One of the starting points of the Hungarian Revolution in the same year was actually a solidarity protest held for the Polish workers, at the statue of Józef Bem, who was a Polish freedom fighter fighting for both countries' independence in the 19th century. Polak, Wegier, dwa bratanki
5:53 The factory itself was known as ZiSPO at that time, being a short for "Zakłady Imienia Stalina - Poznań", or "Factory of [named after] Stalin - Poznan". Before 1949, when this name was imposed, the factory was, and is known today, as HCP - named after its founder Hipolit Cegielski, Polish enterpreneur, teacher, writer and social activist of the 19th century. The name HCP (Hipolit Cegielski - Poznań) was reintroduced on 1 November 1956, four months after the uprising. The street along which the protesters marched towards the city center, previously named after Felix Dzerzhynski (much like Rokossovsky, an ethnic Pole), was renamed "28th of June 1956 Street" in 1990. 6:09 - actually the administrative building in question (the Voivodeship Comittee of the Communist Party building) is located next to the Imperial Castle, on the opposite side of Kościuszki Str. I used to have classes there, and our lectures were held in the same hall as the Party meetings - I kid you not, when I first entered it six years ago not much have changed there since June 1956, you could literally just slap a Lenin's portrait and some Communist slogan on the wall and you could shoot Cold War documentaries there. There is a secret passage behind the main tribune, which, if our teachers were not pulling jokes on us, was built after 1956 to allow the evacuation of the Party members in case protesters stormed the building again. Why I was having classes there is also an interesting very late-Cold War tale: in 1990 a group of students from the Independent Students Association (NZS) occupied the building, after rumors started spreading that the Communist Party will be spreading their possessions and real estate among its successors to avoid giving it up to the new government. The students demanded that the party reveals its true assets and that the building is donated to Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM) in Poznań. The occupation of the building was succesful, and it was transfered to UAM's Faculty of History; renamed Collegium Historicum, it was its seat until 2015, when the Faculty was moved to Morasko Campus north of the city center. 7:05 - this area (Adam Mickiewicz Square) is now occupied by the Monument of June 1956 Victims, aka the Poznań Crosses, unveiled in 1981 for the 25th anniversary of the protests. In December of that year, hardline Communists under gen. Jaruzelski imposed martial law on Poland, and the crosses became a symbol of struggle between the Polish population and the Communist government; often, demonstrations were held under them, and people clashed with the militia forces. Since then, the dates of other anti-Communist protests and events were added (1968, 1970, 1976, 1980 and 1981). Of a side note, the two roads which intersected on the right side of the image (you cannot see them because of the crowd) also reflect the Soviet rule over Poland in that period: at that time, and in fact till 1989, these streets were renamed by the Communist government to Red Army Street (now Święty Marcin) and Stalingrad Alley (now Independence Alley, running between the buildings in the background). 7:26 - the radio jamming device was thrown off the roof of Social Insurance Institute (pl. ZUS) on Dąbrowskiego Str. in the Jeżyce district, where most of the violence took place. I live about two minutes walking distance from it, as well as the prison which was stormed by the protesters in 1956. 7:54 - the fraternisation of the Polish Army's soldiers, militiamen, and the protesters led to severe changes in the organisation of the Polish Civil Militia (MO)*, because it was poorly trained and it did not even have proper weaponry to disperse a crowd - the militiamen in Poznań were given wooden table legs because they weren't even issued rubber batons, seen by the Communist government as a symbol of a pre-war, capitalist State Police. After 1956, the Security Service (SB) was subordinated to the Civil Militia, which led to a steady worsening of Militia's image among general population: now MO and SB wore the same uniforms, so nobody could tell them apart. Moreover, the MO was finally equipped with riot shields and the aforementioned batons, and the infamous ZOMO (Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej - MO's Motorised Reserves) was formed specifically for "riot control" (with brute force). These formations were almost universally hated by the Polish population, with the ironic nickname "the beating heart of the party" ("bijące serce partii", where the adjective "bijące", much like in English, can mean both "beating [heart]" and "beating [someone]") being one of the less contemptous and vulgar; many of its former members are ostracized to this day, and some who were involved in the killings of workers in Gdynia, Gdańsk and Silesia in 1970s and 1980s, were formally accused of crimes against Polish nation (e.g. for firing at the miners of Wujek Coal Mine in 1981). *unlike the police, the Civil Militia was more militarized in nature, because in its early years one of its tasks was the aforementioned supression of anti-Soviet forces in Poland, such as the Polish Cursed Soldiers, remnants of fascist fighters, or Ukrainian nationalists in south-eastern Poland. Therefore it was equipped with heavy weaponry such as submachine guns, machine pistols, heavy machine guns and armoured personnel carriers that are more typical of a regular army rather than police force (unless you live in the US, that is). The Civil Militia was reformed in State Police in 1990s, and therefore a lot of said weaponry and anti-partisan duties were taken away from it. 8:57 - perhaps the most famous victim of Poznan June of 1956 was a 13 year old boy Romek Strzałkowski, who was captured during the protests and shot dead by a female Security Service officer in one of the militia garages next to the police station. His death was never properly investigated by the Communist authorities, and his parents were forced to remain silent about their son's death. Currently one of the streets in the Jeżyce district is named after him, and also one of the adjacent alleyways is named after Peter Mansfeld, a boy who fought in the Hungarian Uprising in October 1956, was captured and tortured by the Hungarian secret police, and held in prison for two years before his execution, because the Hungarian law did not allow for sentencing a minor to death, so they hanged him as soon as he turned 18. 12:40 - one interesting developement in that period was that gen. Jan Frey-Bielecki of the Polish Air and Air Defence Force ordered a secret aerial reconaissance of the Soviet troop movement in the Kaliningrad Oblast (bordering north-eastern Poland) during the June 1956 protests, and allegadly (although this one is from a rather dubious source) ordered the Polish Air Force to attack Soviet armoured column should it actually turn towards Warsaw in October of that year. Though a Communist himself, who took part in supression of the anti-Soviet underground, Frey-Bielecki was also a reformer, and the first Polish commander of the post-war PolAF (previously the position was held by a Soviet officer). He was removed from his office in 1963, in part because of his rebellious attitude: after the Soviet Union broke the agreement to give Poland a licence to produce the MiG-21 supersonic fighter locally, he ordered to research a possibility to acquire Swedish Saab J-35 Draken fighters instead, which would be the first time a Warsaw Pact member bought a non-Soviet or non-locally produced military equippment. 13:26 - true to the traditional Polish-Hungarian friendship, the Poles had sent over 2 mln dollars worth of material support for the Hungarian insurgents, of which 44 tonnes were ferried by air, and over 11,2 thousand Poles volunteered to donate blood for the injured Hungarians; Posnanians themselves donated 21 tonnes of various goods (food, medicine, clothing etc.), as well as 1 mln Polish zloty of financial aid. In 2013, the assistance received by Hungarians was commemorated with a monument at the Poznan Main Station, built by a Hungarian company TriGranit.
