1.
Polish language
–
Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
Polish language
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The oldest printed text in Polish – Statuta synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensis printed in 1475 in
Wrocław by Kasper Elyan.
Polish language
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Polish
Polish language
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The
Jakub Wujek Bible in Polish, 1599 print
2.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
Poland
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Reconstruction of a
Bronze Age,
Lusatian culture settlement in
Biskupin, c. 700 BC
Poland
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Flag
Poland
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Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler; King
Mieszko II Lambert of Poland being presented with a
Liturgical book by
Matilda of Swabia, 1025–1031
Poland
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Drawing of the
Battle of Grunwald, which was fought against the
German Order of Teutonic Knights, 15 July 1410
3.
Anti-communist
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Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. It reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States, anti-communism has been an element of movements of many different positions, including capitalist, liberal, socialist, anarchist, and fascist viewpoints. They accuse communists of causing several famines, such as the Russian Famine of 1921, some anti-communists see both communism and fascism as totalitarianism, seeing similarity between the actions of communist and fascist governments. Opponents argue that communist parties that have come to power have tended to be intolerant of political opposition. Communist states have also accused of creating a new ruling class, with powers. Examples of left-wing critics of Communist states and parties are Boris Souveraine, Bayard Rustin, Irving Howe, the American Federation of Labor has always been strongly anti-Communist. The more leftist CIO purged its Communists in 1947 and has been staunchly anti-Communist ever since, in Britain, the Labour Party strenuously resisted Communist efforts to infiltrate its ranks and take control of locals in the 1930s. Although some anarchists describe themselves as communists, all anarchists criticize authoritarian Communist parties and states and they argue that Marxist concepts such as dictatorship of the proletariat and state ownership of the means of production are anathema to anarchism. Some anarchists criticize communism from an individualist point of view, the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin debated with Karl Marx in the First International, arguing that the Marxist state is another form of oppression. He loathed the idea of a vanguard party ruling the masses from above, anarchists initially participated in, and rejoiced over, the 1917 revolution as an example of workers taking power for themselves. However, after the October revolution, it became evident that the Bolsheviks, what is needed is local construction by local forces … Russia has already become a Soviet Republic only in name. Many anarchists fought against Russian, Spanish and Greek Communists, many were killed by them, such as Lev Chernyi, Camillo Berneri, neither Marxs 10-point plan nor the rest of the manifesto say anything about who has the right to carry out the plan. Milton Friedman argued that the absence of economic activity makes it too easy for repressive political leaders to grant themselves coercive powers. Friedmans view was shared by Friedrich Hayek and John Maynard Keynes. Objectivists who follow Ayn Rand are strongly anti-Communist and this is demonstrated, they believe, by the comparative prosperity of free market and socialist economies. Objectivist Ayn Rand writes that communist leaders typically claim to work for the common good, many ex-communists have turned into anti-communists. Mikhail Gorbachev turned from a Communist into a social democrat, milovan Đilas, was a former Yugoslav Communist official, who became a prominent dissident and critic of Communism. Leszek Kołakowski was a Polish Communist who became a famous anti-communist, the God That Failed is a 1949 book which collects together six essays with the testimonies of a number of famous ex-Communists, who were writers and journalists
Anti-communist
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A Falun Gong protest in New York City against the
Communist Party of China 's
persecution of Falun Gong.
Anti-communist
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Gao Rongrong, a
Falun Gong practitioner from China, was reported
tortured to death in custody in 2005.
Anti-communist
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Anti-government
riots in Dushanbe,
Soviet Tajikistan, 1990
4.
Resistance movement
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It may seek to achieve its objectives through either the use of nonviolent resistance, or the use of force, whether armed or unarmed. The term resistance is used to designate a movement considered legitimate. Organizations and individuals critical of foreign intervention and supporting forms of organized movement tend to favor the term, when such a resistance movement uses violence, those favorably disposed to it may also speak of freedom fighters. More recently the 1977 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes. This phraseology contains many ambiguities that cloud the issue of who is or is not a legitimate combatant, ultimately, the distinction is a political judgment. The modern usage of the term Resistance originates from the self-designation of many movements during World War II, the term is still strongly linked to the context of the events of 1939–45, and particularly to opposition movements in Axis-occupied countries. Using the term resistance to designate a movement meeting the definition prior to World War II might be considered by some to be an anachronism. However, such movements existed prior to World War II, and there have been many after it – for example in struggles against colonialism, Resistance has become a generic term that has been used to designate underground resistance movements in any country. Resistance movements can include any irregular armed force that rises up against an enforced or established authority, government and this frequently includes groups that consider themselves to be resisting tyranny. Some resistance movements are underground organizations engaged in a struggle for liberation in a country under military occupation or totalitarian domination. Any government facing violent acts from a resistance movement usually condemns such acts as terrorism, Resistance during World War II was mainly dedicated to fighting the Axis occupiers. Germany itself also had an anti-Nazi German resistance movement in this period, so, resistance is often understood as something that always opposes to power or domination. However, some scholars believe and argue that looking at resistance in relation to only power and domination will not provide us a full understanding of the actual nature of resistance. Not all power, domination or oppression leads to resistance, and not all cases of resistance are against or to oppose what we categorize as “power. ”In fact, they believe that resistance has its own characteristics and spatialities. There are various forms of resistance for various reasons, which then can be, again, different geographical spaces can also make different forms of resistance possible or impossible and more effective or less effective. The reason is that these variations can define the nature and outcome of resistance and he compared this accident with a similar fire accident at Triangle Shirtwaist Company, New York,1911, killing 146 workers, which caused a labor resistance by 100,000 people. For an effective resistance, he proposed that four tasks should be undertaken, There are many forms of resistance in relations to different power dominations and actors. Moreover, some other resistance takes place in order to resist or question the norms or discourse or in order to challenge a global trend called globalization
Resistance movement
–
Mujahideen loyal to Yunus Khalis, in October 1987
5.
Kornel Morawiecki
–
Kornel Morawiecki was the founder and leader of Fighting Solidarity, one of the more radical splinters of the Solidarity movement in Poland during the 1980s. His academic background is that of a theoretical physicist and he is also a member of Polish Parliament, serving his 8th term of office. He was the son of Michał and Jadwiga and he graduated from the gimnazjum of Adam Mickiewicz in 1958 in Warsaw. He finished a degree in physics at the University of Warsaw in 1958. He completed his doctorate under Jan Rzewuski in Quantum Field Theory in 1970 and he worked as a researcher at the University of Wrocław, at first in the Institute of Physics, and later in Mathematics. After 1973, he worked at the Wrocław Polytechnic, in 1968 he took part in student strikes and demonstrations. Since 1979, he became the editor of the Biuletyn Dolnośląski together with Jan Waszkiewicz and he was a delegate to the First National Congress of NSZZ Solidarity. While eventually all these things did in fact come to pass, at the time this program was seen as radical and unrealistic. However, Fighting Solidarity also rejected the use of violence to achieve its aims, after the declaration of martial law in Poland in 1981, Morawiecki became one of the most wanted people in Poland. Despite his capture, none of his associates, nor those who hid him during the past six years, three days later, he attempted to return to Poland but his passport was confiscated and he was deported from the airport in Warsaw to Vienna. He managed to illegally re-enter Poland in September of 1988, by pretending to be a Canadian human rights delegate. After the fall of communism in Poland, Morawiecki registered his candidacy for the post of President of Poland in 1990, but in the end was unable to collect the required 100,000 signatures. During his televised election campaign he symbolically turned over a round table, for his activism in support of an independent Poland, the Polish Government in Exile under president Kazimierz Sabbat awarded him the Officers Cross of Polonia Restituta. He was also awarded the Karel Kramář Medal by the Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and he was one of the candidates in the 2010 Polish presidential election, but received only 0. 13% of the vote and did not make it into the second round. In the 2015 Sejm election, he was first-place candidate on the Kukiz15 electoral list of Paweł Kukiz in the Wrocław electoral district, the political party Civic Platform notified the National Public Prosecutors Office of this event. Following the scandal, he left Kukiz15 and began organizing his own party along with Małgorzata Zwiercan and he is currently working at the Mathematics Institute of the Wrocław University of Technology
Kornel Morawiecki
–
Kornel Morawiecki
6.
