Marek Tadeusz Nowakowski,
born 01.04.1926 r. in Warsaw
2nd Lieutenant (wartime commission), Home Army
nom de guerre "Abba"
Protection unit of the Home Army Air Force Command - Lawa's company
POW No. 102331
Insurgents' accounts of the Uprising
Wartime memories of Marek Tadeusz Nowakowski - a soldier of Lawa's unit
WORLD WAR II - CHRONOLOGY
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THE AUGUST PROLOGUE
1939
AUGUST THE OUTBRAK OF WAR OCCUPATION I OCCUPATION II 1940 OCCUPATION III ROK 1941 O C C U P A T I O N IV 1942 OCCUPATION V 1943 OCCUPATION VI 1944
Aug 24 - Thursday
.. - Preparations against air raids; an air raid drill is carried out at about 3 p.m.;
.. - The Mayor of Warsaw, Stefan Starzynski, appeals to Varsovians for volunteering to dig air raid trenches.
Aug 25 - Friday
.. - The digging of trenches begins. Varsovians volunteer in thousands;
.. - The signing of British guarantees for Poland;
.. - The Prime Minister calls all civil service officers on leave back to work;
.. - The Schleswig-Holstein, a German battleship, arrives in Gdansk harbour;
Aug 26 - Wednesday
.. - It is announced that the beginning of the new school year will be delayed;
.. - My father comes back from Zegiestow;
Aug 28 - Monday
.. - Mayor Starzynski appeals to the public for the second time asking for intensified effort to dig air raid shelters;
Aug 29 - Tuesday
.. - The first mobilisation;
Aug 30 - Wednesday
.. - The second mobilisation;
Aug 31- Thursday
.. - The last day of peace;
SEPTEMBER
Sep 01 - Friday
.. - The outbreak of war; bombs fall at Okecie airport;
.. - My father reports to Mayor Starzynski and starts going to work every day;
.. - We secure window panes with paper tape and test blackout curtains;
Sep 02 - Saturday
.. - Additional mobilisation;
Sep 03 - Sunday
- The outskirts of Warsaw are bombed several times...;
- Zosia comes from Karczmiska;
Sep 04 - Monday
.. - The first transports of wounded reach Warsaw, as well as the refugees from the western and northern parts of the country;
.. - Mum quits work to be with us. Her bosses have left Warsaw. She has been paid in advance her quarterly salary;
.. - Engineer Szymanski shows up...;
.. - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of War are evacuated;
Sep 05 - Tuesday
.. - The president, the government, and all central government institutions are evacuated eastward;
.. - Warnings against sabotagists can be heard on the radio and found in the press;
.. - Col. Jezierski suggests that we should evacuate;
Sep 06 - Wednesday
.. - Some of the Warsaw officials are evacuated;
.. - The Government Commissioner, some officials, high ranking police and fire department officers leave the city;
.. - Col. Umiastowski issues an appeal to young men to leave the city in an eastward direction;
.. - In the evening Col. Umiastowski appeals for building barricades in the streets;
Sep 07 - Thursday
.. - Umiastowski's appeal to young men is recalled in the afternoon;
.. - It is announced that Warsaw will be defended. Gen. Czuma gives an address to Varsovians;
.. - The building of barricades begins on the city's periphery;
.. - Lt. Lukaszewicz shows up;
.. - We are ordered to leave home: the first line of the city's defence is to be very near;
.. - Westerplatte surrenders;
Sep 08 - Friday
.. - We move to the Graviets who have a house in the Professors' Colony neighbourhood, inhabited mostly by the professors of Warsaw Technical University, in Gornoslaska Street;
.. - German units reach the outskirts of Warsaw...;
.. - In the evening German artillery starts bombarding the city;
Sep 09 - Saturday
.. - The Germans attack from the south-west;
.. - Volunteers are drafted to the armed units defending the capital;
.. - Many people who have left Warsaw are now returning to the city;
.. - The remnants of Lodz Army arrive at Warsaw;
Sep 10 - Sunday
.. - The air bombing and artillery fire are becomming heavier;
.. - Mayor Starzynski gives an address to Warsaw citizens;
Sep 12 - Tuesday
.. - We move to the Lalewicz's place at Gornoslaska Street;
Sep 16 - Saturday
.. - The Germans drop fliers demanding the surrender of Warsaw and threatening with heavy air bombing in the case of resistance;
Sep 17 - Sunday
.. - The government escapes to Romania;
.. - city is on fire - the Royal Castle, the Philharmonic and the Sejm are burning;
.. - The bolshevik troops are said to have crossed the Polish boarder;
Sep 18 - Monday
.. - The air bombing and artillery bombardment are becomming heavier;
Sep 19 - Tuesday
.. - The Germans drop fliers again calling for surrender;
Sep 20 - Wednesday
.. - Pomerania Army and Poznan Army commanded by Gen. Kutrzeba surrender;
.. - We hear some disturbing news from the east;
Sep 21 - Thursday
.. - Mr. Lukaszewicz comes by and leaves my father a rifle and ammunition so that he can defend us against bandits, who prowl the city;
Sep 22 - Friday
.. - The air and artillery bombardment are becomming heavier;
Sep 23 - Saturday
.. - The Steinhagen's house is hit by a bomb;
Sep 24 - Sunday
.. - Water and electricity are cut off;
.. - A soldier turns up to loot and plunder;
Sep 25 - Monday
.. - The Germans drop fliers in which they threaten that they will held the citizens 'collectively responsibile' if the defense is prolonged;
Sep 26 - Tuesday
.. - Extremely heavy bombings and artillery fire;
Sep 27 - Wednesday
.. - An armistice is declared;
Sep 28 - Thursday
.. - At 1 p.m. the act of surrender is signed;
.. - My father and Stasia go to our home;
Sep 29 - Friday
.. - We move to Polna Street;
.. - People start wandering around in search of their relatives and a place to live;br>
.. - Mr Lukaszewicz pays us a visit in the afternoon. He says that the Germans allowed the officers from the east of Poland to choose Russian or German captivity. Initially, he opted for becoming a POW of the Soviets, but then he thought better of it;
Sep 30 - Saturday
.. - German troops enter the city;
OCTOBER
Oct 01 - Sunday
.. - My father reports to the city hall, and is instructed to reactivate the Committee for City Development, which he presided over before the war;
.. - Mayor Starzynski publishes an appeal in Wspolna Gazeta (The Common Newspaper);
Oct 02 - Monday
.. - The Germans tear down the presidential flag which has been flying on top of the Royal Castle's steeple;
Oct 2 - 7 (Monday - Saturday)
.. - The hostages are arrested;
Oct 05 - Thursday
.. - Hitler visits Warsaw. There is a military parade in Aleje Ujazdowskie Street;
.. - We learn that Gen. Sikorski has formed a new Polish government;
Oct 09 - Monday
.. - The Polish newspaper published jointly by the editorial staff of several pre-war titles is forced to close down;
Oct 08 - Sunday
.. - Hitler issues a decree on the division and administration of Polish territory;
Oct 11 - Wednesday
.. - The first issue of Nowy Kurier Warszawski (The New Warsaw Courier) is published. The newspaper soon earns the nickname 'the rag' among the populace;
Oct 12 - Thursday
.. - Hitler issues a decree establishing the General Government on the part of Polish territory that has not been incorporated to the Reich, with Hans Frank as its Governor-General;
.. - Everyone who can afford it has the windows in their shops and houses fitted with new glass. Whoever can do the job earns a living as a glazier;
Oct 15 - Sunday
.. - Secondary schools open. Stanislaw Staszic Secondary School is now housed in the Romtaler's building and the classes meet in the afternoons;
.. - There are announcements issued about executions by firing squad carried out on the people who were found to be in possession of firearms;
Oct 17 - Tuesday
.. - Poznan Voivodeship, Silesia and Pomerania are officially incorporated into the Third Reich;
.. - Germans hang posters with the slogan 'England! Your Doing!';
Oct 18 - Wednesday
.. - The first tram line linking Wilson's Square and Krasinskis's Suqare is reactivated. Several other lines are reopened in the following days, but the progress in bringing the tram network back to life is very slow;
Oct 26 - Thursday
.. - Mayor Starzynski is arrested by the Gestapo in his city hall office;
Oct 27 - Friday
.. - The New Warsaw Courier informs about the establishment of the General Government on the Polish territory under German occupation, with Cracow as its capital and Hans Frank as the Governor General;
.. - Governor Fisher takes over the administration of Warsaw;
.. - There is an ordinance issued ordering all weapons and radio receivers to be handed over to the police;
.. - The stores of coal have run out. The supplies from Silesia are suspended;
.. - Water starts running from taps again, but only from the ones in courtyards and flats up to the 4th floor. Now and again, however, water is cut off for some time;
Oct 29 - Sunday
.. - There is an ordinance issued ordering all officers who have served on active duty in the last war to report to local authorities;
.. - By the order of Hitler Warsaw is not to be reconstructed, and the Royal Castle is to be destroyed. German military engineers bore holes in the walls for placing explosives;
.. - Germans issue an ordinance which rules that all printed publications have to be approved by the German Office of Propaganda;
.. - The War between the Soviet Union and Finnalnd brakes out;
Oct 31 - Tuesday
.. - On All Souls Day Warsaw looks like a cemetery. Candles burn in front of ruined houses where dead people are still buried under the rubble, in city squares and everywhere else where the graves of the dead are;
NOVEMBER
Nov 01 - Thursday
.. - All Saints Day - the day of the dead city;
Nov 03 - Friday
.. - For the first time Germans officially announce that a number of people found guilty of sabotage, i.e., tearing posters 'England! Your doing!' off the walls, were executed;
.. - News is spread that Mr Raczkiewicz was appointed president and Gen. Sikorski prime minister and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Gen. Sosnkowski, in turn, was appointed commander of the armed forces in the country;
Nov 09 - Thursday
.. - My father is arrested. Luckily, he is released on the same day. He was to be one of the hostages Germans wanted to gather before the Day of Polish Independance on 11 November in order to make sure that there would be no disturbances;
