Polish culture during World War II

Polish resistance Action "N" satirical poster—"New European Order" (German: Die Neuordnung Europas)—Polish reaction to Hitler's plans to establish a "new order" in Europe, under domination of Nazi Germany. In the middle: Adolf Hitler, background: imprisoned European nations (France, Bulgaria, Holland, Yugoslavia, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Norway)

Polish culture during World War II was brutally suppressed by the country's occupiers, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, both of whom were hostile to Polish culture and to the Polish people and sought their destruction. In the ensuing cultural genocide, Poland sustained major cultural losses during the war, with many artists and scholars perishing and many cultural artifacts being either destroyed (often deliberately) or looted.

Much that is of particular value in Polish culture was nonetheless preserved by individuals and underground organizations. Specialized departments within the Polish Underground State worked to salvage what cultural institutions and artifacts could be saved. The Catholic Church and wealthy individuals helped save some artists and their works. Throughout the war, in the face of draconian measures by the German Nazis and Soviets, Polish underground cultural activities (including publications, concerts and dramatic presentations), education and even academic research continued.

After World War II, this wartime period influenced an entire new generation of Polish artists, writers and scholars.

Destruction of Polish culture

Under German occupation

Immediately after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Nazi German government begun the realization of the first stages (the small plan) of the Generalplan Ost: Slavic people East of Germany were to be either Germanized, enslaved or eradicated. In 1941 it was decided to destroy the Polish nation (believed by the Nazis to be Untermenschen, or "sub-people") completely and the German leadership decided that in ten to twenty years the Polish state under German occupation was to be fully cleared of any ethnic Poles and settled by German colonists.

Much of the German policy towards Polish culture was agreed upon during a meeting between governor of the General Government, Hans Frank, and Nazi minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, on 31 December 1939 in Łódź. Goebless said: "Polish nation is not worthy to be called a cultured nation". In March 1940 all cultural activities in the General Government became subjugated to the Department of People's Education and Propaganda (Abteilung für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda), a year later renamed to the Main Department for Propaganda (Hauptabteilung Propaganda). One of the earliest decrees forbade organizing any but the simplest, "primitive", cultural activities without prior approval of the Department.

The Nazis declared the confiscation of all Polish state property, as well as various kinds of property owned by private individuals. Many places of learning and culture such as universities, schools, libraries, museums, theaters and cinemas were either closed or changed to "Nur für Deutsche" (Only for Germans) status. Twenty-five museums and many other institutions were destroyed during the war. At the end of the war, 43% of the infrastructure of Polish educational and research institutions and 14% of the museum ones were destroyed.

Portrait of a Young Man (ca. 1514), likely a self-portrait, attributed to Raphael. Before 1939 in Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland. Looted by the Nazis, missing since then.

Many university professors, as well as teachers, lawyers, artists, writers and other members of the Polish intelligentsia were arrested and executed or sent to concentration camps (in operations such as AB-Aktion, which produced the infamous Sonderaktion Krakau and the massacre of Lwów professors). During World War II, Poland lost 45% of its physicians and dentists (Christian as well as Jewish), 57% of its lawyers, over 15% of its teachers, 40% of its university professors and over 18% of its clergy. The matter was perhaps most simply put by one district Nazi commissar: "In my area, whoever shows signs of intelligence will be shot."

To forestall the rise of a new generation of educated Poles, German officials decreed that Polish children's schooling should end after a few years of elementary education. Heinrich Himmler wrote in a May 1940 memorandum, "The sole purpose of this schooling is to teach them simple arithmetic, nothing above the number 500; writing one's name; and the doctrine that it is divine law to obey the Germans... I do not think that a knowledge of reading is desirable." Hans Frank echoed him: "The Poles do not need universities or secondary schools; the Polish lands are to be converted into an intellectual desert." By late 1940 no official Polish educational institutions more advanced than a vocational school were left operational. All universities and most middle and high schools were closed.

Lost in September 1939: earliest, 1829 portrait of Chopin, by Ambroży Mieroszewski

The war against the Polish language included the tearing down of signs in Polish and the banning of Polish speech in public places. Those who spoke Polish in the streets were often insulted and beaten. Germanization of all names was prevalent. Many treasures of Polish culture, such as memorials, plaques, and monuments to Polish national heroes (e.g., the Adam Mickiewicz Monument in Kraków) were willfully destroyed. The Nazis planned eventually to level entire cities.