Solidarity (Polish trade union)
–
Solidarity is a Polish labour union that was founded on 17 September 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. It was the first trade union in a Warsaw Pact country that was not controlled by a communist party and its membership reached 9.5 million members before its September 1981 Congress, which constituted one third of the total working-age population of Poland. In the 1980s, Solidarity was a broad social movement, using the methods of civil resistance to advance the causes of workers rights. In the unions clandestine years, the Pope and the United States provided significant financial support, the round table talks between the government and the Solidarity-led opposition led to semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August, a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed, in December 1990, Wałęsa was elected President of Poland. Since then Solidarity has become a traditional, liberal trade union. Its membership had dropped to 680,000 by 2010 and 400,000 by 2011, in the 1970s Polands government raised food prices while wage stagnated. This led to the June 1976 protests and subsequent government crackdown on dissent, groups like the KOR and ROPCIO began to form underground networks to monitor and oppose the governments abusive behavior. Labour unions formed an important part of this network, in 1979, the Polish economy shrank for the first time since World War II by 2 percent. The foreign debt reached around $18 billion by 1980, for participation in the illegal trade union, Anna Walentynowicz was fired from work at the Gdańsk Shipyard on 7 August 1980,5 months before she was due to retire. This management decision enraged the workers of the Shipyard, who staged a strike action on 14 August defending Anna Walentynowicz, Anna Waletynowicz and Alina Pienkowska transformed a strike over bread and butter issues into a solidarity strike in sympathy with other striking establishments. Solidarity emerged on 31 August 1980 in Gdańsk at the Lenin Shipyards when the communist government of Poland signed the agreement allowing for its existence, on 17 September 1980, over 20 Inter-factory Founding Committees of free trade unions merged at the congress into one national organization NSZZ Solidarity. It officially registered on 10 November 1980, Wałęsa and others formed a broad anti-Soviet social movement ranging from people associated with the Catholic Church to members of the anti-Soviet left. Solidarity advocated non-violence in its members activities, in September 1981 Solidaritys first national congress elected Wałęsa as a president and adopted a republican program, the Self-governing Republic. The government attempted to destroy the union with the law of 1981 and several years of repression. In Poland, the Roundtable Talks between the government and Solidarity-led opposition led to elections in 1989. By the end of August a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed, since 1989 Solidarity has become a more traditional trade union, and had relatively little impact on the political scene of Poland in the early 1990s. A political arm founded in 1996 as Solidarity Electoral Action won the election in 1997
Solidarity (Polish trade union)
–
30-years of Solidarity
mural in
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski (priest
Jerzy Popiełuszko in foreground)
Solidarity (Polish trade union)
–
The logo of Solidarność painted on an overturned Soviet era
T-55 in
Prague in 1990
Solidarity (Polish trade union)
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Students in Scotland collect signatures for a petition in support of Solidarity in 1981
Solidarity (Polish trade union)
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Solidarity, ETUC Demonstration - Budapest 2011
7.
Martial law in Poland
–
Thousands of opposition activists were jailed without charge and as many as 91 killed. Although martial law was lifted in 1983, many of the prisoners were not released until a general amnesty in 1986. Led by General of the Army Wojciech Jaruzelski and the Military Council of National Salvation usurped for itself powers reserved for wartime, the plan was presented to the government of the Soviet Union before the declaration in March 1981. Appearing on Polish television at 6,00 AM on December 13,1981, General Jaruzelski said, Today I address myself to you as a soldier, I address you concerning extraordinarily important questions. Our homeland is at the edge of an abyss, the achievements of many generations and the Polish home that has been built up from the dust are about to turn into ruins. State structures are ceasing to function, each day delivers new blows to the waning economy. /. / The atmosphere of conflicts, misunderstanding, hatred causes moral degradation, surpasses the limits of toleration. Strikes, the readiness to strike, actions of protest have become a norm of life, even school youth are being drawn into this. Yesterday evening, many buildings remained seized. The cries are voiced to physical reprisals with the reds, with people who have different opinions, the cases of terror, threats and moral vendetta, of even direct violence are on the rise. A wave of impudent crimes, robberies and burglaries is running across the country, the underground business sharks fortunes, already reaching millions, are growing. Chaos and demoralization have reached the magnitude of a catastrophe, people have reached the limit of psychological toleration. Many people are struck by despair, not only days, but hours as well are bringing forth the all-national disaster. /. / Citizens. The load of responsibility that falls on me on this moment in the Polish history is huge. It is my duty to take this responsibility - concerning the future of Poland, I declare, that today the Military Council of National Salvation has been formed. In accordance with the Constitution, the State Council has imposed martial law all over the country, I wish that everyone understood the motives of our actions. A military coup, military dictatorship is not our goal. /. / In longer perspective, the Military Council of National Salvation does not replace constitutional organs of power. Its only purpose is to keep the balance of the country, to create guarantees that give a chance to restore order. This is the way to bring the country out of the crisis
Martial law in Poland
–
The proclamation of martial law by the State Council
Martial law in Poland
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A column of
T-55 tanks enters the town of
Zbąszynek while moving east towards the city of
Poznań, December 13, 1981
Martial law in Poland
–
A censored telegram, 1982
Martial law in Poland
–
Food, alcohol and cigarettes
rationing card
8.
Polish resistance in World War II
–
The Polish defence against the Nazi occupation was an important part of the European anti-fascist resistance movement. It was a part of the Polish Underground State, the largest of all Polish resistance organizations was the Armia Krajowa, loyal to the Polish government in exile in London. The AK was formed in 1942 from the Union for Armed Combat and it was the military arm of the Polish Underground State and loyal to the Polish government in Exile. Most of the other Polish underground armed organizations were created by a party or faction. Created by the leftist Peoples Party around 1940–1941, it would merge with AK around 1942–1943. The Gwardia Ludowa WRN of Polish Socialist Party The Konfederacja Narodu, created in 1940 by far-right Obóz Narodowo Radykalny-Falanga. It would partially merge with ZWZ around 1941 and finally join AK around fall 1943, the Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa, established by the National Party in 1939, mostly integrated with AK around 1942. Narodowe Siły Zbrojne, created in 1943 from dissatisfied NOW units, the Obóz Polski Walczącej, established by the Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego around 1942, subordinated to AK. in 1943. The largest groups that refused to join the AK were the National Armed Forces, within the framework of the entire enemy intelligence operations directed against Germany, the intelligence service of the Polish resistance movement assumed major significance. Heinrich Himmler,31 December 1942 In February 1942, when AK was formed, in the beginning of 1943, it had reached a strength of about 200,000. In the summer of 1944 when Operation Tempest begun AK reached its highest membership numbers, the strength of the second largest resistance organization, Bataliony Chłopskie, can be estimated for summer 1944 at about 160,000 men. The third largest group include NSZ with approximately 70,000 men around 1943-1944, at its height in 1944, the communist Armia Ludowa, never merged with AK, numbered about 30,000 people. One estimate for the summer 1944 strength of AK and its allies, including NSZ, overall, the Polish resistance have often been described as the largest or one of the largest resistance organizations in World War II Europe. On 9 November 1939, two soldiers of the Polish army—Witold Pilecki and Major Jan Włodarkiewicz—founded the Secret Polish Army, one of the first underground organizations in Poland after defeat. Pilecki became its commander as TAP expanded to cover not only Warsaw but Siedlce, Radom, Lublin. By 1940, TAP had approximately 8,000 men, some 20 machine guns, later, the organization was incorporated into the Union for Armed Struggle, later renamed and better known as the Home Army. A few days later in an ambush near the village of Szałasy it inflicted heavy casualties upon another German unit, to counter this threat the German authorities formed a special 1,000 men strong anti-partisan unit of combined SS–Wehrmacht forces, including a Panzer group. Although the unit of Major Dobrzański never exceeded 300 men, the Germans fielded at least 8,000 men in the area to secure it, in the camp he organized the underground organization -Związek Organizacji Wojskowej - ZOW
Polish resistance in World War II
–
History of Poland 1939–1945
Polish resistance in World War II
–
Soldiers from Kolegium "A" of
Kedyw on Stawki Street in
Wola district -
Warsaw Uprising 1944
Polish resistance in World War II
–
Polish partisans from
Kielce area - unit "
Jędrusie " 1945
Polish resistance in World War II
–
Witold Pilecki - founder of
TAP organisation and the secret agent of Polish resistance in
Auschwitz
9.
Solidarity logo
–
The Solidarity logo designed by Jerzy Janiszewski in 1980 is considered as an important example of Polish Poster School creations. The logo was awarded the Grand Prix of the Biennale of Posters, by this time it was already well known in Poland and became an internationally recognized icon. According to the artist, the letters were designed to represent united individuals and this characteristic font, colloquially known as solidaryca, was implemented many times in posters and other pieces of art in different contexts. Notable examples include a poster for Man of Iron by Andrzej Wajda and, in 1989
Solidarity logo
–
Solidarity logo
10.
