Nevertheless, the Poles, in the words of the famous satirical writer Mikhail Zoshchenko, “harboured rudeness” and, when the Germans demanded the Sudetenland from Prague, they decided that the right opportunity had come to get their way. On January 14, 1938, Hitler received Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck. “The Czech state in its current form cannot be preserved, because it represents, as a result of the disastrous policy of the Czechs, Central Europe unsafe place - communist hotbed", - said the leader of the Third Reich. Of course, as stated in the official Polish report on the meeting, "Mr. Beck warmly supported the Fuhrer". On September 27, a repeated demand followed. Anti-Czech hysteria was whipped up in the country. On behalf of the so-called “Union of Silesian Insurgents” in Warsaw, recruitment into the “Cieszynski” was launched completely openly. volunteer corps" The formed detachments of “volunteers” were sent to the Czechoslovak border, where they staged armed provocations and sabotage.
So, on the night of September 25, in the town of Konské near Třinec, the Poles threw hand grenades and fired at houses in which Czechoslovak border guards were located, as a result of which two buildings burned down. After a two-hour battle, the attackers retreated into Polish territory. Similar clashes occurred that night in a number of other places in the Teshin region. The next night the Poles raided railway station Freeshtat, fired at her and threw grenades at her.
On September 27, throughout the night, rifle and machine gun fire, grenade explosions, etc. were heard in almost all areas of the Cieszyn region. The bloodiest clashes, as reported by the Polish Telegraph Agency, were observed in the vicinity of Bohumin, Cieszyn and Jablunkov, in the towns of Bystrice, Konska and Skrzechen. Armed groups of “rebels” repeatedly attacked Czechoslovakian weapons depots, and Polish planes violated the Czechoslovakian border every day.
The Poles closely coordinated their actions with the Germans. Polish diplomats in London and Paris insisted on an equal approach to solving the Sudeten and Cieszyn problems, while the Polish and German military agreed on the line of demarcation of troops in the event of an invasion of Czechoslovakia. At the same time, one could observe touching scenes “ military brotherhood"between German fascists and Polish nationalists. Thus, according to a report from Prague on September 29, a gang of 20 people armed with automatic weapons attacked the Czechoslovak border post near Grgava. The attack was repulsed, the attackers fled to Poland, and one of them, being wounded, was captured. During interrogation, the captured bandit said that in their detachment there were many Germans living in Poland.
As you know, the Soviet Union expressed its readiness to come to the aid of Czechoslovakia, both against Germany and against Poland. In response to September 8-11 Polish-Soviet border the largest in the history of the revived Polish state military maneuvers, in which 5 infantry and 1 cavalry division, 1 motorized brigade, as well as aviation. As one would expect, the “reds” advancing from the east were completely defeated by the “blues”. The maneuvers ended with a grandiose 7-hour parade in Lutsk, which was personally received by the “supreme leader” Marshal Rydz-Smigly.
In turn, the Soviet side announced on September 23 that if Polish troops entered Czechoslovakia, the USSR would denounce the non-aggression pact it had concluded with Poland in 1932.
As mentioned above, on the night of September 29-30, 1938, the infamous Munich Agreement was concluded. In an effort to “pacify” Hitler at any cost, England and France cynically surrendered their ally Czechoslovakia to him. On the same day, September 30, Warsaw presented Prague with a new ultimatum, demanding immediate satisfaction of its claims. As a result, on October 1, Czechoslovakia ceded to Poland an area where 80 thousand Poles and 120 thousand Czechs lived. However, the main acquisition was the industrial potential of the captured territory. At the end of 1938, the enterprises located there produced almost 41% of the pig iron produced in Poland and almost 47% of the steel.
As Churchill wrote about this in his memoirs, Poland “with the greed of a hyena she took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state”. An equally flattering zoological comparison is given in his book by the previously quoted American researcher Baldwin: “Poland and Hungary, like vultures, tore off pieces of a dying divided state.”.
Today in Poland they are trying to forget this page of their history. Thus, the authors of the book “The History of Poland from Ancient Times to the Present Day,” published in Warsaw in 1995, Alicja Dybkowska, Malgorzata Zaryn and Jan Zharyn managed not to mention at all their country’s participation in the partition of Czechoslovakia:
“The interests of Poland were indirectly jeopardized by the policy of concessions by Western states to Hitler. So, in 1935 he introduced universal military service in Germany, thereby violating the Versailles agreements; in 1936 Hitler's troops occupied the Rhineland demilitarized zone, and in 1938 his army entered Austria. The next target of German expansion was Czechoslovakia.
Despite the protests of its government, in September 1938 in Munich, France, Great Britain and Italy signed a treaty with Germany giving the Third Reich the right to occupy the Czech Sudetenland, inhabited by a German minority. In the face of what was happening, it became clear to Polish diplomats that now it was the turn to violate the Versailles regulations on the Polish issue.”.
Of course, is it possible to be indignant at the participation of the USSR in the “fourth partition of Poland” if it becomes known that they themselves are in the dust? And Molotov’s phrase about Poland as an ugly brainchild, so shocking to the progressive public Treaty of Versailles, it turns out, is just a copy of Pilsudski’s earlier statement about "the artificially and monstrously created Czechoslovak Republic".
