German Perspective of the Outbreak of WW2: ruclips.net/video/4TlKvJ52TZk/видео.html Russian Perspective of the Outbreak of WW2: ruclips.net/video/WMLy4Uge76M/видео.html
I think a majority of the Werhmant didn't mind the war as long as they were winning. Invading Poland for the Danzig corridor is like the US invading Canada to get direct access to Alaska! I do agree that the treaty of Versailles was very harsh on the Germans, but in hindsight what did Germany do, start another world war, but this time they blamed the Jews. Not many German generals or statesmen spoke out against waging war just because of the immorality of war. They didn't learn the lesson that ww1 should of plainly thought. A lot of people would die, Germans included.
I once read about a German soldier that when he was a kid he had spent a few weeks every summer on a farm in Norway. In 1940 his military unit participated in the invasion of Norway, at his first opportunity he visited the Norwegian family and he was shocked to find that the family wasn't at all pleased to see him and the German army on their doorstep. He had believed the German propaganda that Germany had come benevolently to "protect" Norway from the British.
Obviously not as extreme as the war. These stories of the German believing this kind of propaganda remind me of the stories people who voted for Brexit were told.
@@georgesoros1616 If so you could argue France/Britain was only invading to save Norway from the Germans. Also the allies weren't planning to occupy all of Norway, just the Narvik and the railroad to Sweden.
@@puppetguy8726 That's false. The British plans for the invasion of Norway were called 'Operation Wilfred'. Churchill had wanted to use Norway and Denmark as a means to block Germany's access to the countries vital iron ore supply and to set up offensive bases in the countries to attack Germany. Hitler received intel about the British plans and beat them to it, thus foiling Churchill's plans. The maneuver by Hitler was to simply protect the continent from Churchill by occupying the lands until an reasonable agreement could be met with England, which never happened.
Great video. I appreciate your research on these subjects. I had a friend from Poland who was taken as a farm laborer to Germany during the War. Despite what he endured, he never had a trace of bitterness in his heart towards the Germans when he spoke about them. Strong man. He passed away at 93 years of age two years ago. Keep up the good work.
This is counterintuitive, perhaps you misunderstood . My grand father credited one of his German bauers for saving his life after prisoners of war exchange b/w Germany and Russia. He was dying from dysentery induced in Russian captivity, and recovered in Germany. Yet he was full of resentment toward Germany.
@@kapitankloss4657 Thanks for clearing that up for me because I did misunderstand. It sounds like your grandfather really had some experiences in his time. Would have liked to have talked to him. My friend was 15 years old when he was taken to Germany in 1940. He said at least he had enough to eat. But he wasn’t bitter about his experiences.
In Bydgoszcz, German civilians opened fired on Polish soldiers from concealed positions on the rooftops and from the windows. Chaos and panic erupted in the city, no one was sure who is shooting at the Polish soldiers, the regular German army who perhaps infiltrated into the city, or the Vth column. Polish military started to look for the shooters and pulled German men out of the houses. Some of the executed were probably randomly chosen and innocent
All over in western Poland ethnic German civilians were murdered from August 1939 on. Before any German atrocities had started. Generally there was much hatred between Germans and Poles after the fighting over Upper Silesia (demanded by Poland since 1919) and the province of Poznan/Posen. 1 Mio. ethnic Germans out of 2 Mio. fled or were expelled by the Polish government from 1919 to 1939.
A video about the German "Fifth Column" would be great. Some "Fifth Column" units began to attack to early, before the invasion began and had to retread.
Although with full citizen rights in democratic Czechoslovakia, Germans succumbed to Nazi propaganda and started an armed, terrorist uprising. This was also twisted by Nazi propaganda as an oppression of ethnic Germans in convincing France and GB to sign the Munich agreement.
@@HistoryHustle Yep. Great video very interesting. Never knew that Hitler even offered the Poles a rump state. It reminds me of what he did with Czechoslovakia after the final occupation of it in 1939. He would make it a protectorate most likely so a puppet state.
I found particularly interesting the perspective of that one German soldier, who was sympathetic towards Poles and appalled by the German atrocities (very insightfully noticing similarities between Nazies and Bolsheviks and the irony of it), yet still apparently wasn't free from the sense of superiority and a colonialist attitude. Did Stargardt include the name of this man in his book? This video also reminded me about the 1941 propaganda film _Heimkehr_ about the alleged suffering of the ethnic Germans in Volhynia under Polish rule. One of the most popular stars of the pre-war Polish cinema, Igo Sym, a Volksdeutch and willing collaborator during the occupation, was actively involved in the production of this picture, particularly in the casting of its Polish and Jewish "bad guys". He was the first high-profile case of a traitor sentenced to death and executed by the Polish Secret State.
Heimkehr was indeed a propaganda movie but it was based on true story, of persecution of germans in Poland before the war. They distorted the story but its not entirely made up.
@@karlheven8328 Oh, my grandfather was a Pole and born in Berlin. My great grandfather died fighting Soviets during WWI in Brzezina. My great grand mother spoke poor Polish and adopted pure German, Kurt. Yet I never heard of this "discrimination" of Germans in Poland. Really? Where was this prosecution happening? Maybe same as of Ukrainians?
Remember that there is a lot of anti-Polish propaganda even today, like this video, where author makes claims that have no coverage in history, even German authors do not give credit to any executions of Germans in Bydgoszcz. Do your own research.
@@tomk3732 There is evidence of it. To be fair there was discrimination from both sides, both German and Polish. But also Poland in 1920s and 30s was not free of vile nationalism and anti-german sentiment!
Im Polish and I think that resistance was stupid and useless. Poland is the biggest looser of WW2. We trusted west as we do it now and they set us up 2 times in last 20 years.
@History Hustle, what about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia or the Japanese invasion of China? They occurred prior to September 1, 1939. Why is that not considered as the start of WWII?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Unrug Great idea on next video . German who was a head of Polish navy and when taken captive by Germans refused to join Kriegsmarine and responded by refusing to speak German, saying that he had forgotten that language in September 1939
That war was ruthless and beyond any cruelty. As Polish born and passionate about history in general its a great to see history from different angles. History is never black and white.
Ethnic Germans often acted as 5th column in western Poland when Germany invaded. They shot at Polish troops which then triggered Polish reprisals and German counterreprisals. You covered it quite fairly. You should do the same if it comes to the soviet invasion of eastern Poland. You should cover the rarely talked about Skidel rebellion when communism-minded Jews started a revolt in the rear of Polish troops. Then the Poles got at them, after which the soviets got at the local Polish in bloody ways. Communist Byelorussians and nationalistic Ukrainians acted against the Polish in similar ways in various localities.
I covered the Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland here: ruclips.net/video/ER1AYnOFTEg/видео.html I'm not sure about your claims, but I have to research it. The Soviet invasion 1939 isn't much written about.
I found a YT movie that briefly introduces you to the subject of collaboration of Poland’s minorities with invaders in 1939. Its in Polish alas, but if you find a translator you might have a good initial summary of what was happening in eastern Poland after September 1939. You will also notice the gravity of the issue. m.ruclips.net/video/T6WDN2bbCxw/видео.html Another YT good source on very complex and difficult Polish Jewish relations is a series of lectures of dr Kurek, a historian from Lublin on “Niezalezny Lublin”channel. It is also in Polish. Some people call her antisemitic, but I quite strongly believe she isn’t one, only that she presents history as she sees and feels it. She possesses a lot of knowledge on the subject on which she’s worked for a very long time ( she seems in her 60s, perhaps 70s now).
There is a photo of a very upset Leni Riefenstahl crying after witnessing Polish soldiers shot after surrendering. Their crime: stalling the German advance with a spirited defense.
This photo is from the Konskie massacre. It wasn't Polish soldiers, but jewish civilians. Polish soldiers behind front lines were indeed accused of fighting as partisans, and in this case that they mutilated german corpses. Jews were forced to dig graves for wehrmacht soldiers who died fighting few days earlier. They tried to flee while being beaten by german soldiers. A lutwaffe officer "panicked", starting a wild shooting among soldiers, resulting in 22 jews killed.
Yep this is my Saturday morning treat!! Thanks again! I look forward to getting my dose of hustle with that morning coffee! Keep it lean and clean!! Stay safe!!
in the UK people joked about "fifth columnists" when the Home Guard etc mobilised in 1940. but across Europe as the Germans invaded country after country, there were many reports of fifth columnists operating in and out of uniform. the BEF encountered several in France. sometimes in French officer's uniform though it was never established if they were genuine officers or not. stories of German paratroopers in nun's habits were less credible, though there were reports of German troops wearing women's costumes and trying to blend in with refugees fleeing across bridges still held by the Allies. such individuals were inevitably detected and eliminated.
@@HistoryHustle But the Poles did not slaughter innocent germans out of fear at the begining of the war only the ones that have acted in violance against them either targeting the military or simply civilian structures and therefore were judged in war time law and in some cases it meant instant death penalty
If you"ll ever need any help with filming in Bydgoszcz - I'll be glad to help :) I'll probably be able to brief you on the DAG Fabrik Bromberg Museum and get the staff of the museum to show you around as well ;)
Stefan you try to stay in Vistula's part Pomerania for longer visits. The area is interesting mix, with many castles built by the Teutonic Knights during Northern Crusades and the area settled by nations from Western Europe, including Dutch. In fact Gdańsk was as much Dutch before 17-18th cent as Amsterdam. Again a bit the opposite to what the German propaganda will tell you, once Bismarck became chancellor. However, it's a fact that the Germans put a lot of effort in modernizing the Prussia once it became part of German Empire and lot of the infrastructure still functions until today.
Thankyou for this, very educational. We see alot of war footage but getting to the root of the matter is important. I'll have to find the episode you mention at the start of this one.
I do like it when people stay factual about the topic of history, great work! People that don’t seem to be doing the research and are only enraged by one thing they see and can’t even change anymore make me so sad
Around 200 German civilians were killed on 3 and 4 September by retreating Polish soldiers in Bydgoszcz Bromberg. Some of the german "civilians" had guns and were shooting at the retreating polish soldiers, other German civilians were random, innocent citizens. Wehrmacht, SS and Selbschutz murdered in retaliation 5000 Polish citizens of Bromberg
Yes, it is unfortunate that some innocent people got a bullet BUT the aim was to execute only these that fired on Polish troops - which was a fully justified action and not a war crime at all. It was 100% legal. These 200 or so people were Polish citizens and fell under Polish law which prescribed capital punishment for their crime.
@Fabian Kirchgessner Do you have any evidence of that claim at all? And do you have evidence of other war crimes whereas Poles somehow managed to kill Germans that were not criminals before 1945? Or do you like author of this video just repeat Nazi propaganda?
@@karlheven8328 Ok there is... where? There were books written about the incident, even by Germans, there was a movie made. There are eye witness accounts. Yet all we have is "there may have been acts of killing of innocent Germans" *may*. Even numbers of dead suggest that if there were any acts there were very few or none. Do you care to provide evidence? Preferably not from Nazi Germany.
1:40 It should be noted that not only the Germans invaded, so did the Slovaks and later the Soviets. The Lithuanians assisted morally. Reason is that the Poles were in warlike status with all their neighbors.
Yeah... The Slovak effort was neglectable. As for the Soviets, that's just not within the scope of this episode since the ordinary German had nothing to do with them. But hey, if you want me to mention it, look up this video and I'll have it covered: ruclips.net/video/pniiST3gZbQ/видео.html
@@HistoryHustle All your videos are good. Also the proposed video is good. But I think one should portray it as it was. There were many fascist rulers at that time in Europe, Spain, Italy, Austria Germany and so were the Poles. Poles had no friends except these pirates on the islands. The Slovaks assisted with two divisions what is not so little considering how tiny this country is ! What was the reason ?
@@HistoryHustle Reason was that London and Paris did not so little investments in Poland. London build Gdynia harbor and Paris financed the Magistrala Weglowa to continue a arms deal in exchange for Polish coal. Sadly these armes proved to be not efficient against the German ones.
