Learn about the MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r9uIgLVpt6qqn6s.html

Criminally underrated channel.

Can we just take a second to appreciate the amount of work that went into this video and channel?

This is one of my most favorite topics, well framed video mate. In my view Poland is one of the most difficult to defend terrain, for the past 200 years, it was only fully independent for very less time. After Soviet collapse did Poland achieve its complete independence. No wonder their national song says "Poland is not lost yet"

Thank you Stefan for helping us to remember the terrible times for the brave people of Poland

Hi, im french-polish and your Chanel is very good, you speak a lot about poland history, its rare and i appreciate. Thanks you 👍

Highly underrated channel. Between you and Mark Felton, I can't get enough content

Very interesting topic. And very well done video! Keep it up!

The Soviet Union in 1939 advanced westwards to the Versailles Treaty border of Poland That is the present eastern border of Poland and it is called the Curzon Line...give or take a few kilometres.

very well done It was so sad what happened to all those Polish people. I am British and ashamed of how Britain and France did not invade Germany in 1939!

it was no better under the Soviets for those poor people,in some cases it was even worse

Thank you for spreading the knowledge about this topic!

Hope one day everyone connected to communist crimes will be also tried.

Poland was the "Red Headed Step-daughter" of Europe, but they refused to be the "victim"...this is why Poland is respected in the US, while France is reviled.

Respect for saying "Lwów". We hear the things like "We say Danzig because that's how the city was called at the time" from people who would only refer to Lwów as Lviv - You know, because they're historically accurate :)

My Polish relatives told me terribles stories about it. Greetings from Canada.

The Sovjets deported 1and a half million Polish to Siberia. After the German invasion they became 'Allied' and many made their way back through Iran which was occupied by England and Sovjet Union.On 18 August 41 the Polish Army was formed in Sovjet Union,more than 120 000 Soldiers were armed and formed the Anders Army to join the British forces. 18000 civilians were send to India,Mexico and so on

The Nazis attacked Poland on 9/1/1939, and the Soviets attacked on 9/17. This must be the stupidest thing the Nazis ever did, apart from later declaring war on the US. There otherwise may not have been a war with the west at all. How were the Nazis not aware of the risk of being seen as having "started WWII" by being the first to attack? I have rarely seen this talked about.

Great research and narrative 👍

how is it possible that you have 40k subs and still just such a low amount of views for this high quality content? wish you the best!

I am German and live in Białystok, I go to train my dog exactly where you were standing (behind the Sybir Memorial Museum). It's amazing the work you are putting into these videos (who comes to Białystok???), really enjoying your content. Thanks! Thankfully we live in other times nowadays, you are helping us to remember to appreciate what we have.

I recently discovered your channel. I thoroughly enjoy your videos.

Another great hustle!

Yo Stefan, I love all ofbthese videos on Poland. Really cool to see people covering some lesser know events. Do you have an idea of what country is next or if you do another country like this? Id imagine its a lot of work.

If you are interested in these topics, take an interest in ethnic cleansing in Soviet Russia. By 1941, hundreds of thousands of people from various minorities had been displaced from the 1930s. Only in the years 37-38 '100.000 people were murdered and 150.000 were resettled as part of the "Polish NKVD operation" - Польская операция НКВД.

I feel bad for the Polish they had their country Annexed/Occupied or a puppet state into late 1990s

Contrary to the popular opinion Eastern Poland was inhabited in large portion by Poles, in 1939 lands annexed by USSR were inhabited by: Białystok Voivodeship Poles 71,1% Wilno Voivodeship: Poles 59,7%, Lithuanians 5,24% Lwów Voivodeship: Poles 57%, Ukrainians 33% Nowogródek Voivodeship: Poles 54%, Belorussians 37,7% Tarnopol Voivodeship: Poles 44,98%, Ukrainians 49,98% Polesie Voivodeship: Poles and Poleshuks: 28,7%, Blearusians 42,6% Wołyń Voivodeship: Poles: 16,8%, Ukrainians 68,4% Also Stalin "fighting" for well being of Ukrainians after Holodomor is highest level of hypocrisy

Great material. Thank you. Very important to show people that Soviets were not very good either. That is also what also was interesting to me as why Nazi's attacking Poland is bad, and Soviets attack was neglected in the end neglected.