Disputes surrounding relations between Poland and Russia flared up with renewed vigor. I can’t help but participate, especially since for the last thirty years we have been constantly told about how small and defenseless Poland was attacked by two scary monsters- The USSR and the Third Reich, who agreed in advance on its division.
You know, now it has become very fashionable to compile various tops and ratings: ten facts about pointe shoes, fifteen facts about orgasm, thirty facts about Dzhigurda, the best frying pan covers in the world, the longest standing snowmen, and so on. I also want to offer you my “Ten Facts about Poland”, which, in my opinion, simply need to be kept in mind when the conversation turns to our relations with this wonderful country.
Fact one. After the end of the First World War, Poland, taking advantage of the weakness of the young Soviet state, occupied Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. The offensive of Polish troops in Ukraine in the spring of 1920 was accompanied by pogroms and mass executions of Jews. For example, in the city of Rivne, the Poles shot more than 3 thousand civilians, in the town of Tetiev, about 4 thousand Jews were killed. For resistance to the confiscation of food, villages were burned and residents were shot. During Russian-Polish war 200 thousand Red Army soldiers were captured by the Poles. Of these, 80 thousand were destroyed by the Poles. True, modern Polish historians question all this data.
The Soviet army managed to liberate the occupied territories only in 1939.
Fact two. In the period between the First and Second World Wars, small, defenseless and, as you yourself understand, immaculate Poland passionately dreamed of colonies that could be plundered for its own pleasure. As was customary then in the rest of Europe. And it is still accepted. Here, for example, is a poster: “Poland needs colonies”! Basically they wanted Portuguese Angola. Good climate, rich lands and mineral resources. What, you feel sorry, or what? Poland also agreed to Togo and Cameroon. I was looking at Mozambique.
In 1930 it was even created public organization"Naval and Colonial League". Here are photographs of the grand celebration of Colonial Day, which turned into a demonstration demanding Polish colonial expansion in Africa. The demonstrators’ poster reads: “We demand overseas colonies for Poland.” Churches dedicated masses to the demands of the colonies, and cinemas showed films with colonial themes. This is an excerpt from one such film about a Polish expedition in Africa. And this ceremonial parade future Polish bandits and robbers.
By the way, a couple of years ago, Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna said in an interview with one of the largest Polish publications: “Talking about Ukraine without the participation of Poland is akin to discussing the affairs of colonial countries without the participation of their mother countries.” And although Ukraine was not particularly indignant, dreams still remain dreams...
Fact three. Poland became the first state to conclude a non-aggression pact with Hitler's Germany. It was signed on January 26, 1934 in Berlin for a period of 10 years. Exactly the same as what Germany and the USSR would conclude in 1939. Well, it’s true that in the case of the USSR there was also a secret application that no one had ever seen in the original. The same application with the forged signature of Molotov and the real Ribbentrop, who, after the surrender of Germany in 1945, was held captive by the Americans for some time. The same application that uses the phrase “both sides” three times! The same application in which Finland is named Baltic state. Anyway.
Fact four. In October 1920, the Poles captured Vilnius and the surrounding area - only about a third of the territory of the Republic of Lithuania. Lithuania, of course, did not recognize this seizure and continued to consider these territories its own. And when on March 13, 1938, Hitler carried out the Anschluss of Austria, he desperately needed international recognition of these actions. And in response to the recognition of the Anschluss by Austria, Germany was ready to recognize Poland's seizure of all of Lithuania, except for the city of Memel and the area around it. This city was supposed to join the Reich.
And already on March 17, Warsaw presented an ultimatum to Lithuania, and Polish troops concentrated on the border with Lithuania. And only the intervention of the USSR, which threatened Poland with breaking the non-aggression pact of 1932, saved Lithuania from Polish occupation. Poland was forced to withdraw its demands.
By the way, I hope the Lithuanian people remember that it was the USSR that returned both Vilna and Memel and its regions to Lithuania. Moreover, Vilna was transferred back in 1939 under a mutual assistance agreement.
Fact five. In 1938, in alliance with Nazi Germany, small, defenseless, “long-suffering and peace-loving” Poland occupied Czechoslovakia. Yes, yes, it was she who started that terrible massacre in Europe, which ended Soviet tanks on the streets of Berlin. Hitler took the Sudetenland, and Poland took the Cieszyn region and some settlements on the territory of modern Slovakia. Hitler then had the best military industry Europe at that time.
Germany also came into possession of significant reserves of weapons from the former Czechoslovak army, which made it possible to equip 9 infantry divisions. Before the attack on the USSR from 21 tank division Wehrmacht 5 were equipped with Czechoslovak-made tanks.
According to Winston Churchill, Poland “took part with the greed of a hyena in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state.”
Fact six. On the eve of World War II, Poland was far from the weakest state in Europe. It had a territory of almost 400,000 square meters. km, where about 44 million people lived. Military treaties were concluded with England and France.
And therefore, when in 1939 Germany demanded that Poland open a “Polish corridor” for it to access the Baltic Sea, and in return offered to extend the German-Polish friendship treaty for another 25 years, Poland proudly refused. As we remember, it took the Wehrmacht only two weeks to bring its former ally to his knees. England and France did not lift a finger to save their ally.
