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

Krakus Mound, an 8th-century burial mound in Kraków

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. (Full article...)

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Dorota Rabczewska

Credit: Remigiusz Józefowicz

Dorota Rabczewska, better known by her stage name Doda, is a former athlete who began her musical career in 2000 as a vocalist in the pop rock band Virgin and rose to stardom four years later when she took part in The Bar reality TV show. Doda has been dubbed "Polish Britney Spears" and, as a Mensa member and Playboy cover girl, "the world's most beautiful genius".

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... that scholars are not sure who is portrayed in Rembrandt's painting A Polish Nobleman (pictured)?
... that the Old City of Zamość, one of the World Heritage Sites in Poland, is recognized as an "outstanding example of a Renaissance planned town"?
... that the German libretto of Boris Blacher's last opera, Yvonne, Prinzessin von Burgund was based on a Polish play by Witold Gombrowicz?
... that a photograph of the execution of Jews near Ivanhorod, Ukraine, by members of the SS Einsatzgruppe was intercepted by the Polish resistance in 1942?

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Bolesław Prus

Bolesław Prus, born Aleksander Głowacki (1847–1912), was a Polish journalist and novelist, best known for his novels The Doll and Pharaoh. He was the leading representative of realism in 19th-century Polish literature and remains a distinctive voice in world literature. An indelible mark was left on Prus by his experiences as a 15-year-old soldier in the Polish 1863 Uprising against Imperial Russia, in which he suffered severe injuries and imprisonment. In 1872, in Warsaw, Prus settled into a distinguished 40-year journalistic career. As a sideline, to augment his income and to appeal to readers through their aesthetic sensibilities, he began writing short stories. Achieving success with these, he went on to employ a broader canvas; between 1886 and 1895, he completed four major novels on "great questions of our age." The Doll describes the romantic infatuation of a man of action who is frustrated by the backwardness of his society. Pharaoh, Prus's only historical novel, is a study of political power and statecraft, set in ancient Egypt at the fall of its 20th Dynasty. (Full article...)

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Wrocław town hall

Wrocław, situated on the Oder River in Lower Silesia, is the fourth largest city in Poland. Dating back to the 11th century, the city has changed its allegiance and name several times in history, and has been known as Vratislav in Czech and Breslau in German. An important economic and cultural hub of eastern Germany until World War II, it can boast eleven Nobel prize winners who were born or lived in Breslau. The picturesque historic center was destroyed during the Siege of Breslau at the end of the war, but then meticulously rebuilt and is now a popular tourist attraction, along with the Centennial Hall and the Racławice Panorama. Modern Wrocław is a growing high-tech and financial center of Poland. (Full article...)

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Poland now

Recent events

Poland at the 2024 Summer Olympics:
- On 9 August, Natalia Kaczmarek won a bronze medal in 400-meter dash.
- On 7 August, Aleksandra Mirosław (pictured) and Aleksandra Kałucka won, respectively, gold and bronze medals in speed climbing.
- On 28 July, Klaudia Zwolińska won a silver medal in kayak slalom.
On 1 August, Russian–Spanish journalist Pablo González Yagüe, arrested in Poland on espionage charges and held in pre-trial detention for 886 days, was released as part of a multinational prisoner exchange.
On 9 July, Jerzy Stuhr, a prominent theatre and film actor and director, died at the age of 77.