Walery Sławek, conspirator, intelligence officer, and thrice Poland’s prime minister. When a bomb exploded in his hands, he lost his left eye, the hearing in one ear and several fingers. Two years later, his fiancée died, leaving him a bachelor until the end of his days. As a politician, he used to say that “it…
“In the Battle of the Bulge, during Christmas 1944, the Germans did a lot of damage to the Americans, and the local commanders were complaining loudly about the absence of American intelligence. They turned to the OSS to come up with a remedy”, says John Micgiel. It turned out that Poles were to support this…
“Until Piłsudski’s assumption of this title, the title of marshal did not exist in the Polish military tradition”, says Professor Włodzimierz Suleja. How did it happen that Józef Piłsudski became First Marshal of the independent Poland? Józef Piłsudski is one of the most distinguished figures involved in the restoration of sovereignty after the First…
On 1 March 1951, following a show trial at Mokotów prison in Warsaw, seven members of the WiN independence movement (IV Zarządu Głównego Zrzeszenia – Wolność i Niezawisłość) were shot. The anniversary of this crime has been commemorated since 2011 as the National Memorial Day of the Cursed Soldiers. Tomasz Wiścicki interviews Dr. Tomasz Łabuszewski,…
polishhistory: Let us begin with the issue that raises disputes among historians. When should we really celebrate Fryderyk Chopin’s birthday? Zbigniew Skowron: This question remains unresolved to this day because two dates are at stake. In the light of the official document, which is Chopin’s birth certificate dated 22 February 1810, one should celebrate his…
Ignacy Matuszewski was the type of politician who is almost extinct in our country. He was the kind of man who wished to learn something new everyday, assessed each situation in shades of gray and looked for ways to make Poland stronger. His style distinguishes him from other journalists of the interwar and emigration period…