Also, with the anti-German resistance in the 19th century, 1918-1919 Greater Poland Uprising, the anti-Nazi actions during the war, June 1956 and later anti-Communist events, the anti-ACTA protests in 2012 and now one of the largest opposition centers to the current government, I think you can see why Poznań is known as "the Rebel City".
Thank you for this very detailed addition to the video. By the way I have heard rumors that on June 29th a group of Soviet tanks was mobilized and moved from the Red Army base near the city of Legnica (Legnitz) towards Poznan. By the account of witness, T-34 with Red Stars passed through Rawicz, Leszno, Kościan and stopped in Czempiń as the situation stabilized. However I cannot find any confirmation on that besides the accounts of witness of those days.
The quote was then updated 12 years later: "We were standing over the abyss, but we made a big step forward...and the abyss has taken two big steps forward." LOL
Also: Cyrankiewicz: Any lunatic who raises his hand against the people's government can be sure that the people's government will chop this hand off! Some worker when Cyrankiewicz was unveiling a monument and he took the scissors to cut the ribbon: Oi, don't chop your hand off!
Polak, Węgier - dwa bratanki, i do szabli, i do szklanki, oba zuchy, oba żwawi, niech im Pan Bóg błogosławi. Lengyel, magyar - két jó barát, együtt harcol, s issza borát. Vitéz s bátor mindkettője, Áldás szálljon mindkettőre. Pozdrowienia i serdecznosci
I was surprised at how the Soviets eventually dealt with this situation. I was expecting violent repression. But not this. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.
A great video as always, but I would like to point out, that Gomułka was not in fact a leader of a nationalist faction within the Polish communist party. He declared himself as an internationalist through and through and although he was often accused of a "right - wing deviation" (and spent some time in jail because of these accusations), when he got back into office, he was openly hostile towards any manifestations of nationalist sentiments. It was not until the 60's when a nationalist faction truly emerged in PZPR (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza - United Polish Workers' Party) under the leadership of Mieczysław Moczar. And while they declared loyalty towards Gomułka, they covertly tried to replace him with someone else. It also needs to be said, that they were directly responsible for persecutions against Jewish people in Poland in 1968, which led to mass emigration. Poland lost many intellectuals, scientists, engineers and so forth due to antisemitic tensions caused by communist nationalists. Just to clarify, I'm not trying to defend Gomułka, he's not remembered fondly in Poland, yet I felt I had to address certain statements which I found not 100% correct. Other than that - I'm looking forward to another video, cheers!
He was definitely a nationalist type compared to others, you forget the scale Nationalist doesn’t mean moczar or the nsz only He made changes wrt the AK, made changes to some naming things, coal export back payments are arguably nationalist etc Also he was antisemtiic around the end of ww2
Hey channel the cold war. I would love if you can make a video about the escape of Ioan Pacepa, the right hand of Ceausescu, he spied for washimgton bucharest and moscow and I want to see a video made in deep as you do :)
Actually, it is not a topic of the Cold War since this event concerns only the domestic social and polytical development of the USSR. It is not about the West vs East standoff.
@@ivarkich1543 It still was an interesting event. Soviet automobiles weren't crucial for the east west clash but was an interesting topic which made a video
There was some interesting footage of Poznan around the 5 minute mark that appeared quite a bit like the city today. Maybe the buildings are a bit more spruced up a bit now, but the shapes of the buildings didn't seem to have changed much around the Rynek from when these were taken. As an expat, much appreciated the introduction to our northern neighbor's post-war history...
I pay homage to some 70 bave people from Poznań, including a 13 years old boy Romek Strzałkowski, who sacrificed their lives for a free and democratic Poland. In Poznań there an interesting museum dedicated to the 1956 Uprising and an impressive monument called "the Poznań Crosses" unveiled thanks to Solidarity movement in 1981 to commemorate the 25th anniversary. The inscription on the monument says that the people of Poznań were fighting for religious freedom, liberty, respect of law and bread.
Ah, socialism with a human face. It was best summed up by a great Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert, who's quote I'll try to translate: "Socialism with a human face is an unbearable phantom to me. If there exists a monster, then it should have a face of a monster. I simply cannot stand such hybrids, I flee the room through the window, screaming."
@Red Baron Mickiewicz died in 1855, so he didn't have an opportunity to see how the system failed every time it was introduced. The very idea of justice and equality sounds nice at first, but what you get is an oppressive state trying to control every aspect of your life, but what's even worse is that it demoralizes people living under it, as since everything is a common property, noone really cares about anything. No matter how hard or how little you work, you'll get just as much. That reminds me of Poland and probably other socialist countries of the 1980s- everything was falling apart, corruption was common and accepted by everyone, plus unless you knew someone working at the shop, you couldn't get anything other than vinegar. The greyish absurdity of that time was reflected in Stanisław Bareja's films such as "Miś" (teddy bear) or "Nie lubię poniedziałków" (I don't like mondays).
@@arthurpozner7701 Because it's Poznań and has always been Poznań. It was only changed to Posen when the Germans colonized the area after the partitions.
Thank you for your wonderful work 👍 I knew ZERO about Poznan and only heard of Hungry and Czechoslovakia. I always thought that Poland somehow was too quiet during that time yet they were the first to break free🤔
Too be fair Poland indeed was more quiet for long time, Soviets have quite a grip on party elites, so Poland - country bigger than Hungary or Czechoslovakia - for most time have government ready to crush any opposition, and people separated enough to prevent revolution of national magnitude. But in the end long rich Polish tradition of rebellions take over, and when Soviet block start to crumble Polish people were first to truly capitalize on that opportunity
It was actually Gomułka coming to power in Poland that calmed the situation down. The so-called Polish October 1956 saw major political liberalization and was the impetus for the events in Hungary in October of 1956.
Thanks for this episode. Poznań June is often being forgotten. Much love from Poland! Also loved how basically every name staring with Poznań and "Obywatelska" was butchered. That was kinda cute.
