No. 438 “Liberation” and the Polish takeover - the 75th anniversary of the annexation of the Western and Northern Territories by Poland

Bulletin of the Institute for Western Affairs, ed. 18(438)/2020: Małgorzata Dąbrowska, “Liberation” and the Polish takeover - the 75th anniversary of the annexation of the Western and Northern Territories by Poland”

In early 1945, the eastern front of World War II moved across the Polish border of 1939 as, supported by the 1st and 2nd Polish Army and other forces, the Red Army advanced into the German territories that would be annexed by Poland as soon as the war was over. In the spring of 1945, the Eastern Front reached further towns in today’s Western and Northern Territories. Since 1945, the residents of these areas have celebrated anniversaries of “liberation” on the dates on which fighting to free their respective towns ended. For several years, various new ways of commemorating these events have emerged in the Western and Northern Territories. Some residents are still celebrating “the return to the Motherland”, while others look for new ideas to remember the “Polish takeover”. Faced with numerous myths built around the events of 1945, the local communities are trying to find their own ways to deal with the problematic overtones of the word “liberation.”