World War II casualties of Poland

See also: World War II crimes in Poland and Nazi crimes against the Polish nation

Around 6 million Polish citizens perished during World War II: about one fifth of the entire pre-war population of Poland.[1] Most of them were civilian victims of the war crimes and the crimes against humanity which Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union committed during their occupation of Poland. Approximately half of them were Polish Jews who were killed in The Holocaust. Statistics for Polish casualties during World War II are divergent and contradictory. This article provides a summary of the estimates of Poland's human losses in the war as well as a summary of the causes of them.

According to the Polish government's official report on war damages which was published in 1947, the total number of Poland's war dead was 6,028,000; 3.0 million ethnic Poles and 3.0 million Jews, excluding the losses of Polish citizens who were members of the Ukrainian and Belarusian ethnic groups. When the communist system collapsed, this figure was disputed by the Polish historian Czesław Łuczak who estimated that the total number of losses was 6.0 million; 3.0 million Jews, 2.0 million ethnic Poles, and 1.0 million Polish citizens who were members of the other ethnic groups whose losses were not included in the 1947 report on war damages.[2][3] In 2009 the Polish government-affiliated Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) published the study "Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami" (Poland 1939-1945. Human Losses and Victims of Repression Under the Two Occupations) that estimated Poland's war dead at between 5.6 and 5.8 million Poles and Jews, including 150,000 during the Soviet occupation.[4] Poland's losses by geographic area include about 3.5 million within the borders of present-day Poland, and about two million in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union.[5] Contemporary Russian sources include Poland's losses in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union with Soviet war dead.[6]

German-Soviet Partition of Poland 1939

Causes

Most Polish citizens who perished in the war were civilian victims of the war crimes and crimes against humanity during the occupation by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) estimates total deaths under the German occupation at 5,470,000 to 5,670,000 Jews and Poles,[7] 2,770,000 Poles,[8] 2.7 to 2.9 million Polish Jews [9] According to IPN research there were also 150,000 victims of Soviet repression.[10]

World War II casualties of Poland
Entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau
Destruction of Wieluń in 1939
Victims of Wola Massacre
Civilians captured by German police for forced labor (Poland 1941)
Execution at Palmiry
Warsaw 1944
Katyn Massacre - Mass Graves
Germanization of Polish children in Nazi-German labor camp in Dzierżązna
Victims of a massacre committed by the UPA in the village of Lipniki, Poland, 1943
Jewish Holocaust deaths
Main article: The Holocaust in Poland

Approximately three million Polish Jews were victims of the Holocaust. In 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) put the total of Jewish deaths at 2.7 to 2.9 million.[11] Polish researchers estimate that 1,860,000 Polish Jews were murdered in the Nazi death camps, the remainder perished inside the Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland, aboard Holocaust trains, and in mass shooting actions.[12] The Nazi extermination camp overall death toll is estimated at 2,830,000; including 1,860,000 Polish Jews: 490,000 killed at Belzec; 60,000 at Sobibor; 800,000 at Treblinka; 150,000 at Chełmno; 300,000 at Auschwitz; and 60,000 at Majdanek. An additional 660,000 Jews from other countries, were transported to Auschwitz and murdered.[13] Over a million Jews deported from Western countries to camps and ghettos set up in occupied Poland perished in the Holocaust.[14][15][16] The Nazi death camps located in Poland are sometimes incorrectly described as Polish death camps.

Human Losses of the ethnic Polish population

According to the figures published by the Polish government in exile in 1941 the ethnic Polish population was 24,388,000 at the beginning of the war in September 1939.[17] The IPN puts the death toll of ethnic Poles under the German occupation at 2,770,000[4] and 150,000 due to Soviet repression[4]

The main causes of these losses are as follows.

Acts of War
  • 1939 Military Campaign-About 200,000[3] Polish civilians were killed in the 1939 Military Campaign. Many were killed in the Luftwaffe's terror bombing operations, including the bombing of Frampol[18] and Wieluń,[19] bombing of Sulejów.[20] Massive air raids were conducted on these, and other towns which had no military infrastructure.[21] Civilians were strafed from the air with machine gun fire in what became known as a terror bombing campaign. Columns of fleeing refugees were systematically attacked by the German fighter and dive-bomber aircraft.[22] The Siege of Warsaw (1939) caused a huge toll of civilian casualties. From the very first hours of World War II, Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was a target of an unrestricted aerial bombardment campaign by the German Luftwaffe. Apart from the military facilities such as infantry barracks and the Okęcie airport and aircraft factory, the German pilots also targeted civilian facilities such as water works, hospitals, market places and schools.
  • Warsaw Uprising Between 150,000 and 250,000 Polish civilians died in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, mostly from mass murders such as the Wola massacre.[23]
Murdered in Prisons or Camps, and in mass executions

During the occupation many Non-Jewish ethnic Poles were killed in mass executions, including an estimated 37,000 Poles[24] at the Pawiak prison complex run by the Gestapo. Polish researchers of the Institute of National Remembrance have estimate about roughly 800,000 ethnic Polish victims during the German occupation including 400,000 in prisons, 148,000 killed in executions and 240,000 deaths among those deported to concentration camps,[25] including 70-75,000[26] at Auschwitz. During the occupation, communities were held collectively responsible for Polish attacks against German troops and mass executions were conducted in reprisal.[27][28] Many mass executions took place outside prisons and camps such as the Mass murders in Piaśnica. Psychiatric patients were executed in Action T4. Farmers were murdered during pacifications of villages.

Forced Labor in Germany

Non-Jewish ethnic Poles in large cities were targeted by the łapanka policy which the German occupiers utilized to indiscriminately round up civilians off the street to be sent as forced laborers to Germany. In Warsaw, between 1942 and 1944, there were approximately 400 daily victims of łapankas. Poles in rural areas and small towns were also conscripted for forced labor by the German occupiers. According to research by the Institute of National Remembrance between 1939 and 1945, 1,897,000 [29] Polish citizens were taken to Germany as forced laborers under inhuman conditions, which resulted in many deaths. However, Czesław Łuczak put the number of Poles deported to Germany at 2,826,500 [30] Although Germany also used forced laborers from all over Europe, Slavs (and especially Poles and Russians) who were viewed as racially inferior, were subjected to intensified discriminatory measures. They were forced to wear identifying purple tags with "P"s sewn to their clothing, subjected to a curfew, and banned from public transportation. While the treatment of factory workers or farm hands often varied depending on the individual employer, most Polish laborers were compelled to work longer hours for lower wages than Western Europeans. In many cities, they were forced to live in segregated barracks behind barbed wire. Social relations with Germans outside work were forbidden, and sexual relations ("racial defilement") were considered a capital crime punishable by death.

