Poland

INDEPENDENCE WON AND LOST, 1914-45

Figure 9. Independent Poland, 1920-39

Memorial sculpture on site of Warsaw Ghetto.
Courtesy Sam and Sarah Stulberg

Gate of Auschwitz concentration camp, later made into a national museum.
Courtesy Sam and Sarah Stulberg

Figure 10. Occupied Poland in World War II

Beginning in 1914, the newly invigorated Polish political scene combined with cataclysmic events on the European continent to offer both new hope and grave threats to the Polish people. By the end of World War II, Poland had seen the defeat or retreat of all three occupying powers, establishment of a shaky independent government, world economic crisis, then occupation and total domination by the resurgent Germans and Russians.

Data as of October 1992