His wife from the country and the two owning a home
there in addition to a residence in Britain,
Poland is once again the setting of a Norman Davies’ book. But where God’s
Playground and Poland, Past and
Present survey the history of Polish culture (must be ‘culture’ as for
significant time periods no country existed) from various perspectives, Rising ’44: The Battle
for Warsaw focuses on a two month event that occurred in Warsaw toward then
end of WWII. Germany feeling the effects
of its losses on other warfronts around the world, in mid-1944 the underground Polish
remaining in Warsaw saw hope that their city could be reclaimed and staged a
rebellion to coincide with the arrival of their allies, the mighty Soviet Red
Army. The outcome of the situation could
only have been more tragic for those who lived through it.
Davies divides Rising
’44 into three sections: stage setting, the uprising itself, and the
aftermath. Rather than attempting to
outlay the players and game board in linear fashion, Davies opts to divide the
first section into three parts: the Germans, the Russians, and the Poles and
their allies. Each group is introduced,
their goals outlined, and status set at the time just preceding the rebellion. Having the effect of three roads converging
at an intersection, the uprising bursts from the text in affective detail at
the start of the second section.
Based on the amount of data included, trivial to
vital, Davies and his team examined all available records related to the plight
of the native Poles and Jews in hiding in Warsaw
in the summer of 1944. Their underground
routed through a network of sewers and tunnels, the Poles—with promised but
limited assistance from British, Russian, and American allies—maintained their
position with guerilla warfare throughout the war, using and salvaging the most
basic of weapons. The Germans never able
to fully exterminate them, in August and September that year the Poles switched
into full attack mode in the belief their Russian allies arriving on the city’s
doorstep would step in and help. The
final section of the book deals with the aftermath of this battle, in
particular the state of Polish society and politics from the end of the
rebellion until now.
For those with more than background knowledge of
WWII, the opening section can be skipped as many other books offer more exhaustive
detail about the movement and mindset of allied and axis powers during the war
prior to 1944. The Warsaw Uprising
itself, however, is not to be missed.
The focus of the book, Davies brings it to life in both touching and
graphic detail. Diaries, official
documents, written accounts, and verbal histories are all used toward painting
a picture of what life was like for the Poles living and hiding in the city,
not to mention fighting to reclaim it.
The food shortages, transportation methods, weapons training,
communication with the outside world, even a media network are described as
they affected events that transpired.
The Germans only mostly portrayed as ruthless oppressors, many of the
individual stories involving interaction between the two sides are emotional
and transcend scholarly accounts of history.
Davies’ writing, as usual, strikes a middle ground
between cut and dry facts and engaging prose.
Confidently and consistently expressed, the uprising comes to life
beneath the author’s pen. What also
comes to life is an acknowledged agenda.
Aside from the main goal of bringing attention to the details of the
uprising, another of Davies’ goals in Rising
’44, is to emphasize the negative effects of Stalinism. Not as subtle as the information related in
his Europe: A History, Davies’
version of the Warsaw Uprising condemns Soviet involvement in the situation
every bit as much as the Nazi’s. The
aftermath section in particular contains specific examples tailored to
highlight the atrocities the Soviet “allies” committed against the Poles during
and after the war. Soviet realpolitik not garnering the attention
of Nazism has in the half-century since, Rising
’44 makes further inroads toward bringing to light the darker side of
Stalin’s regime.
In the end, Rising
’44 is informative and engaging reading for those interested in the history
of Poland
and WWII. While the earlier Europe: A History saw Davies riding on
the coattails of previous research, Rising
’44 shows the historian and his team more than capable of doing their homework. The two month window in the history of Warsaw during WWII is
examined from many angles and with specific details. Though biases against the Nazis and Soviets
are undisguised, the text suffers none for it.
An emotionally engaging history of the people living beneath the streets
of Warsaw and their rebellion against oppression, this is one of Davies’ best
works, the quality of human stories that emerge from the chaos worth the price,
alone.