Thanks for sharing again of this partly unknown piece of history, Stefan. (how) can we help increase your viewers?

Another great video. I live in the Czech Republic, and knew a couple from Lviv. The wife told me she has Polish relatives even though she and her husband are Ukrainian. I started to visit Lviv two years ago, because I want to see the city, and the couple offered to contact their friends to look after me, but my money was stretched rather thin and I couldn’t. With US passports not welcomed in so many places now, I think I will wait a bit. But I enjoyed your video.😀

Wow great content why are you so underrated this is just sad...btw love ur content

The territory given to the Polish Republic after WWI and taken by the Red Army in 1939 was part of the Russian Empire during WWI and given to the Germans in an exchange for them not to bother the new Soviet revolution, called the Pact of Brest-Litovsk. Lenin sent Trotsky to deal a pact of no aggression in exchange to give that part of the Russian Empire. After several attempts to came into a Treaty of military assistance between England, France, Poland and Russia, against a possible attack by Germany. the soviets came into a Non Aggression Pact with Germany to by time, for what it was evidently to come, the war against the USSR. Such agreement was called the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The pact agreed for the Russians to recuperate the Brest-Litovsk line and incorporate it into the Soviet border. The whole idea was to create a buffer space for the imminent attack (remember that the Russians fought against the Nazis in 1937 helping the Spanish Republic against Franco)

The hapless Poles, always caught between a rock and a hard place, with the worst yet to come😿. Great work as always Stefan👌👌

Thank you Stefan for your work ❤️🇵🇱👍

It is inappriopriate in 8:15 to called the soviet entry “liberation”. In reality it was another occupation that this time lasted until 1993 when soviet troops were withdrawn. This occupation was very bloody in its first decade or so.

Keep the good work going! Lekker bezig!

Red Army was horrible

I'm a big fan of yours and the Cold War Channel. Your knowledge base is amazing.

I have never really have ever heard a a good reason why France and England didn't declare war on Russia as they did with Germany. I realize that France and England probably had few military options other than blockading maybe some Black Sea ports, Archangel and perhaps Vladivostok in the Pacific.

Thank you for video sir 👏👏👏🌺🌺🌺💐💐💐

My great grandad worked at Bialystok train station during this time. He lived in Slonim but left during the war when he heard information that German soldiers were entering schools and abducting children, to take back to Germany and work as housemaids. He worried for his daughters and it simply wasn’t safe for the whole family to stay anymore. I think that was around 1941 or 42 …they left the area and travelled across Austria into North Italy, back into Austria, when it got unsafe, then back into Italy and was allowed on a ship for entry into the U.K. Quite a remarkable story really, tho, I think lost to history. Good video. Thank you.

The painter seems tame by comparison.

Good documentary! Missing: the overall losses (complete number of killed persons, including those who died in the Gulag) of polish population in sovjet occupied Poland until the Wehrmacht occupied this territory. You should have mentioned the NKWD massacre in Lvow in late June 1941 with thousands of victims.

One main thing people struggle to grasp. This was a war between classes, borders were secondary. People on the Eastern Poland (previously rus lands) were mostly peasants that were oppressed by the poles for centuries, subjected to polonisation, and were basically their serfs. Lithuania too. Bolshevik movement actually started in these lands, with local peasants gladly joining Red Army to get from the oppressors boot. Once you comprehend that, the whole polish suffering narrative crumbles.

Well i guess gulags were better than concentration camps soviets also didn't oppress specific ethnic groups as much as germans did

Ik krijg het idee dat je tijdens je vakantie in Polen en Duitsland continu voor ons filmpjes hebt geschoten! Hopelijk heb je ook een beetje kunnen uitrusten en kunnen genieten? Zoals altijd, goede video's!

can you make a video about emirate of north caucasus, in the next short lived states episode please. It was in north caucasia Reigon during the russian civil war ...

