Poland and the Poles in the Second World War

The Eagle Unbowed

In Halik Kochanski's extraordinary book, the untold story of Poland and the Poles in the Second World War is finally heard 
 
By almost every measure the fate of the inhabitants of Poland was the most terrible of any group in the Second World War. Following the destruction of its armed forces in the autumn of 1939, the Republic of Poland was partitioned between Nazi and Soviet forces and officially ceased to exist. As the war progressed millions of Poles were killed, with each phase unleashing a further round, from the industrialised genocide of Treblinka to the crushing of the Warsaw Rising. Polish Jews were all to be murdered, Christians reduced to a semi-literate slave class. This powerful and original new book is perhaps the most important 'missing' work on the whole conflict, describing both the fate of those trapped within occupied Poland and of the millions of Poles who were able to escape. 
 
Reviews: 
 
'A remarkable book ... [Kochanski] brings to the subject not only an impressive grasp of the military and political context, but also a balance, neutrality and honesty few could manage, combined with the intelligence, imagination and empathy necessary to grasp the true depth of the experience she recounts ... This book is history at its best. It tells the whole story, and tells it well, with just the right mixture of detachment and empathy, in crisp, readable prose. But it also speaks to the imagination and makes the reader think - and not just about the subject in hand' Standpoint 
 
'Until Halik Kochanski's The Eagle Unbowed nobody had written a comprehensive English-language history of Poland at war ... She uncovers details that will surprise even history geeks ... Ms Kochanski marshals an impressive and comprehensive array of English and Polish material' Economist 
 
'Poland's war was so terrible as to almost defy summary ... this book is opinionated, fluid and forceful' Oliver Bullough, New Statesman 
 
'An informative, authoritative and wide-ranging account of the tragedy that befell Poland and its inhabitants, Gentiles and Jews, during the war and its aftermath ... An engaging and important book' Hubert Zawadzki (author of A Concise History of Poland) 
 
About the author: 
 
Halik Kochanski read Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford and then completed a PhD at King's College London. She has taught at both King's College London and University College London and presented papers to a number of military history conferences. She has written a number of articles and is the author of Sir Garnet Wolseley: Victorian Hero (1999). She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has been a member of the councils of the Army Records Society and Society for Army Historical Research and remains a member of both societies. She is also a member of the British Commission for Military History and the Institute for Historical Research. She is currently a judge for the Templer Medal book prize.

[A] remarkable book ... [Kochanski] brings to the subject not only an impressive grasp of the military and political context, but also a balance, neutrality and honesty few could manage, combined with the intelligence, imagination and empathy necessary to grasp the true depth of the experience she recounts ... This book is history at its best. It tells the whole story, and tells it well, with just the right mixture of detachment and empathy, in crisp, readable prose. But it also speaks to the imagination and makes the reader think - and not just about the subject in hand

Until Halik Kochanski's The Eagle Unbowed nobody had written a comprehensive English-language history of Poland at war ... She uncovers details that will surprise even history geeks ... Ms Kochanski marshals an impressive and comprehensive array of English and Polish material

An informative, authoritative and wide-ranging account of the tragedy that befell Poland and its inhabitants, Gentiles and Jews, during the war and its aftermath ... An engaging and important book

Hubert Zawadzki (author of A Concise History of Poland)

Poland's war was so terrible as to almost defy summary ... this book is opinionated, fluid and forceful

Halik Kochanski read Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford and then completed a PhD at King's College London. She has taught at both King's College London and University College London and presented papers to a number of military history conferences. She has written a number of articles and is the author of Sir Garnet Wolseley: Victorian Hero (1999). She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has been a member of the councils of the Army Records Society and Society for Army Historical Research and remains a member of both societies. She is also a member of the British Commission for Military History and the Institute for Historical Research. She is currently a judge for the Templer Medal book prize.

Halik Kochanski

The best book about the resistance I have ever read. It addresses the story with scholarly objectivity and an absolute lack of sentimentality ... it is marvellous to read a study of such breadth and depth, which reaches balanced judgments.

Ground-breaking ... a superb, myth-busting survey of the many ways in which the subjugated peoples of Europe tried to fight back.

A full and nuanced account of all the different forms of resistance... a timely book.

Eminently readable ... subtle, multilayered and kaleidoscopic ... Kochanski's gripping account of the activities of the resistance includes, as might be expected, tales of derring-do and extraordinary courage as well as tragedy, betrayal and Nazi barbarism.

This ambitious history offers the first unified picture of resistance against Nazi Germany in the many countries it invaded ... Dispensing with heroics and highlighting the imperfect, human nature of the underground, [Kochanski] nevertheless depicts a vital defence of dignity, spirit, and the future, mounted against all odds.

Halik Kochanski's Resistance reads less like a work of history and more like a chronicle of a partisan war foretold ... her scrupulous scholarship, and her refusal to romanticize the grim, grimy work of being a resister, does make Resistance something of a primer for the many Ukrainians now fighting to undermine Russian authority.

This history of resistance in the Second World War is as moving as it is comprehensive.

An excellent comparative study of wartime resistance in all its forms.

The Underground War in Europe, 1939-1945

Across the whole of Nazi-ruled Europe the experience of occupation was sharply varied. Some countries - such as Denmark - were within tight limits allowed to run themselves. Others - such as France - were constrained not only by military occupation but by open collaboration. In a historical moment when Nazi victory seemed permanent and irreversible, the question 'why resist?' was therefore augmented by 'who was the enemy?'. 
 
Resistance is an extraordinarily powerful, humane and haunting account of how and why all across Nazi-occupied Europe some people decided to resist the Third Reich. This could range from open partisan warfare in the occupied Soviet Union to dangerous acts of defiance in the Netherlands or Norway. Some of these resistance movements were entirely home-grown, others supported by the Allies. 
 
Like no other book, Resistance shows the reader just how difficult such actions were. How could small bands of individuals undertake tasks which could lead not just to their own deaths but those of their families and their entire communities? 
 
Filled with powerful and often little-known stories, Halik Kochanski's major new book is a fascinating examination of the convoluted challenges faced by those prepared to resist the Germans, ordinary people who carried out exceptional acts of defiance and resistance.

Halik Kochanski

Praise for Resistance

The best book about the resistance I have ever read. It addresses the story with scholarly objectivity and an absolute lack of sentimentality ... it is marvellous to read a study of such breadth and depth, wh ...

Ground-breaking ... a superb, myth-busting survey of the many ways in which the subjugated peoples of Europe tried to fight back.

A full and nuanced account of all the different forms of resistance... a timely book.

The best book about the resistance I have ever read. It addresses the story with scholarly objectivity and an absolute lack of sentimentality ... it is marvellous to read a study of such breadth and depth, wh ...

Ground-breaking ... a superb, myth-busting survey of the many ways in which the subjugated peoples of Europe tried to fight back.

A full and nuanced account of all the different forms of resistance... a timely book.

The best book about the resistance I have ever read. It addresses the story with scholarly objectivity and an absolute lack of sentimentality ... it is marvellous to read a study of such breadth and depth, wh ...

Ground-breaking ... a superb, myth-busting survey of the many ways in which the subjugated peoples of Europe tried to fight back.

A full and nuanced account of all the different forms of resistance... a timely book.

Books by Halik Kochanski

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