Malnutrition and Disease

Prior to the war the area which became the General Government was not self sufficient in agricultural production and was a net importer of food from other regions of Poland.[31] Despite this food deficit the German occupiers confiscated 27% of the agricultural output in the General Government, thus reducing the food available for the civilian population.[32] This Nazi policy caused a humanitarian crisis in Poland’s urban areas. By 1940, between 20 and 25% of the population within the Government General depended on outside relief aid.[33] Richard C. Lukas points out “To be sure, the Poles would have starved to death if they had to depend on the food rationed to them."[34] To supplement the meager rations allocated by the Germans, Poles depended on the black market in order to survive. During the war 80% of the population’s needs were met by the black market.[35] During the war there was an increase in infectious diseases caused by the general malnutrition among the Polish population. In 1940 the tuberculosis rate among Poles, not including Jews, was 420 per 100,000 compared to 136 per 100,000 prior to the war.[36] During the occupation the natural death rate in the General Government increased to 1.7% per annum compared to the prewar level of 1.4%[37]

Kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany

Part of the Generalplan Ost involved taking children from Poland and moving them to Nazi Germany for the purpose of Germanization, or indoctrination into becoming culturally German. The aim of the project was to acquire and "Germanize" children with purportedly Aryan traits who were considered by Nazi officials to be descendants of German settlers in Poland. The Institute of National Remembrance cited a source published in the People's Republic of Poland in 1960 that put the number of children kidnapped in Poland at 200,000 of whom only 30,000 were eventually returned to Poland, the others remained in post war Germany.[38]

Soviet Repression

In the aftermath of the September 1939 German and Soviet invasion of Poland, the territory of Poland was divided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (USSR). The Soviet occupied territories of Poland, with total population of 13.0 million, was subjected to a reign of terror. According to research published in 2009 by the Institute of National Remembrance about 1.0 million Polish citizens from all ethnic groups were arrested, conscripted or deported by the Soviet occupiers from 1939 to 1941; including about 200,000 Polish military personnel held as prisoners of war; 100,000 Polish citizens were arrested and imprisoned by the Soviets, including civic officials, military personnel and other "enemies of the people" like the clergy and Polish educators; 475,000 Poles who were considered "enemies of the people" were deported to remote regions of the USSR; 76,000 Polish citizens were conscripted into the Soviet Armed forces and 200,000 were conscripted as forced laborers in the interior of the Soviet Union. When the Soviet forces returned to Poland in 1944-1945 there was a new wave of repression of Polish citizens from all ethnic groups including 188,000 deported, 50,000 conscripted as forced labor and 50,000 arrested.[39]

The Institute of National Remembrance puts the confirmed death toll due to the Soviet occupation at 150,000 persons including 22,000 murdered Polish military officers and government officials in the Katyn massacre. They pointed out that Czesław Łuczak estimated the total population loss at 500,000 ethnic Poles in the Soviet occupied regions.[4]

Andrzej Paczkowski puts the number of Polish deaths due to Soviet repression at 90,000–100,000 of the 1.0 million persons deported and 30,000 executed by the Soviets.[40]

According to Zbigniew S. Siemaszko the total of those deported was 1,646,000 of whom 1,450,000 were residents and refugees (excluding POWs).[41]

According to Franciszek Proch the total of those deported was 1,800,000 of whom 1,050,000 perished.[42]

Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia

An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 [43][44][45] ethnic Poles were killed in an ethnic cleansing operation carried out by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) beginning in March 1943 and lasting until the end of 1944 in the Nazi occupied Volhynia and Eastern Galicia.[4] The Institute of National Remembrance maintains that 7,500 ethnic Ukrainians were also killed during this interethnic conflict [27][46]

Losses of other ethnic minorities

The figure of 5.6 to 5.8 million war dead estimated by the IPN was for only the Jewish and ethnic Polish population. They did not provide figures for the death toll of Polish citizens from the other ethnic minorities.[47]

Ukrainians, Belarusians and Lithuanians

According to the figures published by the Polish government in exile in 1941 there were about 7.0 million Polish citizens from ethnic minorities at the beginning of the war in September 1939, mostly Ukrainians, Belarusians, Polishchuks and Lithuanians living in the eastern regions of Poland annexed by the USSR.[48] The IPN did not estimate the death toll of Polish citizens from these ethnic minorities. The IPN maintains that accurate figures for these losses are not available because of border changes and population transfers, according to their figures 308,000 Polish citizens from the ethnic minorities were deported into the interior of the Soviet Union and were conscripted into the Soviet armed forces. During the German occupation Polish citizens from ethnic minorities were deported to Germany for forced labor.[27][46]

Ethnic Germans

In prewar Poland about 800,000 persons were identified as ethnic Germans.[48] According to the IPN 5,437 ethnic Germans were killed in the 1939 military campaign. The IPN also puts the number of Polish citizens conscripted into the German armed forces at 250,000 of whom 60,000 were killed in action. Tens of thousands of ethnic Germans were killed during the Nazi evacuation from Poland in 1944 and 1945, and as a result of repression NKVD and Red Army or died in post war internment camps.[27] During the war the Nazi occupiers instituted the Volksliste in the Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany to register ethnic Germans in Poland. Many Polish citizens were pressured to sign the Volksliste in order to avoid Nazi reprisals. About 1 million persons were on Volksliste groups 1 and 2 that included Polish citizens of German descent; Volksliste groups 3 and 4 included 1.7 Polish citizens that were subject to future Germanisation.[49] In addition 61,000 .[17] ethnic Germans were living in the General Government. During the war 522,149 ethnic Germans from other nations were settled in Poland by the Third Reich.[27] By 1950 670,000 ethnic Germans from prewar Poland had fled or were expelled and about 40,000 remained in Poland; about 200,000 Polish citizens who were on Volksliste groups 1 and 2 during the war were rehabilitated as Polish citizens.[50][51]

Summary of estimates

In 1947 the communist dominated government in Poland estimated war losses at 6.0 million ethnic Poles and Jews, they did not include the losses of Polish citizens from other minorities - Ukrainians and Belarusians.[52] In 1951 the Polish government made a reassessment of war losses that put actual losses at 5.1 million ethnic Poles and Jews; this study was to remain secret until the communist government collapsed.[52] In a 2009 study by the Polish government affiliated Institute of National Remembrance the total deaths of ethnic Poles and Jews were estimated at 5.6 to 5.8 million persons including 150,000 in Soviet captivity.[27]

