500 złotych POLAND (1989) 50^th Anniversary of Defensive War

eagle - Coat of Arms divides the year of issue: 1989; below it face value: ZŁ 500 ZŁ (ZŁOTYCH); along the top edge: POLSKA RZECZPOSPOLITA LUDOWA (People's Republic of Poland)

three soldiers on a battlefield going right; along the top edge: • 50 ROCZNICA WOJNY OBRONNEJ NARODU POLSKIEGO • (50th anniversary of Defensive War of Polish nation); along the bottom edge: 1939-1989

reeded

16 VIII 1989

1 I 1995

Ewa Tyc-Karpińska, Stanisława Wątróbska-Frindt (monogram above the left end of the battlefield on the reverse)

Mennica Państwowa (The State Mint), Warsaw (mint mark on the obverse under eagle's left foot)

1989	10 135 000

The World War II began on September 1, 1939 by a German invasion of Poland from the west, north and south. On September 17th Poland was attacked also from the east by the Soviet Union. Germans and Soviets met each other on the line dividing Poland into halves, which was pre-determined in the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. This line became the new German-Soviet border. The last Polish units capitulated on October 6, 1939 and this is the day finishing the Defensive War called as well the September Campaign. The world war however, was only beginning.