Really appreciate you and the topics about WW2 you choose to research and make uploads about. You’re doing something a lot of channels don’t touch. Thank you for your work.
@@samkangal8428 from my understanding, German schools emphasize teaching children the horrors of the second world War and why it was so terrible, most Germans nowadays are very ashamed of their nazi history and wish to never repeat it.
@Fabian Kirchgessner I didn't say it's wrong...on the contrary, it is right to know. I said uncomfortable because of many german atrocities commited in Poland during ww2. And don't understand me wrong....I didn't intend to spur hateful speech.
@@samkangal8428 I think it crazy to blame any German living today for what occurred before they were even born. It's important to know that not even all Germans living at the time supported the Third Reich regime (and some were victims of it for openly opposing them). As for patriotism, all people have the right to love their country. That includes Germans as much as anyone else.
Thanks again, Stefan. I really enjoy how you are examining the different ethnic groups and the impact of WW2 and the occupation had on the various European populations. I look forward to another great video and fantastic presentation!
The best book I’ve read on the issue is Patrick’s Buchanan’s ‘the unnecessary war’ essentially he goes into detail on how Germany tried to negotiate and didn’t want a war. Danzig was 95% German and had been German since 1795. A series of fair offers were given but the poles took a hardline stance and the British and French got involved which further gave the poles the arrogance to refuse any talks. After several months Germany decided to take Danzig by force, and then sign the Soviet pact as a way to try and deter the British and French from getting involved. Then just before the invasion one last peace offer was made, when it was refused German commandos were sent in to take strategic bridges, and also highjacked a polish radio station and broadcast anti German rhetoric to incite the poles to violence. This was done as a kind of glass flag to further justify German military action. Essentially: the Germans had legitimate reasons for the war over Danzig, they just further enhanced their case by inventing and exaggerating atrocities the poles had allegedly committed. There were however legitimate acts of violence from the poles against Germans. Enough primary accounts and documents exist. Even the US archives have polish government records that show they weren’t entirely innocent. German propaganda claimed 56,000 had been killed, this was about 10 x exaggerated, but there was acts of violence for sure, just on a smaller and more isolated scale than German propaganda claimed. The main reason for invasion was geopolitical, and it must be said war was the last resort. AFTER the invasion there were way more crimes committed by both sides, Bloody Sunday did occur, I find it ‘funny how’ probably a similar number of Germans were killed at this time as Belgians were killed in ww1 by German occupation. Yet one of these crimes is always talked about, and the other is never mentioned. That is how bias works, AND to be fair ww2 crimes were a huge magnitude higher than ww1, so it got overshadowed. And being fair, the massacres were in part a response to partisan warfare. Both sides share blame, it’s just a shame one can’t seem to give the Germans any credibility without being labelled all sorts of stupid names.
I have heard of the book. I am afraid it is used by revisionists. Stating both sides are equally to blame is simply false. Sure the Allies dropped the ball but at the end it was through Nazi expansionism they went to war against Germany.
@@HistoryHustlelol we won so we get to tell our side of the truth 😂you got prove using non western information to prove that Germany was in the wrong. Even by 1916 they had won and wanted to arrange peace but England rejected it
the polish claim to danzig was ridiculous my family is from there and moved to poland )kielce) around 1900 im mostly german but born in poland but there was no need for war during which germans behaved like animals i personally dont care that the city is now polish germany started a horrible war and committed war crimes and paid a price for that case closed@@HistoryHustle
Dr. Jochen Boehler lists 4.5 thousand ethnic German civilians who were killed in September 1939 in Poland, but all of them - including the victims of artillery fire, bombing, etc. It also includes civilian Germans who actually attacked Polish soldiers, such as the Freikorps Ebbinghaus or other formations that suffered quite heavy losses in these fights, such as the unit commanded by Wilhelm Pisarski during the attack on the Michal mine in Siemianowice. Therefore, realistically, I do not think that there would be more than a thousand German victims of such lynchings of Poles. As for the rest of the movie - it is great!
Great video again. As a Pole I can add that according to my knowledge most of those "Polish" war crimes during first days of invasion had been committed not by the regular Polish army but rather by paramilitaty forces or simply by the "crowds".
Na jakiej podstawie wyciągasz takie wnioski? czytałem książkę, na której opiera się autor i ta książka opiera się na propagandowych niemieckich materiałach. Tam nie ma żadnych informacji, które można by zweryfikować. A już na pewno na taką skalę morderstw. To, ze mogły zdarzać się takie wypadki, nie jest żadnym dowodem a jedynie przypuszczeniem. A historia powinna opierać się na faktach a nie na fantazjach. Tak samo, gdy śmiercią obarczamy Polaków.
@@roberts1938 Drogi Robercie. Dzięki za pytanie. Nie jestem bynajmniej typem "poszukiwacza polskich morderców w mundurach". Niestety istnieją udokumentowane relacje dotyczące (nie twierdzę, że licznych) zbrodni na niemieckich jeńcach (zwłaszcza lotnikach) oraz na - prawdziwych czy też domniemanych - członkach V Kolumny. Podam Ci jeden przypadek tytułem przykładu. Zapewne znasz historię dotyczącą uratowania zestrzelonych lotników niemieckich przez naszego legendarnego później pilota Stanisława Skalskiego. Oto fragment biografii Skalskiego: "Gdy wybuchła II wojna światowa służył w 142 eskadrze myśliwskiej III/4 dywizjonu myśliwskiego w Toruniu. Latał standardowym polskim myśliwcem PZL P.11c. Już 1 września brał udział w ataku na samolot rozpoznawczy Henschel Hs 126 zakończonym zestrzeleniem niemieckiej maszyny, które zaliczono Marianowi Pisarkowi. Skalski wylądował obok zestrzelonego samolotu, opatrzył załogę i pomógł umieścić ją w szpitalu, chroniąc ją przed linczem tłumu - było to wyjątkowe zachowanie, nawiązujące do rycerskich tradycji z początków lotnictwa myśliwskiego, niespotykane podczas II wojny światowej". Przed czym Skalski chronił rannych lotników niemieckich 1 września 1939 roku? Pozdrawiam Cię serdecznie.
Can you maybe do a video about the invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia was the most difficult nation to maintain for the Germans because of the high amount of resistance , so maybe do two videos one about the invasion and one about the occupation
These invasion and occupation videos I'd love to do on location. So yeah, I hope to travel there one day. Years back I visited Serbia and made this (short) video about WW2: ruclips.net/video/jZ-nv38wzrI/видео.html
This was a very strong presentation. I would just like to comment on something I've recently learned. The street scene (5:15) of Poles being marched through the streets to their deaths was taken by the Italian consul in that town. I forgot his name, since I've just read the story a short while ago on another blog. He helped save both Poles and Jews by issuing visas to Italy. I never condone killings of innocents, but, difficult as it might be, I understand the Poles since many ethnic Germans welcomed the Nazis. As a matter of fact, the Nazi party was very popular in Danzig.
They were not innocents, they raised arms as Polish citizens (ethnic German) against Polish army and were justifiably executed for the act as per Polish law. Note that many were not even Polish citizens, they were German special forces.
@Fabian Kirchgessner First of all that was in occupied Poland. They rose against occupier and liberated their land. I am sure German occupier did commit war crimes as it seems it is Germanic way. I am sure Germans did shoot back when fired on and no one considered that a war crime.
Little known fact: the Germans went after Marxists, communists, and Freemasons. They had a black book with names of Freemasons and they were arrested. Also, the Jewish partisans of the Bolshevik party and Polish extremists murdered German civilians, including women and children. They raped thousands.
I’ve seen a lot of both videos on this subject and just curiosity about it in the WW2 history community, I guess all of the content about the war from the allies perspective has been covered so much that people are beginning to get curious about what the Germans saw and thought during it. Interesting.
@@HistoryHustle no, thank you! I’m a huge fan, it means a lot that you took the time out to shoot me some kind words knowing you’re probably very busy. I hope you know that you have taught me more about this part of history, which has always been the part I’ve been so interested in and always wanting more knowledge to consume of, than any history teacher I ever had would care to even give me resources of where to get more information on my own ever did, you’re doing a great service for us all especially by always enforcing the importance of us learning our history so we do not repeat the same mistakes. Much love from the US
The documentary film "Europa: The Last Battle" would have a more complete narration of the way things would have been perceived by the Germans. Our History Hustler leaves out mention of this film even though it came out a few years prior. The Polish committed many atrocities besides the one mentioned here ....most dealing with other ethnicities or Jews but they have deliberately tried to white wash their history. You can even be arrested and put in jail if you mention massacres by Polish thanks to their ultra national past government. No mention of this by the HH either.
Even today, there are rewriters of history, who claim that the German attack on Poland was justified because of Polish "atrocities" against ethnic Germans.
Too bad the "professor" has zero claim to the killings of "innocent" Germans in Bydgoszcz other then Nazi propaganda. There are multiple papers written about the account, even books and none of them have any definitive proof of even a single instance where innocent German was intentionally killed - or even by accident. Even German historians did not produce any proof. Essentially German V column units were moved from Gdansk through Poland to attack retreating Polish units in a style similar to attack on radio station. It was assumed Poles would retaliate and Germany will have "proof" that it needed to act. The problem was that Poles did not retaliate, they released captured suspects and German division that attacked 3 times in one day failed to rescue special forces used in the action. Some Germanic Poles joined the special forces and were dealt with. Here is short abbreviation of the incident. Of curse Germans still made claims - lots of claims. But do you trust Nazi, I do not.
@@nikkibaugher2427 I think his message is pretty clear. Lots of German black ops (like Glivitz incident for example) and German propaganda. Care to dispute that?
Actually Blaskowitz is certainly a Slavic surname, whether Polish I don't know but certainly Slavic. Its original spelling was probably something along the lines of 'Blaskowicz' 'Błaskowicz' or 'Blašković' or something in cyrillic. If this man had some Slavic roots then it would make sense as to why he was disgusted by the executions.
Thank you for this video, so necessary and interesting. Poland was among the countries that suffered the most in WW2. The Polish retaliation for the German invasion was really overblown and it is exactly what the Japanese also did, to justify their agression towards China. They claimed that Japanese businesses and citizens were attacked by the Chinese population. The Axis buddies were very similar in their methods and their actions.
Thanks. In case you're interested, I did cover two battles in this campaign more indepth. Modlin: ruclips.net/video/GHDCWKYEjMo/видео.html Warsaw: ruclips.net/video/6bzQgKgHjo0/видео.html
@@HistoryHustle I did watch both Modlin and Warsaw episode and also battle for post office...👍 Lesser known battles are indeed interesting. Keep it up in that direction... 👍
Great video. There are a number of interesting experiments and research about who does atrocities in war and who does not. But the revisionist myth of the Wehrmacht not participating in atrocities has long been disproven.
In the beginning you forgot to mention one more name of this first campaign of IIWW. We in Poland usually refer to it as the September Campaign (despite the fact that the last organized military troops surrended in early October). Some facts from your video are not commonly known in Poland and even hardly discussed at all. For example the fact that many German atrocities were committed because of fear and German soldiers were commonly afraid of Polish resistance and hidden snipers (in reality Polish resistance in September 1939 was sporadic and not organized yet). Secondly, German propaganda turned out to be deadly effective in convincing even those who weren't devout nazis that they're superior in every conceivable aspect over Poles thus every German soldier expected that Poles facing overwhelming power and superior culture will soon surrender and humbly submit. Polish stubborn resistance surprised them and pissed them off.
Congratulations on producing a video from the point of view that’s one the LEAST popular or appealing in history,...the attitudes of ordinary Germans whose ‘ soldiers ‘ joyfully tore Poland into bloody shreds
The following is a summary of some of the more serious incidents of violence against ethnic Germans in Poland in the years leading up to World War II: * In 1937, a group of Polish nationalists attacked a German school in the town of Bydgoszcz, injuring several students. * In 1938, a Polish mob attacked a German church in the town of Cieszyn, destroying the building and injuring several people. * In 1939, a group of Polish soldiers attacked a German village in the town of Płoty, killing several civilians. * In August 1939, the Bromberg Bloody Sunday massacre took place in Bydgoszcz, where ethnic Germans were killed by Polish troops and civilians. * In September 1939, the Selbstschutz massacre took place in Volhynia, where ethnic Germans were killed by Ukrainian nationalists. These incidents were part of a broader pattern of discrimination and violence against ethnic Germans in Poland in the years leading up to World War II.
