Marian Małowist and Witold Kula: Polish leading figures of world historiography

Historians were highly interested in economic history in the mid-20th century. At that time, a number of fundamental studies were published, and discussions on economic matters were printed in the most prestigious historical periodicals. In fact, one historian of socio-economic history, Fernand Braudel, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Economics. Two Polish academics, Marian…


Sigismund II Augustus: a Renaissance portrait of a melancholic man

It seems he basked in the full glory of the Polish “golden age” from the moment of his birth. The firstborn, long-awaited royal son, and heir to the largest state in Central and Eastern Europe, almost a million kilometers long and stretching (it strokes Poles’ ego, this phrase, and we will hear more of it)…


Władysław Szpilman: How did the pianist survive the war?

Władysław Szpilman is currently the most well-known of the Warsaw Robinsons. How did he survive in German-occupied Warsaw? by Michał Studniarek   In 1939, Władysław Szpilman resided in the center of Warsaw on Śliska Street with his parents, Samuel and Edwarda, his brother Henryk and his two sisters – Regina and Halina. Władysław was working…


Maria Skłodowska-Curie: The Star Of Radioactivity

She broke the glass ceiling. Maria Skłodowska-Curie was the first woman professor at the Sorbonne and the only woman to receive the Nobel Prize twice. The price of her scientific achievements was huge – permanent insomnia, unbearable pain in her muscles and joints, and weight loss. by Jan Hlebowicz   Maria Skłodowska came from a…


The murder of Lwów professors

Among those murdered in Lwów by German troops in July 1941 were eminent mathematicians, pioneers of modern medicine, engineers, and university rectors. The murder of Polish scientists has become a symbol of fanaticism and hatred. by Piotr Abryszeński   The destruction of the Polish intelligentsia On 28 September 1939, the Third Reich and the Soviet…


Sławomir Mrożek: Cowboy and Dadaist

His prose was more difficult to translate than the poetry of the most hermetic poets, because he referred to the fabric of wit, of local absurdities and peculiarities. Despite this, he hit the stages around the world, becoming one of the most famous Polish writers of the 20th century. Bitter, ironic, and ruthless to himself…


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