Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska, is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate culture featuring diverse architecture, folk costumes, dances, cuisine, traditions and a rare Lesser Polish dialect. The region is rich in historical landmarks, monuments, castles, natural scenery and UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
A voivodeship is the area administered by a voivode (Governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval states, much as the title of voivode was equivalent to that of a duke. Other roughly equivalent titles and areas in medieval Eastern Europe included ban and banate.
Kielce Voivodeship is a former unit of administrative division and the local government in Poland. It was originally formed during Poland's return to independence in the aftermath of World War One, and recreated within the new Polish borders after the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War Two.
The Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in years 1975-1998, superseded in parts by Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship and Lublin Voivodeship. Its capital city was Tarnobrzeg, albeit the major city in the region was Stalowa Wola.
Tarnobrzeg is a city in south-eastern Poland, on the east bank of the river Vistula, with 49,419 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship since 1999, it had previously been the capital of Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship (1975–1998). Tarnobrzeg lies in the Sandomierz Basin, and directly borders the town of Sandomierz, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. Its history dates back to the year 1593, when it was granted Magdeburg rights, and belonged to the Tarnowski family. For centuries Tarnobrzeg remained a small town, which did not develop until the post-World War II period, when it became center of an industrial area, based on rich sulfur deposits.
Operation Tempest was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II against occupying German forces by the Polish Home Army, the dominant force in the Polish resistance.
Dębica is a town in southeastern Poland with 46,693 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. It is the capital of Dębica County. Since 1999 it has been situated in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship; it had previously been in the Tarnów Voivodeship (1975–1998). Dębica belongs to the historic province of Lesser Poland, and for centuries it was part of the Sandomierz Voivodeship.
Sandomierz Voivodeship was a unit of administration and local government in Poland from the 14th century to the partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. It was part of the Lesser Poland region. Originally Sandomierz Voivodeship also covered the area around Lublin, but in 1474 its three eastern counties were organized into Lublin Voivodeship. In the 16th century, it had 374 parishes, 100 towns and 2586 villages. The voivodeship was based on the Sandomerz ziemia, which earlier was the Duchy of Sandomierz. The Duchy of Sandomierz was created in 1138 by King Bolesław III Wrymouth, who in his testament divided Poland into five principalities. One of them, with the capital at Sandomierz, was assigned to Krzywousty's son, Henry of Sandomierz. Later on, with southern part of the Seniorate Province, the Duchy of Sandomierz created Lesser Poland, divided into Kraków and Sandomierz Voivodeships.
The Central Industrial District, is an industrial region in Poland. It was one of the biggest economic projects of the Second Polish Republic. The 5-year-long project was initiated by a famous Polish economist, deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Treasury, Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski. Its goal was to create a heavy industrial center in the middle of the country, as far as possible from any borders, strengthen the Polish economy and reduce unemployment. The four-year plan for the development of COP was scheduled from 1 September 1936 until 30 July 1940 and was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War and the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. Nonetheless, the COP project succeeded in vastly expanding Polish industry, and after the end of the war in 1945 COP was rebuilt and expanded under the People's Republic of Poland.
Radom County is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat is the city of Radom, although the city is not part of the county. The county contains three towns: Pionki, 22 km (14 mi) north-east of Radom, Iłża, 27 km (17 mi) south of Radom, and Skaryszew, 12 km (7 mi) south-east of Radom.
In the summer of 1939, weeks ahead of the Nazi German and Soviet invasion of Poland the map of both Europe and Poland looked very different from today. The railway network of interwar Poland had little in common with the postwar reality of dramatically changing borders and political domination of the Soviet-style communism, as well as the pre-independence German, Austrian and Russian networks which the Second Polish Republic had partially inherited in 1918 after the end of World War I. The most important junctions in the Polish territory in summer of 1939 were:
Sandomierz County is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Sandomierz, which lies 83 kilometres (52 mi) east of the regional capital Kielce. The county also contains the towns of Koprzywnica, lying 16 km (10 mi) south-west of Sandomierz, and Zawichost, 16 km (10 mi) north-east of Sandomierz.
Opoczno County is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Łódź Voivodeship, south-east Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Opoczno, which lies 72 kilometres (45 mi) south-east of the regional capital Łódź. The only other town in the county is Drzewica, lying 15 km (9 mi) north-east of Opoczno.
Kielce Voivodeship - a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in years 1921–1939. At that time, it covered northern counties of the historic province of Lesser Poland, including such cities as Radom, Częstochowa and Sosnowiec. On April 1, 1938, its borders changed, see: Territorial changes of Polish Voivodeships on April 1, 1938. Capital city: Kielce.
Kraków Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in years 1919–1939. Back then, it covered a big chunk of the southern part of the country, including such cities as Kraków, Jaworzno and Tarnów. Capital city: Kraków.
Congress Poland was subdivided several times from its creation in 1815 until its dissolution in 1918. Congress Poland was divided into departments, a relic from the times of the French-dominated Duchy of Warsaw. In 1816 the administrative divisions were changed to forms that were more traditionally Polish: voivodeships, obwóds and powiats. Following the November Uprising, the subdivisions were again changed in 1837 to bring the subdivisions closer to the structure of the Russian Empire when guberniyas (governorates) were introduced. In this way, Congress Poland was gradually transformed into the "Vistulan Country". Over the next several decades, various smaller reforms were carried out, either changing the smaller administrative units or merging/splitting various guberniyas.
Subdivisions of the Second Polish Republic became an issue immediately after the creation of the Second Polish Republic in 1918. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had been partitioned in the late 18th century. Various parts of new Polish territory had belonged to different administrative structures of Austrian Empire, Imperial Germany and Russian Empire.
Boguchwała is a town in Rzeszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district of Gmina Boguchwała. It was officially granted town status on 1 January 2008. The name of the town means "praise to God".
Sztafeta is a 1939 compendium of literary reportage written by Melchior Wańkowicz. It was published in the year of the German-Soviet invasion of Poland. Popular demand caused it to be reprinted four times by the Biblioteka Polska before the outbreak of hostilities. The book was never published in Communist Poland because it praised the democratic achievements of the prewar Second Polish Republic.