The Bromberg massacres took place on 6th September just after the war started. However it’s true there were cases of polish atrocities and violence against Germans before 1st September. The dispute over Danzig was the main issue tho that caused the war
Any leader would have went to war for his people in this situations crazy how schools go from 1933 took over power 1939 invaded ….. 1945 we won 😂1930 Germany inflation was so high the price of bread would rise by the time you get to the shop.
Actually the bloody Sunday proved that Gobbels succeeded so well in shaping the anti Polish sentiment among the Germanic populations of the Nazi Reich, that even he himself was unable to undo it, but this also explains why the Manchusen movie, which was made on his commission around 1942,tried to portray Poland in a slightly more sympathetic light, or even why it actually mentioned Poland by name xD
My German Mothers Father was an architect and the family all moved into Poland as his abilities were needed to rebuild. They lived in a home that had belonged to a Polish family that were moved out. I do not condone her attitude towards the Polish people, but many times during my adolescense and adult hood she would say " the Poles could never do anything with their land and it started to become something once we were there ". That was the attitude then.
as the grandson/greatgrandson of germans who came to poland a paid for everything they owned there i can tell you that i view the geermans that came during the war as SCUM@@HistoryHustle
my family was already there(germans who came from germany (1880, 1900 and 1920) and my family paid for everything we owned there my family viewed people like your mothers family as criminals and thieves, which they were, no different than scum who barge into a store to rob it and kill people
Why didn't the West retaliate against the Soviet Union for their participation in the invasion of Poland? based on principle, didn't they also start a war? or contribute to it?
I will always wish that Poland had seen reason regarding the Danzig Corridor issue, and allied with Germany against the USSR. They were duped by the English guarantee and then thrown to the wolves.
Did England not honour it's word and declare war on Germany? Did it not continue to fight until Germany was defeated? How exactly was it that the English duped Poland into war?
@@inovakovsky How were England and France going to save a country more than a thousand kilometers away? Hitler and Stalin had already gobbled up Poland before the Allies had even finished mobilising their armies. If you want to talk about betrayal then we can talk about leaving Poland under Soviet occupation for 50 years. That really was a betrayal. But in 1939 England and France did what they realistically could to try and deter Hitler from invading Poland. History shows us that they were really in no shape to do more. France herself ended up occupied and England just barelly survived. Neither of them had to declare war on Germany. They could have just made a deal with Hitler (like Stalin did) and continue living their lives. To suggest they "duped" Poland and were just playing geopolitical games is idiotic.
@@zoranbeader6441 France had more than twice as many troops on the Franco-German border than the Germans during the invasion of Poland, so at least the French could have done something. The British could have used the Royal Navy and RAF to combat the Kreigmarine in the Baltic Sea (to assist the Polish navy) and air raid Germany. The UK did not do air raids out of not wanting the Germans to bomb the UK. They did an offensive in the Saar region but that was not beyond the range of their artillery, hence why the Germans did not care if the French were only going to advance hardly even 20 kilometers. Actually, the UK and France had an alliance treaty with Poland, which was why they declared war on Germany, but not the USSR. Their declarations of war were out of treaty obligation and the behavior of the French to not attack Germany beyond artillery range and the UK avoiding German waters and air space (while only had initial plans to land on Norway to prevent resources to Germans instead of direct combat with the Germans) indicate that they want to avoid direct combat as much as possible, as if they declared war reluctantly instead of enthusiastically. Also, the Polish military strategy for in case of an invasion was dependent on significant military action from the UK and France (to invade Germany). The UK and France did not "duped" Poland but simply let Poland down. I would hardly call the pro-Soviet People's Republic era of Poland an occupation beyond 1949 but a political satellite.
I have come across some comments that the Poles were giving the Germans a hard time by restricting flow through the Danzig corridor, even opening fire on Luftwaffe aircraft trying to supply food and other essentials into the free city of Danzig. I have also heard that there was an issue as to how the Poles wanted to be paid for the use of the Danzig corridor. Can anyone comment on the aforementioned?
The best book I’ve read on the issue is Patrick’s Buchanan’s ‘the unnecessary war’ essentially he goes into detail on how Germany tried to negotiate and didn’t want a war. Danzig was 95% German and had been German since 1795. A series of fair offers were given but the poles took a hardline stance and the British and French got involved which further gave the poles the arrogance to refuse any talks. After several months Germany decided to take Danzig by force, and then sign the Soviet pact as a way to try and deter the British and French from getting involved. Then just before the invasion one last peace offer was made, when it was refused German commandos were sent in to take strategic bridges, and also highjacked a polish radio station and broadcast anti German rhetoric to incite the poles to violence. This was done as a kind of glass flag to further justify German military action. Essentially: the Germans had legitimate reasons for the war over Danzig, they just further enhanced their case by inventing and exaggerating atrocities the poles had allegedly committed. There were however legitimate acts of violence from the poles against Germans. Enough primary accounts and documents exist. Even the US archives have polish government records that show they weren’t entirely innocent. German propaganda claimed 56,000 had been killed, this was about 10 x exaggerated, but there was acts of violence for sure, just on a smaller and more isolated scale than German propaganda claimed. The main reason for invasion was geopolitical, and it must be said war was the last resort. AFTER the invasion there were way more crimes committed by both sides, Bloody Sunday did occur, I find it ‘funny how’ probably a similar number of Germans were killed at this time as Belgians were killed in ww1 by German occupation. Yet one of these crimes is always talked about, and the other is never mentioned. That is how bias works, AND to be fair ww2 crimes were a huge magnitude higher than ww1, so it got overshadowed. And being fair, the massacres were in part a response to partisan warfare. Both sides share blame, it’s just a shame one can’t seem to give the Germans any credibility without being labelled all sorts of stupid names.
Good film and well researched, but I think you need to go back to the Versailles Treaty to explain the creation of the state of Poland, in particular the historical connection and German population of western Poland. You also seem to very quickly skirt over the Soviet invasion of eatern Poland, which Russia still occupies today.
I agree there's much more to tell. This video mainly focuses on the German perspective of their invasion and occupation. The video isn't about the Soviet side of things. Actually I did cover what happened there in 1939-41: ruclips.net/video/ER1AYnOFTEg/видео.html
Versailles rather reestablished the Polish state (and Lithuanuan state also, don't forget about the historic Commonwealth of the two; though The Great Dutchy of Lithuania was everything but an ethnic Lithuanian state), that had been partitioned in the late XVIII century by Prussia (later German Empire), Austria and Russia. These three illegally disolved the Commonwealth by corruption, invasions, intervensions, political blackmailing and abolished a monarchy of 800 years which was also a clearly herethic move for Catholic Austrians. Many people, even in Europe, have no knowledge of these events.
@@brmf4346 In the XVIII period victory in wars and then annexing the lands was not consided illegal, "to the victor, the spoils" just look at the British or Russian Empire before claiming it was illegal. Have a look of the very vague historical borders of the Commonwealth and state and how that compared to the borders drawn up in Versailles. I would be interested in your comment about an herectical move by Catholic Austrians, it what way, was the Commonwealth a holy state. Then we have your comical statement that the Commonwealth or at one point where you claim it was a Polish State was dissolved by corruption, invasions and political blackmailing, that doesnt sound exactly like a strong and stable state. You also seem to totally ignore the present Russian occupation of Eastern Versailles Poland.
@@mercomania Excuse me, but how exactly does this video skip the soviet invasion of Poland? Have you even watched the video at all? In case if you didn't, it's at 4:32. In the older times the annexations were indeed a common thing, but it doesn't magically make the prussian annexations "From now on, it's german forever and ever".
@@JohnSmith-zs9vr Is that how the British annexed a third of the world. Dont even try to lecture any nation on invansions, exploitation or theft of natural resources. In a video record ofthe invasion of Poland you consider one mention of the Soviet invasion worth mentioning. Strange how the British Empire or the French didnt seem fit to declare war on the Soviet Union for their invasion of Poland.
@@user-vu7my6kd4g Emm, there is a money prize if somebody will prove that Hitler known about the holocaust... so if you are so sure you shoud claim the prize XDXD
@@arkadiuszwojno5210 You mix holocaust and death camps with Warsaw uprising which are different things. Hitler gave the order to ruin the Warsaw after uprising, and himself or people nominated by him gave orders to murder Warsaw civilians. Which anyway makes Hitler and his guys responsible for that hell they did here.
@@HistoryHustle most historians don't go as in depth into their research as you do. I didn't mean to come off arrogant or anything, but the more and more I learn about Imperial Japan's role in the 30's the more and more it seems the books need a date change. Anyways keep it up man.
To: 10:00. Of course plans were made to invade the West. After all, the West had declared war on Germany. Was Germany now expected to wait until France and Britain put their declaration of war into practice and invade Germany ? The French had already invaded a small part of Saarland, although they got cold feet and retreated when it transpired their British companions were not yet ready to join them.
In 1943 Nazi Germany announced the discovery of a mass grave in Katya and that the Soviets murdered tens of thousands of Polish soldiers. . The Gestapo reported that many Germans considered the German propaganda not credible, because of the crimes the German government had committed in Poland. What the Gestapo reported must have been very important and this opinion widespread in the German population.
4500-5800 German civilians from German Minority in Poland were slaughtered in first five days of war by Poles. No "V column", but women, old men, kids.
Most probably, those ware just the victims of the city riots, started by a local nazi party. The demarcation between Poles and Germans was very blurred there, so probably those ware just victims of all sides, nazis, militia, or just any victims, so shooting in a city is not a safe thing. Whatever games teach you a plank or thin brick wall are not any obstacles for a bullet. Moreover nazis killed much more people with a German background during the war, because of the political reasons. It was a genocidal totalitarian regime made by common criminals, psychopaths and scums as my grandfather called them. He's parents moved to Poland in 1910s from Austria and he was speaking in a heavy Viennese dialect to the rest of his life...
@@HistoryHustle The findings of Prof. W. Jastrzebski - the most outstanding Polish researcher into the Polish murders of Germans - says otherwise. Massacres against defenceless German civilians in 1939 were linked to provocations by the Polish secret service. Polish agents themselves fired on Polish troops to provoke the murders of civilian Germans. Prof. W. Jastrzebski has published documents confirming this from the Polish executors of the provocation (Major Rassalski's diaries, in: Wlodzimierz Jastrzębski. Der Bromberger Blutsonntag. Legende und Wirklichkeit, 1990). Major Rassalski's diaries were also published in a volume of documents issued by IPN - Polish governmental institution (Bydgoszcz 3 - 4 September 1939, 2008).
Thank you. Aren't we fortunate to be blessed with a free and brave MSM, committed to informing the people with accurate reportage, and who don't secretly abuse us with incessant grinding mass manipulation.
