Portal:Poland
Welcome to the Poland Portal — Witaj w Portalu o Polsce
Poland is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; 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 People's Republic of Poland 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 is an increasingly active member of NATO and the European Union.
From Polish history
| The main event that took place within the lands of Poland in the Early Middle Ages was the arrival and permanent settlement of the Slavic peoples. The Slavic migrations in the area of contemporary Poland started in the second half of the 5th century CE, some half century after these territories were vacated by Germanic tribes, their previous inhabitants. The Slavs lived from cultivation of crops, but also engaged in hunting and gathering. They formed small tribal organizations, some of which coalesced later into larger, state-like ones. Beginning in the 7th century, these tribal units built fortified structures with earth and wood walls and embankments, called gords. By the 9th century, the Slavs had settled the Baltic coast in Pomerania, which subsequently developed into a commercial and military power trading with the Old Prussians and the Vikings. During the same time, the tribe of the Vistulans, based in Kraków and the surrounding region, controlled a large area in the south. But it was the Polans who turned out to be of decisive historic importance. They went through a period of accelerated building of fortified settlements and territorial expansion beginning in the first half of the 10th century. Under Mieszko I, the expanded Polan territory was converted to Latin Christianity in 966, which is commonly regarded the birth of the Polish state. |
Selected image
A panorama of the snow-covered Tatra Mountains on the Polish–Slovak border, as seen from Kozi Wierch (literally "Goat Peak"). The Tatras, with eleven peaks over 2,500 m above sea level, are the only alpine range in Poland. They are home to many rare and endemic animal and plant species, as well as large predators, such as the brown bear, wolf, lynx, marten and fox. The area is protected within two national parks: Tatrzański Park Narodowy in Poland and Tatranský národný park in Slovakia.
See a version with labeled peaks.
Did you know
- ... that Herman Pines, who could not attend university in Poland because of Jewish quotas, worked on developing aviation fuels that helped the Royal Air Force win the Battle of Britain?
- ... that this photograph was taken to glorify the SS men who suppressed the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, but helped convict them of murder?
- ... that The Hexer, the first attempt to portray The Witcher universe in film, was "crushed by the reviewers and laughed out by fans", and has since been described as "the film we all want to forget"?
- ... that in his Berceuse, Chopin created a lullaby for piano in 16 continuous variations on an ostinato ground bass?
- ... that children from the Białystok Ghetto panicked when their hair was cut and they were told to undress and shower upon arriving at the Theresienstadt concentration camp, because they knew about gas chambers?
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Selected biography
| Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849), was a Romantic-era composer born in what was then the Duchy of Warsaw of a Polish mother and a French father. A child prodigy, he grew up in Warsaw, where he completed his musical education and composed many of his works before leaving Poland less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising. At the age of 21 he settled in Paris, where he gained renown as a leading piano virtuoso of his generation despite giving only some 30 public performances during the remaining 18 years of his sickly life. Chopin was a good friend of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt and maintained an often troubled relationship with the French writer George Sand. All of Chopin's compositions include the piano; most are for solo piano, although he also wrote two piano concertos, a few chamber pieces, and some songs to Polish lyrics. His keyboard style, which is highly individual, is often technically demanding; his own performances were noted for their nuance and sensitivity. Chopin invented the concept of instrumental ballade; his major piano works also include sonatas, mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, polonaises, études, impromptus, scherzos, and preludes. His innovations in style, musical form, and harmony, as well as association of his music, often blending Polish folk tunes and classical tradition, with nationalism, were influential throughout and after the late Romantic period. |
Selected location
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Nowa Huta is an industrial easternmost district of the city of Kraków. Its history began in 1949, when Poland's communist government started to build the Lenin Steelworks (now Tadeusz Sendzimir Steelworks owned by Mittal Steel Company) together with a town for the workers. Nowa Huta, whose name translates as "New Steelworks", was meant to be an ideal socialist and atheist proletarian town supposed to counterbalance Kraków's conservative bourgeoisie. It is Poland's foremost example of socialist realist urban planning and architecture. The workers eventually turned against the communist regime when they demanded – with the help of Archbishop Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II – the right to build a church in the 1960s; and when they supported the Solidarity movement in the 1980s. |
Poland now
Recent events
- On 30 September, Poland won the Volleyball Men's World Championship (best scorer, Bartosz Kurek, pictured).
- On 29 July, Tomasz Stańko, an avant-garde jazz trumpeter, died at the age of 76.
- On 28 July, Olga Jackowska, a popular rock singer better known as Kora, died at the age of 67.
Holidays and observances in November 2018
(statutory public holidays in bold)
- All Saints' Day (grave lanterns pictured), 1 November
- Independence Day, 11–12 November
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Associated Wikimedia
Wikipedias in the languages of Poland
| Kaszëbskô Wikipedijô Kashubian Wikipedia |
Polska Wikipedia Polish Wikipedia |
Ślůnsko Wikipedyjo Silesian Wikipedia |
Wymysiöeryś Wikipedyj Vilamovian Wikipedia Incubator |
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