Marian Kukiel’s oeuvre is one of the milestones of Polish military historiography. Together with Wacław Tokarz, Marian Kukiel was a co-founder of this discipline. His monumental work on the War of 1812 is an important contribution to European Napoleonic studies. The researcher’s qualities included versatility and diligence. He was a soldier, politician and promoter of…
Henryk Sienkiewicz was often described as a writer who wrote “to comfort” his readers, but his prose offered much more than literary solace during the times of Poland’s subjugation. Sienkiewicz combined gripping narratives with profound reflections on history and identity, creating works that have become indelibly embedded in the collective imagination of Poles. by Piotr…
On the night of 2-3 May 1921, the Third Silesian Uprising broke out. As a result of the two-month-long fighting, Poland was granted a much larger part of Upper Silesia and most of the area’s mines, steel mills and other industrial plants. In the summer of 1922, units of the Polish Army entered the territory…
He is best known for his collaboration with Polish director Roman Polański, for whom he composed music for a number of films, such as Knife in the Water and Rosemary’s Baby, both recognized by the American Film Academy. The poignant lullaby theme from the latter, hummed by Mia Farrow, has become one of the most…
A blonde, her eyes were blue, her complexion unusually white. She was not very tall, but shapely and with a delightful figure.’ Such was the description of Marie Walewska’s appearance by Napoleon’s butler. The Polish woman was to captivate the ‘god of war’ from their very first meeting. According to many researchers, Marie Walewska was…
The ordeal of Polish Army officers, policemen, prison and forest guards, intelligence and counter-intelligence agents as well as Polish administrative staff in the Easter Borderlands began on 17 September 1939. It was then that the Red Army invaded Poland, belatedly implementing the arrangements of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939. Soviet captivity awaited around…
