Portal:Poland

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Welcome to the Poland Portal — Witaj w Portalu o Polsce

Cityscape of Kraków, Poland's former capital

Poland is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic to the southwest, Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, Lithuania to the northeast, and the Baltic Sea and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast to the north. It is an ancient nation whose history as a state began near the middle of the 10th century. Its golden age occurred in the 16th century when it united with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to form the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the following century, the strengthening of the gentry and internal disorders weakened the nation. In a series of agreements in the late 18th century, Russia, Prussia and Austria partitioned Poland amongst themselves. It regained independence as the Second Polish Republic in the aftermath of World War I only to lose it again when it was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II. The nation lost over six million citizens in the war, following which it emerged as the communist Polish People's Republic under strong Soviet influence within the Eastern Bloc. A westward border shift followed by forced population transfers after the war turned a once multiethnic country into a mostly homogeneous nation state. Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union called Solidarity (Solidarność) that over time became a political force which by 1990 had swept parliamentary elections and the presidency. A shock therapy program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. With its transformation to a democratic, market-oriented country completed, Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, but has experienced a constitutional crisis and democratic backsliding since 2015.

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From Polish history – show another

Swiderian tanged points

The Stone Age in what is now Poland lasted about 500,000 years and involved three different human species: Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. Stone Age cultures ranged from early human groups with primitive tools to advanced agricultural societies, which used sophisticated stone tools, built fortified settlements and developed copper metallurgy. As elsewhere in Europe, the Stone Age human cultures went through the stages known as the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, each bringing new refinements of the stone tool making techniques. The Paleolithic human activities were intermittent because of the recurring periods of glaciation. A general climate warming and the resulting increase in ecologic diversity was characteristic of the Mesolithic (9,000-8,000 BCE). The Neolithic brought the first settled agricultural communities whose founders migrated from the Danube River area starting ca. 5,500 BCE. Later the native post-Mesolithic populations also adopted and further developed the agricultural way of life (4,400–2,000 BCE). (Full article...)

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Lech Wałęsa

Lech Wałęsa (born 1943) is a Polish trade-union and human-rights activist and politician. Soon after beginning to work as an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, he became involved in trade union movement. For this he was persecuted by the Polish communist government, fired, and arrested several times. In August 1980, he was instrumental in negotiating the Gdańsk Agreement between striking workers and the government, and co-founded Solidarity, the first trade union in the Soviet Bloc that was independent from the state. He was interned after martial law was imposed and Solidarity was outlawed in 1981, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. Upon release he participated in the 1989 Round Table talks that led to a semi-free parliamentary election and to a Solidarity-led government. He went on to become the first popularly elected president of Poland in 1990. As head of state, he presided over Poland's transformation from a communist to a democratic and market-oriented state, but his domestic popularity waned. His role in Polish politics diminished after he lost the 1995 presidential election. (Full article...)

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Szczecin as seen from the Oder River

Szczecin is one of Poland's largest seaports, located at the mouth of the Oder River where it empties into the Szczecin Lagoon. It is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, a region in the northwestern part of the country. Founded by the Slavs in the 8th century, it passed into German, Danish and Swedish hands during the course of history. In 1720, following the Great Northern War, Sweden ceded Stettin, as it was then known, to Prussia. Nine years later it became the birthplace of Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, better known as Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. After the city's destruction during World War II and subsequent expulsion of its German population, Szczecin was rebuilt and resettled with Poles and Ukrainians. Its major industries include shipbuilding, metallurgy, fishing and beer making. (Full article...)

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Did you know – show different entries

... that the Franciscan Church (pictured) in Zamość was among the largest churches in 17th-century Poland?
... that the extinct trapdoor spider Baltocteniza was identified from a specimen preserved in Baltic amber owned by the Polish Academy of Sciences?
... that French Marshal Claude Victor-Perrin, was captured by a Prussian freikorps on his way to command the 1807 Siege of Kolberg (now Kołobrzeg)?
... that the Polish State Forests agency oversees 77.8 percent of forestland in Poland?
... that Polish anti-Communist fighter turned Stalinist informant, Edward Wasilewski, committed suicide in 1968, on the day of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia?

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Poland now

Recent events

Poland won 23 medals, including eight gold, at the 2024 Summer Paralympics, ranking 16th in the medal table.
- On 7 September, Karolina Pęk won a gold medal in table tennis, while Renata Śliwińska won a silver medal in shot put.
- On 6 September, Barbara Bieganowska-Zając (pictured) and Karolina Kucharczyk won gold medals in 1500-metre run and long jump, respectively, while Maciej Lepiato and Michał Dąbrowski won bronze medals in high jump and wheelchair fencing.
- On 5 September, Rafał Czuper and Dorota Bucław won gold and bronze medals, respectively, in table tennis, while Rafał Wilk won a bronze medal in cycling.
On 18 August, Polish cyclist Katarzyna Niewiadoma won the 2024 Tour de France Femmes.
Poland won 10 medals, including one gold, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, ranking 42nd in the medal table.

Ongoing
Constitutional crisis • Belarus–EU border crisis • Ukrainian refugee crisis

Holidays and observances in September 2024
(statutory public holidays in bold)

Harvest festivals (wreath pictured)
Polish Underground State Day, 27 September

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Selected image – show another

Danzig gulden

Credit: Banknote design credit: Bank of Danzig; photographed by Andrew Shiva

The Danzig gulden was the currency of the Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland) between 1923 and 1939. Inflation in Danzig during 1922 had spiralled out of control, and the city abandoned the German Papiermark in favour of the Danzig gulden the following year. The obverse this 25-gulden note shows the Gothic St. Mary's Church on the obverse and Neptune's Fountain on the reverse.

Other denominations: