Narodowe Sily Zbrojne
Encyclopedia
Narodowe Siły Zbrojne was a Polish, anti-Soviet and anti-Nazi paramilitary organization which was part of the Polish resistance movement in World War II
, fighting the Nazi
German occupation of Poland in the General Government
, and later the Soviet puppet state
known as the Polish People's Republic. It was associated with the pre-war National Democracy political camp.
(Organizacja Wojskowa Związek Jaszczurczy) and part of the National Military Organization
(Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa). At its maximum strength it reached approximately between 70,000 and 75,000 members, making it the third largest organization of the Polish resistance
(after the Armia Krajowa
and the Bataliony Chlopskie
). NSZ units participated in the Warsaw Uprising
.
In March 1944, the NSZ split with the more moderate faction coming under the command of the Armia Krajowa
. The other part of the organization became known as the NSZ-ZJ (after "Związek Jaszczurczy" or the "Salamander Union"). This branch of the NSZ conducted operations against Polish and Jewish members of the Polish communist secret police
, the Soviet NKVD
, SMERSH
, and their own former leaders that claimed dozens of victims.
While an article in the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust asserts that hundreds of Polish Jews who had sought asylum amongst the Polish population
after having escaped from the ghettos were murdered by the NSZ, many NSZ soldiers and their families are credited with saving lives of countless Jews including personalities such as Maria Bernstein, Leon Goldman, Jonte Goldman, Dr. Turski, and others. The NSZ had many Jews in its ranks including Calel Perechodnik
, Wiktor Natanson, Captain Roman Born-Bornstein (chief physician of the Chrobry II unit), Jerzy Zmidygier-Konopka, Feliks Pisarewski-Parry, Eljahu (Aleksander) Szandcer (nom de guerre "Dzik"), Dr. Kaminski, a physician who served in the NSZ unit led by Capt. Wladyslaw Kolacinski (nom de guerre "Zbik"), and numerous others. Similarly, a number of prominent members of the National Armed Forces made personal efforts to aid and hide Jews.
In January 1945, the NSZ Holy Cross Mountains Brigade
(Brygada Świętokrzyska) retreated before the advancing Red Army
, and after negotiating temporary ceasefire with the Germans, moved into the Nazi-controlled (Czech) Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
. However, it resumed operations against the Nazis again on May 5, 1945 in Bohemia
, where the NSZ brigade liberated prisoners from a concentration camp in Holiszowo, including 280 Jewish women prisoners. The brigade suffered heavy casualties.
In 1947, Maria Bernstein, a Jew who survived Nazi occupation wrote on behalf of an NSZ soldier condemned to death by a communist court, Jerzy Zakulski. Her notorized letter reads: "Jerzy Zakulski, formerly residing with his now deceased father Ludwik [Zakulski], at 7 Saint Kinga Street [pol. Ulica Swietej Kingi 7] in Krakow Pogorze, provided me with shelter in his apartment when I escaped with my 3-year old child during a night from the Ghetto [...] After some time they managed to secure a safe place for us at the Zofia Strycharska’s [his wife's family] place, where along with my child I survived in [the city of] Myslenice until the end of the war. I am furnishing this statement under oath, because I am grateful to them for saving my life while endangering their own. (-) Maria Bleszynska (formerly Bernstein) [...] (-) Emil Stapor, Notary." As one of countless NSZ soldiers killed by the communist regime, Zakulski was executed on July 31, 1947.
as well as against the Stalinist Soviet Union
, with its focus on keeping the Second Polish Republic
s pre-war eastern territories and border
s while regaining additional former German territories to the west
which they deemed "ancient Slavic lands". The General Directive Nr. 3 of the National Armed Forces General Command, L. 18/44 from January 15, 1944, reads: "In the face of crossing of Polish boarders by Soviet forces, the Polish Government in London and its Polish citizens living on the territory of Poland express their unwavering desire for the return of the sovereignty to the entire area of Poland within the Polish boarders established prior to 1939 through the mutually-binding Treaty of Riga and reaffirmed by the general principles of the Atlantic Charter, as well as by the declarations of the Allied governments which did not concede to any territorial changes that took place in Poland after August 1939."
During the war, the NSZ fought the Polish communists including their Soviet NKVD-controlled paramilitary organizations such as the Gwardia Ludowa
(GL) and the Armia Ludowa
(AL). After the war former NSZ members were persecuted by the newly installed communist government of the People's Republic of Poland
. Reportedly, communist partisans engaged in planting false evidence like documents and forged receipts at the sites of their own robberies in order to blame the NSZ. It was a method of political warfare practiced against NSZ also by Polish secret police
(UB) and Milicja Obywatelska
(MO) right after the war as revealed by People's Republic of Poland
court documents.
