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…
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,…
The first years of the reign of Stanisław II Augustus, who was elected king in September 1764, abounded in events that polarized the political life of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Close to the king, the reformatory political faction called Familia was centered on representatives of the magnate families of Czartoryski and Poniatowski. The direction of the…
The question posed in the title is provocative, but it also refers to a special episode in history. Two states, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Electorate of Saxony, whose history, traditions, political systems, and social relations had been different until 1697, and which did not even share a common border, became united in a personal…
We talk to Professor Rafał Habielski about the recently published correspondence of Stanisław Cat-Mackiewicz, the difficulties and challenges he encountered as a journalist and what makes his letters unprecedented in the history of Polish literature. “Cat’s Versions” are a record of the obstacles Cat-Mackiewicz encountered in his private life as well as his reflections…
The uprising of 1846, also known as the Kraków Uprising, was one of the most tragical Polish uprisings. Drawing inspiration for their acts from the Polish Democratic Society (Towarzystwo Demokratyczne Polskie, TDP), the insurgents were preparing their attacks in all three annexed territories at the same time. They wanted to rouse the Polish peasantry to…
