World War II: keep it a history (Poland) | Página 4

During the war, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany occupied Poland.
Blitzkrieg or “lightning war” included extensive bombing of Poland,
and other allied countries, as a strategy to force submission. German
forces bombed planes, railroads, communication posts, weapons and
ammo depots, other military targets, and often civilians. The German
army followed the huge air strikes with troops, tanks, and artillery.
Germans confiscated food from Poles to feed their soldiers.
The Soviets looted Polish industrial goods and machinery. They
arrested and deported up to 1.5 million people for slave labour to
gulags in Siberia and elsewhere.

Soviets and Germans created intentional conflict between Poland’s
Jews, Ukrainian immigrants and Christians. Large portions of the
Jewish population in Poland were sent to ghettos and concentration
camps by the SS. During the war, approximately 6 million Poles were
killed. This represents a greater proportion of Poland’s population
than any other participant in the war.
In addition, Nazis and Soviets killed cultural, intellectual and
economic elites in Poland. Germans also destroyed museums,
universities and burned the capital, Warsaw.