Fact seven. Introduction of Red Army units into eastern regions Poland on September 17, 1939 and to the Baltic countries in the summer of 1940 was carried out not according to some terrible “secret pact” that no one has ever seen, but in order to prevent Germany from occupying these territories. In addition, these actions strengthened the security of the USSR. The famous joint “parade” of Soviet and German troops- this is just a procedure for transferring Brest-Litovsk to units of the Red Army. We can see the arrival of the Soviet reception contingent and some working moments of the transfer of the citadel thanks to the surviving photographs. Here there is an organized departure of German equipment, there are photographs of the arrival of Soviet equipment, but there is not a single photograph that would capture their joint passage.
Fact eight. In the very first days of the war, the Polish government and the president fled abroad, abandoning their people, their still fighting army, their country. So Poland did not fall, Poland self-destructed. Those who escaped, of course, organized a “government in exile” and spent a long time drying their pants in Paris and London. Please note - when they entered Poland Soviet troops, de jure such a state no longer existed. I would like to ask everyone asking about the Polish occupation by the Soviets: would you like the Nazis to come to these territories? To kill Jews there? So that the border with Germany moves closer to the Soviet Union? Can you imagine how many thousands of dead people would be behind such a decision?
Fact nine. Poland's dreams of colonies, of course, did not come true, but as a result of bilateral agreements with Soviet Union, as post-war reparations, Poland received the eastern regions of Germany, which had a Slavic past, which make up a third of the current territory of Poland. 100 thousand square kilometers!
According to German economists, for post-war period The Polish budget received more than $130 billion from mineral deposits in these areas alone. This is approximately twice as much as all reparations and compensation paid by Germany to Poland. Poland received deposits of hard and brown coal, copper ores, zinc and tin, which placed it on a par with the world's major producers of these natural resources.
More great value Warsaw obtained the coast of the Baltic Sea. If in 1939 Poland had 71 km. sea coast, then after the war it became 526 km. The Poles and Poland owe all this wealth personally to Stalin and the Soviet Union.
Fact ten. Today in Poland, monuments to Soviet liberating soldiers are being massively demolished and the graves of Soviet soldiers who died in the battles for the liberation of Poland from the Nazis are being desecrated. And let me remind you, 660,000 of them died there. Even those monuments that have thank you notes from Polish citizens to Soviet soldiers. Even those that were cast in 1945 from the metal of German ammunition, specially brought from the fallen Berlin.
Why am I saying this? Maybe we, like the tiger Amur, will have enough of tolerating an annoying and arrogant neighbor who has completely lost touch with reality?
Egor Ivanov
.Polonophobia, or anti-Polonism, is a manifestation hostility to the Polish people and to Polish history. Judging by the fact that books by Polonophobes are readily published in Russia, and on the Internet there are a lot of Russian-language articles and statements imbued with hatred of Poles, anti-Polonism in Russia has become the norm for many people...
Can this phenomenon be considered “normal”?
Every nation, like every person, has its own negative traits. The history of most countries contains shameful facts and crimes. And there are people who pay attention mainly to flaws and vices and do not notice the good either in the historical past or in the present. I am not one of those people, but in the end, everyone has their own shortcomings...
But the majority of Russian literary Polonophobes are not seriously interested in history. They call themselves “Russian patriots”, and draw their knowledge mainly from books translated from in English. For example, they annoyingly repeat the words of Sir Winston Churchill about how Poland in 1938 “with the greed of a hyena took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state,” but they do not say a word about how the future law-abiding citizens of democratic Czechoslovakia in 1918-1920 years they looted on a large scale in Russia.
Lieutenant General of the White Army Grigory Semenov recalled it this way:
“According to the commander of the Czech troops, General Syrov, the discipline in the Czech regiments was so shaken that the command had difficulty restraining the units. The robbery of civilians and government institutions along the route of the Czechs reached absolutely incredible levels. The looted property was delivered in military trains to Harbin, where it was sold completely openly by the Czechs, who rented the local circus building for this purpose and set up a store out of it, which sold household items taken from Siberia, such as: samovars, sewing machines, icons, silverware , crews, agricultural tools, even copper ingots and cars taken from the factories of the Urals.
In addition to open robbery, organized, as can be seen from the previous presentation, on a broad, purely commercial basis, the Czechs, taking advantage of impunity, released counterfeit Siberian money onto the market in huge quantities, printing them in their echelons. The Czech command could not or did not want to fight this evil, and such connivance had a most corrupting effect on the discipline in the regiments of the Czech troops.”
Semenov also claimed that for the extradition of Kolchak to the Bolsheviks, “in Chita, Russian officers handed General Syrov 30 silver two-kopeck pieces on receipt - a symbolic payment for betrayal.” Most likely, this is a story, but the story is very eloquent.
But the fact that this same General Jan Syrovoy, during the occupation of the Cieszyn region by Poland, served as Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense in Czechoslovakia and did nothing to protect Czechoslovakia is the honest truth...
Sir Winston Churchill writes about this with sorrow: “Immediately after the conclusion of the Munich Agreement on September 30, the Polish government sent an ultimatum to the Czech government, to which a response was to be given within 24 hours. The Polish government demanded the immediate transfer of the border region of Cieszyn to it. There was no way to resist this rude demand."
