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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Danzig gulden

Credit: Banknote design credit: Bank of Danzig; photographed by Andrew Shiva

The Danzig gulden was the currency of the Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland) between 1923 and 1939. Inflation in Danzig during 1922 had spiralled out of control, and the city abandoned the German Papiermark in favour of the Danzig gulden the following year. The obverse this 25-gulden note shows the Gothic St. Mary's Church on the obverse and Neptune's Fountain on the reverse.

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... that 17th-century Polish poet Anna Stanisławska (pictured) wrote about her life and three marriages in a series of 77 laments?
... that Compendium ferculorum by Stanisław Czerniecki, first published in 1682, is the first cookbook written originally in Polish?
... that most of the people seeking refugee status in Poland are citizens of post-Soviet states?
... that the death of Polish Army chaplain Ignacy Skorupka at the Battle of Warsaw was used as a political tool by Józef Piłsudski's opponents?

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Witold Kiełtyka (Vitek)

Decapitated is a Polish death metal band. It was founded in 1996 by guitarist Wacław Kiełtyka (Vogg), drummer Witold Kiełtyka (Vitek, pictured) and vocalist Wojciech Wąsowicz (Sauron). The members' average age was 14 when they formed the band. One year later, they were joined by 13-year-old bassist Marcin Rygiel (Martin). In 2000, they released their debut album, Winds of Creation. Decapitated soon became one of Europe's finest technical death metal bands. In 2002 and 2004 the band released the albums Nihility and The Negation, respectively. In 2005, Sauron was replaced by Adrian Kowanek (Covan), and the band's fourth album, Organic Hallucinosis, was released in 2006. In 2007, their tour bus was involved in a road accident that killed Vitek and left Covan in a coma. In 2009, Vogg announced Austrian drummer Kerim Lechner (Krimh) as a new member. (Full article...)

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Aerial view of Nowa Huta

Nowa Huta is an industrial easternmost district of the city of Kraków. Its history began in 1949, when Poland's communist government started to build the Lenin Steelworks (now Tadeusz Sendzimir Steelworks owned by Mittal Steel Company) together with a town for the workers. Nowa Huta, whose name translates as "New Steelworks", was meant to be an ideal socialist and atheist proletarian town supposed to counterbalance Kraków's conservative bourgeoisie. It is Poland's foremost example of socialist realist urban planning and architecture. The workers eventually turned against the communist regime when they demanded – with the help of Archbishop Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II – the right to build a church in the 1960s; and when they supported the Solidarity movement in the 1980s. (Full article...)

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