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

Katyn memorial

The Katyn massacre was a mass execution of Polish citizens by the order of Soviet authorities in 1940. About 8,000 of those killed were reserve officers taken prisoner during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, but the dead also included many civilians who had been arrested for being "intelligence agents and gendarmes, spies and saboteurs, former landowners, factory owners and officials". Since Poland's conscription system required every unexempted university graduate to become a reserve officer, the Soviets were thus able to round up much of the ethnic Polish, Jewish, Ukrainian, Georgian and Belarusian intelligentsia of Polish citizenship. The 1943 discovery of mass graves at Katyn Forest by Nazi German forces precipitated a rupture of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Polish government-in-exile in London. The Soviet Union continued to deny responsibility for the massacres until 1990. Although the Russian government acknowledged that the NKVD had in fact committed the massacres, it does not consider them a war crime or an act of genocide, as this would have necessitated the prosecution of surviving perpetrators. (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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Szczecin as seen from the Oder River

Szczecin is one of Poland's largest seaports, located at the mouth of the Oder River where it empties into the Szczecin Lagoon. It is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, a region in the northwestern part of the country. Founded by the Slavs in the 8th century, it passed into German, Danish and Swedish hands during the course of history. In 1720, following the Great Northern War, Sweden ceded Stettin, as it was then known, to Prussia. Nine years later it became the birthplace of Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, better known as Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. After the city's destruction during World War II and subsequent expulsion of its German population, Szczecin was rebuilt and resettled with Poles and Ukrainians. Its major industries include shipbuilding, metallurgy, fishing and beer making. (Full article...)

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Did you know – show different entries

... that Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz (pictured), the City President of Kraków, obtained Emperor Franz Joseph's approval for saving the royal Wawel Castle from further decay by proposing to make it an imperial residence in Poland's former capital?
... that Polish Jewish resistance fighter Vladka Meed was a primary source for the 2001 television movie Uprising?
... that the Christmas Midnight Mass is known in Polish as pasterka, or "shepherds' mass"?

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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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Centennial Hall (Wrocław)

Credit: Jarosław Ciuruś

The Centennial Hall was built in Wrocław (then known as Breslau) in 1913, when the city was part of the German Empire, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig. Designed by Max Berg, it is an early landmark of reinforced concrete architecture, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.