1.
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
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Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz is a Polish conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 31 October 2005 to 14 July 2006. He was a member of the Law and Justice party, born in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Marcinkiewicz graduated in 1984 from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry of the Wrocław University. He also completed post-graduate course in Administration at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and he worked as an elementary school teacher and a headmaster in his homecity of Gorzów Wielkopolski. In the 1980s he was also a member of the Solidarity movement, in 1992 he became a State Secretary in the Ministry of National Education. From 1999 to 2000 he was the chief for Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek. Instead the little-known Marcinkiewicz became PM, leading a coalition formed by Jarosław, who remained in the background, before his prime ministerial appointment, Marcinkiewicz remained a political cipher, which resulted in a political carte blanche after the appointment. Marcinkiewicz strongly supports Polish membership in EU, although he disagrees with several more integrationist ideas, economic policy of his cabinet is a continuation of those conducted by previous governments. He was succeeded as minister on 14 July by Kaczyński. On 18 July Marcinkiewicz was appointed as the acting mayor of Warsaw. During the municipal elections in 2006, he was the Law, in the first round of voting, held on 12 November, he got 38. 42%, while his closest rival, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz of the opposition Civic Platform won 34. 15% of the votes. In the second round, held on 26 November, he got 46. 82% of the votes and he was one of the directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development from March 2007 until May 2008. From 2008 until 2013 he worked for Goldman Sachs, presumably as a lobbyist, despite his work for Goldman Sachs, major polish newspapers and news television channels, informed that former polish prime minister barely spoke english after one year spent in London. He could not answer questions asked by warsaw based english native speakers hired by one of the polish tabloid who called him to offer a job in other bank in UK. In 2009, after divorcing his wife and mother of four, he married his mistress,22 years his junior. In the first half of 2009 he came under criticism because of not keeping up with the moral values he promoted while being engaged in politics. In particular, it was discovered that he was criticizing extra-marital affairs and praising traditional family values and he became famous for his enthusiastic Yes, yes, yes. As a rhetorical device, it has already been re-used by Volkswagen in its publicity campaign, Kazimierz Marcinkiewiczs homepage Kazimierz Marcinkiewiczs blog 100 Days of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Euro-Pragmatism Victory Jarosław Kaczyński Becomes Polands Prime Minister
2.
Donald Tusk
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Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician and historian. He has been President of the European Council since 1 December 2014, previously he was Prime Minister of Poland and a co-founder and chairman of the Civic Platform party. Tusk has been involved in Polish politics since the early 1990s, having founded several political parties, in 2014, he became President of the European Council, and was re-elected to this position in 2017. He resigned as Polish Prime Minister to take the role, having been the longest-serving Prime Minister of the Third Polish Republic, Tusk was born in Gdańsk in northern Poland. His father, also named Donald Tusk, was a carpenter, Tusk got his Scottish first name because his paternal grandmother Juliana travelled abroad in her youth and became enamoured of a lord called Donald. She gave this name to her son, who passed it on to her grandson, Tusk credits his interest in politics to watching a clash between workers on strike and riot police when he was a teenager. He enrolled at the University of Gdańsk to study history, while studying, he was active in the Students Solidarity Committee, a group that opposed Polands communist rule at the time. Tusk was one of the founders of the Liberal Democratic Congress, the KLD later merged with the Democratic Union to become the Freedom Union. Tusk became deputy chairman of the new party, and was elected to the Senate in the election in 1997. In 2001, he co-founded the Civic Platform, and became deputy speaker in parliament after the party won seats in the years election, in 2005, Tusk was defeated in the presidential election by Lech Kaczynski, and the Civic Platform lost Parliament to the Law and Justice party. Tusk and his cabinet were sworn in on 16 November. In September 2014, Tusk resigned his position as Prime Minister in order to take the position of President of the European Council. Later on in his rule, Tusk changed his views on the role of taxation in the functioning of the state and his government has never cut any taxes. Instead, it raised the tax from 22% to 23% in 2011 and has increased the excise imposed on diesel oil, alcoholic beverages, tobacco. The number of employed in the public administration has also grown considerably. As of 2012, the value of investments in Poland had never reached its heights from 2006–2007. The number of Poles staying abroad in 2013 was almost the same as in 2007, the construction of a more adequate and larger national road network in preparation for the UEFA2012 football championships has been a stated priority for the Tusk government. On 27 October 2009, Tusk declared that he wants to partially outlaw gambling, Tusk criticised other nations responses to the pandemic
3.