Such methodically devised propaganda and tactical operations carried out against Democratic Underground, and the NSZ in particular, were spelled out in the Top Secret Directive VIII/1233/172 issued by the Ministry of Public Security of Poland
on December 4, 1945. This Top Secret Directive signed by its head Stanisław Radkiewicz
was issued to all Voivodeship and field UB offices. It reads: “[…] the heads of the U[rzad]B[ezpieczenstwa] offices are directed to prepare in great secrecy an action having as its goal liquidation of members of democratic organizations; this action is to be staged in such fashion as to appear to have been carried out by the reactionary gangs. It is advised that special-purpose [secret police tactical] units [known as Oddziały Pozorowane] created during the Summer of last year be used for this purpose. This action is to be accompanied by a [smear] press campaign directed against the reactionary gangs who will be blamed for these actions. (-) [Stanisław] Radkiewicz”.
Due to policy of non-cooperation with the Soviets, and unlike Home Army
(AK), which was completely transparent to communist security services, NSZ remained an independent and secret military and political power also after Poland was taken over by the Soviet Red Army
and the communist Polish forces under Soviet control
. The NSZ described and evaluated the communist activities in the following way:
, and their families, were persecuted during the Stalinist period after the war. In Autumn 1946, a group of 100-200 soldiers of NSZ
unit under command of Henryk Flame
, nom de guerre "Bartek," were lured into a trap and then massacred by Polish communist police and Polish army units loyal to the communist government in Warsaw. However, in 1992, after Poland regained independence from the Soviet occupation, the National Armed Force underground soldiers were rehabilitated and given the official status of war veteran
s, receiving pensions and decorations.
Commanders:
Polish resistance movement in World War II
The Polish resistance movement in World War II, with the Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance in all of Nazi-occupied Europe, covering both German and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish defence against the Nazi occupation was an important part of the European...
, fighting the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
German occupation of Poland in the General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
, and later the Soviet puppet state
Puppet state
A puppet state is a nominal sovereign of a state who is de facto controlled by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...
known as the Polish People's Republic. It was associated with the pre-war National Democracy political camp.
History
The NSZ was created on September 20, 1942, as a result of the merger of the Military Organization Lizard UnionMilitary Organization Lizard Union
Organizacja Wojskowa Związek Jaszczurczy was an organization of Polish resistance in World War II...
(Organizacja Wojskowa Związek Jaszczurczy) and part of the National Military Organization
National Military Organization
Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa was one of the Polish resistance movements in World War II. Created in 1939, it did not agree to merge with the Service for Poland's Victory /Union of Armed Struggle /Armia Krajowa but recognized the Polish government in exile. Politically related to the National Party...
(Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa). At its maximum strength it reached approximately between 70,000 and 75,000 members, making it the third largest organization of the Polish resistance
Polish resistance movement in World War II
The Polish resistance movement in World War II, with the Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance in all of Nazi-occupied Europe, covering both German and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish defence against the Nazi occupation was an important part of the European...
(after the Armia Krajowa
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
and the Bataliony Chlopskie
Bataliony Chlopskie
Bataliony Chłopskie was a Polish World War II resistance movement and partisan organisation. The organisation was created in mid-1940 by the agrarian political party Stronnictwo Ludowe and by 1944 was partially integrated with the Armia Krajowa...
). NSZ units participated in the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
.
In March 1944, the NSZ split with the more moderate faction coming under the command of the Armia Krajowa
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
. The other part of the organization became known as the NSZ-ZJ (after "Związek Jaszczurczy" or the "Salamander Union"). This branch of the NSZ conducted operations against Polish and Jewish members of the Polish communist secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
, the Soviet NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
, SMERSH
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
, and their own former leaders that claimed dozens of victims.
While an article in the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust asserts that hundreds of Polish Jews who had sought asylum amongst the Polish population
Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust
Polish Jews were the primary victims of the German Nazi-organized Holocaust. Throughout the German occupation of Poland, many Polish Gentiles risked their own lives—and the lives of their families—to rescue Jews from the Nazis. Grouped by nationality, Poles represent the biggest number of people...
after having escaped from the ghettos were murdered by the NSZ, many NSZ soldiers and their families are credited with saving lives of countless Jews including personalities such as Maria Bernstein, Leon Goldman, Jonte Goldman, Dr. Turski, and others. The NSZ had many Jews in its ranks including Calel Perechodnik
Calel Perechodnik
Calel Perechodnik was a Polish Jew who joined the Jewish Ghetto Police in the Otwock Ghetto during the Nazi German occupation of Poland...
