Editing Poland (section)

=== World War II ===
{{Main|History of Poland (1939–1945)|Invasion of Poland|Military history of Poland during World War II|War crimes in occupied Poland during World War II}}
[[File:7TP Polish Tank.png|thumb|left|[[Polish Armed Forces (Second Polish Republic)|Polish Army]] [[7TP]] tanks on military manoeuvres shortly before the [[invasion of Poland]] in 1939]]

World War II began with the [[Nazi German]] [[invasion of Poland]] on 1 September 1939, followed by the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] on 17 September. On 28 September 1939, [[Siege of Warsaw (1939)|Warsaw fell]]. As agreed in the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]], Poland was split into two zones, [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|one occupied by Nazi Germany]], the other by [[territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|the Soviet Union]]. In 1939–1941, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Poles. The Soviet [[NKVD]] executed thousands of Polish prisoners of war (among other incidents in the [[Katyn massacre]]) ahead of [[Operation Barbarossa]].<ref name="BBC 2010" /> German planners had in November 1939 called for "the complete destruction of all Poles" and their fate as outlined in the genocidal ''[[Generalplan Ost]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Michael Geyer |url={{GBurl|id=IcB3oASHnkAC|p=152}} |title=Beyond Totalitarianism: Stalinism and Nazism Compared |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-521-89796-9 |pages=152–153}}</ref>

Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution in Europe,<ref name="Zaloga 1982" /><ref name="Lerski 1996a" /><ref name="Walters 1988" /> and its troops served both the [[Polish Government in Exile]] in the [[Polish Armed Forces in the West|west]] and Soviet leadership in the [[Polish Armed Forces in the East|east]]. Polish troops played an important role in the [[Operation Overlord|Normandy]], [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian]], [[North African Campaign]]s and [[Operation Pheasant|Netherlands]] and are particularly remembered for the [[Battle of Britain]] and [[Battle of Monte Cassino]].<ref name="tobruk" /><ref name="including" /> Polish intelligence operatives proved extremely valuable to the Allies, providing much of the intelligence from Europe and beyond,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kochanski |first=Halik |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJ5vIyDBpLcC&q=22%252C047%2BPolish&pg=PA234 |title=The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-674-06814-8 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=25 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230725000018/https://books.google.com/books?id=EJ5vIyDBpLcC&pg=PA234&q=22%252C047%2BPolish |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Polish Cipher Bureau|Polish code breakers]] were responsible for [[cryptanalysis of the Enigma|cracking the Enigma cipher]] and Polish scientists participating in the [[Manhattan Project]] were co-creators of the American [[atomic bomb]]. In the east, the Soviet-backed [[First Polish Army (1944–1945)|Polish 1st Army]] distinguished itself in the battles for [[Warsaw Uprising|Warsaw]] and [[Battle of Berlin|Berlin]].<ref name="Lerski 1996b" />

The [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|wartime resistance movement]], and the [[Armia Krajowa]] (''Home Army''), fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war, and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as an [[Polish Underground State|underground state]] complete with [[Education in Poland during World War II|degree-awarding universities]] and [[Underground court|a court system]].<ref name="Stanislaw Salmonowicz 1994" /> The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in the summer of 1944 it initiated [[Operation Tempest]], of which the [[Warsaw Uprising]] that began on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation.<ref name="Lerski 1996b" /><ref name="polandinexile" />

[[File:WW2-Holocaust-Poland.PNG|thumb|Map of [[the Holocaust in occupied Poland|the Holocaust in German-occupied Poland]] with deportation routes and massacre sites. Major [[Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland|ghettos]] are marked with yellow stars. Nazi [[extermination camps]] are marked with white skulls in black squares. The border in 1941 between [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Soviet Union]] is marked in red.]]

