A stab in the back. The Soviet Aggression, 17 September 1939 - Instytut Pileckiego
A stab in the back. The Soviet Aggression, 17 September 1939
How do the people who found themselves in the very center of the wartime chaos remember 17 September 1939? "A stab in the back. The Soviet Aggression of 17 September 1939" contains interviews with the witnesses who saw the Russians enter the Polish territories. While fighting them, they experienced an unimaginable cruelty of the enemy.
On 17 September 1939, the Soviet troops invaded Poland, determining the outcome of the Second World War. The Red Army entered the Polish territories as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, also referred to as the fourth partition of Poland. The pact allowed the Germans and Russians to divide the Polish lands between the two powers. After the German invasion of Poland, many Poles were forced to relocate. The civilians were evacuating eastwards, some of the Polish soldiers were moving in that direction as well. No one was expecting an attack from the East. When radio broadcasts announced that the Red Army had entered Poland, some people returned to the German-occupied lands, while others heroically resisted the new occupier. Thousands of Poles experienced a new tragedy: the heroes of the battles of 1920 and their families. Militarymen, officials, teachers, clergymen… Adults and children alike. The Soviet aggression brought about arrests, plunder, death and deportations to Siberia. It was also connected with the efforts to create a new model of humanity. These are the subjects presented by the witnesses and by Prof. Witold Stankowski from the Pilecki Institute.
Our interviewees:
Marek Dunin-Wąsowicz
Józef Walaszczyk
Alina Dąbrowska
Janusz Kent
Janusz Majewski
Stanisław Brzosko
Genowefa Czepiel
Izabella Galicka
Tadeusz Olszewski
Ludwik Zalewski
Irena Godyń
Script and production: Małgorzata Grygiel, Michał Miziołek
The film premiered in 2020.