.com/books?id=EBpghdZeIwAC&pg=PA338&vq=Zamosc&dq=%22Zamosc%22+resistance+-wikipedia&as_brr=3&source=gbs_search_s&sig=-sBnyR8XEEZGCDInU1lpHhBSrXs Google Print, p.338] ] Tadeusz Piotrowski, "Poland's Holocaust", McFarland & Company, 1997, ISBN 0-7864-0371-3. [http://books.google.com/books?id=hC0-dk7vpM8C&pg=PA22&vq=Zamosc&dq=%22Zamosc%22+resistance+-wikipedia&lr=&as_brr=3&source=gbs_search_s&sig=vKTuWb1abXVMG2M5fB0Gu31EXSE Google Print, p.22] ] Some villagers were resettled in theWarsaw orLublin area, but about 50,000 of those expelled were sent as forced labour to Germany, and some others were sent to theNazi concentration camps . Some villages were simply razed and inhabitants executed. Additionally almost 30,000 children were kidnapped by German authorities from their parents for potentialGermanisation .pl icon "Polacy wypędzeni",IPN Bulletin, nr5(40) May 2004] Lukas, Richard C. "Did the Children Cry? Hitler's War against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939-1945". Hippocrene Books, New York, 2001]Polish resistance
Local people resisted the action with great determination; they escaped into forests, organised self-defence, helped people who were expelled, and bribed kidnapped children out of German hands.Joseph Poprzeczny, "Odilo Globocnik, Hitler's Man in the East", McFarland, 2004, ISBN 0786416254, [http://books.google.com/books?id=gjOO6ui8SIkC&pg=PA182&vq=Zamosc&dq=%22Zamo%C5%9B%C4%87+Uprising%22+-wikipedia&source=gbs_search_s&sig=qTRb5RqgYXirPyn4BeIX8op2q9Y Google Print, p.182] ] Units of Polish resistance (primarily of
Armia Krajowa andBataliony Chłopskie ) as well as elements ofSoviet partisans and the pro-SovietGwardia Ludowa helped to evacuate Polish civilians and assaulted German colonists and forces in the region.Joseph Poprzeczny, "Odilo Globocnik, Hitler's Man in the East", McFarland, 2004, ISBN 0786416254, [http://books.google.com/books?id=gjOO6ui8SIkC&pg=PA142&vq=Zamosc&dq=%22Zamo%C5%9B%C4%87+Uprising%22+-wikipedia&source=gbs_search_s&sig=pGYIlADu7sousxWiXVR7TeGafII Google Print, p.142] ] In December 1942 one of the first large-scale partisan battles of WWII occurred in the region. The resistance forces numbered over several thousand armed forest fighters. The first phase of the resistance took place from December 1942 to February 1943; the Germans then lessened their activities for a few months but counterattacked in June, with major anti-partisan actions and terror directed against the civilian population ("Wehrwolf Action I " and II).Nonetheless after several major battles between the partisans and the German units (the most notable being the battles of
Wojda ,Róża ,Zaboreczno ,Długi Kat ,Lasowce andHrubieszów Joseph Poprzeczny, "Odilo Globocnik, Hitler's Man in the East", McFarland, 2004, ISBN 0786416254, [http://books.google.com/books?id=gjOO6ui8SIkC&pg=PA190&vq=Zamosc&dq=%22Zamo%C5%9B%C4%87+Uprising%22+-wikipedia&source=gbs_search_s&cad=5&sig=yDlyepRKgv88IislzrfGcUL3KoE Google Print, p.190] ] ), the Germans had to halt the action and in the end very few German settlers were brought to the area. [Włodzimierz Borodziej, "The Warsaw Uprising of 1944", Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2005, ISBN 0299207307, [http://books.google.com/books?id=YHO0F65ifDIC&pg=PA41&dq=%22Zamosc%22+resistance+-wikipedia&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=jsveR4nQGZO0yQTxv9DmCQ&sig=jb8JN8h9GPUmhVf-HJohcnoD3Cs Google Print, p.41] ] Until the middle of 1943, the Germans managed to settle 8,000 colonists; the number increased by a couple of thousand in 1944. The increasing harassment from the partisans meant that the Germans began to lose the control of the region as early as the spring of 1943.In the first half of 1944 Polish civilians and resistance was also attacked by Ukrainian units of the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army (seemassacres of Poles in Volhynia ). Nonetheless by the summer of 1944 the Polish partisans, based in the large forests of the region had taken control of most of the countryside, limiting German control to the major towns. In the summer of 1944 Germans again initiated major anti-partisan operations (Sturmwind I andSturmwind II ) which resulted in thebattle of Osuchy (one of the largest battles between the Polish resistance and Nazi Germany), with the insurgents sustaining heavy casualties. [Martin Gilbert, "Second World War A Complete History", Holt Paperbacks, 2004, ISBN 0805076239, [http://books.google.com/books?id=xxdTZE2zREMC&pg=RA4-PA542&vq=osuchy&dq=Osuchy&as_brr=3&sig=eCCdHLUNRN7xjHiSVUwqK72T-To Google Print, p.542] ] However soon afterwards, in July, the remaining Polish units took part in the nationwideOperation Tempest and managed to liberate several towns and villages in the Zamość region. The Germans, pressured by the advancingRed Army , were forced to abandon the region.Remembrance
Several monuments, museums and cemeteries have been raised in the area over time. In the
People's Republic of Poland the actions of the communistArmia Ludowa were emphasized at the expense of those of the non-communist resistance.A recent Polish documentary dedicated to the uprising has been recognized in the New York Festivals of 2008 with a bronze medal. [http://www.stopklatka.pl/wydarzenia/wydarzenie.asp?wi=42288&strona=] [http://www.roztocze.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1283&Itemid=94] [http://www.film.gildia.pl/newsy/archiwum/2008/02/tvp-medal-ny] [http://www.gazetawyborcza.pl/1,76842,4894954.html]
ee also
*
Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany References
:General
*Polish|Powstanie zamojskie|14 March 2008:InlineExternal links
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=gjOO6ui8SIkC&pg=PA179&vq=Globocnik's+order&dq=%22Zamo%C5%9B%C4%87+Uprising%22+-wikipedia&source=gbs_search_s&sig=JWl45JMjssJRsh2bcB7KNpz0XJg German order, dated 22 November 1943, for the ethnic cleansing of the Zamosc Lands] (issued by
Odilo Globocnik )
*pl icon Andrzej Jerzy Krukowski, [http://www.zsp4zamosc.edu.pl/inno/inno11.html POWSTANIE ZAMOJSKIE 1942 - 1943]
*pl icon [http://www.dws.xip.pl/PW/pw40.html Bitwa o Zamojszczyznę]
*pl icon Zygmunt Puźniak, [http://www.tygodnikzamojski.pl/tz.php?get=dzial,7475 POWSTANIE ZAMOJSKIE CZY JÓZEFOWSKIE?] , Tygodnik Zamojski, 27 luty 2008
*pl icon [http://ww6.tvp.pl/3167,20060505337775.strona Powstanie Zamojskie] , TVP 3 Lublin, 31 October 2006Further reading
* Janusz Gmitruk, "Powstanie Zamojskie", Muzeum Historii Polskiego Ruchu Ludowego, 2003, ISBN 83-87838-69-1
* Jan Grygiel, "Związek Walki Zbrojnej i Armia Krajowa w Obwodzie Zamojskim 1939-1944", Polskie Wydawnictwo Naukowe 1985
* "Walki oddziałów ZWZ-AK i BCh Inspektoratu Zamojskiego w latach wojny 1939-1944", Związek Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej Okręg Zamość 1990
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