Portal:Poland/Events/archive

Currently on the portal[edit]

Recent events

On 9 July, Jerzy Stuhr (pictured), a prominent theatre and film actor and director, died at the age of 77.
Poland at the 2024 European Athletics Championships:
- On 10 June, Natalia Kaczmarek won a gold medal in 400-meter dash.
- On 9 June, Wojciech Nowicki won a gold medal in hammer throw.
On 9 June, the ruling Civic Coalition won the European Parliament election in Poland.
On 8 June, Polish tennis player Iga Świątek won the 2024 French Open, her fifth Grand Slam singles title.

Ongoing
Constitutional crisis • Belarus–EU border crisis • Ukrainian refugee crisis • Polish farmers' protests

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

Battle of Grunwald anniversary (reenactors pictured), 15 July

Archive and more...

Feed from Portal: Current events[edit]

8 July 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine: Poland–Ukraine relations; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk sign a security agreement in Warsaw, Poland, allowing Poland to shoot down Russian missiles inside Ukrainian airspace. (Ukrinform)
8 July 2024 – Poland–United States relations: The United States announces a second $2 billion loan to Poland to support modernization of its military. (Reuters)
30 June 2024 – 2024 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League: France win their second Volleyball Nations League title after defeating Japan in four sets in the final at Atlas Arena in Łódź, Poland. (One Sports)
26 June 2024 – Russia–European Union relations, Belarus–European Union relations: The leaders of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia call on the European Union to construct a €2.5 billion (US$2.67 billion) defence line between them and Russia and Belarus to secure the EU from military, economic, and migrant-related threats. (Reuters)
19 June 2024 –: The European Commission reprimands Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia for breaking budget rules. (Le Monde)
17 June 2024 – Germany–Poland relations: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk orders Germany to explain a recorded incident where German police appear to desert a migrant family in Osinów Dolny, Poland, just east of the Germany–Poland border. (Barron's)
10 June 2024 – Belarus–European Union border crisis: Poland announces a "no-go zone" in the Białowieża Forest in order to prevent migrants from crossing the border from Belarus. In response, concerns are raised about the potential impact on tourism during the summer. (Reuters)
6 June 2024 – Belarus–European Union border crisis: A Polish border guard soldier dies after being stabbed by a migrant trying to cross the EU border from Belarus. (Reuters)
29 May 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine: The Polish Defence Ministry says it has given Ukraine permission to use Polish-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russian territory. (Babel)

Archived news[edit]

Latest news on top

2024[edit]

On 21 May, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, 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.
On 9 January, Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, an Armenian and Roman Catholic priest, and former anti-Communist dissident, died at the age of 67.

2023[edit]

On 13 December, Donald Tusk of the Civic Coalition was sworn in for his third nonconsecutive term as Prime Minister of Poland.
On 13 November, former TV host Szymon Hołownia of the Poland 2050 party was elected Marshal (speaker) of the Sejm (lower house of parliament).
On 15 October, the ruling Law and Justice party won the parliamentary election, but failed to retain a majority in the Sejm, while a nationwide referendum on a variety of topics failed due to a widespread boycott.
On 30 September, Grzegorz Ryś, Archbishop of Łódź, was elevated to cardinalate.
On 16 September, Poland won the 2023 Men's European Volleyball Championship.
On 14 September, Piotr Wawrzyk, dismissed from his post of Deputy Foreign Minister amid a cash-for-visa scandal, was hospitalized after a suicide attempt.
On 9 September, Green Border, a drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland about the ongoing migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, won the Special Jury Prize at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.
On 25–27 August, saboteurs suspected to work for Russia carried out a series of cyberattacks against the Polish railway radio network, resulting in traffic disruption.
On 28 July, Poland won the gold medal in women's team épée at the 2023 World Fencing Championships.
On 23 July, Poland, the host nation, won the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League.
On 2 July, the 2023 European Games in Kraków concluded with Poland ranked 6th in the medal table.
On 30 June, a road tunnel under the Świna Channel, linking Poland's two largest islands, Wolin and Usedom (Uznam), was opened in Świnoujście.
On 21 June, the 2023 European Games were opened at the Municipal Stadium in Kraków.
On 10 June, Polish tennis player Iga Świątek won the 2023 French Open, her fourth Grand Slam singles title.
On 4 June, the 34th anniversary of the first partly free election in post-war Poland, at least 100,000 people demonstrated in Warsaw against democratic backsliding under the Law and Justice party.
On 21 February, U.S. President Joe Biden delivered a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, ahead of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

2022[edit]

