Although representative assemblies are usually seen as a product of modern liberal democracy, their heritage was formed much earlier, as early as the 16th and 17th centuries. How did early modern parliamentary culture make its mark on culture and what can it tell us about contemporary representative institutions? These, among others, will be the subject…
What can art or products of material culture tell us about parliamentary culture? How was early modern parliamentary culture reflected in cultural heritage sites and what conclusions can modern parliaments draw from early modern parliamentarism? These issues are discussed by Paulina Kewes, Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, who is Principal Investigator…
“Until Piłsudski’s assumption of this title, the title of marshal did not exist in the Polish military tradition”, says Professor Włodzimierz Suleja. How did it happen that Józef Piłsudski became First Marshal of the independent Poland? Józef Piłsudski is one of the most distinguished figures involved in the restoration of sovereignty after the First…
The development of a new political landscape in Central Europe after World War I was by no means something temporary. About probably the most difficult moments in the modern history of Poland and about the irrationality of a fragmented history we talk to Professor Andrzej Chwalba. polishhistory: How did Poland in 1919 differ from other countries…
The fate of Stanisław Maczek and his soldiers was a bitter one. The only places where for decades, memory strongly survived about Maczek and his men, were Belgium and the Netherlands. Why? Read our review with Dr. Łukasz Wolak! polishhistory: Stanisław Maczek seems to be one of the most famous and most highly respected Poles…
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…
