Warsaw Uprising

On August 1, 1944, just before 2 p.m., the first shots were fired in Warsaw’s Żoliborz district, heralding the hope for freedom that smouldered in the hearts of thousands of Warsaw residents and those who got to the Capital specifically to fight for a free Poland. It was merely a prelude to the heroic fight in which almost the entire Warsaw joined forces at 5 p.m.

Among the young people fed up with the Nazi yoke and wanting to welcome both the Allies and the red army, not as suppressed slaves to German, but as hosts of Warsaw, there was the grandmother of the Founderess and of the spokesman of “Your Heritage” – Archangela “Ela” Korwin-Szymanowski.

The nineteen-year-old was a liaison in the “Karpaty” battalion of the “Baszta” group, K-2 Company. For comrades in arms – she was fearless. She always went where others were afraid. Although she was terrified in her heart by the circumstances, as anyone in the position of the Mokotów insurgents would be, she knew that she had to fight. And she gave it her all, showing no fear amid the noise of gunshots.

Back in August, “Ela” had to evacuate her wounded commander, Jacek “Ran” Cydzik, to the Chojnowski Forests. After the fall of Mokotów on September 27 1944, she was captured by the Germans. At that time, the first capitulation talks were taking place and the insurgents were not yet recognised by the Germans as prisoners of war. The Nazis took advantage of this and, as a punishment for the insurgents, counted out 40 girls and took them to the Stutthof concentration camp instead of captive camp. “Ela” was one of them.

Thanks to luck and an indomitable spirit, she survived the Warsaw Uprising, the Stutthof concentration camp, and in the following decades, she did not allow herself to be broken by the communist regime.

This is one of many stories about steadfast defenders of freedom, dignity and honor, fighting for a free Poland in a difficult hour of trial – so close to us because of our common blood.

Was the Uprising necessary? Did Warsaw have to be destroyed? Was it moral for children to fight in it?

One could answer that these children were murdered by the Germans in broad daylight on the streets of Warsaw throughout the occupation. That any day at any time they could have lost their freedom or life. That the Germans killed civilians under any pretext, and gender and age did not matter to them. They could have kill on the street for music, for a smile, for a look.

But these are not the right questions at all. Because we cannot talk about those days with statistics. And the uprising of hearts in 1944 cannot be assessed with the cold, military calculation of today’s battlefield. Young people who were engrossed in the ethos of the Piłsudskis Legions were different young people. The war was started by cynics steeped in ideology and brought about by petty people. Then dreamers and poets shed blood and died on it.

Honor the memory of those who could not live without dignity and honor, without freedom and the right to self-determination. 🇵🇱

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