Nazi German forces under orders from [[Adolf Hitler]] set up six German [[extermination camp]]s in occupied Poland, including [[Treblinka extermination camp|Treblinka]], [[Majdanek concentration camp|Majdanek]] and [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]]. The Germans [[Holocaust train|transported millions of Jews]] from across occupied Europe to be murdered in those camps.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Browning |first1=Christopher R. |title=The origins of the Final Solution: the evolution of Nazi Jewish policy, September 1939 – March 1942 |last2=Matthäus |first2=Jürgen |date=2004 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-1327-2 |series=Comprehensive history of the Holocaust |location=Lincoln}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Snyder |first=Timothy |title=Black earth: the Holocaust as history and warning |date=2015 |publisher=Tim Duggan Books |isbn=978-1-101-90345-2 |edition=First |location=New York}}</ref> Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews<ref>{{harvp|Materski|Szarota|2009}} ''Quote:'' Liczba Żydów i Polaków żydowskiego pochodzenia, obywateli II Rzeczypospolitej, zamordowanych przez Niemców sięga 2,7- 2,9 mln osób. ''Translation:'' The number of Jewish victims is estimated at 2,9 million. This was about 90% of the 3.3 million Jews living in prewar Poland. ''Source:'' IPN.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/poland-historical-background.html | title=Poland: Historical Background during the Holocaust | access-date=18 August 2019 | archive-date=12 November 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112052517/https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/poland-historical-background.html | url-status=live }}</ref> – approximately 90% of Poland's pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poles<ref>{{Cite web |title=Polish Victims |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/polish-victims |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-date=24 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824050551/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/polish-victims |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Piotrowski |first=Tadeusz |title=Poland World War II casualties (in thousands) |url=http://projectinposterum.org/docs/poland_WWII_casualties.htm |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-date=18 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070418175341/http://projectinposterum.org/docs/poland_WWII_casualties.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Materski|Szarota|2009}} ''Quote:'' Łączne straty śmiertelne ludności polskiej pod okupacją niemiecką oblicza się obecnie na ok. 2 770 000. ''Translation:'' Current estimate is roughly 2,770,000 victims of German occupation. This was 11.3% of the 24.4 million ethnic Poles in prewar Poland.</ref> were killed during the German [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupation of Poland]], including between 50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polish [[intelligentsia]] – academics, doctors, lawyers, nobility and priesthood. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during the [[Wola massacre|Wola]] and [[Ochota massacre|Ochota]] massacres.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-date=3 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103120011/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wardzyńska |first=Maria |url=http://pamiec.pl/download/49/34737/BYLROK1939.pdf |title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion |publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-83-7629-063-8 |language=pl |trans-title=The Year was 1939: Operation of German Security Police in Poland. Intelligenzaktion |quote=Oblicza się, że akcja "Inteligencja" pochłonęła ponad 100 tys. ofiar. ''Translation:'' It is estimated that ''Intelligenzaktion'' took the lives of 100,000 Poles. |access-date=4 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129035451/http://pamiec.pl/download/49/34737/BYLROK1939.pdf |archive-date=29 November 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during the Soviet Union's occupation of eastern Poland ([[Kresy]]), and another estimated 100,000 Poles were murdered by the [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]] (UPA) between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as the [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia|Wołyń Massacres]].<ref>Grzegorz Motyka, Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji "Wisła". Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947. Kraków 2011, p. 447. See also: Book review by Tomasz Stańczyk: "Grzegorz Motyka oblicza, że w latach 1943–1947 z polskich rąk zginęło 11–15 tys. Ukraińców. Polskie straty to 76–106 tys. zamordowanych, w znakomitej większości podczas rzezi wołyńskiej i galicyjskiej."</ref><ref>{{Cite web |year=2013 |title=What were the Volhynian Massacres? |url=http://www.volhyniamassacre.eu/ |website=1943 Wołyń Massacres Truth and Remembrance |publisher=Institute of National Remembrance |access-date=17 July 2016 |archive-date=13 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813063016/http://www.volhyniamassacre.eu/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[World War II casualties|Of all the countries]] in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Poland's pre-war population – [[Holocaust in Poland|half of them]] Polish Jews.<ref>{{harvp|Materski|Szarota|2009}}</ref><ref>[http://www.remember.org/forgotten/ Holocaust: Five Million Forgotten: Non-Jewish Victims of the Shoah.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125075356/http://remember.org/forgotten |date=25 January 2018 }} Remember.org.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Polish experts lower nation's WWII death toll |url=https://www.expatica.com/de/polish-experts-lower-nations-wwii-death-toll/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818035613/https://www.expatica.com/de/polish-experts-lower-nations-wwii-death-toll/ |archive-date=18 August 2019}}</ref> About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature.<ref>Bureau odszkodowan wojennych (BOW), Statement on war losses and damages of Poland in 1939–1945. Warsaw 1947</ref>

In 1945, Poland's borders [[Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II|were shifted westwards]]. Over two million Polish inhabitants of [[Kresy]] [[Polish population transfers (1944–1946)|were expelled]] along the [[Curzon Line]] by [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]].<ref>[[Bogumiła Lisocka-Jaegermann]] (2006). "Post-War Migrations in Poland". In: Mirosława Czerny. ''Poland in the geographical centre of Europe.'' Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers. pp. 71–87. {{ISBN|978-1-59454-603-7}}. [{{GBurl|id=KGYrq9qAeskC|q=%22so+called+Curzon+Line%22}} Google Books preview.]</ref> The western border became the [[Oder-Neisse line]]. As a result, Poland's territory was reduced by 20%, or {{convert|77500|km2|sqmi}}. The shift forced the migration of [[World War II evacuation and expulsion|millions of other people]], most of whom were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eberhardt |first=Piotr |url=http://www.igipz.pan.pl/en/zpz/Political_migrations.pdf |title=Political Migrations in Poland 1939–1948 |publisher=Didactica |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-5361-1035-7 |location=Warsaw |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626151411/http://www.igipz.pan.pl/en/zpz/Political_migrations.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2015 |accessdate=3 May 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Eberhardt |first=Piotr |url=http://rcin.org.pl/Content/15652/WA51_13607_r2011-nr12_Monografie.pdf |title=Political Migrations On Polish Territories (1939–1950) |publisher=Polish Academy of Sciences |year=2011 |isbn=978-83-61590-46-0 |location=Warsaw |access-date=3 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520220409/http://rcin.org.pl/Content/15652/WA51_13607_r2011-nr12_Monografie.pdf |archive-date=20 May 2014}}</ref><ref name="BBC 2011" />