Kotwica
–
The Kotwica was a World War II emblem of the Polish Underground State and Armia Krajowa. It was created in 1942 by members of the AK Wawer Minor sabotage unit, the initial meaning of the initials PW was Pomścimy Wawer. This was a reference to the Wawer massacre, which was considered to be one of the first large scale massacres of Polish civilians by German troops in occupied Poland, at first, Polish scouts from sabotage groups painted the whole phrase upon walls. However, it was abbreviated to the letters PW, which over time came to symbolise the phrase Polska Walcząca. Smoleńska was arrested by the Gestapo in November 1942 and died in Auschwitz in March 1943, the Kotwica was first painted on walls in Warsaw, as a psychological-warfare tactic against the occupying Germans, by Polish boy scouts on 20 March 1942. On 27 June 1942 it was used to initiate a new form of minor sabotage and this became an annual event during the German occupation. In its first year only 500 copies were stamped with the emblem, on 18 February 1943, the Armia Krajowas commander, General Stefan Rowecki, issued an order specifying that all sabotage, partisan and terrorist actions be signed with the Kotwica. On 25 February, the organ of the Armia Krajowa, Biuletyn Informacyjny. The emblem gained enormous popularity and became recognised throughout occupied Poland, during the later stages of the war, most of the political and military organisations in Poland adopted it as their symbol. After World War II, Polands communist authorities banned the Kotwica, home Army Polish resistance movement in World War II Minor sabotage during World War II in Nazi-occupied Poland Warsaw Uprising Symbols of Poland History of the Kotwica Internet Archive
Kotwica
–
The Kotwica symbol on the Reduta Bank Polski monument to the
Warsaw Uprising.
Kotwica
–
Kotwica.
Kotwica
–
The Kotwica being painted on a wall by a member of the Polish resistance.
Kotwica
–
The Polish Pilots monument in
Warsaw during the German occupation, with Kotwica graffiti added by
Szare Szeregi member
Jan Bytnar.
11.
Coat of arms of Poland
–
The coat of arms of Poland is a white, crowned eagle with a golden beak and talons, on a red background. Legislation concerning the symbols is far from perfect. The Coat of Arms Act has been amended several times and refers extensively to executive ordinances, moreover, the Act contains errors, omissions and inconsistencies which make the law confusing, open to various interpretations and often not followed in practice. According to Chapter I, Article 28, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, the Coat of Arms Act, Article 4, further specifies that the crown, as well as the eagles beak and talons, are golden. The eagles wings are outstretched and its head is turned to its right, in English heraldic terminology, the arms are blazoned as Gules an Eagle Argent crowned, beaked and armed Or. In contrast to classic heraldry, where the same blazon may be rendered into varying designs, the official design may be found in attachment no.1 to the Coat of Arms Act. The nearly circular charge, i. e. the image of the eagle, is highly stylized. The heraldic bird is depicted with its wings and legs outstretched, its head turned to the right, the eagles plumage, as well as its tongue and leg scales are white with gradient shading suggestive of a bas-relief. Each wing is adorned with a band extending from the birds torso to the upper edge of the wing, terminating in a heraldic cinquefoil. Note that a cinquefoil is a stylized five-leafed plant, not a star, three of its leaves are embossed like a trefoil. In heraldic terms, the eagle is armed, that is to say, its beak and talons are rendered in gold, the crown on the eagles head consists of a base and three fleurons extending from it. The base is adorned with three roughly rectangular gemstones, the fleurons – of which the two outer ones are only partly visible – have the shape of a fleur-de-lis. The entire crown, including the gems, as well as spaces between the fleurons, is rendered in gold, the charge is placed in an escutcheon of the Modern French type. It is a rectangular upright isosceles trapezoid, rounded at the bottom, whose upper base is slightly longer than the lower one. Although the shield is an part of the coat of arms, Polish law stipulates, in certain cases. The shades of the tinctures, white and red, which are the national colors of Poland, are specified as coordinates in the CIE1976 color space. According to legend, the White Eagle emblem originated when Polands legendary founder Lech saw a white eagles nest. When he looked at the bird, a ray of sunshine from the red setting sun fell on its wings, so they appeared tipped with gold and he was delighted and decided to settle there and placed the eagle on his emblem
Coat of arms of Poland
–
Tapestry with the coats of arms of the
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, ca. 1555
Coat of arms of Poland
–
Coat of arms of Poland
Coat of arms of Poland
–
A silver heraldic base for King
John Casimir 's
crown, ca. 1666
Coat of arms of Poland
–
King of Poland in tournamental attire
12.
Secret police
–
Secret police organisations are often utilised for the purposes of policing the activities of dissidents, and weakening opposition organisations. Secret police forces are only to the executive branch of the government. They operate entirely or partially in secrecy, that is, most or all of their operations are obscure and hidden from the general public, secret police agencies have often been used as an instrument of political repression. States where the secret police wield significant power are sometimes referred to as states or counterintelligence states. Despite such overview, there exists the possibility of domestic-security agencies acting unlawfully. In some cases, certain police agencies are accused of being secret police, for example, political groups and civil liberties organizations in the United States have at various times accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation of being secret police. Which government agencies may be classed or characterized, in whole or part, secret police organizations can exist at sub-national levels in a political unit in which entrenched leadership is largely unaccountable. A single secret service has the weapons to arrogate to itself complete political power and it may therefore pose a potential threat to the central political authority. In dictatorships, a relative of the dictator often heads the secret police. For example, Saddam Hussein, as head of the State Internal Security Department placed his secret police under the authority of his first cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid. In addition, secret police have a tendency to view potential political enemies as concrete threats. In some cases, a dictator may manufacture such enemies for the purpose of directing national output toward a common goal, the tactics of investigation and intimidation used by secret police enable them to accrue so much power that they usually operate with little or no practical restraint. Secret police may open mail, tap telephone lines, use techniques to trick, blackmail. Secret police are notorious for raiding homes between midnight and dawn, to people suspected of dissent. People apprehended by the police are often arbitrarily arrested and detained without due process. While in detention, arrestees may be tortured or subjected to inhumane treatment, suspects may not receive a public trial, and instead may be convicted in a kangaroo court-style show trial, or by a secret tribunal. Secret police known to have used these approaches in history include the police of East Germany. Secret police have used by many types of governments
Secret police
–
A
Stasi automated machine to re-glue envelopes after mail had been opened for examination
13.
Soviet Bloc
–
The Eastern Bloc was the group of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact. The terms Communist Bloc and Soviet Bloc were also used to denote groupings of states aligned with the Soviet Union, although these terms might include states outside Central and Eastern Europe. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who viewed the Soviet Union as a socialist island, Eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Bessarabia in northern Romania were recognized as parts of the Soviet sphere of influence. Lithuania was added in a secret protocol in September 1939. During the Occupation of East Poland by the Soviet Union, the Soviets liquidated the Polish state, Soviet authorities immediately started a campaign of sovietization of the newly Soviet-annexed areas. Soviet authorities collectivized agriculture, and nationalized and redistributed private and state-owned Polish property, the international community condemned this initial annexation of the Baltic states and deemed it illegal. In June 1941, Germany broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact by invading the Soviet Union, from the time of this invasion to 1944, the areas annexed by the Soviet Union were part of Germanys Ostland. Thereafter, the Soviet Union began to push German forces westward through a series of battles on the Eastern Front, from 1943 to 1945, several conferences regarding Post-War Europe occurred that, in part, addressed the potential Soviet annexation and control of countries in Central Europe. I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask for nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he wont try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace. While meeting with Stalin and Roosevelt in Tehran in 1943, Churchill stated that Britain was vitally interested in restoring Poland as an independent country, Britain did not press the matter for fear that it would become a source of inter-allied friction. In February 1945, at the conference at Yalta, Stalin demanded a Soviet sphere of influence in Central Europe. Stalin eventually was convinced by Churchill and Roosevelt not to dismember Germany, after resistance by Churchill and Roosevelt, Stalin promised a re-organization of the current pro-Soviet government on a broader democratic basis in Poland. He stated that the new primary task would be to prepare elections. In addition to reparations, Stalin pushed for war booty, which would permit the Soviet Union to directly seize property from conquered nations without quantitative or qualitative limitation, a clause was added permitting this to occur with some limitations. At first, the Soviets concealed their role in other Eastern Bloc politics, as a young communist was told in East Germany, its got to look democratic, but we must have everything in our control. Moscow-trained cadres were put into crucial power positions to fulfill orders regarding sociopolitical transformation, elimination of the bourgeoisies social and financial power by expropriation of landed and industrial property was accorded absolute priority. These measures were publicly billed as reforms rather than socioeconomic transformations, the bloc system permitted the Soviet Union to exercise domestic control indirectly. Crucial departments such as responsible for personnel, general police, secret police
Soviet Bloc
–
The Big Three:
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and
Premier of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin at the
Yalta Conference, February 1945.