I wouldn't say 'butchered', the accent was off, but nearly all of the sounds were more or less ok. For the standards of foreigners speaking Polish (or jus saying Polish words) it's like a 9/10. 😉
@@---uf2zl Footage from the 1956 Poznan uprising is not easy to find in quantity to fill up even a 15 minute documentary. For instance, footage of the 1943 Warsaw Uprising appears to illustrate not only the original event (which is mentioned during the buildup), but also during the discussion of th fighting in Poznan. But I have to agree with the OP: surely, The Cold War channel could have obtained a photocopy of a pertinent newspaper page from any large public library in Poland.
It's just an exemplary illustration, it's not that easy to get a good image of such a newspaper (i.e. in a resolution good enough for a 1080p TH-cam film) from the precise time period, especially if you can't just drive to Raczynski Library at the Freedom Square and ask if they happen to have a copy.
I have never heard of this in any of my textbooks. I thought I had heard bits and pieces about everything. But replacing Russian bureaucrats with Polish ones; canceling Polish debt to Soviet Russia; ending collectivization; relaxing censorship; and relaxing repression of the Catholic Church. Woah. I got that solidarity joke at the end.
I remember there was a pre 1989 Polish tv series that was broadcasted on Channel4 UK. I think it was set in pre 1914, either during the 1890's or 1900's, most probably Krakow (Austria-Hungary) or Poznan (German Empire). It was a family drama revolved around around a middle income professional family.
Now there's a long street in Poznań named ‘28 czerwca 1956 roku‘ which I think is a bad name for a street. Something like ‘Poznańskiego Czerwca’ would be better.
@@mateusz.dobrowolski Sawant for one (I live next to Seattle, it is easy to find one or more), but if you have been looking on the news there is a lost of people speaking out in support for Internationalist Socacialism. Their cause is to tear down the old system to make the new world order.
2:53 This edition of "Trybuna Ludu" is from 1971 not from 1956. Both refer to plenums of Polish Communist Party which choose new 1st Secretary after massacres of protestants by Police and Army and by coincidence both had number VIII. You could ask however someone who speaks Polish or at least check the date.
Funny thing is that great many Poles never heard of Poznan or Hungarian events at the time. My older relatives didn't found out about it until mid 1970s when underground press copied articles from emigration press.
Każdy prowokator czy szaleniec, który odważy się podnieść rękę przeciw władzy ludowej, niech będzie pewny, że mu tę rękę władza ludowa odrąbie, w interesie klasy robotniczej, w interesie chłopstwa pracującego i inteligencji, w interesie walki o podwyższenie stopy życiowej ludności, w interesie dalszej demokratyzacji naszego życia, w interesie naszej Ojczyzny. ~ Cyrankiewicz, 1956
Don't forget about the Plzeň uprising of 1953. Plus the many mini uprisings throughout the Baltic states where a guerrilla army waged sabotage against Soviet authorities.
You use videos from different historic events (from Warsaw Uprising 1944 through de Gaulle's visit in Poland in 1967 to Gierek era) to tell the story of June 1956 in Poland !!!
It's in the nature of these events (in the 50s, behind the Iron Curtain, anti-government protests) that there simply _is_ close to no actual footage of the uprising itself, and even official propaganda material (like Bierut visiting some factory or whatever) is hard to come by in internet-usable form.
The same organizers of that revolt opposed the introduction of Bolshevism in Poland and were arrested by the Communists. So much for a "people's government".
@@tariqnasneed3857 they where peoples government. The oldest polish political party that exists to this day is Polish People Party and is agrarian and centre-mild right wing. People's gov doesn't mean communism, they are actually opposites
@@krbnn I know that, I am stating that Communists have no right to try to use the suppression of a political movement by another regime as leverage when they suppressed the very same movement.
Not related to the video, but will the channel ever cover Rhodesia, and the Bush War? Not much is taught about the former nation, since it has been incorrectly branded as an Ethnostate. I would love to see the channel cover it, since Rhodesia held off two different Communist Armies, that were both funded through different Communist nations. Just an idea for a video. Also love the channel.
Polish people: *goes protest* Pro-Soviet Polish Government: Hey Khrushchev I need your help there! Can you help me to clean them up?! Khrushchev: Sure! I'll do it. Clean all of the mess without the trace, boys! Soviet Army: Leaving to us! *AK47 loading sound* Khrushchev: Oh btw. Don't forget to bring our new tanks there!
Poland must continue to stand up against Russian interference like it always did. For human rights, freedom of press and the rule of law! Those are the pillars of the proud polish nation, standing for Europe against the totalitarians in Moscow!
Our government is as anti Russian as it can be. So much that's a bit unhealthy. Thing that I think you are concerned about and heavily influence Polish politic of recent years is something else. Big love for Catholic church and it's doctrine, (a bit irronic for religion of love and peace) is biggest threat to human rights in Poland. There is nothing Russian in our government. In contrary that's what we get when one of the biggest opposition to this rule take all the power in the country, and turn into, in my opinion, extreme.
4:18 I don't know what do you mean by saying society in this context but Polish Society had never been looking neither towards Stalin nor Soviet Union in general with godlike reverence. In contrary, everything what's Russian-Soviet was despised which is far away even from sympathy as far as I know English. But Let's assume you had regime rulers in mind, right?
2:55 front page of the communists mouthpiece "Trybuna Ludu" dated: Feb 1971 ( 15 years after Poznan riots !!) totally irrelevant to the interesting topic anyway.
Important factor to note is the fact that Poznań is in Western Poland, citizens there were used to rule of law and "ordnung" of ex-Prussian occupation. For them soviet rule and Russian mindset was shock!
We, in Poland had 3 parties for whole communism time: Polish United Workers' Party = the main one = typical communism party , and two satellite: Democratic Party (party of citizens of big cities, educated people, like doctors, engineers etc.) and United People's Party (party of farmers). As I'm from Poznań I like video very much.
Pretty good, also those events helped to spark Hungarian uprising during which Poles were supporting Hungarians and sending them supplies including blood donations.
Pretty solid summary of the topic. The only criticism I can think of is that the video footage was a bit random, especially showing some footage from the the Warsaw Uprising, not only when briefly mentioning it at the beginning of the video, but even when actually describing the events in 1956.
2:02 I don't know if you noticed while doing the research but Rokossovsky was from Poland and his father was from Polish nobility.He was also tortured during Great Purge due to his polish origin.Just because he is a soviet citizen doesn't mean he is russian.
He didnt mean that he was russian though, that is your assumption. He meant that since he is a soviet citizen his alligience was to moscow not to poland despite some genetic ties.
