Poland–Yugoslavia relations

File:Army (then divisional) general Danilo Kalafatović and Brigadier (later Army) general Živko Stanisavljević with Polish military delegation 1928.jpg

Two countries established their relations in the interwar period when Poland regained its independence for the first time after the partitions while Yugoslavia was created after the unification of pre-World War I Kingdom of Serbia with the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (former South Slavic parts of the Austria-Hungary). In the days before this unification Kingdom of Serbia merged with the Banat, Bačka and Baranja and the Kingdom of Montenegro.

During the German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in 1939, Yugoslavia declared neutrality. Despite this, some of the escape routes of Poles who fled from occupied Poland to Hungary and Romania led through Yugoslavia.{{cite magazine|last=Wróbel|first=Janusz|year=2020|title=Odbudowa Armii Polskiej u boku sojuszników (1939–1940)|magazine=Biuletyn IPN|language=pl|publisher=IPN|issue=1–2 (170–171)|page=104|issn=1641-9561}} Local citizens and the Yugoslav Red Cross aided the Polish refugees. The Poles then further escaped via Italy and Greece to Polish-allied France, where the Polish Army was reconstituted to continue the fight against Germany. Eventually, Yugoslavia, fearing Germany, became reluctant to further allow Poles to evacuate through its territory, causing the escape route to be diverted to Bulgaria.Wróbel, p. 106 In 1941, Yugoslavia was eventually also invaded by Germany. Citizens of Yugoslavia were among the prisoners of German prisoner-of-war camps, concentration camps and forced labour camps in German-occupied Poland. Poles were imprisoned in a subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp at the Ljubelj Pass in German-occupied Yugoslavia.{{cite book|last=Megargee|first=Geoffrey P.|year=2009|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|page=933|isbn=978-0-253-35328-3}} During the war both countries suffered heavy casualties and developed the Polish resistance movement and the Yugoslav Partisans movement.

After the war, over 15,000 Poles were repatriated from Yugoslavia to Poland.

File:Svečani doček na aerodromu Okenće.jpg

After the end of the war until the 1948 two countries were in the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1946 two countries signed the Agreement on Friendship and Mutual Assistance.{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.pl/web/srbija/srbija |title=Diplomatski odnosi između Republike Poljske i Srbije (u vreme Kraljevine Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca) uspostavljeni su 1919. godine. |publisher=The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Belgrade |access-date=4 October 2020 }} While the Polish Workers' Party needed a couple of years and Soviet support to gain the power in the country, Communist Party of Yugoslavia was able to establish control over the country already in 1945 without any significant Soviet support.{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320550735 |author=Maja Lukanc |title=The communist rise to power: Comparison between Poland and Yugoslavia |date=January 2017 |access-date=4 October 2020 }} This led new Yugoslav authorities to expect the status of an ally instead of a satellite state within the Eastern Bloc. Situation escalated in 1948 Tito–Stalin split after which Yugoslav relations with all Eastern Bloc countries, including Poland, were either suspended or significantly strained.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/10/01/archives/poland-hungary-renounce-pacts-with-yugoslavia-two-countries-move.html |title=POLAND, HUNGARY RENOUNCE PACTS WITH YUGOSLAVIA |date=1 October 1949 |work=The New York Times |access-date=4 October 2020 }} Situation improved following the 1955 Belgrade declaration yet at this stage Yugoslavia was on the course of development of its Cold War non-aligned foreign policy. Relations of Poland normalized with significant number of Polish tourists spending their summer holidays on the Adriatic coast primarily in the Socialist Republic of Croatia. Formal cultural cooperation was reinitiated on the basis of the agreement signed in Belgrade on July 6, 1956.{{cite web |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=299438 |author=Joanna Szczutkowska |title=Kulturna saradnja Poljske i Pugoslavije sedamdesetih godina XX veka |date=2015 |website=CEEOL |publisher=Institut za savremenu istoriju |access-date=4 October 2020 }} The relations were once again broken for some time during the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia when two countries were on the opposite sides in the conflict.

• Yugoslavia–European Communities relations
• Croatia–Poland relations
• Poland–Serbia relations
• Poles in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Poles of Croatia
• Poles in Serbia
• Macedonians in Poland
• 2019 Western Balkans Summit, Poznań
• Death and state funeral of Josip Broz Tito
• Poland at the 1984 Winter Olympics
• Contemporary Art Museum of Macedonia
• Poland–Soviet Union relations

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{{Foreign relations of Poland}}

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Category:Bilateral relations of Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina–Poland relations

Category:Croatia–Poland relations

Category:Kosovo–Poland relations

Category:Montenegro–Poland relations

Category:North Macedonia–Poland relations

Category:Poland–Serbia relations

Category:Poland–Slovenia relations