Soviet Bloc
–
Political situation in Europe during the
Cold War
Soviet Bloc
–
World War II Polish Prime Minister Stanisław Mikołajczyk fled Poland in 1947 after facing arrest and persecution.
Soviet Bloc
–
Germans watching Western supply planes at
Berlin Tempelhof Airport during the
Berlin Airlift.
14.
Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
Soviet Union
–
Vladimir Lenin addressing a crowd with Trotsky, 1920
Soviet Union
–
Flag
Soviet Union
–
Stalin and
Nikolai Yezhov, head of the
NKVD. After Yezhov was executed, he was
edited out of the image.
Soviet Union
15.
Kidnapping
–
In criminal law, kidnapping is the abduction and restraint by force or unlawful transportation of a person usually in order to hold them captive against their will. This may be done with a demand for ransom in exchange for releasing them from concealment, Kidnapping can be accompanied by bodily injury which elevates the crime to aggravated kidnapping. Bride kidnapping is a term often applied loosely, to include any bride abducted against the will of her parents and it still is traditional amongst certain nomadic peoples of Central Asia. It has seen a resurgence in Kyrgyzstan since the fall of the Soviet Union, express kidnapping is a method of abduction used in some countries, mainly from Latin America, where a small ransom, that a company or family can easily pay, is demanded. Tiger kidnapping is taking a hostage to make a one or associate of the victim do something. The term originates from the usually long preceding observation, like a tiger does on the prowl, Kidnapping that does not result in a homicide is a hybrid offence that comes with a maximum possible penalty of life imprisonment. A murder that results from kidnapping is classified as 1st-degree, with a sentence of imprisonment that results from conviction. Part 1 of Article 282 allows sentencing kidnappers to maximum imprisonment of 8 years or a fine of the fifth category, part 2 allows maximum imprisonment of 9 years or a fine of the fifth category if there are serious injuries. Part 3 allows maximum imprisonment of 12 years or a fine of the fifth if the victim has been killed. Part 4 allows sentencing people that collaborate with kidnapping, part 1,2 and 3 will apply also to them. Kidnapping is an offence under the law of England and Wales. Lord Brandon said in 1984 R v D, First, the nature of the offence is an attack on, and infringement of, the personal liberty of an individual. In all cases of Kidnapping of children, where it is alleged that a child has been kidnapped and this is the case regardless of the age of the child. A very small child will not have the understanding or intelligence to consent and this means that absence of consent will be a necessary inference from the age of the child. It is a question of fact for the jury whether a child has sufficient understanding. Lord Brandon said, I should not expect a jury to find at all frequently that a child under fourteen had sufficient understanding and intelligence to give its consent. If, on the hand, the child did not consent. It is known as Gillick competence, Kidnapping is punishable with imprisonment or fine at the discretion of the court
Kidnapping
–
El Malón,
Johann Moritz Rugendas (1802–1858). The painting depicts a woman being kidnapped during a
malón.
Kidnapping
–
Arrested kidnappers in
Rio lying on the ground
Kidnapping
–
Thought to be a
bride kidnapping in-progress in Central Asia, circa 1870.
16.
Terrorism
–
Terrorism is, in its broadest sense, the use of intentionally indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror or fear, in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim. It is classified as fourth-generation warfare and as a violent crime, in modern times, terrorism is considered a major threat to society and therefore illegal under anti-terrorism laws in most jurisdictions. It is also considered a war crime under the laws of war when used to target non-combatants, such as civilians, neutral military personnel, a broad array of political organizations have practiced terrorism to further their objectives. It has been practiced by both right-wing and left-wing political organizations, nationalist groups, religious groups, revolutionaries, and ruling governments, there is no universally agreed upon definition of the term, and many definitions exist. According to data from the Global Terrorism Database, more than 61,000 incidents of non-state terrorism, Terrorism comes from the French word terrorisme, and originally referred specifically to state terrorism as practiced by the French government during the 1793–1794 Reign of Terror. The French word terrorisme in turn derives from the Latin verb terrere meaning to frighten, the Jacobins, coming to power in France in 1792, are said to have initiated the Reign of Terror. After the Jacobins lost power, the word terrorist became a term of abuse, although terrorism originally referred to acts committed by a government, currently it usually refers to the killing of innocent people for political purposes in such a way as to create a spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a terrorist, Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group Peoples Retribution in 1869. It is a form of state-terrorism, the concept was however developed long before the Second Gulf War by Harlan Ullman as chair of a forum of retired military personnel. The definition of terrorism has proven controversial, various legal systems and government agencies use different definitions of terrorism in their national legislation. Moreover, the community has been slow to formulate a universally agreed. These difficulties arise from the fact that the term terrorism is politically and emotionally charged, in this regard, Angus Martyn, briefing the Australian parliament, stated, The international community has never succeeded in developing an accepted comprehensive definition of terrorism. The international community has adopted a series of conventions that define. U. S. Bruce Hoffman, a scholar, has noted, experts and other long-established scholars in the field are equally incapable of reaching a consensus. Four years and a second later, Schmid was no closer to the goal of his quest. Walter Laqueur despaired of defining terrorism in both editions of his work on the subject, maintaining that it is neither possible to do so nor worthwhile to make the attempt. Hoffman believes it is possible to some key characteristics of terrorism. A definition proposed by Carsten Bockstette at the George C, such acts are meant to send a message from an illicit clandestine organization
Terrorism
–
United Airlines Flight 175, which had been taken over by hijackers, hits the South Tower of the former
World Trade Center on
September 11, 2001, in
New York City,
United States.
Terrorism
–
Mass killings in the
Vendée during the
Reign of Terror in France, 1793
Terrorism
–
Attack at the
Bologna railway station on 2 August 1980 by the neo-fascist group
Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari. With 85 deaths, it is the deadliest massacre in the
history of Italy as a Republic.
Terrorism
–
The
Baghdad bus station was the scene of a triple
car bombing in August 2005 that killed 43 people.
17.
Upper Silesia
–
Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. In 1742 the bulk of Upper Silesia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, after the Second World War it became part of the Republic of Poland, in 1945. Upper Silesia is situated on the upper Oder River, north of the Eastern Sudetes mountain range and the Moravian Gate, within the adjacent Silesian Beskids to the east, the Vistula River rises and turns eastwards, the Biała and Przemsza tributaries mark the eastern border with Lesser Poland. In the north, Upper Silesia borders on Greater Poland, and it is currently split into a larger Polish and the smaller Czech Silesian part, which is located within the Czech regions of Moravia-Silesia and Olomouc. The Polish Upper Silesian territory covers most of the Opole Voivodeship, except for the Lower Silesian counties of Brzeg and Namysłów, divided Cieszyn Silesia as well as former Austrian Silesia are historical parts of Upper Silesia. According to the 9th century Bavarian Geographer, the West Slavic Opolanie tribe had settled on the upper Oder River since the days of the Migration Period, at the time of Prince Svatopluk I, all Silesia was a part of his Great Moravian realm. By 990 the newly installed Piast duke Mieszko I of the Polans had conquered parts of Silesia. Finally in 1137, the Polish prince Bolesław III Wrymouth came to terms with Duke Soběslav I of Bohemia, however, this arrangement fell apart when upon the death of Bolesław III and his testament the fragmentation of Poland began, which decisively enfeebled its central authority. When in 1202 Mieszko Tanglefoot had annexed the Duchy of Opole of his deceased nephew Jarosław, he ruled over all Upper Silesia as Duke of Opole and Racibórz. In the early 13th century the ties of the Silesian Piasts with the neighbouring Holy Roman Empire grew stronger as several dukes married scions of German nobility. The plans to re-unifiy Silesia shattered upon the Mongol invasion of Poland, Upper Silesia further fragmented upon the death of Duke Władysław Opolski in 1281 into the duchies of Bytom, Opole, Racibórz and Cieszyn. About 1269 the Duchy of Opava was established on adjacent Moravian territory, ruled by the Přemyslid duke Nicholas I, as they ruled both duchies in personal union, Opava grew into the Upper Silesian territory. In 1327 the Upper Silesian dukes, like most of their Lower Silesian cousins, had sworn allegiance to King John of Bohemia, by the mid-14th century, the influx of German settlers into Upper Silesia was stopped by the Black Death pandemic. Unlike in Lower Silesia, the Germanization process was halted, still a majority of the population spoke Polish and Silesian as their native language, in the southernmost areas, also Lach dialects were spoken. While Latin, Czech and German language were used as languages in towns and cities. Upper Silesia was hit by the Hussite Wars and in 1469 was conquered by King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, while the Duchies of Oświęcim, upon the death of the Jagiellonian king Louis II in 1526, the Bohemian crown lands were inherited by the Austrian House of Habsburg. In the 16th century, large parts of Silesia had turned Protestant, after the 1620 Battle of White Mountain, the Catholic Emperors of the Habsburg dynasty forcibly re-introduced Catholicism, led by the Jesuits. Lower Silesia and most of Upper Silesia were occupied by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742 during the First Silesian War, a small part south of the Opava River remained within the Habsburg-ruled Bohemian Crown as the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia, colloquially called Austrian Silesia
Upper Silesia
–
Duchy of Opole–Racibórz under Duke Casimir I (1211-1230)
Upper Silesia
–
Coat of arms of Upper Silesia as drawn by
Hugo Gerard Ströhl (1851-1919)
Upper Silesia
–
1746 map of Upper Silesia,
Homann heirs, Nuremberg
Upper Silesia
–
Opole on the Oder River
18.
