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

King Vladislaus IV at the Smolensk Fortress

The Smolensk War was a conflict fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia over the border city of Smolensk (now in Russia). Following King Sigismund III's death in 1632, Russia invaded Poland with the aim of liberating the city it had lost during the Time of Troubles 14 years earlier. Initially, small military engagements produced mixed results for both sides. A year-long siege with heavy artillery laid to Smolensk by Mikhail Shein was broken by Polish relief forces, including the Winged Hussars, led by Hetman Krzysztof Radziwiłł in 1633. The war ended with the Treaty of Polyanovka in 1634 which left Smolensk in Polish hands for the next 20 years. By the terms of the treaty, Russia paid Poland 20,000 rubles in gold as war indemnity, but Polish King Vladislaus IV had to renounce his claim to the Russian throne. Shein, the hapless Russian commander, was executed for treason. (Full article...)

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Mieczysław Jagielski as painted on a commemorative mural

Mieczysław Jagielski (1924–1997) was a Polish politician and economist. During the times of the People's Republic of Poland he was the last leading politician from the former eastern regions of pre-World War II Poland. Jagielski became a communist member of parliament in 1957 and he would continue to serve in that capacity for seven consecutive terms until 1985. In 1959, he was posted to be a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party and appointed minister of agriculture. After he left the latter position in 1970, Jagielski became a deputy prime minister, and the next year, a member of the party's politburo. In August 1980, Jagielski represented the government during talks with striking workers in Gdańsk. He negotiated the agreement which recognized the Solidarity trade union as the first independent trade union within the Eastern Bloc. In late July 1981, Jagielski was fired from the deputy premiership, reportedly because he failed to produce a recovery program for the economic crisis Poland was experiencing at that time. The same year, he renounced his membership in the politburo and in the Central Committee. (Full article...)

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A wisent in the Białowieża Forest

The Białowieża Forest, an ancient woodland straddling the Polish-Belarusian border, is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest which once spread across the European Plain. It is home to the wisent (pictured), elk, wild boars, konik horses, and other animals. Its name, Puszcza Białowieska in Polish and Belavezhskaya Pushcha in Belarusian, comes from the village of Białowieża located in the forest. Historically it belonged to Polish kings and, later, Russian emperors who used it as royal hunting grounds or food reserve for the army. It has been protected since 1538 when King Sigismund I instituted death penalty for poaching the wisent. Today parts of the forest on both sides of the border are protected as national parks, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve. (Full article...)

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Did you know – show different entries

... that the Casimir Pulaski Monument (pictured) in Savannah, Georgia, the first monument to the Polish–American hero in the United States, was built over 70 years after a U.S. Congress resolution calling for it?
... that Tygodnik Ilustrowany ("Illustrated Weekly") was a major Polish magazine published from 1859 until World War II?
... that the Majdanek State Museum, with its permanent collection of evidence and rare artefacts from the Holocaut in German-occupied Poland, was the first museum of its kind in the world?
... that Poland has over 2,000 nature reserves, the first of which were created in the 19th century?

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Poland now

Recent events

On 6 December, Stanisław Tym (pictured), a prominent comedian and satirist, died at the age of 87.
On 27 October, the discovery of a previously unknown waltz in A minor attributed to Frédéric Chopin, found at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, was announced.
On 14 September, southwestern Poland was hit by severe floods caused by heavy rains brought by Storm Boris.

Ongoing

Constitutional crisis • Belarus–EU border crisis • Ukrainian refugee crisis • Polish presidency of the Council of the EU

Upcoming

Presidential election on 18 May 2025

Holidays and observances in February 2025
(statutory public holidays in bold)

Valentine's Day, 14 February
Fat Thursday (Polish doughnuts pictured), 27 February

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Reconstruction of the polychrome wooden vault of the Gwoździec Synagogue

Credit: Pudelek

The polychrome wooden vault and bimah of the Gwoździec Synagogue, painstakingly reconstructred in 2014, is the centrepiece of the permanent exhibition at the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. The original synagogue, built in ca. 1640 in what is now the Ukrainian town of Hvizdets, was burnt down in 1941 by Nazi German forces.