.. - Germans evict the residents of several houses in the city centre in order to make room for new German occupants;
.. - The Employment Agency whose task is to register the unemployed is created by Germans;
.. - First trams return to the streets. Most streets are already passable after the remains of barricades and rubble have been removed;
.. - Graves in squares, parks, courtyards are being exhumed;
Nov 15 - Wednesday
.. - Germans close down all secondary schools except for vocational ones;
.. - Work is made compulsory for everyone between 18 and 60 years of age. Young people who do not continue their education fall under the work obligation at the age of 16. Work is compulsory for Jews between 14 and 60 years of age;
.. - We have running water again. Tap water is available up to the sixth floor;
.. - Germans introduce compulsory vaccinations against typhoid fever;
.. - My father, as an official of the city authorities, has to submit the Aryan questionnaire providing information on the religious affiliation of his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. My mother also has to fill in the questionnaire. Luckily, they manage to gather all necessary documents;
Nov 22 - Wednesday
.. - Water and electricity is available almost everywhere in the city. The streets are for the most part cleared of the rubble;
.. - The first executions are carried out in the Gardens of the Sejm and in Kampinos Forest;
.. - The Winter War between Finnland and the Soviet Union brakes out;
.. - Curfew hours are changed. The curfew is now imposed after 8 p.m. instead of 7 p.m.;
Nov 23 - Thursday
.. - The tram line in Marszalkowska Street is reopened between Krolewska Street and Zbawiciela Square;
Nov 28 - Tuesday
.. - Germans start demolishing burnt out buildings - mainly those in Marszalkowska, Nowy Swiat and Aleje Jerozolimskie streets;
.. - Germans impose a 300 thousand zloty fine on the Jewish community after a group of Jewish workers refused to work and resisted the police. The 'perpetrators' were executed regardless;
Nov 30 - Wedsnday
.. - By the order of Governor Fisher all Jews are to wear armbands with the Star of David symbol;
.. - More and more Jews from the whole voivodeship are coming to Warsaw;
DECEMBER
Dec 01 - Friday
.. - Jews are ordered to wear white armbands with the Star of David symbol. Penalties are introduced for those who fail to comply;
Dec 07 - Thursday
.. - Germans suspend all but primary schools. Gymnasiums and Liceums are closed. No Jewish schools are allowed to open;
.. - First sub zero temperatures this year. The beginning of winter?
Dec 27 - Wednesday
.. - Germans shoot a hundred people in Wawer, a village near Warsaw, in retaliation for the death of two military policemen killed by bandits. People are terrified. Germans rounded up and executed random people, including some underage youths, whereas the policemen were killed by common bandits;
.. - Prices are going up...;
JANUARY
.. - patrols arrest the Jews who do not wear armbands with the Star of David;
.. - One can see more and more wagons driven by Jews from the country heading for the Jewish district in Warsaw;
Jan 08 - Monday
.. - The obligation to work or study is extended to the youth aged 14 and more;
.. - The weather has been cold for a very long time, with the temperature staying below -20 degrees Celsius;
.. - There is a lot of talk about people being shot in the Gardens of the Sejm and in Kampinos Forest near Warsaw;
.. - Members of the resistance group PLAN (Polska Ludowa Akcja Niepodleglosciwa - Polish Popular Action for Independence) are arrested. Germans put up wanted posters for Kazik Kozniewski, a co-founder of PLAN;
.. - Germans introudce death penalty for usury and black marketeering;
Jan 18 - Thursday
.. - All 100 and 500 zloty banknotes are to be handed in to the authorities for safe keeping;
Jan 23 - Tuesday
.. - Bread rationing is introduced. Bread coupons are issued;
FEBRUARY
.. - Information about the existence of a resistance movement against Germans reach the populace for the first time;
.. - My father brings the first mimeographed leaflets with texts of radio announcements;
.. - The end of the war between Finnland and the Soviet Union;
Feb 05 - Monday
.. - Under the pretext of preventig the spread of typhus Jews are forbidden to use trams unless they have a certificate of vaccination;
.. - In the second half of February Germans organise a series of round-ups. The people arrested in those actions are deported to Germany for forced labour;
.. - The thaw comes at the end of February;
Feb 25 - Sunday
.. - All Jews aged 12 or older have to register for work. Evading the registration is penalised with 10 years of imprisonment;
.. - Over 600 people are arrested in the area surrounding Legionowo and Jablonna, towns near Warsaw, in retaliation for the assasination of the German mayor of Legionowo. Germans spare neither underage boys nor old people;
MARCH
Mar 01 - Friday
.. - Work is made compulsory for young people between 14 and 18 years of age;
Mar 03 - Sunday
.. - Posters are put up encouraging Poles to take up work in Germany;
.. - A big thaw comes in the second half of the month. Germans use Jewish forced labourers to remove melting snow from the streets;
.. - Germans are planning to demolish Warsaw and build in its place a new German city for 100 thousand citizens (so called 'Pabst's Plan');
.. - The bas-relief with the Polish coat of arms on the building in Filtrowa Street which used to house the voivode's office is covered up with concrete. Polish Eagles on other buildings are chiseled away or hurled down from the walls;
Mar 22 - Friday
.. - Good Friday. Bands of scroundels emboldened by the Germans loot Jewish shops. The police do not react. Some well-off looking Jews are assulted in the streets;
23 - Saturday
.. - Easter. The celebration is very modest;
.. - A saying that goes: "The higher the sun gets, the nearer Sikorski is" becomes very popular;
Mar 30 - Saturday
.. - A shootout in the city. The members of some resistance organisation defended themselves against German gandarms who came to arrest them. The Germans arrest many people in retaliation. There are posters put up announcing the execution of 100 hostages as a punishment for the death of 2 German soldiers;
Mar 31 - Sunday
.. - Germans start a series of arrests targeted mainly at pre-war political activists and representatives of the intelligentsia. Deputy Mayor of Warsaw Jan Pohorski is among the arrested;
APRIL
.. - A new currency is to be introduced;
.. - There is constant talk about the executions carried out on regular basis in Kampinos Forrest;
.. - The Bank of Issue is created;
Apr 06 - Saturday
.. - Germans introduce a curfew enforced between 09:00 p.m. and 05:00 a.m.;
Apr 09 - Tuesday
.. - A Special Issue on the invasion of Denmark and Norway is published;
.. - We have a tram! Route 11 runs from Zbawiciela Square to Wola district via 6-go Sierpnia Street, Aleje Niepodleglosci and Chalbinskiego streets;
Apr 12 - Friday
.. - The Warschauer Zeitung (the Warsaw Newspaper) calls for the Jewish district to be cut off from the rest of the city because the Jews allegedly spread typhus;
.. - A brick wall is built around the Jewish district;
.. - There are more and more rikshaws in the streets carrying goods and passangers. The rikshaw and the droshky are the only available modes of hired transport for individual customers;
Apr 20 - Saturday
.. - New tram route - 18 - is launched. It runs from Narutowicza Square via Filtrowa, Sucha, 6-go Sierpnia and Sniadeckich streets to Zelaznej Bramy Square;
Apr 24 -Wednesday
.. - Meat becomes available for the first time since the occupation started. Those who have food coupons can buy 100g per person. But what a low-quality meat it is: nothing but scraps;
Apr 25 - Thursday
.. - A wave of round-ups and arrests sweeps the city;
MAY
.. - The Germans start drafting to work men and women born in the years 1915 - 1924;
.. - There is news about the creation of Aushwitz concentration camp;
May 08 - Wednesday
.. - Germans organise round-ups in the streets and in suburban light rail trains. Gandarms arrest people not only in the streets, but they also take those who sit in cafés, do shoping or ride on trams;
May 10 - Friday
.. - German launch an offensive in the west;
May 15 - Wednesday
.. - The surrender of the Netherlands;
May 28 - Tuesday
.. - The surrender of Belgium;
May 31 - Friday
.. - The Chopin Monument in Lazienki Park is dismantled and removed;
.. - The Germans are carrying out the plan of exterminating Polish intelligentsia. There are numerous arrests among the inhabitants of Zoliborz district and the Professor's colony in Filtrowa Street, where many representatives of the intelligentsia live. All the arrested people are transported to Auschwitz concentration camp. Witek Sosnowski was among the arrested during a roundup in Staszic Colony neighbourhood;
.. - Germans change the names of numerous streets in Warsaw;
JUNE
.. - Some streets are given new German names;
Jun 04 - Tuesday
.. - The Germans capture Dunkirk;
Jun 05 - Wednesday
.. - The Germans brake through the French defence lines at Somme;
.. - The young people who do not attend any school in this school year are enrolled in vocational schools;
Sun 09 - Sunday
.. - Germans issue an ordinance which makes it illegal for private individuals to provide tutelage without having obtained a permission from German authorities;
.. - Maciej Rataj, a former Speaker of the Sejm, Jan Pohoski, a former Deputy Mayor of Warsaw, and Janusz Kusocinski, an athlete, an Olympic Champion and a soldier of the resistance movement, are shot during a mass execution in Palmiry, a village near Warsaw;
Jun 10 - Monday
.. - Italy enters the war as a German ally;
Jun 14 - Friday
.. - German troops capture undefended Paris;
.. - Wacław Kozniewski, an engineer, was arrested;
Jun 17 - Monday
.. - A Special Issue is published - France Surrenders!;
Jun 19 - Wednesday
.. - The curfew is now enforced from 10.00 p.m. For the Jews, however, it still starts at 09:00 p.m.
