USA: WWII Historical Essay Scholarship – $5,000 First Prize

POLONIA INSTITUTUE announces 2019 Historical Essay Scholarship Competition for young adults between ages 18 and 30 on the worldwide significance of the 1939 German-Soviet invasion of Poland.

With the 80th anniversary of World War II approaching, Polonia Institute wants to encourage the study of events leading up to the September 1939 outbreak of the deadliest war in human history, its consequences for Poland, Europe and the world. This horrible war waged on humanity by the dictator of Germany Adolf Hitler and the dictator of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin claimed the lives of approximately 70 million people worldwide. After the war, the map of Europe was redrawn. Poland lost one-third of its territory and was subjugated to the Soviet Union for the next 45 years. Millions of Poles were forced to leave their homeland never to come back.

As a result of World War II, Poland lost close to 12 million of its inhabitants. Approximately 6 million were murdered by the German Third Reich and the Soviet Union, the highest percentage of the population of all nations.

Germany built a network of concentration camps on the conquered Polish territory with the intention to exterminate the Polish resistance movement. Ethnic Poles were the primary target of German extermination policy in the years 1939-1941. In the subsequent years 1942-1943 Polish citizens of Jewish origin became the primary target. Today Poland once again faces anti-Polish propaganda warfare that distorts historical facts by calling German death camps in which ethnic Poles were murdered as “Polish concentration camps” and accusing Poland of co-responsibility for the murder of Jews.

This competition is sponsored by Polonia Institute in cooperation with Polonia for Poland and other Polonia organizations. 

2019 Historical Essay Competition – Info 

2019 Historical Essay Competition – Entry

For more information send email to:

info@poloniainstitute.net