75 Years Since Gleiwitz Incident That Heralded World War II

GLIWICE, POLAND - AUGUST 19: The former radio station tower that became famous through the "Gleiwitz Incident" stands at twilight next to the former radio station building on August 19, 2014 in Gliwice, Poland. On August 31, 1939, German soldiers speaking Polish and pretending to be Silesian separatists stormed the Sender Gleiwitz radio broadcast facility in Gleiwitz, which was at the time part of Germany and close to the border with Poland, in the most famous of a series of incidents contrived by the Nazis in order to win public support for their invasion of Poland. Germany launched its invasion of Poland a day later, propelling Europe and the world into World War II. Germany and Poland will mark the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of the war with a series of commemorative events. Today the former radio tower, which at 111 meters is the tallest wooden structure in Europe, stands in a public park and the radio station building is a small museum. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)