Uprising

I've been considering using this blog to tell the story of my family, to record what is known so that Helena will also know. I've researched my roots only very informally. Maybe I can use this blog to connect with family, not just strangers.

I'm not yet ready to take on that project, but in that spirit I'd like to inform you regarding an important piece of history.

While the Western world celebrated the successful Allied landings at Normandy, Poland struggled alone.

CNN presents Warsaw Rising: The Forgotten Soldiers of World War II, to be rebroadcast Saturday, June 12, at 8 and 11 PM ET and Sunday, June 13, at 8 and 11 PM ET.

A study guide is available.

From: Ted@mirecki.us
Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 12:02 PM
To: david.ensor@cnn.com; kathy.slobogin@cnn.com
Subject: Congratulations to CNN Presents!

Dear Mr. Ensor, Ms. Slobogin:

Congratulations on an excellent film that presents so very well a story that is so little-known here. The program did a great job describing the military objectives and tactical operations of the Uprising, and especially the defeat inflicted not by the Germans but by Poland's allies. However, I feel it did not articulate clearly enough the political and strategic objectives of the undertaking.

In short, the main motivation for the uprising was more the impending Soviet occupation than the existing German one. At one point Ms. Jaroszewicz says in the film: "We wanted to liberate our own city ourselves" — what's left unsaid is what was the looming alternative: "liberation" by the Red Army. This issue is entwined with great political significance, because the Poles believed that the liberation of the capital would allow the return of the legal government-in-exile and prevent the establishment of a Communist puppet one. The strategic objective was more than a free Warsaw — it was a free Poland. The dashing of that hope, not in the streets of Warsaw by the German enemy but in Teheran and Yalta by Poland's allies, was the greatest betrayal and defeat. Zbigniew Brzezinski summarizes this in his closing remarks, but the story would have a greater impact if the overall strategic issues were mentioned at the outset and the events portrayed against that background.

In closing, I wish to express sincere thanks to CNN, to David Ensor and to Kathy Slobogin for an excellent program that deserves to be widely publicized. I look forward to assisting in spreading the word for any future showings.

Sincerely,
Thaddeus Mirecki, President
Washington Metropolitan Area Division
Polish American Congress