Poland After The Second World War

Post-war Poland was a drastically different country from the one it was before the war. A new political authority, economic instability, and lack of religious diversity marked the beginning of a new Poland. The new politically authority of Poland was the Soviet Union. Before the war, Poland had been independent and self sufficient. After the war, the Western leaders forced Poland to accept the conditions of Stalin. This is a matter of continuing resentment for some Poles even today. Some view it as a "betrayal” of Poland by the Western allies because they allowed Poland to fall entirely into the Soviet sphere of influence. Poland was now under Soviet military control who sought to turn Poland into a Communist country. Throughout the history of this Poland, there had been large variety religious populations. However, due to the Holocaust and the attempted annihilation of Jewish and other discriminated religions, approximately 97% of the remaining population after the war belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. Not only did the war damage the diversity of religion in Poland, it damaged the economy. Poland's urban centers were devastated as a result of war. Many people were left homeless, children orphaned, infrastructures were destroyed, and the rate of illness and infection increased. Prices were high, wages were low, and everyday supplies were difficult to get. There was also a growing gap between the rich and poor. Throughout Poland, there was much displeasure with the authorities who were unable to ease the economic situation. In 1945 The Soviet Union pushed the Communist party into control and the country was renamed "People's Republic of Poland." The rise of the Communist Party did not result out of public vote or appeal with the Communist Party. Because of this, many Poles were uneasy with this new political authority. In September 1988 a secret meeting was held to discuss the need to radically alter the shape of the Polish government and society. Throughout time, events in Poland, like the one in this video, led to the fall of the entire Communist party. Poland became the first Warsaw Pact state country to break free of Soviet domination and the first new non-Communist government in Eastern Europe.

Looking through the history of Poland, you can see many arguments that are still debated even today. After the war, Poland became an increasingly unwelcome place for Jews. Because the number of Jews, as well as populations of non-Polish ethnic groups, had diminished so much in Poland, Catholicism and Polish identity became more tightly intertwined and became important to Polish nationalism. Though Jews had been a part of Polish history for centuries, they did not meet the ideal nationalist standards and therefore they faced anti-Jewish sentiment in the form of encouraged emigration. In the late 1940s, large waves of Jewish people emigrated out of Poland until the Jewish population almost ceased to exist and left Poland with basically only one religion. It is easy to argue whether or not the country’s unanimous religion was really a good thing for Poland. Most people would think that a country with the same religion would be ideal and they would come together so powerfully, and this is true. However I don’t believe that that was a good thing in the case of Poland. That is because the Soviet Union used the fact that the majority followed the Catholic Church to secretly manipulate Poland. Until 1947, the Catholic Church was free from censorship and repression. Stalin found this to be a way to turn Poland to communism like he had originally planned. The Soviet Union told the church that in order to maintain its freedom, the Church had to cooperate with the Communist Party on some levels. The Communist Party, desiring to use the Church as a means of influence, often asked that it preside over political funerals and use its sermons for political manipulation. This indicated to those attending that the Church was in agreement with Communist Party. Another debatable argument is whether or not Stalin’s idea of communism for Poland was such a terrible thing. The people may have not voted the communist party into position, but the power the Party meant opportunities for individuals who were looking for jobs in the damaged economy and would help those attempting to rebuild lives and secure futures. I believe that Stalin’s idea was unnecessary and that he shouldn’t have been given control of Poland in the first place. I believe that Poland was betrayed by the Western leaders because they deserved to have control of their own government since they fought Germany just as all the other allies did. Although the communist party was helping the economy, I think Poland could have rebuilt them selves after the war and that is why they broke away from the Soviet Union to form and independent country again.