.. - and France sign an armistice at Compiegne;
Jun 25 - Tuesday
.. - The end of the war with France;
Jun 29 - Saturday
.. - The end of the school year in primary schools;
JULY
Jul 03 - Wednesday
.. - A wave of arrests sweeps the city. People are apprehended in the streets and in their homes
Jul 15 - Monday
.. - The boycott of German and the collaborating press. The action seems to be quite successful;
.. - At the end of the month new mail-boxes marked 'Deutsche Post-Osten' are installed in the streets;
.. - New restrictions are imposed on the Jews. They are not allowed to enter city parks and walk in certain streets;
AUGUST
.. - Germans organise a huge round-up;
.. - News is spread that the people arrested in the recent roundups, as well as some prisoners from Pawiak, are to be sent to Aushwitz concentration camp;
.. - Preparation courses are to be launched for those who completed their first year of gymnasium before the war and would like to continue their education in vocational lyceums;
Aug 15 - Thursday - Polish Armed Forces
.. - PFlowers are laid and candles are lit at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, at the foot of the Polish Airman Monument and the Monument to Polish Sappers;
Aug 28 - Wednesday
.. - Vocational schools and supplementary education schools started the enrolment of candidates;
SEPTEMBER
Sep 01 - Sunday
.. - Germans celebrate the day with a ceremony in Pilsudski's Square;
Sep 03 - Tuesday
.. - Stanislaw Staszic's Lyceum has been renamed. It is now called: 'the 7th preparation course for the candidates to vocational secondary schools'. The school is housed in Warsaw Technical University Department of Architecture's building. The lessons start in the afternoon at 1 or 2p.m.;
.. - We have to keep changing flats because the Jews are being relocated to 'their designated district'. The vacated Jewish flats are given to the Poles who, in turn, have been evicted from their homes taken by the Germans;
.. - Another execution in Palmiry is carried out;
1Sep 19 - Thursday
.. - Numerous arrests in the districts inhabited by professionals and intellectuals - Zoliborz and Staszic Colony. The arrested people are sent to Aushwitz
.. - The Battle of Britain starts in the West;
OCTOBER
Oct 02 - Wednesday
.. - Germans announce the creation of the Jewish district. All the Poles living within the boudaries of the district are to be evicted and the Jews are to be crammed in;
.. - A casino for Poles is opened at the corner of Na Rozdrozu Sqare and Szucha Street, where Officers' Casino used to be;
.. - The action of removing the Jews from Srodmiescie is continuing. They have been evicted from Wspolna, Hoza and Nowogrodzka streets;
Oct 03 - Thursday
.. - The distribution of potato winter rations is started - every working person is to be provided with 50kg of potatoes;
.. - The transports of Polish farmers evicted from their farms in Poznan region are passing through Warsaw;
Oct 06 - Sunday
.. - We shift to winter time and the clocks have to be put back one hour;
Oct 12 - Saturday
.. - It is announced that Warsaw is to be divided into three districts: the German district, the Polish district and the Jewish district. People start moving out and in hastily. Poles have to move out of the area designated for the Jewish ghetto by 31 October, while at the same time the Jews have to move in. As for the Poles living in the area designated for the German district they are to be resettled gradually as their homes are given to the Germans coming to Warsaw;
.. - The authorities for the ghetto are appointed, with district administration and its own police force;
.. - The wall around the ghetto is demolished and a new one is put up quickly;
Oct 29 - Tuesday
.. - Itally invades Greece;
.. - A meeting is held between Hitler and Mussolini;
Oct 31 - Thursday
..- The deadline set for the Jews to move to the ghetto is postponed until 15 November. Wronia and Zelazna streets are incorporated into the Jewish district;
NOVEMBER
Nov 1 - 2 - Friday - Saturday
.. - The second All Souls Day celebrated under the occupation. Flowers and candles decorate the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Monument to Polish Sappers and other monuments. Powazki and other cemeteries are full of people;
Nov 11 - Monday - Polish Independance Day
.. - Flowers are laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and at other memorials;
Nov 15 - Friday
.. - police surrounds the Jewish district;
Nov 25 - Monday
.. - The wall surrounding the ghetto has been completed. The Jews are forbidden to leave the ghetto;
DECEMBER
.. - My father builds the crib and the figures. We start the rehersals for staging the Nativity;
.. - Christmas and on the following days we present nativity scenes;
JANUARY
Jan 01 - Wednesday
.. - Me and Zosia present the nativity for close relatives;
.. - Severe frost and heavy snow are causing disruptions in the public transport. Trams, rickshaws and droshkies are affected;
Jan 11 - Saturday
.. - Numerous arrests, roundups and transports to Aushwitz;
.. - Polish policemen, the so called 'navy blues' (after the colour of their uniforms), are ordered to wear armbands with an inscription 'General Government'...;
.. - Many members of the intelligentsia are arrested;
Jan 13 - Monday
.. - Niemcy i Sowieci podpisują porozumienie o granicy sowiecko-niemieckiej. Przedtem Sowieci dokonali zajęcia Litwy;
.. - Germans start the action of forced resettlement of the Jews living in the country to the Warsaw ghetto;
.. - It is punishable to help a Jew escape from the ghetto or not to report to the authorities the Jews living outside the designated district;
Jan 15 - Wednesday
.. - A police raid on a secret printery run by the Polish resistance. People get killed in the shootout;
.. - My father brings the news that Germans are planning to demolish all monuments in Wasaw. The only monument to survive is the statue of Prince Jozef Poniatowski on horseback which is to be moved to a park;
.. - Germans herd all the Jews living around Warsaw into the ghetto;
.. - Cinemas showing German films are gassed by the resistance;
FEBRUARY
.. - Germans announce that they'll stat recruiting Poles to work in Germany;
.. - Some Polish actors are said to be wanted for German films;
Feb 03 - Monday
.. - The available power supply quota has been reduced by 50% so shops and offices now open at 8.30;
.. - The number of operating tram lines is reduced. Those which remain in service operate on shorter routes;
.. - The ice cover on the Vistula river is now 40 cm thick in some places;
Feb 20 - Thursday
.. - It is forbidden to sell or give any goods to the Jews who do not live in the ghetto. Both parties will be punished if caught in the act;
.. - The city authorities are having several damaged buildings secured. The buildings are considered a part of the national heritage;
.. - Roundups at train stations and on trains;
.. - Germans search many houses and arrest a number of people in Saska Kepa district;
MARCH
Mar 01 - Saturday
.. - Germans put up posters calling the Poles with previous military training to join the ranks of a new militia which is to guard the labour camps for Jews;
.. - The Polish government-in-exile prohibits the Poles from taking part in any German anti-Jweish actions;
Mar 07 - Friday
.. - Igo Sym, an actor and theatre director, is shot by the memebrs of the Polish resistance movement for collaboration with Germans;
.. - The news about Sym's assassination is publicly announced. Germans retaliate by arresting a number of Polish hostages;
.. - Zbigniew Sawan, a popular actor, is arrested;
.. - A number of hostages are executed by German firing squads;
.. - There is talk about the concentration of German troops in the east. The outbreak of war between Germany and the Soviet Union is everyone's dream;
.. - The word "Mörder" (murderer) is stamped next to the name of chief of police on posters listing the names of the executed hostages;
.. - We learn from Biuletyn Informacyjny (Information Bulletin), a weekly published covertly by the Polish resistance, that the Government Delegation for Poland was established. The Delegation is to publish its own periodical - The Republic of Poland;
.. - The following mocking rhyme spreads among people as an explanation of the German failure to launch an invasion of Great Britain:
"Why're you, Hitler, standing on the Channel still?