The Polish government estimate of war dead in 1947 was based on the results of the 1931 Polish census using the criterion of language spoken to breakout the various ethnic groups.[53] The classification of the ethnic groups in Poland during the Second Polish Republic is a disputed topic, Tadeusz Piotrowski called the 1931 Polish census "unreliable", noting that it had underestimated the number of non-Poles[54] The official figures for nationality from the 1931 Polish census based on the mother tongue put the percentage of ethnic Poles at 68.9%, Jews 8.6% and other minority groups 22.5%., Tadeusz Piotrowski maintains that the adjusted census figures(taking religious affiliation into account) put the percentage of ethnic Poles at 64.7%, Jews 9.8% and other minority groups 25.5% of Poland's population.[55] Based on the analysis by Tadeusz Piotrowski roughly 1.0 million Ukrainians and Belarusians and 400,000 Polish speaking Jews were misclassified as Poles in the official figures for the 1939 population.[56] Polish demographer Piotr Eberhardt maintains that it is commonly agreed that the criterion of declared language to classify ethnic groups led to an overestimation of the number of Poles in pre-war Poland. He notes that in general, the numbers declaring a particular language do not mesh with the numbers declaring the corresponding nationality. Members of ethnic minority groups believe that the language criterion led to an overestimation of Poles.[57]

Reports, studies and assessments

Polish Bureau of War Damages

In April 1947 the Polish government Bureau of War Damages (BOW) published an analysis of Poland's war losses. This study was prepared for a conference on war reparations from Germany. Their figure of 6,028,000 Polish war dead has been cited in historical literature since then.[58][59][60]

Poland Bureau of War Damages (BOW). Statement on war losses and damages of Poland in 1939–1945.[61]
Total Population of ethnic Poles and Polish Jews (only) in 1939 A. 27,007,000
Causes of human losses (% of total) %
Direct war operations B. 644,000 10.7%
Murdered in the extermination camps, executions, liquidation of ghettos 3,577,000 59.3%
Prisons, concentration camps, epidemics, extenuation, bad treatment 1,286,000 21.3%
Outside the camps : because of extenuation, wounds, injuries, beatings, hard labour 521,000 8.7%
Total number of war losses C. 6,028,000 100.0%

Notes provided in the report:

A. Population of 27,007,000 includes only ethnic Poles & Jews; Polish citizens of national minorities (Ukrainians, Belarusians) and Germans are not included.[62]

B. Figure of 644,000 deaths caused by direct war operations includes 123,000 military casualties.[61]
C. Total deaths of 6,028,000 includes about 3,000,000 Jews.[62]

  • In addition to the above losses there was a decrease of 1,215,000 births.[61]

Criticism of 1947 Report of Polish Bureau of War Damages

C. Since the fall of communism the Polish historian Czesław Łuczak maintained that the figure 6.0 million war dead is not correct because in January 1947 the communist dominated government in Poland pressured the Bureau of War Damages to come up with a figure of war losses to present at a conference on war reparations from Germany even though they had incomplete information at that time. A subsequent 1951 study by the Polish Ministry of Finance found actual losses to be about 5.1 million persons.[2][63][64]Timothy Snyder maintains that the figure of six million Polish war dead was generated in 1946 for domestic political purposes by the Stalinist regime. He believes that a figure 4.8 million "is probably closer to the truth", including non Jewish losses of one million due to German and 100,000 to Soviet repression and one million due to "mistreatment and as casualties of war"[65]

Polish Ministry of Finance

The Polish government Ministry of Finance in 1951 prepared a study to investigate and detail Poland's war losses in order to document claims for war reparations from Germany.[66] This study was to remain secret and not published until after the collapse of communism in Poland.[66] The Ministry of Finance estimated actual losses at 5,085,000 persons, 943,000 less than the Polish government Bureau of War Damages(BOW) report of 1947. According to Ministry of Finance figures losses were 5,085,000 persons (1,706,700 Poles and 3,378,000) Jews[67]

According to Assessments and Estimates: an Outline by Mateusz Gniazdowski:[66] "This discrepancy was explained by demographers who maintained that the (BOW) included the "missing" category in the total population loss figure, based on the statistics of the end of 1945, while many people believed to have been dead either returned to the country, or remained abroad as emigres. It was not until 1950 that the war – or war related – population migrations were over, in demographic terms."[66]

The 1951 Report by Polish Finance Ministry
Cause of death (Poles & Jews) Number %
Acts of War 550,000 10.7%
Murdered intentionally 3,000,700 57.3%
Victims of prisons and concentration camps 1,083,000 21.3%
Victims of forced labor 274,000 5.4%
Exhaustion 168,000 3.3%
Total 5,075,700 100.0%

Source: Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) Warszawa 2009 ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6 Page 15 (There was no explanation given for the difference of 9,300 between this schedule and the total losses of 5,085,000 persons in the description of the Ministry of Finance Report, see above)

Kazimierz Piesowicz

In 1987 the Polish Academy of Science journal Studia Demograficzne published an article by Kazimierz Piesowicz that analyzed the demographic balance from Poland from 1939-1950.

Poland's Population Balance (1939–1950)
Description Total Poles Jews Germans Others
(Ukrainians
/Belarusians)
Population 1939 (by Nationality) A. 35,000,000 24,300,000 3,200,000 800,000 6,700,000
Natural Increase 1939–1945 B. 1,300,000 1,000,000 300,000
Total Human Losses C. (6,000,000) (3,100,000) (2,800,000) (100,000)
War Emigration D. (1,500,000) (500,000) (200,000) (600,000) (200,000)
Border Changes USSR E. (6,700,000) (700,000) (6,000,000)
Population gain Recovered Territories F. 1,100,000 1,100,000 0 0 0
Re-Immigration 1946–50 G. 200,000 200,000 0 0 0
Deportations to USSR 1944-1947 H. (500,000) 0 0 (500,000)
Natural Increase 1946–1950 I. 2,100,000 2,100,000 0 0 0
Population 1950 J. 25,000,000 24,400,000 200,000 200,000 200,000

Note: The number in parentheses indicates a negative amount (a negative balance)
Source of figures: Kazimierz Piesowicz, Demograficzne skutki II wojny swiatowej Studia Demograficzne, No. 1/87, 1987. 103-36 pp. Warsaw[68]

Legend:

A. Population as of 1939. – In this analysis the nationality of the population is by the primary language spoken, not by religion. Most Jews spoke Yiddish, however included with the Poles are about 200,000 Polish speaking Jews who are classified with the Polish group. Included with the Poles are 1,300,000 Eastern Orthodox & Greek Catholic adherents who are sometimes classified with the Ukrainian and Belarusian groups [56]
B. Natural Increase October 1939-December 1945 -After the war Polish demographers calculated the estimated natural population growth that occurred during the war. This figure is the net total of actual births less the total of deaths by natural causes from October 1939-December 1945.[68]
C. Kazimierz Piesowicz put the total war dead at 6.0 million. He also notes that all the figures are approximated.[68]
D. War Emigration Polish citizens who remained abroad after the war.[68]
E. Border Changes USSR The number of Polish citizens who remained in the USSR after the war estimated by Kazimierz Piesowicz.[68]
F. Population gain Recovered Territories Germans remaining in Poland after the war in the Recovered Territories. This group included 1,100,000 German nationals who declared their allegiance to Poland.[69]
G. Re-immigration 1946-50 Poles resident in western Europe before the war, primarily in Germany and France, who returned to Poland after the war [70]
H. Deportations to USSR 1944-1947-Forced resettlement of Ukrainians and Belarusians to the USSR.[70]
I. Natural Increase 1946-1950 This is the official Polish government data for births and natural deaths from January 1946 until the census of December 1950.[70]
J. Population December 1950 Per Census The total population per the December 1950 census was 25 million.[70]

