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...

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...

Lwów is a city with a rebellious nature
An interview with Dr. Damian Markowski

Multi-nationality is an integral part of the landscape of Central and Eastern Europe. I really wished to avoid writing a one-dimensional book based on one narrative, even if it coincided with the way my compatriots would like to see the events of 1918 in Lwów, says Damian Markowski, the author of the book about Polish-Ukrainian...

'We Demand the Truth about Katyn!'
the Katyn Massacre as a Subject Taken up by the Opposition in Post-War Communist-Ruled Poland

Recalling the Katyn Massacre was an important aspect of the activities of the democratic opposition in the Polish People’s Republic (PRL), one of the reasons being the subject’s high importance for society back then. by Grzegorz Majchrzak   This is best exemplified by the fact that a booklet by Ryszard Zieliński entitled ‘Katyń’ was the...

State-formation as an organized crime or local appropriation of heavenly Jerusalem?
The Polish Case Study in the late 10th–early 11th Centuries

This set of three essays is meant for the broader public and was prepared during a Humboldt Research Fellowship at the University of Regensburg. Those who prefer academic prose are advised to consult the scholarly article: “Medieval Liturgy and the Making of Poland. A Study in Early Medieval Political Identification (c. 960s–c.1030s)”. I share in...

Antoni Patek and the most expensive watches in the world
Creator of one of the most famous watchmaker companies

The 19th century Polish insurgent and immigrant Antoni Patek was a pioneer in the industrial production of watches. Patek, the company he founded and which has been in the hands of another family for years, has been producing some of the best and most expensive watches in the world for almost two centuries. by Piotr...

Nicolaus Copernicus: A Renaissance man and his contribution to the development of modern science
The 550th anniversary of birthday

The man who ‘stopped the sun, moved the earth’ was not only an astronomer, but also an economist, lawyer, translator, doctor, mathematician and cartographer. He is known primarily as a creator of the heliocentric system theory, a breakthrough in science and a radical shift of the world view of that time. by Piotr Bejrowski  ...

Joachim Lelewel: a bibliophile whom others followed to the barricades
The 236th 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...

Tolerance in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a ‘state without the stake’
Tradition of religious freedom in Poland

The Europe of stakes – this is the term that can be used to describe most of our continent in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Reformation took on many different faces, and the paths leading to what was most important for Europeans at the time, namely salvation, proved to be not only different and...
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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...
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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...
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The roads to (an independent) Belarus

105th 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,...
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Piłsudski (Un)known: History and Pop Culture

book by the Polish History Museum

A brilliant strategist or a risk taker who was incurable but got lucky at a few key moments? A man of compromise, capable of coping with the greatest opponents when national interests demanded it, or an authoritative autocrat instead? A supporter of democracy, both radical and sincere, or a conservative at heart who readily found...

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The Battle of Warsaw 1920-2020

17 August 2020
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The Battle of Warsaw 1920-2020
The Second World War and its Consequences from the Perspective of 75 Years since its End. Panel 2
The Second World War and its Consequences from the Perspective of 75 Years since its End. Panel 1
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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...
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