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

Polish general diet in session in 1622

The General Diet or Sejm (sejm walny) was the parliament of Poland from the 15th until the late 18th century. It was one of the primary elements of the democratic government of the Kingdom of Poland and, later, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From the early 16th century, Polish kings could not pass laws without the Sejm's approval. Duration and frequency of Sejm sessions changed over time, with six-week sessions convened every two years being most common. Locations changed too, but eventually Warsaw emerged as the primary venue. The number of senators and deputies (members) grew over time, from about 70 senators and 50 deputies in the 15th century to about 150 senators and 200 deputies in the 18th. Early diets used majority voting, but beginning in the 17th century, unanimous voting became more common, with the liberum veto procedure significantly paralyzing the country's governance. It is estimated that between 1493 and 1793, 240 general diets were held. (Full article...)

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Long Market

Credit: Marcin Białek

Baroque town houses along the Long Market (Polish: Długi Targ, German: Langer Markt) in Gdańsk, formerly inhabited by the city's patriciate. Partly visible on the left is the Artus Court, once a meeting place for wealthy burghers, now housing a historical museum.

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... that the Szombierki Heat Power Station (pictured) is considered one of the "Seven Architectural Wonders of the Silesian Voivodeship"?
... that Szlama Ber Winer escaped the work commando at the Chełmno extermination camp and managed to write a report about his experience soon before his and his family's death in the gas chambers of Bełżec?
... that Ewa Ziarek, a Polish American philosopher, wrote the book An Ethics of Dissensus?
... that after missing the whole of 2009 through injury, mixed martial artist Jan Błachowicz returned at KSW XIII to defeat two opponents on the same night?

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Stanisław Lem

Stanisław Lem (1921–2006) was a Polish science fiction, philosophical and satirical writer, best known for his novel Solaris. His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. They are sometimes presented as fiction, but others are in the form of essays or philosophical books. His works have been translated into 41 languages and have sold over 27 million copies. In 1976, Theodore Sturgeon claimed that Lem was the most widely read science-fiction writer in the world. (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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Poland now

Recent events

On 10 May, an unusually spectacular aurora borealis (pictured) 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.