What if Nazi Germany did not invade Poland?

[Vladimir]

The thought of a German-Polish alliance is interesting. Imagine the restoration of greater Poland, to secure the German east, while Germany went west.

Obviously that could never happened with a maniac at the helm but a more thoughtful planner could have pulled it off.

[Domen]

Obviously that could never happened with a maniac at the helm but a more thoughtful planner could have pulled it off.

You talk about Hitler now ???

Anyone who suggests that Hitler would've played nice with Poland's very large Jewish population as an ally is.......dreaming.

At least Hitler would not be able to build death camps on occupied Polish terrotories.

By the way - several other states which were Germany's allies during World War 2 also had large Jewish minorities.

For example Hungary with almost 1 million Jewish population in 1939.

If you look at maps from before the invasion you will understand why, the Versailles peace made Poland split Germany in two to give Poland sea access... So Poland basically ran like a corridor through Germany.

Poland was the priority ONE thing to grab.

Man, the Corridor was like 3% of Polish territory...

Poland did not split Germany in two - but East Prussia (which was a relatively small & irrelevant province) from Germany proper.

Saying that Poland split Germany in two is like saying that Canada split the USA in two (i.e. Alaska from all other states).

So I guess the only solution for the Americans to get over this is to invade and annex Canada to reunite with Alaska ??? Lol.

A lot of people don't know this these days.

Uhm, maybe some total ignorants when it comes to WW2 history.

[Fisherking]

Figuring that the Nazis could leave Poland alone is a big stretch. Hitler wanted those lands back that were once German and was even willing to go in with the Soviets to do that.

But just for the sake of argument, assuming he did not attack Poland and perhaps allied with them it would have made a huge difference to the intelligence gathering abilities of the Western Allies. Cracking the German codes was based on Polish research. They gave the key to the cracking of Enigma to British Intelligence.

Just the same, Poland would have had to make huge donations of territory and take on a Nazi atmosphere to placate Nazi Germany, as well as participation in “The Final Solution” once it was thought up. It would have been just as ugly a proposition as its conquest.

There is little good one can find about the Nazis. The best thing may have been their invasion of Poland which put an end to appeasement.

[Domen]

The best thing may have been their invasion of Poland which put an end to appeasement.

But at what cost for Poland. Apart from Germany Poland was the biggest loser of WW2. But (Western) Germany after WW2 received $$$ financial support for reconstruction. Poland - which found itself on the other side of the Iron Courtain - did not receive anything.

In 1945 Poland was "liberated" from the German occupation only to found itself under Soviet / Communist occupation one moment later.

And lost so many civilians and soldiers. For what? Polish soldiers who fought alongside the Western Allies could not return to their country after WW2 - those who returned were persecuted by Communists. Home Army members were also imprisoned, persecuted, some executed by Communists.

In exchange for Eastern territories - Poland received land in the West as a "gift" from Stalin. But that land was devastated. Cities like Wroclaw were completely demolished, because Waffen SS and Wehrmacht defended them to the last building destroyed by Soviet artillery.

Warsaw was also demolished - after the 1944 Uprising Hitler ordered to destroy what remained of Warsaw. Stalin did nothing to stop him.

Churchill and - especially - Roosevelt - sold Poland to Joseph Stalin's regime. Communism was not much better than Nazi occupation.

Today nobody in the West remembers the Polish contribution to Allied victory in WW2 anyway. Jewish organizations blame Poland for doing not enough to save Jews from the Holocaust. And - strangely - American Jews seem to forget that they observed sufferings of European Jews and did nothing for so long time. Even later (from December 1941 on) American Jews did almost nothing to save European Jews. When information about death camps - including that from Poles, like Jan Karski for example - reached Western Allies - they did nothing to stop the massacres.

[PanzerJaeger]

When information about death camps - including that from Poles, like Jan Karski for example - reached Western Allies - they did nothing to stop the massacres.

What would you have had them do, apart from attempting to defeat Germany in the quickest manner possible?

[ReluctantSamurai]

Churchill and - especially - Roosevelt - sold Poland to Joseph Stalin's regime. Communism was not much better than Nazi occupation.

And what were the Allies supposed to do.....start WW3 against the Soviets over Poland?

[Gaius Sempronius Gracchus]

And what were the Allies supposed to do.....start WW3 against the Soviets over Poland?

I believe that Churchill advocated exactly that course of action..... now there's a what if.

[Sarmatian]

And what were the Allies supposed to do.....start WW3 against the Soviets over Poland?

That was highly unlikely, as the Allies already set that precedent with Italy. They couldn't, with a clear face, ask for joint control of Poland while not giving joint control of Italy. And Italy, of course was much more important than Poland.