Interview with Joanna Hanson: The Civilian Population and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 – new and old perspectives
September 4, 7 pm, at the BVV-Saal im Rathaus Tiergarten, Mathilde-Jacob-Platz 1, 10551 Berlin
For more information about the project click here
The conversation with Joanna K. M. Hanson will be based on her excellent book “The Civilian Population and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944” published in English by Cambridge University Press, 1982 and 2004, and in Polish by Czytelnik Publishers, 1989 and 2004, and on her contribution to an exhibition at King’s College London, Warsaw Calling 1944, dedicated to this tragic event.
The Warsaw Uprising of 1944, always a topic of passionate discussion, has already been the subject of many books and other publications. These works dealt primarily with the political and military aspects of the insurrection, and hence there has been a tendency to forget that nearly one million people, mainly civilians, were caught in insurgent Warsaw and virtually entombed there. Nearly a quarter of them did not survive the ordeal. The battle continued for over two months under incessant German bombardment and attack. Diplomatic manoeuvres and intrigues between the Big Three failed to deliver any effective help to the fighting city. For sixty-three days the inhabitants of Warsaw lived in difficult and inhumane conditions. Joanna’s book is a description of their plight, their lives, their moods, their organization and of their survival. It is an analysis of their reaction to the battle itself and to its political and diplomatic implications. The first chapter of the book is a detailed description of life in occupied Warsaw from 1939 to 1944, as this forms an indispensable background to the work. There is also a section on Poland's political and international position during the war.
Joanna Hanson is a British historian. Her research has been focused on Poland in the 20th century, especially the German occupation of Poland during the Second World War. She was also a Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), a Principal Research Analyst at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a Monitor on the Polish Team and Chief Sub-Editor at the BBC Monitoring Service, and historical consultant for the Channel 4 TV Series: “The Struggles for Poland”. She was involved in peace education activities in Kosovo following the 1998/99 war in that country