On 12 December, Gen. Mirosław Hermaszewski, the only Polish cosmonaut to reach outer space, died at the age of 81.
On 15 November, during a massive Russian shelling of targets throughout Ukraine, one missile fell on Polish territory, killing two people in Przewodów near the Ukrainian border.
On 14 November, Jerzy Połomski, a popular actor and pop singer, died at the age of 89.
On 3 October, Jerzy Urban, a scandalizing anti-clerical journalist who had served as press secretary for the Communist government in the 1980s, died at the age of 89.
On 27 September, one day after a series of explosions rendered the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia to Germany inoperable, the Baltic Pipe, carrying natural gas from the North Sea to Denmark and Poland, was opened.
On 23 September, Franciszek Pieczka, a prominent stage and film actor, died at the age of 94.
On 11 September, the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, co-hosted by Poland and Slovenia, concluded with Poland, the defending champion, in the second place.
On 10 September, Iga Świątek won the 2022 US Open, her third Grand Slam singles title, becoming the first Polish player to do so.
On 21 August, the European Athletics Championships concluded with Poland winning 14 medals and finishing sixth in the medal table.
On 11 August, a mass die-off of fish, beavers and other wildlife was discovered in the Oder River downstream from Oława.
On 9 August, the 44th Chess Olympiad concluded with Poland's Oliwia Kiołbasa as the best individual player in the women's event.
On 24 July, the World Athletics Championships concluded with Poland winning four medals and finishing 8th in the medal table.
On 30 June, Poland completed the construction of a 5.5-meter-high steel wall topped with barbed wire along its border with Belarus to prevent the entry of migrants and asylum seekers.
On 4 June, Polish tennis player Iga Świątek won the French Open tournament.
On 16 March, Karolina Bielawska won the Miss World 2021 title, becoming the second Polish woman to achieve this after Aneta Kręglicka in 1989.
On 24 February, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, causing a massive influx of Ukrainian refugees (over 3.6 million by 26 May) into Poland.
Poland at the 2022 Winter Olympics: on 6 February, Dawid Kubacki won a bronze medal in ski jumping.

2021[edit]

On 11 November, Agnieszka Mikołajczyk, an operatic soprano singer also known as Aga Mikolaj, died at the age of 50.
On 29 October, the number of reported COVID-19 cases in Poland surpassed three million.
On 27 October, the European Court of Justice imposed a daily fine of 1 million euros on Poland for its refusal to suspend the disciplinary chamber of its Supreme Court.
On 22 October, Poland legalized pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers by force, which is illegal under EU and international law.
On 21 October, Bruce Xiaoyu Liu of Canada won the XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition held in Warsaw.
On 7 October, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal, chaired by Julia Przyłębska, ruled that the supremacy of European Union law is incompatible with the Constitution of Poland.
On 21 September, the Court of Justice of the European Union imposed a daily fine of 500,000 euros on Poland for its refusal to close the Turów Coal Mine located close to the Czech and German borders.
On 12 September, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, the primate of Poland known for his opposition to Nazism and Communism, and Róża Czacka, a nun and teacher of the blind, were beatified in Warsaw.
On 9 September, Wiesław Gołas, a popular stage, cabaret and film actor, and Home Army veteran, died at the age of 90.
On 2 September, Poland announced a state of emergency along its border with Belarus, denying humanitarian workers access to refugees stranded on the border.
Poland won 25 medals, including seven gold, at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, ranking 17th in the medal table.
- On 4 September, Renata Śliwińska won a gold medal in shot put.
- On 3 September, Natalia Partyka and Karolina Pęk won a gold medal in table tennis, while Barbara Niewiedział and Karolina Kucharczyk won gold medals in 1500 m run and long jump respectively.
- On 29 August, Patryk Chojnowski and Piotr Kosewicz won gold medals in table tennis and discus throw respectively.
- On 27 August, Róża Kozakowska won a gold medal in club throw.
- On 26 August, Justyna Kozdryk won a bronze medal in powerlifting.
- On 25 August, Adrian Castro won a silver medal in wheelchair fencing, while Marcin Polak won a bronze medal in track cycling.
On 23 August, Poland announced it would build a wall on its border with Belarus, while refusing to admit or provide humanitarian aid to 32 Afghan refugees stranded on the border.
Poland won 14 medals, including four gold, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, ranking 17th in the medal table.
- On 7 August, Poland won a silver medal in women's 4×400 m relay and a bronze medal in women's K-4 500 m kayak sprint.
- On 6 August, Dawid Tomala won a gold medal in 50 km walk, while Maria Andrejczyk won a silver medal in javelin throw.
- On 4 August, Wojciech Nowicki and Paweł Fajdek won gold and bronze medals respectively in hammer throw, while Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Jolanta Ogar won a silver medal in 470 dinghy sailing, and Patryk Dobek won a bronze medal in 800 m run.
- On 3 August, Anita Włodarczyk and Malwina Kopron won gold and bronze medals respectively in hammer throw, while Karolina Naja and Anna Puławska won a silver medal in K-2 500 m kayak sprint, and Tadeusz Michalik won a bronze medal in Greco-Roman wrestling.
- On 31 July, Poland won a gold medal in mixed 4×400 m relay.
- On 28 July, Poland won a silver medal in women's quadruple sculls.
On 6 August, Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the Chess World Cup.
On 4 August, Belarusian Olympic athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya arrived in Poland on a humanitarian visa following the Belarus Olympic Committee's attempts to repatriate her against her will.
On 31 July, Jerzy Matuszkiewicz, called a "founding father of Polish jazz", died at the age of 93.
On 28 July, parts of Poland's Bieszczady National Park were added to the serial UNESCO World Heritage site, the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe.
From 29 to 30 May, European Athletics Team Championships were held at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów, with Poland defending the championship title.
From 5 to 7 March, the European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in Toruń.
On 27 February, Polish ski jumper Piotr Żyła won a gold medal at the Nordic World Ski Championships.
On 20 February, Varso Tower, under construction in Warsaw, was architecturally topped out, becoming, at 310 m, the tallest building in the European Union.
On 6 January, Polish ski jumpers, Kamil Stoch and Dawid Kubacki, won the first and third places, respectively, in the Four Hills Tournament.

