Poland & Czechiat
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1st of March 6th National «cursed of May soldiers» Liberation of Pilsen Remembrance Day th 8th 24 of May of March Liberation Day National Day for the Remembrance of Warsaw, 1939, refugees and soldier Pilsen liberation Poles Rescuing Jews NETHERLANDS under Nazi German Key events & commemorations events Key Newday Offices Occupation Key events & commemorations events Key Jansbuitensingel 30 History - Poland History History - Czechia History 6811 AE, Arnhem, NL 8th +31 (0)85-3309090 of May Victory Day BELGIUM Rue de Stassart 131 1050 Brussels, BE th 12 +32 (0) 485 136 833 of July Day of Struggle and liberationroute.com Martyrdom of the Polish Villages JURRIAAN DE MOL, Director Netherlands st [email protected] 1 The Second World War began with the +31 (0) 6 54388386 of August During the Second World War, Czechia National invasion of Poland in September 1939. JOËL STOPPELS, Warsaw Uprising was part of Czechoslovakia which was Project manager Remembrance Day The country was attacked and occupied one of the first countries to fall prey to [email protected] by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Nazi Germany and one of the last to be +31 (0) 6 36 33 53 70 Union. Both occupying powers immediately liberated. established ruthless regimes that were Several minority groups were present in the The Liberation Route Europe has been a responsible for the deaths of countless Polish “Cultural Route of the Council of Europe” citizens and especially Polish Jews. On paper, country including a large German speaking since 2019 Poland ended the war as one of the victors. In minority in a region called the Sudetenland. reality, as a result of the war, Poland lost half Hitler used the presence of this group as of its territory and its freedom. an excuse to take over the area in 1938. To prevent war, France and Britain did not intervene. In March 1939 Germany occupied PARTNERS & SPONSORS the rest of the country. Czechoslovakia was liberated in May 1945. TOUR & TRAVEL GUIDE TRAVEL & TOUR POLAND & CZECHIA POLAND CZECHIA Krakow and Pilsen Małopolska From 1939 until the end of the war Małopolska, with its capital Krakow, the region of Pilsen was occupied was captured during the massive by Nazi Germany. winter offensive which ended with During the war several thousand Jews were the liberation of the western half of deported from Pilsen to concentration and Poland by the Red Army in January extermination camps. By May 1945 it was 1945. clear that Nazi Germany was going to lose the war. In several places in Czechoslovakia During the advance, on 28 January, soldiers the local population rose up against the of the Soviet 100th Rifle Division liberated occupying forces. This also happened in the the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, city of Pilsen on 5 May. The next day U.S. End of the war in Gdańsk Auschwitz aerial view the largest concentration and death camp forces reached the city and the German Pilsen - May 6, 1945 established by Nazi Germany. Soon after forces surrendered. FROM SICILY TO PILSEN TO SICILY FROM the liberation the Soviet Union used the Patton George General General Patton abandoned camp to incarcerate persons Warsaw Ghetto Uprising accused of collaborating with the German troops. POLAND POLAND Danuta Siedzikówna alias ‘Inka’ (1928-1946) Gdańsk and the Warsaw Since 1990, the City of Pilsen celebrates the General George Patton took part in the Liberation of experienced the horrors of both the German and the anniversary of its liberation by the U.S. Army with a Europe on many theatres of war, from 1943 to the end outbreak of WWII and Mazovia Soviet occupation of her home country. special event. of the war. First, he led the troops of the 7th US Army in the landings in Sicily. On 1 September 1939 the German The Polish capital of Warsaw At the age of 15, she joined the Home Army, the Polish Every year in early May, people from all over the world battleship Schleswig-Holstein suffered greatly during the Second armed resistance movement, and she started working as a He was removed from his post for hitting several shell- get to Pilsen to celebrate