When the First World War ended, the independent Polish state was born. However, although the state was formally established, its borders were still far from being determined. This was not an easy process, as there were various political, ethnic, historical and economic arguments that needed to be taken into consideration. At certain points, some of…
On 13 November 1939, the Union of Armed Struggle, or ZWZ [Związek Walki Zbrojnej] was established at the newly established seat of the Polish government-in-exile in Paris. The Union was the first underground army in what would soon be occupied Europe. The task of the Union was to fight the two occupying forces. When thinking…
When exactly 106 years ago, on 11 November 1918, the military operations ceased and the armistice ended the Great War the world was waiting for the accords of the peace conference which was to be held soon to determine the future of the world. A question remains: what did the main victorious powers offer Poland?…
It was a breakthrough for the whole of Central and Eastern Europe. On 10 November 1980, Polish Supreme Court approved the legalization of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union ‘Solidarity’. It was the first truly independent labor union in a Soviet bloc country. by Tomasz Kozłowski In the summer of 1980, the greatest wave of…
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…
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…