With all due respect to the opinion of Sir Winston, I allow myself to doubt that Czechoslovakia did not have the opportunity for military resistance. At the end of 1939, Finland - with a population four times smaller than Czechoslovakia - responded “No” to territorial claims from the USSR, fought for three months and defended its independence.
What prevented Czechoslovakia from saying “No” to the Poles?
Before answering this question, we need to understand why the so-called Munich Agreement of 1938 took place. IN modern Russia There are two main versions: “Soviet” and “Hitler”.
According to the “Soviet” version, Great Britain and France betrayed Czechoslovakia in order to set Germany against the USSR. Main disadvantage This version is that it is completely incomprehensible: why did the British and French, less than a year later, provide guarantees to Poland and get involved in a war with Germany.
The 1938 "Hitler" version - promoted by contemporary Russian neo-Nazis without any public objection - states that Western countries they simply “made a mistake” in 1919 by including the German Sudetenland into Czechoslovakia, and in 1938 they “corrected the mistake and returned it” to Germany German lands. Russian General Anton Denikin commented on this “deep thought” back in 1939:
“If we take into account the public mood of 1919, then only a madman could then make a gift from the Sudetenland to the defeated Reich, recognized by the whole world as the culprit of the World War - from regions that, moreover, never belonged to the Reich...”
All this is true. The Sudetenland was never part of Germany, and before it became “Czechoslovakian”, it was part of Austria-Hungary. The Sudeten Germans lived, in general, not so bad. The famous American historian William Shirer, who worked as a journalist in Germany in the 1930s and repeatedly visited neighboring countries, writes:
“Undoubtedly, compared with the situation of national minorities in Western countries, even in America, their situation in Czechoslovakia was not so bad. They had full democratic and civil rights, including the right to vote, they had their own schools, their own cultural institutions. Their leaders political parties often held ministerial positions in the central government."
The Germans in Czechoslovakia had their own Sudeten-German party, defending the rights German population. And those Germans who did not like the order in Czechoslovakia at all could freely leave the country and go to permanent place residence in Germany...
The political leaders of Czechoslovakia had enough arguments to defend the rights to the territorial integrity of their country in the eyes of international public opinion. There was only one thing missing: the determination of the majority of the population to defend the borders with arms in hand.
William Shirer naively believed in the presence in 1938 of “35 Czechoslovak well-trained and armed divisions stationed behind impenetrable mountain fortifications.”
...The weapons were most likely good. As for training, this is a difficult question. It is not a fact that General Syrovoy and his comrades with their “Siberian military experience” could teach their subordinates a lot. And fortifications are made “impregnable” by persistent and courageous people ready to fight the enemy. There were too few such people in Czechoslovakia at that time. This was precisely the fundamental difference between Czechoslovakia and Finland.
The “appeasers” Chamberlain and Daladier were quite typical mediocrities and did not nurture any evil plans in relation to Russia. They simply had nothing to answer to the words spoken by Hitler on September 27, 1938 to Chamberlain’s representative Horace Wilson: “If France and England want to attack us, let them attack!” I don't care at all! Today is Tuesday, next Monday we will be at war!” Great Britain and France did not want to fight, but Great Britain had a decent ground army there was no need to fight on the continent. But the main thing is that Czechoslovakia itself was in no way going to fight. Mr. President Edvard Benes would not have dared to say: “Let them attack...”
As a result, Hitler obtained the consent of England and France to revise the borders of Czechoslovakia in favor of Germany. The “appeasers,” according to Churchill, achieved the following: “The year of respite, which was supposedly won in Munich, put England and France, in comparison with Hitler’s Germany, in a much worse position than the one in which they were at the time of the Munich crisis.”
And Poland took advantage Munich agreement to obtain your benefit. Of course, it was very ugly, one might even say “disgusting”...
The only question is, who can say this with a clear conscience?
Honestly, Churchill did not have the moral right to compare Poland with a “greedy hyena”... Now, if Sir Winston had also compared Great Britain and France with “stupid donkeys”, and Czechoslovakia with a “cowardly ferret” - then it would be a different matter...
But only Poland “earned” the “zoological epithet” from the great Briton.
Why?
Speaking on October 5, 1938 in the British House of Commons, Churchill was indignant:
“What happened in Warsaw? The British and French ambassadors visited the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Colonel Beck, or at least tried to meet with him in order to ask for some mitigation of the cruel measures that were being used against Czechoslovakia in connection with the problem of the Teshen region. The door was slammed in front of them. The French ambassador never received an audience, but the English ambassador received a very harsh response from one of the ministry officials. The whole matter is portrayed by the Polish press as a political tactlessness on the part of both powers...”
Churchill's indignation is not difficult to understand. The door slammed in the face of the British ambassador hurt the national pride of all respectable Britons. Here you will not only start calling him a “hyena”... Of course, if you are a British patriot.
But patriots of most other countries, including Russia, will never take offense at the Poles for this diplomatic incident. Because Britain fully deserves such an insult both for the “Munich policy” and for many other not-so-nice deeds... And those who clumsily imitate Churchill thoughtlessly repeat the words “Hyena of Europe” about Poland! Hyena of Europe! They look not like Russian patriots, but like Russian-speaking parrots.
