Jan Sehn. Poland’s forgotten Nazi hunter
An interview with Dr. Filip Gańczak, author of the book Jan Sehn. Tropiciel nazistów (Jan Sehn – Tracking the Nazis)

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...

Saint Adalbert: Martyr and patron Saint of Poland
The 1028th anniversary of Saint Adalbert’s death

Born Vojtěch of Slavník, St Adalbert served as bishop of Prague until he came to Poland from the court of Emperor Otto III as a missionary, and eventual martyr. On 23 April 997, this first Slavic saint was killed during the conversion of the Prussians to the Christian faith. by Piotr Bejrowski He was born...

Olga Boznańska: The painter of souls
(15 April 1865 – 26 October 1940)

Olga Boznańska is one of the most important artists of the 19th and early 20th Century, famous for her original style and boundless devotion to art. She was born in Krakow, the daughter of engineer Adam Boznański, Nowina coat of arms, and Eugénie Mondan, of French origin, on 15 April 1865. by Piotr Bejrowski  ...

Katyń – the place where the Polish elite met its end
Interview with Professor Tadeusz Wolsza

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...

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...

Karol Szymanowski: the father of 20th-century Polish music
A man who invented a musical language

‘Let it be “national” but not “provincial”,’ – this is what Karol Szymanowski wrote in 1920 (‘Uwagi w sprawie współczesnej opinii muzycznej w Polsce’, trans. ‘Remarks on contemporary musical opinion in Poland’), referring to the desired shape of new Polish music and weaving it into the space of widely understood universal humanism. During the inter-war...

Penderecki: an avant-garde man with a passion for music and trees
in the memory of Krzysztof Penderecki

“I am mostly scared of the moment when I feel that I have planted all the trees or I have written all the pieces, but I am far from this – I still have plans,” he stated on his 80th birthday. Krzysztof Penderecki, one of the world’s greatest contemporary composers, died on 29 March at...

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...

Who Was the Famous Stańczyk from Jan Matejko’s Painting?
A masterpiece by a 24-year-old painter

At the court of Queen Bona Sforza, the party is in full swing. The royal jester is the only one to see the approaching disaster… by Michał Haake   Jesters bring pleasure, jokes, fun and laughter to others, ‘as if this is what the grace of God sent them here for, to cheer up the...

'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...

Cursed Soldiers, a rural vengeance war
Interview with Tomasz Łabuszewski, a researcher on the postwar anti-communist underground

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,...

Wojciech Kilar: not just film music
(17 July 1932 – 29 December 2013)

If one were to search for the distinguishing feature in Wojciech Kilar’s music among the achievements of other eminent 20th-century Polish musicians, one could point to its diversity. For Kilar was not only the author of numerous, well-known and appreciated musical film illustrations – through the prism of which he is mostly remembered today –...

Jan Szczepanik, a genius from Galicia

Teacher and inventor Jan Szczepanik is also known, in what is perhaps a slight exaggeration, as the “Polish Edison” or the “Galician Leonardo da Vinci”. Although he was self-taught and had no technical background, he created several hundred inventions and technical solutions that contributed to the development of television, photography, film and the textile industry....

A ration card for survival - rationing in Communist Poland

“Do you know what a Polish sandwich looks like? Two slices of bread and a ration card for the meat in between.” That was how Hungarians used to joke around in the 1980s. However, Poles did not feel like laughing at the time. To buy sugar, cigarettes, shoes, petrol and many other goods they needed...

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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...