Does something distract you? Do you Britons fear?
I am not distracted, and I do not fear
've got a broken axis, so I'm standing still!";
Mar 20 - Thursday
.. - Bringing food or other commodities to the ghetto without the permission of German authorities is now forbidden;
.. - A two-year school for medical personnel is opened by Dr Zaorski. The school is in fact a cover for the Faculty of Medicine of Warsaw University;
APRIL
Apr 05 - Saturday
.. - A huge transport of prisoners is despatched from Pawiak prison to Aushwitz. Many professors and actors, including Zbigniew Sawan, are in this transport;
Arp 06 - Palm Sunday
.. - German troops attack Yugoslavia. Newspapers are published with special inserts covering movements of troops and bombing raids on Belgrade;
Apr 12 - Saturday
.. - It has become forbidden to undertake long distance train journeys without having obtained a special permission from the authorities. The measure is to curtail black-marketing;
Apr 13 - 14 Easter (Saturday - Sunday)
.. - Preparations for war in the east are easily noticable in Warsaw;
.. - Germans take over many buildings, including schools, for military purposes;
Apr 18 - Friday
.. - The Yugoslavian Army surrenders;
.. - Germans impose the blackout of train stations;
.. - Caretakers are ordered to prepare buildings for blackout;
.. - There is news about troops stationed in large numbers to the east of Warsaw;
.. - Germans are requisitioning large amounts of provisions. Food prices are rocketing;
.. - A minor-sabotage propaganda campaign is being carried out against buying at Mainl's and other German-owned shops;
MAY
May 01 - Thursday
.. - The price of electricity goes up;
.. - Director Podwiński becomes a deputy to the appointed mayor of the district;
.. - The propaganda campaign against buying in German-owned shops continues;
May 08 - Thursday
.. - Everyone has to prepare his home for blackout;
May 12 - Friday
.. - Flowers and a photograph of Marshal Jozef Pilsudski are put at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier;
.. - Further restrictions are imposed on delivering commodities to the ghetto. Goods may be brough in only through two designated gates;
May 14 - Wednesday
.. - Rudolf Hess escapes to England by plane. After his escape the following rhyme is made up:
"A dog was lost called Hess by most.
Turn the bastard in for reward to Berlin";
.. - The Ascention and Corpus Christi cease to be public holidays;
.. - The city is to be ready for blackout by the end of May;
.. - Food prices are going sky-high;
JUNE
.. - Germans launch a propaganda campaign encouraging Poles to volunteer for work in Germany;
.. - New tram livery is introduced. The bottom half of a tram coach remains red but the top half is to be painted yellow;
Jun 3 - 4 - Tuesday - Wednesday
.. - Germans order a blackout drill;
Jun 19 - Thursday
.. - A whole-city air raid drill is carried out;
.. - Prof. Wieczorkiewicz, the curator of the Old Warsaw Museum, is arrested along with his associates. They are sent to Aushwitz, where they soon die;
Jun 22 - Sunday
.. - The German-Soviet war brakes out. The frontline stretches from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea;
Jun 23 - Monday
.. - Italy eneters the war with the Soviets on the German side;
.. - The outbrak of war causes panic in the market. Prices go up again;
.. - The Bolsheviks bomb Okecie Airport;
JULY
Jul 01 - Tuesday
.. - The Germans announce the news of Ignacy Paderewski's death;
.. - Germans intensify the organisation of roundups whose victims are deported to Germany as forced labourers. The action arouses much comment in the underround press;
Jul 10 - Thursday
.. - The curfew is extended to 11 p.m.;
.. - Signs "1812" appear on the walls - allusion to the French invasion of Russia in 1812 which ended in a disaster and caused the demise of the French power;
Jul 12 - Saturday
.. - The British and the Russians sign the Pact of Mutual Assistance;
.. - The number of transports with wounded soldiers evacuated from the frontline is increasing;
.. - Germans launch a propaganda campaign 'Viktoria' (Victory) - the slogan "Deutschland siegt an allen Fronten" (Germany wins on all fronts) is 'corrected' by members of the resistance to "Deutschland liegt an allen Fronten" (Germany is defeated on all fronts). The huge 'V'-sign monument erected in Pilsudski's Square is burnt down. Resistance members add 'loren' to the 'V' signs paited by Germans on the walls (Verloren - lost) or paint 'Deutschland Verloren' (Gremany is lost) signs;
.. - The Home Army starts publishing Der Hammer (The Hammer) - a monthly magazine targeted at German soldiers;
.. - Another action of boycotting German-owned shops is carried out;
Jul 30 - Wednesday
.. - Sikorski and Stalin sign an agreement;
.. - German troops are nearing Smolensk;
AUGUST
Aug 02 - Saturday
.. - The District of Galicia, with the administrative centre in Lviv, is created and incorporated into the General Government;
Aug 13-14 - Wednesday - Thursday
.. - Another wave of roundups is organised to provide forced labourers for Germany. The Arbeitsamt (the Labour Office) officers with the help of the 'navy blues' snatch people in Kercel's Square and at railway stations;
.. - Following the agreement between Roosevelt and Churchil the Atlantic Charter is issued;
SEPTEMBER
Sep 01 - Monday
.. - The beginning of the new school year;
.. - The Germans labour camp in Treblinka is being expanded. The camp is under the jurisdiction of the Warsaw SS commnad;
.. - Grafitti depicting a turtle - a graphic representation of the motto 'work slowly'- starts to be painted on the walls throughout the city;
.. - Every day German gandarmes hunt for people smuggling foodstuffs to Warsaw;br>
.. - The first big transport of women, the majority of them being well known members of the social elite, is despatched to Ravensbrück concentration camp;
.. - Germans announced that all fur coats are to be registered. All producers of winter gear are to report on the number of skis they have in stock;
.. - The area assigned for the Jewish ghetto is reduced. Not only Jews but also Poles are forced to move;
OCTOBER
.. - The number of people in the ghetto who have contracted typhus is growing. Heavy penalties are imposed on physicians who do not report new cases of the disease. Balck market prices for a dose of the typhus vaccine range from 800 to 1000 zloty;
Oct 08 - Wednesday
.. - A break in the weather on the eastern front brings torrential rains and blizzards. Soaked roads become soft and muddy; some rivers break their banks;
.. - A new decree is issued, which stipulates that anyone caught helping Jewish escapees from the ghetto will be punished by death;
.. - On the eastern front temperatures at night fall to 0 Centigrades and below. Muddy roads freeze, which makes it difficult to transport provisions to the frontline. Germans are not prepared for waging war in winter;
Oct 16 - Thursday
.. - Germans launch an offensive towards Moscow;
.. - Biuletyn Informacyjny (Information Bulletin) publishes a list of 15 volksdeutche who are to be prosecuted by Polish courts for high treason;
.. - The supply of electricity is drastically reduced;
.. - is no longer available in the free market. Illegal trade in coal has flourished;
.. - The Jews who leave the ghetto without permission are punished by death. This is allegedly a measure against the spread of diseases carried by Jews among the Polish population;
NOVEMBER
Nov 01 - Saturday (All Saints Day)
.. - As usual, people visit the graves of their departed. This time, however, due to the blackout, candles may burn on the graves only until 7 p.m.;
.. - The German proaganda is constantly boastful about the military triumphs on the eastern front (the capture of Kursk) and about the losses the British air force suffers in the air war with Germany;
.. - All shops have to close at 5.30 p.m. in November and at 4.30 in December and January. The restriction has been introduced in order to save electricity;
.. - Regular deliveries of coal to power plants have been disrupted, which causes frequent power outages;
Nov 08 - Saturday
.. - After the ghetto has been split into two areas two bridges linking both parts are to be built. One is to be built on the corner of Chlodna and Zelazna streets, the other from Wielopole borough, over Elektoralna Street, to the northern part of the ghetto. There will be also a bridge over Okopowa Street linking the northern part of the ghetto with the Jewish cemetery;
Nov 09 - Sunday
.. - Jozef Redo, a popular artist known for his roles in operettas, dies;
Nov 11 - Tuesday
.. - Germans boast about having already taken prisoner 3 mln Soviet soldiers;
.. - Churches are full of people today. Signs 'Poland lives!' and 'Poland will be victorious' are painted on the walls. The Prince Jozef Poniatowski Monument, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Monument to Polish Sappers are decorated with flowers. Someone has put a Polish flag in the hand of the Colonel Jan Kilinski's statue standing in Krasinskich Square;