NOTES:
Churchill W., World War II. (In 3 books). - M.: Alpina non-fiction, 2013. - Book. 1. P. 159e
Semenov G.M., About myself: Memories, thoughts and conclusions - M.: AST, 2002. - P. 234-235.
Right there. P. 233.
Churchill W., Decree. op. - Book 1. P. 149.
Denikin A.I., World events and the Russian question // Denikin A.I., The path of the Russian officer. Articles and essays on historical and geopolitical topics - M.: Iris-press, 2006. - P. 470.
Shearer. U., The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - M: Astrel, 2012. - P. 404.
Right there. P. 509.
Right there. P. 441.
Churchill W., Decree. op. - Book 1. P. 155.
Churchill W., Muscles of the world. - M.: Eksmo, 2009. - P. 81.
The article often raised the idea that Poland itself was to blame for its troubles. I don’t presume to assess Poland’s guilt, but the fact that it was far from an angelic country is confirmed by this article. Its original is on the author Olga Tonina.
"...the same Poland that just six months ago, with the greed of a hyena, took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state."
(W. Churchill, "The Second World War")
In the history of every state, there are heroic pages of which this state is proud. There are such heroic pages in the history of Poland. One of these glorious pages of Polish history is Operation Zaluzhye - the armed occupation by Polish troops of part of the territory of Czechoslovakia, which occurred 11 months before the start of World War II.
Brief chronology events of such a glorious page in the history of the Polish state:
February 23, 1938. Beck, in negotiations with Goering, declares Poland’s readiness to take into account German interests in Austria and emphasized Poland’s interest “in the Czech problem”
March 17, 1938. Poland presents an ultimatum to Lithuania demanding the conclusion of a convention guaranteeing the rights of the Polish minority in Lithuania, as well as the abolition of the paragraph of the Lithuanian constitution proclaiming Vilna as the capital of Lithuania. (Vilna was illegally captured by the Poles several years ago and incorporated into Poland). Polish troops are concentrated on the Polish-Lithuanian border. Lithuania agreed to receive the Polish representative. If the ultimatum was rejected within 24 hours, the Poles threatened to march to Kaunas and occupy Lithuania. The Soviet government, through the Polish ambassador in Moscow, recommended not to infringe on the freedom and independence of Lithuania. IN otherwise it denounces without warning the Polish-Soviet non-aggression pact and, in the event of an armed attack on Lithuania, will reserve freedom of action. Thanks to this intervention, the danger of an armed conflict between Poland and Lithuania was averted. The Poles limited their demands on Lithuania to one point - the establishment diplomatic relations- and refused an armed invasion of Lithuania.
May 1938. The Polish government is concentrating several formations in the Cieszyn area (three divisions and one brigade border troops).
August 11, 1938 - in a conversation with Lipsky, the German side announced an understanding of Poland’s interest in the territory of Soviet Ukraine
September 8-11, 1938. In response to the readiness expressed by the Soviet Union to come to the aid of Czechoslovakia, both against Germany and against Poland, the largest military maneuvers in the history of the revived Polish state were organized on the Polish-Soviet border, in which 5 infantry and 1 cavalry divisions, 1 motorized brigade, as well as aviation. The “reds” advancing from the east were completely defeated by the “blues”. The maneuvers ended with a grandiose 7-hour parade in Lutsk, which was personally received by the “supreme leader” Marshal Rydz-Smigly.
September 19, 1938 - Lipsky brings to the attention of Hitler the opinion of the Polish government that Czechoslovakia is an artificial entity and supports Hungarian claims to the territory of Carpathian Ruthenia
September 20, 1938 - Hitler declares to Lipsky that in the event of a military conflict between Poland and Czechoslovakia over the Cieszyn region, the Reich will side with Poland, that beyond the line of German interests Poland has completely free hands, that he sees a solution to the Jewish problem through emigration to the colonies in agreement with Poland, Hungary and Romania.
September 21, 1938 - Poland sent a note to Czechoslovakia demanding a solution to the problem of the Polish national minority in Cieszyn Silesia.
September 22, 1938 - the Polish government urgently announces the denunciation of the Polish-Czechoslovak Treaty on National Minorities, and a few hours later announces an ultimatum to Czechoslovakia on the annexation of lands with a Polish population to Poland. On behalf of the so-called “Union of Silesian Insurgents” in Warsaw, recruitment into the “Cieszyn Volunteer Corps” was launched completely openly. The formed detachments of “volunteers” are sent to the Czechoslovak border, where they organize armed provocations and sabotage.
September 23, 1938. The Soviet government warned the Polish government that if Polish troops concentrated on the border with Czechoslovakia invaded its borders, the USSR would consider this an act of unprovoked aggression and would denounce the non-aggression pact with Poland. The Polish government responded in the evening of the same day. His tone was, as usual, arrogant. It explained that it was carrying out some military activities only for defensive purposes.
September 24, 1938. Newspaper "Pravda" 1938. September 24. N264 (7589). on S.5. publishes the article “Polish fascists are preparing a putsch in Cieszyn Silesia.” Later, on the night of September 25, in the town of Konské near Třinec, the Poles threw hand grenades and fired at houses in which Czechoslovak border guards were located, as a result of which two buildings burned down. After a two-hour battle, the attackers retreated into Polish territory. Similar clashes occurred that night in a number of other places in the Teshin region.
