World War II ended with the signing of Germany’s unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945 at 22:43 Central European Time in Berlin’s Karlshorst district. The measure went into effect on 23.01 and then hostilities ceased. The day before, on May 7, 1945, at the headquarters of General Eisenhower’s Allied Expeditionary Force in Reims, France, the first surrender, later called the preliminary surrender protocol, was signed.
The surrender of the Third Reich marked the official end of the war in Europe, but the fighting with Japan continued. Only its surrender on September 2, 1945 finally ended the Second World War. Unfortunately, for many countries, Germany’s defeat did not mean regaining freedom. The end of World War II brought Soviet slavery to Central and Eastern European countries, including Poland. The war lasted 6 years and 72 countries participated in it. It claimed 5 times more victims than World War I, being called the great. Poland lost more than 6 million of its citizens, including about 3 million Jews. The Polish Armed Forces participated in most of the war campaigns and battles of World War II: in Western and Southern Europe, North Africa, and from late 1943 also on the Eastern Front.
In July and August 1945, in Potsdam, the leaders of the United States, Soviet Union and Great Britain laid out the principles of policy towards Germany. The capitulation ended the rule of the German National Socialist ideology. As a result of the Potsdam arrangement, Poland found itself within the Soviet sphere of influence, and had to wait until 1989 to regain its independence.
The Senate twice adopted resolutions commemorating the end of World War II, thereby paying tribute to “servicemen of all Allied and Polish armies – soldiers, participants in the resistance movement, members of the Polish Underground State, civilians – victims of World War II”.
The senator emphasized that this war has brought not only death and destruction, but also spiritual destruction, doubts about humanity and its basic values. In a resolution commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, the senators emphasized that “those nearly six tragic years were also a great test and victory for the people and their character in the struggle for freedom, dignity, solidarity, for loyalty to principles and for national honor.” .” Senator reminded that during World War II – Poland suffered heavy losses. More than 6 million Poles died, and graves of Polish soldiers remain on many battlefields in Europe, Asia and Africa.
The resolution stressed that Poland was the only country occupied by the Third Reich in which no structures of state collaboration, political and military authority were established. In Poland, there is the largest and most powerful resistance movement in Europe, with a phenomenon of a global scale – the Polish Underground State and its underground armed forces – the Army of the Interior. Poland was also one of the few countries in occupied Europe where helping Jews was punishable by death, and despite this, Poles were the most numerous of those awarded the “Righteous Among the Nations” award for saving Jews from the Holocaust. .
According to the Senate, the war efforts of the Polish army and society carried out in these extremely difficult conditions significantly contributed to the defeat of the Third Reich. However, Germany’s defeat did not return freedom to Poland. “The Yalta Treaty of the great powers left Poland in the Soviet sphere of influence and deprived the Poles of the right to decide their own destiny independently. Poland did not give up and won real independence after 1989.” – we read in the resolution on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, which was adopted in 2020.
published: 07/05/2023
