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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World

Thousands of Poles forcibly conscripted by Nazis ended up fighting for the allies

Visitors to the exhibition Our Boys (Nasi chłopcy) in Gdansk, Poland.
Visitors to the exhibition Our Boys (Nasi chłopcy) in Gdansk, Poland. Photograph: Agnieszka Grabowska

Your report (‘Our boys were forced into the enemy army to save loved ones’: the second world war exhibition dividing Poland, 20 August) makes uncomfortable reading for many Poles, or indeed Poles born in the UK after the second world war.

However, the article fails to mention that around 90,000 Poles who had been forcibly conscripted into the Wehrmacht later ended up fighting for the Polish Armed Forces in the west. These men would have deserted and crossed over into allied lines or else been captured by allied forces during fighting and taken as prisoners of war. A thorough intelligence debriefing would have followed, and the majority of those deemed suitable then fought against the Nazis.
Krzysztof Nowakowski
Vice-chairman, Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum

• My former boss was Polish. Faced with the unenviable choice between death in a concentration camp and service under the Wehrmacht, he chose the latter. He told me that much of his time was spent sabotaging his own equipment, a risky occupation in which he and his comrades regularly engaged.
Dr Allan Dodds
Bramcote, Nottinghamshire

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

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