- Polish agriculture suffered incomparably greater losses than Western agriculture as a result of war operations.
- Grains, cattle, pigs – the German and Russian occupiers took out of the country everything that could be loaded onto wagons.
The Germans took away grain, cattle, and people for forced labor.
September 1 is one of the most important dates in our history. Today marks 85 years since the outbreak of World War II. As a result of war operations, Poland was greatly destroyed, and huge losses also affected our agriculture, which had to get out of a dramatic situation after the end of the war.
The Germans took over 1,200,000 tons of grain out of Poland. At least half a million farms were completely destroyed, although many estimates put the figure at 700,000.
Before the war, Poland was a country with strong traditions of horse breeding. However, during the war, the horse population fell by 70-80 percent. The dairy cattle population decreased by over 60 percent. Polish agriculture lost almost 7 million pigs as a result of the predatory policies of the German and Soviet occupiers.
In September 1939 alone, German troops pacified the inhabitants of almost 500 villages they encountered on their way, without any reason.
Wheat and rye harvests after the war were 40-50 percent lower than before 1939. There was a shortage of workers, tools, and animals. The land was devastated, mined, and there was nowhere to produce. Famine was rampant in the countryside even after the war. All of this was the result of German and USSR actions.
Unfortunately, things were not easy after the war either. Polish agricultural products were delivered to the USSR, among others. But these were often very unfavourable contracts. Polish agriculture had to give much more than it received in return (similarly to other branches of industry). Moreover, it was necessary to rebuild what the Soviet soldiers themselves had stolen and destroyed at the end of the war.
The Russians were no better. They stole half a million cattle.
The Red Army, while conducting an offensive against the Germans, even in 1944 and 1945, plundered villages along the way. Cattle that still remained on farms were often stolen, often taken east, deep into Russia. This applies to the territories of then Poland, as well as to eastern Germany at that time, i.e. Lower Silesia, Opole region, Western Pomerania, Lubusz Land. German farmers were also plundered there (many Poles were forced to work on these farms at that time, including children who were forcibly taken from Polish families by the Germans). In many cases, the Russians liberated Poland in such a way that they took everything of any value along the way.
In 1945, over 0.5 million cattle, over 100 thousand sheep and over 200 thousand horses were driven from Poland to Russia. In early spring 1945, towards the end of the war, when the Red Army crossed the border of the pre-war Third Reich, over 70 thousand tons of sugar were exported from Poland to the USSR. At least tens of thousands of tons of grain were exported from Poland. In addition, Poland itself later had to deliver 150 thousand tons of grain to the USSR, and an even larger amount of potatoes.
Unfortunately, during World War II, Poland, including Polish agriculture, was robbed from every side, both by the Germans and the Russians. The losses of Polish agriculture are incomparably greater than those of France or Great Britain. Poland had to recover from the massive economic collapse for a very long time. And the predatory policy of the USSR after the war did not help at all.
