All Topics  
Polish Secret State

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Polish Secret State
 
 
  Topics Polish Secret State Topic Home

The Polish Underground State (also known as the Polish Secret State) refers collectively to the underground resistance organizations
Polish resistance movement in World War II

The Polish resistance movement fought against the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was an important part of the European anti-fascist Resistance during World War II and had the largest partisan army in occupied Europe....
 in Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 during World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, both military and civilian, loyal to the Polish Government in Exile
Polish government in Exile

File:Herb Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej .pngThe Polish Government in exile was the government of Poland after History of Poland at the start of World War II ....
 in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. The Underground State was a legal continuation of the pre-war Republic of Poland and its institutions, in armed struggle against the occupying powers (Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
). Polish historian Stanislaw Salmonowicz defined it as a "collection of state-legal, organizational and citizenship structures, which were to ensure constitutional continuation of Polish statehood on its own territory.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Polish Secret State'
Start a new discussion about 'Polish Secret State'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Recent Posts

Is the Polish Secret State and The Armia Krajowa the same movement??








Encyclopedia


The Polish Underground State (also known as the Polish Secret State) refers collectively to the underground resistance organizations
Polish resistance movement in World War II

The Polish resistance movement fought against the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was an important part of the European anti-fascist Resistance during World War II and had the largest partisan army in occupied Europe....
 in Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 during World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, both military and civilian, loyal to the Polish Government in Exile
Polish government in Exile

File:Herb Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej .pngThe Polish Government in exile was the government of Poland after History of Poland at the start of World War II ....
 in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. The Underground State was a legal continuation of the pre-war Republic of Poland and its institutions, in armed struggle against the occupying powers (Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
). Polish historian Stanislaw Salmonowicz defined it as a "collection of state-legal, organizational and citizenship structures, which were to ensure constitutional continuation of Polish statehood on its own territory. This constitutional continuity, real performance of the state's functions on its past territory and the loyalty of a great majority of Polish society were the most significants elements of its existence."

Polish government in exile

The government in exile, based in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, with the President of Poland and the Commander-in-Chief
General Inspector of the Armed Forces

General Inspector of the Armed Forces was an office created in Poland in 1926. The General Inspector reported directly to the President, and was not responsible to the Sejm or the government....
 of the Polish Army was the top military and civilian authority, recognized by the authorities of the underground state as their commanders.

Civilian

The main role of the civilian branch of the underground state was in maintaining the continuity of the Polish state as a whole, including its institution
Institution

Institutions are social structure and social mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals. Institutions are identified with a social purpose and permanence, transcending individual human lives and intentions, and with the making and enforcing of rules governing cooperative human behavior....
s such as the police, the courts
Directorate of Civil Resistance

Directorate of Civil Resistance was one of the branches of the Government Delegate?s Office at Home during World War II. Its main tasks were to maintain the morale of the Poland society, encourage passive resistance, report German atrocities and cruelties to the Polish Government in Exile, and to organize sabotage....
 and education
Education in Poland during World War II

This article covers the topic of underground education in Poland during World War II. Secret learning prepared new cadres for the post-war reconstruction of Poland and countered the Polish culture during World War II....
. It was to prepare cadres and institutions for recovering power after the German defeat in World War II.

The rationale behind the creation of the secret civilian authorities stemmed from the fact that the German and Soviet occupation of Poland was illegal. Hence all the institutions created by the occupying powers were regarded as illegal and parallel Polish underground institutions were set up following Polish law.

In August 1943 and March 1944 the Polish Secret State announced its long-term plan, partially designed to counter the attraction of some of the communists' proposals. That plan promised land reform
Land reform

Land reforms is an often-Land reform#Arguments for and against land reform alteration in the societal arrangements whereby government administers possession and use of land....
, nationalisation of the industrial base and demands for territorial compensation from Germany, as well as re-establishment of pre-1939 eastern border. Thus the main difference between the Underground State and the communists, in terms of politics, amounted not to radical economic and social reforms, which were advocated by both sides, but to their attitudes towards national sovereignty, borders and Polish-Soviet relations.

Military

The military part, consisting mostly of various branches of the Armia Krajowa
Armia Krajowa

The Armia Krajowa , abbreviated "AK", was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II Nazi Germany-History of Poland . It was formed in February 1942 from the Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej and over the next two years absorbed most other Polish underground forces....
 (AK, Home Army) - until 1942 Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej
Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej

Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej was an Resistance movement army formed in Poland following her Invasion of Poland in September 1939 by Germany and the Soviet Union that opened World War II....
 (ZWZ, Union of Active Struggle), was to prepare Polish society for a future fight for the liberation of the country. Apart from armed resistance, sabotage, intelligence, training and propaganda, the military arm of the Polish secret state was responsible for maintaining communications with the London-based government in exile, and for protecting the civilian arm of the state.

Further reading

  • Stefan Korbonski, Fighting Warsaw: the Story of the Polish Underground State (1939-1945), London, 1956
  • Józef Garlinski, "The Polish Underground State 1939-1945", Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1975,


See also

  • History of Poland (1939-1945)
  • Lesni
    Lesni

    Lesni is one of the informal names applied to the Partisan groups operating in occupied Poland during the World War II. The groups were formed mostly by people who for various reasons could not operate from settlements they lived in and had to retreat to the forests....
  • Polish contribution to World War II
    Polish contribution to World War II

    The European theater of World War II opened with the German Invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. The Polish Army was quickly pushed back. In keeping with the terms of the of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Germany informed the Soviet Union that its forces were nearing the Soviet interest zone in Poland and so urged the Soviet Union to move into...
  • World War II atrocities in Poland
    World War II atrocities in Poland

    Approximately six million Polish citizens, divided nearly equally between non-Jewish and Jewish, perished during World War II. Most were civilians killed by the actions of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and their allies....
  • Trial of the Sixteen
    Trial of the Sixteen

    The Trial of the Sixteen was a staged trial of 16 leaders of the Polish Secret State held by the Soviet Union in Moscow in 1945.History...
  • Western betrayal
    Western betrayal

    Western betrayal or Yalta betrayal are popular terms in many Central European countries, especially in Poland and the Czech Republic which refers to the foreign policy of several Western countries which violated allied pacts and agreements during the period from the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 through World War II and to the Cold War,...


External links