Receive The Eagle Unbowed: Poland And The Poles In The Second World War Conceived By Halik Kochanski Available As Volume

is a great book, I think most folks know the bits anecdotally, but this puts the whole World War II experience in context, And it is horrendous. The Poles suffered hugely, especially but not limited to their Jewish population, And the politics of the Allies, Britain, US, and the Soviet Union are daunting and sad, A great book. Horror story, history, expose, explanation and cautionary tale, Also, completely true, impeccably researched and documented, The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War is an outstanding academic work of synthesis history that presents a single narrative that will address all the questions that individuals of Polish descent living in the English speaking world might have about what happened Poland during WWII.
Its appeal to those without a personal connection through ancestry, marriage or friendship to Poland will be considerably less,
For myself the greatest value of The Eagle Unbowed is the thorough way in which it explains the six years of expulsions, imprisonments and movements of the Polish population during WWII.
Throughoutyears of conversing with my inlaws and relatives, I found the story getting more complicated every year, One large group of Poles were sent to Russia and then arrived in North America via Iran, India or Africa, Another large group was conscripted into forced labour in Germany, Others spent time with the British Army in Palestine, Italy and France, At least half the immigrants in North America, will tell you that theirfamily had lived for many generations in the Ukraine, Lithuania or Belarus before being transported to Silesia.
To Kochanski's great credit she is able to explain why and how all these myriad migrations occurred
Also of value to the reader with partisan ffeelings, Kochanski also analyzes all the major controversies of Polish history during WWII showing where the Poles are the victims of gross calumny and, at the same time, where the criticisms possess a certain legitimacy.
Specifically, Kochanski examines the following hot issues,
the failure of France and England to wage war against Germany after the invasion of Poland in
the legend of Polish cavalry attacking German tanks
the reasons why Britain and United States chose to participate in the coverup of the Katyn Forest massacre
the conspiracy theory on the death of wartime Polish Prime Minister Sikorski
the reasons why the doomed Warsaw Uprising was started
the reasons why the Western Allies provided so little military and diplomatic assistance to the Warsaw uprising
the alleged failure of the Polish underground to assist the Warsaw ghetto uprising
the extent of Polish involvement in the Endlosung
the ethnic cleansing of Poles conducted by other national groups in the Eastern territories
the Pogrom of Kielce
Armed with Kochanski's analysis, reader feeling a loyalty to Poland knows where the Polish actions can be justified and where some contrition is appropriate.
The Eagle Unbowed is indeed a useful book for someone wishing to defend the record of Poles during WWII because it also deters specious defences of Polish actions where the justification is lacking.

Recently published here in the UK and soon to be followed in the USA, This is a big mighty tome and worth its weight in gold, This is a very comprehensive history of Poland and her people during the WW, She pulls no punches when she brings in the September Campaign and then how the Soviet joined the war in support of Nazi Germany and how they divided the country between them.
This book examines all parts of Polish history and shines lights in to the darker parts some people would prefer not to mention,

I recently used it as part of a source for reference while writing an overview on aspects of Polish war events and this was a valuable source of information.
The book is not for the faint hearted as it is delves into the past,

If you want to know why those of Poles do not really consider that the war ended inbutthen read this book, If you are interested in all aspects of Eastern Europe and WWthis book is a must buy, History everyone should know

An amazing story told soberly and without sensation about a country and a people that were brutalised, used and then left for dead.
Important book for people that are interested not only in modern history, but humanity's ability for good and horrible evil In my work on the Brute Polak stereotype, I attempt to explain why so many otherwise Politically Correct people, who find stereotyping of African Americans, homosexuals, and women to be utterly beyond the pale, feel free to engage in the most egregious stereotyping of Poles.
One justification for antiPolish stereotyping: "Poles have not suffered, " Others have suffered, and they must be shielded from verbal assault, Poles, on the other hand, have not suffered, and deserve no such protection,

Poles have not suffered: that anyone could say this, never mind as an excuse for stereotyping, demonstrates that Poles have not adequately communicated their story on college campuses, in literature, through museums or in the political arena.
In addition, there are pressures against Poles speaking the truth, In, a week before the Nazi blitzkrieg in Poland, Hitler stated, "I put ready my Death's Head units, with the order to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of the Polish race or language.
" I was once told that I could not include that quote in a scholarly work if I wished to see my work published, Referencing Polish suffering, I was told, would be interpreted as an attempt to minimize Jewish suffering,

According to the Harvard University Press webpage, in "'The Eagle Unbowed,' Halik Kochanski tells, for the first time, the story of Polands war in its entirety.
" It's been a long wait, but now that Kochanski's book is here, one thing is clear: if the word "genocide" cannot be applied to Poland during World War II, then the word "genocide" has no meaning.