, Wiktor Natanson, Captain Roman Born-Bornstein (chief physician of the Chrobry II unit), Jerzy Zmidygier-Konopka, Feliks Pisarewski-Parry, Eljahu (Aleksander) Szandcer (nom de guerre "Dzik"), Dr. Kaminski, a physician who served in the NSZ unit led by Capt. Wladyslaw Kolacinski (nom de guerre "Zbik"), and numerous others. Similarly, a number of prominent members of the National Armed Forces made personal efforts to aid and hide Jews.
In January 1945, the NSZ Holy Cross Mountains Brigade
Holy Cross Mountains Brigade
The Holy Cross Mountains Brigade was a tactical unit of the Polish underground NSZ organization during World War II, which did not obey orders to merge with the Home Army in 1944 and as a result was part of the NSZ-ZJ faction....
(Brygada Świętokrzyska) retreated before the advancing Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, and after negotiating temporary ceasefire with the Germans, moved into the Nazi-controlled (Czech) Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
. However, it resumed operations against the Nazis again on May 5, 1945 in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
, where the NSZ brigade liberated prisoners from a concentration camp in Holiszowo, including 280 Jewish women prisoners. The brigade suffered heavy casualties.
In 1947, Maria Bernstein, a Jew who survived Nazi occupation wrote on behalf of an NSZ soldier condemned to death by a communist court, Jerzy Zakulski. Her notorized letter reads: "Jerzy Zakulski, formerly residing with his now deceased father Ludwik [Zakulski], at 7 Saint Kinga Street [pol. Ulica Swietej Kingi 7] in Krakow Pogorze, provided me with shelter in his apartment when I escaped with my 3-year old child during a night from the Ghetto [...] After some time they managed to secure a safe place for us at the Zofia Strycharska’s [his wife's family] place, where along with my child I survived in [the city of] Myslenice until the end of the war. I am furnishing this statement under oath, because I am grateful to them for saving my life while endangering their own. (-) Maria Bleszynska (formerly Bernstein) [...] (-) Emil Stapor, Notary." As one of countless NSZ soldiers killed by the communist regime, Zakulski was executed on July 31, 1947.
Political stance
The NSZ occupied the right of center of the political spectrum. Its program included the fight for Polish independence against the Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
as well as against the Stalinist Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, with its focus on keeping the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
s pre-war eastern territories and border
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
s while regaining additional former German territories to the west
Recovered Territories
Recovered or Regained Territories was an official term used by the People's Republic of Poland to describe those parts of pre-war Germany that became part of Poland after World War II...
which they deemed "ancient Slavic lands". The General Directive Nr. 3 of the National Armed Forces General Command, L. 18/44 from January 15, 1944, reads: "In the face of crossing of Polish boarders by Soviet forces, the Polish Government in London and its Polish citizens living on the territory of Poland express their unwavering desire for the return of the sovereignty to the entire area of Poland within the Polish boarders established prior to 1939 through the mutually-binding Treaty of Riga and reaffirmed by the general principles of the Atlantic Charter, as well as by the declarations of the Allied governments which did not concede to any territorial changes that took place in Poland after August 1939."
During the war, the NSZ fought the Polish communists including their Soviet NKVD-controlled paramilitary organizations such as the Gwardia Ludowa
Gwardia Ludowa
Gwardia Ludowa or GL was a communist armed organisation in Poland, organised by the Soviet created Polish Workers Party. It was the largest military organization which refused to join the structures of the Polish Underground State. It was created in 1942 and in 1944 it was incorporated by the...
(GL) and the Armia Ludowa
Armia Ludowa
Armia Ludowa was a communist partisan force set up by the Polish Workers' Party during World War II. Its aims were to support the military of the Soviet Union against German forces and aid the creation of a pro-Soviet communist government in Poland...
(AL). After the war former NSZ members were persecuted by the newly installed communist government of the People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
. Reportedly, communist partisans engaged in planting false evidence like documents and forged receipts at the sites of their own robberies in order to blame the NSZ. It was a method of political warfare practiced against NSZ also by Polish secret police
Ministry of Public Security of Poland
The Ministry of Public Security of Poland was a Polish communist secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage service operating from 1945 to 1954 under Jakub Berman of the Politburo...
(UB) and Milicja Obywatelska
Milicja Obywatelska
Milicja Obywatelska was a state police institution in the People's Republic of Poland. It was created in 1944 by Soviet-sponsored PKWN, effectively replacing the pre-war police force. In 1990 it was transformed back into Policja....
(MO) right after the war as revealed by People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
court documents.
