Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw by Norman Davies

Author:Norman Davies [Davies, Norman]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9780330475747
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2003-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Like all armies, the Home Army had its political warfare department forming part of the Bureau of Information and Propaganda (BIP). It was subject to the Supreme Commander AK. One may express surprise that such an outfit could function at all in the conditions of the Warsaw Rising. One is compelled to express admiration and amazement not only that it functioned with particular brilliance, but also that it kept going without interruption from beginning to end. The phenomenon can only be explained by the fact that insurrectionary Warsaw formed a close-knit, dynamic community driven no less by cultural than by military energies. The insurgents were fighting to save their way of life.

The press of insurrectionary Warsaw can be studied in great depth on the basis of an unusual five-volume collection, A Survey of the Home Press in the Period of the Warsaw Rising, which was assembled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the exiled Government in London and which was published for internal circulation only in April 1945. One can only wonder how such an enormous pile of material was smuggled out of Nazi-occupied Europe in the middle of the war. Apart from a full run of the official Home Army Information Bulletin, it contains extracts from the socialist Worker, Warsaw Fights, Insurgent News, and Polish Commonwealth.

Everyday news was dominated by detailed accounts of the fighting, but it contained innumerable curiosities. At one point, for instance, the Bulletin announced that the insurgents had been joined by five deserters of Polish descent from the Wehrmacht and by two ex-Soviet soldiers. The latter were wearing a red star alongside the white eagle on their caps. There was also a platoon of deaf-and-dumb soldiers; twenty-one boys and two girls, under their officer ‘Yo-Yo’.115

Two other features, however, stand out. One was a remarkable awareness of events in the outside world. The other was a passion for culture, and particularly for poetry. [FELDWEBEL, p. 364]

News of the outside world was relayed by radio, and was rapidly redistributed. The bombing of Auschwitz by the RAF, for instance, was known within a day. So, too, were the capitulations of Finland and Belgium. Broadcasts from Radio Moscow were tested by comparison with broadcasts from the BBC. Exploits of the Home Army both in the Nazi and Soviet zones aroused special interest. The progress of the Anglo-Americans through the Low Countries and towards the Rhine were followed on a daily basis. The Allied Conference in Quebec was covered in detail. Indeed, it was harder to find out what was happening in Praga than in Canada. Expressions of support and sympathy from foreign statesmen were especially welcome.

The cultural life of insurgent Warsaw was enriched by radio, film, theatre, photography, graphics, art, and literature. Each deserves a volume in itself. Recitations, concerts, and plays were staged at the Palladium Cinema. Evening shows in the open air of an Indian summer were well suited to the needs of amateur troupes. A performance of the drama Warszawianka was being prepared in Mokotov until the leading actors were killed by a ‘bellowing cow’.

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