2020[edit]

On 19 December, Polish Olympic athlete Maria Piątkowska died from COVID-19 at the age of 89.
On 17 December, Polish footballer Robert Lewandowski won the FIFA World Player of the Year Award.
On 10 December, Cyberpunk 2077, a role-playing video game by the Polish game developer CD Projekt, was released to universal critical acclaim, but widely criticized for technical faults in the console versions.
On 9 December, Polish film director Agnieszka Holland was elected President of the European Film Academy.
On 2 December, the number of reported COVID-19 cases in Poland surpassed one million.
On 22 October, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that abortion due to fetal defects was unconstitutional, leading to large-scale pro-choice and anti-government protests across Poland in spite of a rapidly worsening COVID-19 pandemic.
On 10 October, Polish tennis player Iga Świątek won the 2020 French Open becoming the first Pole to win a Grand Slam singles title.
On 6 August, Andrzej Duda was sworn in for his second term as president of the Republic of Poland.
On 29 May, writer and columnist Jerzy Pilch, best known for his novel about alcoholism, The Mighty Angel, died at the age of 67.
On 12 July, the incumbent President Andrzej Duda (endorsed by Law and Justice) won the presidential election by a narrow margin, following the first round held on 28 June.
On 28 June, Poland held the first round of a presidential election, in which the incumbent Andrzej Duda (endorsed by Law and Justice) and Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski (Civic Platform) advanced to the runoff vote.
On 10 May, the government failed to hold the presidential election scheduled for that day amid an ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
On 29 March, composer Krzysztof Penderecki died at the age of 86.
On 10 March, a lockdown was introduced across Poland to stem a coronavirus pandemic.

2019[edit]

On 24 November, Polish Romani singer Viki Gabor won the 2019 Junior Eurovision Song Contest held in Gliwice, Poland, with the song "Superhero".
On 13 October, the ruling Law and Justice party won the parliamentary elections in Poland.
On 10 October, Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2018.
On 6 July, the Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list.
On 7 February, former Prime Minister Jan Olszewski died at the age of 88.
On 14 January, the mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, died at the age of 53 after being stabbed by a man who rushed on stage during an open-air charity event.
On 5 January, five 15-year-old girls died in a fire in an escape room in Koszalin.

2018[edit]

On 2–14 December, the COP24 climate-change conference was held in Katowice.
On 25 November, Polish singer Roksana Węgiel won the 2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Anyone I Want to Be".
On 30 September, Poland won the Volleyball Men's World Championship.
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.
On 22 July, Andrzej Bargiel became the first person to ski down from the summit of K2 to the base camp.
On 29 June, Irena Szewińska, a distinguished sprinter and sole Polish IOC member, died at the age of 72.
On 22 May, Olga Tokarczuk was awarded the Man Booker International Prize for her novel Flights.
Poland at the 2018 Winter Olympics:
- On 19 February, Poland won a bronze medal in men's large hill team ski jumping.
- On 17 February, Kamil Stoch won a gold medal in men's large hill ski jumping.
On 6 February, President Andrzej Duda signed an amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance that makes it a crime to imply the complicity of the Polish nation or state in the Holocaust, for example, by referring to German-operated concentration camps in Poland as "Polish death camps".
On 6 January, Kamil Stoch became the second ski jumper ever to win all events of the Four Hills Tournament.