Thank you Dutch Sir for your work and exceptional interest in Poland - a rather unpopular field of research for Western Europeans. The invasion and occupation of Poland was a prepared genocide of Poles and other Nations who lived there. Sure, the Poles had their guilt too before the war, especially towards Ukrainians and Jews. Nevertheless nothing comparable to Gulags, german concentration camps and cruel colonisation of Africa. One must remember though that these were the times of hard nationalisms on the continent and a country located between two totalitarian foes had also to embark on that train to have at least some chances of surviving. Some people might rage abiut fascist and nacionalistic Poland butchering minorities but clearly lack the perspective and basic knowledge of events that lead to other things such as 1926 coup or 1935 coup constitition which virtually reestablished a elective monarchy with a president as a head of state (that's debatable, not gonna lie). Before the Partitions, Poland and Lithuania had a political system of exceptional democracy where around 15 percent of the general population had political rights. Commonwealth's Sejm HAD to assemble every two years, and locals assemblies (Sejmiki) were assembled all the time to prepare to general Sejm. At the time in most states general assemblies were called when the ruler needed them, when in Poland it was one of King's obligations, he sworn to complete before taking the throne. It was Sejm too that elected the monarch. The King was only a figure with his powers taken away step by step throught centuries. When other countries sled towards absolutism the Commonwealth went the other way around. Habeas corpus (for the nobles of course, nothing extraordinary) had been in effect at least since XV century, no arbitrary arrest, no lettres de cachete, no kings who declared themselves Sun or God or whatever. Political writers of that time thought european absolutims to be a heresy and had a large pride in having a human king and not a self declared deity. Minorities fled to Poland for shelter and of course it was not perfect but certainly better than being burned for their religious beliefs. People tend to overlook these facts but such things as nationalism and an rather weak persecution of minorities in the XX century was a effect of self defence aggainst other nationalisms, possible invasion and rather a retaliation for 123 of political opression. These trends, and older ones like serfdom of the plebs, came to us from Western Europe and did no good, but others look at us like at ones who invented Catholicism, nationalism and persecution, just because its easier for them to rationalise their own nation's atrocities. Anyway thanks aggain. Just for your information my grandfather took part in liberating Breda and I was planning to visit this year for that event's annual celebration. Hope COVID lets me. Peace!
@Fabian: I'm afraid to conclude that your comment sounds apologistic. Almost like it was Poland that brought down its own destruction. TIK made an interesting video on that: ruclips.net/video/6DV20f1d6hI/видео.html I do agree by expanding Poland's eastern borders is caused grave problems with areas that had more ethnic Ukrainians / Bellorussians than Polish. In the west it was not the case. However many ethnic Germans came to live in the new Polish state many chose to remain there and most areas had Polish people living in it. Polish people use the argument that these lands were historical Polish after all. I do understand this but don't use it as main argument.
You are INCORRECT about crimes committed against ethnic germans prior to the war. There were many, and friends of ours witnessed it happening before being moved by Hitler to the Western side of occupied poland. My friends father was a minister who had to hide out in the woods during one episode, where they were executed and some buried alive. He also negotiated, a reduction in executions. But of course, germans lost the war so I must be wrong!
@@HistoryHustle My dear friend Mrs. S Henschke, who lived in one of the german communities in Eastern Poland. Have know her since the late ‘50s, as she came over around the same time as my parents. My ancestors came from Borodino Bessarabia, and Hitler relocated those and the east polish germans to the western part after the invasion. She had lots to say, and regaled me every morning for coffee. Her father was a pastor and walked to another town to preach. On the way back through the woods he heard gunfire, and hid out. In the morning he found the place of the mass grave. I was a tenant for a while at her house. If the eyewitness accounts of the jews is good enough to convict a camp guard 60 years later, than her word should be good enough too. As well, here is my mothers story. Not as dramatic as yours, but shows that we were all in this to our necks. ruclips.net/video/Q7rK2tIe-pE/видео.html
I also remember the conversations and reading about the hatred for each other. Stories about making people drink urine and eat excrement and nailing their tongues to the table. Our families were imprisoned after the war. My father was almost beaten to death twice, and my grandmother was in prison till 1956
@@JohnSmith-zs9vr NO NO NO! My friend Mrs. Henschke, like many others were living in East Poland before the war. There were many German colonies all the way up to Latvia, to the Volga, and down to the Black Sea. My parents lived in Bessarabia. The groups had been doing horrible things to each other for years, and prior to the war the killings happened as witnessed by her father. THEN, after the invasion, they were moved to west Poland, and my ancestors were moved to Austria, and then to Poland, in the AUFRUF in 1940. THEN, my paternal family ended up in a prison camp while my maternal family, with the help of a polish dissident POW outran the Russians to the West german side. (As you would hear in my mothers little video). They were likely in the Danzig Westpruesen area www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/m5m3pp/german_migrations_and_colonies_in_russia_in_the/?
@@HistoryHustle Omitting, as we agree crucial , details can drastically influence conclusions to which viewer of your content arrives at the end. Hence I am pointing it out.
@@HistoryHustle clearly not the dark side, or the “endlösung der judenfrage”, or the terrible aspects of an extermination war in the soviet union, but hey! Germany does not start in 1933 and end in 1945
On the opposite side we have about 26,000 Poles murdered by the end of the campaign by the Wehrmacht, Einsatzgruppen, police and various irregular formations of ethnic Germans (Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz)
It is an honest film. As far as I did my digging into the topic of Polish defensive war it's all true. Interestingly, in my region there was a German soldier who was executed for refusing to participate in murder of a Polish family. Also a good example of fifth column's activity was marking town square corners with white crossess for German bombers in Frampol. Afaik it was the first time incendiary bombs were used against civilian targets. Also an uncomfirmed story I heard somewhere was that a Volksdeutsch mechanic sabotaged the engines of PZL 23 bombers in Krosno airfield by putting cotton wool in them. Hence they could not be relocated when the war started and were destroyed on the ground.
Amazing how hard Poland fought vs Germany and Soviets and died for own independence and saved the freedom of some of the western countries like UK or Netherlands. Only to be simple given away to the Soviets after the war.
@Fabian Kirchgessner Most of Churchill's ministers and advisors thought otherwise. WW3 against the USSR, after 5+ years of war against Germany, Italy & Japan, without US participation or support, was not really an option. But this does not mean Churchill didn't see or feel the betrayal of Poland. He made his views and feelings very clear about it at the time.
Stalin wanted to give Poland Kalingrad or at least German lands with Serbs on it that wanted to be in Poland. Churchill did not press it so Poland got nothing.
I am italian from Südtirol. Obviously I have german heritage. My wife is polish from Wolyna. My point of view is that at the time Europe was divided in a really wrong way after WWI. Instead to create states under an ethical logic was given all the responsibility to the Germany and were created no sense borders. As like in Czechoslovakia were 30% of entire population was of german speakers. Unfortunately many people (in Südtirol too) follow the big dream of a Great Germany as like place for all germans of Europe more than the nazi's ideas. After war who paid for the Nazi's crimes? 35 mio germans between died, killed, Flüchtlinge or prisoners in Russia.
Thanks for your reply. I did make an episode of what you mentioned. Think you'll find it interesting. It's right here: ruclips.net/video/B0DjYT5zQ7M/видео.html
@@HistoryHustle thanks.. I find it really interesting and near about what happened there. My wife to explain me the history of her family use a diary of her grandmother and "Wolyn" a polish movie. I was simply under shock. Because really was a crazy time. A period where people fought to survive. Pre war Poland didn't respect minorances. Especially in Ukraine people had to accept hard conditions. That produced obviously reactions of hate when borders were moved to west. Stalin moved minorances to Kazakhstan or Siberia. Not only poles but germans and others ethnic groups. Was really curious when in Germany I met the cousins of her. They are Russlanddeutsche (sister of grandma married an ethnic german). We use german to understand each other for exemple. The Opa confirmed that that period was crazy. All against all. Brothers against sisters just because of ethnicity of wife or husband. I hope to teach my son to respect history. To accept what happen and to love his family. History should teach that we are just human beings.
German Perspective of the Outbreak of WW2:
ruclips.net/video/4TlKvJ52TZk/видео.html
Russian Perspective of the Outbreak of WW2:
ruclips.net/video/WMLy4Uge76M/видео.html
Thanks.
Dank je! Obrigado!
I think a majority of the Werhmant didn't mind the war as long as they were winning. Invading Poland for the Danzig corridor is like the US invading Canada to get direct access to Alaska! I do agree that the treaty of Versailles was very harsh on the Germans, but in hindsight what did Germany do, start another world war, but this time they blamed the Jews. Not many German generals or statesmen spoke out against waging war just because of the immorality of war. They didn't learn the lesson that ww1 should of plainly thought. A lot of people would die, Germans included.
@@michaelstanton7904 this was mentioned by TIK yes. Good video that was.
Blazkowicz? Did you say William Joseph "B.J." Blazkowicz? He was fighting Nazis on castle Wolfenstein.
I once read about a German soldier that when he was a kid he had spent a few weeks every summer on a farm in Norway. In 1940 his military unit participated in the invasion of Norway, at his first opportunity he visited the Norwegian family and he was shocked to find that the family wasn't at all pleased to see him and the German army on their doorstep. He had believed the German propaganda that Germany had come benevolently to "protect" Norway from the British.
Interesting, thank you for sharing this.
Obviously not as extreme as the war. These stories of the German believing this kind of propaganda remind me of the stories people who voted for Brexit were told.
But they kinda were? Britain was about to invade Norway but Germany beat them to it.
@@georgesoros1616 If so you could argue France/Britain was only invading to save Norway from the Germans. Also the allies weren't planning to occupy all of Norway, just the Narvik and the railroad to Sweden.
@@puppetguy8726 That's false. The British plans for the invasion of Norway were called 'Operation Wilfred'. Churchill had wanted to use Norway and Denmark as a means to block Germany's access to the countries vital iron ore supply and to set up offensive bases in the countries to attack Germany. Hitler received intel about the British plans and beat them to it, thus foiling Churchill's plans. The maneuver by Hitler was to simply protect the continent from Churchill by occupying the lands until an reasonable agreement could be met with England, which never happened.
Great video. I appreciate your research on these subjects. I had a friend from Poland who was taken as a farm laborer to Germany during the War. Despite what he endured, he never had a trace of bitterness in his heart towards the Germans when he spoke about them. Strong man. He passed away at 93 years of age two years ago. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for your reply!
@NVZX 👍😊
@NVZX after the war perhaps. During the war such a union would carry death penalty for your grand pappy. Check your facts.
This is counterintuitive, perhaps you misunderstood . My grand father credited one of his German bauers for saving his life after prisoners of war exchange b/w Germany and Russia. He was dying from dysentery induced in Russian captivity, and recovered in Germany. Yet he was full of resentment toward Germany.
@@kapitankloss4657 Thanks for clearing that up for me because I did misunderstand. It sounds like your grandfather really had some experiences in his time. Would have liked to have talked to him. My friend was 15 years old when he was taken to Germany in 1940. He said at least he had enough to eat. But he wasn’t bitter about his experiences.
I love how all quotes are referenced, it makes it so much easier if you are writing an essay.
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In Bydgoszcz, German civilians opened fired on Polish soldiers from concealed positions on the rooftops and from the windows. Chaos and panic erupted in the city, no one was sure who is shooting at the Polish soldiers, the regular German army who perhaps infiltrated into the city, or the Vth column. Polish military started to look for the shooters and pulled German men out of the houses. Some of the executed were probably randomly chosen and innocent
That is what happened.
Exactly
remember not to get too close to russian justification of the praga massacre
All over in western Poland ethnic German civilians were murdered from August 1939 on. Before any German atrocities had started.
Generally there was much hatred between Germans and Poles after the fighting over Upper Silesia (demanded by Poland since 1919) and the province of Poznan/Posen. 1 Mio. ethnic Germans out of 2 Mio. fled or were expelled by the Polish government from 1919 to 1939.
@@rudolfkraffzick642Hello Geobels
A video about the German "Fifth Column" would be great. Some "Fifth Column" units began to attack to early, before the invasion began and had to retread.
Perhaps something for the future!
The 5th Column comes from the the Spanish Civil War
@Paweł Zieliński dobrze napisane
Although with full citizen rights in democratic Czechoslovakia, Germans succumbed to Nazi propaganda and started an armed, terrorist uprising. This was also twisted by Nazi propaganda as an oppression of ethnic Germans in convincing France and GB to sign the Munich agreement.
Yes been waiting for this video all day!
First comment. Thanks!
@@HistoryHustle Yep. Great video very interesting. Never knew that Hitler even offered the Poles a rump state. It reminds me of what he did with Czechoslovakia after the final occupation of it in 1939. He would make it a protectorate most likely so a puppet state.
History Hustle, and World War II in Real Time, are my first videos on saturdays.
Jour grandpa di not like it
Thank you for your work.
