Around 6 million Polish citizens (of whom 2–3 million were ethnic Poles, 3 million were Jews, and 250,000-500,000 were ethnic Ukrainians) perished during World War II: about one fifth of the entire pre-war population of Poland. Most of them were civilian victims of the war crimes and the crimes against humanity which Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union committed during their occupation of Poland. Approximately half of them were Polish Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. Statistics for Polish casualties during World War II are divergent and contradictory. This article provides a summary of the estimates of Poland's human losses in the war as well as a summary of the causes of them.

According to the Polish government's official report on war damages which was published in 1947, the total number of Poland's war dead was 6,028,000; 3.0 million ethnic Poles and 3.0 million Jews, excluding the losses of Polish citizens who were members of the Ukrainian and Belarusian ethnic groups. When the communist system collapsed, this figure was disputed by the Polish historian Czesław Łuczak who estimated that the total number of losses was 6.0 million; 3.0 million Jews, 2.0 million ethnic Poles, and 1.0 million Polish citizens who were members of the other ethnic groups whose losses were not included in the 1947 report on war damages.Materski and Szarota page 16 In 2009 the Polish government-affiliated Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) published the study "Polska 1939–1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami" (Poland 1939-1945. Human Losses and Victims of Repression Under the Two Occupations) that estimated Poland's war dead at between 5.6 and 5.8 million Poles and Jews, including 150,000 during the Soviet occupation. Poland's losses by geographic area include about 3.5 million within the borders of present-day Poland, and about two million in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union.Krystyna Kersten, Szacunek strat osobowych w Polsce Wschodniej. Dzieje Najnowsze Rocznik XXI- 1994 p. 47 Contemporary Russian sources include Poland's losses in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union with Soviet war dead.Андреев, Е.М (Andreev, EM), et al., Население Советского Союза: 1922-1991(Naselenie Sovetskogo Soiuza, 1922–1991). Moscow, Наука (Nauka), 1993. . Pp. 73-79, Soviet losses of 26.6 million are calculated for the USSR population in mid-1941 within the borders of 1946-1991

Causes Most Polish citizens who perished in the war were civilian victims of the war crimes and crimes against humanity during the occupation by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) estimates total deaths under the German occupation at 5,470,000 to 5,670,000 Jews and Poles,Materski and Szarota page 9 Sądzić zatem można, że z rąk Niemców zginęło ok. 5 470 000-5 670 000 Polaków i Żydów - obywateli polskich. 2,770,000 Poles,Materski and Szarota page 9 Łączne straty śmiertelne ludności polskiej pod okupacją niemiecką oblicza się obecnie na ok. 2 770 000. 2.7 to 2.9 million Polish Jews Materski and Szarota page 9 liczba Żydów i Polaków żydowskiego pochodzenia, obywateli II Rzeczypospolitej, zamordowanych przez Niemców sięga 2,7- 2,9 mln osób According to IPN research there were also 150,000 victims of Soviet repression.Materski and Szarota page 9 pod okupacją sowiecką zginęło w latach 1939–1941, a następnie 1944-1945 co najmniej 150 tys. obywateli II RP

Jewish Holocaust deaths

Approximately three million Polish Jews were victims of the Holocaust. In 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) put the total of Jewish deaths at 2.7 to 2.9 million.Materski and Szarota. Page 32. Polish researchers estimate that 1,860,000 Polish Jews were murdered in the Nazi death camps, the remainder perished inside the Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland, aboard Holocaust trains, and in mass shooting actions.Materski and Szarota.Page 32: Najwięcej Żydów polskich zginęło w obozach śmierci - 1 860 000. Pozostali stracili życie w gettach, w pacyfikacjach itp. The Nazi extermination camp overall death toll is estimated at 2,830,000; including 1,860,000 Polish Jews: 490,000 killed at Belzec; 60,000 at Sobibor; 800,000 at Treblinka; 150,000 at Chełmno; 300,000 at Auschwitz; and 60,000 at Majdanek. An additional 660,000 Jews from other countries, were transported to Auschwitz and murdered. Over a million Jews deported from Western countries to camps and ghettos set up in occupied Poland perished in the Holocaust. The Nazi death camps located in Poland are sometimes incorrectly described as Polish death camps.

Human Losses of the ethnic Polish population

According to the figures published by the Polish government in exile in 1941 the ethnic Polish population was 24,388,000 at the beginning of the war in September 1939.Maly Rocznik Statystyczny Polski- London 1941 The IPN puts the death toll of ethnic Poles under the German occupation at 2,770,000Materski and Szarota. Page 9. and 150,000 due to Soviet repression

The main causes of these losses are as follows.

