Remembering Poznań June 1956 - The Polish Uprising in East Europe after The II World War against Stalinist terror!

[3 DSK]

Just for the record I would like to add that the first uprising in Eastern Europe after the war was in East Berlin. The Uprising of 1953 in East Germany started with a strike by East Berlin construction workers on June 16. It turned into a widespread uprising against the Stalinist German Democratic Republic government the next day. The uprising in Berlin was violently suppressed by tanks of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany and the Volkspolizei. In spite of the intervention of Soviet troops, the wave of strikes and protests was not easily brought under control. Even after June 17, there were demonstrations in more than 500 towns and villages. Around 50 people were killed.

[StefanM]

You are perfectly correct 3DSK... few know about Poznań 1956 and fewer still remember (myself included) East Berlin 1953! Was there a similar anti-communist restistance movement and civil war in East Germany as there was in Poland during the early post-war years?

[StefanM]

Just picked up from Poland a screen printed plastic badge produced by the Solidarność (Solidarity) movement that commemorates the Poznań uprising. The designers have cleverly incorporated the "PW" anchor symbol of the WWII Polish underground state into the city's name. These Solidarity badges and related ephemera are still easy to find and are very inexpensive to collect.



Interestingly the badge was produced in England by Istvan Markovits (Badge Maker) Limited, now defunct. I assume these were funded by a Polish organisation here and the badges smuggled into Poland.