Jerzy Buzek
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Jerzy Karol Buzek is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament from Poland. He has served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001, since being elected to the European Parliament in 2004 and he is married to Ludgarda Buzek and is the father of Polish actress Agata Buzek. Jerzy Karol Buzek was born to a Lutheran family on 3 July 1940 in Smilovice and he was born into the prominent Buzek family, which participated in Polish politics in the Second Polish Republic during the interbellum. The family was part of the Polish community in Zaolzie, after the Second World War, his family moved to Chorzów. In 1963 Jerzy Buzek graduated from the Mechanics-and-Energy Division of the Silesian University of Technology and he became a scientist in the Chemical Engineering Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Since 1997 he has been a professor of technical science and he is also an honorary doctor of the universities in Seoul and Dortmund among others. From 1997 to 2001, Buzek was a coalition Prime Minister of Poland, in 1998 he became the first laureate of the Grzegorz Palka Award and was nominated European of the Year by the European Union Business Chambers Forum. In 1998 he was named Person of the Year by the influential Polish political weekly Wprost and he won the award for a second time in 2009. On receiving the award again, as President of the European Parliament and he was the first Prime Minister of the 3rd Republic of Poland to serve a full term. His return to life in 2004 saw him gain the largest popular vote in Poland as the member for Katowice to the European Parliament standing for the Civic Platform. In the 1980s, Buzek was an activist of the democratic anti-communist movements, including the legal and underground Solidarity trade union and he was an active organiser of the trade unions regional and national underground authorities. He was also the chairman of the four national general meetings when the Solidarity movement was allowed to participate in the process again. Jerzy Buzek was a member of the Solidarity Electoral Action and co-author of the AWSs economic program, after the 1997 elections he was elected to the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament, and was soon appointed Prime Minister of Poland. In 1999 he became the chairman of the AWS Social Movement, between the years 1997–2001 he was the Prime Minister of Poland, first of the right-centrist AWS–Freedom Union coalition government until 2001, and then of the rightist AWS minority government. AWS was defeated in the Polish parliamentary election,2001, Buzek resigned as the chairman of AWS Social Movement, and was replaced by Mieczysław Janowski. He received a number of votes,173,389. His current party affiliation is with the Civic Platform, which is a member of the European Peoples Party and he served as rapporteur on the EUs 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development, a multibillion-euro spending programme for the years 2007–2013. On 7 June 2009, in the European Parliament election,2009, just as in the previous election, Buzek received a record number of votes in Poland,393,117
4.
Supreme Audit Office (Poland)
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It was created on the initiative of the Head of State, Józef Piłsudski. Its organisation and functioning are set out in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the NIK is subordinate to the Sejm and it acts in accordance with the principle of collegiate responsibility. The NIK is headed by the President who is appointed by the Sejm for a term of office. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland, and the relating to the NIK. The Speaker of the Parliament appoints members of the College for a three-year tenure, the College assesses audit programmes and the outcomes of particularly important audits. It also considers post audit objections, under the current regulations, NIK is answerable to the Sejm, which appoints its President for a 6-year term, with the approval of the Senate. Terms of office of the President of the NIK do not necessarily coincide with those of the Parliament, like members of the Sejm, the President of NIK also enjoys immunity, he cannot be arrested or indicted without the consent of the Sejm. Currently, the post of the President of the NIK is held by Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, the Supreme Audit Office operates through its Departments and Regional Branches. The number of NIK Regional Branches,16, equals that of the voivodeships, NIK institutes audit proceedings on its own initiative, at the request of Sejm or its bodies or representatives, the President of the Republic, or the Prime Minister. Special types of NIK activities include audits of the state budget execution and of the principles of monetary policy, the NIK fulfils its tasks based on periodic work plans. In the first instance, the audit of the state budget execution is completed, NIK undertakes other audits according to prioritised directions established by the NIK College for a period of three years. Each year new audit areas are selected according to specific themes for planned audits are programmed. NIK can also undertake ad hoc audits, jacek Jezierski, President of the NIK was the Chair of EUROSAI Governing Board in 2008-2011
5.
