Customer Reviews

The Civilian Population and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

During WWII, Poland suffered proportionately the greatest losses in life among all nations--at a rate of 220 per 1,000 inhabitants (p. 263). Yugoslavia was in second place (108/1,000). (If Europe's Jews are counted separately, then their losses are 545/1000, and Polish-gentile deaths are at 110/1000, still ahead of Yugoslavia).

Hanson provides a solid discussion of German-occupied Poland before the Uprising. She details the murderous and exploitative German policies and comments: "An increasing nervousness accompanied the growth of German terror. A report written in March 1942 made the observation that as the occupation continued there was a greater breakdown in morals. This was at its worst among the youth. Children stole and Jew-baited, and smuggling, which was practiced by people from all walks of life, only contributed to the demoralization." (p. 45). One wonders how many instances of Poles mocking, blackmailing, or denouncing Jews, automatically blamed on anti-Semitism, was actually caused by this pervasive demoralization.

Hanson elaborates on public morale during the course of the Uprising. As the German siege and onslaught continued, the population faced increasingly impossible difficulties with the provision of food and water, sanitation, medical care for the wounded, housing of the homeless, etc. She discusses Underground courts and their sentencing and execution of Volksdeutsche and Polish collaborators (pp. 238-240), including "...Polish [Blue] policemen during the occupation, `Granatowy' who had gone beyond the demands of their service in the interest of the occupier..." (p. 238)

Hanson mentions the attitude of Warsaw's population in the face of what turned out to be Soviet perfidy: "The question was continually asked as to why the Allies did not force Russia to help Warsaw. Some blamed the Polish government. Suggestions were put forward for coercing the Allies into greater activity, e. g. Polish soldiers in England, France, and Italy should ignore all Allied orders, or wear black armbands in mourning." (p. 138)

As for long-term effects, she comments: "The bitterness felt by the Poles towards the Soviet Union as a result of the Uprising was very deep and it has left an indelible mark on the city and nation. This virulence was demonstrated publicly again in 1956 and 1968." (p. 255). (Hanson's work, published in 1982, couldn't have foreseen the events leading up to and including 1989).

This book will not be easy to procure anywhere except at the most well stocked library or ones that deal with Poland and World War II. As a work to buy, it is fairly expensive, probably because it is hard to find. It is based on Hanson's dissertation project and is concerned with how the population of Warsaw lived in desperate circumstances during the time leading up to and during the rising of 1944. Although the work narrows its title to the uprising itself, the author provides a view of how Poles organized their lives during the years of the occupation as well. This provides context for understanding and comparing life among the population before as well as during those 63 days. It also paints a chilling picture of the terror under which the Poles had to live before the rising, and how that terror did not stamp out their indomitable spirit.

As a work of scholarship, this is outstanding for its thoroughness and its meticulous reference to copious primary sources, many of which the author had to translate from Polish in order to fulfill the requirements for her dissertation in England. Hanson is exhaustive in portraying life during the Nazi occupation and during the rising and what that day to day life looked like for ordinary Poles. It is amazing how many details are involved in maintaining a life, beginning at the foundation of Mazlow's hierarchy of needs and expanding beyond. Hence Hanson tells us under what circumstances Poles lived in their homes, their cellars, with blown out windows and no glass, what they ate, what they drank, how they communicated and the way that they tried to exist in myriad ways that many of us take for granted.

Hanson is to be commended on taking on this project, which few have had the courage to do. I suspect that due to the utter devastation that followed the rising, that many sources that may have been valuable to such a stud were lost. But Hanson does the best that she can, and this stands as one of the only empirical sources on everyday life during the rising that has been published. This is not battle strategy or political strategy; this is struggle for survival and normalcy strategy -- if that makes sense. As such, it will appeal to those who are interested less in grand narratives of war, and more in how people make sense of their worlds when they are shattered. It is a celebration of life and human resilience.

The book is well organized and divided into logical sections having to do with living conditions during and after the insurgency. She deals with life within each section of Warsaw (Old Town, Srodmiescie, Wola etc.) and how it played out during . With respect to how the book is written, it is always refreshing for me to read a piece of scholarship that is as accessible as this. Goodness knows, the subject of this work is hard enough to read, without it being written dryly. Hanson is a vivid writer and she writes with immediacy. Here and there she lets a hint of her sympathy for the plight of the Warsawians, but just as I thought I could criticize her for lack of objectivity as a historian in this regard, her subtlety and understated way of narrating actually seemed appropriate. Of course, I might not be the most neutral of reviewers in this respect.

I did appreciate Hanson's talking about the tensions over the Uprising and bringing out the fact that although it had broad support, it was not universally endorsed by Poles. I do think that too often some of these tensions and the presence of disagreeable (and even dangerous) Poles among the population and among the insurgency are not given sufficient attention. She also deals with the issue of morale, and some of the reasons for why it waned in some subsections of Warsaw.

It is the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising and the world still does not know much about it. Confused with the Warsaw Ghetto uprising more often than not, any and all publications are a welcome addition to the historians bookshelf to bring the self sacrifice to light.

Hanson does an excellent job of describing the feelings, actions and life of the non-combatans invovlved in the 63-day battle. She appears to objectively describe but the positive and negative about how the population felt about the rising and their leaders.

One short coming I feel is that there was not a chapter or two devoted to what happened to the population after the battle and what tragedies they suffered.