👍
I found particularly interesting the perspective of that one German soldier, who was sympathetic towards Poles and appalled by the German atrocities (very insightfully noticing similarities between Nazies and Bolsheviks and the irony of it), yet still apparently wasn't free from the sense of superiority and a colonialist attitude. Did Stargardt include the name of this man in his book?
This video also reminded me about the 1941 propaganda film _Heimkehr_ about the alleged suffering of the ethnic Germans in Volhynia under Polish rule. One of the most popular stars of the pre-war Polish cinema, Igo Sym, a Volksdeutch and willing collaborator during the occupation, was actively involved in the production of this picture, particularly in the casting of its Polish and Jewish "bad guys". He was the first high-profile case of a traitor sentenced to death and executed by the Polish Secret State.
Heimkehr was indeed a propaganda movie but it was based on true story, of persecution of germans in Poland before the war.
They distorted the story but its not entirely made up.
@@karlheven8328 Oh, my grandfather was a Pole and born in Berlin. My great grandfather died fighting Soviets during WWI in Brzezina. My great grand mother spoke poor Polish and adopted pure German, Kurt. Yet I never heard of this "discrimination" of Germans in Poland. Really? Where was this prosecution happening? Maybe same as of Ukrainians?
Remember that there is a lot of anti-Polish propaganda even today, like this video, where author makes claims that have no coverage in history, even German authors do not give credit to any executions of Germans in Bydgoszcz. Do your own research.
What about ethnic German what were killed by Germany in Poland , because they were pro- Polish?
@@tomk3732 There is evidence of it.
To be fair there was discrimination from both sides, both German and Polish.
But also Poland in 1920s and 30s was not free of vile nationalism and anti-german sentiment!
I have great respect for poles. For me toughest people why cause when 2 strongest armies invaded them they still resisted till their death.
They fought hard yes.
Poles not poles
@@kokosz33 yes you're correct poles
@Rudolf Brzęczyszczykiewicz ohhh so Poles
Im Polish and I think that resistance was stupid and useless. Poland is the biggest looser of WW2. We trusted west as we do it now and they set us up 2 times in last 20 years.
Correction: The German invasion of Poland did not start WW2. It was the joint German-soviet invasion of Poland that started WW2.
Actually it was the joint war declaration by the British and the French but in history books 1 September 1939 is now the start of WWII.
@History Hustle, what about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia or the Japanese invasion of China? They occurred prior to September 1, 1939. Why is that not considered as the start of WWII?
@@spudskie3907 because at that moment in most of the world there was peace
Bollocks. Ww2 stated when Germany attacked Poland. It was then a world war by virtue of the British and French empires.
@@boum62 you talk crap (and you can't spell)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Unrug Great idea on next video . German who was a head of Polish navy and when taken captive by Germans refused to join Kriegsmarine and responded by refusing to speak German, saying that he had forgotten that language in September 1939
Perhaps in the future some day.
That war was ruthless and beyond any cruelty. As Polish born and passionate about history in general its a great to see history from different angles. History is never black and white.
Indeed, thanks for your reply, Rob!
Pretty black and white in this example.
@Adam Z not in a bigger spectrum...from narrow vision you can tell that..
Yeah, especially when you come from a nation which committed so many crimes and invented holocaust this perspective is refreshing.
What you mean. You mean Poland or what?
Ethnic Germans often acted as 5th column in western Poland when Germany invaded. They shot at Polish troops which then triggered Polish reprisals and German counterreprisals. You covered it quite fairly. You should do the same if it comes to the soviet invasion of eastern Poland. You should cover the rarely talked about Skidel rebellion when communism-minded Jews started a revolt in the rear of Polish troops. Then the Poles got at them, after which the soviets got at the local Polish in bloody ways. Communist Byelorussians and nationalistic Ukrainians acted against the Polish in similar ways in various localities.
Huge part of Jewish population in the Soviet zone collaborated with the Soviets in persecuting Poles hence hatred and Jedwabne in 1941
I covered the Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland here:
ruclips.net/video/ER1AYnOFTEg/видео.html
I'm not sure about your claims, but I have to research it. The Soviet invasion 1939 isn't much written about.
I forgot to mention, the demographics of prewar Skidel is relevant. It was 80-90 percent Jewish before the war.
I found a YT movie that briefly introduces you to the subject of collaboration of Poland’s minorities with invaders in 1939. Its in Polish alas, but if you find a translator you might have a good initial summary of what was happening in eastern Poland after September 1939. You will also notice the gravity of the issue.
m.ruclips.net/video/T6WDN2bbCxw/видео.html
Another YT good source on very complex and difficult Polish Jewish relations is a series of lectures of dr Kurek, a historian from Lublin on “Niezalezny Lublin”channel. It is also in Polish. Some people call her antisemitic, but I quite strongly believe she isn’t one, only that she presents history as she sees and feels it. She possesses a lot of knowledge on the subject on which she’s worked for a very long time ( she seems in her 60s, perhaps 70s now).
Even I’m Thai, I would do the same
Topics not many talk about. But you adding photos, quotes and animation made this video very interesting. Do this for future videos too
Will do!
There is a photo of a very upset Leni Riefenstahl crying after witnessing Polish soldiers shot after surrendering.
Their crime: stalling the German advance with a spirited defense.
Where is this alleged photo?
static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2018/06/kron-640x400.jpg
@@HistoryHustle Yes! That is the exact photo! I saw it in a book about the German invasion of Poland.
Interesting.
I think its a natural reaction.
This photo is from the Konskie massacre.
It wasn't Polish soldiers, but jewish civilians.
Polish soldiers behind front lines were indeed accused of fighting as partisans, and in this case that they mutilated german corpses.
Jews were forced to dig graves for wehrmacht soldiers who died fighting few days earlier. They tried to flee while being beaten by german soldiers. A lutwaffe officer "panicked", starting a wild shooting among soldiers, resulting in 22 jews killed.
Yep this is my Saturday morning treat!!
Thanks again!
I look forward to getting my dose of hustle with that morning coffee!
Keep it lean and clean!! Stay safe!!
👍👍👍
in the UK people joked about "fifth columnists" when the Home Guard etc mobilised in 1940. but across Europe as the Germans invaded country after country, there were many reports of fifth columnists operating in and out of uniform. the BEF encountered several in France. sometimes in French officer's uniform though it was never established if they were genuine officers or not. stories of German paratroopers in nun's habits were less credible, though there were reports of German troops wearing women's costumes and trying to blend in with refugees fleeing across bridges still held by the Allies. such individuals were inevitably detected and eliminated.
And rightfully so eliminated, but when Poles eliminated 5th columnist that fired on them author claims it was a war crime. LOL!
When the Germans invaded the Netherlands, Dutch soldiers also feared a fifth column.
@@HistoryHustle But the Poles did not slaughter innocent germans out of fear at the begining of the war only the ones that have acted in violance against them either targeting the military or simply civilian structures and therefore were judged in war time law and in some cases it meant instant death penalty
Het is altijd interesant om te kijken vanuit het Duitse perspectief. 👍
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If you"ll ever need any help with filming in Bydgoszcz - I'll be glad to help :) I'll probably be able to brief you on the DAG Fabrik Bromberg Museum and get the staff of the museum to show you around as well ;)
Thanks! I was there very short back in December 2019! Hopefully I can spent longer time there in the future some day.
Stefan you try to stay in Vistula's part Pomerania for longer visits. The area is interesting mix, with many castles built by the Teutonic Knights during Northern Crusades and the area settled by nations from Western Europe, including Dutch. In fact Gdańsk was as much Dutch before 17-18th cent as Amsterdam. Again a bit the opposite to what the German propaganda will tell you, once Bismarck became chancellor. However, it's a fact that the Germans put a lot of effort in modernizing the Prussia once it became part of German Empire and lot of the infrastructure still functions until today.
Thankyou for this, very educational. We see alot of war footage but getting to the root of the matter is important. I'll have to find the episode you mention at the start of this one.
As always, thank you very much, Bill!
I do like it when people stay factual about the topic of history, great work!
People that don’t seem to be doing the research and are only enraged by one thing they see and can’t even change anymore make me so sad
Agree Richard. Thanks for your reply!
Excellent Episode Indeed Most Informative and Enjoyable.
Thanks 👍
Another informative vid.Big thanks
👍
Around 200 German civilians were killed on 3 and 4 September by retreating Polish soldiers in Bydgoszcz Bromberg. Some of the german "civilians" had guns and were shooting at the retreating polish soldiers, other German civilians were random, innocent citizens. Wehrmacht, SS and Selbschutz murdered in retaliation 5000 Polish citizens of Bromberg
Yes, it is unfortunate that some innocent people got a bullet BUT the aim was to execute only these that fired on Polish troops - which was a fully justified action and not a war crime at all. It was 100% legal. These 200 or so people were Polish citizens and fell under Polish law which prescribed capital punishment for their crime.
@Fabian Kirchgessner Do you have any evidence of that claim at all? And do you have evidence of other war crimes whereas Poles somehow managed to kill Germans that were not criminals before 1945? Or do you like author of this video just repeat Nazi propaganda?
@@tomk3732 its not nazi propaganda.
There is evidence
@@karlheven8328 Ok there is... where? There were books written about the incident, even by Germans, there was a movie made. There are eye witness accounts. Yet all we have is "there may have been acts of killing of innocent Germans" *may*. Even numbers of dead suggest that if there were any acts there were very few or none. Do you care to provide evidence? Preferably not from Nazi Germany.
You can check my sources in the description.
thank you for posting it. You deserve much more for your passionate and well research work 👍🏻
Thank you, feel free to share.
Splendid! Learnt a lot in a few minutes.
Thanks!
Keep up with your great work, May God bless you and pay you 100 times more for your hard work
Many thanks!
Great Video, I actually planned to watch it today evening, but I couldn't hold myself back
Haha, great to read!:)
1:40 It should be noted that not only the Germans invaded, so did the Slovaks and later the Soviets. The Lithuanians assisted morally.
Reason is that the Poles were in warlike status with all their neighbors.
Yeah... The Slovak effort was neglectable. As for the Soviets, that's just not within the scope of this episode since the ordinary German had nothing to do with them. But hey, if you want me to mention it, look up this video and I'll have it covered:
ruclips.net/video/pniiST3gZbQ/видео.html
@@HistoryHustle All your videos are good. Also the proposed video is good. But I think one should portray it as it was. There were many fascist rulers at that time in Europe, Spain, Italy, Austria Germany and so were the Poles. Poles had no friends except these pirates on the islands.
The Slovaks assisted with two divisions what is not so little considering how tiny this country is !
What was the reason ?
@@HistoryHustle Reason was that London and Paris did not so little investments in Poland. London build Gdynia harbor and Paris financed the Magistrala Weglowa to continue a arms deal in exchange for Polish coal.
Sadly these armes proved to be not efficient against the German ones.
Really appreciate you and the topics about WW2 you choose to research and make uploads about. You’re doing something a lot of channels don’t touch. Thank you for your work.
👍
always love a history hustle video
👍
Great video, have a nice weekend Stefan.
👍
I really don't want to see that as a Pole but I think I would have to. Now I'm watching Prince Philipe funerals. R.I.P. Prince Philipe
Why are you saying “funerals”? How many funerals is he having ?
@@samkangal8428 from my understanding, German schools emphasize teaching children the horrors of the second world War and why it was so terrible, most Germans nowadays are very ashamed of their nazi history and wish to never repeat it.
@Fabian Kirchgessner I didn't say it's wrong...on the contrary, it is right to know. I said uncomfortable because of many german atrocities commited in Poland during ww2. And don't understand me wrong....I didn't intend to spur hateful speech.
@@samkangal8428 Yes, it is helpful...
@@samkangal8428 I think it crazy to blame any German living today for what occurred before they were even born. It's important to know that not even all Germans living at the time supported the Third Reich regime (and some were victims of it for openly opposing them).
As for patriotism, all people have the right to love their country. That includes Germans as much as anyone else.
I see hustle, I hit like. Keep up the great work. 👍
Thanks 👍
Thanks for sharing meester Stefan, is altijd interessant!