Franciszek Proch

Franciszek Proch was a Polish lawyer and journalist. During the war he was imprisoned at the Dachau concentration camp. In the post war era he resided in Germany and the United States.[71] Proch published Poland's Way of the Cross in 1987 in which he estimated Poland's war dead.[72] The estimates of Franciszek Proch were cited by Tadeusz Piotrowski in his book Poland's Holocaust [73]

Description Population
(Poles&Jews)		 Military Losses Civilian Losses
(Non-Jewish)		 Civilian Losses
(Jewish)		 Total Losses % Population
Poland 28,400,000
Under German Occupation 295,000 2,345,000 2,400,000 5,040,000 17.7%
Under Soviet Occupation 65,000 885,000 100,000 1,050,000 3.7%
Total Losses 360,000 3,320,000 2,500,000 6,090,000 21.4%

Source of figures: Franciszek Proch, Poland's Way of the Cross, New York 1987 Pages 143-144

Details provided by Franciszek Proch:

  • Population includes 25.0 million Poles and 3.4 million Jews.[74]
  • Jewish Losses- 2.4 million victims of Nazis and 100,000 of Soviet Terror. 32,000 Jews died in Polish military.[74]
  • Victims of Soviet Terror- 1,800,000 deported and 750,000 released; 1,050,000 dead (15,000 Katyn; 565,000 in Labor camps; 220,000 Missing; 150,000 Died since 1955; 100,000 unaccounted for)[74]

Czesław Łuczak

Czesław Łuczak was a Polish historian, and Rector of the Adam Mickiewicz University from 1965 to 1972, from 1969 to 1981 and from 1987 to 1991; director the University's Institute of History. He was a member of the Polish United Workers' Party in communist Poland.

Łuczak authored Polska i Polacy w drugiej wojnie światowej (Poland and Poles in the Second World War). In a section on the demographic losses he presented estimated losses with some brief observations. The figures are Łuczak's estimates.[75]

Estimated total losses by Czesław Łuczak Number of casualties
During German Occupation of Poland 5,100,000
Direct War Operations (not including Warsaw Uprising) 450,000
Subtotal 5,500,000
Outside Polish Territory 500,000
Other Countries 2,000
Total 6,000,000

Sourced from: Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami.[76]

  • Losses during the German occupation of Polish territory were 5.1 million persons.[75]
  • Losses due to direct war operations, not including Warsaw Uprising were 450,000 persons.[75]
  • Losses outside Polish territory were 500,000 persons. This figure includes forced labor in Germany as well as in the USSR. Losses in the USSR included mass executions and the deaths of those persons deported and resettled in the USSR.[75]
  • Total Polish War losses were 6 million persons.[75]

Czesław Łuczak also authored an article in the Polish academic journal Dzieje Najnowsze Rocznik, titled Szanse i trudnosci bilansu demograficznego Polski w latach 1939–1945 (Possibilities and Difficulties of the Demographic Balance in Poland 1939-1945), pages 9–14:

Estimated losses by Czesław Łuczak Number of casualties by ethnic group
Ethnic Polish Victims During German Occupation 1,500,000
Ethnic Polish victims in Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union 500,000
Jewish Victims During German Occupation 2,900,000
Losses of Other Ethnic Groups 1,000,000
Total 5,900,000 to 6,000,000

Source: Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. [76]

  • A summary of the main points in Łuczak's article are as follows.
  • The 1947 Report of the Polish Bureau of War Damages considered only Poles and Jews in the 1939 population, other minorities were not included with the losses.[2]
  • The Polish Bureau of War Damages report of 1947 put Jewish losses at 3.4 million; in a subsequent report to the United Nations this figure was 3.2 million Jewish dead, thus reducing the total to 5.8 million.[2]
  • Actual losses of Ethnic Poles in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union was about 500-800,000 persons. Reports published in the west estimating these losses at 1.5 million Poles in Soviet hands is not based on reliable evidence.[2]
  • Losses of Ethnic Poles in the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia range from a few thousand up to several hundred thousand persons, occasionally 200,000. The figure of 500,000 deaths mentioned by Lech Wałęsa is not based on reliable evidence.[2]
  • The estimates for losses of the Jewish population in the Holocaust range from 2.7 million to 3.4 million persons.[2]
  • Łuczak estimated total losses at 6.0-5.9 million Polish citizens, not less than the report of the Polish Bureau of War Damages. This figure includes 2.9 million Jews, 2.0 million Ethnic Poles and 1.0 million from national minorities the Ukrainian and Belarusian ethnic groups which were not included in the 1947 Polish government figure of 6.0 million war dead. Total losses in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union were 2.0 million persons including 500,000 Ethnic Poles.[2]
  • Łuczak estimated total losses of Ethnic Poles due to the German occupation at 1.5 million persons; 1.3 million in occupied Poland and 200,000 as forced laborers in Germany. Łuczak maintains the demographic evidence points to overall losses of 1.5 million Ethnic Poles under the German occupation.[2]
  • Łuczak maintains total overall losses of Ethnic Poles and Jews at about 5.0 million persons, 1.0 million less than the 1947 report of the Polish Bureau of War Damages.[2]

Tadeusz Piotrowski

Thaddeus Piotrowski is a Polish-American sociologist. He is a Professor of Sociology in the Social Science Division of the University of New Hampshire at Manchester. Piotrowski's assessment in 1998 of Polish war losses is that "Jewish wartime losses in Poland are estimated to be in the 2.7-2.9 million range. (Many Polish Jews found refuge in the Soviet Union and other countries.) Ethnic Polish losses are currently estimated in the range of 2 million. (The number is probably higher if we add all those who died at the hands of the Ukrainian Nationalists.)"[1]

Comparative Poland's War Dead estimated by Tadeusz Piotrowski in 2005 presented on the Project in Posterum website,[77]

Description Total population War Dead
Ethnic Poles 22,700,000 2,000,000
Jews 3,400,000 3,100,000
Other Minorities 9,000,000 500,000
Total 35,100,000 5,600,000

Causes of Poland's War Dead estimated by Tadeusz Piotrowski in 2005 on Project in Posterum website,[77]

Causes of War Dead Estimated number
German Occupation 5,100,000
Soviet Occupation 350,000
Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia 100,000
Total 5,600,000