There is a famous quotation of Rokossowski when he was leaving Poland in 1956. "It is funny. I will remain a Russian in the eyes of the Poles, but for the Russians I am Polish."
Amnesty for the Home Army was a great move. What could go wrong? And more freedom for the Catholic church, that gave Nazi war criminals aid and comfort, brilliant move!
Plus, Gomulka used a Polish tendency to scapegoat the Jews and blame them for the revolt. A wave of antisemitism ensued and tens of thousands of Jews were forced out of the country.
Yes, Poles did not love Jews, but "anti-sionist purge of 1968" ironically happened because Poles chose to sympathise with the Jews out of spite against the communists. 1968 events started over Polish public protests against the expulsion of a Jewish student from university for "subversive" activity and concurrent events in the middle east (where the Eastern Bloc supported Arabs against Israel, so a lot of Poles sympathised with Israel out of spite) + there was a long divide in the Polish United Workers Party between "Partisans" (who spent the war in Poland, mostly Poles) and "Muscovites" (who sat through it in USSR and arrived behind the Red Army, in significant part Jews). Gomuła sided with the "partizans". Purging all "Zionists" would obviously sit better with the Kremlin than selectively purging "those guys suspiciously too close with Moscow", so as to make it look convenient it's the authorities that started and maintained anti-jewish histeria, not shared by the masses.
'We stated, as if it was a statement that no historian had ever said before' Learn to pronounce Poznan. I'm sure you can find someone from there in Toronto.
He wasn't Russian, but he was Soviet. He was much more Soviet than Polish. Nationality is tricky thing in eastern Europe, and communism didn't help with that. You could be in the same time, Ukrainian, Belarussian, Russian, Lithuanian, Polish, Jewish and German, depending on who you ask.
Poznan was Posen just 11 years before that ... most of the Polish people there were Poles driven out from Eastern Poland taking over the homes of the Germans. To this day Polish people West of the old German border vote differently than people to the East. The old German border is clearly visible on today's election maps.
That is particularly true but not quite. Unlike Breslau (now Wrocław) or Stettin (Szczecin) or even Danzig/Gdańsk, Poznań was a Polish city in every meaning of the word for the overwhelming majority of its history. It was under the Prussian/German rule only in the periods of 1793-1807, 1815-1918 and of course when it was under the occupation during the WW2 (directly incorporated into the Reich). Despite the policies of Germanisation enacted in those periods it reminded majority Polish. It was a centre of several Polish national uprisings, the most significant in 1918-1919, being the most successful of all the Polish uprisings.
For almost all of its history Poznań was Polish (966-1793, 1807-1815, 1918-1939, 1945- now). Even after partitions it was majority Polish territory (as shown by the german census of 1910, in which city of Posen was 57% Polish and 42% German, and the whole Province of Posen 61% Polish and 38% German).
Poznan was established by Poland and was Polish for majority of its history. At the end of XVIII c. it was lost to Prussian occupation until the end of WW1 (1918) and the Greater Poland Uprising against the Germans (1918-19) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Poland_uprising_(1918-19). Today's election maps that resemble partition borders are just coincidence that derives from internal administrative borders in Poland. Out of hundreds of maps some will resemble the partition borders.
Why are you writing such nonsense? Poznań, the capital of the Wielkopolska region, is the cradle of the Polish nation and Polish statehood. Moreover! It was the Germans who in ww2 era stole Polish homes and property, and drove Poles out to expulsion murdering so many of them. Really I don't know why you write such toxic comments that have nothing to do with historical facts.
Thank you for this. It would have been nice if you have drawn a parallel to what happened in the USSR in 1962, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novocherkassk_massacre
One of the starting points of the Hungarian Revolution in the same year was actually a solidarity protest held for the Polish workers, at the statue of Józef Bem, who was a Polish freedom fighter fighting for both countries' independence in the 19th century.
Polak, Wegier, dwa bratanki
5:53 The factory itself was known as ZiSPO at that time, being a short for "Zakłady Imienia Stalina - Poznań", or "Factory of [named after] Stalin - Poznan". Before 1949, when this name was imposed, the factory was, and is known today, as HCP - named after its founder Hipolit Cegielski, Polish enterpreneur, teacher, writer and social activist of the 19th century. The name HCP (Hipolit Cegielski - Poznań) was reintroduced on 1 November 1956, four months after the uprising. The street along which the protesters marched towards the city center, previously named after Felix Dzerzhynski (much like Rokossovsky, an ethnic Pole), was renamed "28th of June 1956 Street" in 1990.
6:09 - actually the administrative building in question (the Voivodeship Comittee of the Communist Party building) is located next to the Imperial Castle, on the opposite side of Kościuszki Str. I used to have classes there, and our lectures were held in the same hall as the Party meetings - I kid you not, when I first entered it six years ago not much have changed there since June 1956, you could literally just slap a Lenin's portrait and some Communist slogan on the wall and you could shoot Cold War documentaries there. There is a secret passage behind the main tribune, which, if our teachers were not pulling jokes on us, was built after 1956 to allow the evacuation of the Party members in case protesters stormed the building again.
Why I was having classes there is also an interesting very late-Cold War tale: in 1990 a group of students from the Independent Students Association (NZS) occupied the building, after rumors started spreading that the Communist Party will be spreading their possessions and real estate among its successors to avoid giving it up to the new government. The students demanded that the party reveals its true assets and that the building is donated to Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM) in Poznań. The occupation of the building was succesful, and it was transfered to UAM's Faculty of History; renamed Collegium Historicum, it was its seat until 2015, when the Faculty was moved to Morasko Campus north of the city center.
7:05 - this area (Adam Mickiewicz Square) is now occupied by the Monument of June 1956 Victims, aka the Poznań Crosses, unveiled in 1981 for the 25th anniversary of the protests. In December of that year, hardline Communists under gen. Jaruzelski imposed martial law on Poland, and the crosses became a symbol of struggle between the Polish population and the Communist government; often, demonstrations were held under them, and people clashed with the militia forces. Since then, the dates of other anti-Communist protests and events were added (1968, 1970, 1976, 1980 and 1981).
Of a side note, the two roads which intersected on the right side of the image (you cannot see them because of the crowd) also reflect the Soviet rule over Poland in that period: at that time, and in fact till 1989, these streets were renamed by the Communist government to Red Army Street (now Święty Marcin) and Stalingrad Alley (now Independence Alley, running between the buildings in the background).
7:26 - the radio jamming device was thrown off the roof of Social Insurance Institute (pl. ZUS) on Dąbrowskiego Str. in the Jeżyce district, where most of the violence took place. I live about two minutes walking distance from it, as well as the prison which was stormed by the protesters in 1956.
