Churchill's betrayal of Poland

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Movie
German title Churchill's betrayal of Poland
Original title Churchill's betrayal of Poland
Country of production Germany , Poland
original language German , Polish
Publishing year 2011
length 52 minutes
Rod
Director Christoph Weinert
script Dierk Ludwig Schaaf

Churchill's betrayal of Poland is the title of a documentary drama about the unexplained plane crash near Gibraltar on July 4, 1943, in which the Polish General Władysław Sikorski was killed. The film provides clues to the assumption that it was a contract murder of Sikorski ordered by the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and covered by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill because he wanted to solve the Katyn massacre .

LOOKSfilm , ARTE , NDR , TVN acted as production companies . The first broadcast was on July 1, 2011 on Arte.

Historical context

The film initially mentions conspiracy theories about Sikorski's death that have been widespread since 1943 and recalls the forensic examination of his exhumed body in 2008: The cause of death was fractures and organ damage caused by the plane crash, but no evidence of shooting, poisoning or strangulation. Historian Bernd Martin emphasizes in the film: Many questions about Sikorski's death remain open because government archives are still closed and British documents have been deliberately destroyed.

The film then elaborates Sikorski's importance after the attack on Poland in 1939 as the founder and leader of the Polish government in exile and as a bearer of hope for a unified post-war Poland . The British historian John Charmley portrays Churchill's alliance with Stalin from 1941 as a policy of appeasement at the expense of Poland. Because Churchill was not yet able to open the promised western front against Hitler Germany in 1943, he wanted to avoid everything that would lead Stalin to leave the anti-Hitler coalition could have provoked. Therefore, on April 15, 1943, he tried to prevent Sikorski from a second, independent investigation into the Katyn massacre: without success.

As a result, Stalin broke off diplomatic relations with the Polish government in exile on April 25, 1943. On May 6, 1943, he had proposed to Churchill by telegram Sikorski's disempowerment as head of the Polish government-in-exile, as it contained too many Hitler supporters that Sikorski could not control.

Clues to a murder plot

The film then depicts Sikorski's trip in May / June 1943 to inspect the Polish army in exile in the Middle East. It cites a number of proven details and links to questions and suspicions that suggest Sikorski's murder. The authors follow the Polish journalist and historian Dariusz Baliszewski , who has researched and published on the subject for years and who believes that Sikorski's plane has crashed.

  • Churchill is said to have advised Sikorski twice by phone before the flight not to take his only daughter and secretary Sofia on this trip because it was too dangerous.
  • After it took off, the Polish government-in-exile in London received an anonymous phone call: Sikorski's plane had crashed and he and his daughter were killed in the process. Baliszewski interprets the call as a hidden death threat to Sikorski. The caller must have known the actual purpose of the trip: to receive documents about the Katyn massacre and to publish them.
  • There are witnesses for a meeting between Sikorski and the Turkish ambassador in Beirut. Presumably he gave Sikorski German lists of the Katyn victims.
  • Because Sikorski wanted to carry his suitcases himself on the return journey and forbidden British officials to touch them. However, they have disappeared without a trace.
  • Two British civilians who flew with Sikorski from Cairo to Gibraltar on July 3, 1943, may have been secret agents.
  • The Polish secret courier Jan Gralewski traveled to Gibraltar with an unknown assignment. Since Sikorski did not know him personally, he could have been exchanged before he met him for a one-on-one conversation on the evening of July 4th.
  • The Soviet ambassador Ivan Mikhailovich Maiski flew from London to Gibraltar with at least one Soviet agent on the early morning of July 4, 1943. Gibraltar's British governor asked Sikorski and his companions not to leave their hotel rooms during the day so as not to meet Maiski. But he could have induced Maiski to postpone his flight to Gibraltar by a day.
  • After landing in Gibraltar, Maiski's plane was parked next to Sikorski's unguarded plane. Witnesses saw a stranger who entered it in the evening and stayed there for a while. He could have used a good opportunity to sabotage.
  • Maiski claimed in his memoir that he had only arrived in Gibraltar on July 5th. However, according to Baliszewski, he was there on July 4 and continued to fly to Cairo hours after the Sikorski plane crashed. The British may have informed Maiski of Sikorski's arrival in Gibraltar. As an employee of the Soviet NKVD, he could be considered a contract killer.
  • Sikorski's plane rolled to the end of the darkened runway, ready to take off on July 4th at around 11 p.m. According to the Polish secret service, it should have stood there for 20 to 50 minutes. Witnesses observed that something was being loaded and unloaded.
  • According to several witnesses, the only survivor of the crash, the Czech pilot Eduard Prchal selected by Sikorski, was rescued with a carefully put on life jacket. He should not have worn a life jacket at the start and never put one on. He denied the testimony. According to Baliszewski, he could have followed an order issued by the British secret service, to which every British pilot was a member.
  • The aircraft sank as a whole, but only individual parts were recovered. Four crash victims were not recovered. A stranger swam ashore shortly after the crash. Large quantities of pound notes floated on the water. A mailbag was found on the runway.

Such details gave rise to sabotage rumors as early as 1943. The British government countered them with press articles. Churchill's commission of inquiry ruled out sabotage as a cause of the crash. Poles were not allowed to participate in the investigation. The final report did not mention Maiski's stay, Sikorski's broken bones and some testimony. A second British investigation in 1969 revealed sabotage of the unguarded aircraft.

  • A British guard testified in 1967: The plane was forced to land, not crashed. A man got out unharmed via a wing. The plane lay on the water surface for minutes before it sank.
  • According to Baliszewski, Soviet or British agents could have incapacitated the aircraft occupants during the break before take-off, so that they could no longer leave the flooded aircraft.
  • The pilot was an alcohol smuggler and could have been blackmailed into faking the crash.

Web links
Reviews

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adam Easton (BBC, January 29, 2009): No evidence Polish hero murdered ; Autopsy report of the Institute for National Remembrance ( Memento of the original from August 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Polish) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ipn.gov.pl
  2. ^ Text of the telegram from Halik Kochanski: The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War. Penguin, 2013, ISBN 1-84614-358-6 , p. 344.
  3. ↑ Don Hale: The Final Dive: The Life and Death of 'Buster' Crabb. Spellmount, 2011, ISBN 0-7524-5325-4 , p. 92.
  4. ↑ Churchill's betrayal of Poland  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , arte , July 1, 2011@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.arte.tv