Kazimierz Bajer

An analysis of Poland's war losses by Kazimierz Bajer was published in the journal of the veterans of the Armia Krajowa. Bajer calculated the estimated population losses of the 12 million ethnic Poles over the age of 15 who were capable of resistance during the German and Soviet occupation.[78] Bajer's figures were used by Polish government affiliated Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) to estimate the war dead of the ethnic Polish population.[79]

Calculation of Population Capable of Resistance
Total Population September 1939 A. 35,339,000
Less population Not Ethnic Polish B. 10,951,000
Ethnic Polish Population C. 24,388,000
Less losses 1939 Campaign D. 849,000
Less population Not Capable of Resistance E. 11,526,000
Population Capable of Resistance-October 1939 12,013,000

Source of figures: Bajer, Kazimierz Zakres udziału Polaków w walce o niepodległość na obszarze państwa polskiego w latach 1939–1945, "Zeszyty Historyczne Stowarzyszenia Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej", (Kraków) 1996 Pages 10–13

A. Population of 35.339 million includes about 240,000 in Polish annexed Trans-Olza area around Český Těšín.[17]

B. Population not ethnic Polish includes 2,916,000 Jews.[17]

C. Ethnic Polish population includes 435,000 Polish speaking Jews.[17]

D. Population Losses 1939 Campaign- Bajer estimated that 69% of the 1,230,000 human losses in Sept. 1939 were Poles. (Total 849,000: Killed 296,000; Prisoners of War 449,000; emigrated from Poland (Sept./Oct 1939) 104,000).[80] The IPN put the 1939 war dead at 360,000.[39]

E. Population Not Capable of Resistance(100% ages 1–14; 50% ages 15–19; 30% women 20-39; 100% over 70 years and 632,000 disabled) [81]

Losses of Ethnic Polish Population Capable of Resistance
Population Capable of Resistance Oct 1939 12,013,000
Less war Dead 1944–1945 C. 170,000
Add return of Wounded soldiers 70,000
Less deported to USSR 663,000
Less conscripted in Soviet Armed Forces 76,000
Less conscripted in German Armed Forces 200,000
Less conscripted for Work USSR 250,000
Less Forced Labor in Germany 1,897,000
Less entered on Volksliste D. 815,000
Less arrested in USSR 150,000
Less prisoners in Concentration Camps 138,000
Less murdered A./B. 506,000
Less deaths In Prisons & Camps A./B. 1,146,000
Less deaths Outside of Prisons & Camps A./B. 473,000
Less murdered in Eastern Regions B. 100,000
Less invalids 530,000
Subtotal of net losses 7,044,000
Total population Capable of Resistance-May 1945 4,969,000

Source of figures: Bajer, Kazimierz Zakres udziału Polaków w walce o niepodległość na obszarze państwa polskiego w latach 1939–1945, "Zeszyty Historyczne Stowarzyszenia Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej", (Kraków) 1996 Page 14

A. Bajer uses the 1947 Bureau of War Damages figures as the base to compute his estimate of ethnic Polish war dead.[82]

B. Figure included by IPN in total ethnic Polish war dead of 2,770,000[83]

C. The IPN put the war dead in 1944/45 at 183,000.[83]

D. According to Bajer's calculations the number of Polish citizens on the Volksliste was 2,224,000. (200,000 were conscripted into the German Armed Forces, 937,000 were ethnic Germans, 272,000 were Poles involved in the Polish resistance and 815,000 were not involved in the resistance movement.)[82]

Institute of National Remembrance

The Polish government affiliated Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in 2009 estimated total war dead at between 5,620,000 and 5,820,000 persons. They did not provide a detailed population balance showing how the figures were derived. They did however breakout the figures of the total war dead.[4][46]

Description Human Losses
Ethnic Poles Deaths -German Occupation 2,770,000
Polish Jews 2,700,000 to 2,900,000
Victims of Soviet Repression 150,000
Total War Dead 5,620,000 to 5,820,000

Source: Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Warszawa 2009, ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6. Page 9

Losses of Ethnic Poles during German occupation per year.[84]

Description Losses 1939/40 1940/41 1941/42 1942/43 1943/44 1944/45 Total
Direct War Losses 360,000 183,000 543,000
Murdered 75,000 100,000 116,000 133,000 82,000 506,000
Deaths In Prisons & Camps 69,000 210,000 220,000 266,000 381,000 1,146,000
Deaths Outside of Prisons & Camps 42,000 71,000 142,000 218,000 473,000
Murdered in Eastern Regions 100,000 100,000
Deaths other countries 2,000
Total 504,000 352,000 407,000 541,000 681,000 270,000 2,770,000

Source: Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Warszawa 2009, ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6. Page 30

  • The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) figures are taken from the study by Kazimierz Bajer Zakres udziału Polaków w walce o niepodległość na obszarze państwa polskiego w latach 1939–1945, which is detailed above. The IPN noted that Bajers study was an attempt to calculate the overall losses of ethnic Poles.[85] The authors of the (IPN) report point out that the figure of 2,770,000 deaths during the German occupation should be treated with caution. They maintain that it is difficult to obtain accurate information on the exact number and causes of Poland's losses. They hope that ongoing projects in Poland will be able to provide more accurate information in the future.[86]
  • Figure of 2,770,000 Poles does not include 100,000 victims of massacres in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia.[87]
  • The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) puts the confirmed death toll due to the Soviet occupation at 150,000, they pointed out that Czesław Łuczak based on a population balance estimated the total population loss at 500,000 ethnic Poles in the Soviet occupied regions.[88]
  • By June 2009 the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) was able to confirm the information regarding 1.5 million of the total estimated 5.8 million war dead.[89] In 2012 the Institute of National Remembrance was able to identify 3,474,449 victims and those persons persecuted under the German occupation [90]

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum believes that "The Nazi terror was, in scholar Norman Davies's words, "much fiercer and more protracted in Poland than anywhere in Europe." Reliable statistics for the total number of Poles who died as a result of Nazi German policies do not exist. Many other Poles were victims of the 1939-1941 Soviet occupation of eastern Poland and the deportations of Poles to Central Asia and Siberia. Records are incomplete, and after the war, Soviet control of Poland and the concealment of Soviet archives impeded independent scholarship for 50 years. The changing borders and the ethnic composition of Poland as well as the vast movements of populations both during and after the war also complicated the task of calculating losses In the past, many estimates of losses were based on a Polish report dated 1947 in which reparations were requested from the Germans; this often cited document tallied population losses of 6 million for all Polish "nationals" (Poles, Jews, and other minorities). Subtracting 3 million Polish Jewish victims, the report claimed 3 million non-Jewish victims of the Nazi terror, including civilian and military casualties of war. According to the USHMM, "Documentation remains fragmentary, but today scholars of independent Poland believe that 1.8 to 1.9 million Polish civilians (non-Jews) were victims of German Occupation policies and the war."[91]

Military casualties

Poland lost a total of about 140,000 regular soldiers killed and missing. The Polish resistance movement lost an additional 100,000 fighters during the war.[63]

The official Historical Journal of the Polish military has published statistics on Polish military casualties. The following schedule details these losses.[92][93] The Polish contribution to World War II included the Polish Armed Forces in the West, and the 1st and 2nd Polish Army fighting under Soviet command.