In 1940, several German controlled printing houses started operations, publishing items such as Polish-German dictionaries, or anti-semitic and anti-communist novels. Publication of any regular Polish-language book, literary study or scholarly paper was prohibited. Soon after the occupation started, most libraries were closed; in Kraków, about 80% of the libraries were quickly closed, and the remaining few had their collections decimated by censors. The occupying powers destroyed Polish book collections, including the Sejm and Senate Library, the Przedziecki Estate Library, the Zamoyski Estate Library, the Central Military Library, and the Rapperswil Collection. The last remaining Polish library in German-occupied territories, the Warsaw Public Library, was closed in 1941.

Queen Bona's 16th-century royal casket, looted and destroyed by the Germans in 1939

Censorship targeted at first books considered "serious": this meant both scientific and educational texts, as well as those judged to patriotic; overall only fiction deprived of any dangerous to the German state overtones was allowed. Several non-pubic indexes of prohibited books were created, and over 1,500 Polish writers were declared "dangerous to the German state and culture" (including Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Stefan Żeromski, Stanisław Wyspiański and Maria Konopnicka); mere possession of such books was made illegal and punishable by imprisonment. Door-to-door sale of books was banned. Bookstores (operation of which required a license) were emptied or closed (on the territories annexed by Germany, sale of Polish books was forbidden; all over occupied Poland sales of Jewish literature were banned early on), and the last Polish book titles, not previously proscribed, were withdrawn in 1943 (even Polish prayer books were confiscated). It is estimated that about 10 million volumes from state-owned libraries and institutions perished during the war.

The press was reduced from over 2,000 publications to a few dozen, all censored by the Germans. The only officially available reading matter was the propaganda press published by the German occupation administration. Poles were forbidden from owning radio sets under the penalty of death. Cinemas, now under the control of the German propaganda machine, had much of its programme - preceded by German propaganda newsreels - changed mostly to Nazi German movies. The few (about 20% of total programme) Polish films allowed to be shown were edited (for example by removing references to Jewish actors or producers, and with Polish national symbols edited out). Several propaganda films in Polish language were shot. No Polish films were shown after 1943. As any profit from the cinemas was officially directed to German war production, attendance was discouraged by the Polish underground; one of the most famous slogans of the underground was tylko świnie siedzą w kinie (only swines sit in the cinemas). Similar situation faced the theaters, which were ordered not to show any "serious" shows. Theaters was also boycotted by the underground (and actors were discouraged from performance and labeled collaborators if they did so. Music was the least restricted, likely because Hans Frank considered himself a music fan and ordered the creation of the Orchestra and Symphony of the General Government in its capital, Kraków. Many music performances were allowed in cafes and churches. Polish underground boycotted only the propagandist operas. Visual artists, such as painters and sculptors, had to register with the German government; their work was tolerated by the underground unless it conveyed propagandist themes. Closed museums were replaced by occasional art exhibitions, often conveying propaganda.

Countless art objects were looted and taken to Germany, in execution of a plan that had been prepared well in advance of the invasion. Over 516,000 individual art pieces were taken, including 2,800 paintings by European painters; 11,000 works by Polish painters; 1,400 sculptures, 75,000 manuscripts, 25,000 maps, and 90,000 books (including over 20,000 printed before 1800); as well as hundreds of thousands of other objects of artistic and historic value. Even exotic animals were carted off from the zoos.

Under Soviet occupation

Temporary borders created by advancing German and Soviet soldiers in September 1939. The border was soon readjusted following diplomatic agreements.

After the Soviet invasion of Poland following the corresponding German invasion that marked the start of World War II in 1939, the Soviet Union annexed eastern parts (so-called "Kresy") of the Second Polish Republic, totaling 201,015 square kilometres (77,612 sq mi) and a population of 13.299 million.

The Soviet authorities regarded service to the prewar Polish state as a "crime against revolution" and "counter-revolutionary activity", and proceeded to arrest large numbers of Polish intelligentsia, politicians, civil servants and academics, but also ordinary people suspected of posing a threat to Soviet rule. Over a million Polish citizens were deported to Siberia. Many were sent to Gulags, or Soviet concentration camps, for years or decades; others died, including over 20,000 Polish officers who perished in the infamous Katyn massacres.

