By Australian journalist Philip Luker

My photo of a World War 11 memorial in Warsaw, the Polish capital, is just an indication of how Poland has suffered, first in the war and then for 37 years as a repressed satellite of Communist Russia.

Britain declares war on Germany

Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, two days before Britain declared war on Germany.

On September 17, the Soviet Army also invaded Poland and the country was split into two zones.

Before the war, Poland had more Jews than any other country but the Germans killed 2.9million of them (90 per cent) and 2.8million other Poles.

Poland suffered the largest number of war casualties as a proportion of the population.

But the Poles are resilient and throughout the war the Home Army conducted guerrilla warfare and staged a mass uprising in Warsaw in 1944.

Auschwitz – One of six Nazi death camps

All six of the Nazis’ death camps were in Poland, including Auschwitz, the biggest.

When I asked the taxi driver who acted as my guide at the camp whether the names carved into the wooden bunks once used by prisoners had been left by the prisoners, he replied, “No, by tourists.”

In post-war talks that divided Europe among the Allies, the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin promised the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that he would hold free elections in Poland. He did not.

Soviet-appointed government fixed prices

In Soviet-occupied Poland, every company with more than 50 staff was nationalised… All prices were fixed by the Soviet-appointed government… Everything was controlled.

People were given a limit of what they could buy, so many bought what they were allowed to, then exchanged goods with others

Non-smokers particularly benefitted: they exchanged their cigarette allocation for other goods.

In the Gdansk shipyards in the late 1970s, the workers formed a movement called Solidarity.

The Soviet-controlled government arrested some of its leaders but its newspaper kept publishing.

Solidarity’s leader Lech Walesa, an electrician, organised a non-violent struggle for independence.

Surveillance by secret police

His actions led to him being often laid off and he was constantly under surveillance by the secret police.

His wife Danuta, who was even more anti-communist than he was, taunted the secret police whenever they arrested him.

He was jailed for 11 months until 1982 and the same year Solidarity was outlawed.

But the next year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, although Danuta accepted it on his behalf as he feared he would not be allowed back into Poland if he went to Oslo in Norway to do so.

Poland is now a prosperous country and a member of the EU

The Soviet Union was being broken up by its leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Walesa persuaded leaders of Polish parties allied with the Communist Party to form a non-communist government.

In 1990 he was elected Polish President and under his Presidency, Poland joined the European Union.

Poles are friendly people

Poland as a free market economy has recovered from its 50 years of war and harsh dictatorship.

Its people are friendly; life is easier; enterprise is cherished; Poland is the sixth largest member of the European Union and one of the most prosperous.

It is a land of striking beauty, punctuated by great forests and rivers, broad plains and tall mountains.