German armies crossed the borders of Poland without warning on the 1st September 1939 so beginning the first campaign of WWII – the largest armed conflict in the history of the world. On the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of WWII, we honour the fallen, whom we respect and remember.
At 4.40am on the 1st September 1939, Luftwaffe bombers began the bombing of Wielun. A few minutes later, SMS Schleswig Holstein bombarded the Polish Military Transit Depot at Westerplatte. And so began the largest armed conflict in the history of the world. It was the beginning of a six- year hell which the Nazi Germans and Bolshevik Russia brought on Poland, the Poles as well as other European nations and the world.
WWII – now a distant event in time, still alive, however, in the memory of the generation that was its witness. The Land of Oświęcim Residents’ Memory Museum will be joining in all the commemorations taking place around Poland. Our conference, suitable for both laymen and experts, will take place on 16th September and present local inhabitants’ experiences on the many fronts of WWII within the context of Polish and world history.
We invite you to watch testimonies of eye-witnesses of those times – Mr Marian Domasik and Mrs Wanda Saternus, who recall the day 1st September 1939.
The Second World War concluded with the signing of the act of unconditional surrender by the Third Reich in Reims on 7th May 1945, which came into being on 8th May 1945; and the act of unconditional surrender by the Japanese signed 2nd September 1945 on the deck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay – finally ending the war.
