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.

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From Polish history – show another

Soviet military parade in Lviv, 1939

The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation that started without a formal declaration of war on 17 September 1939, during the early stages of World War II, sixteen days after the beginning of the Nazi German attack on Poland. It ended in a decisive victory for the Soviet Union's Red Army. The Soviets acted on the basis of their alliance with Nazi Germany; on 1 September, the Germans invaded Poland from the west and, on 17 September, the Soviet Army invaded from the east. The Red Army quickly achieved its targets, vastly outnumbering Polish resistance, already reeling from the German blows. The Soviet government annexed half of the Polish territory now under its control and in November declared that the 13.5 million Polish citizens who lived there were now Soviet citizens. The Soviets quelled opposition by arrests, deportations and executions. (Full article...)

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George Chapman, born Seweryn Antonowicz Kłosowski, one of many Jack the Ripper suspects

"Jack the Ripper" is the best known pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished districts in and around the Whitechapel district of London's East End in 1888. Attacks ascribed to the Ripper typically involved women prostitutes from the slums whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. As the murders were never solved, the legends surrounding them became a combination of genuine historical research, folklore, and pseudohistory. Among more than one hundred Jack the Ripper suspects suggested since 1888, there have been several Poles and Polish Jews. These include Seweryn Antonowicz Kłosowski (pictured), also known as George Chapman, a serial killer executed in 1903; Aaron Kosminski, an insane Jew from Kłodawa; and John Pizer, another Polish Jew, also known as "Leather Apron". In 1987, Martin Fido, a ripperologist, speculated that the crimes may have been committed by Nathan Kaminsky, a Polish Jew who went by a generic Jewish name, David Cohen. The civil parish of Whitechapel around the time of the murders was experiencing an influx of immigrants from Ireland and Eastern Europe; its population was transient, impoverished and often used aliases. The Ripper's true identity will almost certainly never be known. (Full article...)

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Old Town Hall of Toruń by night

Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in northern Poland. Known in German as Thorn, it was founded by the Teutonic Knights in 1233 and ceded to the Kingdom of Poland under the terms of a treaty signed here in 1466. Seven years later, it became the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus. Today, Toruń is the seat of the legislature (sejmik) of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, forming with the city of Bydgoszcz, its western neighbor, the Bydgoszcz-Toruń metropolitan area. With its medieval spatial layout preserved almost intact and with many brick Gothic buildings, including the town hall, churches and burgher houses, Toruń is a popular tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also famous for its traditional gingerbread flavored with honey and spices. (Full article...)

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Did you know – show different entries

... that Jeremi Wiśniowiecki (pictured) was one of the wealthiest Polish magnates, ruling over 200,000 subjects living on estates in what is today Ukraine?
... that the settlements of Mikuszowice and Komorowice were divided by a national border for centuries, but are now part of one city and one country?
... that 120 Polish miners died in the rubble when the newly built train tunnel collapsed along the Poprad River Gorge (pictured) in the Beskid Mountains?
... that Lem, Poland's first scientific artificial satellite, sees blue stars while Heweliusz, its second, sees red stars?

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Poland now

Recent events

On 27 October, the discovery of a previously unknown waltz in A minor (manuscript pictured) 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.
Poland won 23 medals, including eight gold, at the 2024 Summer Paralympics, ranking 16th in the medal table.
On 18 August, Polish cyclist Katarzyna Niewiadoma won the 2024 Tour de France Femmes.
Poland won 10 medals, including one gold, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, ranking 42nd in the medal table.

Ongoing
Constitutional crisis • Belarus–EU border crisis • Ukrainian refugee crisis

Holidays and observances in November 2024
(statutory public holidays in bold)

All Saints' Day (grave lanterns pictured), 1 November
Independence Day, 11 November

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Trzaska coat of arms

Credit: WarX

The coat of arms of the Trzaska nobility clan shows a golden crescent between two broken silver swords in a blue field. According to a legend, the arms were granted by the 11th-century King Boleslaus the Brave to one of his knights who had fought so valiantly that he broke two swords during a single battle. In fact, Polish heraldry developed long after Boleslaus's reign. The earliest historical sources to mention the Trzaska coat of arms date back to the 14th century.