polishhistory: In the spring of 1940, the Soviet secret police committed an unprecedented crime by secretly murdering nearly 22,000 Polish citizens. What place does this tragedy occupy in Polish national memory? Professor Tadeusz Wolsza: The Katyń massacre permanently, painfully, and deeply entered into our national history. Each subsequent anniversary is accompanied by new editions of…
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…
Walery Sławek, conspirator, intelligence officer, and thrice Poland’s prime minister. When a bomb exploded in his hands, he lost his left eye, the hearing in one ear and several fingers. Two years later, his fiancée died, leaving him a bachelor until the end of his days. As a politician, he used to say that “it…
My book deals primarily with the continuity of social relations. The most striking thing about this ‘long duration’ turns out to be the fact that the mechanisms of domination and the relations of subordination of ‘the people’ to the ‘elite’ are more durable than even the most revolutionary and drastic changes. You can change…
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…
Tadeusz Kościuszko dedicated his life to tolerance and liberty for all. He was a man ahead of his time and led by setting an example that we should all try to follow – says Alex Storozynski. Tadeusz Kościuszko is an extraordinary historical figure – a hero of two nations, Poland and the United…
