Elizabeth+Snyderman

The Second Republic
Before 1919, What is now Poland was divided between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. After WWI, Poland was restored, and the Second Republic of Poland was formed. In the early days of the Second Republic, Poland had many border disputes, including the Polish-Soviet war from 1919-1921, which ended in a Polish victory.

WWII and the Holocaust
On September 1st, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, marking the start of WWII. 16 days later, the Soviet Union invaded Poland. They took around 22,000 prisoners, brought them to the Katyn Forest in Russia. THese prisoners were then slaughtered in what is known as the Katyn Massacre. Katyn Massacre

In 1944, the Polish resistance movement attempted to free Warsaw from German occupation in what was known as the Warsaw Uprising. The uprising lasted 63 days, and ended in a Polish defeat, although Poland never officially surrendered.

When Germany invaded Poland, the Nazis forced the Jews to live in ghettos. In 1942, the Nazis built 6 extermination camps in Poland: Auschwitz, Chełmno, Bełżec, Majdanek, Sobibor, and Treblinka. Thes extermination camps were used to systematically kill millions of people in what is known as the Holocaust. Most of the victims were Jewish, but other victims included Polish and Soviet prisoners of war, Catholics, homosexuals, Gypsies and Jehovah's Witnesses. Around 6 million Jews were killed, about half of them Polish. In total, between 11 million and 17 million people were killled in Nazi extermination camps.

In 1942 the Council to Aid to Jews, also known as Zegota, started in Poland. Zegota was a secret organization aimed at protecting and aiding Jews. In 1943, the Jews of the Warsaw Getto revolted against the German occupiers in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. This uprising, the largest revolt by Jews during the Holocaust, attempted to prevent Jews living in the ghetto from being transported to Treblinka extermination camp. The revolt failed miserably.

In 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at the Yalta Conference to discuss re-organizing post war Europe. Stalin promised to provide free elections for poland, a promise he never followed through on. Instead, the results of the Polish election were falsified, and a Communist government was set up in Poland.

Communism
In 1952, Polish Communists cated the Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland. While the constitution guaranteed free universal healthcare and education, it allowed the Communist party to censor education and art so that it was in line with Communist ideals. Communist rule generally lead to higher standards of living for most people, and as a result many Poles supported Communism. The Communists alienated many Poles by persecuting the Catholic Church, going so far as to place Stefan Wyszynski, the Primate of Poland, under house arrest.

In 1955, the Warsaw Pact was signed. The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance between 8 Eastern European countries, headed by the Soviet Union. In 1956, many Polish workers went on strike, calling for reforms in the Stalinist system. When the strikes turned to riots, these reforms were granted, and many Stalinists were removed from power.

The Fall of Communism and Modern Times
In 1980, Solidarity, an independent labor union, was formed. Solidarity, led by a man named Lech Walesa, demanded political and economis reforms. The Polish government, under pressure from the Soviet Union, outlawed Solidarity. During the 1980s, Poland went through a period of economic hardship, and in 1988, Communist leaders approached Solidarity for talks. Solidarity was finally legalized in 1989, and the first free elections in 50 years were held in Poland. In 1990, Lech Walesa was elected president of Poland. THe Warsaw Pact was dissolved in 1991, and in the same year Poland held its first entirely free Parliamentary elections, marking the end of Communism in Poland.

In 1997, Poland ratified a new Constitution. Polamd joined NATO in 1999, and the European Union in 2004.

On April 10th, 2010, an airplane on its way to Smolensk, Russia, to an event commemorating the 70th anniversarry of Katyn, crashed, killing all the passengers. The passengers included the Polish president Lech Kaczyński and his wife, senior Polish military officers, the president of the National Bank of Poland, Poland's deputy foreign minister, Polish government officials, 12 members of the Polish parliament, senior members of the Polish clergy, and relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre. Officials say that the crash was due to a pilot error.