The Soviets quickly introduced Sovietization policies in the annexed lands, including compulsory collectivization of the whole region. They quickly began confiscating, nationalising and redistributing all private and state-owned Polish property. In the process of Sovietization, they ruthlessly broke up political parties and public associations, and imprisoned or executed their leaders as "enemies of the people". Soviet authorities sought to remove all traces of the Polish history of the former Polish area now under their control by crash Sovietization and by eliminating much of what had any connection to the Polish state or even to Polish culture in general. Polish monuments were torn down. All institutions of the dismantled Polish state, including Lwów University, were closed, then reopened with new, mostly Russian directors. Soviet communist ideology became paramount in all teaching; Polish literature and language studies were dissolved by the Soviet authorities; the Polish language was replaced with Russian or Ukrainian. Even in the primary schools Polish-language books were burned in the schools.

Many writers obeyed Soviet orders and wrote anti-Polish and pro-Soviet propaganda, including Wanda Wasilewska, Jerzy Putrament and Teodor Bujnicki. Most scholars believe that "In the Soviet occupation zone, conditions were only marginally less harsh than under the Germans."

Underground culture

The Polish culture persisted through diverse underground activities – underground education, publications, even theater.

One of satirical posters by the Action "N" entitled Gott mit uns (Engl.: "God with us") after the inscription in the belt buckles of Wehrmacht soldiers; Adolf Hitler on the right, Heinrich Himmler on the left

The Polish Underground State created a Department of Culture and Art (under Stanisław Lorentz), which, together with the Department of Labor and Social Welfare and the Department for the Elimination of the Effects of the War (under Antoni Olszewski and Bronisław Domosławski), became underground patrons of Polish culture. These Departments oversaw efforts to save, from looting or destruction, works of art in state and private collections (most notably, giant paintings of Jan Matejko were hidden and secured throughout the war), compiled reports on looted and destroyed works, and provided artists and scholars with means to continue their work and publications, and to support their families. They sponsored, for example, the underground publication (bibuła) of works by Winston Churchill and Arkady Fiedler and of 10,000 copies of a Polish primary-school primer, and commissioned artists to create pro-resistance artwork (for example, see Action N). Occasionally, even secret exhibitions, theater performances and concerts were sponsored.

Polish resistance Armia Krajowa medal for participation in Operation Tempest, designed and produced in occupied Poland

Other important patrons of Polish culture included the Roman Catholic Church and members of the Polish aristocracy, who likewise took initiatives related to supporting artists and safeguarding Polish heritage (notable patrons included Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha and a former politician, Janusz Radziwiłł). Some private publishers, such as Stefan Kamieński, Zbigniew Mitzner and the Ossolineum publishing house paid writers for books with the agreement that they would be delivered after the war.

In response to German closure and censorship of Polish schools, resistance among teachers led almost immediately to creation of widescale underground educational activities. For example, Secret Teacher Society (Tajna Organizacja Nauczycielska, TON) was created as early as in October 1939. Other organizations were created locally and from 1940 they were increasingly subordinated and coordinated by the Underground's State Department of Culture and Education under Czesław Wycech (former creator the TON). Classes were either held under the cover of officially permitted activities or in private homes and other places. In the General Governement alone, some 100,000 secondary-school pupils and over 10,000 university students were involved in secret education provided by close to 10,000 teachers. Of that, in Warsaw, there were over 70 underground schools, with 2,000 teachers and 21,000 students. Underground Warsaw University educated 3,700 students, issuing 64 master degrees and 7 doctoral ones. Warsaw Politechnic under occupation educated 3,000 students, issuing 186 engineer degrees, 18 doctoral ones and 16 habilitations. Jagiellonian University issued 468 master degrees, and 62 doctoral ones, with over 100 professors and teachers and 1,000 students per year. Many other universities and institutions of higher education (of music, theater, arts, and others) continued their classes throughout the war, in various Polish cities. Compared to pre-war classes, notable was the absence of Polish Jewish students (confined by the Nazi Germans to ghettos). Often, students of the underground schools were simultaneously members of Polish resistance. Even some academic research was carried out (for example, by Władysław Tatarkiewicz, a leading Polish philosopher, Zenon Klemensiewicz, a linguist, and others). Close to a 1,000 Polish scientists received funds from the Underground State, enabling them to continue their research.

