On 6 February 1989, the Round Table discussions began. During those negotiations, representatives of the Communist authorities and the Solidarity opposition sought common ground for further action. In large part, they discussed political issues, but not only: they talked as well about the economy, administring justice, ecology, even housing policy. This agreement became possible thanks…
Forty two years ago, on the night of 12 to 13 December 1981, martial law was imposed in Poland. General Wojciech Jaruzelski – simultaneously Chairman of the Communist party, Prime Minister and Minister of Defence – established a military dictatorship and entered the final confrontation with the ten-million-strong trade union, ‘Solidarity’. by Tomasz Kozłowski …
World history is written mainly by Western historians from the perspective of the experiences of their own countries and nations. Thus some topics like the suffering and scale of the destruction of Polish lands during the First World War are almost absent in historical narratives or journalism, says Prof. Andrzej Chwalba, a historian from the…
The Battle of Warsaw, presented as a breakthrough in the history of the world, does justice to its significance, because it really determined the fact that for nineteen years the region of Central and Eastern Europe could develop a system of independent states, says historian Prof. Andrzej Nowak from the Jagiellonian University and the Polish…
It was not until late July 1944 that the decision had been taken to fight an uprising against the German occupation forces in Warsaw. Prior to that, commanders of the Home Army had no intention of taking military action in Warsaw, wishing to avoid war damage and the suffering of civilians. by Łukasz Wojtach …
“Prague Spring” is a journalistic description of the events in Czechoslovakia in 1968 when the communist party made an independent attempt at reform. They sought to modernize the party and make it more efficient, as well as liberalize its policy. They also wanted to democratize the country, although the word itself – at least in…