Gdynia
–
Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea. For centuries, Gdynia remained an agricultural and fishing village on the Baltic coast. At the beginning of the 20th-century Gdynia became as a resort town. This also triggered an increase in local population and it was then that the town was given a more cosmopolitan character with modernism being the dominant architectural style and emerged as a city in 1926. The rapid development of Gdynia was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, although the German troops refrained from deliberate bombing, the newly built port and shipyard were completely destroyed. The population of the city suffered much heavier losses as most of the inhabitants were evicted and expelled, the locals were either displaced to other regions of occupied Poland or sent to Nazi concentration camps throughout Europe. After the war, Gdynia was settled with the inhabitants of Warsaw and lost cities such as Lviv. The city was gradually regenerating itself with its shipyard being rebuilt, in December 1970 the shipyard workers protest against the increase of prices was bloodily repressed. This greatly contributed to the rise of the Solidarity movement in Gdańsk, today the port of Gdynia is a regular stopover on the itinerary of luxurious passenger ships and a new ferry terminal with a civil airport are under realisation. The city won numerous awards in relation to safety, infrastructure, quality of life, in 2013 Gdynia was ranked as Polands best city to live in and topped the rankings in the overarching category of general quality of life. Gdynia is also noted for its access to education. There are prestigious universities such as the Polish Naval Academy located nearby, Gdynia hosts the Gdynia Film Festival, the main Polish film festival, and was the venue for the International Random Film Festival in 2014. Late 10th century, Pomerelia was united with Poland, during the reign of Mieszko II Pomerelia seceded from Poland and became independent. 1116/1121, Bolesław III reunited Pomerelia with Poland,1227, Pomerelia again became an independent Duchy. 1253, First known mention of the name Gdynia, as a Pomeranian fishing village, the first church on this part of the Baltic Sea coast was built there. 1294, Pomerelia was inherited by the future Polish king Przemysł II. and remained as part of Poland until – 1309–1310, The Teutonic Order conquered Pomerelia,1380, The owner of the village which became Gdynia, Peter from Rusocin, gave the village to the Cistercian Order. 1382, Gdynia became property of the Cistercian abbey in Oliva, Pomerelia became part of Royal Prussia, a newly established province of the Kingdom of Poland, and later on of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. 1772, In the First Partition of Poland, Royal Prussia was annexed into the Kingdom of Prussia, Gdynia became known in German as Gdingen, and was expropriated from the Cistercian Order
Gdynia
–
Gdynia
Gdynia
–
View from Kosciuszko Square;
Dar Pomorza on the left,
Sea Towers on the right
Gdynia
–
Gdynia Maritime University in the building from 1937 as example of prewar Polish modern architecture.
Gdynia
–
Orłowski's House from 1936
19.
Sosnowiec
–
Sosnowiec is an industrial city county in southern Poland, which is also part of the Silesian Metropolis municipal association. The population of the city is 220,450, Sosnowiec is the centre of the Zagłębie Dąbrowskie area within the historic Lesser Poland region near the border with Silesia. It is located about 10 km northeast to the downtown of Katowice and 65 km northwest of Kraków, situated in the Silesian Upland on the rivers Brynica and Przemsza, the city is part of Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999. Previously, it was part of Katowice Voivodeship, and before World War II, allegedly its name comes from Polish word sosna, referring to the pine forests which were common prior to 1830. It was originally known as Sosnowice, other variations of the name include Sosnowietz, Sosnowitz, Sosnovitz, Sosnovyts, Sosnowyts, Sosnovytz, Sosnowytz, and Sosnovetz. There are five smaller towns in Poland also called Sosnowiec, located in the Kielce Voivodship, Łódź Voivodship. The history of Sosnowiec in the proper sense begins in 1902 when it was granted city rights by merging a number of often several centuries old. However, the history of the village of Sosnowiec dates back to the year 1227 and it then was a small settlement in the Polish Duchy of Kraków, located in close vicinity of much larger and better developed villages of Sielce and Zagórze. Milowice was first mentioned in 1123 as Miley, documents from 1228 already mention Milowice, Klimontów, and Zagórze. Furthermore, Milowice was placed on a 1561 map, as part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sosnowiec belonged to Kraków Voivodeship, one of three voivodeships of Lesser Poland. It became a town after the neighbouring Duchies of Silesia passed to the Bohemian Crown in 1335. In result of the Third partition of Poland in 1795, however, during the Napoleonic Wars, it became part of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 and later, of Congress Poland ruled by the namiestniks of the Russian Empire. Located at the borders with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, Sosnowiec became famous for the Three Emperors Corner tripoint, which was located within current limits of the city. With effect from 10 June 1902, by the order of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Sosnowiec was legally named a city with the area of 19 square kilometres, obtaining the city rights helped the dynamic economic and cultural development of the town. Apart from steelworks and coal-mines and many enterprises of heavy and light industry, the newly established town consisted of the districts of Sosnowiec, Pogoń, Ostra Górka, Sielec, Kuźnica and Radocha, all of which had been separate villages before. Sosnowiec was first post-1860s location in Congress Poland to have received town charter, natural resources and the good geographical location had an important influence on the development of Sosnowiec. The opening of a line of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway in 1859 was vitally important for the growth of the town. The Summer Theatre and, in 1887, the Winter Theatre were founded, the second of which was called City Theatre from 1924 in independent Poland, in 1914, the village of Środula was incorporated into Sosnowiec
Sosnowiec
–
Main square
Sosnowiec
–
Sielecki Castle
Sosnowiec
–
Church in Sosnowiec
Sosnowiec
–
Helios Cinema
20.
Political party
–
A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the good or furthering their supporters interests. While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are many differences. Many political parties have a core, but some do not. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government, many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with smaller parties also participating. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the first political factions, cohering around a basic, if fluid, set of principles, emerged from the Exclusion Crisis and Glorious Revolution in late 17th century England. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742, as the century wore on, the factions slowly began to adopt more coherent political tendencies as the interests of their power bases began to diverge. The Whig partys initial base of support from the aristocratic families widened to include the emerging industrial interests. A major influence on the Whigs were the political ideas of John Locke. They acted as a united, though unavailing, opposition to Whig corruption and they finally regained power with the accession of George III in 1760 under Lord Bute. Out of this chaos, the first distinctive parties emerged, the first such party was the Rockingham Whigs under the leadership of Charles Watson-Wentworth and the intellectual guidance of the political philosopher Edmund Burke. A coalition including the Rockingham Whigs, led by the Earl of Shelburne, took power in 1782, the new government, led by the radical politician Charles James Fox in coalition with Lord North, was soon brought down and replaced by William Pitt the Younger in 1783. It was now that a genuine two-party system began to emerge, by the time of this split the Whig party was increasingly influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith, founder of classical liberalism. As Wilson and Reill note, Adam Smiths theory melded nicely with the political stance of the Whig Party. The modern Conservative Party was created out of the Pittite Tories of the early 19th century, in the late 1820s disputes over political reform broke up this grouping. A government led by the Duke of Wellington collapsed amidst dire election results, following this disaster Robert Peel set about assembling a new coalition of forces. However, a consensus reached on these issues ended party politics in 1816 for a decade, Party politics revived in 1829 with the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay
Political party
–
In A Block for the Wigs (1783),
James Gillray caricatured Fox's return to power in a coalition with North. George III is the blockhead in the center.