Der Klabautermann—an issue of the periodical dated January 3, 1943—a satire against the Third Reich, showing Nazi terror and genocide, on the right Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler

Biuletyn Informacyjny, the main publication of Polish Underground State, from July 15, 1943, informing about the death of general Władysław Sikorski and ordering a national day of mourning

There were over 1000 underground newspapers; (among the most important were the Biuletyn Informacyjny of Armia Krajowa and Rzeczpospolita of Government Delegation for Poland. In addition to publication of news (from intercepted Western radio transmissions), there were hundreds of underground publications dedicated to politics, economy, education, and literature (for example, Sztuka i Naród). The highest recorded publication volume was an issue of Biuletyn Informacyjny printed in 43,000 copies; average volume of larger publication was 1,000–5,000 copies. Two largest underground publishers was the Bureau of Information and Propaganda of Armia Krajowa and Government Delegation for Poland. Tajne Wojskowe Zakłady Wydawnicze (Secret Military Publishing House) of Jerzy Rutkowski (subordinated to the Armia Krajowa) was likely the largest underground publisher in the world. In addition to Polish titles, Armia Krajowa also printed false German newspapers, designed to decrease morale of the occupying German forces (see Action N). Majority of Polish underground presses were located in occupied Warsaw; until the Warsaw Uprising in the summer 1944 Germans have found over 16 underground printing presses (their crews were usually executed or sent off to concentration camps). The second largest center for Polish underground publishing was Kraków. Similarly, writers and editors faced similar dangers: for example, almost the entire editorial staff of Polish underground satirical paper Na Ucho—the longest published Polish underground paper devoted to satire (20 issues were published starting with October 1943)—was arrested, and chief editors executed in Kraków, on May 27, 1944. The underground press was supported by a large number of activists: in addition to crews of the printing presses, there were scores of underground couriers distributing the press; according to some statistics, such couriers were among the underground members most often arrested by the Germans.

Under German occupation, the professions of Polish journalist and writer were virtually eliminated (as they had little possibility to publish their works). The Underground State's Department of Culture sponsored various initiatives and individuals, enabling them to continue their work and aiding in their publication. Novels and anthologies were published by underground presses; over a 1,000 works were published underground over the course of the war. Literary discussions were held, and prominent writers of the period, working in Poland, included Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, Tadeusz Borowski, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Maria Dąbrowska, Tadeusz Gajcy, Zuzanna Ginczanka, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, future Nobel Prize winner Czesław Miłosz, Zofia Nałkowska, Jan Parandowski, Leopold Staff, Kazimierz Wyka, Jerzy Zawiejski and others. There were writers who plied their trade and published their works in prisoner-of-war camps (Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, Stefan Flukowski, Leon Kruczkowski, Andrzej Nowicki, Marian Piechała), ghettos and even in concentration camps (Jan Maria Gisges, Halina Gołczowa, Zofia Górska, Tadeusz Hołuj, Kazimierz Andrzej Jaworski, Marian Kubicki). Many writers, such as Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, Wacław Berent, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Tadeusz Gajcy, Zuzanna Ginczanka, Juliusz Kaden-Bandrowski, Stefan Kiedzrzyński, Halina Krahelska, Tadeusz Hollender, Witold Hulewicz, Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Włodzimierz Pietrzak, Leon Pomirowski, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, did not survive the war.

A Warsaw monument bearing Kotwica graffito painted on by Szare Szeregi member Jan Bytnar

File:Warsaw Uprising poster - Każdy Pocisk Jeden Niemiec.jpg

Warsaw Uprising poster: "Each Bullet—One German"

