Skidel revolt

The Second World War - Crimes

The Skidel Revolt (Polish: Powstanie Skidelskie) or Skidal Uprising (term used in Soviet historiography) was an anti-state and anti-Polish sabotage action perpetrated by the Jewish and Belarusian inhabitants of the Polish town of Skidel near Nowogródek (now Skidzyel’, Belarus) at the onset of World War II.

The uprising took place on September 18, 1939 and was orginized by [the Communist Party of Western Belarus]. Upon hearing that the Red Army had entered the territory of the Second Polish Republic, with which the rebels sympathized, Jews and Belarusians began shouting Disarm the police!. According to Soviet sources, an armed gang of around 200 partisans was formed from the incoming volunteers, consisting of representatives of the Jewish proletariat, political prisoners released from the prison in Grodno, and Belarusian peasants from nearby villages. They quickly seized the main buildings of the city, such as the police station, power plant and post office. Government officials were arrested. The city of Skidel and several nearby towns were taken under control. The group also seized the railway station and disarmed the train with Polish soldiers (the rebels thus acquired significant amounts of weapons). They arrested the policemen and officers of the Polish Army present in the city. In total, about 15 officers, headed by Col. Zygmunt Szafranowski, who traveled through Skidel carrying the cash box of the "Wołkowysk" GroupPułk Osłonowy Kawalerii „Wołkowysk” - oddział kawalerii Wojska Polskiego w II Rzeczypospolitej improwizowany w trakcie kampanii wrześniowej 1939 roku. , containing about 1.5 million PLN. The insurgents also murdered over a dozen officers, non-commissioned officers and civilians, and established the Soviet power.

Several Polish families were rescued by their Belarusian neighbors in the village of Sawalówka.

Polish Army units quickly engaged the insurgents. After some skirmishes, Polish units put down the revolt and took control of Skidel and neighboring settlements. However, shortly thereafter - according to Soviet sources - advancing Red Army units, supported by armored units, took over Skidel, repelling Polish forces. Polish sources, on the other hand, say that the Polish unit simply retreated after recapturing the city, before the Red Army raid.

The communist Soviet authorities called this rebellion an uprising and its perpetrators mythologized in the Soviet version of history.

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