Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego

  • Polish Committee of National Liberation
  • PKWN
Identifier
483
Type of Entity
Corporate Body

Dates of Existence

Founded in 1944-07-21

History

The formation of Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego was announced on 1944-07-21, the day after the first red Army troops crossed the Western Bug River into German-occupied Poland. On 1944-07-26 the Soviet Union officially recognized the PKWN as the sovereign government of Poland. Two rival Polish governments now existed: the one in London recognized by the Western Allies, and the Soviet-sponsored committee in Lublin. On 1944-08-31, the Soviet-sponsored PKWN, Poland’s provisional communist government, stated that it would bring to justice Germans and Poles who had collaborated with the Germans suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity. These would be summary trials without appeal.

Places

  • Founded and active in Poland.

Sources

  • Hitler’s Central European Empire : 1938-1945 / J.W. Sedlar. – 2007. – p. 256 The Holocaust : Roots, History, and Aftermath / D.M. Crowe. – Colorado, 2008. – p. 423