With the censorship of Polish theater (and virtual end of the Polish radio and film industry), underground theaters were created, primarily in Warsaw and Kraków, presenting in various underground venues. From 1940 the theaters were coordinated by the Secret Theatrical Council. Over the course of the war, 4 larger, and over 40 smaller groups were active, including in places such as the Gestapo Pawiak prison in Warsaw and Auschwitz camp itself; in addition underground schools of acting were created. Underground actors, many of whom officially worked mundane jobs, included Karol Adwentowicz, Elżbieta Barszczewska, Henryk Borowski, Wojciech Brydziński, Władysław Hańcza, Stefan Jaracz, Tadeusz Kantor, Mieczysław Kotlarczyk, Bohdan Korzeniowski, Jan Kreczmar, Adam Mularczyk, Andrzej Pronaszko, Leon Schiller, Arnold Szyfman, Stanisława Umińska, Edmund Wierciński, Maria Wiercińska, Karol Wojtyła (future Pope John Paul II), Marian Wyrzykowski, Jerzy Zawiejski and others. Theatre was also active in the ghettos. Similarly, Polish music (including philharmonics) went underground. Top Polish musicians and directors (Adam Didur, Zbigniew Drzewicki, Jan Ekier, Barbara Kostrzewska, Zygmunt Latoszewski, Jerzy Lefeld, Witold Lutosławski, Piotr Perkowski, Andrzej Panufnik, Piotr Perkowski, Edmund Rudnicki, Eugenia Umińska, Jerzy Waltdorf, Kazimierz Wiłkomirski, Maria Wiłkomirska, Bolesław Woytowicz, Mira Zimińska) performed in restaurants, cafes, private homes, with the most daring signing patriotic ballades on the streets, while evading German patrols. New, patriotic songs were created—such as Siekiera, motyka, the most popular song of occupied Warsaw. Jewish musicians and artists likewise performed in ghettos and even in concentration camps. Visual arts were also practiced underground. Cafes, restaurants and private homes were turned into galleries or museums; some were closed, their owners, staff and patrons harassed, arrested or even executed. Polish underground artists included Eryk Lipiński, Stanisław Miedza-Tomaszewski, Stanisław Ostoja-Chrostowski, Konstanty Maria Sopoćko and others. Some artists recorded the life and death in occupied Poland; others worked directly for the Underground State, creating anti-Nazi posters, caricatures, satires (see Action N) or Polish patriotic symbols (for example kotwica), reprinted in underground presses, plastered to the walls or painted on them as graffiti. In 1944 three giant (6 m) puppets, caricatures of Hitler and Mussolini, were successfully displayed in public places in Warsaw. Despite German bans on Poles using cameras, photographs (and even video) were taken. Although it was impossible to operate an underground radio station, underground auditions were recorded and introduced into German radios or loudspeaker systems. Underground postage stamps were designed and issued. Since the Germans also banned Polish sport activities, underground sport clubs were created; underground football matches and even tournaments were organized in Warsaw, Kraków and Poznań (usually dispersed by the Germans). All of those activities were supported by the Underground State's Department of Culture.

File:Poczta Polowa AK - niebieski.jpg

Stamps of Warsaw Uprising insurgent post published on August 5, 1944

During the Warsaw Uprising (August–October 1944), in Polish-controlled territory, people endeavored to recreate the former day-to-day life of their free country. Cultural life was vibrant, among both soldiers and civilian population, with theaters, cinemas, post offices, newspapers and similar activities. 10th Underground Tournament of Poetry was held during the Uprising, with prizes being weaponry (most of the Polish poets of the younger generation were also members of the resistance). Headed by Antoni Bohdziewicz, the Home Army's Bureau of Information and Propaganda even created three newsreels and over 30,000 metres (98,425 ft) of film documenting the struggle. Eugeniusz Lokajski took some 1,000 photographs before he died, Sylwester Braun some 3,000, of which 1,520 survive, Jerzy Tomaszewski some 1000.

Culture in exile

There were also Polish writers at work and publishing abroad, outside of occupied Europe. Arkady Fiedler wrote about the 303 Polish Fighter Squadron, based in Britain; Melchior Wańkowicz, about the conspicuous Polish contribution to the capture of Monte Cassino, in Italy. Other writers working abroad included Jan Lechoń, Antoni Słonimski, Kazimierz Wierzyński and Julian Tuwim. Among musicians performing for Polish II Corps in a Polska Parada cabaret were Henryk Wars and Irena Anders.