2017[edit]

On 20 December, President Andrzej Duda signed new legislation to restructure the National Council of the Judiciary, defying disciplinary measures launched on the same day by the European Commission, concerned that judiciary reforms in Poland present a "clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law".
On 11 December, in a mid-term government reshuffle, finance minister Mateusz Morawiecki (Law and Justice party) was sworn in as prime minister of Poland, replacing Beata Szydło, who stayed in the cabinet as a deputy prime minister.
On 6 December, the discovery of Halszkaraptor, a genus of semiaquatic bird-like dinosaur named after Polish paleontologist Halszka Osmólska, was announced.
Poland at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics:
- On 11 August, Paweł Fajdek and Wojciech Nowicki won, respectively, gold and bronze medals in men's hammer throw.
- On 8 August, Adam Kszczot and Piotr Lisek won silver medals in, respectively, men's 800 m and men's pole vault.
- On 7 August, Anita Włodarczyk and Malwina Kopron won, respectively, gold and bronze medals in women's hammer throw.
During its 41st session held in Kraków (a World Heritage site) from 2 to 12 July 2017, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee added the Tarnowskie Góry Silver Mine to the World Heritage List and called on Poland to stop logging another World Heritage site, the Białowieża Forest.
On 2 June, Poland was elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the years 2018–2019.
On 26 May, Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Polish-born diplomat, political scientist and former national security advisor to U.S. President Jimmy Carter, died at the age of 89.
On 22 May, Zbigniew Wodecki, a popular singer, musician and composer, died at the age of 67.
On 15 March, Wojciech Młynarski, a prominent poet, composer, singer and translator, died at the age of 75.
On 9 March, former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was re-elected president of the European Council with support from all EU member states except Poland.
On 5 March, Poland topped the medal table at the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
On 12 February, Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki won his fifth Grammy Award, this time for Best Choral Performance.
On 9 January, Zygmunt Bauman, a prominent Polish-British sociologist and philosopher who developed the idea of liquid modernity, died at the age of 91.
On 6 January, Polish ski jumpers, Kamil Stoch and Piotr Żyła, won the first and second places, respectively, in the Four Hills Tournament.
During the first week of January, 46 people in Poland died from cold, as the temperatures fell to −20 °C.

2016[edit]

A disagreement between the Constitutional Tribunal on the one side and the legislative and executive powers, fully controlled by the Law and Justice party since 2015, on the other resulted in a constitutional crisis throughout 2016.
On 10 December, the 29th European Film Awards were presented in Wrocław.
On 11 November, the Temple of Divine Providence, first proposed in 1791, was opened in Warsaw.
On 9 October, Andrzej Wajda, a prominent film and theatre director and a notable representative of the Polish Film School, died at the age of 90.
Poland at the 2016 Summer Paralympics:
- Poland won 39 medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, including nine gold medals, two of which were awarded to Natalia Partyka in women's table tennis.
- On 16 September, Barbara Niewiedział won a gold medal in women's 1500 m run T20.
- On 14 September, Rafał Wilk won a gold medal in men's time trial cycling H4.
- On 13 September, Natalia Partyka won a gold medal in women's individual class-10 table tennis.
- On 12 September, Maciej Lepiato won a gold medal in men's high jump T44.
- On 10 September, Ewa Durska won a gold medal in women's shot put F20.
- On 8 September, Robert Jachimowicz and Bartosz Tyszkowski won silver medals in men's discus throw F52 and men's shot put F41, respectively.
Poland at the 2016 Summer Olympics:
- Poland won 11 medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics, including two gold medals awarded to Magdalena Fularczyk and Natalia Madaj in women's double sculls, and Anita Włodarczyk in women's hammer throw.
- On 20 August, Maja Włoszczowska won a silver medal in women's cross-country cycling.
- On 19 August, Oktawia Nowacka and Wojciech Nowicki won bronze medals in women's modern pentathlon and men's hammer throw, respectively.
- On 18 August, Monika Michalik won a bronze medal in women's freestyle 63 kg wrestling.
- On 16 August, Polish female kayakers won silver and bronze medals in K-1 200 m and K-2 500 m, respectively.
- On 15 August, Anita Włodarczyk won a gold medal in women's hammer throw.
- On 13 August, Piotr Małachowski won a silver medal in men's discus throw.
- On 11 August, Polish female rowers won gold and bronze medals in double and quadruple sculls, respectively.
- On 6 August, Rafał Majka won a bronze medal in men's road bicycle race.
On 2 August, Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, archbishop emeritus of Kraków, died at the age of 89.
From 26 to 31 July, Kraków hosted the World Youth Day, a gathering of young Catholics from around the world.
From 16 to 17 July, Kraków hosted the final round of the 2016 FIVB Volleyball World League.
On 10 July, Poland topped the medal table at the 2016 European Athletics Championships.
From 8 to 9 July, Warsaw hosted a NATO summit.
On 5 June, Stanislaus Papczyński, a Polish priest who founded the Congregation of Marian Fathers, was canonized.
From 17 to 31 January 2016, European Men's Handball Championship was held in Poland.
Wrocław was designated one of two European Cities of Culture for the year 2016.