Political party
–
Charles Stewart Parnell, leader of the
Irish Parliamentary Party.
Political party
–
A poster for the
European Parliament election 2004 in Italy, showing party lists
21.
Orange Alternative
–
Orange Alternative is a Polish anti-communist underground movement which was started in Wrocław, a city in south-west Poland and led by Waldemar Fydrych, commonly known as Major in the 1980s. Its main purpose was to offer a group of citizens an alternative way of opposition against the authoritarian regime by means of a peaceful protest that used absurd. By doing this, Orange Alternative participants could not be arrested by the police for opposition to the regime without the authorities becoming a laughing stock, Orange Alternative has been viewed as part of the broader Solidarity movement. Academics Dennis Bos and Marjolein t Hart have asserted it was the most effective of all Solidaritys factions in bringing about the movements success, initially it painted ridiculous graffiti of dwarves on paint spots covering up anti-government slogans on city walls. Afterwards, beginning with 1985 through 1990, it organized a series of more than sixty happenings in several Polish cities, including Wrocław, Warsaw, Łódź, Lublin and it was the most picturesque element of Polish opposition to Stalinist authoritarianism. It suspended activity in 1989, but reactivated in 2001 and has been active on a small scale ever since, a statue of a dwarf, dedicated to the memory of the movement, stands today on Świdnicka Street in Wrocław, in the place where events took place. Can you treat a police officer seriously, when he is asking you, the beginning of the Orange Alternative are in a student movement called the Movement for New Culture created in 1980 at the University of Wrocław. Seven out of the total fifteen issues of this gazette appear during student strikes organized in November and December 1980 as part of the Solidarity upheaval, the first number is edited jointly by Major Waldemar Fydrych and Wiesław Cupała simply with an idea to have fun. The editors treat the strike and the reality as forms of Art. For the ensuing numbers, the committee is joined by Piotr Adamcio, known as Lieutenant Pablo, Andrzej Dziewit and Zenon Zegarski. The first known actions of the Orange Alternative consisted of painting dwarf graffiti on spots created by the covering up anti-regime slogans on walls of the Polish cities. The first graffiti was painted by Major Waldemar Fydrych and Wiesław Cupała on the night from the 30 to 31 August 1982 on one of the residences in the Wrocław district of Biskupin and Sępolno. Altogether more than one thousand of such graffiti were painted in the major Polish cities such as Wrocław, Kraków, Warsaw, Łódź, and Gdańsk. Dwarves appearing in all over Poland aroused the interest of both Polish pedestrians and the militia, whose intervention led to short term arrests of the graffiti artists. The Anti-thesis is the Spot and the Synthesis is the Dwarf, the more Dwarves there are, the better it is. At the beginning of the 21st century Dwarf figurines made of bronze began to appear in Wrocław, over time they have become a one of major tourist attraction in Wrocław. What brought the Orange Alternative the biggest fame were its street happenings which it organized throughout the half of the 1980s. After the publication of this article, the Orange Alternative became of interest to a number of Polish, the actions of the Orange Alternative – although its leaders and participants often expressed anarchistic viewpoints – were not inherently ideological
Orange Alternative
–
The Dwarf – the statue of the Orange Alternative symbol at the corner of Świdnicka and Kazimierza Wielkiego streets in
Wrocław.
Orange Alternative
–
The last remaining Orange Alternative Dwarf on Madalińskiego Street in Warsaw. Originally painted on the paint spot covering up the logo of another anti-communist group
Solidarność Walcząca
Orange Alternative
–
Poster
Orange Alternative
–
PRECZ Z UPAŁAMI (Polish) – "AWAY WITH SWELTER",if the person wearing letter 'U' shirt turns away the text says PRECZ Z PAŁAMI (Polish) – "AWAY WITH BATONS" happening in
Wrocław, July 1988)
22.
Recovered Territories
–
The rationale for the term Recovered was the Piast Concept that these territories were once part of the traditional Polish homeland. They had been part of, or fiefs of, a Polish state during the medieval Piast dynasty, several different West Slavic tribes inhabited most of the area of present-day Poland from the 6th century. His realm roughly included all of the area of what would later be named the Recovered Territories, except for the Warmian-Masurian part of Old Prussia and eastern Lusatia. Mieszkos son and successor, Duke Bolesław I Chrobry, upon the 1018 Peace of Bautzen expanded the part of the realm. On Bolesławs death in 1138, Poland for almost 200 years was subjected to fragmentation, being ruled by Bolesławs sons and by their successors, who were often in conflict with each other. Władysław I the Elbow-high, crowned king of Poland in 1320, achieved partial reunification, in the course of the 12th to 14th centuries, Germanic, Dutch and Flemish settlers moved into East Central and Eastern Europe in a migration process known as the Ostsiedlung. In Greater Poland and in Eastern Pomerania, German settlers formed a minority, despite the loss of several provinces, medieval lawyers of the Kingdom of Poland created a specific claim to all formerly Polish provinces that were not reunited with the rest of the country in 1320. They built on the theory of the Corona Regni Poloniae, according to which the state, because of that no monarch could effectively renounce Crown claims to any of the territories that were historically and/or ethnically Polish. Those claims were reserved for the state, which in theory still covered all of the territories that were part of, or dependent on, some of the territories reunited with Poland during the 15th and 16th centuries. However all Polish monarchs until the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795 had to promise to do everything possible to reunite the rest of those territories with the Crown, Mieszkos son Bolesław I established a bishopric in the Kołobrzeg area in 1000–1005/07, before the area was lost again. Despite further attempts by Polish dukes to control the Pomeranian tribes. Successful Christian missions ensued in 1124 and 1128, however, by the time of Bolesławs death in 1138, over the following centuries the area was largely Germanized, although a small Slavic or Polish minority remained.7 million inhabitants. After the death of the last Samboride in 1294, the region was ruled by kings of Poland for a short period, after the Teutonic takeover in 1308 the region became part of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. A small area in the west of Pomerelia, the Lauenburg and Bütow Land was granted to the rulers of Pomerania, the medieval Lubusz Land on both sides of the Oder River up to the Spree in the west, including Lubusz itself, also formed part of Mieszkos realm. Poland lost Lubusz when the Silesian duke Bolesław II Rogatka sold it to the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg in 1248, Brandenburg also acquired the castellany of Santok from Duke Przemysł I of Greater Poland and made it the nucleus of their Neumark region. The Bishopric of Lebus remained a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Gniezno until 1424, the present-day Polish Lubusz Voivodeship comprises most of the former Brandenburgian Neumark territory east of the Oder. After World War I, those parts of the former Province of Posen, Piast dukes continued to rule Silesia following the 12th-century fragmentation of Poland. The Silesian Piasts retained power in most of the region until the early 16th century, the first German colonists arrived in the late 12th century, and large-scale German settlement started in the early 13th century during the reign of Henry I
Recovered Territories
–
Map (published in 1917 in the United States) showing Poland at the death of
Boleslaw III in 1138
Recovered Territories
–
Map showing Poland's borders pre-1938 (includes grey area representing the
Kresy) and post-1945. The "Recovered Territories" are those marked pink.
Recovered Territories
–
Lubusz Land during the Piast period (marked in yellow).
Recovered Territories
–
Polish city names in Silesia; from a 1750 Prussian official document published in
Berlin during the
Silesian Wars.
23.
