Societies can break, democracies can fall, ethics can collapse, and ordinary men can find themselves standing over death pits.

Timothy Snyder on tyranny.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music Episode 3992 Episode 392, Warsaw and Katian.

On September 17, 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland, two and a half weeks after Germany had, and pursuant to the

secret protocol between the two countries, they divided Poland between them. See episode 314 for more

about that. Following the invasion, the president of Poland, Ignatzi Moschitsky, like most of the Polish government,

fled across the Romanian border. There were some complications I won't trouble you with,

but by the end of September, Moschitsky had resigned his office in favor of his appointed successor,

Wadiswav Rajkiewicz, pursuant to the Polish Constitution.

Rachievich would hold the office of president of the Polish government in exile for the rest of the war.

Moschitsky, with the help of U.S. diplomatic intervention, was permitted to retire to Switzerland, where he lived until his death in

1946.

Rachkiewicz appointed as his prime minister, General Wadishwav Kikorski, a distinguished military leader

who had previously held the post of prime minister in 1922 and in 1923. Together, they established the Polish

government in exile, first in France, then in London. The Polish government in exile was the first

of a gaggle of governments in exile, most of them based in London, representing the various European countries

under German occupation. Most of the Polish Navy, and most of the pilots of the Polish Air Force,

also escaped Poland and made their way to Britain, as did tens of thousands of Polish soldiers.

The Polish government in exile represented the civilian

leadership of what remained of the Polish armed forces, which fought under the operational

command of the British. Polish ground forces in Britain were organized as the Polish First

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