Poland reborn after the First World War faced a host of challenges. In particular, the issue of the nature of the constitution provoked a heated debate in the country. The overriding aim of the Act was not only to consolidate the state after the years of partition, but also to create a solid foundation for…
From the spring of 1942, in the territory of the General Government (GG), German policy towards the Jewish population entered a phase of mass deportations to extermination centres. These actions, carried out under the code name ‘Operation Reinhardt’, aimed at the extermination of all Jews in the GG area. Among the few who escaped deportation…
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…
The grand opening of the Zamoyski Academy took place on 15 March 1595. This first Polish private university was located in a city purposefully built to reflect Renaissance ideals. by Piotr Bejrowski Zamość is a unique city on a global scale, and was planned in accordance with the principles of the Renaissance “ideal city”….
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…
In 1853, Ignacy Łukasiewicz was the first to distill kerosene from crude oil and use it to illuminate a pharmacy and then an operating theater in a hospital in Lwów. A year later, Łukasiewicz established an oil company and began extracting it from Bóbrka near Krosno, from what is now the oldest industrial crude oil…