Forces of Polish Anders Army in Russia 1942
Description Killed Wounded Missing Prisoners of War Total
Campaign Poland 1939 95-97,000 130,000 650,000 876,000
Free Polish Forces 33,256 42,666 8,548 29,385 113,855
Warsaw Uprising (Resistance forces) 18,000 25,000 60,443
Total 146,256 to 148,256 197,666 8,548 697,500 1,050,298

Sources:

Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Warszawa 2009, ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6. Page 20

T. Panecki, Wysiłek zbrojny Polski w II wojnie światowej, pl:Wojskowy Przegląd Historyczny 1995, nr 1-2, s. 13,18.

  • The figure of 95-97,000 killed in the 1939 campaign includes 17-19,000 in Soviet hands as POW.[94]
  • The Armia Krajowa resistance movement which had a strength of about 400,000 fighters in 1944 lost 100,000 killed in the struggle against the German occupation and 50,000 imprisoned by the Soviet Union at the end of the war.[95]

Polish casualties in English language sources

Estimated figures for World War II casualties are divergent and contradictory. The authors of the Oxford Companion to World War II maintain that "casualty statistics are notoriously unreliable".[96] The following is a list of published statistics for Polish casualties in World War II.

  • Encyclopedia Britannica article "World Wars" (2010) Military-killed, died of wounds or in prison-123,718; wounded-236,606; prisoners or missing 420,760; civilian deaths due to war 5,675,000. Estimated total deaths 5,800,000.[97]
  • I. C. B. Dear, Oxford Companion to World War II (2005) Military losses- 123,000 Civilian losses- 4,000,000 Total losses- 4,123,000.[98]
  • World War II Desk Reference (2004). Military losses-123,000 estimated. Civilians killed 6,000,000.[99]
  • Spencer C. Tucker, Encyclopedia of World War Two (2004) Battle deaths 320,000; wounded 530,000; missing in action 420,760. Civilians dead 3,000,00.[100]
  • Clodfelter, Micheal. Warfare and Armed Conflicts – A Statistical Reference (2002) Total military dead all causes 597,320 including battle deaths of 123,178; wounded 766,606. Civilian deaths 5,675,000 including 3,000,000 Jews[101]
  • John Keegan, Atlas of the Second World War (1997)-Military dead 850,000(169,822 as allies); civilian dead 5,778,000.[102]
  • World War Two: Nation by Nation (1995) Military dead approx. 480,000 including (125,000 killed in battle, 30,000 POW in Soviet hands and 200,000 in German hands, 80,000 Polish resistance and 35,000 in German armed forces.) Civilian dead 5,300,000 including 2,900,000 Jews.[103]
  • John Ellis, World War II: A Statistical Survey (1993) 1939– 66,300 killed & 133,700 wounded, W. Europe 4,500 killed & 13,000 wounded, with Russians at least 40,000 killed & wounded Civilians 4,800,000 killed in camps plus c. 500,000 other dead[104]
  • Alan Bullock (1992) – Military dead 123,000 and 6,000,000 civilian dead(including 2,900,000 Jews).[105]
  • Rudolph Rummel (1997)- Military dead 320,000.[106] Democide 5,788,000 [106] including:Nazi Democide- 5,400,000 (2,365,000 Poles, 3,000,000 Jews and 35,000 Gypsies.) Soviet Democide 1939-1945 328,000. Democide by Ukrainian nationalists 60,000.
  • Wars and War-Related Deaths 1700-1987 (1987)- Total deaths 6,600,000 -military 600,000; civilians 6,000,000,[107]
  • Melvin Small and J. David Singer (1982), Military dead 320,000.[108]
  • Quincy Wright (1965), Deaths (military 64,000; civilians 2,064,000).[109]

