istoryworld
Events relating to poland
Warsaw falls, after a brave resistance, whereupon Germany and Russia carve up Poland
Nazi murder squads (Einsatzgruppen) kill Poland's elite
More than 4000 Polish officers are massacred at Katyń on Stalin's orders
German armies cross the border to invade Russia on a front from the Baltic to southern Poland
In three adapted vans at Chelmno, in western Poland, the Germans begin using poison gas to kill Jews
The Nazis build a new style of concentration camp, at Auschwitz in Poland, in which the fit will work and the unfit will be killed
German industrial enterprises are moved from the vulnerable Ruhr valley to the slave labour facilities of Auschwitz
Treblinka is constructed, in Poland, as the Nazis' first large-scale and purpose-built death camp
Jews in Warsaw resist a fierce German onslaught for a month before their ghetto is finally destroyed
Members of the Polish resistance rise against the Germans in Warsaw, in a conflict lasting two months and bringing massive casualties
The Red Army liberates the surviving prisoners at Auschwitz, who include the Italian novelist Primo Levi
An election campaign in Poland, marked by violence and the use of terror, brings a Communist landslide
The Family Moskat, about a Jewish family in Warsaw, is the first of Isaac Bashevis Singer's books to be published in English
Polish-born British composer Andrzej Panufnik wins an international reputation with his Sinfonia elegiaco
Polish film director Andrzej Wajda makes Ashes and Diamonds, starring the Polish actor Zbigniew Cybulski
Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski uses 'aleatory counterpoint' in his Venetian Games
Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik's Universal Prayer, a cantata setting poetry by Alexander Pope, has its premiere in New York
Polish composer Witold Lutoslawksi writes a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich
Polish composer Henryk Górecki completes his Third Symphony
John Paul II makes an emotional and influential return to Poland, the country of his birth
Electrician Lech Walesa emerges as the leader of a strike in the Gdansk shipyard in Poland
A trade union, Solidarnośc (Solidarity), is formed by strikers in the Gdansk shipyard in Poland
Lech Walesa is elected chairman of the newly formed Polish trade union movement Solidarnośc (Solidarity)
The Kremlin appoints a general, Wojciech Jaruzelski, as prime minister of Poland
Polish prime minister Wojciech Jaruzelski imposes martial law and suspends Solidarnośc (Solidarity)
