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

The Renaissance courtyard of the Royal Wawel Castle in Kraków

The history of Poland during the Jagiellon dynasty spanned the late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era. Beginning with Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania, the House of Jagiellon formed the Polish-Lithuanian dynastic union. The partnership brought vast Lithuanian-controlled Rus' areas into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for the Poles and the Lithuanians, who coöperated in one of Europe's largest political entities for the next four centuries. In the Baltic Sea region, Poland's struggle with the Teutonic Knights included the Battle of Grunwald, and the milestone Peace of Thorn under King Casimir IV. In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars, while in the east, it helped Lithuania fight the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Poland was developing as a feudal state, with predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly dominant landed nobility component. The Nihil novi act adopted in 1505, transferred most of the legislative power from the monarch to the Sejm (parliament), beginning a period of "Golden Liberty", when the state was ruled by the "free and equal" Polish nobility. Protestant Reformation resulted in policies of religious toleration that were unique in Europe at that time, while Renaissance currents evoked an immense cultural flowering under kings Sigismund I and Sigismund Augustus. (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 the P-badge (pictured) for Polish forced laborers was the first official, public badge introduced by Nazi Germany, preceding the Jewish yellow star by over a year?
... that Jakub Kagan, one of the best known Polish-Jewish composers of popular music who formed Kagan's Jazz Band in the interwar Warsaw, died during the Holocaust?
... that Polish Roman Catholic midwife Stanisława Leszczyńska delivered about 3,000 babies at the Auschwitz concentration camp?
... that Ewa Gryziecka's world record in women's javelin throw lasted 35 minutes?
... that the green-legged partridge and the Polish-bred Green-legged Partridge belong to different species?

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Elizabeth of Bosnia as imagined by Sándor Liezen-Mayer

Elizabeth of Bosnia (Elżbieta Bośniaczka; ca. 1339–1387) was a queen consort of Hungary and Poland. A daughter of the ban of Bosnia, Stephen II of the House of Kotromanić, she married King Louis the Great of Hungary in 1353. As queen consort, she was overshadowed by her domineering mother-in-law, Elizabeth of Poland, daughter of King Vladislaus the Elbow-high of Poland. She gave birth to their first child, Catherine, 17 years after the marriage, shortly after Louis acquired the crown of Poland, where she was sent to govern as a regent. When Louis died in 1382, their elder surviving daughter, Mary, ascended the throne of Hungary, with Elizabeth as a regent. Unable to retain control over Poland, Elizabeth secured the Polish throne for her youngest daughter, Hedwig. During her regency in Hungary, the queen mother was faced with several rebellions led by Croatian noblemen who wished to take advantage of Mary's insecure reign, before being murdered in the turmoil. (Full article...)

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Bydgoszcz granaries

Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland, straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its left-bank tributary, the Brda. It is the eighth-largest city in Poland and the co-capital, with Toruń, of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Bydgoszcz is an architecturally rich city, with gothic, neo-gothic, neo-baroque, neoclassicist, modernist and Art Nouveau styles present, for which it has earned the nickname "Little Berlin". The notable granaries on Mill Island and along the riverside belong to one of the most recognized timber-framed landmarks in Poland. (Full article...)

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