After 1940
Joseph Stalin at the 1943 Tehran Conference discussed with Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt new post-war borders in central-eastern Europe, including the shape of future Poland. He endorsed the Piast Concept to justify a massive postwar shift of Poland's frontiers to the West. After discussions over many months, Britain and the United States agreed with Stalin on the new borders, but the Polish government-in-exile remained opposed. [4]
After 1945 the Communist government adopted the Piast Concept, using it to support their claim that they were champions of Polish national interests. [5] Calling the newly acquired formerly German territory "Recovered Territories", the Communist regime made an effort to justify the acquisition in terms of the Piast Concept. [6] [7]
After the Communist regime ended, Poland pursued a western-orientated foreign policy, in line with the ideas of the Piast Concept. [8]
The history of Poland spans over a thousand years, from medieval tribes, Christianization and monarchy; through Poland's Golden Age, expansionism and becoming one of the largest European powers; to its collapse and partitions, two world wars, communism, and the restoration of democracy.
Roman Stanisław Dmowski was a Polish politician, statesman, and co-founder and chief ideologue of the National Democracy political movement. He saw the Germanization of Polish territories controlled by the German Empire as the major threat to Polish culture and therefore advocated a degree of accommodation with another power that had partitioned Poland, the Russian Empire. He favoured the re-establishment of Polish independence by nonviolent means and supported policies favourable to the Polish middle class. While in Paris during World War I, he was a prominent spokesman for Polish aspirations to the Allies through his Polish National Committee. He was an instrumental figure in the postwar restoration of Poland's independent existence. Throughout most of his life, he was the chief ideological opponent of the Polish military and political leader Józef Piłsudski and of the latter's vision of Poland as a multinational federation against German and Russian imperialism.
National Democracy was a Polish political movement active from the second half of the 19th century under the foreign partitions of the country until the end of the Second Polish Republic. It ceased to exist after the German–Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939. In its long history, National Democracy went through several stages of development. Created with the intention of promoting the fight for Poland's sovereignty against the repressive imperial regimes, the movement acquired its right-wing nationalist character following the return to independence. A founder and principal ideologue was Roman Dmowski. Other ideological fathers of the movement included Zygmunt Balicki and Jan Ludwik Popławski.
Józef Oleksy was a Polish left-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 7 March 1995 to 7 February 1996, when he resigned due to espionage allegations. He was chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance.
Rafał Kuczynski, better known by his stage name Human Error, is a Polish electronic record producer. He mostly works in the ambient music genre and produces only with a computer. Human Error's first songs were made around 2000, and his first official album was released in 2002 by Requiem Records.
The viola organista is a musical instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci. It uses a friction belt to vibrate individual strings, with the strings selected by pressing keys on a keyboard. Leonardo's design has intrigued instrument makers for more than 400 years, but though similar instruments have been built, no extant instrument constructed directly from Leonardo's incomplete designs is known. Sometimes it is mistakenly referred to as the harpsichord viola, which is a different instrument.
György Schöpflin was a Hungarian politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Hungary. He was a member of Fidesz, part of the European People's Party.
The All-Polish Youth refers to two inter-linked Polish far-right ultranationalist youth organizations, with a Catholic-nationalist philosophy. Its agenda declares that its aim is "to raise Polish youth in a Catholic and patriotic spirit".
Stanisław Grabski was a Polish economist and politician associated with the National Democracy political camp. As the top Polish negotiator during the Peace of Riga talks in 1921, Grabski greatly influenced the future of Poland and the Soviet Union.
Mikołaj Trąba, of Trąby coat of arms, was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, Royal Notary from 1390, Deputy Chancellor of the Crown 1403–12, bishop of Halicz 1410–12, archbishop of Gniezno from 1412, and first primate of Poland 1417–22.
