The baptism of Mieszko I: the issue that generated an avalanche

The beginnings of the Polish state have received a lot of attention, and this period still raises many questions and doubts. How did people live in Poland a thousand years ago? How could Krakow become the cradle of the Piast state? What was the role of Mieszko I’s baptism? And what do we actually know…


Herling-Grudziński showed in one drop the ocean of evil of the Soviet system

Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, in one drop, which incorporated  his personal experience from the camp near Arkhangelsk, revealed the ocean of evil of the Soviet system, says Prof. Andrzej Nowak, a historian from the Jagiellonian University.   Polish Press Agency: How did Gustaw Herling-Grudziński and other writers from his generation contribute to understanding the nature of communism?…


‘The homelessness of a Sovietologist’: Wiktor Sukiennicki and the Polish school of Sovietology

The main message of Sukiennicki’s biography is intellectual independence won even at the price of marginalisation and isolation, fidelity to the belief that research can show the truth about the world, says Professor Sławomir Łukasiewicz.    polishhistory.pl: Wiktor Sukiennicki is a figure of great merit for Sovietology and the understanding of the functioning of the…


Jan Sehn. Poland’s forgotten Nazi hunter

Jan Sehn (1909-1965) was a Polish lawyer and professor at the Jagiellonian University. Shortly after the war, he conducted research at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and also participated in preparing accusations against several dozen German war criminals who had worked at the camp. Additionally, he published a number of scientific papers on the functioning…


Katyń – the place where the Polish elite met its end

polishhistory: In the spring of 1940, the Soviet secret police committed an unprecedented crime by secretly murdering nearly 22,000 Polish citizens. What place does this tragedy occupy in Polish national memory? Professor Tadeusz Wolsza: The Katyń massacre permanently, painfully, and deeply entered into our national history. Each subsequent anniversary is accompanied by new editions of…


Cursed Soldiers, a rural vengeance war

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,…


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