Bedankt, Marcel!
Thanks again, Stefan. I really enjoy how you are examining the different ethnic groups and the impact of WW2 and the occupation had on the various European populations. I look forward to another great video and fantastic presentation!
Thank you, Derek. In two weeks more on the German attack on France. This Saturday another interesting video will come out.
Greetings from Poland :) Thank you for your work.
👍
Your videos are very good 😃👏👏
👍👍
The best book I’ve read on the issue is Patrick’s Buchanan’s ‘the unnecessary war’ essentially he goes into detail on how Germany tried to negotiate and didn’t want a war. Danzig was 95% German and had been German since 1795. A series of fair offers were given but the poles took a hardline stance and the British and French got involved which further gave the poles the arrogance to refuse any talks. After several months Germany decided to take Danzig by force, and then sign the Soviet pact as a way to try and deter the British and French from getting involved. Then just before the invasion one last peace offer was made, when it was refused German commandos were sent in to take strategic bridges, and also highjacked a polish radio station and broadcast anti German rhetoric to incite the poles to violence. This was done as a kind of glass flag to further justify German military action.
Essentially: the Germans had legitimate reasons for the war over Danzig, they just further enhanced their case by inventing and exaggerating atrocities the poles had allegedly committed. There were however legitimate acts of violence from the poles against Germans. Enough primary accounts and documents exist. Even the US archives have polish government records that show they weren’t entirely innocent.
German propaganda claimed 56,000 had been killed, this was about 10 x exaggerated, but there was acts of violence for sure, just on a smaller and more isolated scale than German propaganda claimed. The main reason for invasion was geopolitical, and it must be said war was the last resort.
AFTER the invasion there were way more crimes committed by both sides, Bloody Sunday did occur, I find it ‘funny how’ probably a similar number of Germans were killed at this time as Belgians were killed in ww1 by German occupation. Yet one of these crimes is always talked about, and the other is never mentioned. That is how bias works, AND to be fair ww2 crimes were a huge magnitude higher than ww1, so it got overshadowed. And being fair, the massacres were in part a response to partisan warfare. Both sides share blame, it’s just a shame one can’t seem to give the Germans any credibility without being labelled all sorts of stupid names.
I have heard of the book. I am afraid it is used by revisionists. Stating both sides are equally to blame is simply false. Sure the Allies dropped the ball but at the end it was through Nazi expansionism they went to war against Germany.
@@HistoryHustlelol we won so we get to tell our side of the truth 😂you got prove using non western information to prove that Germany was in the wrong. Even by 1916 they had won and wanted to arrange peace but England rejected it
the polish claim to danzig was ridiculous
my family is from there and moved to poland )kielce) around 1900
im mostly german but born in poland
but there was no need for war during which germans behaved like animals
i personally dont care that the city is now polish
germany started a horrible war and committed war crimes and paid a price for that
case closed@@HistoryHustle
Dr. Jochen Boehler lists 4.5 thousand ethnic German civilians who were killed in September 1939 in Poland, but all of them - including the victims of artillery fire, bombing, etc. It also includes civilian Germans who actually attacked Polish soldiers, such as the Freikorps Ebbinghaus or other formations that suffered quite heavy losses in these fights, such as the unit commanded by Wilhelm Pisarski during the attack on the Michal mine in Siemianowice. Therefore, realistically, I do not think that there would be more than a thousand German victims of such lynchings of Poles. As for the rest of the movie - it is great!
I understand. Thanks for your reply 👍
Nice video Stefan!
Thanks Mark!
Great video again. As a Pole I can add that according to my knowledge most of those "Polish" war crimes during first days of invasion had been committed not by the regular Polish army but rather by paramilitaty forces or simply by the "crowds".
Sure something to talk about in the future.
@@HistoryHustle Thanx Stefan. Good idea.
Na jakiej podstawie wyciągasz takie wnioski?
czytałem książkę, na której opiera się autor i ta książka opiera się na propagandowych niemieckich materiałach.
Tam nie ma żadnych informacji, które można by zweryfikować.
A już na pewno na taką skalę morderstw.
To, ze mogły zdarzać się takie wypadki, nie jest żadnym dowodem a jedynie przypuszczeniem.
A historia powinna opierać się na faktach a nie na fantazjach.
Tak samo, gdy śmiercią obarczamy Polaków.
@@roberts1938 Drogi Robercie. Dzięki za pytanie. Nie jestem bynajmniej typem "poszukiwacza polskich morderców w mundurach". Niestety istnieją udokumentowane relacje dotyczące (nie twierdzę, że licznych) zbrodni na niemieckich jeńcach (zwłaszcza lotnikach) oraz na - prawdziwych czy też domniemanych - członkach V Kolumny. Podam Ci jeden przypadek tytułem przykładu. Zapewne znasz historię dotyczącą uratowania zestrzelonych lotników niemieckich przez naszego legendarnego później pilota Stanisława Skalskiego. Oto fragment biografii Skalskiego: "Gdy wybuchła II wojna światowa służył w 142 eskadrze myśliwskiej III/4 dywizjonu myśliwskiego w Toruniu. Latał standardowym polskim myśliwcem PZL P.11c. Już 1 września brał udział w ataku na samolot rozpoznawczy Henschel Hs 126 zakończonym zestrzeleniem niemieckiej maszyny, które zaliczono Marianowi Pisarkowi. Skalski wylądował obok zestrzelonego samolotu, opatrzył załogę i pomógł umieścić ją w szpitalu, chroniąc ją przed linczem tłumu - było to wyjątkowe zachowanie, nawiązujące do rycerskich tradycji z początków lotnictwa myśliwskiego, niespotykane podczas II wojny światowej". Przed czym Skalski chronił rannych lotników niemieckich 1 września 1939 roku? Pozdrawiam Cię serdecznie.
The Nazis arrested at shot 72 people in our village in Poland. These were friends and family that my great grandmother grew up with.
Sad to hear.
Can you maybe do a video about the invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia was the most difficult nation to maintain for the Germans because of the high amount of resistance , so maybe do two videos one about the invasion and one about the occupation
These invasion and occupation videos I'd love to do on location. So yeah, I hope to travel there one day. Years back I visited Serbia and made this (short) video about WW2:
ruclips.net/video/jZ-nv38wzrI/видео.html
This was a very strong presentation. I would just like to comment on something I've recently learned. The street scene (5:15) of Poles being marched through the streets to their deaths was taken by the Italian consul in that town. I forgot his name, since I've just read the story a short while ago on another blog. He helped save both Poles and Jews by issuing visas to Italy.
I never condone killings of innocents, but, difficult as it might be, I understand the Poles since many ethnic Germans welcomed the Nazis. As a matter of fact, the Nazi party was very popular in Danzig.
They were not innocents, they raised arms as Polish citizens (ethnic German) against Polish army and were justifiably executed for the act as per Polish law. Note that many were not even Polish citizens, they were German special forces.
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
@Fabian Kirchgessner First of all that was in occupied Poland. They rose against occupier and liberated their land. I am sure German occupier did commit war crimes as it seems it is Germanic way. I am sure Germans did shoot back when fired on and no one considered that a war crime.
Little known fact: the Germans went after Marxists, communists, and Freemasons. They had a black book with names of Freemasons and they were arrested.
Also, the Jewish partisans of the Bolshevik party and Polish extremists murdered German civilians, including women and children. They raped thousands.
I’ve seen a lot of both videos on this subject and just curiosity about it in the WW2 history community, I guess all of the content about the war from the allies perspective has been covered so much that people are beginning to get curious about what the Germans saw and thought during it. Interesting.
Thank you for replying!
@@HistoryHustle no, thank you! I’m a huge fan, it means a lot that you took the time out to shoot me some kind words knowing you’re probably very busy. I hope you know that you have taught me more about this part of history, which has always been the part I’ve been so interested in and always wanting more knowledge to consume of, than any history teacher I ever had would care to even give me resources of where to get more information on my own ever did, you’re doing a great service for us all especially by always enforcing the importance of us learning our history so we do not repeat the same mistakes.
Much love from the US
The documentary film "Europa: The Last Battle" would have a more complete narration of the way things would have been perceived by the Germans. Our History Hustler leaves out mention of this film even though it came out a few years prior. The Polish committed many atrocities besides the one mentioned here ....most dealing with other ethnicities or Jews but they have deliberately tried to white wash their history. You can even be arrested and put in jail if you mention massacres by Polish thanks to their ultra national past government. No mention of this by the HH either.
Even today, there are rewriters of history, who claim that the German attack on Poland was justified because of Polish "atrocities" against ethnic Germans.
I know. Very sad how revisionism lingers.
Awesome lecture, Professor...it is good to hear someone talking about this subject.
True, but love the fact people call me as such. But indeed, I'm not a professor :)
@@HistoryHustle you are a Professor to me!!! You cover things at university level.
Too bad the "professor" has zero claim to the killings of "innocent" Germans in Bydgoszcz other then Nazi propaganda. There are multiple papers written about the account, even books and none of them have any definitive proof of even a single instance where innocent German was intentionally killed - or even by accident. Even German historians did not produce any proof. Essentially German V column units were moved from Gdansk through Poland to attack retreating Polish units in a style similar to attack on radio station. It was assumed Poles would retaliate and Germany will have "proof" that it needed to act. The problem was that Poles did not retaliate, they released captured suspects and German division that attacked 3 times in one day failed to rescue special forces used in the action. Some Germanic Poles joined the special forces and were dealt with. Here is short abbreviation of the incident. Of curse Germans still made claims - lots of claims. But do you trust Nazi, I do not.
@@tomk3732 what are you babbling about?
@@nikkibaugher2427 I think his message is pretty clear. Lots of German black ops (like Glivitz incident for example) and German propaganda. Care to dispute that?
Good video Stefan
Thanks Tom.
Actually Blaskowitz is certainly a Slavic surname, whether Polish I don't know but certainly Slavic. Its original spelling was probably something along the lines of 'Blaskowicz' 'Błaskowicz' or 'Blašković' or something in cyrillic. If this man had some Slavic roots then it would make sense as to why he was disgusted by the executions.
Perhaps yes!
Actually both nations ware very mixed. For example generals Rommel-German and Rómel-Polish were cousins.
Honestly, A good person, anywhere, would have been disgusted by the executions. Their ethnicity really does not matter.
Interesting as always !
Thanks!
Thank you for this video, so necessary and interesting. Poland was among the countries that suffered the most in WW2. The Polish retaliation for the German invasion was really overblown and it is exactly what the Japanese also did, to justify their agression towards China. They claimed that Japanese businesses and citizens were attacked by the Chinese population. The Axis buddies were very similar in their methods and their actions.
Well, this strategy is used for thousands of years - even today by all kind of states and leaders.
@@jupprheinland4805 Absolutely true.
The Axis were indeed as such. The strategy still does exist, but on such a destructive scale I think not.
Are you sane, Russlanddeutsche?
Good video.
Thank You
Thanks for your reply!
There is much unknown about the battle of Poland. At least in my case. Here I got some more insight.
Thanks. In case you're interested, I did cover two battles in this campaign more indepth.
Modlin: ruclips.net/video/GHDCWKYEjMo/видео.html
Warsaw: ruclips.net/video/6bzQgKgHjo0/видео.html
@@HistoryHustle I did watch both Modlin and Warsaw episode and also battle for post office...👍
Lesser known battles are indeed interesting. Keep it up in that direction... 👍
Another superb presentation of history. Would have loved this guy to have been my history teacher 😃
Thanks, Tony! 👍
Great video.
There are a number of interesting experiments and research about who does atrocities in war and who does not.
But the revisionist myth of the Wehrmacht not participating in atrocities has long been disproven.
Indeed, thanks or your reply.
Yes
Great and professional work . Thank you.
👍
"The Polish campaign started when Germany invaded Poland."
Whoa. Hold your horses. I have to write this info down...
You got it!
Excellent video. You are undoubtedly one of the best
Many thanks!