Nov 14 - Friday
.. - Germans order the caretakers to remove all signs and illegal posters from the walls of the houses under their care;
.. - Posters are put up announcing that all Jews leaving the ghetto without permission as well as the Poles helping or hiding such Jews shall be punished by death;
.. - The 'navy blue' policemen who do not shoot at the Jews trying to escape from the ghetto are to be punished. The policemen who do not shoot at Jews in the presence of German gandarms making them use their weapon shall likewise be punished;
.. - The German offensive is brought to a halt at Leningrad, Moscow and Don;
Nov 15 - Saturday
.. - Germans confiscate church bells, which are to be melted down for use in the arms industry. Congregations offer passive resistance or hide their church bells;
.. - Restrictions are introduced for people travelling by train on the amount of food that may carried in the hand luggage;
Nov 25 - Tuesday
.. - Air raid drill at 10.00 a.m.;
.. - A simplified procedure is introduced for those who want to register as volksdeutsche;
Nov 28 - Friday
.. - Germans burn the archives of the Polish Theatre containing designs of theatrical decorations made by Stanislaw Wyspianski, a famous Polish painter, playwright and poet, as well as the works of Drabik and Frycz;
.. - Severe frosts hit Warsaw. There are cases of people freezing to death in the streets;
.. - At the end of November the temperature on the eastern front falls to -35 Centigrades The engine grease freezes;
DECEMBER
Dec 05 - Friday
.. - German troops advancing towards Moscow are engaged in heavy fights;
.. - The besieged Leningrad withstands repeated German attacks;
.. - Pressed by the Russians, Great Britan declares war against Hungary, Romania and Finland;
Dec 07 - Sunday
.. - The Japanese strike at the American naval base at Pearl Harbour;
.. - Germans warn Poles against helping escaped Russian POW's;
Dec 09 - Tuesday
.. - Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk
Dec 11 - Thursday
.. - Germany and Italy declare war on the United States;
Dec 15 - Monday
.. - The start of the curfew is set for 10 p.m.;
.. - Signs "1812" appear on the walls;
Dec 23 - Tuesday
.. - German troops are pushed back from the outskirts of Moscow;
.. - Many German soldiers with severe frostbites are brought to Warsaw. A special tram line linking Marshal Pilsudski's hospital with the nearest train station has been built in order to facilitate the transport of the wounded;
.. - The British troops advance in Africa;
JANUARY
.. - The Russians launch a counter-offensive and force German troops to retreat along the whole battlefront;
Jan 04 - Sunday
.. - Schools resume classes;
.. - The Epiphany is abolished as a public holiday;
.. - Since the beginning of the month the temperature has been hovering around -20 Centigrades. Braziers are placed in the streets again;
Jan 15 - Thursday
.. - The public collection organised to support the German war effort on the eastern front turns out to be a failure;
.. - People over the age of 15 are obliged to carry an ID;
.. - Transports of prisoners from Pawiak prison are despatched to Aushwitz on regular basis;
Jan 19 - Monday
.. - Another wave of arrests sweeps Warsaw. Germans arrest people in their homes according to the proscription lists prepared for the occasion. Alltogether, around 300 people are arrested - mainly the members of Stronnictwo Pracy (the Labour Alliance);
.. - Classes in some schools are suspended due to severe frost;
.. - Acording to a new ordinance the workers who have accumulated too many days of absence from work without just cause may be placed in a labour camp;
.. - The temperature remains between -16 and -22 Centigrades. Many people freeze to death in the streets;
.. - Germans have not managed to collect in the ghetto as many fur coats as they hoped. Many furs were hidden in the ghetto or smuggled to the 'Aryan side';
.. - Because of coal shortages the power plants temporarily cut off electricity supply in designated areas;
.. - People in the ghetto die like flies;
Jan 21 - Wednesday
.. - The air ride sirens are sounded at 11 o'clock, but no planes can be seen over the city;
.. - Severe frost continues. People die of cold in the streets;
.. - The Germans manage to confiscate a lot of furs and duffle coats in the ghetto, but even more have been hidden ot smuggled to the 'Aryan side';
FEBRUARY
.. - In the middle of February the temperature increases and the weather becomes milder;
Feb 11/12 - night Wednesday/Thursday
.. - The plaque with German inscription is removed from the Kopernik Monument by Maciej Dawidowski, a scout and resistance fighter. The Germans retaliate by dismantling the Jan Kilinski Monument;
.. - Japanese forces capture Singapore. It will have an important bearing on the course of the war;
Feb 14 - Saturday
.. - By the order of Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej - ZWZ (the Union for Armed Struggle) is renamed Armia Krajowa - AK (the Home Army);
Feb 16 - Monday
.. - Air raid drill is carried out;
.. - The German district is created in Warsaw. All Poles have to move out of the area designated for the Germans. First Poles move to other parts of the city;
Feb 20 - Friday
.. - A thaw begins;
.. - Janek Zdzienicki swears me into the Home Army;
.. - Germans impose on Warsaw a punitive contribution of 10 mln zlotys;
MARCH
Mar 02 - Monday
.. - The 60-hour work week is introduced;
.. - A popular census is carried out;
.. - Four prisoners escape from Pawiak prison, with Tadeusz Szpotanski, a former deputy mayor of Warsaw, among them;
Mar 20 - Friday
.. - We learn about the death of Bishop Juliusz Bursche, a bishop of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland, in Sachsenhausen concentration camp;
.. - Someone has painted a sign 'People of Warsaw! I am in here! - Jan Kilinski' on the wall of the National Museum, in the basement of which the Germans hid the dismantled statue;
.. - Someone has written on the plinth of the Kopernik Monument that winter shall be extended for six weeks to punish the Germans for removing the Kilinski Monument;
.. - The 'Anchor' - the emblem of the Polish resistance - appears on the walls;
APRILŃ
Apr 02 - Good Thursday
.. - The day of national mourning;
Apr 05 - Easter Sunday
.. - Germans carry out a mass execution in Anin;
.. - A number of Polish families are evicted from the area designated for the German district;
Apr 15 - Wednesdaya
.. - Germans carry out massive roundups lasting for two days - mainly in Srodmiescie district and in Nowy Swiat Street. Even people walking out of cinemas are taken. All the arrested are transported to Skaryszewska Street;
.. - Germans are ordered to start moving into their designated district designated;
.. - Germans increase the number of Polish and German ticket inspectors in the trams, who are to catch free riders;
MAY
May 01 - Friday
.. - The temperature reaches +4 Centigrades;
May 2/3- Saturday/Sunday
.. - In Zoliborz district miniature white and red flags are hung at night on the overhead power supply lines which feed the trams;
.. - Germans put more and more pressure on increasing the supply of Polish labour for Germany. Since very few people volunteer Germans resort to roundups. Those who are cought and cannot present documents which would save them from deportation are sent to work in Germany;
.. - The following jocular rhyme becomes popular:
"Want to catch the MTB
Go to work in Germany";
May 12 - Tuesday
.. - A roundup is carried out in Kercel Square, but most of the arrested people manage to bribe their way out of the jail at Skaryszewska Street;
May 19 - Tuesday
.. - A bomb explodes in the casino in Szucha Street;
.. - A new ordinance is published obliging every household to keep a water container and a sand bucket near the entrance to the flat as a fire precaution. Does it mean that the Germans are expecting massive air raids?;
May 23 - Saturday
.. - Rzeczpospolita (The Republic) issues an appeal to the public to reduce spending on eating out in coffee shops and expensive resataurants, and become more sensitive to widespread poverty;
.. - Mayor Kulski anounces that Poles will have to swap flats with Germans. A list of addresses designated for the swap is published too;
.. - A new ordinance limits the rights of Gypsies to live in Warsaw;
JUNE
Jun 16 - Tuesday
.. - The police organise a roundup in Napoleon Square. Many people are arested but most of them have their papers in order so they are released;
.. - The liquid fuel storage facility in Waswaw is set on fire;
.. - The first transport of Jews is sent to death camps;
.. - Intensified roundups are carried out to provide new forced labourers for Germany;
Jun 27 - Saturday
