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SUMMARY:Chelsea History Festival 2025 - The Price of Victory: Poland after the Second World War
UID:https://instytutpolski.pl/london/2025/08/11/chelsea-history-festival-2025-the-price-of-victory-poland-after-the-second-world-war/
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DESCRIPTION:25th September, 6-7pm, National Army Museum, London
London’s annual celebration of history and heritage will again be
bringing top authors and family fun to three spectacular venues: the
National Army Museum, the Royal Hospital Chelsea and Chelsea Physic Garden.
The Polish Cultural Institute in London is proud to support the festival
once again this year and sponsor a brilliant panel discussion about Polish
History.
About the event
After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939, tens of thousands of
Polish military personnel fled to the UK via France.
In June 1940, the Polish government-in-exile in the UK – in agreement
with the British government – formed an independent Polish Army, Air
Force and Navy. These forces would be utilised throughout the war, most
notably in Italy, on D-Day and during the Race for Berlin.
Post-war, the previously successful relationship would falter with the
looming Cold War.
Our specialist panel will discuss how the legacy of these Polish troops in
the Allied war effort continues to impact and influence the lives of those
in Poland and the Polish diaspora to this day.
The talk will explore the lives and legacies of the Polish diaspora
following on from the war whilst also exploring the relationship many had
with their homeland and those who remained in Poland.
About the speakers
Halik Kochanski is a British historian. A Fellow of the Royal Historical
Society, she taught history at several universities and is the author of
‘Sir Garnet Wolseley: A Victorian Hero’, ‘The Eagle Unbowed: Poland
and the Poles in the Second World War’ and ‘Resistance: The Underground
War in Europe, 1939-1945’, which was awarded the 2023 Wolfson History
Prize.
Maria Polachowska has worked as a senior broadcast journalist and filmmaker
for the BBC for over 35 years. Her films have been nominated for and won
multiple awards, with topics including the first non-communist government
in Poland, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Velvet Revolution in Prague,
the end of the Soviet Union, the fall of Yugoslavia and the Arab Spring.
She also worked on the Channel 4 series ‘The Struggles for Poland’.
Jenny Grant is a historian whose work explores Polish forces in wartime
Britain, alliances between Great Britain and Poland, and commemoration. She
is a PhD researcher at Queen Mary, University of London. She is the editor
of the memoirs of General Stanisław Maczek – ‘The Price of Victory’.
Karolina Maczek is the granddaughter of General Stanisław Maczek, and was
raised by him and his wife, Zofia Maczek, in Edinburgh from the age of two.
She is a proud supporter of the many Polish schools named in General
Maczek’s honour, as well as other commemorations and memorials honouring
the soldiers of the First Polish Armoured Division. Karolina was granted a
Polish passport by President Andrzej Duda in recognition of the fact that
her grandfather had been stripped of his Polish citizenship after the
Second World War ended and the Cold War began.
Justin Maciejewski is the Director of the National Army Museum. After a
27-year career in the British Army, he joined McKinsey & Company as a
management consultant. His last appointment in the Army was Director
Combat, the professional head of the Royal Armoured Corps and the Infantry.
Prior to that, he had extensive command and staff experience and was
awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) after commanding 2nd
Battalion The Rifles in Iraq.
Find out more & Book Tickets HERE
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