In the beginning you forgot to mention one more name of this first campaign of IIWW. We in Poland usually refer to it as the September Campaign (despite the fact that the last organized military troops surrended in early October). Some facts from your video are not commonly known in Poland and even hardly discussed at all. For example the fact that many German atrocities were committed because of fear and German soldiers were commonly afraid of Polish resistance and hidden snipers (in reality Polish resistance in September 1939 was sporadic and not organized yet). Secondly, German propaganda turned out to be deadly effective in convincing even those who weren't devout nazis that they're superior in every conceivable aspect over Poles thus every German soldier expected that Poles facing overwhelming power and superior culture will soon surrender and humbly submit. Polish stubborn resistance surprised them and pissed them off.
True. Thing is: this video is from the German perspective. That's why I didn't use the Polish name of the campaign.
Damn man, your videos are so good.
Thanks, Harvey!
Congratulations on producing a video from the point of view that’s one the LEAST popular or appealing in history,...the attitudes of ordinary Germans whose ‘ soldiers ‘ joyfully tore Poland into bloody shreds
Actually there's many videos about the German perspective on D-Day.
Good work!
Thanks 👍🏻
The following is a summary of some of the more serious incidents of violence against ethnic Germans in Poland in the years leading up to World War II:
* In 1937, a group of Polish nationalists attacked a German school in the town of Bydgoszcz, injuring several students.
* In 1938, a Polish mob attacked a German church in the town of Cieszyn, destroying the building and injuring several people.
* In 1939, a group of Polish soldiers attacked a German village in the town of Płoty, killing several civilians.
* In August 1939, the Bromberg Bloody Sunday massacre took place in Bydgoszcz, where ethnic Germans were killed by Polish troops and civilians.
* In September 1939, the Selbstschutz massacre took place in Volhynia, where ethnic Germans were killed by Ukrainian nationalists.
These incidents were part of a broader pattern of discrimination and violence against ethnic Germans in Poland in the years leading up to World War II.
Revisionism.
The Bromberg massacres took place on 6th September just after the war started. However it’s true there were cases of polish atrocities and violence against Germans before 1st September. The dispute over Danzig was the main issue tho that caused the war
Any leader would have went to war for his people in this situations crazy how schools go from 1933 took over power 1939 invaded ….. 1945 we won 😂1930 Germany inflation was so high the price of bread would rise by the time you get to the shop.
Great info! I love your quick histories on WW2. Keep up the great work!!
Thanks 👌
Literally my favourite history RUclips channel!
great!
Actually the bloody Sunday proved that Gobbels succeeded so well in shaping the anti Polish sentiment among the Germanic populations of the Nazi Reich, that even he himself was unable to undo it, but this also explains why the Manchusen movie, which was made on his commission around 1942,tried to portray Poland in a slightly more sympathetic light, or even why it actually mentioned Poland by name xD
Interesting. Thanks for sharing this.
My German Mothers Father was an architect and the family all moved into Poland as his abilities were needed to rebuild. They lived in a home that had belonged to a Polish family that were moved out. I do not condone her attitude towards the Polish people, but many times during my adolescense and adult hood she would say " the Poles could never do anything with their land and it started to become something once we were there ". That was the attitude then.
typical defence mechanism
Back then many Germans had a negative attitude towards the Poles. Can't tell how it's now.
as the grandson/greatgrandson of germans who came to poland a paid for everything they owned there i can tell you that i view the geermans that came during the war as SCUM@@HistoryHustle
my family was already there(germans who came from germany (1880, 1900 and 1920) and my family paid for everything we owned there
my family viewed people like your mothers family as criminals and thieves, which they were, no different than scum who barge into a store to rob it and kill people
Why didn't the West retaliate against the Soviet Union for their participation in the invasion of Poland? based on principle, didn't they also start a war? or contribute to it?
Type the video in the YT search bar and you'll find the answer.
I will always wish that Poland had seen reason regarding the Danzig Corridor issue, and allied with Germany against the USSR. They were duped by the English guarantee and then thrown to the wolves.
That's where it came down to yes.
Did England not honour it's word and declare war on Germany?
Did it not continue to fight until Germany was defeated?
How exactly was it that the English duped Poland into war?
@@zoranbeader6441 England did not bomb Germany nor had French invade Germany. It was a "phoney war" for the first eight months.
@@inovakovsky How were England and France going to save a country more than a thousand kilometers away?
Hitler and Stalin had already gobbled up Poland before the Allies had even finished mobilising their armies.
If you want to talk about betrayal then we can talk about leaving Poland under Soviet occupation for 50 years. That really was a betrayal.
But in 1939 England and France did what they realistically could to try and deter Hitler from invading Poland. History shows us that they were really in no shape to do more. France herself ended up occupied and England just barelly survived.
Neither of them had to declare war on Germany. They could have just made a deal with Hitler (like Stalin did) and continue living their lives.
To suggest they "duped" Poland and were just playing geopolitical games is idiotic.
@@zoranbeader6441 France had more than twice as many troops on the Franco-German border than the Germans during the invasion of Poland, so at least the French could have done something. The British could have used the Royal Navy and RAF to combat the Kreigmarine in the Baltic Sea (to assist the Polish navy) and air raid Germany. The UK did not do air raids out of not wanting the Germans to bomb the UK. They did an offensive in the Saar region but that was not beyond the range of their artillery, hence why the Germans did not care if the French were only going to advance hardly even 20 kilometers.
Actually, the UK and France had an alliance treaty with Poland, which was why they declared war on Germany, but not the USSR. Their declarations of war were out of treaty obligation and the behavior of the French to not attack Germany beyond artillery range and the UK avoiding German waters and air space (while only had initial plans to land on Norway to prevent resources to Germans instead of direct combat with the Germans) indicate that they want to avoid direct combat as much as possible, as if they declared war reluctantly instead of enthusiastically.
Also, the Polish military strategy for in case of an invasion was dependent on significant military action from the UK and France (to invade Germany). The UK and France did not "duped" Poland but simply let Poland down.
I would hardly call the pro-Soviet People's Republic era of Poland an occupation beyond 1949 but a political satellite.
I have come across some comments that the Poles were giving the Germans a hard time by restricting flow through the Danzig corridor, even opening fire on Luftwaffe aircraft trying to supply food and other essentials into the free city of Danzig. I have also heard that there was an issue as to how the Poles wanted to be paid for the use of the Danzig corridor. Can anyone comment on the aforementioned?
The best book I’ve read on the issue is Patrick’s Buchanan’s ‘the unnecessary war’ essentially he goes into detail on how Germany tried to negotiate and didn’t want a war. Danzig was 95% German and had been German since 1795. A series of fair offers were given but the poles took a hardline stance and the British and French got involved which further gave the poles the arrogance to refuse any talks. After several months Germany decided to take Danzig by force, and then sign the Soviet pact as a way to try and deter the British and French from getting involved. Then just before the invasion one last peace offer was made, when it was refused German commandos were sent in to take strategic bridges, and also highjacked a polish radio station and broadcast anti German rhetoric to incite the poles to violence. This was done as a kind of glass flag to further justify German military action.
Essentially: the Germans had legitimate reasons for the war over Danzig, they just further enhanced their case by inventing and exaggerating atrocities the poles had allegedly committed. There were however legitimate acts of violence from the poles against Germans. Enough primary accounts and documents exist. Even the US archives have polish government records that show they weren’t entirely innocent.
German propaganda claimed 56,000 had been killed, this was about 10 x exaggerated, but there was acts of violence for sure, just on a smaller and more isolated scale than German propaganda claimed. The main reason for invasion was geopolitical, and it must be said war was the last resort.
AFTER the invasion there were way more crimes committed by both sides, Bloody Sunday did occur, I find it ‘funny how’ probably a similar number of Germans were killed at this time as Belgians were killed in ww1 by German occupation. Yet one of these crimes is always talked about, and the other is never mentioned. That is how bias works, AND to be fair ww2 crimes were a huge magnitude higher than ww1, so it got overshadowed. And being fair, the massacres were in part a response to partisan warfare. Both sides share blame, it’s just a shame one can’t seem to give the Germans any credibility without being labelled all sorts of stupid names.
Good film and well researched, but I think you need to go back to the Versailles Treaty to explain the creation of the state of Poland, in particular the historical connection and German population of western Poland. You also seem to very quickly skirt over the Soviet invasion of eatern Poland, which Russia still occupies today.
I agree there's much more to tell. This video mainly focuses on the German perspective of their invasion and occupation. The video isn't about the Soviet side of things. Actually I did cover what happened there in 1939-41:
ruclips.net/video/ER1AYnOFTEg/видео.html
Versailles rather reestablished the Polish state (and Lithuanuan state also, don't forget about the historic Commonwealth of the two; though The Great Dutchy of Lithuania was everything but an ethnic Lithuanian state), that had been partitioned in the late XVIII century by Prussia (later German Empire), Austria and Russia. These three illegally disolved the Commonwealth by corruption, invasions, intervensions, political blackmailing and abolished a monarchy of 800 years which was also a clearly herethic move for Catholic Austrians. Many people, even in Europe, have no knowledge of these events.
@@brmf4346 In the XVIII period victory in wars and then annexing the lands was not consided illegal, "to the victor, the spoils" just look at the British or Russian Empire before claiming it was illegal. Have a look of the very vague historical borders of the Commonwealth and state and how that compared to the borders drawn up in Versailles. I would be interested in your comment about an herectical move by Catholic Austrians, it what way, was the Commonwealth a holy state. Then we have your comical statement that the Commonwealth or at one point where you claim it was a Polish State was dissolved by corruption, invasions and political blackmailing, that doesnt sound exactly like a strong and stable state. You also seem to totally ignore the present Russian occupation of Eastern Versailles Poland.
@@mercomania Excuse me, but how exactly does this video skip the soviet invasion of Poland? Have you even watched the video at all? In case if you didn't, it's at 4:32. In the older times the annexations were indeed a common thing, but it doesn't magically make the prussian annexations "From now on, it's german forever and ever".
@@JohnSmith-zs9vr Is that how the British annexed a third of the world. Dont even try to lecture any nation on invansions, exploitation or theft of natural resources. In a video record ofthe invasion of Poland you consider one mention of the Soviet invasion worth mentioning. Strange how the British Empire or the French didnt seem fit to declare war on the Soviet Union for their invasion of Poland.
Thanks for hustling history for me
👍
Can you show german perspective in Warsaw uprising 44 ? why they killed so many civilians ?
Later yes.
Why? The answer is easy: because Hitler was the bloody assassin, madman
@@user-vu7my6kd4g Emm, there is a money prize if somebody will prove that Hitler known about the holocaust... so if you are so sure you shoud claim the prize XDXD
@@arkadiuszwojno5210 You mix holocaust and death camps with Warsaw uprising which are different things. Hitler gave the order to ruin the Warsaw after uprising, and himself or people nominated by him gave orders to murder Warsaw civilians. Which anyway makes Hitler and his guys responsible for that hell they did here.
Hello from Bydgoszcz
👋
The actual date of what would become world war two was July 7, 1937, not September 1, 1939.
Another great video tho, professor.
Thanks for your reply. Historian mostly agree on 1 September. And yeah, some put it when the war in China started.
@@HistoryHustle most historians don't go as in depth into their research as you do. I didn't mean to come off arrogant or anything, but the more and more I learn about Imperial Japan's role in the 30's the more and more it seems the books need a date change. Anyways keep it up man.
To: 10:00. Of course plans were made to invade the West. After all, the West had declared war on Germany. Was Germany now expected to wait until France and Britain put their declaration of war into practice and invade Germany ? The French had already invaded a small part of Saarland, although they got cold feet and retreated when it transpired their British companions were not yet ready to join them.
Ok, your point?
@@HistoryHustle Your presentation creates the impression that Germany wantonly attacked the West for no other reason but territorial gain.
Please explain.
@@HistoryHustleNo explanation necessary. Listen to your own words.
I see.
Nice vid
Thanks!