September of 1939... when socialists from Germany and socialists from Soviet Union together attacked and split young Republic of Poland.

One has to point out that there is no nationality called "Jewish" even today, so Jews in Poland were predominately Poles, just with different religion then most of Poles.

edition: Western Belarus (BPR) and Ukraine , and Bielastok

My Great grandfather Stanislaw and Great Grandmother Sophie came to America from Wasiliszki (then Poland) which has made doing Genealogical research different because I just learned that my Ancestors home is now Belarus

This is a great video, as always. I would like to know what happened to the Polish people that lived in the territory that the USSR took away from Poland.

I would love to see the growth statistics for this channel, I remember when there were only a few comments on each video!

Very interesting.

good video thanks

Pretty sure the Bielorrusians dont like this video , 1,5 million had to abandon their homes when Poland took over their lands after the brest-litosky peace . in very conflict always there are forgotten refugees . Anyway I never seen so much work in youtube channel , the best history channel in youtube congratulations

Soviets in 1944: Don’t worry Poles we are here to save you from the Fascists! Poles: Oh yay, my hero...

Poland, "here come the Russians, here come the Germans, here come the Russians again. We'll survive this!" Americans, "I can't breathe wearing this mask. I'm going to die." Lolololol

Aside from a few moments where I wouldn’t agree with the author it is a good video. It discusses a subject that is little known in the West. Unfortunately it also perpetuates some common in the West cliches and taboos about the subject because this subject can become very, very sensitive among certain groups in USA. In Poland it is discussed freely but it causes a lot of tension and heated debates between countries of Poland and Israel.

Stefan, Recently I read that youtubers get paid more money if viewers watch the advertisements for longer before "skip ad". Is this true for you? I have been letting the ads play out for youtubers I like so that you gain more. If this is true please mention it in a video as a way to passively support you. Regards from Wuppertal.

How bout the Polish occupation of parts of Ukraine and the Polish occupation of part of Czechoslovakia?

Great vid. have you ever been to Overloon to militracks? What was the battle of Overloon? Thank-you

The ethnic Ukrainians in the Soviet Union and ethnic Ukrainians of East Poland claimed that one province in eastern Poland was mostly populated by by ethnic Ukrainians, especially in the years leading up to ww2. this eastern province of Poland, ethnic Ukrainians may have claimed that:: they are the dominant ethnicity in the rural heartland of one eastern province of east Poland prior to ww2, away from the towns. We all agree that Stalin was likely a villain. But he made certain moves in order to appease ethnic Ukrainians, a very powerful ethnicity in the former USSR United Soviet Republics. Such claims of ethical domination in certain areas may not be entirely true, and even Stalin initially had some doubts, with good reason:: If Stalin grabs a province in east Poland and gives it to republic of Ukraine, then the nation of Poland will forever become the enemy of Stalin. In a province in eastern Poland, town populations were supposedly dominated (40 percent) by Poles, while surrounding villages were populated by almost entirely by ethnic Ukrainians supposedly, according to another likely somewhat true claim. Towns of East Poland had 40 percent Poles and 30 percent ethnic Ukrainians, supposedly in east Poland province. All ethnic Ukrainians of the two countries (USSR and Poland) were able to arm-twist Stalin to do what they felt was the right thing (for ethnic Ukrainians) to do:::: to grab eastern most province of Poland and give it to republic of Ukraine. So:: ethnic Ukrainians (OF BOTH COUNTRIES) were no angels in this land grabbing part of the history of that area. A study of Lviv city now in Ukraine, may clarify the matter on ethnicity of the area around Lviv. Towns of on east Poland province had more Poles (40 percent), they claimed, while surrounding villagers were nearly all Ukrainians, the claims went by ethnicity. There is a twist: For instance one in 5 supposedly ethnic Ukrainians of east Poland prior to ww2 claimed that they were actually ethnic Russians that time in east Poland. . No one knows who is telling the truth. Similarly villages outside of Lviv and all of east Poland was predominantly supposedly ethnic Ukrainian, they claimed. It's besides the point that one in five ethnic Ukrainians of East Poland also claimed to be an ethnic Russian in that area currently administered by Poland after ww1, and given to Ukraine during ww2. Ethnic Ukrainians of the Soviet Union pressured Stalin to sign an agreement with Nazi Germany so that east Poland becomes part of Ukraine. This was supposedly a Ukrainian dominated area of eastern Poland where the ethnic Ukrainians claimed lived in nearly all rural villages. Eastern Poland, was heavily Ukrainian, as claimed by ethnic Ukrainians.There is no proof though about which ethnicity dominated which area of that one province which went to republic of Ukraine. Finally Stalin had no choice but to act (gift the area to republic of Ukraine), if he were to stay in power, as ethnic Ukrainians were a politically powerful ethnic group in the former Soviet Union. Why did Stalin have no choice? Because he was an ethnic Georgian and not an ethnic Ukrainian. Later after acquiring this area, ethnic Ukrainians of east Poland falsely claimed to be the victims, well after acquiring that province in east Poland.

