Topic: Polish government‑in‑exile

Target group

8th‑grade students of an elementary school

New core curriculum

XXXV. Polish case during World War II. Student:

1. presents the circumstances of the uprising and discusses the activities of the government of the Republic of Poland in exile;

2. places Polish formation on the various fronts and areas of the ongoing war in time and space;

3. presents the policy of the great powers to the Polish cause during World War II.

General aim of education

The student will learn about the activities of the Polish government in exile.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to indicate why the Polish government was interned in Romania;

• to describe how the Polish government ended up in France and England;

• to list the key decisions and events related to the Polish authorities in exile;

• to characterize the significance of the Sikorski–Mayski agreement;

• to explain why the Polish government‑in‑exile lost the support of the Allied powers after the war.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. The teacher plays the recording of the abstract. Every now and then he stops it, asking the students to tell in their own words what they have just heard. This way, students practice listening comprehension.

Realization

1. Reading the content of the abstract. The teacher uses the text for individual work or in pairs, according to the following steps: 1) a sketchy review of the text, 2) asking questions, 3) accurate reading, 4) a summary of individual parts of the text, 5) repeating the content or reading the entire text.

2. Discussing information presented on the timeline. The teacher then divides the class into groups - as many as there are events on the axis. Each team works on one assigned issue, deepening the information contained in the abstract. Then the students present their discussions.

3. The teacher together with the students sums up the current course of classes.

4. Students analyze the illustration and execute Task 2. To answer the question, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

5. Students in pairs solve the Exercise 1. The teacher checks if the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback to students.

6. Students analyze the illustrations and execute Task 3. To answer the questions, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

Summary

1. The teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer?
   If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.

2. The teacher asks the students questions:

   • What did you find important and interesting in class?

   • What was easy and what was difficult?

   • How can you use the knowledge and skills you have gained today?

   Willing/selected students summarize the lesson

Homework

1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Polish government‑in‑exile

On the night of 17 September 1939, the government and the commander‑in‑chief left Poland and headed for Romania. They wanted to reach France. However, as a result of pressure from various groups and authorities, the Third Reich in particular, they were interned in Romania. President Ignacy Mościcki exercised his right and appointed a successor, Władysław Raczkiewicz. The new government, with Władysław Sikorski as the prime minister, based in Paris and then Angers, set as its primary goal to side with France and England in actively opposing Germany. They started forming Polish armed units, which were supposed to join the Allied forces and restore full sovereignty of Poland within its pre‑war borders. After France had been defeated, the mission continued in Great Britain.

The situation changed in the summer of 1941, when the Third Reich attacked the Soviet Union. Consequently, the Soviet Union joined the anti‑Hitler coalition and was on the same side as Poland. Under pressure from the British government, an agreement was reached and a relation was formed between Poland and the Soviet Union (Sikorski‑Mayski Agreement of 30 July 1941). As per the Agreement, the two countries were supposed to fight the Germans together. The document also provided for amnesty for prisoners and establishment of Polish armed forced in the USSR. The latter was assigned to Władysław Anders to fulfill. A problem arose in 1943, when the Germans discovered the site of the Katyn massacre, perpetrated by the Soviet Union. Diplomatic relations were once again severed. This also resulted in a clash among the Polish emigration in exile, exacerbated by the death of Prime Minister Sikorski in a plane crash.

The conflicts and the change of the leader (the new prime minister was Stanisław Mikołajczyk) undermined the position of the Polish government. Additionally, the British showed decreasing interest in Polish affairs, which were soon entrusted to Stalin. The latter did not heed the unfavourably disposed Polish government‑in‑exile based in London, and made the Communists appoint the State National Council (1 January 1944), a self‑proclaimed parliament, and the Polish Committee of National Liberation, a puppet executive body, both of strictly under his control. Attempts made by the Polish government‑in‑exile to reach an agreement failed, and Mikołajczyk stepped down as prime minister. Ultimately, as a result of the decision made at the Yalta Conference of 1945, the coalition Provisional Government of National Unity was established on 2 June 1945, with Edward Osóbka‑Morawski as the prime minister. This government was considered by the Allied forces to be the legal representative of the Polish authorities, which marginalised the significance of the government‑in‑exile. The superpowers soon ceased to support the latter. Although their influence on the fate of their country subsided, the Polish government in London, as the only legal Polish authority, continued to operate until 1990, when it finally conferred its powers to President Lech Wałęsa.