The Warsaw Uprising: insurrection that took place in Warsaw, which was occupied by Germans. It was organized as a part of operation “Tempest” (“Burza”) by Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK). Militarily it was aimed at Germans, but it had far-reaching political goals: seizure of Polish capital by authorities of the Polish Underground State was supposed to show the existence of legal Polish power and to make impossible for Stalin to establish puppet government consisted of Polish communists. The Uprising began on 1st August 1944. 36 000 soldiers of the AK, about 700 of the National Armed Forces (Narodowe Siły Zbrojne, NSZ) and about 270 of the People’s Army (Armia Ludowa, AL) took part in it. In the AL troops were fighting also members of the Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, ŻOB), insurgents of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. During first 5 days the rebels conquered big part of Warsaw, but already on 5th August Germans began the counterattack and gradually they were taking back Warsaw districts, which had been captured by Poles. Germans organized mass murders of civil population on the territories that were taken back by them. On 10th September the Red Army captured Praga and stopped military action, waiting for Germans to pacify the uprising. In September there were still fights in Śródmieście, Czerniaków, Mokotów and Żoliborz. The living conditions were getting worse, electricity and waterworks were not working, Warsaw was bombed incessantly. On 2nd October the command of the AK signed capitulation’s act. The rebels were supposed to be treated as prisoners of war. The population had to leave the city. During the Warsaw Uprising about 18 000 soldiers and 150-180 000 civilians were killed. When the uprising was over Germans began to set on fire and tear down the remaining buildings, razing Warsaw to the ground.
powstanie warszawskie 1944
The term was created within the framework of the project Zapisywanie świata żydowskiego w Polsce [recording the Jewish environment in Poland], whose author is Anka Grupińska, a well-known Polish journalist and writer, specializing in the modern history of the Polish Jews. The project, initiated in 2006 by the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, consists in recording interviews with Polish Jews from all generations.