What is that body armour that the Soviet troops are wearing at 8:03?

The Russians made a mission of trying to "russify " the bordering states of Poland. To fight back Poles told this joke: A town was given a big memorial statue of Soviet heroes. The town's people hated it so much, that they would dump garbage there. Finally a guard had to be stationed there to protect the memorial. So, Polish wife had to go to the police station to get her husband out of jail. Police commisar asked the wife, "Do you know what your husband did? He went up to the guard, and ask if he could buy the statue!" Wife answered seeming to ask for the police official's help. " Yes, yes, I have this problem with him. He is always buying junk!"

God bless Poland

YT algorithm that is keeping this channel so underrated and limits its reach to the broader public should... Well... This algorithm should be sent to one of those NKVD prisons. For a vacations of course. And there there is a very professional NKVD animations team - they'll do some funny games with the algorithm, and eventually the algorithm will say everything: reasons, methods, and every some names... 😄😄😄

This is probably a very controversial thing to say but Communism under Stalin scares me way way more than the Third Reich. A lot of people in the West are completely ignorant on the many atrocities and crimes of Stalin and I can't help but feel that the hammer and sickle would be considered a hate symbol on the same level as the swastika if WW2 was fought against the Soviet Union and they lost.

''Soviet Occupation of Eastern Poland'' did you mean liberation of Western Russia? Poles annexed those lands in 1920's they used Russian Civil War.

Its amazing that so many of the buidlings are still there in 2020!

17.09.1939 🇵🇱 Moj Dziadek ze strony Mamy Jan Zyzniewski zostal zabrany przez Sowietow z domu rodzinnego - Plebance (dzisiaj Bialorus) K. Wilna. Jego los jest do dzisiaj nie znany. Zamordowany albo wywieziony na Syberie?

Inhoud zeer sterk, helaas vreselijk dik Nederlandsch accent. Als je daaraan gaat werken zou het kunnen dat dit kanaal een groter bereik krijgt.

From Russia with love and slavery

Jewish population FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY was maybe 8 percent, like you say, or probably somewhat higher. However, Eastern Poland, including the city of Bialystok, was heavily Jewish. Many localities were over 50 percent or almost entirely Jewish. This composition was very significant during the soviet invasion for the reasons I mentioned in my other post that was mysteriously deleted.

Well, they had to give Brest, Lviv, etc. to the soviets, because the soviets have been allies. Not to insult the polish gyus, they have given them a part of Germany till the Oder river, just instead of the eastern territories they have lost.

Once again held my attention more than that Mark F guy. A topic that really matters. Instead of some obscure thing, most likely Nazi German (more popular) that truly doesn't matter.

I’m a huge fan of your apparently endless, beautifully produced work,..to mention but one deeply impressive aspect, you manage to provide us, frequently, with contemporary footage a great deal of which I’ve never seen before. Or had a clue about its existence. But with regard to this piece, I can only express a good portion of intense disappointment. Frankly speaking, your veering off into some the crudest anti-Soviet hysterics sounded frighteningly close to the Russophobia of far right fanatics in Ukraine and Poland. Much of your rhetoric might as well been taken verbatim from ‘ The Black of Communism ‘, or the ravings of the John Birch Society.

