The military defeat in the 1939 campaign did not mean the collapse of Polish statehood. World War II continued, and Polish civil and military authorities were recreated in the territories of the Allied Powers. The Polish government-in-exile assumed as its main task the conduct of political and military action to regain independence, which was to be achieved by the formation of the Polish Armed Forces. The government also faced the task of providing care for Polish emigrants and civilian refugees. The government’s resources were meager. Material and financial assets that were evacuated from the country or were located outside occupied Poland could only be partially used in current operations. The history of projects aimed at securing and utilizing them is still a blank spot in Polish historiography. The history of Poles’ participation in the military operations has attracted much greater interest from researchers. The activities of the civilian Polish wartime emigrants and refugees are also increasingly appreciated. Polish scientists, engineers, and technicians, through their work in various countries, often in responsible positions, contributed vastly to the Allied war effort. A separate chapter of the Polish state-in-exile’s civilian activities is the establishment of an extensive system of welfare, educational, and cultural activities for Polish refugees scattered across many countries and continents.

The study concerns the analysis of the little-researched issue of the activities of the Polish military missions in London and Paris during the 1939 campaign. The author traces their evolution – from attempts to secure real assistance from the Allies to the Army of the Second Polish Republic, fighting on its own soil, up to their transformation into the nucleus of the re-emerging the command structures of Polish Army in exile. Based on archival sources, the study reconstructs the activities of Generals Mieczysław Norwid-Neugebauer and Stanisław Burhardt-Bukacki in the beginning of the World War II. Their efforts – despite limited effectiveness – created both a symbolic and organizational bridge between the Polish Army before 1939 and the Polish Armed Forces in Exile.

This study, prepared on the occasion of the 81st anniversary of Operation Market Garden, analyzes with the use of archival records and the recent literature in the field the actions of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski. At the time, the Brigade was subordinated to the commander of the British 1st Airborne Division and, according to its original plans, was tasked with carrying out a significant mission on the right flank of the division’s plan of operation. The author illustrates the problems connected with the Brigade’s participation in the Battle of Arnhem, including its landing, changes in the plan of its deployment resulting from the unfavorable operational situation, and its actions after the landing in the Driel area.

The defeat of Poland in the war against Germany in September 1939 and the re-establishment of its Armed Forces in France led to a new approach to awarding Polish soldiers with orders and decorations for combat deeds. The Battle of Narvik and the 1940 French campaign prompted the resumption of awarding orders and decorations in the reestablished Polish Armed Forces in the West. The Polish Army’s continued participation in the Western Desert Campaign and the Battle of Britain allowed for the awarding of the Virtuti Militari Order and the Krzyż Walecznych [Cross of Valor]. Polish sailors and underground soldiers in the occupied country were also honored. Foreigners were not forgotten. The fighting in the campaigns in Italy and in France in 1944–1945 brought new awards of orders and decorations. In addition to the above-mentioned orders, the Krzyż Zasługi z Mieczami [Cross of Merit with Swords] was also awarded to civilians. Commemorative decorations, as Cross of Monte Cassino, Army Medal, Naval Medal and Air Medal, were awarded to soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces in the West after the end of the war. The military authorities’ decoration policy was adapted to the conditions of war. There were no mass awards for combat deeds, and the number of recipients was commensurate with the war effort of Polish soldiers. During World War II, 72,508 individuals were awarded orders and combat decorations (as of 30 April 1948).

The Soviet aggression against Poland of 17 September 1939 resulted not only in the annexation of half of the invaded state’s territory by the aggressor, but also in a wave of repressions directed against those citizens of the Republic of Poland whom the Soviet authorities saw as ‘hostile elements.’ The most extensive form of repression were the deportations, which between 1940 and 1941 encompassed from 315,000 to 330,000 individuals. Approximately 70,000 of them – predominantly women and children – were sent to Kazakhstan. This then Soviet republic, located thousands of kilometres away from their homeland, was an entirely unknown foreign land to them. At the same time, they themselves were strangers to the local population, for whom the sudden arrival of Poles was unexpected and, in some cases, perhaps even unwelcome. This study seeks to examine whether the encounter between Poles – Europeans, and Kazakhs – Asians, enforced by Stalinist repressive policies, had the character of a conflict. An analysis of Polish sources leads to the conclusion that although Poles and Kazakhs belonged to distinct cultures, and were divided by religion as well as by social customs, their coexistence proved unexpectedly harmonious. This outcome was largely the result of mutual tolerance and respect, and also a shared awareness of being victims of the same criminal political system. The study does not overlook negative aspects in Polish–Kazakh relations. Nevertheless, it demonstrates that such social phenomena remained marginal.