In 1943 Nazi Germany announced the discovery of a mass grave in Katya and that the Soviets murdered tens of thousands of Polish soldiers. . The Gestapo reported that many Germans considered the German propaganda not credible, because of the crimes the German government had committed in Poland. What the Gestapo reported must have been very important and this opinion widespread in the German population.
You mean Katyn? That mass murder was indeed committed by the Soviets.
Many Germans believed that and feared that they could suffer the same fate in case of a defeat.
4500-5800 German civilians from German Minority in Poland were slaughtered in first five days of war by Poles. No "V column", but women, old men, kids.
Some were guilty of hindering the Polish army but others were indeed innocent.
Most probably, those ware just the victims of the city riots, started by a local nazi party. The demarcation between Poles and Germans was very blurred there, so probably those ware just victims of all sides, nazis, militia, or just any victims, so shooting in a city is not a safe thing. Whatever games teach you a plank or thin brick wall are not any obstacles for a bullet. Moreover nazis killed much more people with a German background during the war, because of the political reasons. It was a genocidal totalitarian regime made by common criminals, psychopaths and scums as my grandfather called them. He's parents moved to Poland in 1910s from Austria and he was speaking in a heavy Viennese dialect to the rest of his life...
@@HistoryHustle The findings of Prof. W. Jastrzebski - the most outstanding Polish researcher into the Polish murders of Germans - says otherwise.
Massacres against defenceless German civilians in 1939 were linked to provocations by the Polish secret service. Polish agents themselves fired on Polish troops to provoke the murders of civilian Germans.
Prof. W. Jastrzebski has published documents confirming this from the Polish executors of the provocation (Major Rassalski's diaries, in: Wlodzimierz Jastrzębski. Der Bromberger Blutsonntag. Legende und Wirklichkeit, 1990).
Major Rassalski's diaries were also published in a volume of documents issued by IPN - Polish governmental institution (Bydgoszcz 3 - 4 September 1939, 2008).
Thank you.
Aren't we fortunate to be blessed with a free and brave MSM, committed to informing the people with accurate reportage, and who don't secretly abuse us with incessant grinding mass manipulation.
How come britian gets to annex Ireland but Germany cant annex the czechoslovakia?
German did get to annex Czech.
@@HistoryHustle nah im saying why did the west see German expansion as so terrible when they were doing the same, even in Europe
@@abdurrahmanqureshi3030 Because these countries think that a rival should not epand its power; only they.
I keep hearing about Danzig and the Germans there. What happened with Danzig after WWI leading up to WWII?
More on that here:
ruclips.net/video/JzD6Is6bD0o/видео.html
"when he invaded the Rhineland" how does one invade ones own country ?
Please read the correction I made below..
TRUE
very good video brother
👍
Thank you Dutch Sir for your work and exceptional interest in Poland - a rather unpopular field of research for Western Europeans. The invasion and occupation of Poland was a prepared genocide of Poles and other Nations who lived there. Sure, the Poles had their guilt too before the war, especially towards Ukrainians and Jews. Nevertheless nothing comparable to Gulags, german concentration camps and cruel colonisation of Africa. One must remember though that these were the times of hard nationalisms on the continent and a country located between two totalitarian foes had also to embark on that train to have at least some chances of surviving. Some people might rage abiut fascist and nacionalistic Poland butchering minorities but clearly lack the perspective and basic knowledge of events that lead to other things such as 1926 coup or 1935 coup constitition which virtually reestablished a elective monarchy with a president as a head of state (that's debatable, not gonna lie). Before the Partitions, Poland and Lithuania had a political system of exceptional democracy where around 15 percent of the general population had political rights. Commonwealth's Sejm HAD to assemble every two years, and locals assemblies (Sejmiki) were assembled all the time to prepare to general Sejm. At the time in most states general assemblies were called when the ruler needed them, when in Poland it was one of King's obligations, he sworn to complete before taking the throne. It was Sejm too that elected the monarch. The King was only a figure with his powers taken away step by step throught centuries. When other countries sled towards absolutism the Commonwealth went the other way around. Habeas corpus (for the nobles of course, nothing extraordinary) had been in effect at least since XV century, no arbitrary arrest, no lettres de cachete, no kings who declared themselves Sun or God or whatever. Political writers of that time thought european absolutims to be a heresy and had a large pride in having a human king and not a self declared deity. Minorities fled to Poland for shelter and of course it was not perfect but certainly better than being burned for their religious beliefs. People tend to overlook these facts but such things as nationalism and an rather weak persecution of minorities in the XX century was a effect of self defence aggainst other nationalisms, possible invasion and rather a retaliation for 123 of political opression. These trends, and older ones like serfdom of the plebs, came to us from Western Europe and did no good, but others look at us like at ones who invented Catholicism, nationalism and persecution, just because its easier for them to rationalise their own nation's atrocities. Anyway thanks aggain. Just for your information my grandfather took part in liberating Breda and I was planning to visit this year for that event's annual celebration. Hope COVID lets me. Peace!
@Fabian: I'm afraid to conclude that your comment sounds apologistic. Almost like it was Poland that brought down its own destruction. TIK made an interesting video on that:
ruclips.net/video/6DV20f1d6hI/видео.html
I do agree by expanding Poland's eastern borders is caused grave problems with areas that had more ethnic Ukrainians / Bellorussians than Polish. In the west it was not the case. However many ethnic Germans came to live in the new Polish state many chose to remain there and most areas had Polish people living in it. Polish people use the argument that these lands were historical Polish after all. I do understand this but don't use it as main argument.
Ga zo door, Stefan!
En laat je aub niet ontmoedigen door alle domme comments. Ongelofelijk hoe ongeinformeerd sommige mensen in 2021 nog zijn.
Dank voor je fijne woorden!
You are INCORRECT about crimes committed against ethnic germans prior to the war. There were many, and friends of ours witnessed it happening before being moved by Hitler to the Western side of occupied poland. My friends father was a minister who had to hide out in the woods during one episode, where they were executed and some buried alive. He also negotiated, a reduction in executions. But of course, germans lost the war so I must be wrong!
Your source?
@@HistoryHustle My dear friend Mrs. S Henschke, who lived in one of the german communities in Eastern Poland. Have know her since the late ‘50s, as she came over around the same time as my parents. My ancestors came from Borodino Bessarabia, and Hitler relocated those and the east polish germans to the western part after the invasion. She had lots to say, and regaled me every morning for coffee. Her father was a pastor and walked to another town to preach. On the way back through the woods he heard gunfire, and hid out. In the morning he found the place of the mass grave. I was a tenant for a while at her house. If the eyewitness accounts of the jews is good enough to convict a camp guard 60 years later, than her word should be good enough too. As well, here is my mothers story. Not as dramatic as yours, but shows that we were all in this to our necks. ruclips.net/video/Q7rK2tIe-pE/видео.html
I also remember the conversations and reading about the hatred for each other. Stories about making people drink urine and eat excrement and nailing their tongues to the table. Our families were imprisoned after the war. My father was almost beaten to death twice, and my grandmother was in prison till 1956
@@b7et5 You keep talking about post-war events while providing nothing about pre-war times.
@@JohnSmith-zs9vr NO NO NO! My friend Mrs. Henschke, like many others were living in East Poland before the war. There were many German colonies all the way up to Latvia, to the Volga, and down to the Black Sea. My parents lived in Bessarabia. The groups had been doing horrible things to each other for years, and prior to the war the killings happened as witnessed by her father. THEN, after the invasion, they were moved to west Poland, and my ancestors were moved to Austria, and then to Poland, in the AUFRUF in 1940. THEN, my paternal family ended up in a prison camp while my maternal family, with the help of a polish dissident POW outran the Russians to the West german side. (As you would hear in my mothers little video). They were likely in the Danzig Westpruesen area www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/m5m3pp/german_migrations_and_colonies_in_russia_in_the/?
Small yet crucial detail - Germans AND ZSRR conquered Poland in 1939.
Small yet crucial detail: this video isnt about the Soviets. I covered that in other vids.
@@HistoryHustle Omitting, as we agree crucial , details can drastically influence conclusions to which viewer of your content arrives at the end. Hence I am pointing it out.
👍
ruclips.net/video/ER1AYnOFTEg/видео.html
This is sad realy sad.
Indeed.
It is horrific to think about the mental state of poles who were occupied by both Soviet and nazis
I understand.
As a person with german backgrounds i feel admiration for germany, however Poland didnt deserve this, a truly resilient people the poles are indeed
Not sure to what extent you admire Germany...
@@HistoryHustle clearly not the dark side, or the “endlösung der judenfrage”, or the terrible aspects of an extermination war in the soviet union, but hey! Germany does not start in 1933 and end in 1945
On the opposite side we have about 26,000 Poles murdered by the end of the campaign by the Wehrmacht, Einsatzgruppen, police and various irregular formations of ethnic Germans (Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz)
True.
10:02 I would also have my eyes on the west if the declared war on me
Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg hadn't.
@@HistoryHustle very true
What an excellent video, thank you, but do you also "fix washing machines" too?
Do too 👍
@@HistoryHustle
Lol.
It is an honest film. As far as I did my digging into the topic of Polish defensive war it's all true.
Interestingly, in my region there was a German soldier who was executed for refusing to participate in murder of a Polish family.
Also a good example of fifth column's activity was marking town square corners with white crossess for German bombers in Frampol. Afaik it was the first time incendiary bombs were used against civilian targets.
Also an uncomfirmed story I heard somewhere was that a Volksdeutsch mechanic sabotaged the engines of PZL 23 bombers in Krosno airfield by putting cotton wool in them. Hence they could not be relocated when the war started and were destroyed on the ground.
Thanks for your reply.
How Russians Viewed Their Invasion and Occupation of Poland?
ruclips.net/video/WMLy4Uge76M/видео.html
Amazing how hard Poland fought vs Germany and Soviets and died for own independence and saved the freedom of some of the western countries like UK or Netherlands. Only to be simple given away to the Soviets after the war.
Many Polish felt it like a betrayal. I understand that.
Churchill saw it as a betrayal too. Unfortunately, Roosevelt did not agree.
@Fabian Kirchgessner I am merely pointing out how Churchill viewed it.
@Fabian Kirchgessner Most of Churchill's ministers and advisors thought otherwise. WW3 against the USSR, after 5+ years of war against Germany, Italy & Japan, without US participation or support, was not really an option. But this does not mean Churchill didn't see or feel the betrayal of Poland. He made his views and feelings very clear about it at the time.
Stalin wanted to give Poland Kalingrad or at least German lands with Serbs on it that wanted to be in Poland. Churchill did not press it so Poland got nothing.
I am italian from Südtirol. Obviously I have german heritage. My wife is polish from Wolyna. My point of view is that at the time Europe was divided in a really wrong way after WWI. Instead to create states under an ethical logic was given all the responsibility to the Germany and were created no sense borders. As like in Czechoslovakia were 30% of entire population was of german speakers. Unfortunately many people (in Südtirol too) follow the big dream of a Great Germany as like place for all germans of Europe more than the nazi's ideas. After war who paid for the Nazi's crimes? 35 mio germans between died, killed, Flüchtlinge or prisoners in Russia.
Thanks for your reply. I did make an episode of what you mentioned. Think you'll find it interesting. It's right here:
ruclips.net/video/B0DjYT5zQ7M/видео.html
@@HistoryHustle thanks.. I find it really interesting and near about what happened there. My wife to explain me the history of her family use a diary of her grandmother and "Wolyn" a polish movie. I was simply under shock. Because really was a crazy time. A period where people fought to survive. Pre war Poland didn't respect minorances. Especially in Ukraine people had to accept hard conditions. That produced obviously reactions of hate when borders were moved to west. Stalin moved minorances to Kazakhstan or Siberia. Not only poles but germans and others ethnic groups. Was really curious when in Germany I met the cousins of her. They are Russlanddeutsche (sister of grandma married an ethnic german). We use german to understand each other for exemple. The Opa confirmed that that period was crazy. All against all. Brothers against sisters just because of ethnicity of wife or husband. I hope to teach my son to respect history. To accept what happen and to love his family. History should teach that we are just human beings.