My grandpa fought the Russians.

These videos including national demographics are great. It seems multicultural overlapping areas will always be a battle ground, even if it just an excuse. The Russian Federation annexation of Eastern Ukraine and Crimea comes to mind. The Baltic states also seem to be nervous due to their large Russian minority that the same may happen to them. Colonies in Africa and the Middle East divided ethnic groups and grouped ethnically dissimilar people. The Kurds come mind. Also the ethnic cleansing of the Greeks and Armenians in Turkey, although they were a multi cultural empire not a colony. It makes me wonder if the new focus on neoliberalism, migration, and multiculturalism might not be the best idea if these tend to be the results historically. No doubt this time will be different.

and people are wondering why poles hate russia

Does KZfaq censor the comments I can't seem to read any of the replies, i click but do not get access to them

Will you do history about Poland under forced communism rule in 1945 to 1989? It is not very well known, especially the building and influences left to nowadays like famous Palace of Culture and Science that once was gifted and build by Soviets to Poles. However it's not well known history and I would love to learn more about it.

Ok, you told what happened, know tell us the bad parts

I wish u were my history teacher 😂😂

Weer een duidelijke uitleg uiteindelijk zijn zij van de ene knoet overgegaan naar de andere knoet en Stalin had uiteindelijk aan het begin een mooie springplank om verder west waards te gaan

Here before the pro-Z historical revisionists spam in the comments

Lvov, Rovno and Ternopol rightfully belong to Poland, no doubt, and should be returned immediately. But Poland should also take responsibility for the theft of Czechoslovakian lands in 1938 and give them back to the respective countries. On the other hand, formerly German cities, gifted to Poland by Stalin after WW2, don't have to be given back.

There is a bit of naughty nonsense here and misrepresentation. The Belorussians were the majority ethnic group (and had been for centuries) in the areas that were joined to Belorussia in 1939, all the way to Brest. It was only for a short period that Poland had claimed these territories after WW1 from the Russian empire that had not been recognised by the Soviet Union, the successor state. Why are you misrepresenting the ethnic population of Belorussians? This was not rightfully Poland in the first place.

Great video. Btw would you consider doing a video on the Kolyma gulag were over 3 million people were exterminated in the gold and lead mines? I think the city of Magadan was founded to transport prisoners there in the 30's.

Why do videos like this never talk about the situation for the USSR just before WWII. Abandoned by the west, Stalin signs a non aggression pact with Nazi germany. Stalin then, seeing the complete collapse of the military dictatorship inside Poland from German aggression, knowing that the Germans will now be that much closer to Moscow, tries to reason with the poles. But they instead collapse and their leaders flee to Romania. Several thousand Belorussians and Ukrainians live inside eastern Poland after the polish right wing dictatorship conquered these lands in the treaty of 1920. So Stalin occupies eastern Poland. For all it’s faults, the USSR was not some world-conquering empire, Stalin simply saw the writing on the wall. All of these territorial moves in 1939 and 1940 were mitigation’s to the bloodthirsty, fascist Germany, which the West hoped would crush the Soviets. On the western front, the French and British refused to move on Germany, even after its attack into Poland. So much so, the news reported it as the “Sitskrieg” or the “sleepy war”. Edit: just saw you used the Snyder’s “blood lands” as a major source for this video. That is less a tool for actual historians and more a crowbar for western propaganda. It begins on a false premise and continues from there.

This guy has a very superficial history. Very loose statement of events. Why this would-be historian did not tell that in September 1939 the red army took only those lands that belonged to Soviet Russia under the Versailles peace Treaty, signed by the victorious countries after the first world war, according to which the Western border of the USSR passed along the so-called Crezon line. But in 1920, Poland, with the support of Britain and France, occupied these territories. At the same time, the poles captured and later destroyed more than 100,000 citizens of the USSR. Let's be objective about history. Let's admit that the death camps are an invention of the Anglo-Saxons, widely used during the Boer war. And before the Nazis in the 20s of the 20th century, death camps were adopted by the poles to destroy the citizens of the USSR.