7:54 - the fraternisation of the Polish Army's soldiers, militiamen, and the protesters led to severe changes in the organisation of the Polish Civil Militia (MO)*, because it was poorly trained and it did not even have proper weaponry to disperse a crowd - the militiamen in Poznań were given wooden table legs because they weren't even issued rubber batons, seen by the Communist government as a symbol of a pre-war, capitalist State Police. After 1956, the Security Service (SB) was subordinated to the Civil Militia, which led to a steady worsening of Militia's image among general population: now MO and SB wore the same uniforms, so nobody could tell them apart.
Moreover, the MO was finally equipped with riot shields and the aforementioned batons, and the infamous ZOMO (Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej - MO's Motorised Reserves) was formed specifically for "riot control" (with brute force). These formations were almost universally hated by the Polish population, with the ironic nickname "the beating heart of the party" ("bijące serce partii", where the adjective "bijące", much like in English, can mean both "beating [heart]" and "beating [someone]") being one of the less contemptous and vulgar; many of its former members are ostracized to this day, and some who were involved in the killings of workers in Gdynia, Gdańsk and Silesia in 1970s and 1980s, were formally accused of crimes against Polish nation (e.g. for firing at the miners of Wujek Coal Mine in 1981).
*unlike the police, the Civil Militia was more militarized in nature, because in its early years one of its tasks was the aforementioned supression of anti-Soviet forces in Poland, such as the Polish Cursed Soldiers, remnants of fascist fighters, or Ukrainian nationalists in south-eastern Poland. Therefore it was equipped with heavy weaponry such as submachine guns, machine pistols, heavy machine guns and armoured personnel carriers that are more typical of a regular army rather than police force (unless you live in the US, that is). The Civil Militia was reformed in State Police in 1990s, and therefore a lot of said weaponry and anti-partisan duties were taken away from it.
8:57 - perhaps the most famous victim of Poznan June of 1956 was a 13 year old boy Romek Strzałkowski, who was captured during the protests and shot dead by a female Security Service officer in one of the militia garages next to the police station. His death was never properly investigated by the Communist authorities, and his parents were forced to remain silent about their son's death. Currently one of the streets in the Jeżyce district is named after him, and also one of the adjacent alleyways is named after Peter Mansfeld, a boy who fought in the Hungarian Uprising in October 1956, was captured and tortured by the Hungarian secret police, and held in prison for two years before his execution, because the Hungarian law did not allow for sentencing a minor to death, so they hanged him as soon as he turned 18.
12:40 - one interesting developement in that period was that gen. Jan Frey-Bielecki of the Polish Air and Air Defence Force ordered a secret aerial reconaissance of the Soviet troop movement in the Kaliningrad Oblast (bordering north-eastern Poland) during the June 1956 protests, and allegadly (although this one is from a rather dubious source) ordered the Polish Air Force to attack Soviet armoured column should it actually turn towards Warsaw in October of that year. Though a Communist himself, who took part in supression of the anti-Soviet underground, Frey-Bielecki was also a reformer, and the first Polish commander of the post-war PolAF (previously the position was held by a Soviet officer).
He was removed from his office in 1963, in part because of his rebellious attitude: after the Soviet Union broke the agreement to give Poland a licence to produce the MiG-21 supersonic fighter locally, he ordered to research a possibility to acquire Swedish Saab J-35 Draken fighters instead, which would be the first time a Warsaw Pact member bought a non-Soviet or non-locally produced military equippment.
13:26 - true to the traditional Polish-Hungarian friendship, the Poles had sent over 2 mln dollars worth of material support for the Hungarian insurgents, of which 44 tonnes were ferried by air, and over 11,2 thousand Poles volunteered to donate blood for the injured Hungarians; Posnanians themselves donated 21 tonnes of various goods (food, medicine, clothing etc.), as well as 1 mln Polish zloty of financial aid. In 2013, the assistance received by Hungarians was commemorated with a monument at the Poznan Main Station, built by a Hungarian company TriGranit.
Also, with the anti-German resistance in the 19th century, 1918-1919 Greater Poland Uprising, the anti-Nazi actions during the war, June 1956 and later anti-Communist events, the anti-ACTA protests in 2012 and now one of the largest opposition centers to the current government, I think you can see why Poznań is known as "the Rebel City".
Thank you for this very detailed addition to the video.
By the way I have heard rumors that on June 29th a group of Soviet tanks was mobilized and moved from the Red Army base near the city of Legnica (Legnitz) towards Poznan. By the account of witness, T-34 with Red Stars passed through Rawicz, Leszno, Kościan and stopped in Czempiń as the situation stabilized. However I cannot find any confirmation on that besides the accounts of witness of those days.
Thank you for the extra information!
gomułka famous quote: "we were standing over the abyss, but we made a big step forward!"
:D
The quote was then updated 12 years later: "We were standing over the abyss, but we made a big step forward...and the abyss has taken two big steps forward." LOL
Also:
Cyrankiewicz: Any lunatic who raises his hand against the people's government can be sure that the people's government will chop this hand off!
Some worker when Cyrankiewicz was unveiling a monument and he took the scissors to cut the ribbon: Oi, don't chop your hand off!
@peter michalski Yes, trólly they are "Enemies of the People" lol...
Is that a Ameran based “a Polish Joke” !!
@peter michalski Wow you loonies really are everywhere huh
I'm a simple Hungarian I see Poland I hit like. Much love and respect to Poland from Hungary.
Polak, Węgier - dwa bratanki,
i do szabli, i do szklanki, oba zuchy, oba żwawi, niech im Pan Bóg błogosławi. Lengyel, magyar - két jó barát, együtt harcol, s issza borát. Vitéz s bátor mindkettője,
Áldás szálljon mindkettőre. Pozdrowienia i serdecznosci
“Have solidarity with us”
I see what you did there.
I was surprised at how the Soviets eventually dealt with this situation. I was expecting violent repression. But not this. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.
Well it was the local government that did it technically
Aside from those killed.
I am from Poznan and I feel thankful for this video :)
A great video as always, but I would like to point out, that Gomułka was not in fact a leader of a nationalist faction within the Polish communist party. He declared himself as an internationalist through and through and although he was often accused of a "right - wing deviation" (and spent some time in jail because of these accusations), when he got back into office, he was openly hostile towards any manifestations of nationalist sentiments.