its liberation. Veterans are the medical orderly. In June 1945, Danuta was arrested by the shocked soldiers, but later on, in July 1944, Patton’s Third opened fire on the Westerplatte World War. protagonists of the celebrations, although their number is communist security service, but was soon liberated Army sailed to Normandy and formed the extreme right in Gdańsk. getting smaller as time passes. The Liberation Festival’s main The heavy fighting during the German alias ‘Inka’ by Polish partisans. In the following year, while acting flank of the Allied land forces. Patton and his troops engaged features are the parade of historical military These shots are regarded as the first shots invasion, two uprisings, and the liberation as a courier, she was arrested and sent to prison. As in the liberation of Alsace, in the Battle of the Bulge in the vehicles, wreath laying ceremonies at the of the Second World War. After forty days of in early 1945 destroyed much of the city she refused to give the names of her contacts in the Ardennes and subsequently crossed the Rhine and moved WWII memorials in the city and discussions fighting the Poles were defeated. After the and cost the lives of countless soldiers resistance, she was sentenced to death, which came to the heartland of Germany and Austria. A last stop was with veterans, along with other events that war this battle became an important symbol and civilians. Furthermore, the Polish less than a week before her eighteenth birthday. Only Pilsen. The Third Army led by Patton entered the Czech city involve the whole town. of Polish resistance. In the 1970s and 1980s population did not experience the arrival of in recent years she was rehabilitated, her body was on 6 May 1945, shortly before the end of WWII in Europe. the Red Army as a liberation, but rather as Gdańsk would again become the scene Danuta Siedzikówna recovered and given a state burial, and a monument Pilsen honours and remembers General Patton and the Third of resistance in the form of the Solidarity another occupation. It would take until 1989 alias ‘Inka’ was dedicated to her in the city of Gda ńsk. Army with a memorial and museum, which tells the story of Danuta Siedzikówna Siedzikówna Danuta before Poland regained its freedom. Liberation Festival in Pilsen vintage military Movement, which heavily contributed to the parade Convoy of Liberty © City of Pilsen the liberation of the city through gear and equipment of the end of the communist rule and to restore time and war relics left behind by US soldiers, and with other Polish independence. Pilsen Festival Liberation monuments around the city. Gdańsk and the outbreak of WWII 5 4 1 1 2 4 2 Museum of the Second World War Museum of Gdańsk GDANSK ― muzeum1939.pl GDANSK ― muzeumgdansk.pl 3 4 The Cemetery of 6 Polish Post Museum the Defenders of Westerplatte 3 GDANSK ― poczta-polska.pl GDANSK 3 1 2 2 5 Westerplatte 6 Museum of Coastal Defense GDANSK HEL ― helmuzeum.pl 1 Warsaw and Mazovia Pilsen 1 2 Warsaw Uprising Monument Warsaw Rising Museum WARSAW WARSAW ― 1943.pl 5 1 2 3 Soviet military cemetery Warsaw 4 Warsaw Ghetto Museum «Thank You, America!» Memorial Patton Memorial Pilsen WARSAW WARSAW ― 1943.pl PILSEN PILSEN ― patton-memorial.cz 5 Museum Treblinka death camp 3 16th Armored Division Memorial 4 2nd Infantry Division Memorial TREBLINKA ―muzeumtreblinka.eu PILSEN PILSEN 3 6 Krakow and Małopolska 5 2 2 1 2 3 Oskar Schindler Factory Home Army Museum 1 KRAKOW ― muzeumkrakowa.pl KRAKOW ― muzeum-ak.pl 1 2 4 1 3 3 4 3 4 Eagle’s pharmacy KRAKOW ― muzeumkrakowa.pl Auschwitz Birkenau OSWIEÇIM ― www.auschwitz.org State Museum at Majdanek Museum of the Former Death 5 concentration camp 6 Camp in Sobibór MAJDANEK ― majdanek.eu SOBIBÓR ― sobibor-memorial.eu Other (CZ) Other (PL) 1 2 1 2 Lidice memorial Terezin Memorial - Ghetto Museum Wolf’s Lair Museum of Stutthof GIERŁOŻ ― wilczyszaniec.olsztyn.lasy.gov.pl SZTUTOWO ― stutthof.org LIDICE ― lidice-memorial.cz TEREZIN ― pamatnik-terezin.cz National Monument to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror 3 Radogoszcz Prison 3 PRAGUE ― vhu.cz/muzea/ostatni-expozice/ memorial and Museum krypta/ LODZ ― muzeumtradycji.pl.