.. - Some copies of Nowy Kurier Warszawski (the New Warsaw Currier) issued on that day have a greeting message to the President of Poland printed over the newspaper texts;
28 - niedziela
.. - The Germans launch a great offensive in the east;
JULY
Jul 01 - Wednesday
.. - The end of the school year;
.. - Lithuanian and Latvian soldiers appear in the streets of Warsaw. They are memebrs of the units taking part in the pacification of the ghetto. They are considered more ruthless that the German SS soldiers;
.. - A series of German victories on the eastern front: they capture the Crimean Peninsula and advance towards the Caucasus;
AUGUST
Aug 01 - Saturday
.. - I start my internship in 'Pionier' (Pioneer) in the quality control of workshop department;br>
.. - A distressing ride through the ghetto in tram 11 from Zelazna Street to Chlodna Street;
.. - All the children from the orphanage run by Dr Korczak are sent to a death camp;
.. - The action of compulsory vaccination against typhoind fever has finished;
.. - Blackout is enforced between 09:30 p.m. and 04.20 a.m.;
Aug 12 - Wednesday
.. - On the anniversary of the Miracle at the Vistula flowers are laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Aug 20/21 - Thursday/Friday
.. - At night Russian bombers drop bombs both on military targets and civilian buildings in the city centre. Many houses are destroyed, including the house in 6-go Sierpnia Street near Zbawiciela Square;
Aug 31 - Monday
.. - Private tutelage is prohibited, unless one has obtained a sprecial permission to provide it;
SEPTEMBER
Sep 01 - Tuesday
.. - Russians bomb Warsaw. The bombing is much heavier that the previous one;
.. - Another school year starts in the Technical Secondary School in Trzech Krzyzy Square. Most of the boys from the Warsaw Areo Club are here;
Sep 16 - Wednesday
.. - Another wave of roundups starts and lasts for the next few days. Those who are caught are deported to Germany as forced labourers;
Sep 18 - Friday
.. - The anti-aircraft defense regulations become more stringent
.. - A sbotage in Warsaw - the factory making aircraft propellers is set on fire;
.. - A massive action of sending the Jews from the ghetto to death camps;
.. - The resistance carries out an action of gassing Warsaw cinemas to discourage people from watching German propaganda;
.. - I meet Stefan Waciorski;
.. - I stop going to the technical secondary school and start attending classes in the underground Staszic Lyceum;
OCTOBER
.. - Janosik Kozniewski quits the job, and Andrzej Bereslawski takes his place. I become a full time employee. I start receiving class R ('Rusing' - arms industry) food ration stamps and receive very good documents which can save me a lot trouble with German police. I earn 50 groszy / hour, get lunch and very good dinner in the cafeteria, not to mention additional payments-in-kind;
.. - Behind the ghetto's wall one can see deserted and looted houses;
.. - German troops are engaged in heavy fights at Stalingrad, Leningrad and Voronezh. They also face adversity in the Caucasus;
Oct 08 - Thursday
.. - Railway tracks around Warsaw are blown up by memebrs of the resistance;
.. - Germans sorround the market at Kercel's Square and arrest the people as well as confiscate all the goods. All the 'illegal' market places in Warsaw are to be closed down;
Oct 15 - Thursday
.. - Germans hang fifty prisoners at the outskirts of Warsaw in retaliation for the earlier sabotage action of blowing up the railway tracks;
.. - The Arbeitsamt (The Labour Office) launches an appeal to municipal workers for 500 volunteers and to the workers of The Warsaw Trams for 300 volunteers who would go to work in Germany. Biuletyn Informacyjny (Information Bulletin) launches a campaign discouraging women from looking for employment in The Warsaw Trams. Are they righ to do so?
Oct 24 - Saturday
.. - Gwardia Ludowa (The People's Guard) carries out three attacks in retribution for the execution of 50 prisoners: on Cafe Club restaurant in Aleje Jerozolimskie Street, on a German restaurant at the Central Station and on the printery of the New Warsaw Courier in Polna Street;
Oct 26 - Monday
.. - Germans retaliate by setting the curfew from 08.00 p.m.;
.. - The British launch an offensive at El Alamein;
.. - A punitive contribution of 1 mln zlotys is imposed on Varsovians;
.. - Germans start massive deportations and forced resettlements in Zamosc region;
NOVEMBER
Nov 01 - Sunday
.. - As always on All Saint Day people visit the graves of their departed;
Nov 6/7- Friday /Saturday
.. - Germans make numerous arrests before the coming November 11 (Polish Independance Day). Allegedly, about 1000 people are arrested - mostly the members of the intelligentsia, with a number of university professors among them;
Nov 11 - Wednesday
.. - German troops cross the demarkation line and start the occupation of the so called France's free zone to protect it against the invasion of the Allies;
Nov 24 - 26 - Tuesday - Thursday
.. - Roundups at train stations and in Srodmiescie district. Several hundred people are arrested and deported to Gremany;
Nov 30 - Monday
.. - The branch of Komunalna Kasa Oszczednosci (the Community Saving Bank) in Traugutta Street is robbed. The robbers escape with over 1 mln zlotys;
DECEMBER
Dec 04 - Friday
.. - The police organise manhunts at market places and in Narutowicza Square;
Dec 09 - Wednesday
.. - Further manhunts are organised at market places;
.. - Germans confiscate from the post officer around the country several thousands of food parcels mailed by the Poles;
.. - The Home Army send troops to defend the inhabitants of Zamosc region;
.. - First transports of children from Zamosc region reach Warsaw;
Dec 24 - Thursday
.. - Christmas is relatively calm and peaceful this year, the weather is mild, with only light frost;
JANUARY
.. - The curfew is enforced from 08.00 p.m. to 05.00 a.m.;
.. - The action of registering "Stammdeutsche";
.. - Transports of children from Zamosc region keep coming to Warsaw. There is an action of stealing them out from the boxcars;
.. - Signs "Deutschland kaput" (Germany have lost) and "Polska zwycięży" (Poland will be victorious) appear on the walls;
Jan 07 - Thursday
.. - The celebration of Epiphany is postponed until January 10 (Sunday) due to 'economic' reasons;
.. - The minimum wage for a Polish worker is set at 0.75 zloty/hour;
Jan 15 - Friday
.. - The beginning of a series of roundups which continues for three days;
Jan 19 - Tuesday
.. - The first attempts at the liquidation of the ghetto meet with armed resistance of Jewish fighters;
.. - Heavy fights at Stalingrad where German forces have been surrounded by Bolshevik troops;
FEBRUARY
.. - The first significant armed skirmish in the streets of Warsaw;
Feb 12 - Friday
.. - Germans put up posters informing about the execution of several dozens of people in retaliation for the armed attacks on Germans. At the same time the start of the curfew is set forward to 07.00 p.m.;
.. - In the middle of February the director of the Technical Department in the Mayor's Office, engineer Olszewski is arrested;
.. - A great fire is raging in the ghetto;
.. - Germans introduce further restrictions on the use of electricity. Whole streets suffer from temoprary power cut-offs;
.. - The number of deserted houses in the ghetto is growing. The number of people we can spot from a window in the printing room in our factory is likewise decreasing;
MARCH
Mar 1 - 2 - Monday - Tuesday
.. - The census (this time I fill the questionnaire);
.. - Germans organise a collection of scrap metal and rags;
.. - Kierownictwo Walki Cywilnej (The Directorate of Civil Resistance) appeals to people who are exempt from the obligation of paying punitive contributions to donate the money to charities or support patriotic initiatives;
Mar 11 - Thursday
.. - Narodowe Sily Zbrojne (the National Armed Forces) decide not to recognise the authority of the Home Army Command and create their own, separate command;
Mar 13 - Saturday
.. - Two armed raids at two branches of Komunalna Kasa Oszczednosci (the Community Saving Bank) in Bagatela Street;
Mar 13/14 - Saturday/Sunday
.. - Two air ride alarms are sounded. The situation repeats on the following night;
Mar 15 - Monday
.. - The deadline for handing in scrap metal, glass and rags. Noncomplience is to be severely punished. It is even possible to be sentenced to death for not handing in some old rags;
.. - The parts of the ghetto which have been cleared of Jews are one after the other incorporated into the neighbouring 'aryan' districts;
.. - The authorities of the Polish Underground State warn that denunciating the Jews who remain in hiding to German authorities will be punished;
Mar 18 - Thursday
.. - A fake issue of Nowy Kurier Warszawski (The New Warsaw Courier) is published containing a BBC news report with Home Army comments;
.. - Three more night air raid alarms are sounded. Are they caused by the Russians or by our planes dropping supplies?