Operation Vistula
–
The action was carried out by the Soviet-installed Polish communist authorities with the aim of removing material support and assistance to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army continued to fight until 1947 in both Subcarpathian and Lublin Voivodeships with no hope for any peaceful resolution, Operation Vistula effectively brought an end to the hostilities. The operation was named after the Vistula River, Wisła in Polish, some Polish and Ukrainian politicians as well as historians condemned the operation following the 1989 fall of communism in Eastern Europe, and described it as ethnic cleansing. Others pointed out no other means of stopping the violence existed at the time since partisans used to regroup outside the Polish borders. During Operation Vistula conditions of the United Nations Charter of June 26,1945 on the right of self-determination, in the years 1956-1958 they received mostly non-repayable credits totalling 170 million PLN which was a considerable amount of money in the Polish national budget. A similar operation was performed in Ukrainian SSR by the Soviet Union at exactly the same time, both operations were coordinated from Moscow, however, there was a shocking difference between their outcomes. Operation West parallel to Operation Vistula was conducted in West Ukraine by the Soviet NKVD targeting families of suspected UPA members, over 114,000 mostly women and children were deported to Kazakh SSR and Siberia and forced into extreme poverty. Only 19,000 men were among the NKVD deportees, most of them sent to coal mines, none of the people deported by the NKVD received any farms or empty homes to live in. The stated goal of the operation was to suppress the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the original codename of the operation was Akcja Wschód, similar to Operation West conducted by the NKVD on the Soviet side of the border. It is sometimes assumed that the cause for Operation Vistula was the March 28,1947 assassination of the Polish communist General Karol Świerczewski in an ambush set up by UPA. About 12 hours after the incident, the Polish communist authorities made the decision to deport all Ukrainians and it is known, however, that preparations for Operation Vistula had started already in January 1947, if not earlier. On September 10,1947 the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union issued an Order № 3214-1050, the operation was carried out by the Operational Group Vistula consisting of about 20,000 personnel commanded by General Stefan Mossor. The group included soldiers of the Polish Peoples Army and the Internal Security Corps, as well as functionaries of the police Milicja Obywatelska, the operation commenced at 4 a. m. Initially, the expellees comprised about 20,000 Ukrainians and Lemkos, with time, the total number grew to 80,000 and eventually to 150,000 inhabitants of Polesie, Roztocze, Pogórze Przemyskie, Bieszczady, Low Beskid, Beskid Sądecki, and Ruś Szlachtowska. The expellees were resettled over an area in the Northern and Western Territories assigned to Poland by the Potsdam Agreement including Warmia and Masuria. They received financial credits and material help from the government, including grain contingents, most of their personal debts, however, have been remitted in the following years. Nevertheless, the UPA continued its fight for a few more years, after the last relocations, UPAs activities on Polish territory died out. Some Ukrainian insurgents fled to Western Europe, notably to West Germany, and they were helped by the former Nazis from the Gehlen Organization
Operation Vistula
–
Inscription in Polish and Ukrainian at a church in Beskid Niski, Poland: "In memory of those expelled from
Lemkivshchyna, on the 50th anniversary of 'Operation Vistula,' 1947-1997."
Operation Vistula
–
Monument to Polish soldiers killed by UPA in
Jasiel, south-eastern Poland, in 1946
Operation Vistula
–
Memorial to those who perished at Jaworzno concentration camp
Operation Vistula
–
Lemko house in
Nowica
24.
Polish Committee of National Liberation
–
It exercised control over Polish territory retaken from Nazi Germany and was fully sponsored and controlled by the Soviet Union. It followed Red Army units as they moved into Polish territory, the PKWN manifesto was outlined in advance in Moscow Radio broadcast and published allegedly in Chełm on 22 July 1944, but the first members arrived there on 27 July. By the start of August, the PKWN moved its seat to Lublin, the Soviet Union pretended to transfer the power to the PKWN, but the PKWN transferred it back to the Red Army and NKVD as war zone. Among the members of the PKWN were politicians of various communist and leftist parties accepted by Stalin and his deputies were Soviet citizen Wanda Wasilewska and Andrzej Witos, a younger brother of Wincenty Witos, a notable pre-war politician. Andrzej Witos was later replaced by Stanisław Janusz, other members included those from KRN, ZPP, Workers Party of Polish Socialists, SL, Democratic Party, Polish Workers Party and unaffiliated. Stanisław Radkiewicz was responsible for Security Department and Michał Rola-Żymierski for Defense Ministry, the PKWN claimed to be leftist and broad democratic coalition, although it didnt include any of the major Polish political parties. Soviet employees outside the PPR occupied most of the key positions, only three out of the sixteen ministries were held by declared communists - security, propaganda and military affairs. The PKWNs program didnt contain typical Soviet policies i. e. collectivization or planned economy, the new regime, particularly at the outset, was completely dependent on Moscow. Polish Communists and other leftists had marginal support among the Polish population, in Stalins words to Rola-Żymierski, When the Soviet Army has gone, they will shoot you like partridges. The Committees early decrees authorized NKVDs control over the Red Armys rear areas, the PKWN used a combination of repressive and co-optive measures. It appealed to patriotic sentiment, sponsored activities, and implemented a radical land reform to bind the rural poor to the regime. The new Polish army, largely staffed with Soviet officers, retained the appearance of a national army, at the end of December 1944, the PKWN proclaimed itself the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland and was formally recognized by Moscow in January 1945. The RTRP was to govern the areas taken by the Red Army from Nazi Germany until the elections were held. This development was among reasons for the heightened the tension between the Soviet Union and the other members of the United Nations which would eventually lead to the Cold War. Provisional Government of National Unity Peoples Army of Poland Bibliography Żenczykowski, Tadeusz, mission to Moscow, Time,7 August 1944
Polish Committee of National Liberation
–
A propaganda photo of a citizen reading the
PKWN Manifesto, issued on July 22, 1944
25.
Provisional Government of National Unity
–
The Provisional Government of National Unity was a government formed by a decree of the State National Council on 28 June 1945. It was created as a government between the Polish Communists and Stanisław Mikołajczyks faction. It followed the understandings reached by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union during the Yalta Conference, the TRJN was a result of the negotiations held in Moscow between the Polish Communists, the Soviet Union, and Stanisław Mikołajczyks faction from 17 June to 21 June. The Polish government-in-exile did not recognize the TRJN, a few of its members, including the former Prime Minister of Poland Stanisław Mikołajczyk, decided to trust the Soviets and enter into negotiations with them, only to be betrayed later. Mikołajczyks main power base was the Polish Peoples Party, a centrist organization and continuation of the prewar Polish agrarian movement, the Communists had no intention of giving the opposition any real power, or carrying out the promised free and fair elections. The members of the opposition that received government positions were kept in check by their deputies and staff, loyal to the Communists, so they had little real power. On 21 June, General Leopold Okulicki, former Commander of the Polish Home Army was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in Moscow for the sabotage against the Soviet Army. Ten other Poles were given similar sentences in the staged Trial of the Sixteen, on 24 December 1946, Okulicki died in Butyrka prison. The TRJN was already bound by the Treaty of Friendship, Mutual Help and Cooperation signed by its predecessor and this treaty formed the basis for Soviet interference in Polands internal politics for the next 40 years. It was soon recognized by the other Allies, France. It was not recognized by the Vatican, on 6 July, while the Polish government-in-exile maintained its existence, both the United States and the United Kingdom formally withdrew the recognition of it. On 10 July, Osóbka-Morawski announced the expulsion of all Germans from Poland, from 17 July to 2 August, a delegation from the TRJN attended the 1945 Potsdam Conference. On 16 August, a Soviet-Polish border agreement was signed in Moscow, before the end of August, Poland agreed to cede the eastern provinces to the Soviet Union and officially recognized the eastern border based on a slightly modified Curzon line. On 16 October, delegates of the TRJN signed the United Nations Charter, the free and fair elections promised by the TRJN were postponed until the Communists were sure they could control the election process. In the meantime, they increased repressions of opposition members, who were bribed, threatened, delegalised or even murdered, in the words of Gomułka, the goal of the communists was to be the hegemon of the nation and nothing would stop them. On 30 June 1946, they tested their control during the 3xTAK referendum, the results of which were falsified, two great reforms carried out by TRJN were the nationalization decree and Three-Year Plan, both created in 1946. The nationalization decree gave the government control over every enterprise which employed more than 50 people, by the end of the year, cyrankiewiczs government was nominated by the new parliament, Sejm Ustawodawczy, which replaced the previously existing Krajowa Rada Narodowa
Provisional Government of National Unity
–
Prime Minister
Edward Osóbka-Morawski
Provisional Government of National Unity
–
Deputy Prime Minister
Władysław Gomułka
Provisional Government of National Unity
–
Deputy Prime Minister
Stanisław Mikołajczyk
26.
