Zamość Uprising The Zamość Uprising refers to the actions by Polish resistance ( primarily Armia Krajowa and Bataliony Chłopskie ) against the forced expulsion of Poles from the Zamość region ( " Zamojszczyzna " , " Zamość Lands " ) under the Nazi Generalplan Ost . The uprising lasted from 1942 to 1944 . The defense of the Zamość region is considered to be among the largest actions of the Polish resistance during World War II . German atrocities . In 1942 , the Zamość region , due to its fertile black soil , was chosen for further German colonisation in the General Government as part of Generalplan Ost . In fact the Zamość region expulsions and colonization can be considered the beginning of the large - scale implementation of the Generalplan Ost . The city itself was to be renamed " Himmlerstadt " ( Himmler City ) , later changed to Pflugstadt ( Plow City ) , which was to symbolise the German " plow " that was to " plow the East " . The German occupiers had planned the relocation of at least 60 , 000 ethnic Germans to the area before the end of 1943 . An initial " test trial " expulsion was performed in November 1941 , and the whole operation ended in anti - partisan pacification operations combined with expulsions in June / July 1943 which were codenamed Wehrwolf Action I and II . Over 110 , 000 Polish people from approximately 300 villages were expelled to make room for German ( and to a lesser extent , Ukrainian ) settlers as part of Nazi plans for establishment of German colonies in the conquered territories ( Generalplan Ost ) . Some villagers were resettled in the Warsaw or Lublin area , but about 50 , 000 of those expelled were sent as forced labour to Germany , and some others were sent to the Nazi concentration camps . Some villages were simply razed and inhabitants executed . Additionally almost 30 , 000 children were kidnapped by German authorities from their parents for potential Germanisation . Only 800 of them were found and sent back to Poland after World War II . Polish resistance . Local people resisted the action with great determination ; they escaped into forests , organised self - defence , helped people who were expelled , and bribed kidnapped children out of German hands . Units of Polish resistance ( primarily of Armia Krajowa and Bataliony Chłopskie ) as well as elements of Soviet partisans and the pro - Soviet Gwardia Ludowa helped to evacuate Polish civilians and assaulted German colonists and forces in the region . In December 1942 one of the first large - scale partisan battles of World War II occurred in the region . The resistance forces numbered several thousand forest fighters . The first phase of the resistance took place from December 1942 to February 1943 ; the Germans then lessened their activities for a few months but counterattacked in June , with major anti - partisan actions and terror directed against the civilian population ( " Wehrwolf Action I " and II ) . Nonetheless after several major battles between the partisans and the German units ( the most notable being the battles of Wojda , Róża , Zaboreczno , , Lasowce and Hrubieszów as well as the Battle of Osuchy ) , the Germans had to halt the action and in the end very few German settlers were brought to the area . Until the middle of 1943 , the Germans managed to settle 8 , 000 colonists ; the number increased by a couple of thousand in 1944 . The increasing harassment from the partisans meant that the Germans began to lose the control of the region as early as the spring of 1943 . In the first half of 1944 Polish civilians and resistance was also attacked by Ukrainian units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( see massacres of Poles in Volhynia ) . Nonetheless by the summer of 1944 the Polish partisans , based in the large forests of the region had taken control of most of the countryside , limiting German control to the major towns . In the summer of 1944 Germans again initiated major anti - partisan operations ( Sturmwind I and Sturmwind II ) which resulted in the battle of Osuchy ( one of the largest battles between the Polish resistance and Nazi Germany ) , with the insurgents sustaining heavy casualties . However soon afterwards , in July , the remaining Polish units took part in the nationwide Operation Tempest and managed to liberate several towns and villages in the Zamość region . The Germans , pressured by the advancing Red Army , were forced to abandon the region . Remembrance . Several monuments , museums and cemeteries have been raised in the area over time . In the People ' s Republic of Poland the actions of the communist Armia Ludowa were emphasized at the expense of those of the non - communist resistance . A recent Polish documentary dedicated to the uprising has been recognized in the New York Festivals of 2008 with a bronze medal .