Article for 60-70's
1962 Szczecin Military Parade Gone Wrong! Soviet Union Tried to Cover it up for YEARS...
October 9th, 1962, the long awaited parade of the Szczecin military was traveling down the street. Little did anyone expect such a tragedy to occur.
The year of 1962 in Poland was already a tense and hectic year. With the growing tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the threat of war between the Western and Eater Bloc, ideas for lightening the mood were needed. With this is mind, The Warsaw Pact decided to organize huge military exercises, located in northwest Poland, around the area of Szczecin. Marshal of the Soviet Union, Andrei Grechkoseveral, and several other Polish officials, including Władysław Gomułka and Marian Spychalski monitored these exercises. The parade was meant to be a big finale.
October 9, 1962, the parade closed down main street's traffic. Tens of …show more content…
All evidence and sources of this incident were destroyed, so the motive remains unknown. Some say that it could have been an accident, a slip on the ice. Whether an accident or not, the thirty-six ton tank caused chaos.
Seven children were killed by the collision. Four of them were known to go to Szczecin Elementary. Twenty one people were injured, some permanently. After the collision, panic spread which resulted in another 22 injuries.
After the incident, Communist Authorities made sure to keep it quiet. The deaths were mentioned in a daily newspaper, but never got to mass media. The families of the deceased children were told not to bring up the incident again. Hundreds of witnesses were summoned by the military prosecutor’s office. They were told that revealing information about the parade's accident would result in imprisonment. Though documents were blanked out, there were too many witnesses to keep it completely hidden. To this day, we do not know the full story of the 1962 Szczecin Military
1962 Szczecin Military Parade Gone Wrong! Soviet Union Tried to Cover it up for YEARS...
October 9th, 1962, the long awaited parade of the Szczecin military was traveling down the street. Little did anyone expect such a tragedy to occur.
The year of 1962 in Poland was already a tense and hectic year. With the growing tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the threat of war between the Western and Eater Bloc, ideas for lightening the mood were needed. With this is mind, The Warsaw Pact decided to organize huge military exercises, located in northwest Poland, around the area of Szczecin. Marshal of the Soviet Union, Andrei Grechkoseveral, and several other Polish officials, including Władysław Gomułka and Marian Spychalski monitored these exercises. The parade was meant to be a big finale.
October 9, 1962, the parade closed down main street's traffic. Tens of …show more content…
All evidence and sources of this incident were destroyed, so the motive remains unknown. Some say that it could have been an accident, a slip on the ice. Whether an accident or not, the thirty-six ton tank caused chaos.
Seven children were killed by the collision. Four of them were known to go to Szczecin Elementary. Twenty one people were injured, some permanently. After the collision, panic spread which resulted in another 22 injuries.
After the incident, Communist Authorities made sure to keep it quiet. The deaths were mentioned in a daily newspaper, but never got to mass media. The families of the deceased children were told not to bring up the incident again. Hundreds of witnesses were summoned by the military prosecutor’s office. They were told that revealing information about the parade's accident would result in imprisonment. Though documents were blanked out, there were too many witnesses to keep it completely hidden. To this day, we do not know the full story of the 1962 Szczecin Military