References

  1. ^ a b (in English) Tadeusz Piotrowski (1997). Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide…. McFarland & Company. p. 305. ISBN 0-7864-0371-3.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Łuczak (1994) Pages 9-14
  3. ^ a b Materski and Szarota page 16
  4. ^ a b c d e f Materski and Szarota. Page 9.
  5. ^ Krystyna Kersten, Szacunek strat osobowych w Polsce Wschodniej. Dzieje Najnowsze Rocznik XXI- 1994 p. 47
  6. ^ Андреев, Е.М (Andreev, EM), et al., Население Советского Союза: 1922-1991(Naselenie Sovetskogo Soiuza, 1922–1991). Moscow, Наука (Nauka), 1993. ISBN 5-02-013479-1. Pp. 73-79, Soviet losses of 26.6 million are calculated for the USSR population in mid-1941 within the borders of 1946-1991
  7. ^ Materski and Szarota page 9 Sądzić zatem można, że z rąk Niemców zginęło ok. 5 470 000-5 670 000 Polaków i Żydów - obywateli polskich.
  8. ^ Materski and Szarota page 9 Łączne straty śmiertelne ludności polskiej pod okupacją niemiecką oblicza się obecnie na ok. 2 770 000.
  9. ^ Materski and Szarota page 9 liczba Żydów i Polaków żydowskiego pochodzenia, obywateli II Rzeczypospolitej, zamordowanych przez Niemców sięga 2,7- 2,9 mln osób
  10. ^ Materski and Szarota page 9 pod okupacją sowiecką zginęło w latach 1939–1941, a następnie 1944-1945 co najmniej 150 tys. obywateli II RP
  11. ^ Materski and Szarota. Page 32.
  12. ^ Materski and Szarota.Page 32: Najwięcej Żydów polskich zginęło w obozach śmierci - 1 860 000. Pozostali stracili życie w gettach, w pacyfikacjach itp.
  13. ^ Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) (2009). Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance (IPN). pp. 26–32. ISBN 9788376290676.
  14. ^ Snyder, Timothy (2010). Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. New York: Basic Books. p. 384. ISBN 9780099551799.
  15. ^ Bauer, Yehuda (1982). History of the Holocaust. New York: Franklin Watts. pp. 334–35. ISBN 9780531056417.
  16. ^ German Crimes in Poland. Vol. 1. Warsaw: Central Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland [pl]. 1946. pp. 165–166.
  17. ^ a b c d e Maly Rocznik Statystyczny Polski- London 1941
  18. ^ Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory - page 297, Norman Davies, 2006
  19. ^ Trenkner, Joachim (2008-08-29). "Wieluń, czwarta czterdzieści" (in Polish). Tygodnik Powszechny. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  20. ^ History of Sulejów
  21. ^ Bruno Coppieters, N. Fotion, eds. (2002) Moral constraints on war: principles and cases, Lexington Books, p 74.
  22. ^ Hempel, Andrew. (2000). Poland in World War II: An Illustrated Military History ISBN 978-0-7818-0758-6 p 14.
  23. ^ Materski and Szarota Page 16 [Czesław Łuczak podaje całkowite straty w Powstaniu Warszawskim - ponad 180 tys., w tym ok. 15 tys. powstańców. Natomiast Krzysztof Komorowski (Powstanie Warszawskie [w:] Armia Krajowa. Szkice z dziejów Sil Zbrojnych..., s. 317) szacuje straty ludności cywilnej na 100-150 tys. poległych.] przez Łuczaka, który jednak sumuje jedynie straty ludności cywilnej z 1939 r. i Powstania Warszawskiego, pomijając te, które zostały poniesione na skutek działań wojennych na innych frontach, zwłaszcza z okresu 1944-1945. Wysokość strat ludności cywilnej w Powstaniu Warszawskim jest podawana bardzo różnie. W ostatnich latach na najwyższym poziomie, około 250 tys. ludności, określili je Stanisław B. Lenard i Ireneusz Wywiał, Władysław Bartoszewski zaś podaje liczbę około 150 tys. zabitych, z czego około 50 tys. miało zginąć w wyniku nalotów niemieckich, "ponad 40 tys. mężczyzn, kobiet i dzieci wymordowały na Woli, Ochocie, Starym Mieście i Czerniakowie oddziały Reinefartha, Dirlewangera i Schmidta, tysiące - w alei Szucha - formacje policyjne podległe Geiblowi i Hahnowi". Autorzy niemieccy przedstawiają straty ludności cywilnej w czasie Powstania Warszawskiego w wysokości 150-220 tys.
  24. ^ Materski and Szarota Page 28
  25. ^ Materski and Szarota Page 28 Dawałoby to liczbę 400 tys. osadzonych w więzieniach, 148 tys. zamordowanych w egzekucjach i 240 tys. zesłanych do obozów koncentracyjnych.
  26. ^ Materski and Szarota Page 27
  27. ^ a b c d e f Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) Warszawa 2009 ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6 page 32. Foreword by Janusz Kurtyka. (Digital copy: Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
  28. ^ Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, "Between Nazis and Soviets: occupation politics in Poland, 1939-1947", Lexington Books, 2004, pgs. 92, 105, 118, and 325
  29. ^ Materski and Szarota Page 30
  30. ^ Tadeusz Piotrowski Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 McFarland & Company, 1997 ISBN 0786403713 p.300
  31. ^ Gross Pages 92-93(Gross cites Polish sources that show pre-war the average per capita grain consumption in Poland of 246.4 kg. per capita, the Government General region produced only 202.7 kg. per capita)
  32. ^ Gross Page 99
  33. ^ Gross Page 100
  34. ^ Richard C. Lukas, Forgotten Holocaust: Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-44 Hippocrene Books, 2001 ISBN 0-7818-0901-0 Page 31
  35. ^ Gross Page 109
  36. ^ Gross Page 102
  37. ^ Zieliński, Henryk. Population changes in Poland, 1939-1950.[New York] Mid-European Studies Center, National Committee for a Free Europe 1954 Page67
  38. ^ Materski and Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) Warszawa 2009 ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6 page 99
  39. ^ a b Materski and Szarota page 30
  40. ^ Stephane Courtois, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, Harvard Univ Pr, 1999 ISBN 0-674-07608-7 p. 372
  41. ^ Tadeusz Piotrowski Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 McFarland & Company, 1997 ISBN 0786403713 Page 297
  42. ^ Franciszek Proch, Poland's Way of the Cross, New York 1987 Pages 99-147
  43. ^ Paul Robert Magocsi. (1996). A History of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pg. 621
  44. ^ Resolve the Ukrainian Question Once and For All: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ukrainians in Poland, 1943–1947, Timothy Snyder, Working Paper, Yale University, 2001
  45. ^ Grzegorz Motyka, Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji "Wisła". Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943- 1947. Kraków 2011, p.447
  46. ^ a b c Wojciech Materski, Tomasz Szarota (2009), POLSKA 1939-1945 STRATY OSOBOWE I OFIARY REPRESJI POD DWIEMA OKUPACJAMI. Internet Archive. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  47. ^ Materski and Szarota. pp 32-34
  48. ^ a b Maly Rocznik Statystyczny Polski-London 1941
  49. ^ Ryszard Kaczmarek, Polacy w Wehrmachcie, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 2010, p.412, ISBN 978-83-08-04488-9
  50. ^ Gerhard Reichning, Die deutschen Vertriebenen in Zahlen, Teil 1, Bonn 1995. Page 36
  51. ^ Stanisław Jankowiak, Wysiedlenie i emigracja ludności niemieckiej w polityce władz polskich w latach 1945-1970,Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warszawa 2005, ISBN 83-89078-80-5
  52. ^ a b Materski and Szarota Page 14
  53. ^ Bureau odszkodowan wojennych(BOW), Statement on war losses and damages of Poland in 1939–1945. Warsaw 1947
  54. ^ Tadeusz Piotrowski Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 McFarland & Company, 1997 ISBN 0786403713 p.143
  55. ^ Tadeusz Piotrowski Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 McFarland & Company, 1997 ISBN 0786403713 page 294
