please tell me what was the alternative to Soviet occupation in Eastern Poland, once Poland rejected a mutual defense agreement against Nazis with the Soviets

There were several alternatives, actually. But most of them would start with Russia not attacking them in the rear after they moved their troops west to fight off the nazis

can you provide a source for that? I know about the Katyn massacre and about other events in which Nazi collaborators/Bourgeois Polish nationalists were killed (as well as some innocent civilians), but AFAIK the numbers don’t go that high

Yeah sure, here's one that estimates between 250k and 1.5m (but which I believe also includes post-war)

But I presume that if you're the type that already convinced themselves that all these murdered Poles "must have deserved it" in one way or another, then that number probably couldn't be high enough anyway

[–] Edie@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I ask that you read Denna F. Flemmings, The Cold War and Its Origins 1917-1960, Vol I, at least the chapters regarding the build-up to and early days of WWII (Chapter 4-6/7).

[–] nonailsleft@lemm.ee 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Could you paraphrase the parts of the book that would be relevant?

[–] Edie@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 hour ago

It's hard to paraphrase all that, the short of it is that there were no alternatives, not at that point.

The Allied chiefs knew well that their failure to make an alliance with Russia would mean the destruction of Poland. There was no other conceivable hope of preventing Poland’s liquidation