September 25, 1938. The Poles raided the Frishtat railway station, fired at it and threw grenades at it.
September 27, 1938. The Polish government is putting forward a repeated demand for the “return” of the Cieszyn region to it. Throughout the night, rifle and machine gun fire, grenade explosions, etc. were heard in almost all areas of the Teshin region. The bloodiest clashes, as reported by the Polish Telegraph Agency, were observed in the vicinity of Bohumin, Cieszyn and Jablunkov, in the towns of Bystrice, Konska and Skrzechen. Armed groups of “rebels” repeatedly attacked Czechoslovakian weapons depots, and Polish planes violated the Czechoslovakian border every day. In the newspaper "Pravda" 1938. September 27. N267 (7592) on page 1 the article “The unbridled impudence of the Polish fascists” is published
September 28, 1938. Armed provocations continue. In the newspaper "Pravda" 1938. September 28. N268 (7593) On S.5. The article “Provocations of Polish Fascists” is published.
September 29, 1938. Polish diplomats in London and Paris insist on an equal approach to solving the Sudeten and Cieszyn problems, Polish and German military officers agree on the line of demarcation of troops in the event of an invasion of Czechoslovakia. Czech newspapers describe touching scenes of “combat brotherhood” between German fascists and Polish nationalists. A Czechoslovakian border post near Grgava was attacked by a gang of 20 people armed with automatic weapons. The attack was repulsed, the attackers fled to Poland, and one of them, being wounded, was captured. During interrogation, the captured bandit said that in their detachment there were many Germans living in Poland. On the night of September 29-30, 1938, the infamous Munich Agreement was concluded.
September 30, 1938. Warsaw presented Prague with a new ultimatum, which was to be answered within 24 hours, demanding immediate satisfaction of its claims, where it demanded the immediate transfer of the border region of Cieszyn to it. Newspaper "Pravda" 1938. September 30. N270 (7595) on S.5. publishes an article: “The provocations of the aggressors do not stop. “Incidents” at the borders.”
October 1, 1938. Czechoslovakia cedes to Poland an area where 80 thousand Poles and 120 thousand Czechs lived. However, the main gain is the industrial potential of the captured territory. At the end of 1938, the enterprises located there produced almost 41% of the pig iron produced in Poland and almost 47% of the steel.
October 2, 1938. Operation "Zaluzhye". Poland occupies Cieszyn Silesia (Teschen - Frištát - Bohumin region) and some settlements on the territory of modern Slovakia.
How did the world react to these actions of the Poles?
From W. Churchill's book "Second World War", Volume 1, "The Gathering Storm"
"Chapter Eighteen"
"MUNICH WINTER"
“On September 30, Czechoslovakia bowed to the Munich decisions. “We want,” said the Czechs, “to declare before the whole world our protest against decisions in which we did not participate.” President Benes resigned because “he might end up an obstacle to the development of events to which our new state must adapt." Beneš left Czechoslovakia and found refuge in England. The dismemberment of the Czechoslovak state proceeded in accordance with the agreement. However, the Germans were not the only predators tormenting the corpse of Czechoslovakia. Immediately after the conclusion of the Munich Agreement on September 30 The Polish government sent an ultimatum to the Czech government, which was to be responded to within 24 hours. The Polish government demanded the immediate transfer of the border region of Cieszyn to it. There was no way to resist this brutal demand.
The heroic character traits of the Polish people should not force us to close our eyes to their recklessness and ingratitude, which over the course of several centuries caused them immeasurable suffering. In 1919, this was a country that the Allied victory, after generations of partition and slavery, had transformed into an independent republic and one of the major European powers. Now, in 1938, because of such an insignificant issue as Teshin, the Poles broke with all their friends in France, in England and in the USA, which had brought them back to a united national life and whose help they were soon to need so badly. We saw how now, while the reflection of the power of Germany was falling on them, they hastened to seize their share in the plunder and ruin of Czechoslovakia. At the moment of crisis, all doors were closed to the English and French ambassadors. They were not even allowed to see the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs. We must consider it a mystery and tragedy of European history that a people capable of any heroism individual representatives who is talented, valiant, charming, constantly displays such huge shortcomings in almost every aspect of his public life. Glory in times of rebellion and sorrow; infamy and shame during periods of triumph. The bravest of the brave have too often been led by the foulest of the foul! And yet, there have always been two Polands: one of them fought for truth, and the other grovelled in meanness.
We have yet to tell of the failure of their military preparations and plans; about the arrogance and mistakes of their policies; about the terrible massacres and deprivations to which they doomed themselves with their madness."
Appetite, as you know, comes with eating. Before the Poles had time to celebrate the capture of the Cieszyn region, they had new plans:
December 28, 1938 In a conversation between the counselor of the German embassy in Poland, Rudolf von Schelia, and the newly appointed Polish envoy to Iran, J. Karsho-Sedlevsky, the latter states: "Political perspective for European East clear. In a few years, Germany will be at war with the Soviet Union, and Poland will support Germany, voluntarily or forcedly, in this war. It is better for Poland to definitely take the side of Germany before the conflict, since Poland’s territorial interests are in the west and political goals Poland in the east, especially in Ukraine, can only be secured through a previously reached Polish-German agreement. He, Karsho-Sedlewski, will subordinate his activities as the Polish envoy in Tehran to the implementation of this great Eastern concept, since it is necessary in the end to convince and encourage also the Persians and Afghans to play an active role in future war against the Soviets."
