| Zamość uprising | |||||||
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| Part ofPolish resistance movement in World War II andPolish-Ukrainian ethnic conflict | |||||||
.png) Zamość region inLublin District (brown, upper centre) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ukrainian Insurgent Army | Supported by:  Soviet partisans | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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TheZamość uprising comprisedWorld War IIpartisan operations, 1942–1944, by thePolish resistance (primarily theHome Army andPeasant Battalions) against Germany'sGeneralplan-Ost forcedexpulsion of Poles from theZamość region (Zamojszczyzna) and the region'scolonization by German settlers.[1]
The Polish defense of the Zamość region was one ofPoland's largest resistance operations of World War II.[1][2]
In 1942, as part ofGeneralplan Ost, theZamość region, with its fertile black soil, in theGeneral Government, was chosen for further German colonisation.[3][4] In fact the Zamość region expulsions and colonization can be considered the beginning of the large-scale implementation of the Generalplan Ost.[5] The city itself was to be renamed "Himmlerstadt" (Himmler City), later changed to Pflugstadt (Plow City), which was to symbolise the German "plow" that was to "plow the East".[3] The German occupiers had planned the relocation of at least 60,000 ethnic Germans to the area before the end of 1943. An initial "test trial"expulsion was performed in November 1941, and the whole operation ended in anti-partisanpacification operations combined with expulsions in June–July 1943 which were codenamedWehrwolf Action I and II.
Over 110,000 Polish people from approximately 300 villageswere expelled to make room for German (and to a lesser extent, Ukrainian) settlers as part of Nazi plans for establishment of German colonies in the conquered territories (Generalplan Ost).[3][5][6][7] In theWarsaw orLublin area some villagers wereresettled, but about 50,000 of those expelled were sent asforced labour to Germany while others were sent to theNazi concentration camps never to return.[3] Some villages were simply razed and the inhabitants murdered.[3][4]
4,454 Polishchildren were kidnapped by German authorities from their parents for potentialGermanisation.[1][3][7][8][9] Only 800 of them were found and sent back to Poland after World War II.
Local people resisted the action with great determination;[3] they escaped into forests, organised self-defence, helped people who were expelled, and bribed kidnapped children out of German hands.[1] Units of Polish resistance (primarily ofArmia Krajowa andBataliony Chłopskie) as well as elements ofSoviet partisans and the Soviet-createdGwardia Ludowa helped to evacuate Polish civilians and assaulted German colonists and forces in the region.[10] In December 1942 one of the first large partisan battles of World War II occurred in the region. The resistance forces numbered several thousand forest fighters. The first phase of the resistance took place from December 1942 to February 1943; the Germans then lessened their activities for a few months but counter-attacked in June, with major anti-partisan actions and terror directed against the civilian population (Aktion Wehrwolf).[11]
After several battles between the partisans and the German units (the most notable being the battles ofWojda,Róża,Zaboreczno,Długi Kąt,Lasowce andHrubieszów as well as theBattle of Osuchy),[11] the Germans had to halt the action and in the end very few German settlers were brought to the area.[12] Until the middle of 1943, the Germans managed to settle 9,000 colonists, and an additional 4,000 until the end of 1943. The increasing harassment from the partisans meant that the Germans began to lose the control of the region in the spring of 1943.[11]
In the first half of 1944, Polish civilians and the Polish resistance were also attacked by Ukrainian units of theUkrainian Insurgent Army (seemassacres of Poles in Volhynia). Nonetheless, by the summer of 1944 the Polish partisans, based in the large forests of the region, had taken control of most of the countryside, limiting German control to the major towns.[11] In the summer of 1944 Germans again initiated major anti-partisan operations (Sturmwind I andSturmwind II) which resulted in thebattle of Osuchy (one of the largest battles between the Polish resistance and Nazi Germany), with the insurgents sustaining heavy casualties.[13] However, soon afterwards, in July, the remaining Polish units took part in the nationwideOperation Tempest and managed to liberate several towns and villages in the Zamość region. The Germans, pressured by the advancingRed Army, were forced to abandon the region.
Several monuments, museums and cemeteries have been raised in the area over time. In thePeople's Republic of Poland the actions of the Soviet-sponsored and createdGwardia Ludowa andArmia Ludowa entities were emphasized at the expense of those of the other resistance. A recent Polish documentary dedicated to the uprising has been recognized in the New York Festivals of 2008 with a bronze medal.[14][15][16]
Polish uprisings | |||||
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| Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth |
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