  56. ^ a b Tadeusz Piotrowski Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 McFarland & Company, 1997 ISBN 0786403713 page 305
  57. ^ Piotr Eberhardt, Ethnic Groups and Population Changes in Twentieth-Century Central-Eastern Europe: History, Data, Analysis M.E. Sharpe, 2002 ISBN 0-7656-0665-8 p. 112
  58. ^ Keegan, John The Second World War 1989
  59. ^ Messenger, Charles Chronological Atlas of World War Two 1989
  60. ^ Richard C Lukas Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation 1939-1944 1986
  61. ^ a b c Poland. Bureau odszkodowan wojennych(BOW), Statement on war losses and damages of Poland in 1939–1945. Warsaw 1947
  62. ^ a b c Materski and Szarota Page 45
  63. ^ a b Gniazdowski
  64. ^ Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami.Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Warszawa 2009, ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6.
  65. ^ Snyder, Timothy (2010). Bloodlands. New York: Basic Books. p. 406. ISBN 9780099551799.
  66. ^ a b c d Gniazdowski, Mateusz. Losses Inflicted on Poland by Germany during World War II. Assessments and Estimates—an Outline The Polish Quarterly of International Affairs, 2007, no. 1.
  67. ^ Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) Warszawa 2009 ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6 Page 15 Powyższe dane zostały skorygowane przez komisję pracującą przy Ministerstwie Finansów w latach 1949–1951, która liczbą ofiar śmiertelnych określiła na 5 085 000 osób, w tym 1 706 700 Polaków i 3 378 000 Żydów
  68. ^ a b c d e Kazimierz Piesowicz, Demograficzne skutki II wojny swiatowej Studia Demograficzne, No. 1/87, 1987. 103-36 pp. Warsaw, Poland
  69. ^ Stanisław Jankowiak, Wysiedlenie i emigracja ludności niemieckiej w polityce władz polskich w latach 1945–1970, p.211-212, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warszawa 2005, ISBN 83-89078-80-5
  70. ^ a b c d Ludnosc Polski w XX wieku / Andrzej Gawryszewski. Warsaw 2005.
  71. ^ Franciszek Jozef Proch
  72. ^ Franciszek Proch, Poland's Way of the Cross, New York 1987
  73. ^ Tadeusz Piotrowski,Poland's Holocaust McFarland & Company, 1997 ISBN 0786403713 page 305
  74. ^ a b c Franciszek Proch, Poland's Way of the Cross, New York 1987 Pages 143-144
  75. ^ a b c d e Łuczak (1993) Page 683
  76. ^ a b Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) Warszawa 2009 ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6 Page 16
  77. ^ a b Tadeusz Piotrowski Poland World War II casualties
  78. ^ Bajer, Kazimierz Zakres udziału Polaków w walce o niepodległość na obszarze państwa polskiego w latach 1939–1945, "Zeszyty Historyczne Stowarzyszenia Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej", (Kraków) 1996 (This article is available in Polish libraries and at the Stanford Univ. Library in the U.S.)
  79. ^ Materski and Szarota page 30 -Źródło: K. Bajer, Zakres udziału Polaków w walce o niepodległość na obszarze państwa polskiego w latach 1939–1945, "Zeszyty Historyczne Stowarzyszenia Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej", (Kraków) 1996, nr 1, s. 14 (tablica: Obliczenie liczby Polaków teoretycznie zdolnych do oporu wobec najeźdźców). Dane te zostały uzupełnione o wyliczenia z innych źródeł.[1]
  80. ^ Bajer, Kazimierz Zakres udziału Polaków w walce o niepodległość na obszarze państwa polskiego w latach 1939–1945, "Zeszyty Historyczne Stowarzyszenia Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej", (Kraków) 1996 Page 9
  81. ^ Bajer, Kazimierz Zakres udziału Polaków w walce o niepodległość na obszarze państwa polskiego w latach 1939–1945, "Zeszyty Historyczne Stowarzyszenia Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej", (Kraków) 1996 Page 10
  82. ^ a b Bajer, Kazimierz Zakres udziału Polaków w walce o niepodległość na obszarze państwa polskiego w latach 1939–1945, "Zeszyty Historyczne Stowarzyszenia Żołnierzy Armii Krajowej", (Kraków) 1996 Page 11
  83. ^ a b Materski and Szarota page 30 Table 10
  84. ^ Materski and Szarota. Page 30 Header on table 10 reads Straty ludności polskiej (Polaków)
  85. ^ Materski and Szarota. Page 30 (Próbę obliczenia ogólnych strat biologicznych Polaków)
  86. ^ Materski and Szarota. Page 9 (Liczbę tę należy traktować orientacyjnie, gdyż dla samej Warszawy historycy mają problem z ustaleniem liczby ofiar bezpowrotnych)
  87. ^ Materski and Szarota. Page 9 Do tych strat należy doliczyć ponad 100 tys. Polaków pomordowanych w latach 1942-1945 przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich (w tym na samym Wołyniu ok. 60 tys. osób)
  88. ^ Materski and Szarota Page 9 Badacze, sumując dotychczasowe ustalenia i podając przyczyny porażek i utrudnień badawczych, skłonni są przypuszczać, że pod okupacją sowiecką zginęło w latach 1939–1941, a następnie 1944-1945 co najmniej 150 tys. obywateli II RP (taką liczbę da się ustalić na drodze potwierdzeń pozytywnych, przy czym nadal w obiegu naukowym pozostaje liczba 500 tys.
  89. ^ Materski and Szarota. Page 9 (Do końca czerwca 2009 r. lista ta obejmuje zweryfikowane informacje o 1,5 mln osób.)
  90. ^ (Obecnie, w bazie programu można znaleźć informacje o 3,474,449 ofiarach i osobach represjonowanych pod okupacją niemiecką)"Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod okupacją niemiecką"
  91. ^ "Polish Resistance and Conclusions United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC". Archived from the original on 2018-01-02.
  92. ^ Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Warszawa 2009, ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6.
  93. ^ T. Panecki, Wsiłek zbrojny Polski w II wojnie światowej pl:Wojskowy Przegląd Historyczny,1995, no. 1–2, pp. 13–18
  94. ^ Materski and Szarota Page 20
  95. ^ [2] Archived 2016-08-26 at the Wayback Machine -(Polish) Armia Krajowa. Encyklopedia WIEM.
  96. ^ I. C. B. Dear and M. R. D. Foot Oxford Companion to World War II Oxford, 2005 ISBN 0-19-280670-X page 225
  97. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, article World Wars, 2010
  98. ^ I. C. B. Dear and M. R. D. Foot Oxford Companion to World War II Oxford, 2005 ISBN 0-19-280670-X page 290
  99. ^ Brinkley, Douglas, World War II Desk Reference , Collins Reference , 2004 ISBN 9780060526511 pages 432-435
  100. ^ Spencer C. Tucker ,Encyclopedia of world war two, Abc-Clio Inc , 2004 9781576079997 pages 300-301
  101. ^ Clodfelter, Micheal. Warfare and Armed Conflicts – A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500–2000. 2nd Ed. 2002 ISBN 0-7864-1204-6. p. 582-583
  102. ^ John Keegan Atlas of the Second World War , HarperCollins 1997 Pages 204-205
  103. ^ Lee Ready, World War Two: Nation by Nation, Arms & Armour, 1996 ISBN 1854092901 p.244
  104. ^ Ellis, John. World War II: A Statistical survey Facts on File 1993. ISBN 0-8160-2971-7. pp. 253–254
  105. ^ Alan Bullock, Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives Knopf, 1992 ISBN 0394586018, pages 986-988
  106. ^ a b Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999
  107. ^ Eckhardt, William Wars and War-Related Deaths. 1700-1987, in World Military and Social Expenditures: 1987–1988, ed. Ruth Leger Sivard page 29
  108. ^ Melvin Small and J. David Singer Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars, 1816-1980 Sage 1982 page 91
  109. ^ Quincy Wright A Study of War revised ed University of Chicago Press. 1965 page 1542

Further reading

Further reading

Main article: Bibliography of Poland during World War II
Wikimedia Commons has media related to World War II casualties of Poland.