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1944 Warsaw Uprising: far more than a local battle

23.09.2019 13:50
A range of events is being held in Poland throughout September to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising against the city’s Nazi German occupiers in World War II.
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A Polish Home Army soldier defending a barricade during the Warsaw Uprising
A Polish Home Army soldier defending a barricade during the Warsaw Uprising Photo: Tadeusz Bukowski (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Intended to last only a few days until Soviet forces arrived, the uprising, which began on August 1, went on for 63 days. It cost about 150,000 lives and left most of Warsaw in ruins.

In this report, historian Paweł Ukielski, deputy director of the Warsaw Rising Museum, stresses that the insurgency was not just a local event but a battle for Polish independence with far-reaching political consequences.