The study outlines the fates of Polish citizens deported to the Pavlodar region in Soviet Kazakhstan between 1940 and 1946, covering the period from their deportation to their departure to the post-war Poland. Particular attention is given to the living conditions of the deported Poles, their daily life in the harsh realities of the Soviet environment, and the challenges they faced while in exile. The article discusses the establishment of the Polish Embassy Delegation in Pavlodar, the formation of Anders’ Army and then the taking care provided to Poles by the communist Union of Polish Patriots (ZPP) and the departure to the post-war Poland.

Between 1942 and 1952, a few Polish settlements existed in Africa, inhabited by the civilian refugees. In the years 1940–1941, they had been victims of deportations by the NKVD into the hinterland of the Soviet Union (so-called Sybiraks, i.e. deportees to Siberia). After the Third Reich attacked the USSR in 1941, Stalin, seeking allies, concluded a pact with the Polish authorities in exile on 30 July 1941 (the so-called Sikorski–Majski Agreement), under which the government in Moscow proclaimed an amnesty for Poles, who were allowed to form an army. Thousands of Poles were released from prisons, labour camps and forced settlements, to the south of the USSR, to the places where these units were being organized. In 1942, about 80,000 soldiers were evacuated to Iran, and together with them about 40,000 civilians, including women, children and men unfit for military service. After training, the soldiers fought in the Italian Campaign, while the civilians were sent to refugee settlements in Africa – in Kenya, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), Uganda, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and the Union of South Africa (now RSA) – and also in India, Mexico and New Zealand. About 20,000 Poles lived in 22 camps in Africa. The largest settlement, Tengeru in Tanganyika, operated the longest, until 1952, with over 4,000 inhabitants. Until 1951, the roughly 3,000-strong Koja settlement in Uganda also functioned. The study presents the development of this “Polish town” in 1942–1945 as an example of organizing life for Polish refugees in East and South Africa. It is based on a Polish bi-weekly printed in that continent (Polak w Afryce) and on the memoirs of former residents of Koja, collected as part of research projects of the Centre for Documentation of Deportations, Expulsions and Resettlements of University of the National Education Commission in Cracow, conducted in Poland and abroad.

Over the past 20 years, the possibilities of use of the new digital technologies to improve access to archival materials via the Internet has emerged. Thanks to modern technologies, using archival resources has become simpler and less costly. American and German archives are leading the way in providing access to documents from the World War II years. The possibilities offered to historians today make it possible to deepen research on various aspects of the conflict, among them, the history of the German occupation of Poland. One of the most interesting research problems is the organization and functioning of the Third Reich’s armed forces in the General Governorate.

Operations Sturmwind I and Sturmwind II, carried out in June 1944 in the surroundings of Biłgoraj, were presented in Polish historiography from the very beginning as the largest German anti-insurgency action in occupied Poland. In fact, in terms of the engagement of German forces or the area it covered, it is unmatched. There is no doubt that it also resulted, on the side of the partisans, in casualties that are difficult to estimate precisely. It should be noted that during both actions, at that time, including the fights near Osuchy, over a thousand people (both civilians and partisans) died at the hands of the Germans and the Kalmyk Cavalry Corps. Several thousand inhabitants of the region were deported either to concentration camps or to forced labor. The scale of the losses of the Home Army (AK) and Peasants Battalions (BCh) partisan units on the eve of the Red Army’s entry has drawn the attention of historians from the very beginning. Apart from the 1944 Warsaw Rising, it is difficult to find another equally wide-ranging action of the Polish underground with comparable personnel losses. Today, 80 years after the events, it is acknowledged that at least 550 AK and BCh soldiers fell during and as a result of Operation Sturmwind II. However, disputes regarding responsibility for the massacre of Polish troops have not died down. Considering the number of arguments supporting Major “Kalina’s” mistakes and defending his decisions, this dispute will probably never be resolved.

The aim of this study is to synthetically present the fates of several dozen Italian immigrants living in Poland during the Cold War. At the time, hundreds of members of the anti-fascist resistance were leaving Italy to evade its judiciary. They were being prosecuted for alleged and real crimes committed during the war and just after its end. A part of the migration were French people of Italian origin, who had lived previously in France. Most of them were members of the Italian Communist Party and the French Communist Party, and countries eastward of the emerging Iron Curtain were their escape route. They hoped to engage there in building of the new socialist system. Despite an initially positive attitude towards Poland, in most cases their stay resulted in deep disappointments, as well as conflicts with state authorities and security services.

Wartime censors working at the Department (from 1945 Ministry) of Public Security played a significant role in consolidating communist power in the early years of the “People’s” Poland. Between 1944 and 1946, its employees, as part of the postal control, inspected millions of mail items. The basis for their activities was a manual, published below, regulating the functioning of wartime censorship divisions. It contained detailed guidelines and a clear division of duties among inspectors, censors, senior censors, clerks, senior clerks, and management staff. The censorship list supplemented the instruction, indicating content deemed a threat to the interests of the regime and thus destined for removal.