It was not until the 60's when a nationalist faction truly emerged in PZPR (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza - United Polish Workers' Party) under the leadership of Mieczysław Moczar. And while they declared loyalty towards Gomułka, they covertly tried to replace him with someone else. It also needs to be said, that they were directly responsible for persecutions against Jewish people in Poland in 1968, which led to mass emigration. Poland lost many intellectuals, scientists, engineers and so forth due to antisemitic tensions caused by communist nationalists.
Just to clarify, I'm not trying to defend Gomułka, he's not remembered fondly in Poland, yet I felt I had to address certain statements which I found not 100% correct.
Other than that - I'm looking forward to another video, cheers!
He was definitely a nationalist type compared to others, you forget the scale
Nationalist doesn’t mean moczar or the nsz only
He made changes wrt the AK, made changes to some naming things, coal export back payments are arguably nationalist etc
Also he was antisemtiic around the end of ww2
I'm working right now, I *could be* working, but nah, I'll watch this instead!
That little Solidarność teaser at the end :)
Rokkosovski was known to have bitterly said "In Russia I'm known as a Pole, in Poland they call me Russian."
Hey channel the cold war. I would love if you can make a video about the escape of Ioan Pacepa, the right hand of Ceausescu, he spied for washimgton bucharest and moscow and I want to see a video made in deep as you do :)
Nice. When you can, cover the pro-Stalinist protests in the Georgian SSR.
Actually, it is not a topic of the Cold War since this event concerns only the domestic social and polytical development of the USSR. It is not about the West vs East standoff.
@@ivarkich1543 random uprisings in the soviet bloc aren't about the west vs east standoff either so why not cover it?
@@ivarkich1543 It still was an interesting event. Soviet automobiles weren't crucial for the east west clash but was an interesting topic which made a video
There was some interesting footage of Poznan around the 5 minute mark that appeared quite a bit like the city today. Maybe the buildings are a bit more spruced up a bit now, but the shapes of the buildings didn't seem to have changed much around the Rynek from when these were taken. As an expat, much appreciated the introduction to our northern neighbor's post-war history...
I pay homage to some 70 bave people from Poznań, including a 13 years old boy Romek Strzałkowski, who sacrificed their lives for a free and democratic Poland. In Poznań there an interesting museum dedicated to the 1956 Uprising and an impressive monument called "the Poznań Crosses" unveiled thanks to Solidarity movement in 1981 to commemorate the 25th anniversary. The inscription on the monument says that the people of Poznań were fighting for religious freedom, liberty, respect of law and bread.
The system will create its own Stalin.
So true today. Look at China..........
It's almost prophetic considering how Gomulka ends up.
and yet so many people are trying to make that system as they believe it will "correct" the injustices against them.
Ah, socialism with a human face. It was best summed up by a great Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert, who's quote I'll try to translate: "Socialism with a human face is an unbearable phantom to me. If there exists a monster, then it should have a face of a monster. I simply cannot stand such hybrids, I flee the room through the window, screaming."
If he thinks that he’s a fool, enemy of your enemy isn’t always your ally. Don’t go AnCap because of Russian imperialism
@@abandonedchannel281 what? whats ancap?
@@oaples8790 Anarcho Capitalism.
@Red Baron Mickiewicz died in 1855, so he didn't have an opportunity to see how the system failed every time it was introduced. The very idea of justice and equality sounds nice at first, but what you get is an oppressive state trying to control every aspect of your life, but what's even worse is that it demoralizes people living under it, as since everything is a common property, noone really cares about anything. No matter how hard or how little you work, you'll get just as much. That reminds me of Poland and probably other socialist countries of the 1980s- everything was falling apart, corruption was common and accepted by everyone, plus unless you knew someone working at the shop, you couldn't get anything other than vinegar. The greyish absurdity of that time was reflected in Stanisław Bareja's films such as "Miś" (teddy bear) or "Nie lubię poniedziałków" (I don't like mondays).
@Stephen Jenkins Friendly reminder that you lack basic political knowledge
Last time i was somewhere this early Poznań was changed to Posen, then Poznań, then Posen, then Poznań again.
What's the problem ? It's still the same country.
@@arthurpozner7701 Because it's Poznań and has always been Poznań. It was only changed to Posen when the Germans colonized the area after the partitions.
"Now it's Istanbul, now it's Constantinople; now it's Istanbul, now it's Constantinople ..."
« The Great Moustache » killed me! XD
Same here. Never heard that before but I love it.
The Great Moustache also killed 20 million others. More than the Weak Moustache.
Thank you for your wonderful work 👍 I knew ZERO about Poznan and only heard of Hungry and Czechoslovakia. I always thought that Poland somehow was too quiet during that time yet they were the first to break free🤔
Too be fair Poland indeed was more quiet for long time, Soviets have quite a grip on party elites, so Poland - country bigger than Hungary or Czechoslovakia - for most time have government ready to crush any opposition, and people separated enough to prevent revolution of national magnitude. But in the end long rich Polish tradition of rebellions take over, and when Soviet block start to crumble Polish people were first to truly capitalize on that opportunity
Uprisings occur not when tyranny is at its height, but when they loosen their grip. The lesson there is rather terrifying.
Poland kind of calmed down when they saw what was going on in hungary.
It was actually Gomułka coming to power in Poland that calmed the situation down. The so-called Polish October 1956 saw major political liberalization and was the impetus for the events in Hungary in October of 1956.
Really love this channel, it deserves way more subscribers. Please do a video on the India - China war of 1962.
Thanks for this episode. Poznań June is often being forgotten. Much love from Poland!
Also loved how basically every name staring with Poznań and "Obywatelska" was butchered. That was kinda cute.
I wouldn't say 'butchered', the accent was off, but nearly all of the sounds were more or less ok. For the standards of foreigners speaking Polish (or jus saying Polish words) it's like a 9/10. 😉
@@Artur_M. I agree. It was valiant effort. But canadian guy vs. polish language is foregone conclusion.
The newspaper "Trybuna Ludu" presented in the video (2:53) is from the year 1971. Not relevant for the 1956 Poznan uprising.
I think they're having trouble finding actual historical footage for every event. But ty for poiting out.
@@---uf2zl Footage from the 1956 Poznan uprising is not easy to find in quantity to fill up even a 15 minute documentary. For instance, footage of the 1943 Warsaw Uprising appears to illustrate not only the original event (which is mentioned during the buildup), but also during the discussion of th fighting in Poznan. But I have to agree with the OP: surely, The Cold War channel could have obtained a photocopy of a pertinent newspaper page from any large public library in Poland.
