Editing Warsaw (section)

===Second World War===
[[File:Powstanie Warszawskie film Joachmiczyk.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Warsaw Uprising]] took place in 1944. The [[Armia Krajowa|Polish Home Army]] attempted to liberate Warsaw from the Germans before the arrival of the [[Red Army]].<ref name=britannica/>]]

After the German [[Invasion of Poland]] on 1 September 1939 started the Second World War, Warsaw [[Siege of Warsaw (1939)|was defended]] until 27 September. Central Poland, including Warsaw, came under the rule of the [[General Government]], a German [[Nazism|Nazi]] colonial administration. All higher education institutions were immediately closed and Warsaw's entire Jewish population – several hundred thousand, some 30% of the city{{spaced ndash}}were herded into the [[Warsaw Ghetto]].<ref name=ushmm/> In July 1942, the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto began to be deported en masse to the [[Aktion Reinhard]] extermination camps, particularly [[Treblinka]].<ref name=ushmm/> The city would become the centre of urban resistance to Nazi rule in occupied Europe.<ref name=Snyder/> When the order came to annihilate the ghetto as part of [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s "[[Final Solution]]" on 19 April 1943, Jewish fighters launched the [[Warsaw Ghetto Uprising]].<ref name="ghettouprising"/> Despite being heavily outgunned and outnumbered, the ghetto held out for almost a month.<ref name="ghettouprising"/> When the fighting ended, almost all survivors were massacred, with only a few managing to escape or hide.<ref name="ghettouprising"/><ref name=aish/>

By July 1944, the [[Red Army]] was deep into Polish territory and pursuing the Nazis toward Warsaw.<ref name="uprising"/> The [[Polish government-in-exile]] in London gave orders to the underground [[Armia Krajowa|Home Army (AK)]] to try to seize control of Warsaw before the Red Army arrived. Thus, on 1 August 1944, as the Red Army was nearing the city, the [[Warsaw uprising]] began.<ref name="uprising"/> The armed struggle, planned to last 48 hours, was partially successful, however, it went on for 63 days. Eventually, the Home Army fighters and civilians assisting them were forced to capitulate.<ref name="uprising"/> They were transported to [[Prisoner of war|PoW]] camps in Germany, while the entire civilian population was expelled.<ref name="uprising"/> Polish civilian deaths are estimated at between 150,000 and 200,000.<ref name=Borkiewicz/>

Hitler, ignoring the agreed terms of the capitulation, ordered the [[Destruction of Warsaw|entire city to be razed to the ground]] and the library and museum collections taken to Germany or burned.<ref name="uprising"/> Monuments and government buildings were blown up by special German troops known as ''Verbrennungs- und Vernichtungskommando'' ("Burning and Destruction Detachments").<ref name="uprising"/> About 85% of the city was destroyed, including the historic Old Town and the Royal Castle.<ref name=warsawuprising_com/>

On 17 January 1945&nbsp;– after the beginning of the [[Vistula–Oder Offensive]] of the [[Red Army]]&nbsp;– Soviet troops and Polish troops of the [[First Polish Army (1944-1945)|First Polish Army]] entered the ruins of Warsaw, and liberated Warsaw's suburbs from German occupation.<ref name=Adamczyk/> The city was swiftly freed by the Soviet Army, which rapidly advanced towards [[Łódź]], as German forces regrouped at a more westward position.