Portal:Poland

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Welcome to the Poland Portal — Witaj w Portalu o Polsce

Cityscape of Kraków, Poland's former capital

Poland is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic to the southwest, Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, Lithuania to the northeast, and the Baltic Sea and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast to the north. It is an ancient nation whose history as a state began near the middle of the 10th century. Its golden age occurred in the 16th century when it united with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to form the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the following century, the strengthening of the gentry and internal disorders weakened the nation. In a series of agreements in the late 18th century, Russia, Prussia and Austria partitioned Poland amongst themselves. It regained independence as the Second Polish Republic in the aftermath of World War I only to lose it again when it was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II. The nation lost over six million citizens in the war, following which it emerged as the communist Polish People's Republic under strong Soviet influence within the Eastern Bloc. A westward border shift followed by forced population transfers after the war turned a once multiethnic country into a mostly homogeneous nation state. Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union called Solidarity (Solidarność) that over time became a political force which by 1990 had swept parliamentary elections and the presidency. A shock therapy program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. With its transformation to a democratic, market-oriented country completed, Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, but has experienced a constitutional crisis and democratic backsliding since 2015.

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From Polish history – show another

The 12th-century collegiate church of Tum in central Poland

The rule of the Piast dynasty was the first major stage in the history of Poland. The indigenous House of Piast was largely responsible for the formation of the Polish state in the 10th century and ruled until the second half of the 14th century. Mieszko I completed the unification of West Slavic tribal lands and chose to be baptized in the Latin Church in 966. His son, Boleslaus the Brave, pursued territorial conquests and was crowned as the first king of Poland. Boleslaus the Bold brought back Poland's military assertiveness, but was expelled from the country due to a conflict with Bishop Stanislaus of Szczepanów. Boleslaus Wrymouth succeeded in defending his country and recovering territories previously lost, but upon his death in 1138, Poland was divided among his sons. The resulting internal fragmentation eroded the initial Piast monarchy structure in the 12th and 13th centuries, causing fundamental and lasting changes. The kingdom was restored under Vladislaus the Elbow-high, then strengthened and expanded by his son, Casimir the Great. The consolidation in the 14th century laid the base for the new powerful Kingdom of Poland that was to follow. (Full article...)

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Leszek I the White

Credit: Krzysztof Mizera

Statue of Duke Leszek the White in the village of Marcinkowo. Leszek was a duke of Kraków and, formally, sovereign of all Poland. In 1227 in Gąsawa, he convened with other Polish dukes, including Vladislaus Spindleshanks of Greater Poland, Henry the Bearded of Lower Silesia and Conrad of Masovia. Participants of the summit were attacked, probably on the orders of Duke Swantopolk II of Pomerania, in the morning of 24 November 1227. Leszek, who was then having a bath, attempted to escape, naked, on horseback, but he was captured and killed by the assassins in a nearby forest.

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... that St. Francis' Church (pictured) in the Old Town of Kraków displays an exact replica of the Shroud of Turin, blessed by Pope John Paul II in 2003?
... that the Thorn Castle (now in Toruń), one of the first castles of the Teutonic Knights, was demolished by rebellious burghers a century or so after its construction, at the beginning of the Thirteen Years' War?
... that one of the unofficial mottos of Poland, "God, Honor, Fatherland", likely originated from the Napoleonic motto of the Order of the Legion of Honor ?
... that the National Rifle Factory, a major firearms producer in interwar Poland, also designed its own weaponry, including an anti-tank rifle?

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A presumed image of Jogaila, painted c. 1475–80

Vladislaus II (Władysław II Jagiełło, Jogaila; ca.1348–1434) was a grand duke of Lithuania and king of Poland. He ruled in Lithuania from 1377, initially with his uncle, Kęstutis. In 1386, he converted to Christianity, was baptized as Vladislaus, married the eleven-year-old Queen Hedwig (Jadwiga) and was crowned Polish king as Vladislaus II. His reign in Poland lasted a further forty-eight years and laid the foundation for the centuries long Polish-Lithuanian union. He gave his name to the Jagiellon branch of the Gediminid dynasty which ruled both states until 1572, and became one of the most influential dynasties in medieval Europe. Jogaila was the last pagan ruler of medieval Lithuania. The allied victory over the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, followed by the First Peace of Thorn, secured the Polish and Lithuanian borders and marked the emergence of the Polish-Lithuanian alliance as a major European force. His reign is often considered the beginning of Poland's Golden Age. (Full article...)

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Courtyard of the Lublin Castle

Lublin is the largest city in eastern Poland. Dating back to early Middle Ages, the city played an important role in the nation's history. It was the site of the Lublin Union which established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, and of the Lublin Committee which introduced the communist regime in Poland in 1944; seat of a major yeshiva and the Jewish Council of Four Lands in the 16th–18th centuries, but also of the Majdanek extermination camp during the Holocaust. Its colleges include the Marie Curie University, as well as the Catholic University of Lublin where Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II, gave lectures in ethics. Since Lublin's biggest employer, the state-owned truck manufacturer FSC, was acquired by the South Korean Daewoo and then entered bankruptcy in 2001, the city has been struggling to improve its economic performance and standards of living, making it one of the main beneficiaries of EU development funds. (Full article...)

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Poland now

Recent events

On 21 May, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (pictured), a composer best known for writing film scores, died at the age of 71.
On 10 May, an unusually spectacular aurora borealis was observed in large parts of Poland due to an intense solar storm.
On 8 April, local elections were held throughout Poland, with run-off votes in some municipalities held on 21 April.
On 9 January, police entered the Presidential Palace in Warsaw to arrest former Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński (Law and Justice party) and his former deputy, both of whom had been sentenced to two year's jail for abuse of power. On 23 January, they were both were pardoned by the President Andrzej Duda.