| Source | The Times, September 4th 1939 |
| Event referred to | 1st September 1939: Wermacht invasion of Poland
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| Technological characteristics | Text file scanned in
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| Description of the source | Newspaper article from microfiche archive held in a library for public use. Copyright remains with the Times. |
| Contextualisation of the source | The Times is regarded as a conservative newspaper. In 1939 the reporting of news items began on page 4 of the paper, with the first three pages given over to family notices and appointments.
This article appeared alongside other articles reporting the British and French declarations of war against Germany.
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| Interpretation of the source | The very title of this article suggests that Poland is the innocent party in the events of the beginning of September 1939.
The article goes on to re-enforce the opinion of Germany as the aggressor by showing how Germany went back on it’s word to limit bombing of Poland to military objectives. The failure to provide a source for the ‘communique’ issued could lead to speculation as to the origin of the information and it’s validity.
The article suggests that the point of the attacks was to wear down the resistance of the Polish and that attacks had not taken place on industrial areas of Poland. It could be suggested that this was to preserve areas which would be of use to Germany.
The article also reports Polish resistance to German attempts to start uprisings and a tone of praise and heroism accompanies these accounts.
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| Original Contents | |
| Original Contents (English Translation) | |