14 June 1940 the first mass transport to the German Concentration Camp in Auschwitz took place. The vast majority of the 728 men were Polish political prisoners. Overall, the group consisted of members of the resistance movement; social and political activists arrested under AB Aktion, Catholic clergy, and a small group of Jews. Every one…
The National Ossoliński Institute is fundamental to Polish culture. With its 200 year history, the Institute’s collection needs special care and this is not always an easy task. Director Adolf Juzwenko talks about the history of Ossolineum and his own contribution to its development. polishhistory: Ossolineum is an extremely distinguished institution in Poland. And…
Jack Fairweather, author of a best-selling biography of Witold Pilecki – “The Volunteer” – tells about the Polish hero’s life. Describing Pilecki’s fate, he tells a story of remarkable, brave man living in hard times, whose message is still important and still inspires. Witold Pilecki is currently widely known in Poland, although his story…
The beginnings of the Polish state have received a lot of attention, and this period still raises many questions and doubts. How did people live in Poland a thousand years ago? How could Krakow become the cradle of the Piast state? What was the role of Mieszko I’s baptism? And what do we actually know…
Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, in one drop, which incorporated his personal experience from the camp near Arkhangelsk, revealed the ocean of evil of the Soviet system, says Prof. Andrzej Nowak, a historian from the Jagiellonian University. Polish Press Agency: How did Gustaw Herling-Grudziński and other writers from his generation contribute to understanding the nature of communism?…
The main message of Sukiennicki’s biography is intellectual independence won even at the price of marginalisation and isolation, fidelity to the belief that research can show the truth about the world, says Professor Sławomir Łukasiewicz. polishhistory.pl: Wiktor Sukiennicki is a figure of great merit for Sovietology and the understanding of the functioning of the…