2015[edit]

On 16 November, Beata Szydło, Law and Justice party, was sworn in as prime minister of Poland.
On 5 November, Gen. Czesław Kiszczak, the last Communist prime minister of Poland (in 1989), died at the age of 90.
On 1 November, Agnieszka Radwańska won the 2015 WTA Finals tennis tournament.
In the parliamentary election held on 25 October, Law and Justice became the first party since the fall of Communism to win a majority in both houses of Polish parliament.
On 20 October, Seong-Jin Cho won the XVII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.
On 11 October, Kajetan Kajetanowicz became the third Polish driver to win the European Rally Championship.
On 22 September, Robert Lewandowski, a Polish footballer playing for the German team Bayern Munich, broke several records by scoring five goals in nine minutes.
On 6 September, Poland held a referendum on questions related to electoral law, taxation, and financing of political parties, with results non-binding due to record-low turnout.
On 6 August, Andrzej Duda was sworn in as president of the Republic of Poland.
On 29 July, Jan Kulczyk, an entrepreneur listed by Forbes as the richest man in Poland, died at the age of 65.
On 24 May, Andrzej Duda (Law and Justice) was elected president of the Republic of Poland, narrowly defeating the incumbent Bronisław Komorowski in the runoff vote.
On 19 May, The Witcher 3, a Polish role-playing video game based on a fantasy book series by Andrzej Sapkowski, was released with universal critical acclaim.
On 10 May, Poland held the first round of a presidential election in which Andrzej Duda (Law and Justice) and the incumbent Bronisław Komorowski advanced to the runoff vote.
On 24 April, Władysław Bartoszewski, a Warsaw Uprising veteran, former foreign minister and champion of German-Polish and Jewish-Polish reconciliation, died at the age of 93.
On 13 April, Günter Grass, a German-language writer of Kashubian-German origin and Nobel Prize winner, who explored the theme of German-Polish relations in Nazi-era Danzig, died at the age of 87.
On 8 March, a 6 km stretch of the second, east-west line of the Warsaw Metro, Poland's only underground rapid transit system, was opened for use.
Ida, a film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, won a BAFTA award on 8 February and an Oscar on 22 February.
On 1 February, Poland won the bronze medal in the World Men's Handball Championship.
On 9 January, Józef Oleksy, former prime minister and marshal of the Sejm (parliamentary speaker), died at the age of 68.
On 7 January, Tadeusz Konwicki, a Home Army veteran, writer and film director known as a prominent representative of the Polish Film School, died at the age of 89.

2014[edit]

On 26 December, Stanisław Barańczak, a poet, translator, scholar and former dissident, died at the age of 68.
On 22 October, the world's first monument to Wikipedia was unveiled in Słubice.
In a government reshuffle prompted by former PM Donald Tusk's election as president of the European Council on 30 August, Ewa Kopacz was sworn in as prime minister of Poland on 22 September and replaced by former foreign minister Radosław Sikorski as Marshal of the Sejm (parliamentary speaker) on 24 September.
On 21 September, Poland, the host nation, won the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship.
On 19 September, the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre was opened on the site where English troupes staged William Shakespeare's plays during his lifetime.
On 30 August, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was elected president of the European Council.
On 24 July, the ECHR ruled that Poland had violated the European Convention on Human Rights by allowing the CIA to torture two alleged terrorists in a black site at Stare Kiejkuty in 2002–2003.
On 4 June, leaders of Poland, the United States, and about 40 other countries gathered in Warsaw to mark the 25th anniversary of Solidarity's victory in the 1989 parliamentary election that led to the first non-communist government in the Eastern Bloc.
On 3 June, Crimean Tatar activist Mustafa Dzhemilev became the first recipient of the Solidarity Prize.
On 25 May, the ruling Civic Platform narrowly defeated the opposition Law and Justice party in the European Parliament election in Poland, while the inhabitants of Kraków voted to withdraw their city's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in a binding referendum.
On 25 May, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, a Cold War-era military dictator and president of Poland, died at the age of 90.
On 21 May, Leszek Balcerowicz, Poland's former finance minister, received the Milton Friedman Prize awarded by the Cato Institute think tank.
On 17 May, Wojciech Polak succeeded Józef Kowalczyk as Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland.
On 27 April, Pope Francis canonized his Polish-born predecessor, John Paul II.
On 24 April, Tadeusz Różewicz, an avant-garde poet and playwright, died at the age of 92.
On 7–9 March, the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships were held in Sopot.
- On 8 March, Kamila Lićwinko won a gold medal in women's high jump.
On 20 February, Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski helped negotiate an end to the civil unrest in Ukraine amid widespread popular support in Poland for the Ukrainian Euromaidan.
Poland at the 2014 Winter Olympics:
- Poland won six medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics, including four gold, the nation's best result in any winter Olympics.
- On 22 February, Poland won silver and bronze medals in, respectively, women's and men's team pursuit speed skating.
- On 15 February, Zbigniew Bródka won a gold medal in men's 1500 m speed skating, while Kamil Stoch won a gold medal in men's large hill individual ski jumping, his second gold medal in this Olympic Games.
- On 13 February, Justyna Kowalczyk won a gold medal in women's 10 km classical cross-country skiing.
- On 9 February, Kamil Stoch won a gold medal in men's normal hill individual ski jumping.

