Mrs. Krys Roma, M. S. PsyR.

On this day in 1944, soldiers of the Polish 1st Armoured Division, commanded by General Stanisław Maczek, liberated the Dutch city of Breda from German occupation. What made their victory remarkable was not merely that they defeated the Germans, but how they accomplished it. Determined to spare civilian lives, Maczek’s men avoided a devastating frontal assault, helping preserve much of the historic city. The Dutch greeted their Polish liberators with extraordinary gratitude, yet behind the celebrations lay a bitter irony. These soldiers had fought years across Europe for the freedom of other nations and when the war ended, Poland fell under Soviet domination, and many could not safely return to the homeland they had sacrificed so much to defend. Maczek’s own fate was particularly heartbreaking. Despite commanding thousands of soldiers and helping liberate Western Europe, the celebrated general was denied a British military pension. Living in exile in Scotland, he was forced to take menial jobs to support his family, including working as a bartender at an Edinburgh hotel. A man who had commanded an armoured division against Germany was now serving drinks to make ends meet. Maczek passed away in 1994 at the age of 102 and was buried in Breda, among the soldiers who had fought under his command. To this day, the Dutch city honors its Polish liberators. The Polish gave freedom to strangers while being denied freedom in their own homeland and the general who helped liberate Europe was left to struggle for his own livelihood.

In the autumn of 1939, the Germans unleashed a campaign of terror and mass murder across Polish Pomerania. As part of the Intelligenzaktion, teachers, priests, intellectuals, and community leaders were systematically executed in an effort to destroy Polish national identity. The victims also included ordinary farmers, workers, and craftsmen and particularly chilling was the participation of local ethnic Germans who sometimes denounced or murdered Polish neighbors they had known for years, motivated by hatred, revenge, or greed. On October 28, 1939, approximately 130 Polish prisoners were executed in the Barbarka Forest near Toruń. It was one of many massacres that turned Pomerania’s forests into mass graves. There are estimates that approximately 30,000 people were murdered in Gdańsk Pomerania in 1939. Thousands of psychiatric patients and people with disabilities were also killed under Nazi racial policy. At Piaśnica, Szpęgawsk, and elsewhere, entire communities were devastated. Perhaps the most terrifying lesson of these massacres is how quickly familiar neighbors can become executioners when hatred is given permission to rule. The victims were meant to disappear into history, yet it is our refusal to let that happen that keeps their memory alive.

In October 1939, German occupation authorities moved to suppress unauthorized publishing in Poland. The Germans sought to destroy not only Polish independence but its culture, education, and national identity. Still, in hidden cellars and secret workshops, Polish resistance members risked their lives printing newspapers, books, and reports exposing German atrocities. Among the most important was Biuletyn Informacyjny (Information Bulletin), which began with just 90 copies in November 1939. By 1944, the circulation had reached approximately 43,000. Every printed page carried the possibility of a death sentence. Couriers caught with forbidden newspapers faced Gestapo interrogation, torture, deportation, or execution. One discovery could condemn an entire network, including friends and family. Yet thousands continued, determined to preserve the truth. The Germans could occupy Poland, but they could not silence its people or extinguish their determination to remain Polish - a nation can be conquered militarily without surrendering its soul. Pictured: Jerzy Rutkowski (1914–1989), head of the Secret Military Publishing Works (Tajne Wojskowe Zakłady Wydawnicze), the clandestine printing operation of the Polish Home Army.