Acts of War 1939 Military Campaign-About 200,000 Polish civilians were killed in the 1939 Military Campaign. Many were killed in the Luftwaffe's terror bombing operations, including the bombing of Frampol and Wieluń, bombing of Sulejów.History of Sulejów Massive air raids were conducted on these, and other towns which had no military infrastructure. Civilians were strafed from the air with machine gun fire in what became known as a terror bombing campaign. Columns of fleeing refugees were systematically attacked by the German fighter and dive-bomber aircraft. The Siege of Warsaw (1939) caused a huge toll of civilian casualties. From the very first hours of World War II, Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was a target of an unrestricted aerial bombardment campaign by the German Luftwaffe. Apart from the military facilities such as infantry barracks and the Okęcie airport and aircraft factory, the German pilots also targeted civilian facilities such as water works, hospitals, market places and schools. Warsaw Uprising Between 150,000 and 250,000 Polish civilians died in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, mostly from mass murders such as the Wola massacre.Materski and Szarota Page 16 [Czesław Łuczak podaje całkowite straty w Powstaniu Warszawskim - ponad 180 tys., w tym ok. 15 tys. powstańców. Natomiast Krzysztof Komorowski (Powstanie Warszawskie [w:] Armia Krajowa. Szkice z dziejów Sil Zbrojnych..., s. 317) szacuje straty ludności cywilnej na 100-150 tys. poległych.] przez Łuczaka, który jednak sumuje jedynie straty ludności cywilnej z 1939 r. i Powstania Warszawskiego, pomijając te, które zostały poniesione na skutek działań wojennych na innych frontach, zwłaszcza z okresu 1944-1945. Wysokość strat ludności cywilnej w Powstaniu Warszawskim jest podawana bardzo różnie. W ostatnich latach na najwyższym poziomie, około 250 tys. ludności, określili je Stanisław B. Lenard i Ireneusz Wywiał, Władysław Bartoszewski zaś podaje liczbę około 150 tys. zabitych, z czego około 50 tys. miało zginąć w wyniku nalotów niemieckich, "ponad 40 tys. mężczyzn, kobiet i dzieci wymordowały na Woli, Ochocie, Starym Mieście i Czerniakowie oddziały Reinefartha, Dirlewangera i Schmidta, tysiące - w alei Szucha - formacje policyjne podległe Geiblowi i Hahnowi". Autorzy niemieccy przedstawiają straty ludności cywilnej w czasie Powstania Warszawskiego w wysokości 150-220 tys.

Murdered in Prisons or Camps, and in mass executions During the occupation many Non-Jewish ethnic Poles were killed in mass executions, including an estimated 37,000 PolesMaterski and Szarota Page 28 at the Pawiak prison complex run by the Gestapo. Polish researchers of the Institute of National Remembrance have estimate about roughly 800,000 ethnic Polish victims during the German occupation including 400,000 in prisons, 148,000 killed in executions and 240,000 deaths among those deported to concentration camps,Materski and Szarota Page 28 Dawałoby to liczbę 400 tys. osadzonych w więzieniach, 148 tys. zamordowanych w egzekucjach i 240 tys. zesłanych do obozów koncentracyjnych. including 70-75,000Materski and Szarota Page 27 at Auschwitz. During the occupation, communities were held collectively responsible for Polish attacks against German troops and mass executions were conducted in reprisal. Many mass executions took place outside prisons and camps such as the Mass murders in Piaśnica. Psychiatric patients were executed in Action T4. Farmers were murdered during pacifications of villages.

Forced Labor in Germany Non-Jewish ethnic Poles in large cities were targeted by the łapanka policy which the German occupiers utilized to indiscriminately round up civilians off the street to be sent as forced laborers to Germany. In Warsaw, between 1942 and 1944, there were approximately 400 daily victims of łapankas. Poles in rural areas and small towns were also conscripted for forced labor by the German occupiers. According to research by the Institute of National Remembrance between 1939 and 1945, 1,897,000 Materski and Szarota Page 30 Polish citizens were taken to Germany as forced laborers under inhuman conditions, which resulted in many deaths. However, Czesław Łuczak put the number of Poles deported to Germany at 2,826,500 Tadeusz Piotrowski Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 McFarland & Company, 1997 p.300 Although Germany also used forced laborers from all over Europe, Slavs (and especially Poles and Russians) who were viewed as racially inferior, were subjected to intensified discriminatory measures. They were forced to wear identifying purple tags with "P"s sewn to their clothing, subjected to a curfew, and banned from public transportation. While the treatment of factory workers or farm hands often varied depending on the individual employer, most Polish laborers were compelled to work longer hours for lower wages than Western Europeans. In many cities, they were forced to live in segregated barracks behind barbed wire. Social relations with Germans outside work were forbidden, and sexual relations ("racial defilement") were considered a capital crime punishable by death.

Malnutrition and Disease Prior to the war the area which became the General Government was not self sufficient in agricultural production and was a net importer of food from other regions of Poland. Despite this food deficit the German occupiers confiscated 27% of the agricultural output in the General Government, thus reducing the food available for the civilian population. This Nazi policy caused a humanitarian crisis in Poland’s urban areas. By 1940, between 20 and 25% of the population within the Government General depended on outside relief aid. Richard C. Lukas points out “To be sure, the Poles would have starved to death if they had to depend on the food rationed to them." To supplement the meager rations allocated by the Germans, Poles depended on the black market in order to survive. During the war 80% of the population’s needs were met by the black market. During the war there was an increase in infectious diseases caused by the general malnutrition among the Polish population. In 1940 the tuberculosis rate among Poles, not including Jews, was 420 per 100,000 compared to 136 per 100,000 prior to the war. During the occupation the natural death rate in the General Government increased to 1.7% per annum compared to the prewar level of 1.4%Zieliński, Henryk. Population changes in Poland, 1939-1950.[New York] Mid-European Studies Center, National Committee for a Free Europe 1954 Page67

Kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany