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Polish government in exile
The Polish government in exile, officially named the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile, is the name given to the Polish legal political bodies, with the President of the Republic of Poland, after the campaign of 1939, established themselves first in Angers, France, and then in London, UK, after the defeat of France in June 1940 to continue, on behalf of the Polish people, the fight against the aggressor. Under the Polish constitution in April 1935, the Polish authorities in exile have legally perpetuated until 22 December 1990 when the last president in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski, pronounce their dissolution and transmits its powers same time as the presidential insignia of the Second Polish Republic Lech Wałęsa, CEO elected through free and democratic elections since the war.
Warsaw to London
In September 1939, while the German and Soviet armies controlled Polish territory along the plane defined by the German-Soviet pact, the legitimate government and the Polish Supreme Command, who refuse to surrender, took refuge in France. They then form a government in exile, based in Angers on 22 November 1939 to 12 June 1940, chaired by Władysław Raczkiewicz designated by Ignacy Mościcki, president since 1926. He, interned in Romania and primarily concerned about preserving the continuity of the Polish State decides to transfer his duties under the Polish constitution in April 19351.
On 20 December 1939, the President of the Polish Republic in exile, W. Raczkiewicz, is greeted at Castle Pignerolle his residence in Saint Barthelemy d'Anjou near Angers.
Castle Pignerolle, ephemeral seat of the Polish Government in exile.
Raczkiewicz chosen as prime minister General Władysław Sikorski.
General Władysław Sikorski, prime minister from September 1939 to July 1943
His cabinet was sworn on October 1, 1939. This quickly creates a Polish Union of armed struggle (ZWZ) entrusted to General Stefan Grot-Rowecki. The underground army will be distinguished in the field by his resistance activities. It will be replaced in February 1942 by the interior Army (Home Army or AK). On French soil, the Polish government in exile is creating a Polish army to continue fighting, consisting of four divisions - two have time to be illustrated by a great fighting in May-June 1940. At least 20,000 fighters Poles in France manage to reach the UK just after the armistice, to continue the struggle.
Recognized by the Allies, the Polish government in exile settled in London after the French defeat in June 1940. General Sikorski persuaded the British military leaders to form a western Polish Army, a motorized unit that will become the 1st Polish Armoured division in February 1942, and which allow the Poles to participate actively in the liberation of Europe. Reinforced by the arrival of exiled soldiers, the Polish army is becoming the first foreign army in Britain.
After the German offensive against the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Polish government in exile decided to renew diplomatic relations with its former Soviet adversary (Sikorski-Maisky agreements). Part of Polish war prisoners in the USSR are released and joined the Polish army of General Władysław Anders who will then participate in the Italian campaign and especially in the battle of Monte Cassino in May 1944.
Moreover, the 1st Polish Armoured Division will participate, under British operational command at the Battle of Normandy and particularly the so-called battle of the "closing of the Falaise pocket."
Finally, the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade will be illustrated during Operation Market Garden in September 1944.
During the war and especially after 1942, the Polish authorities in exile, supplied with first-hand information by the Resistance, will provide allied governments and public opinion of the free world the earliest reports and more precise on extermination during juives2,3 populations - and call in vain to specific actions to end the extermination4,5.
Letters (a few dozen) as Jan Karski, Jan Tadeusz Chciuk7 Nowak6 or will travel in both directions at the peril of their lives: Jan Karski and Jan Nowak, sent by the AK are both gone from Poland to London while Tadeusz Chciuk-Celt was parachuted twice sent Poland as the Polish government in exile. The letters sent to Poland under these conditions were called Cichociemni ( "Silent Shadow").
Stalin's reaction
In April 1943, then what discovered the Katyń massacre, the Polish government in exile opposed the position of the allies, which tends to exonerate the Soviet army. A few months later, Sikorski died in a plane crash returning from an inspection in the Middle East. Stanisław Mikołajczyk successor.
In Poland, Stalin established the Polish Committee of National Liberation (or Lublin Committee), Communist-inspired, to counteract the Polish government in exile. The Polish communist activist Wanda Wasilewska was instrumental in the creation of the Polish division of the Red Army during World War II. With the support of the USSR, it opposed the Polish government in exile. It contributed to the creation of the People's Republic of Poland.
At the end of the war, Stalin informed the allies it wanted the territories annexed by the USSR in 1939, that the Polish authorities refuse to London. Mikołajczyk also opposed Stalin proposed to set up a government dominated by the Communists. But in January 1945 the Red Army entered Warsaw and set up the Lublin Committee.
Finally, at the Yalta Conference, February 11, 1945, the Polish borders were redefined based on Stalin's claims that explained that only a strong Polish government and pro-communist would be able to guarantee the security of the Soviet Union, and a government of "national unity" is made. Mikołajczyk, who resigned as prime minister of the exile government, agreed to participate. He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture. Following the conference the Allies withdrew their recognition to the Polish government in exile.
In March 1945, the Soviet authorities organized a meeting with representatives of the government in exile and the Polish resistance. Just arrived on site, part of the delegation is abruptly stopped. Its members are accused, during a public trial, of having fought "against the Soviet Union and against the interests of Poland," and of having "collaborated with the Nazis." Most defendants will be sentenced to imprisonment or exile.
For its part, Mikołajczyk resigned from the pro-Soviet government following the scandal in Polish fraud that marred the legislative elections of January 1947. Threatened with arrest, he again chooses exile. After a stint in London, where he is considered a traitor for working with the Communists, he decided to settle in the United States.
The government in exile during the communist regime
Refusing to recognize the communist regime, the Polish government in exile continues its work despite internal tensions. In 1954, some of the delegates, claiming the support of 80% of Polish exiles, is opposed to President August Zaleski who wishes to pursue its mandate beyond the term of seven years. The dissidents then form a "Council of National Unity" led by three top officials Tomasz Arciszewski, General Władysław Anders, and Edward Raczyński. Full reconciliation will be done after the death of Zaleski in 1972.
Some delegates or relatives of the exile government will decide to return to Poland, as Prime Minister Hugon Hanke in 1955 and his predecessor Stanisław Mackiewicz in 1956. The Polish communist regime then widely publicized the return of exiles, assigning them positions suitable and forgiving them their past activities.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the government and the presidents in successive exile Stanislaw Ostrowski, Edward Raczyński, Kazimierz Sabbat, Ryszard Kaczorowski deepen growing links with the movement of nascent opposition in Poland, bringing the labor movement, editions of the underground press, Solidarność, the material and moral support of the Polish emigration policy (creation of support workers Fund (1976), freedom of speech (1978) and the assistance Fund country (1979) 8.
The Polish government in exile continued its operations until December 22, 1990, shortly after the election of Lech Walesa as President of the Republic after decades of Communist rule in Poland. It was then that the president in office, Ryszard Kaczorowski, handed to the new democratically elected president insignia of the presidency of the République9. Thus was restored the continuity of the Republic and, in effect, retroactively recognized the legitimacy of the government in exile. In 1992, military medals and other decorations awarded by this government were officially recognized in Poland.
Seat of the Presidency of the Republic in exile
After being installed during the phoney war to Paris and then to Castle Pignerolle, St. Barthelemy d'Anjou near Angers, the residence of the president in exile was located in 1940 in the Polish Embassy in London, then from 1945 at 43 Eaton Place, Chelsea, London.
