Maximilian Maria Kolbe – organizer, monk, and saint
80th anniversary of the deportation of Father Maksymilian Maria Kolbe to KL Auschwitz

Maximilian Maria Kolbe is a symbol of faith and sacrifice for many Poles. His decision to sacrifice his life for a fellow prisoner is a heroic example of humanity during inhuman times. by Piotr Abryszeński   As an adult, Maximilian Kolbe recalled that when he was a boy he had experienced a vision of the...

Stefan Żeromski: The conscience of the nation
(14 October 1864 – 20 November 1925)

He spent the last months of his life in an apartment in the Royal Castle in Warsaw provided by the president. It was a truly unique way to honor this extraordinary writer, making Żeromski equal to the kings who once ruled the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Stefan Żeromski certainly deserved such honors. by Tomasz Starzewski   Żeromski...

Helena Modrzejewska. The brightest theater star
(12 October 1840 – 8 April 1909)

Helena Modjeska (or rather: Modrzejewska) became a theater legend during her lifetime. An outstanding actress and Polish patriot, she was widely esteemed and her talent admired. by Piotr Bejrowski   Born on 12 October 1840 in Krakow, Jadwiga Helena Mise was the illegitimate daughter of the wealthy widow Józefa Benda. From an early age, she...

Józef Unrug: honour above all
(7 October 1884 – 28 February 1973)

Born into a family of German origin, he spoke with a strong accent until the end of his life. However, when he was taken prisoner during the Second World War, he was persuaded to go over to the side of the Third Reich. Rear Admiral Józef Unrug replied briefly: ‘On 1 September 1939, I forgot...

General Władysław Sikorski's appeal to the Polish People (6 October 1939)

The appeal from 6 October 1939 was made in one of the most dramatic moments in the Polish history. The Polish Army had been completely defeated over the previous month. Poland was being attacked from the west, north and south by the Third Reich and from the east by the Soviet Army, which made it...

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska and the cult of Divine Mercy
On Divine Mercy Sunday

The cult of Divine Mercy, which has its roots in Poland, is one of the most important and widespread forms of Catholic devotion both at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. The character of the cult is undoubtedly universal – whether in Latin America or Japan, Australia or Poland...

Escape of ORP ‘Orzeł’
The Mystery of the Polish Submarine

She was the most modern submarine in the Baltic. How did it happen that ORP ‘Orzeł’ (Polish for: Eagle) had to escape from the Tallinn harbour and, above all, how did her secret journey to the UK pan out? by Daniel Czerwiński   ‘Orzeł’ enters service ORP ‘Orzeł’ made its first appearance in Gdynia on...

Stanisław Lem: Visionary of Science and the Human Experience
(12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006)

Stanisław Lem remains one of the most important and most widely read science fiction writers in the world. His books have been translated into dozens of languages, with a combined circulation of over 30 million copies. Although fascinated with technology, he warned against its detrimental impact on human existence. by Jan Hlebowicz   Born on...

Rudolf Weigl. The man who defeated typhus
The phenomenon of Rudolf Weigl’s invention

He was not born Polish, but became a Pole by choice. Rudolf Weigl was a pioneer in using lice to breed typhus germs and the creator of the first effective vaccine against this terrible disease. by Piotr Abryszeński   Rudolf Weigl was born in Moravia to an Austrian family on 2 September 1883. After his...

Stanisław Żółkiewski: Between Military Service and Private Interests
Stanisław Żółkiewski’s career and heroic death

On the night from 6 to 7 October 1620, a seventy-three-year-old Crown Grand Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski perished on the battlefield in the last act of a drama that had begun a month prior. At the beginning of September, amid growing political tensions between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, the Hetman entered Moldavia –...

What's your emblem?
Short history of Poland's Coat of arms

We all know the poem by Władysław Bełza, “The Catechism of a Polish Child,” written in 1900, and we will all reply without a second thought: the white eagle. Still, it would not come amiss to wonder: why the eagle? by Beata Wolszczak   The legendary  Lech had resolved to settle in the flatlands, where...

The Battle of Khotyn (Chocim): defeat, victory, and regicide
The 402th anniversary of the battle

There have been few wars in the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth so short and so full of sensational twists and turns. by Michał Wasiucionek   The story of the short but bloody Khotyn War (1620–1621) was full of dramatic twists and turns: from the unexpected and overwhelming defeat of the Crown army at Țuțora...

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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...