Polish nationalism was a nationalism which asserted that the Polish people were a nation and which affirmed the cultural unity of Poles. British historian of Poland Norman Davies defines nationalism as "a doctrine ... to create a nation by arousing people's awareness of their nationality, and to mobilize their feelings into a vehicle for political action."
The Recovered Territories or Regained Lands, also known as the Western Borderlands, and previously as the Western and Northern Territories, Postulated Territories and Returning Territories, are the former eastern territories of Germany and the Free City of Danzig that became part of Poland after World War II, at which time most of their German inhabitants were forcibly deported.
The Polish People's Republic pursued a policy of agricultural collectivization throughout the Stalinist regime period, from 1948 until the liberalization during Gomułka's thaw of 1956. However, Poland was the unique country in the Eastern Bloc where large-scale collectivization failed to take root. A legacy of collectivization in Poland was the network of inefficient State Agricultural Farms (PGRs), many of which can still be seen in the countryside of modern Poland, especially in its northern and western provinces.
The Kamień Pomorski homeless hostel fire occurred in north-western Poland on 13 April 2009. The fire occurred during the night at a three-story homeless hostel in Kamień Pomorski, a town situated approximately 60 kilometres or 37 miles from the German border. 23 people, including 13 children, were pronounced dead, with a further 20 sustaining an injury of some sort. It was Poland's deadliest fire since a conflagration destroyed a home for the mentally ill in Górna Grupa in 1980 claiming the lives of 55 victims.
The National-Democratic Party was a secret political party created in 1897 in the Russian Partition of Poland by the National League, a conspirational Polish organization active in all three partitions. SND rejected the idea of armed struggle for Poland's sovereignty similar to Polish Positivists. Instead, SDN focused on non-violent opposition and legislative attempts at trying to stop the wholesale Russification and Germanization of the Poles ever since the Polish language was banned in the Russian partition in reprisal for the January Uprising. This however meant also rejecting cooperation with the linguistic and ethnic minorities living in the Empire such as Jews and Ukrainians who did not reciprocate the same sentiment. SDN was founded by Roman Dmowski, Jan Ludwik Popławski, and Zygmunt Balicki, to represent the National Democracy movement at elections. It was a political opponent of the Polish Socialist Party advocating armed resistance.
Around 6 million Polish citizens perished during World War II: about one fifth of the pre-war population. Most were civilian victims of the war crimes and crimes against humanity during the occupation by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Approximately half were Polish Jews killed in The Holocaust. Statistics for Polish World War II casualties are divergent and contradictory. This article provides a summarization of these estimates of Poland's human losses in the war and their causes.
The Roman Dmowski Monument in Warsaw is a bronze statue, 5 meters tall, of Polish politician Roman Dmowski in Warsaw, on Na Rozdrożu Square at the intersection of Szuch and Ujazdów Avenues. It was unveiled on 10 November 2006. The statue holds a copy of the Treaty of Versailles and carries a quotation from Dmowski's book: "I am a Pole, so I have Polish duties...". The monument has been controversial.
The United Left was a political and electoral alliance of political parties in Poland.
Poland–Sweden relations are historical and bilateral relations between Poland and Sweden. Both countries are separated by the Baltic Sea and have had a very long historical contact. They have also survived several conflicts between the two countries as well. At the beginning of the 20th century, Poland and Sweden enjoyed a close relationship, which was interrupted by the Soviet and German invasion of Poland, which started World War II. After the war, both re-established relations and Sweden has become the largest economic contributor for Poland among the Nordic countries. Both Poland and Sweden are members of the EU, NATO, OECD, OSCE, Council of the Baltic Sea States, HELCOM, Council of Europe and the World Trade Organization. There are over 90,000 Poles in Sweden and residents from both countries visit each other frequently. Sweden has given full support to Poland's membership of the European Union. Poland strongly supported Sweden's NATO membership.
Jan Krzysztof Żaryn is a Polish historian, professor and politician, who was a Senator in the Senate of Poland from 2015 to 2019.