The sadism and suffering recorded in these pages is overwhelming, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia invaded Poland in September,, Both intended to erase Poland, Both explicitly stated as much, Both Germany and Russia had, for hundreds of years, tried to erase Poland, Both performed genocidal acts, including mass murder of noncombatant civilians, mass murder of political, religions, cultural, and military leaders, targeting children for persecution, outlawing education, outlawing Polish language, focused attempts to erase Polish culture, mass deportations, enslavement, and resettlement of former Polish territory with nonPoles.
Both had clear and plausible plans for the ultimate elimination of Poland and Polishness the German was named Generalplan Ost,

Polish priests in Dachau concentration camp Polish professors in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp Polish military officers mass murdered by the Soviets in Katyn Polish children kidnapped by Nazis some to be raised as Nazis, some to be gassed Polish children starved to death in the Soviet Gulag Polish villages destroyed by the Nazis Polish villagers massacred by Soviet partisans Polish villagers massacred by Ukrainians Polish museums, factories, forests, libraries, artworks, burned, bombed, despoiled, crated up and carted away Poland abandoned and betrayed by her allies France, England, and America: If the word "genocide" cannot be applied to this, the word "genocide" has no meaning.
It does not belittle others' suffering to state that Poland was a victim of genocide during World War II, It demeans humanity to refuse to say so,

We've read bits and pieces of this history in other volumes, If Harvard's advertising is correct, this is the first Englishlanguage overview of WW II in Poland, It is the first such book I have read, Even though I am familiar with this history, reading it all in one sitting is an emotional and spiritual challenge,

Kochanski's style is brisk and nononsense, She covers a massive amount of material addressing diplomacy, military maneuvers, espionage, torture in the most efficient manner possible, She does not linger over the heartbreaking aspect of her narrative, She does select quotes that do the work of bringing to brief life the emotional impact of massive human evil, These quotes flame out on the page, and, like lit matchsticks, go out quickly, as we return to the forced march through hell, At times, Kochanski's text can be dry, This is especially true of the opening chapters that hurry the reader through a necessary introduction to Polish history, Even when discussing highly contested material, such as the role of Polish nonJews in the Nazi genocide of Jews, Kochanski is dispassionate and quick, This book will never be a bestseller, but anyone who has any interest in Poland owes it to himself to read it, indeed, to soldier through it.


I am not a historian, and I am not qualified to assess this massive amount of data, I have read professional reviews of "The Eagle Unbowed" and been positively impressed, I've also read two critical reviews of the book, one by Antony Polonsky, the other by John Connelly, Polonsky praises the book on its handling of military history and the Second Polish Republic, Polonsky cites errors of fact, errors that could easily be corrected in subsequent editions, Polonsky faults the book for not citing recent work by Barbara Engelking, Andrzej Zbikowski and Jan Grabowski, including work that depicts PolishJewish relations during World War II in a less favorable light.


In his Decemberreview of "The Eagle Unbowed" in The Nation, John Connelly mimes a tone of forced befuddlement, He doesn't understand how Poles can be sometimes stereotyped as noble, and, at other times,

as base scum, Connelly would benefit from reading "Bieganski, The Brute Polak Stereotype, " Ironically, Connelly chastises Kochanski for not being aware of current scholarship, This current scholarship, Connelly writes, demonstrates that Poles, inspired by their own antiSemitism, collaborated with Nazis in the Final Solution, He also criticizes Kochanski for citing antiCommunism as the cause of Polish hostility to Jews, for example, in territory often occupied by the Soviets, In sum, Connelly writes, Kochanski is to be faulted because the Polish viewpoint prevails in her book,

No doubt historians will debate whether or not Kochanski is too soft on, or underrepresents, Polish antiSemitism, and whether or not the book is representational.
I am not an historian, and I can only watch from the sidelines of such a debate, No matter the outcome, the book as it stands now is one that must be read by anyone who wants to talk about Poland during WW II.

Most people usually remember the brutality of DDay, the miracle at Dunkirk and the notoriety of the Japanese attack on Pearl Habour when speaking about World War II.
Most of the time, we see the war from the Western, more specifically the British and American perspectives, Seldom do we concern ourselves with the plight and misery of the one country that lost one fifth of the prewar population and even its sovereignty after the war despite fighting alongside the Allies from the beginning until the very end Poland.
Halik Kochanskis The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War chronicles and deconstructs in details how Polands rebirth after the First World War left her surrounded by hostile neighbours, how Britain and France failed to come to Polands help despite having guaranteed military actions against any German military advances on Polish soils, the devastation and suffering inflicted upon Poland and its people by the policies of two of the most diabolical regimes, how the Poles contributed to the allied war efforts against the Nazi war machine, most notably during the Battle of Britain and how Poland was left alone and abandoned, with the connivance of Churchill and Roosevelt, at the mercy of Stalin after the war.
This book thoroughly examines how and why the Poles felt completely betrayed by the Allies, And most importantly, the inconvenient truth buried underneath the popular myth advocated by the West that the Second World War was a good war, Yes, it was to most countries liberated by the Allies but to the Poles, it was never a good war, only a war that they lost twice “The end of the war did not bring liberation to the Poles.
In the battlegrounds of Central Europe, it simply meant swapping one form of evil for another, Hitlers henchmen for Stalins, ”.