2013[edit]

On 29 December, Wojciech Kilar, an acclaimed classical and film music composer, died at the age of 81.
On 5 December, Poland was hit by a winter storm brought by Cyclone Bodil (known locally as Ksawery), causing five deaths and blackouts in 400,000 households.
From 11 to 22 November, the 2013 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Warsaw.
On 28 October, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Poland's first prime minister after the fall of Communism, died at the age of 86.
On 21 October, UNESCO designated Kraków a City of Literature.
From 20 to 27 October, the 2013 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Wrocław.
On 15 August, Sławomir Mrożek, a writer famous for his satirical, absurdist and black-humor dramas and stories, died at the age of 83.
On 12 August, Paweł Fajdek won a gold medal in men's hammer throw at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics.
2013 Wimbledon Championships:
- On 9 July, Jerzy Janowicz advanced to the semifinals in men's singles by defeating his countryman, Łukasz Kubot.
- On 8 July, Agnieszka Radwańska advanced to the semifinals in women's singles.
On 7 July, Artur Hajzer, one of the most accomplished Polish mountaineers, died at the age of 51 after falling off Gasherbrum I.
On 15 May, the world's first life-saving full face transplant was performed in Gliwice.
On 19 April, the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews was opened to the public (its permanent exhibition still under construction).
On 5 March, Maciej Berbeka, Tomasz Kowalski, Adam Bielecki, and Artur Małek made the first winter ascent of Broad Peak (8,051 m); the former two died during descent.
On 23 January, Cardinal Józef Glemp, Primate Emeritus of Poland, died at the age of 83.

2012[edit]

On 20 October, the Keret House, dubbed "the world's thinnest house", was opened in Warsaw.
Poland at the 2012 Summer Paralympics:
- On 7 September, Rafał Wilk won his second gold medal in handcycling at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
- On 6 September, Anna Harkowska won her third silver medal in cycling at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
- On 3 September, Natalia Partyka won a gold medal in women's singles class 10 in table tennis.
Poland at the 2012 FAI World Gliding Championships:
- On 18 August, Maciej Pospieszyński won a gold medal in the ulimited category aeorbatics, while Sebastian Kawa and Zbigniew Nieradka won gold medals in 15 metre and 18 metre classes respectively; Łukasz Wójcik was the runner-up in the latter category.
Poland at the 2012 Summer Olympics:
- On 10 August, Anita Włodarczyk won a silver medal in women's hammer throw.
- On 9 August, Beata Mikołajczyk and Karolina Naja won bronze medals in women's double-seated kayak 500 metres sprint.
- On 7 August, Przemysław Miarczyński and Zofia Klepacka won bronze medals in, respectively, men's and women's sailboard.
- On 6 August, Bartłomiej Bonk and Damian Janikowski won bronze medals in men's 105 kg weightlifting and men's Greco-Roman 84 kg wrestling respectively.
- On 3 August, Tomasz Majewski and Adrian Zieliński won gold medals in men's shot put and men's 85 kg weightlifting respectively, while Magdalena Fularczyk and Julia Michalska won bronze medals in women's double sculls.
- On 28 July, Sylwia Bogacka won a silver medal in women's 10 metre air rifle.
On 8 July, Poland won the FIVB Volleyball World League for the first time.
On 7 July, Agnieszka Radwańska became a runner-up in the Wimbledon Championships women's singles in tennis.
From 8 June to 1 July, Poland and Ukraine jointly hosted the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship:
- On 28 June, Italy won 2–1 against Germany at the National Stadium in Warsaw, in the last Euro 2012 match held in Poland.
- On 16 June, Poland lost 1–0 to the Czech Republic at the Municipal Stadium in Wrocław and failed to advance to the knockout stage.
- On 12 June, Poland drew 1–1 with Russia in a match preceded by a street fight between rival supporter groups.
- On 8 June, Poland drew 1–1 with Greece in the opening match at the National Stadium in Warsaw.
On 16 June, Brig. Gen. Sławomir Petelicki (aged 65), the first commander of the GROM special forces unit, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.
On 31 May, U.S. President Barack Obama expressed regret over erroneously referring to a "Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland" as a "Polish death camp" while posthumously awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski two days earlier.
On 3 March, two passenger trains collided head-on near the town of Szczekociny in southern Poland, killing 16 passengers and injuring 51 others.
On 1 February, Wisława Szymborska, a poetess and Nobel Prize winner, died at the age of 88.
On 29 January, the National Stadium was opened in Warsaw.
On 26 January, Poland signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement despite street, parliamentary, and online protests, including DoS attacks against government websites (update: on 17 February Poland decided not to ratify the treaty).
On 7 January, Justyna Kowalczyk became the first cross-country skier to win the Tour de Ski three times in a row.

