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-made replica of the German Enigma

The Cipher Bureau (Biuro Szyfrów) was the interwar Polish General Staff's agency charged with both cryptography (the use of ciphers and codes) and cryptology (the study of ciphers and codes, particularly for the purpose of "breaking" them). It was formed in 1931 by the merger of pre-existing agencies. In December 1932, the Bureau began breaking Germany's Enigma ciphers. Over the next seven years, Polish cryptologists overcame the growing structural and operating complexities of the plugboard-equipped Enigma. The Bureau also broke Soviet cryptography. Five weeks before the outbreak of World War II, on 25 July 1939, in Warsaw, the Polish Cipher Bureau revealed its Enigma-decryption techniques and equipment (example pictured) to representatives of French and British military intelligence, which had been unable to make any headway against Enigma. This Polish intelligence and technology transfer would give the Allies an unprecedented advantage (see Ultra) in their ultimately victorious prosecution of the war. (Full article...)

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Adam Mickiewicz

Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist and translator. A principal figure of Polish Romanticism, he is counted one of Poland's "Three Bards" and widely regarded as Poland's greatest poet. Born in the Russian territories of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, he was sentenced to a five-year exile to central Russia for his political activism. He left Russia in 1829 and, like many of his compatriots, lived out the rest of his life abroad. He settled first in Rome, then in Paris, where for a little over three years he lectured on Slavic literature at Collège de France. Mickiewicz died, probably of cholera, in Istanbul, where he had gone to help organize Polish and Jewish forces to fight Russia in the Crimean War. He is known chiefly for the poetic drama Dziady ("Forefathers' Eve") and the national epic poem Pan Tadeusz. His other influential works include Konrad Wallenrod and Grażyna. (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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Did you know – show different entries

... that the Equality Parade (pictured) held annually in Warsaw since 2001, is the oldest pride parade in any former Eastern bloc country?
... that about 3,500 Jews from the Pińsk Ghetto and from nearby Kobryń were murdered at Bronna Góra in June 1942?
... that Florian Znaniecki, a Polish American philosopher and sociologist, coined the terms "culturalism" and "humanistic coefficient"?
... that the Polish Armed Forces in the West contributed one division to Operation Overlord, the largest seaborne invasion in history?

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Poland now

Recent events

On 27 October, the discovery of a previously unknown waltz in A minor (manuscript pictured) attributed to Frédéric Chopin, found at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, was announced.
On 14 September, southwestern Poland was hit by severe floods caused by heavy rains brought by Storm Boris.
Poland won 23 medals, including eight gold, at the 2024 Summer Paralympics, ranking 16th in the medal table.
On 18 August, Polish cyclist Katarzyna Niewiadoma won the 2024 Tour de France Femmes.
Poland won 10 medals, including one gold, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, ranking 42nd in the medal table.

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

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

All Saints' Day (grave lanterns pictured), 1 November
Independence Day, 11 November

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Gniezno Doors

Credit: Krzysztof Mizera

Prayer of Saint Adalbert, one of 18 scenes in bas-relief, telling the story of Adalbert's life and martyrdom, that decorate the Romanesque bronze Gniezno Doors, the main entrance to the Gniezno Cathedral, which houses relics of the saint. Adalbert (Vojtěch) was a bishop of Prague and a missionary to Hungary, Poland, and Prussia where he was slain in AD 997.