Influence on postwar culture

See also: Cultural representations of the Warsaw Uprising

Perhaps ironically, the wartime attempts to destroy Polish culture, strengthened it instead. Norman Davies writes in God's Playground: "In 1945, as a prize for untold sacrifices, the attachment of the survivors to their native culture was stronger than ever before." Similarly, close knit underground classes, from primary schools to universities, were renown for their high quality (significantly due to the lower ratio of students to teachers). The resulting culture was, however, different from the culture of interwar Poland; most notably, with the destruction of Poland's Jewish community, with Poland's postwar territorial changes, and with the various postwar migrations, Poland lost its ethnic minorities. The multicultural nation was no more.

The experience of World War II had placed its stamp on a generation of Polish artists that became known as the "Generation of Columbuses." The term denotes an entire generation of Poles, born soon after Poland regained independence in 1918, whose adolescence had been marked by World War II; in their art they "discovered a new Poland" – one forever changed by the atrocities of World War II and the ensuing creation of a communist Poland.

Over the years, nearly three-quarters of the Polish people have emphasized the importance of World War II to the Polish national identity. Many Polish works of art created since the war have centered around events of the war. Books by Tadeusz Borowski, Adolf Rudnicki, Henryk Grynberg, Miron Białoszewski, Hanna Krall and others; films, including those by Andrzej Wajda (A Generation, Kanał, Ashes and Diamonds, Lotna, A Love in Germany, Korczak, Katyń); TV series (Four Tank Men and a Dog and Stakes Bigger than Life); music (Powstanie Warszawskie (album)); and even comic books – diverse works have reflected those times. The Polish historian Tomasz Szarota wrote in 1996: "Educational and training programs place special emphasis on the World War II period and on the occupation. Events and individuals connected with the war are ubiquitous on TV, on radio and in the print media. The theme remains an important element in literature and learning, in film, theatre and the fine arts. Not to mention that politicians constantly make use of it. Probably no other country marks anniversaries related to the events of World War II so often or so solemnly".

See also

• Emanuel Ringelblum and Oyneg Shabbos – historians
• Home front during World War II

References

• Nawrocka-Dońska, Barbara (1961). Powszedni dzień dramatu (in Polish) (1st edition ed.). Warsaw: Czytelnik. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Trela-Mazur, Elżbieta (1997). Sowietyzacja oświaty w Małopolsce Wschodniej pod radziecką okupacją 1939-1941 (Sovietization of education in eastern Lesser Poland during the Soviet occupation 1939-1941) (in Polish). Kielce: Wyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczna im. Jana Kochanowskiego. ISBN 978-83-7133-100-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Stanisław Salmonowicz, Polskie Państwo Podziemne, Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, Warszawa, 1994, ISBN 930205500X.

Further reading

• Mężyńskia, Andrzej (1994). Straty bibliotek w czasie II wojny światowej w granicach Polski z 1945 roku. Wstępny raport o stanie wiedzy (Losses of Libraries During World War II within the Polish Borders of 1945. An Introductory Report on the State of Knowledge) (in Polish). Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Reklama. ISBN 8390216701. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Ordęga, Adam (1945). Straty kultury polskiej, 1939–1944 (Losses of Polish Culture, 1939–1944) (in Polish). Glasgow: Książnica Polska. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Antoni Symonowicz, Nazi Campaign against Polish Culture, in Roman Nurowski, ed., 1939-1945 War Losses in Poland (Poznan: Wydaw- nictwo Zachodnie, 1960
• Jan P. Pruszynski, Poland: The War Losses, Cultural Heritage, and Cultural Legitimacy,, in Elizabeth Simpson (ed.), The Spoils of War: World War II and Its Aftermath: The Loss, Reappearance, and Recovery of Cultural Property, Harry N. Abrams: New York, 1997, ISBN 0810944693

External links

• Lukaszewski, Witold J. (April 1998). "Polish Losses in World War I". The Sarmatian Review.
• The German New Order in Poland: Part 1, Part 2
• Polish Department of National Heritage: Wartime losses
• Polish War losses during World War II - gallery on Wikimedia Commons
• Polish World War II posters of Occupied Poland - gallery on Wikimedia Commons
• World War II in Poland, its Impact on Everyday Life; Personal Perspective
• The Nazi Kultur in Poland by several authors of necessity temporarily anonymous written in Warsaw under the German Occupation

See also

• Nazi crimes against ethnic Poles
• Soviet repressions of Polish citizens (1939-1946)