2011[edit]

On 8–11 December, the 2011 European Short Course Swimming Championships were held in Szczecin, where the host nation, Poland, ranked fourth in the medal table.
On 5 December, Violetta Villas, a coloratura soprano singer and former Las Vegas diva, died at the age of 73.
On 4 December, Adam Hanuszkiewicz, a prominent theater actor and director, died at the age of 87.
On 18 November, Donald Tusk (Civic Platform) became Poland's first prime minister since the fall of communism to be sworn in again after a full four-year term in office.
On 8 November, Anna Grodzka (Palikot's Movement) was sworn in as Poland's first transsexual member of parliament, while Ewa Kopacz (Civic Platform) was elected Poland's first female marshal of the Sejm.
On 1 November, Tadeusz Wrona performed a successful belly landing of a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767 at the Warsaw Chopin Airport.
On 8−16 October, Table Tennis European Championships were held at the Ergo Arena in Gdańsk and Sopot.
On 9 October, the Civic Platform became Poland's first policital party since 1989 to retain a plurality in a parliamentary election.
On 9 October, Agnieszka Radwańska won the China Open women's singles in tennis.
On 29 August, Paweł Wojciechowski won a gold medal in men's pole vault at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics.
On 12 August, a train derailed in the village of Baby in central Poland, killing one passenger and injuring about 50 others.
On 5 August, Andrzej Lepper (aged 57), leader of the Self-Defence party, former deputy marshal of the Sejm and former deputy prime minister, was found hanged in his office, in a possible suicide.
On 10 July, Poland, the host team of the 2011 FIVB World League final round, won the competition's bronze medal.
During the second half of 2011, Poland held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
On 25 June, Jan Kułakowski, Poland's principal negotiator in accession talks with the European Union, died at the age of 80.
On 1 June, a Warsaw court acquitted seven Polish soldiers involved in the Nangar Khel incident in Afghanistan of war crime charges.
On 17 May, The Witcher 2, a role-playing video game and a sequel to The Witcher, based on a fantasy book series by Andrzej Sapkowski, was released.
On 1 May, Pope Benedict XVI beatified his Polish-born predecessor, John Paul II.
On 3 March, Irena Kwiatkowska, a popular comedian and cabaret actress, died at the age of 98.

2010[edit]

On 14 December, John Godson (Civic Platform) was sworn in as Poland's first black member of parliament.
On 26 November, the Russian State Duma declared Joseph Stalin and other officials of the Soviet Union to have been responsible for the 1940 Katyn massacre.
On 12 November, classical composer Henryk Górecki, best known for his Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, died at the age of 76.
On 6 November, the construction of a 33-meter tall statue of Christ the King, the world's tallest effigy of Jesus, was completed in Świebodzin.
On 5 November, the Copernicus Science Centre, Poland's largest science museum, was opened in Warsaw.
Chopin Year 2010, a series of events throughout the year celebrating the 200th birthday of Frédéric Chopin:
- From 2 to 23 October, the XVI International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition was held at the Warsaw Philharmonic.
- A week of recitals took place in Warsaw between 22 February and 1 March, the two possible dates of Frédéric Chopin's birth in 1810.
- On 7 January at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, Lang Lang inaugurated a series of events celebrating the 200th birthday of Frédéric Chopin.
On 17 October, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Stanisław Sołtys, a 15th-century Polish priest and theologian.
On 9 October, the 2010 Speedway Grand Prix season ended in Bydgoszcz, with Poles Tomasz Gollob and Jarosław Hampel ranking first and second respectively in the final classification.
On 6 August, Bronisław Komorowski was sworn in as president of the Republic of Poland.
On 17 July, 6,000 people, watched by 200,000 visitors, took part in a reënactment of the Battle of Grunwald as part of its 600th anniversary celebrations.
On 12 July, Henryk Jankowski, a controversial Roman Catholic priest who supported the Solidarity movement in the 1980s, died at the age of 73.
On 9–11 July, Wikimania (see Wikimania 2010) was held at the Polish Baltic Philharmonic in Gdańsk.
On 3–8 July, Microsoft's Imagine Cup student technology competition finals were held in Warsaw.
On 4 July, following President Lech Kaczyński's death in a plane crash, Sejm Marshal and acting President Bronisław Komorowski (Civic Platform) won an early presidential election, narrowly defeating the late president's twin and former Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński (Law and Justice) in a runoff vote.
On 2–4 July, the 10th Anniversary Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies took place in Kraków.
On 20 June, Poland held the first round of an early presidential election following the death of President Lech Kaczyński in a plane crash on 10 April.
On 16 June, at the Sonisphere Festival in Warsaw, the "Big Four" thrash metal bands performed together for the first time.
On 6 June, Jerzy Popiełuszko, a Solidarity chaplain killed by the Communist secret police, was beatified in Warsaw.
Several towns in southern Poland hit in May by the worst flooding to strike Central Europe in 160 years were inundated again in June.
On 23 May, 120 U.S. troops and a battery of Patriot missiles were deployed in Morąg near the Polish-Russian border.
On 22 May, bones found in the Frombork Cathedral in 2005 and identified as those of Nicolaus Copernicus were ceremoniously reburied in the same place.
In May, at least 15 people were killed and 23,000 evacuated after the worst flooding to strike Central Europe in 160 years.
On 13 May, Prime Minister Donald Tusk received the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, Germany.
On 9 May, Polish troops, along with American, British and French, marched in the Moscow Victory Day Parade for the first time in the event's history.
On 8 May, Józef Kowalczyk succeeded Henryk Muszyński as Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland.
On 18 April, the late President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria Kaczyńska were given a state funeral in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków.
On 10 April, 96 people, including President Lech Kaczyński, aged 60, and other high-ranking Polish officials, died in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia.
On 7 April, Polish and Russian prime ministers, Donald Tusk and Vladimir Putin, jointly commemorated the Katyn massacre at the Katyn war cemetery in Russia.
Poland at the 2010 Winter Olympics:
- Poland won six medals in the 2010 Winter Olympics, the nation's best result in any winter Olympics, including the first gold (by Justyna Kowalczyk) since 1972.
- On 27 February, Justyna Kowalczyk won a gold medal in women's 30 km classical cross-country skiing, Poland's second gold in any winter Olympics.
- On 20 February, Adam Małysz won a silver medal in large hill individual ski jumping, his second Olympic silver in 2010.
- On 19 February, Justyna Kowalczyk won a bronze medal in women's 15 km pursuit, her second Olympic medal in 2010.
- On 17 February, Justyna Kowalczyk won a silver medal in women's cross-country skiing sprint.
- On 13 February, Adam Małysz won a silver medal in normal hill individual ski jumping.
On 22 February, the Helsinki Federation for Human Rights published flight logs provided by the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency, indicating that CIA rendition flights landed at the Szymany Airport in 2002–2003.
On 19 February, IUPAC officially named the element with atomic number 112 as copernicium in honor of Nicolaus Copernicus.
On 8 February, Krzysztof Skubiszewski, Poland's first post-Communist foreign minister and president of the Iran–U.S. Claims Tribunal, died at the age of 83.
On 12 January, Polish police recovered Beach in Pourville, a painting by Claude Monet, which had been stolen from the Poznań National Museum in 2000.
On 7 January, Polish and Swedish paleontologists announced the discovery of the oldest known tetrapod tracks, found in a quarry at Zachełmie in the Holy Cross Mountaints and dated to about 395 million years ago.
The harsh winter of 2009–2010 disrupted traffic and claimed at least 122 (update: at least 139) lives in Poland.