It is not true the Polish army was falling apart like he says at 2:05. The Polish army was retreating but not FALLING APART. The plan was to retreat into eastern Poland where large distances, weak network of roads, swampy terrain would allow further effective defense until France and Britain, as Poland’s allies, fulfill their obligations and attack from the West. The coordinated with Germany soviet attack from the east made this plan completely impossible to implement, aided Germany greatly, and effectively ended the war as the Polish army found itself cut off from its reserves in the East. The author, like many Americans, seems to be under the influence of both German and Soviet propaganda that lauded the supposed great superiority of the German army and inferiority of the Polish army. In reality the 1939 German army wasn’t really all that great and the Polish army all that bad. The German army became much more powerful in the later years of the war. The author would need to read up more about the war from decent sources. I would suggest Steve Zaloga’s books on the subject to begin with.

As a historian (well, actually both of us are) you might be interested in colored photographies of Polish people and events of this country during WWII? I put the URL address below. I am sure you will love it! (there is always an original photo (black and white) as a comment from an author) facebook.com/KolorHistorii/photos/ This one especially touched my heart!! facebook.com/KolorHistorii/photos/a.659360804233671/1189454424557637/?type=3&theater Two sisters, one is dead, the second girl did not see any dead human before (this is the beginning of luftwaffe bombarding Warsaw) She tries to wake her sister up, because she does not understand that she is dead. She says: - Please, talk to me! Please, please! What will happen to me without you! (The second girl survived, there is even her portrait as comment after years)

you love Polish gentry?

It wasn't the occupation. When Poland reemerged after the WW1 they started to capture the territories of the Russian Empire. Minsk, Kiev, Vilnius. The former Austrian Galizien with Lwow also was east to the Curzon line and also fell to Poland. There was a policy of polonization and catholization of the local Orthodox, so Curzon had a reason to draw the line between Poland and the other Slavic nations on the East. When Germans had won several battles against Poland the Polish government escaped from the country. The Riga agreement was no more valid and Russians could reclaim the former Russian Empire territories and Galizien. And were on time to do that because the Germans had already crossed the Curzon line and were about to capture major cities there. People like to tell tales about the joint and co-ordinated Nazi-Soviet attack on Poland but what they don't tell is that The USSR hadn't intervene until the Polish govenment fled and left the country to the Germans while their soldiers kept fighting. And there wasn't any co-ordination between the Soviets and the nazi. There was even a skirmish between them at Lwow with casualties. The only area which can be considered as occupied was Galizien which fell to Austria after Poland was divided. Even Churchill the most infamous russophobe in history admitted that in his speech On 1 October 1939, Winston Churchill stated in public: ... That the Russian armies should stand on this line was clearly necessary for the safety of Russia against the Nazi menace. At any rate, the line is there, and an Eastern Front has been created which Nazi Germany does not dare assail.

Uhh all those lands belonged to someone else before Poland occupied them.

Не было никакой оккупации, СССР вернул свои исторические территории, которые были оккупированы поляками во время гражданской войны в России

Mama Rosiya always threated free Europe

The soviet occupation of Eastern Poland had one big positive outcome-Vilnius had been returned to its original owner-Lithuania.

Bloodlands? Seriously? So, this is your source. This book is wrong on sooooo many levels. Comparing Nazis and Soviets is peak stage of delitantism and lack of even basic historical knowledge. Are you trying to be biased or not? If you don’t, than your doing a bad job with it. Claiming Stalins claim for the invasion of Poland is an absurd or nonsense, even though the claim was absolutely logical. I might shock you, but neither the soviet union or any of its institutions or stalin ever, wished to start a genocide on half of Europe, there is no prove of such things. I repeat, the whole thesis of bloodlands is an absurd. It doesn’t have any historical base and the only way to possibly to equate this two states and there systems, is by using logically fallacies, or being someones political agenda.