To the Polish people. Manifesto of the Movement for Defence of Human and Citizen’s Rights
46th anniversary of proclamation of the Act

A wave of protests swept over Poland in June 1976 after the announcement of an increase in groceries’ prices. The authorities eventually resigned from price changes but introduced repression against the protesting workers. This met with a quick response from the intelligentsia, who organised financial and legal support for the repressed and soon started forming...

Kościuszko – a man before his time
an interview with Alex Storozynski

Tadeusz Kościuszko dedicated his life to tolerance and liberty for all. He was a man ahead of his time and led by setting an example that we should all try to follow – says Alex Storozynski.     Tadeusz Kościuszko is an extraordinary historical figure – a hero of two nations, Poland and the United...

The world's largest cemetery of clergymen
Polish clergy - prisoners of KL Dachau

During World War II, 1,780 Polish clergymen were detained in KL Dachau, and 868 died there. “They forced me to live in ‘splendid’ barracks for thousands of people, to sleep on wooden, hard bunks under one blanket. They gave me the honor of being a guinea pig,” recalled Tadeusz Jasiński, one of the survivors. by...

March 1981: “Solidarity” at the height of its power
41st anniversary of the Bydgoszcz crisis

On 27 March 1981, “Solidarity” organized a protest in response to the beating of union members by the militia. Their strike, with at least 2 and a half million participants, is also remembered as their largest protest. by Tomasz Kozłowski   In February 1981, General Wojciech Jaruzelski became Poland’s prime minister. For over a decade,...

The roads to (an independent) Belarus
106th anniversary of the independence of Belarus (25 March 1918)

Without the Belarusian People’s Republic and several military formations established at the end of the First World War and several months after its end, there would be neither the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic nor the present-day Republic of Belarus on the territory between the Bug and Berezina rivers. by Wojciech Stanisławski   For many reasons,...

Joachim Lelewel: a bibliophile whom others followed to the barricades
The 237th anniversary of birthday

Incredibly insightful as a historian, he wrote in a heavy-handed style. But for one sentence: ‘For our freedom and yours!’, he should have been named the first copyrighter among the revolutionaries. by Wojciech Stanisławski   Above-average ten-year-olds, collectors of maps and insects, incidentally mastering numerous languages, often become serious scientists. Their parents, and especially their...

Leopold Tyrmand: an original writer and master of self-aggrandizement
The 104th anniversary of Leopold Tyrmand's birthday

Leopold Tyrmand was one of the most interesting figures of post-war Poland’s artistic milieu. Despite the oppression of the communist regime, he had his own way of opposing the system. by Piotr Bejrowski Tyrmand’s biographers aptly point out that he opposed communism not only ideologically, but also aesthetically. He wanted to maintain the continuity of...

The Peace Treaty of Riga: A Stop-gap for Russian Expansion
The 103rd anniversary of the proclamation of the Act

The peace concluded between the Republic of Poland, of the one part, and Soviet Russia and Ukraine, of the other part, brought political order to the territories between the Baltic and Black Seas for 18 and a half years. Eventually, Hitler’s ally Moscow declared it ‘null and void’. by Wojciech Stanisławski   Who knows, maybe...

March Constitution of 1921: The Crowning of Reborn Poland’s Ambitions
An interview with Prof. Janusz Odziemkowski

The March Constitution was the crowning of an important stage in the building of the Second Republic. It proved the maturity of the young state and strengthened Poland’s authority in the international arena. Its articles indicate a tendency to use solutions adopted in Western democracies as well as to draw on the legal traditions of...

The start of a common fight: Czechs and Slovaks at the Polish Army’s side in September 1939
The 85th anniversary of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia

On the morning of 15 March 1939, German troops entered the western parts of Czecho-Slovakia, beginning the country’ s occupation. The next day, Hitler arrived in Prague and announced the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia “under the protection” of the Third Reich. As a result of German pressure, Slovakia declared state sovereignty...

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Polishhistory is an online project of the Polish History Museum in Warsaw. It is primarily addressed to all those interested in Polish and Central European history. Our aim is to build a community consisting of those professionally involved in research and of those interested in the outcomes of research, essentially, all lovers of history. The...