Demands of the striking crews of factory workers and the enterprises represented by the Inter-Factory Strike Committee

Communism, which was imposed on Poland in 1945, elicited society’s opposition and resistance. The economic crisis that was becoming increasingly severe in Poland from the mid-1970s, coupled with the growing consolidation of opposition milieux, led to an outbreak of societal discontent in the summer of 1980. Initially, the protests were characterized by uncoordinated strikes in…


Union of Krewo (Act of Kreva)

This document, known as the Union of Krewo (also, the Act of Kreva), was issued on August 14, 1385 by  Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila), Grand Duke of Lithuania, as the outcome of the negotiations he had conducted with the Polish lords acting on behalf of the child queen Jadwiga (Hedwig), and Jadwiga’s mother  Elżbieta Bośniaczka (Elisabeth…


Protest!

“Protest!” is a leaflet written by Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, a Polish novelist, social activist and co-founder of the underground Catholic organisation Front for the Rebirth of Poland (Front Odrodzenia Polski, FOP). Illegally distributed on 11 August 1942, the pamphlet called for solidarity with the Jews who were subjected to brutal terror. On 22 July 1942, the…


Tadeusz Rejtan, Polish voice of objection

Becoming a national hero because one decided to obey the rules of parliamentary procedure? Being shown on innumerable stamps and posters, and what is more – becoming a part of a proverb? (“Kłaść się Rejtanem” means literally “to lie down like Rejtan”, but metaphorically – “to oppose something strongly”). Indeed this is what happened to…


Famous historian Helene Carrere d'Encausse is dead

French historian Helene Carrere d’Encausse, 94, died in Paris on Saturday. She was the first woman to head the French Academy. She specialized in Russian subjects. Born in 1929, Helene Carrere d’Encausse came from a family of Georgian emigrants who fled to the West during the Bolshevik Revolution. She received French citizenship in 1950. She…



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