It's just an exemplary illustration, it's not that easy to get a good image of such a newspaper (i.e. in a resolution good enough for a 1080p TH-cam film) from the precise time period, especially if you can't just drive to Raczynski Library at the Freedom Square and ask if they happen to have a copy.
Eeeee - that newspaper was from 1971 not from 1956.
I have never heard of this in any of my textbooks. I thought I had heard bits and pieces about everything. But replacing Russian bureaucrats with Polish ones; canceling Polish debt to Soviet Russia; ending collectivization; relaxing censorship; and relaxing repression of the Catholic Church. Woah. I got that solidarity joke at the end.
I remember there was a pre 1989 Polish tv series that was broadcasted on Channel4 UK. I think it was set in pre 1914, either during the 1890's or 1900's, most probably Krakow (Austria-Hungary) or Poznan (German Empire). It was a family drama revolved around around a middle income professional family.
Hungarian revolution please
Poland is not yet lost.
Now there's a long street in Poznań named ‘28 czerwca 1956 roku‘ which I think is a bad name for a street. Something like ‘Poznańskiego Czerwca’ would be better.
4:00 and yet some people still want to resurrect it, either because they believe Stalin is a myth, or that they could be the next Stalin.
Like who?
@@mateusz.dobrowolski Sawant for one (I live next to Seattle, it is easy to find one or more), but if you have been looking on the news there is a lost of people speaking out in support for Internationalist Socacialism. Their cause is to tear down the old system to make the new world order.
Good episode. But why the hell there are Warsaw Uprising videos while you speaking about fights in Poznań???
Stalin's mustache AND an Obi Wan quote in the same episode??? Epic.
2:53 This edition of "Trybuna Ludu" is from 1971 not from 1956. Both refer to plenums of Polish Communist Party which choose new 1st Secretary after massacres of protestants by Police and Army and by coincidence both had number VIII. You could ask however someone who speaks Polish or at least check the date.
Stalin died but his mustache lives on
I can't remember uprisings in Eastern Bloc under him.
@@user-pf3kv4bv5s en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Insurgent_Army
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goryani
Charlie Chaplin still has a more iconic mustache. :^)
Funny thing is that great many Poles never heard of Poznan or Hungarian events at the time. My older relatives didn't found out about it until mid 1970s when underground press copied articles from emigration press.
14:20 I see what you did there.
Damn, wanted to make this comment myself lol
I like this set better than the new one
only thing i knew about the polish uprising was that Hungarians held a memorial protest and that kickstarted the hungarian uprising
@Főfasírozó kinda reminds me of the "current" protests in America
@@loganmacgyver2625 how so?
I was in Poznan 10 days ago
Lovely city
Good video. Kudos for "milicja obywatelska". If I was a English native I would just go with "Citizen's Militia" :P
You should cover Comecon.
Każdy prowokator czy szaleniec, który odważy się podnieść rękę przeciw władzy ludowej, niech będzie pewny, że mu tę rękę władza ludowa odrąbie, w interesie klasy robotniczej, w interesie chłopstwa pracującego i inteligencji, w interesie walki o podwyższenie stopy życiowej ludności, w interesie dalszej demokratyzacji naszego życia, w interesie naszej Ojczyzny.
~ Cyrankiewicz, 1956
Don't forget about the Plzeň uprising of 1953. Plus the many mini uprisings throughout the Baltic states where a guerrilla army waged sabotage against Soviet authorities.
Poznan is such a beautiful City 🌃.
Thanks for providing subtitles. Polish words are difficult to grasp in a speech in English.
Way more informative than the 1956 Museum
You use videos from different historic events (from Warsaw Uprising 1944 through de Gaulle's visit in Poland in 1967 to Gierek era) to tell the story of June 1956 in Poland !!!
It's in the nature of these events (in the 50s, behind the Iron Curtain, anti-government protests) that there simply _is_ close to no actual footage of the uprising itself, and even official propaganda material (like Bierut visiting some factory or whatever) is hard to come by in internet-usable form.
Cool video, Can you make Peasant Revolts in 1937 in Poland Against the government?
The same organizers of that revolt opposed the introduction of Bolshevism in Poland and were arrested by the Communists. So much for a "people's government".
@@tariqnasneed3857 they where peoples government. The oldest polish political party that exists to this day is Polish People Party and is agrarian and centre-mild right wing. People's gov doesn't mean communism, they are actually opposites
@@krbnn
I know that, I am stating that Communists have no right to try to use the suppression of a political movement by another regime as leverage when they suppressed the very same movement.
David, what's the story with that coffee mug?
Left over from Biopreparat...not to be consumed.
The question is who was behind the rumour of arresting the delegation.
Not related to the video, but will the channel ever cover Rhodesia, and the Bush War? Not much is taught about the former nation, since it has been incorrectly branded as an Ethnostate. I would love to see the channel cover it, since Rhodesia held off two different Communist Armies, that were both funded through different Communist nations. Just an idea for a video. Also love the channel.
We will be talking about the Bush War, but it likely won't be for a bit!
@@TheColdWarTV I'm sure it will be great and professional, just like your other videos.
Polish people: *goes protest*
Pro-Soviet Polish Government: Hey Khrushchev I need your help there! Can you help me to clean them up?!
Khrushchev: Sure! I'll do it. Clean all of the mess without the trace, boys!
Soviet Army: Leaving to us! *AK47 loading sound*
Khrushchev: Oh btw. Don't forget to bring our new tanks there!
4:08 Fewer statements could have more truth in them than this one.
is that a real coffee on his table? or just a prop?
Hey I live in Poznan
one month before my mother was born in poznan
1:15 You forgot to mention the joint Soviet - Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939.
Poland must continue to stand up against Russian interference like it always did. For human rights, freedom of press and the rule of law! Those are the pillars of the proud polish nation, standing for Europe against the totalitarians in Moscow!
Our government is as anti Russian as it can be. So much that's a bit unhealthy. Thing that I think you are concerned about and heavily influence Polish politic of recent years is something else. Big love for Catholic church and it's doctrine, (a bit irronic for religion of love and peace) is biggest threat to human rights in Poland. There is nothing Russian in our government. In contrary that's what we get when one of the biggest opposition to this rule take all the power in the country, and turn into, in my opinion, extreme.
These people were actually oppressed.
4:18 I don't know what do you mean by saying society in this context but Polish Society had never been looking neither towards Stalin nor Soviet Union in general with godlike reverence. In contrary, everything what's Russian-Soviet was despised which is far away even from sympathy as far as I know English. But Let's assume you had regime rulers in mind, right?
You forgot to mention that the protesters even managed to steal a tank
Poland seems to be an interesting story.