December 1938. From the report of the 2nd department (intelligence department) of the main headquarters of the Polish Army: “The dismemberment of Russia lies at the heart of Polish policy in the East... Therefore, our possible position will be reduced to the following formula: who will take part in the section. Poland must not remain passive during this wonderful historical moment. The task is to prepare well in advance physically and spiritually... The main goal is the weakening and defeat of Russia.”(see Z dziejow stosunkow polsko-radzieckich. Studia i materialy. T. III. Warszawa, 1968, str. 262, 287.)
January 26, 1939. In a conversation with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck, held in Warsaw, states: "Poland lays claim to Soviet Ukraine and to the exit to the Black Sea."
March 4, 1939. Polish command after lengthy economic, political and operational research, it completed the development of a plan for war against the USSR. "East" ("Vshud").(see Centralne Archiwum Ministerstwa Spraw Wewnetrznych, R-16/1).
However, here the Poles were faced with another opportunity to once again act as a hyena and rob for free, hiding behind the back of a stronger neighbor, because she, Poland, was lured by the opportunity to rob a neighbor richer than the USSR:
March 17, 1939. Chamberlain made a sharp speech in Birmingham against Germany, in which he declared that England would make contact with other like-minded powers. This speech marked the beginning of a policy of encircling Germany with alliances with other states. Financial negotiations between England and Poland have begun; military negotiations with Poland in London; General Ironside pays a visit to Warsaw.
March 20, 1939. Hitler put forward a proposal to Poland: to agree to the inclusion of the city of Danzig in Germany and to the creation of an extraterritorial corridor that would connect Germany with East Prussia.
March 21, 1939. Ribbentrop in conversation with Polish Ambassador again made demands regarding Danzig (Gdansk), as well as the right to build an extraterritorial railway and motorways that would link Germany with East Prussia.
March 22, 1939. In Poland, the beginning of the first partial and covert mobilization (five formations) was announced in order to provide cover for the mobilization and concentration of the main forces Polish army.
March 24, 1939. The Polish government submitted a proposal for an Anglo-Polish pact to the British government.
March 26, 1939. The Polish government issues a memorandum in which, according to Ribbentrop, "the German proposals for the return of Danzig and extraterritorial transport routes through the corridor were unceremoniously rejected." Ambassador Lipsky stated: "Any further pursuit of the purpose of these German plans, and especially concerning the return of Danzig to the Reich, means war with Poland." Ribbentrop again in orally repeated German demands: an unambiguous return of Danzig, an extraterritorial connection with East Prussia, a 25-year non-aggression pact with a guarantee of borders, as well as cooperation on the Slovak issue in the form assumed neighboring states protection of this area.
March 31, 1939. British Prime Minister H. Chamberlain announced Anglo-French military guarantees for Poland in connection with the threat of aggression from Germany. As Churchill wrote on this occasion in his memoirs: “And now, when all these advantages and all this help have been lost and discarded, England, leading France, offers to guarantee the integrity of Poland - the same Poland that just six months ago With the greed of a hyena, she took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state."
And how did the Poles react to the desire of England and France to protect them from German aggression and the guarantees received? They began to transform into a greedy hyena again! And now they were sharpening their teeth to snatch a piece from Germany. As the American researcher Henson Baldwin, who worked as the military editor of the New York Times during the war, noted in his book:
“They were proud and overconfident, living in the past. Many Polish soldiers, imbued with the military spirit of their people and their traditional hatred of the Germans, talked and dreamed of a “march on Berlin.” Their hopes are well reflected in the words of one of the songs:
...clad in steel and armor,
Led by Rydz-Smigly,
We will march to the Rhine..."
How did this madness end? On September 1, 1939, “Clad in steel and armor” and led by Rydz-Smigly began to march in the opposite direction, towards the border with Romania. And less than a month later, Poland disappeared from geographical map for seven years, along with his ambitions and habits of a hyena. In 1945, she reappeared, paying for her madness with six million Poles' lives. The blood of six million Polish lives cooled the madness of the Polish government for almost 50 years. But nothing lasts forever, and again the cries about Greater Poland “from mozh to mozh” begin to be heard louder and louder, and the already familiar greedy grin of a hyena begins to appear in Polish politics.
Belarus expressed extreme concern about the intention of right-wing radicals in Poland to hold a new march in the border town of Hainowka. This was stated by the press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Mironchik.
Minsk is alarmed by the “memory march” aimed at glorifying the “damned soldiers.” This is the name given in Poland to militants of the terrorist nationalist underground who acted after the liberation of Poland in the interests of Western intelligence services. In addition to terrorist acts against representatives of the PPR authorities, employees law enforcement and military personnel of the Polish Army and Soviet army, they also carried out genocide on national and religious principles, killing Rusyns, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Lemkos, Orthodox and Uniates.
“One of the figures to whom they want to honor is the leader of the gang, Romuald Rice, nicknamed Brown, he is a war criminal,” Mironchik said at a briefing, recalling that a similar march was already held last year.
