During the partitions of Poland, St. Petersburg recognized that it was impossible to erase Polish culture or to turn Poles into Russians. However, a few Russian officials (or tsars) thought that Poles/Catholics could never be fully loyal. That was the paradox of russification – says Professor Theodore Weeks. Nowadays, Poles and Russians are both…
Ignacy Matuszewski was the type of politician who is almost extinct in our country. He was the kind of man who wished to learn something new everyday, assessed each situation in shades of gray and looked for ways to make Poland stronger. His style distinguishes him from other journalists of the interwar and emigration period…
There was a mass absolution in East Germany of its Nazi past, says Wolfgang Templin, former director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Warsaw and recepient of the European Solidarity Centre Medal in 2010. It’s just that only those acknowledging the Communist interpretation of history were absolved. Mikołaj Mirowski: First came the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, then…
An interview with professor Grzegorz Berendt, deputy director of the Museum of the Second World War, a state cultural institution established in 2008 and a museum in Gdańsk, devoted to the Second World War, about present-day perceptions of and research about that war, on the 80th anniversary of its outbreak. Polishhistory: The Second World War…
The history of Warsaw still raises many questions, especially if we look at it through the prism of today’s experiences. Błażej Brzostek, author of the book “Wstecz. Historia Warszawy do początku” (“Backwards. A history of Warsaw to the beginning”) talks about the changing directions of the city’s development, giving historical understanding of the capital city…
“I am the Polish manor house, which fights bravely and loyally stands on guard,” was written above the entrance to a manor in Pęcice in the Masovian region. This short sentence, like no other, seems to contain the key to the importance of the manors of the Polish noble and landed gentry. To begin with,…