2009[edit]

Late 2000s recession in Europe: Poland recorded a real GDP growth rate of 1.2 percent (Eurostat forecast; update: actual GDP growth was 1.7 percent) and was the only EU member to avoid recession in 2009.
On 21 December, Polish police recovered the Arbeit macht frei sign which had been stolen from the gate of the former Auschwitz concentration camp and hacked into three pieces three days earlier.
On 18 December, Henryk Muszyński, Archbishop of Gniezno, succeeded Cardinal Józef Glemp, Archbishop Emeritus of Warsaw, as Primate of Poland.
On 11 December, Poland and the United States signed a Status of Forces Agreement specifying the terms of the planned deployment of US troops and a Patriot missile battery on Polish soil.
On 5 November, Finland and Sweden gave a permit to build the Nord Stream, a natural gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany, opposed by Poland and the Baltic states for energy security concerns, in their exclusive economic zones.
On 10 October, President Lech Kaczyński signed the Treaty of Lisbon, making Poland the 26th EU nation to ratify the agreement.
On 4 October, Poland, the host team of the 2009 Women's European Volleyball Championship, won the championship's bronze medal.
On 2 October, Marek Edelman, cardiologist and the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, died at the age of about 90.
From 7 to 20 September, Poland hosted the FIBA European Basketball Championship.
On 17 September, the United States abandoned the plan to install a missile defense complex in Poland.
On 13 September, Poland won Men's European Volleyball Championship for the first time.
On 1 September, leaders of Poland, Germany, Russia and about 20 other countries gathered at the Westerplatte in Gdańsk to mark the 70th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland that triggered World War II in Europe.
Poland at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics:
- Poland won eight medals in total and ranked 5th in the medal table, the nation's best result in any world championships in athletics.
- On 22 August, Anita Włodarczyk set a new world record in women's hammer throw and twisted her ankle from joy.
- On 18 August, pole vaulters Anna Rogowska and Monika Pyrek won gold and silver medals respectively.
On 17 July, Leszek Kołakowski, a distinguished philosopher and critic of Marxism, died at the age of 82.
On 14 July, former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek (Civic Platform, European People's Party) was elected president of the European Parliament.
On 14 July, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, a prominent theater and film actor associated with the Cinema of Moral Anxiety, died at the age of 74.
On 7 June, the ruling Civic Platform party won the European Parliament election in Poland.
On 4 June, Poland marked the 20th anniversary of Solidarity's victory in the nation's first partly free parliamentary election since 1928.
On 13 April, a fire destroyed a homeless hostel and killed at least 22 people in Kamień Pomorski.