The great mustache 😂
oby-vat-el-ska would be correct. The yel sounds a bit too russian.
I am not happy with mixings photos from different moments of Polish history.
2:55 front page of the communists mouthpiece "Trybuna Ludu" dated: Feb 1971 ( 15 years after Poznan riots !!) totally irrelevant to the interesting topic anyway.
Important factor to note is the fact that Poznań is in Western Poland, citizens there were used to rule of law and "ordnung" of ex-Prussian occupation. For them soviet rule and Russian mindset was shock!
We, in Poland had 3 parties for whole communism time: Polish United Workers' Party = the main one = typical communism party , and two satellite: Democratic Party (party of citizens of big cities, educated people, like doctors, engineers etc.) and United People's Party (party of farmers). As I'm from Poznań I like video very much.
Any Polish people? What did you think?
Pretty good, also those events helped to spark Hungarian uprising during which Poles were supporting Hungarians and sending them supplies including blood donations.
Pretty solid summary of the topic. The only criticism I can think of is that the video footage was a bit random, especially showing some footage from the the Warsaw Uprising, not only when briefly mentioning it at the beginning of the video, but even when actually describing the events in 1956.
It was very good, but i musy say that newspaper shown here was released on 1971, not on 1956 ;)
0:40 "Some of the Comic-con nations" Are you telling me Communist nations were big on comic conventions?
TV:Tropes. "Tell Me What Happened To The Soviet Union, Do Not Lie To Me."
Polska Zawsze!
2:02 I don't know if you noticed while doing the research but Rokossovsky was from Poland and his father was from Polish nobility.He was also tortured during Great Purge due to his polish origin.Just because he is a soviet citizen doesn't mean he is russian.
He didnt mean that he was russian though, that is your assumption.
He meant that since he is a soviet citizen his alligience was to moscow not to poland despite some genetic ties.
There is a famous quotation of Rokossowski when he was leaving Poland in 1956.
"It is funny. I will remain a Russian in the eyes of the Poles, but for the Russians I am Polish."
@@Surowykomentator welcome to Stalin's russia
Forgotten city uprising against oppressive communist government in Poland. Poznan 1956 !!!!
Will David Introduce the Prague Spring 1968 🇨🇿 or Tiananmen Square Massacre 1989 🇨🇳 in this Channel ?
Amnesty for the Home Army was a great move. What could go wrong? And more freedom for the Catholic church, that gave Nazi war criminals aid and comfort, brilliant move!
I want to know your opinion why the Soviets failed.
👍
"Stalin is not the issue, the issue is the socialist governance, which inevitably causes Stalins."
Ocupation ended in 1994 - last russian soldiers left garrisons in Poland.
*Killed by a speech*, epic!😂
Tone
The Great Mustache. 🤣🤣🤣
Plus, Gomulka used a Polish tendency to scapegoat the Jews and blame them for the revolt. A wave of antisemitism ensued and tens of thousands of Jews were forced out of the country.
Yes, Poles did not love Jews, but "anti-sionist purge of 1968" ironically happened because Poles chose to sympathise with the Jews out of spite against the communists.
1968 events started over Polish public protests against the expulsion of a Jewish student from university for "subversive" activity and concurrent events in the middle east (where the Eastern Bloc supported Arabs against Israel, so a lot of Poles sympathised with Israel out of spite) + there was a long divide in the Polish United Workers Party between "Partisans" (who spent the war in Poland, mostly Poles) and "Muscovites" (who sat through it in USSR and arrived behind the Red Army, in significant part Jews). Gomuła sided with the "partizans". Purging all "Zionists" would obviously sit better with the Kremlin than selectively purging "those guys suspiciously too close with Moscow", so as to make it look convenient it's the authorities that started and maintained anti-jewish histeria, not shared by the masses.
Those Poles * tsk * * tsk *
'We stated, as if it was a statement that no historian had ever said before'
Learn to pronounce Poznan. I'm sure you can find someone from there in Toronto.
You have to work on you Polish pronunciation!! It hurt my ears 👂 ,!!!
mam z tego zadanie domowe lmao
Did you do well?
@@Spacemongerr yes i do
Rokossovsky wasn't Russian.... he was Polish....
He wasn't Russian, but he was Soviet. He was much more Soviet than Polish. Nationality is tricky thing in eastern Europe, and communism didn't help with that. You could be in the same time, Ukrainian, Belarussian, Russian, Lithuanian, Polish, Jewish and German, depending on who you ask.
He was Russian of Polish descent
Hoping to see on this channel all the atrocities committed by the americans and other western powers during the cold war
Stalin lives!
Stop yammering and give me history!
Poznan was Posen just 11 years before that ... most of the Polish people there were Poles driven out from Eastern Poland taking over the homes of the Germans. To this day Polish people West of the old German border vote differently than people to the East. The old German border is clearly visible on today's election maps.
Poznań was Polish since 1918, not 1945...
That is particularly true but not quite. Unlike Breslau (now Wrocław) or Stettin (Szczecin) or even Danzig/Gdańsk, Poznań was a Polish city in every meaning of the word for the overwhelming majority of its history. It was under the Prussian/German rule only in the periods of 1793-1807, 1815-1918 and of course when it was under the occupation during the WW2 (directly incorporated into the Reich). Despite the policies of Germanisation enacted in those periods it reminded majority Polish. It was a centre of several Polish national uprisings, the most significant in 1918-1919, being the most successful of all the Polish uprisings.
For almost all of its history Poznań was Polish (966-1793, 1807-1815, 1918-1939, 1945- now). Even after partitions it was majority Polish territory (as shown by the german census of 1910, in which city of Posen was 57% Polish and 42% German, and the whole Province of Posen 61% Polish and 38% German).
Poznan was established by Poland and was Polish for majority of its history. At the end of XVIII c. it was lost to Prussian occupation until the end of WW1 (1918) and the Greater Poland Uprising against the Germans (1918-19) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Poland_uprising_(1918-19).
Today's election maps that resemble partition borders are just coincidence that derives from internal administrative borders in Poland. Out of hundreds of maps some will resemble the partition borders.
Why are you writing such nonsense?
Poznań, the capital of the Wielkopolska region, is the cradle of the Polish nation and Polish statehood.
Moreover! It was the Germans who in ww2 era stole Polish homes and property, and drove Poles out to expulsion murdering so many of them.
Really I don't know why you write such toxic comments that have nothing to do with historical facts.
Thank you for this. It would have been nice if you have drawn a parallel to what happened in the USSR in 1962, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novocherkassk_massacre