Mar 21 - Sunday
.. - Nowy Kurier Warszawski (The New Warsaw Courier) is sold with a special insert issued by the Home Army. The headline on the front page says: 'Spain Enters War As German Ally'. The insert, however, contains news about the Polish Armed Fores in the West and other interesting stories that the German censorship would not allow to publish;
Mar 26 - Friday
.. - Operation Arsenal - Polish resistance fighters free the prisoners transported to Pawiak Prison. Germans retaliate by executing many Pawiak prison inmates;
.. - In the ruins of the ghetto Germans organise executions of prisoners. Apart from that a labour camp for petty offenders is created in the former ghetto;
.. - Air raid alarms have been sounded almost every night lately;
Mar 30 - Tuesday
.. - Three high-ranking Gestapo officers are shot in a coffee shop;
APRIL
Apr 07 - Wednesday
.. - During a mourning mass in St. Florian's Church the police arrest a group of mourners. They are said to be the friends of a Home Army soldier killed in an execution a couple of months before;
.. - A few days later a high ranking official of the Arbaitsamt is shot in his office;
Apr 12 - Monday
.. - Germans announce that mass graves have been discovered near Katyn in Smolensk region. The graves contain the bodies of the Polish officers who were taken prisoner by the Soviets;
.. - Germans put up posters caling to arms against bolshevism;
Apr 19 - Monday
.. - The uprising in the ghetto breaks out. One can hear the sounds of machine guns and explosions. Numerous fires brake out in the ghetto;
Apr 21 - Wednesday
.. - Germans start using artillery and flamethrowers. They burn houses one after the other. A huge cloud of smoke rises over the ghetto. A rain of half-burnt book pages that have been lifted in the air by the fire falls on Warsaw;
.. - Massive deportations of the remaining Jews;
.. - There are a number of armed reistance actions carried out on the 'aryan' side against the forces pacifying the ghetto;
Apr 25 - Easter Sunday
.. - It is my name day today. During a sermon in the Church of the Saviour the priest refers to what is giong on in the ghetto by saying 'They burn, because they have to be burnt'. Me and my mother leave the church after these words;
.. - Because of the fights in the ghetto all public transport connections to Zoliborz district through Bonifraterska Street are suspended;
MAY
.. - The fights in the ghetto continue. Germans utilise artillery and air support;
.. - Germans, using dynamite, start a systematic demolition of those the parts of the ghetto that have been cleared of Jews;
May 03 - Monday (Constitution Day)
.. - A national holiday. Flowers are laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and at other monuments to Polish soldiers;
.. - It is said that Rota (a Polish patriotic song) has been transmitted over the public address system in Zoliborz district;
.. - People tell unbelievable stories about what is going on in the ghetto. Also the stories about German atrocities in the ghetto that can be read in the underground press make one's hair stand on end;
May 4/5 - Tuesday/Wednesday
.. - Another air raid alarm. Noone knows who it was this time. Allegedly the planes dropped supplies for us;
.. - People tell a story about Germans who shot a fireman trying to extinguish flames on a Jewish woman who had jumped off a balcony;
May 09 - Sunday
.. - A secret Polish radiostation is said to have been found by the Germans;
.. - learn very good news from the African front;
.. - A high ranking official of the Arbaitsamt is shot in the street;
May 12/13 - Wednesday/Thursday
.. - Warsaw is heavily bombed by the Russians. I watch the air raid through the window. Many houses in our neighbouhood are damaged;
.. - Shootouts in the streets happen more and more often. The sounds of gunshots indicate either an armed attacks on Germans or a resistance fighter defending himself against apprehension or a search;
.. - now the resisstance in the ghetto has been reduced to sporadic skirmishes;
.. - The areas of the ghetto which have been cleared of the Jews and are under German control are used for organising mass executions of the prisoners from Pawiak and other prisons;
May 17-18 - Monday - Tuesday
.. - Germans make numerous arrests targeted chiefly at members of the intelligentsia;
.. - Some high ranking Gestapo officers are executed by the Polish resistance;
.. - The Germans wage war against graffiti. They cover them up with posters, but the Polish paint them over with slogans or mocking comments;
May 22 - Saturday
.. - The attack on the Adria restaurant, which is very popular among Germans. A Polish resistance fighter entered the restaurant armed with a pistol and grenades and turned the place into an abbatoir, killing and wounding many Germans. The assailant himself was killed too;
JUNE
.. - A slogan "We shall avange Pawiak" appears on the walls;
Jun 3/4- Thursday/Friday
.. - Another air raid alarm but no bombing follows;
Jun 05 - Saturday
.. - A resistance fighter nom-de-guerre Kosa-Osa is arrested during a wedding ceremony in St. Alexander's Church (stupid foolhardiness);
Jun 13 - Sunday
.. - Pentecost. The German fuel storage facility in Fort Wawrzyszew is set on fire in an act of sabotage;
.. - Me and Jurek R. disarm a German soldier;
Jun 20 - Sunday
.. - Grot, i.e., Col. Stefan Rowecki, the commander-in-chief of the Home Army, is arrested;
.. - I am transferred from Baza unit to the unit under the command of Lawa;
JULY
Jul 01 - Thursday
.. - The end of the school year;
Jul 4/5 - Sunday/Monday
.. - Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski, the prime minister and the commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces, is killed in a plane crash at Gibraltar;
Jul 05 - Monday
.. - The wife of an actor Kazimierz Junosza Stempowski is killed. She has been sentenced to death for treason by a Polish underground tribunal. The actor himself is shot too and dies in hospital. They lived in Poznanska Street;
.. - I officially become a member of the Lawa's unit
Jul 11 - Sunday
.. - Gen. Sikorski's obituaries are published in the underground press;
.. - Communist resistance fighters carry out an attack on the Cafe-Club - a restaurant frequented by Germans;
.. - Germans open the National Technical College;
.. - The Allies launch an invasion of Sicilly;
.. - There are many armed attacks carried out against Germans in the streets of Warsaw;
.. - Brig. Gen. Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski becomes the new commander-in-chief of the Home Army;
Jul 15 - Thursday
.. - A column of SA members is attacked by communist resistance fighters who throw grenades at the marching troop;
.. - Germans retaliate by organising roundups and executing prisoners;
.. - A concentration camp for Jews is created in the former Jewish ghetto;
Jul 31 - Saturday
.. - An act of sabotage is carried out in the German fuel storage facility in Wola district, which results in a great fire;
AUGUST
Aug 1 - 2 - Sunday - Monday
.. - Roundups in the streets are organised again. The arrested people are said to have been placed in the work camp in the ruins of the ghetto;
Aug 12 - Thursday
.. - mln zlotys is robbed from a German transport in broad daylight;
Aug 18 - Wednesday
.. - Germans officially admit to the defeat at Sicilly;
.. - An action under the code name "Tasma" (the Tape) is carried out by the resistance. The action's objective is to destroy the outposts of German police around Warsaw. A part of the "Lawa" unit makes a trip to Kampinos Forest;
Aug 24 - Tuesday
.. - Kharkiv falls;
.. - Massive bombings of Berlin are carried out;
.. - The German Bank offers a reward of 5 mln zlotys for any information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators of the recent robbery and the recovery of the stolen money;
SEPTEMBER
Sep 01 - Wednesday
.. - The bombing of Berlin intensifies;
Sep 09 - Thursday
.. - Italy surrenders;
.. - Germans regularly execute prisoners in the ruins of the ghetto;
OCTOBER
.. - Army executioners kill numerous Gestapo officers and police informers
.. - The word "Oktober" (October) is painted on the walls; the Germans add "4 ]aren GG" (4 years of the General Government) to the graffiti; the Poles add "nur" so that the signs read "Nur 4 Jaren GG" (only 4 years of the General Government)
.. - Someone throws grenades into a German military hospital. The underground press condemns the act;
Oct 13 - Wednesday
.. - A great roundup is organised. Gandarmes, Wermaht soldiers, SA troops and even members of Hitlerjugend are involved in the action;
Oct 15 - Friday
.. - The lists of prisoners who are to be executed in case the resistance movement carries out any act of sagotage against Germans are published for the first time;
Oct 16 - Saturday
.. - first mass execution is carried out in Aleje Niepodleglosci Street;
Oct 17 - Sunday
.. - The second execution in Piusa Street;
Oct 20 - Wednesday
.. - Another mass execution is carried out near the Gdansk Railway Station;
Oct 21 - Thursday
.. - New roundups are organised - this time near Żelaznej Bramy Square. Germans continue organising roundups in the following days in different parts of the city;
NOVEMBER
Nov 1 - 2 - Monday - Tuesday
.. - All Saints Day and All Souls Day are relatively calm;
.. - Further restriction on the use of electricity are introduced;
Nov 07 - Sunday
.. - Kiev falls;
.. - The German terror still rages;
Nov 17 - Wednesday
.. - Another public execution;
.. - The following days bring new executions both public, with the lists of victims published on the posters, and the secret ones about which we read in the underground press;
Nov 26 - Friday
.. - Home Army fighters throw grenades at lorries carrying German gandarmes who are about to carry out a roundup;
DECEMBER
.. - The terror rages on end. The situation continues until the New Year. It is the dreariest month since the beginning of the occupation. My father tries to cheer himself up with the thought that Germans must realise that their rule is coming to an end;
JANUARY
.. - German terror still rages;
.. - Numerous acts of sabotage are performed in the city by the Home Army and the communists;
Jan 08 - Saturday