Trial of the Sixteen
–
The Trial of the Sixteen was a staged trial of 16 leaders of the Polish Underground State held by the Soviet authorities in Moscow in 1945. All captives were kidnapped by the NKVD secret service under a pretext, tortured. Some historical accounts say approaches were made in February, with others saying March 1945, the Polish politicians were presented with a warrant of safety, but were instead arrested in Pruszków by the NKVD on 27 and 28 March. Leopold Okulicki, Jan Stanisław Jankowski and Kazimierz Pużak were arrested on the 27th with 12 others the following day, alexander Zwierzynski had been arrested earlier. They were brought to Moscow for interrogation in the Lubyanka, the trial took place between 18 and 21 June 1945 with foreign press and observers from the United Kingdom and United States present. The date was chosen carefully to be at the time as a conference on the creation of the Soviet-backed Polish puppet government was organized. The verdict was issued on 21 June, with most of the defendants coerced into pleading guilty by the NKVD, general Okulickis witnesses for the defense were declared unreachable owing to bad atmospheric conditions, and no evidence was offered during the trial. Of the sixteen defendants, twelve were sentenced to terms ranging from four months to ten years. Immediately after the arrest of all the leaders, the Polish government in exile sent a protest note to Washington and London demanding their release, at first the Soviets declared that the whole case was a bluff by the “Fascist Polish government”. When they finally admitted that the leaders had arrested, the American envoy of Harry S. ”Both British. Lt.5 years, released in November 1945 and returned to Poland, in his book, Europe at War, Norman Davies described it as obscene, that there was no official protest abroad. As a result of the trial, the Polish Secret State was deprived of most of its leaders and its structures were soon rebuilt, but were never able to fully recover. On 6 July 1945 the United Kingdom and the USA withdrew support for the legitimate Polish government in exile, anti-Polonism Western betrayal Norman Davies, Rising 44, The Battle for Warsaw. Jan Karski, Story of a Secret State, edward Raczynski, In allied London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson,1962 Page 284-285,295 Zbigniew Stypulkowski, Invitation to Moscow,1950,1951. Waldemar Strzałkowski, Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert, Andrzej Chmielarz, Proces Szesnastu, przywódcy podziemnego państwa polskiego przed sądem moskiewskim. ISBN 83-7001-305-8 The Moscow Trial of the 16 Polish Leaders, liberty Publications, London,1945,24 pages,2 ill. Chapter 24 of The Great Conspiracy, The Secret War Against Soviet Union by Michael Sayers and Albert E. Kahn, a pro-Soviet view of the trial
Trial of the Sixteen
–
The show trial of 16 leaders of the Polish wartime underground movement (including the Home Army and civil authorities) convicted of "drawing up plans for military action against the U.S.S.R.", Moscow, June 1945. All of them had been invited to help organize the new "Polish Government of National Unity" in March 1945 and were subsequently captured by the
NKVD.
Trial of the Sixteen
–
History of Poland 1939–1945
27.
Cursed soldiers
–
These clandestine organisations continued their armed struggle against the Stalinist government of Poland well into the 1950s. Most of the Polish anti-communist groups ceased to exist in the late 1940s or 1950s, hunted down by agents of the Ministry of Public Security and Soviet NKVD assassination squads. However, the last known cursed soldier, Józef Franczak, was killed in an ambush as late as 1963, similar Eastern European anti-communists fought on in other countries that were occupied by the Soviet Union. The new regime was aware that the Polish Resistance and Underground State loyal to the Polish government-in-exile would have to be destroyed before they could gain control over Poland. Future General Secretary of the Polish United Workers Party Władysław Gomułka pronounced that Soldiers of the Armia Krajowa are an element which must be removed without mercy. Another prominent communist, Roman Zambrowski, said that the AK had to be exterminated, the Armia Krajowa officially disbanded on 19 January 1945 to prevent a slide into armed conflict with the Red Army and the increasing threat of civil war over Polands sovereignty. However, many resistance units decided to continue with their struggle for Polish independence, Soviet partisans in Poland had already been ordered by Moscow on 22 June 1943 to engage Polish Leśni partisans in combat. They commonly fought against the Polish resistance more often than against the Germans, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin aimed to ensure that an independent Poland would never reemerge in the postwar period. The first AK structure designed primarily to deal with the Soviet threat was NIE, nIEs goal was not to engage Soviet forces in combat, but rather to observe and conduct espionage while the Polish government-in-exile decided how to deal with the Soviets. At that time, the government still believed that a solution leading to Polands post-war independence could be found through negotiations. On 7 May 1945, NIE was disbanded and transformed into the Delegatura Sił Zbrojnych na Kraj, however, this organization lasted only until 8 August 8,1945, when the decision was made to disband it and to stop partisan resistance on Polish territory. In March 1945 a staged trial of 16 leaders of the Polish Underground State and they were presented with a warrant of safety, but the NKVD arrested them in Pruszków on 27 and 28 March. Leopold Okulicki, Jan Stanisław Jankowski and Kazimierz Pużak were arrested on the 27th and 12 more the following day, alexander Zwierzynski had already been detained earlier. They were all taken to the Lubyanka prison in Moscow for interrogation prior to the trial, after several months of brutal interrogation and torture they were charged with false accusations of collaboration with Nazi Germany and of planning a military alliance with Nazi Germany. The Polish Committee of National Liberation declined jurisdiction over former AK soldiers, consequently, for more than a year, it was Soviet agencies like the NKVD that dealt with the AK. By the end of the war, approximately 60,000 soldiers of the AK had been arrested, other veterans were arrested when they decided to approach the communist authorities after being promised amnesty. In 1947, the government of the Peoples Republic of Poland proclaimed an amnesty for most of the resistance fighters. The authorities expected around 12,000 people to give up their arms, many of them were arrested despite promises of freedom, and after repeated broken promises during the first few years of communist rule, former AK members refused to trust the government
Cursed soldiers
–
The 'Cursed soldiers' of the anti-communist underground. Left to right: Henryk Wybranowski "Tarzan" (killed Nov. 1948), Edward Taraszkiewicz (pl) "Żelazny" (killed Oct. 1951), Mieczysław Małecki "Sokół" (killed Nov. 1947), and Stanisław Pakuła pseudonym "Krzewina". Photo: June 1947
Cursed soldiers
–
Monument to
Armia Krajowa in
Sopot,
Poland.
Cursed soldiers
–
"The giant and the spittly dwarf of the
reaction ". Postwar communist propaganda poster showing soldier of the
AL stepping over the underground fighter of
AK
Cursed soldiers
–
Communist propaganda poster saying "Fight the bandits from
NSZ ".
28.
Polish legislative election, 1947
–
Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 19 January 1947, the first since World War II. 1% of the vote and 394 of the 444 seats in the Legislative Sejm. The largest opposition party, the Polish Peoples Party, was credited with 28 seats. The results were falsified on a massive scale, according to one of the Soviet officials who helped orchestrate the fraud, the Democratic Bloc had actually won about 50% of the votes at most. In turn, the claimed that it would have won a decisive victory had the election been conducted fairly. By 1946, Poland was mostly under the control of the Soviet Union and its proxies, in 1946 the communists already tested their strength by falsifying the 3xYES Referendum and banning all right-wing parties. By 1947 the only remaining legal opposition was the Polish Peoples Party of Stanisław Mikołajczyk, the Yalta agreement called for free and unfettered elections in Poland. However, the Kremlin and the PPR had no intention of permitting an honest election, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was well aware that if Poland held a free election, it would result in an anti-Soviet government. Conditioned in part by the Hungarian Communists weak showing in 1945, the PSL rejected this proposal almost out of hand. Eventually, only the PPS, SD and SL joined the Democratic Bloc, the January 1947 elections held under the supervision of the PPR fell well short of being free and unfettered. The PPR, under the leadership of general secretary Władysław Gomułka, embarked on a campaign to snuff out the PSL. Over 80,000 members of the Polish Peoples Party were arrested under false charges in the month preceding the election. 98 opposition parliamentary candidates were also crossed from the lists under these accusations. In some regions the government disqualified the entire Peoples Party list under various technical and legal pretenses, bolesław Bierut, head of the provisional Polish parliament and acting president, asked for Soviet assistance in the election. Over 40% of the members of the commissions who were supposed to monitor the voting were recruited by the UB. Opposition candidates and activists were persecuted until election day, only the PPR, the publicized results were falsified, with the official results known to selected government officials long before the actual elections took place and any votes were counted. The real results were not known to anyone, in areas where the government had sufficient control, some of the ballot boxes were simply destroyed without being counted, or exchanged with boxes filled with prepared votes. Where possible, government officials simply filled in the numbers in the relevant documents as per instructions from Soviet, the Communist-dominated Government ventured to predict an overwhelming victory. Historian Piotr Wrobel wrote that this saw the highest level of repression
Polish legislative election, 1947
Polish legislative election, 1947
–
Poland
