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

Soldiers of the Polish Legions' Vistula Regiment

The Polish Legions were Polish military units that served with the French Army, mainly from 1797 to 1803, although some units continued to serve until 1815. The legionaries were recruited from among soldiers, officers and volunteers who had emigrated to Italy and France after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. Many Poles at that time believed that Revolutionary France and her allies would come to Poland's aid, as France's enemies included Poland's partitioners: Prussia, Austria and Russia. With Napoleon Bonaparte's support, Polish military units were formed, bearing Polish military ranks and commanded by Polish officers, such as Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, Karol Kniaziewicz, and Józef Wybicki. Serving alongside the French Army, Polish Legions saw combat in most of Napoleon's campaigns, from the West Indies, to Italy, to Egypt. When the Duchy of Warsaw was created in 1807, many veterans of the Legions formed a core around which the Duchy's army was raised under Prince Józef Poniatowski, which went on to fight alongside the French army in several campaigns, culminating in the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. (Full article...)

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Florian Znaniecki

Florian Znaniecki (1882–1958) was a Polish philosopher and sociologist who worked in Poland and the United States. Over the course of his career, he moved his focus from philosophy to sociology and is considered a major figure in the history of the latter field of study in both countries. He established the first Polish department of sociology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, where he worked from 1920 to 1939. His career in America begun in 1917 at the University of Chicago and continued at Columbia University and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Znaniecki won international renown as co-author, with William I. Thomas, of the study, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, which is considered the foundation of modern empirical sociology. He also made major contributions to sociological theory, introducing such terms as "humanistic coefficient" and "culturalism". (Full article...)

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Medieval port crane in Gdańsk

Gdańsk is Poland's principal seaport located in the Kashubian region on the Baltic Sea. Together with the spa town of Sopot and the industrial city of Gdynia, it forms a conurbation known as Trójmiasto ("Tricity"). It has a complex political history with long spells of Polish rule interspersed with periods of German control and two spells as a free city. As an important port and shipbuilding center, the picturesque city was a member of the Hanseatic League. For much of its history the majority of its inhabitants were German speakers who referred to their city as Danzig, but after World War II it became firmly Polish. Gdańsk is the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which, led by Lech Wałęsa, played a role in bringing down the communist rule across Central Europe. (Full article...)

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Did you know – show different entries

... that Piotr Domaradzki (pictured) was active in the Solidarity movement before being granted asylum in the United States, where he worked as editor-in-chief of the country's largest Polish-language newspaper?
... that the video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was marketed as "Skyrim in a Game of Thrones sauce"?
... that the dwarf geebung, an Australian shrub species, was first described in an unpublished manuscript by Polish traveler and naturalist John Lhotsky?
... that Metropolis Software's Tajemnica Statuetki (The Mystery of the Statuette) has the distinction of being the first Polish adventure game?

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Poland now

Recent events

Poland won 10 medals, including one gold, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, ranking 42nd in the medal table.
- On 11 August, Daria Pikulik won a silver medal in track cycling.
- On 10 August, Poland men's team won a silver medal in volleyball, while Julia Szeremeta won a silver medal in boxing.
- On 7 August, Aleksandra Mirosław (pictured) and Aleksandra Kałucka won, respectively, gold and bronze medals in speed climbing.
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.

Ongoing
Constitutional crisis • Belarus–EU border crisis • Ukrainian refugee crisis

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

Assumption Day and Polish Armed Forces Day (military aircraft pictured), 15 April
Solidarity and Freedom Day, 31 August

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Rogalin Landscape Park

Credit: Ferb1972

Leafless oaks on a frosty April morning in the Rogalin Landscape Park. The park, located in the region of Greater Poland, contains Europe's largest group of centuries-old oak trees, measuring up to 9 meters in circumference.