Such methodically devised propaganda and tactical operations carried out against Democratic Underground, and the NSZ in particular, were spelled out in the Top Secret Directive VIII/1233/172 issued by the Ministry of Public Security of Poland
Ministry of Public Security of Poland
The Ministry of Public Security of Poland was a Polish communist secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage service operating from 1945 to 1954 under Jakub Berman of the Politburo...
on December 4, 1945. This Top Secret Directive signed by its head Stanisław Radkiewicz
Stanisław Radkiewicz
Stanisław Radkiewicz was a Polish communist activist with Soviet citizenship, member of the pre-war Communist Party of Poland and of the post-war Polish United Workers' Party...
was issued to all Voivodeship and field UB offices. It reads: “[…] the heads of the U[rzad]B[ezpieczenstwa] offices are directed to prepare in great secrecy an action having as its goal liquidation of members of democratic organizations; this action is to be staged in such fashion as to appear to have been carried out by the reactionary gangs. It is advised that special-purpose [secret police tactical] units [known as Oddziały Pozorowane] created during the Summer of last year be used for this purpose. This action is to be accompanied by a [smear] press campaign directed against the reactionary gangs who will be blamed for these actions. (-) [Stanisław] Radkiewicz”.
Due to policy of non-cooperation with the Soviets, and unlike Home Army
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
(AK), which was completely transparent to communist security services, NSZ remained an independent and secret military and political power also after Poland was taken over by the Soviet Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
and the communist Polish forces under Soviet control
Polish Armed Forces in the East
Polish Armed Forces in the East refers to military units composed of Poles created in the Soviet Union at the time when the territory of Poland was occupied by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in the Second World War....
. The NSZ described and evaluated the communist activities in the following way:
"One can die by the method proven in KatynKatyn massacreThe Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
, that is by a single shot in the back of the head, or in the Soviet Forced Labour CampsGulagThe Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
, or in German Nazi concentration campsNazi concentration campsNazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
(...) there is no real difference in the way one dies (...) therefore it is our duty to stamp out the Soviet agents in Poland. This is simply demanded by the Polish reasons of state."
Military operations
- Battle at Borowo
- Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camp in Holiszow
- Operation against Nazi transport trains from Majdanek Concentration Camp
Post-war persecution and later rehabilitation
The members of NSZ, as other cursed soldiersCursed soldiers
The cursed soldiers is a name applied to a variety of Polish resistance movements formed in the later stages of World War II and afterwards. Created by some members of the Polish Secret State, these clandestine organizations continued their armed struggle against the Stalinist government of Poland...
, and their families, were persecuted during the Stalinist period after the war. In Autumn 1946, a group of 100-200 soldiers of NSZ
NSZ
NSZ can refer to:*Nanking Safety Zone*Polish National Armed Forces Narodowe Siły Zbrojne...
unit under command of Henryk Flame
Henryk Flame
Henryk Antoni Flame was a corporal and pilot in the Polish Air Force, and a captain of the anti-Nazi, and anti-Communist resistance organization NSZ.-Early life:Henryk was the son of Emeryk and Maria...
, nom de guerre "Bartek," were lured into a trap and then massacred by Polish communist police and Polish army units loyal to the communist government in Warsaw. However, in 1992, after Poland regained independence from the Soviet occupation, the National Armed Force underground soldiers were rehabilitated and given the official status of war veteran
War Veteran
War Veteran is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick. It was first published in If magazine in March 1955.-Plot summary:The plot concerns an old man who claims to have travelled back in time from a future in which Earth has lost a devastating war to its own Martian and Venusian colonies...
s, receiving pensions and decorations.
Commanders:
- Colonel Ignacy OziewiczIgnacy OziewiczIgnacy Oziewicz was a Polish military general. During the First World War, he served in the Russian Tsarist army in various NCO and officers' posts. In 1919, he joined the Polish Army....
- Colonel Tadeusz KurcyuszTadeusz KurcyuszTadeusz Kurcyusz was a colonel of the Polish Army. He was in command of the National Armed Forces from August 1, 1943 until his death in April 1944. He was posthumously given the rank of Brigadier General....
- Colonel Stanislaw KasznicaStanislaw KasznicaStanisław Józef Bronisław Kasznica was the last commander of the National Armed Forces , an anti-communist, and anti-Nazi paramilitary organization, which was part of the Polish resistance movement in World War II and in the period following it.He was born in Lwów, and his father, Stanisław...
See also
- Forest BrothersForest BrothersThe Forest Brothers were Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian partisans who waged a guerrilla war against Soviet rule during the Soviet invasion and occupation of the three Baltic states during, and after, World War II...
- Cursed soldiersCursed soldiersThe cursed soldiers is a name applied to a variety of Polish resistance movements formed in the later stages of World War II and afterwards. Created by some members of the Polish Secret State, these clandestine organizations continued their armed struggle against the Stalinist government of Poland...
- Holy Cross Mountains BrigadeHoly Cross Mountains BrigadeThe Holy Cross Mountains Brigade was a tactical unit of the Polish underground NSZ organization during World War II, which did not obey orders to merge with the Home Army in 1944 and as a result was part of the NSZ-ZJ faction....
- Ukrainian Insurgent Army