“Rice is responsible for dozens of those burned along with their inhabitants Belarusian villages, hundreds of killed and maimed civilians, including children, women and the elderly. They were destroyed or mutilated only because they belonged to the Belarusian ethnic group and had the Orthodox religion,” the press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry emphasized.
Mironchik noted that in the Polish city of Gainovka, where the majority of the population has Belarusian roots, “the descendants of the victims of Bury’s crimes are still alive.”
It's not just that. The choice of the nearest border area with Belarus for provocation is a direct challenge and message of Polish extremists neighboring country talking about claims on her western lands.
Let us recall that nationalists carry out similar actions on the border with Ukraine, as a sign of “disagreement” with its sovereignty over Galicia and Volyn. So you can remember the “March of the Eaglets of Przemysl and Lviv,” which takes place in the city of Przemysl, bordering Ukraine, under the slogans “Death to Ukrainians” and “Przemysl and Lviv are always Polish.”
Poland is becoming one of the main destabilizing factors in Eastern Europe, threatening the security of the region. This country not only creates a situation of conflict with most of its neighbors, but also clearly expresses territorial or financial claims against some of them.
They are trying to “justify” claims to something else in Poland various kinds speculation on historical topics, an interpretation of the past in the spirit of radical nationalism. The recently adopted amendment to the law on the Institute of National Remembrance, which introduces criminal liability for denial of a crime, serves these purposes. Ukrainian nationalists and accusations of Poles being complicit in the Holocaust. If, with the help of a ban on the study of Polish collaboration, Warsaw is trying to protect itself from potential lawsuits for the complicity of Polish citizens in the extermination of Jews, then everything is not so simple with Bandera’s followers.
The point is that this legislative norm is aimed not only, and not so much at perpetuating the memory of the victims of ethnic cleansing carried out by the UPA during the Second World War on Western Ukraine, but also to “justify” Warsaw’s “rights” to the “Eastern Crosses” territories “watered with Polish blood.” This is how Polish extremists call the ancient Russian lands of the Galicia-Volyn principality, now part of Ukraine.
Let us recall that these territories came under the control of Warsaw after the defeat of the Western Ukrainian War in 1919. people's republic, and Poland imposed a brutal police regime on them, subjecting indigenous people discrimination based on nationality and religion. Russian and Ukrainian language were banned, the lands of non-Poles were en masse alienated and transferred to the “siegers” (Polish colonizers of the region). Thousands of people of the Orthodox and Uniate confessions were thrown into concentration camps under far-fetched pretexts. The gendarmes, lancers and “siegers” unleashed real terror against the non-Polish population - mass floggings of entire villages and “exemplary” rapes of women and children became the favorite instrument of “pacification” (“pacification” - that’s what the Poles called a set of punitive actions to suppress civil disobedience on Russian lands ).
All these crimes of the Polish authorities, which fully fall under the definition of “genocide,” further worsened the already difficult Polish-Ukrainian relations, and created the preconditions for the tragedy called the “Volyn Massacre.”
Of course, the atrocities of the gendarmes and “siegers” in no way justify the crimes of the UPA “rezuns” against women and children, but they indicate that the Poles deny the historical truth and strive to present their rather predatory state as an innocent victim of everyone around them.
Let's also return to the “damned soldiers”. Their “fight for freedom” was no different from the methods of Derlivanger’s grenadiers or Bandera’s executioners. In order not to be accused of bias, let us quote the veteran of the Home Army, Stefan Dembski, who in his acclaimed book “Executor” describes in detail the everyday life of “fighters against the communist dictatorship”:
“...we chose villages where the Polish population predominated, because thanks to this it was easier for us to finish off the Ukrainians. There was no pity, no apology in these actions. I couldn't complain about my comrades either. Only “Twardy,” who had personal grievances against the Ukrainians, surpassed himself. When we entered a Ukrainian house, our “Vilusko” became literally insane... “Louis” and I mostly stood under the doors and windows, and the semi-conscious “Tvardy”... rushed at the petrified Ukrainians and cut them into pieces... Once three Ukrainian families gathered in the same house, and “Tvardy” decided to finish them off “fun”. He put on the hat he found on the shelf, took the violin from the table, and began to play it. He divided the Ukrainians into four groups and, at the sound of music, ordered them to sing “Here is a hill, there is a valley, in the valley there will be Ukraine...”. And under the threat of my pistol, the poor fellows sang, even as the glass in the windows shook. It was theirs The last song. After the end of the concert, “Twardy” got to work so quickly that “Louis” and I ran into the hallway so that we wouldn’t be mistakenly stabbed to death...”
The march in Gainowka suggests that the current Polish Nazis consider themselves successors and continuers of the work of these bloody maniacs, and are ready to implement their methods in relation to neighboring peoples - Belarusians, Ukrainians, Russians, Lithuanians. And hatred of the Germans today is again being intensively cultivated in Poland, which has made its state ideology the doctrine of the national exclusivity of the Poles and the universal guilt of those around them before them.
At one time, Winston Churchill called Poland “the hyena of Europe.” However, this rather accurate description did not in the least scare off the Anglo-Saxons and did not prevent them from using the anger, greed and stupidity of the Polish leadership to incite another war in Europe.
Today, the Poles, who have forgotten nothing and learned nothing, seem to be trying to be used in a similar way.