Portal:Poland

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

Katyn memorial

The Katyn massacre was a mass execution of Polish citizens by the order of Soviet authorities in 1940. About 8,000 of those killed were reserve officers taken prisoner during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, but the dead also included many civilians who had been arrested for being "intelligence agents and gendarmes, spies and saboteurs, former landowners, factory owners and officials". Since Poland's conscription system required every unexempted university graduate to become a reserve officer, the Soviets were thus able to round up much of the ethnic Polish, Jewish, Ukrainian, Georgian and Belarusian intelligentsia of Polish citizenship. The 1943 discovery of mass graves at Katyn Forest by Nazi German forces precipitated a rupture of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Polish government-in-exile in London. The Soviet Union continued to deny responsibility for the massacres until 1990. Although the Russian government acknowledged that the NKVD had in fact committed the massacres, it does not consider them a war crime or an act of genocide, as this would have necessitated the prosecution of surviving perpetrators. (Full article...)

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Władysław Sikorski

Władysław Sikorski (1881–1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Before World War I, he became a founder and member of several underground organizations that promoted the aim of Polish independence. He fought with distinction during the Polish–Soviet War, in which he played a prominent role in the decisive Battle of Warsaw. During World War II he became prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile, commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces, and a staunch advocate of the Polish cause on the diplomatic scene. He supported the reëstablishment of diplomatic relations between Poland and the Soviet Union, which had been severed after the Soviet alliance with Germany in the 1939 invasion of Poland. In April 1943, however, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin broke off Polish–Soviet diplomatic relations following Sikorski's request that the International Red Cross investigate the Katyn massacre. In July 1943, Sikorski was killed in a plane crash into the sea immediately on takeoff from Gibraltar. The exact circumstances of his death remain in dispute, which has given rise to ongoing conspiracy theories. (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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Did you know – show different entries

... that the Gorce Mountains (pictured) are home to the brown bear, black stork and fire salamander?
... that many of King Stephen Báthory's captains in the Livonian War had served in Obrona Potoczna ("Current Defense"), a military formation which defended Polish-Lithuanian borders from Tatar raids in the sixteenth century?
... that during the Siege of Zbarazh, the Polish-Lithuanian army withstood assaults of the Cossack and Tatar armies about twenty times its own size?
... that the Krkonoše / Karkonosze Biosphere Reserve (MaB) is one of only two successful UNESCO transboundary management structures in existence?

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Poland now

Recent events

On 15 June, the AF Corse auto racing team including Polish driver Robert Kubica (pictured) won the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans.
On 1 June, Karol Nawrocki (endorsed by Law and Justice), narrowly won the run-off vote in the presidential election.
On 18 May, Warsaw mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski (Civic Coalition) narrowly led the first round of the presidential election.
On 16 May, Jadwiga Rappé, a Polish contralto opera singer, died at the age of 73.

Ongoing

Constitutional crisis • Belarus–EU border crisis • Ukrainian refugee crisis • Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Holidays and observances in June 2025
(statutory public holidays in bold)

Children's Day, 1 June
Pentecost, 8 June
Corpus Christi (procession pictured), 19 June

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Wrocław University

Credit: Jar.ciurus

Main building of the Wrocław University on the bank of the Oder. Located in the Wrocław Old Town, the university is famous for its baroque Aula Leopoldina which is open for visitors.