.. - An action under the code name "Polowanie" (hunting) is carried out near Wawer. A column of cars carrying Governor Fisher and high ranking Gestapo officers returning from a hunting trip was shot at by resistance fighters in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the Governor;
.. - The Bolsheviks cross the pre-war Polish Russian border in Wolyn region. The news about it couses great agitation among Poles and poses many questions about the future;
.. - Ironically, in the midst of the Nazi terror, a German theatre performs an operetta The Land of Smiles;
Jan 09 - Niedziela
.. - The underground Council of National Unity is formed. It is a forum of cooperation for organisations having no affiliation to Moscow;
Jan 14 - 15 - Friday - Saturday
.. - There are many German patrols in the streets. They stop random people to check ID's and search them. People warn passers-by about the danger;
.. - A flu epidemic breaks out;
.. - Germans make attempts at turning the anti-Soviet sentiments among Poles to their advantage;
.. - New posters are put up listing people executed in the ghetto;
Jan 29 - Saturday
.. - Another public execution in Aleje Jerozolimskie Street. This time instead of fear the execution arouses hatred for the Germans. On the following day flowers are laid in the place of the execution;
..- The prices are rocketing day after day;
FEBRUARY
Feb 01 - Tuesday
.. - Polish resistance fighters assassinate Frantz Kutschera, the commander of the SS and the police in Warsaw district responsible for mass executions of Polish citizens;
Feb 02 - Sroda
.. - Germans organise numerous roundups and arrests. 100 men are executed at 11.00 a.m. On top of that, Germans impose a punitive contribution of 100 mln zlotys on the citizens of Warsaw;
.. - Numerous public executions are carried out;
Feb 05 - Saturday
.. - Tadeusz Tyszka nom-de-guerre 'Lord' is killed defending a secret printery discovered by the Germans. The Germans confiscate the newly printed issue of an underground periodical Wzlot;
.. - The authorities of the Polish Underground State declare war on the criminal underground, especially the blackmailers who extort money from the hiding Jews in return for not denouncing them to the Germans. People found guilty of this crime are to be sentenced to death by underground tribunals, and the verdicts are to be executed immediately;
Feb 10 - Thursday
.. - A public execution carried out in Barska Street;
Feb 11 - Friday
.. - 27 people are hanged from the balconies of a derelict house in Leszno Street;
Feb 12 - Saturday
.. - Polish resistance fighters attack a car carrying a high ranking German official;
.. - Germans carry out a propaganda campaign against Great Britain which is full of anti-semitic cliches. Great Britain is full of Jews and all about Jews;
.. - Nowadays in Warsaw one can hear gunshots in the streets or see a public execution every day;
Feb 24/24 - Thursday/Friday
.. - Another air raid alarm in the night, but no planes can be seen;
Feb 26 - Saturday
.. - Polish resistance put up bogus posters signed by the commander of German police ordering the evacutaion of all Germans from the city due to the unstable situation in Warsaw. The hoax causes panic and chaos among Germans;
.. - Germans take to arresting young men wearing high leather boots - the so called officer's boots. (that puts an end to showing off);
Feb 27/28 - Sunday/Monday
.. - Another air raid alarm at night;
MARCH
Mar 04/05 - Saturday/Sunday
.. - Air raid alarm sirens are sounded at night but there are no planes;
.. - From time to time Germans discover Jews hiding in bunkers in the ruins of the ghetto. All of them are shot;
Mar 15 - Wednesday
.. - Until the end of March the curfew is to be enforced from 08.00 p.m. to 05.00 a.m. From 1 April the curfew is to be set from 09.00 p.m. to 05 a.m.;
.. - Arrests and executions continue without end;
.. - At the end of the month Germans seem to be preparing the evcuation of more important factories, e.g., Wytwornia Papierow Wartosciowych (the Polish Security Printing Works);
Mar 30 - Thursday
.. - The Easter school break starts;
APRIL
07 - Apr 07 - Good Friday
.. - Germans sorround lower Zoliborz and arrest many people;
.. - Many people are arrested and executed. Germans do not losen the grip of terror even for a moment. Not a single day passes without a manhunt or a shootout;
.. - A new ordinance regarding air defence is published;
MAY
May 03 - Wednesday (Constitution Day)
.. - As every year, flowers are laid at monuments and memorials. This year the Polish flag has been hung in Teatralny Square;
May 3/4 - Wednesday/Thursday
.. - Several JU-52 transport planes are destroyed at Bielany airport;
May 06 - Saturday
.. - Polish resistance makes a failed attempt to assassinate a high ranking SS officer Walter Stamm. A shootout brakes out at Pole Mokotowskie where several people are shot;
May 6 - 7 - Saturday - Sunday
.. - For two consecutive days following the attempted assasination the police conducts searches and surrounds houses around Polna and Wawelska streets not letting anyone leave;
May 13 - Saturday
.. - German and Romanian troops withdraw from the Crimean Penninsula;
.. - German gandarmes patrol the streets in great numbers. They stop random passers-by for identity checks and make numerous arrests;
May 17 - Wednesday
.. - Germans admit that the fights taking plce in Italy are fierce and devastating (Battle of Monte Cassino);
May 18 - Thursday
.. - The soldiers of the Polish II Corps take Monte Cassino;
.. - Germans fence off the German district with barbed wire. Many Poles who still live in the district are ordered to move out;
.. - During the whole month May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary are held at a shrine in Polna Street. Similar celebration are held in many courtyards where shrines and altars have been built;
May 28 - 29 - Sunday - Monday
.. - Pentacost. Germans organise a huge roundup at the beaches on the Vistula River. Numerous roundups and arrests are carried out also in the following days;
JUNE
Jun 02 - Friday
.. - Germans accidentally discover the secret printery in Kocjan's Glider Workshops. The publication of Biuletyn Informacyjny (Information Bulletin) is suspended for two weeks;
Jun 06 - Tuesday
.. - The Allied invasion in Normandy;
.. - Germans order to remove inside panes from all windows. It is a measure to save glass in case the city is bombed;
.. - . Jozef Beck, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs dies in Romania;
.. - Two gestapo officers are assassinated in Trzech Krzyzy Square;
JULY
.. - There is no end to roundups and arrests. Now and again news is spread about new executions in the ghetto and elsewhere. Every now and again new transports of prisoners are despatched to concentration camps or to Germany to fill the ranks of forced labourers;
Jul 09 - Sunday
.. - The number of Germans leaving Warsaw is growing. They leave taking all belongings, not necesserily theirs, with them;
.. - A part of the police force is evacuated. SS troops take the place of the evacuated policemen;
.. - The first withdrawing units reach Warsaw. How different these soldiers are from the arrogant Germans we have got used to;
Jul 20 - Thursday
.. - Due to the advance of Russian forces the railway services to Lublin, Brzesc, Bialystok are suspended;
Jul 23 - Sunday
.. - The Moscow radio announces that Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego (the Polish Committee of National Liberation) has been formed. The information is confirmed by London on 25 July;
.. - Endless columns of German soldiers pass along the streets going westwards;
.. - The sound of artillery fire can be heard sporadically from the east;
.. - There is panic among German civilians. They run away by all available means of transport taking with them everything they are able to carry;
.. - The Soviet planes fly over the city from time to time, but they do not drop bombs;
Jul 26 - 27 - Wednesday - Thursday
.. - A sudden change in the way Germans act. Some of them return to their posts;
Jul 27 - Thursday
.. - It is announced that by the order of Governor Fisher the Varsovians are to report on July 28 (Friday) at 08.00 a.m. in the designated assembly points for digging anti-tank trenches and building other fortifications. Warsaw is to be defended;
Jul 27/28 - Thursday/Friday
..- A soviet air raid on Warsaw. The Wilenski Station as well as railway tracks and several other targets are damaged as a result of the heavy bombing. Quite a few civilian buildings are damaged too;
Jul 28 - Friday
.. - The tank columns of the SS armoured division Hermann Goering pass through Warsaw heading east;
.. - The Home Army units are put on alert. Soldiers report at the designated assembly points, but the alarm is called off in the afternoon;
Jul 28/29 - Friday/Saturday
.. - Another air raid on Warsaw. This time bombs fall mainly on Praga district and the Zachodni Station;
Jul 29 - Sobota
.. - The Soviets are said to have reached the outskirts of Praga district;
.. - The Germans manage to overcome the panic in their ranks and regain full control of the situation. German patrols are out on the beat. We have a group of mobilized fighters in my workplace who practically started living there because they have nowhere to go;
Jul 29 - 31 - Saturday - Monday
.. - The SS armoured division Hermann Goering rumbles throught the city;
.. - The Soviets bomb German defence and anti-aircraft artillery positions;
Jul 30 - Sunday
.. - The underground press starts to be openly handed out in the streets. Otwock and Wolomin are said to have been liberated;
Jul 31 - Monday
.. - The Germans grow in strength. Their patrols are out on the beat again - the police, SS and the Wehrmacht;
AUGUST 1 - Tuesday
.. - Trams operate as usual. In the morning everything looks normal but the air is thick with tension;
.. - At 05.00 p.m. the tragedy starts - the UPRISING.
Marek Tadeusz Nowakowski
elaboration: Maciej Janaszek-Seydlitz
|
Marek Tadeusz Nowakowski, born 01.04.1926 r. in Warsaw 2nd Lieutenant (wartime commission), Home Army nom de guerre "Abba" Protection unit of the Home Army Air Force Command - Lawa's company POW No. 102331 |
Copyright © 2011 Maciej Janaszek-Seydlitz. All rights reserved.