Elul 16 5699 – August 31 1939
Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia
German SS soldiers disguised as Polish soldiers broke into the German radio station in the city of Gleiwitz on the German-Polish border, in Upper Silesia. The raiders took over the broadcast and declared “Pay attention! The station is in Polish hands … The time has come! Viva Poland!”. Adolf Hitler used his planned provocation to invade Poland on September 1 and conquer it by storm in five weeks. On September 17, the USSR joined the invasion from the east, as part of the secretive Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement.
World War II began, and it will end 6 years later, with more than 65 million dead, and more than 6 million Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust.
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