Law and Justice
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Law and Justice, abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing national-conservative, and Christian democratic political party in Poland. With 216 seats in the Sejm and 56 in the Senate, the party was founded in 2001 by the Kaczyński twins, Lech and Jarosław. It was formed part of the Solidarity Electoral Action, with the Christian democratic Centre Agreement forming the new partys core. The party won the 2005 election, while Lech Kaczyński won the presidency, Jarosław served as Prime Minister, before calling elections in 2007, in which the party came second to Civic Platform. Several leading members, including Lech Kaczyński, died in a crash in 2010. The party programme is dominated by the Kaczyńskis conservative and law, the party is solidarist and mildly eurosceptic. PiS is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe European political party, the current sixteen PiS MEPs sit, as well as three other people elected from the PiS register, in the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament. The AWS itself was created from an array of many small right-wing political parties. In the 2001 general election PiS gained 44 seats in the chamber of the Polish Parliament with 9. 5% of votes. In 2002, Lech Kaczyński was elected mayor of Warsaw and he handed the party leadership to his twin brother in 2003. In the 2005 general election, PiS took first place with 27. 0% of votes and it was almost universally expected that the two largest parties, PiS and Civic Platform, would form a coalition government. The putative coalition parties had an out, however, related to a fierce contest for the Polish presidency. In the end, Lech Kaczyński won the round of the presidential election on 23 October 2005 with 54. 0% of the vote, ahead of Donald Tusk. After the 2005 elections, Jarosław should have become Prime Minister, in July 2006 PiS formed a right-wing coalition government with the agrarian populist Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland and nationalist League of Polish Families, headed by Jarosław Kaczyński. Association with these parties, on the margins of Polish politics, when accusations of corruption and sexual harassment against Andrzej Lepper, the leader of Self Defense, surfaced, PiS chose to end the coalition and called for new elections. In the 2007 general election PiS managed to secure 32. 1% of votes, although an improvement over its showing from 2005, the results were nevertheless a defeat for the party, as Civic Platform gathered 41. 5%. The party won 166 out of 460 seats in the Sejm and 39 seats in Polands Senate, on 10 April 2010, its former leader Lech Kaczyński died in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash. The party won the 2015 parliamentary election, this time with an outright majority—something no Polish party had done since the fall of Communism, in the normal course of events, this should have made Jarosław Kaczyński prime minister for a second time
6.
Senate of Poland
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The Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the Sejm. The history of the Polish Senate is rich in tradition and stretches back over 500 years and it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe and existed without hiatus until the dismemberment of the Polish state in 1795. After a brief period of existence in the period the Senate was again abolished by the authorities of the Peoples Republic of Poland. It was not re-established until the collapse of communism and rebirth of democracy in Poland in 1989, the Senate is based in Warsaw and is located in a building which forms part of the Sejm Complex on Ul. Wiejska, close to Three Crosses Square and Ujazdow Castle and it consists of 100 senators elected by universal ballot and is headed by the Marshal of the Senate. The incumbent Marshal of the Senate is Senior Marshal Stanisław Karczewski, in line with Article 10, Paragraph 2, and Article 95 of the Polish Constitution of April 2,1997, the Senate and the Sejm exercises legislative power. The Senate is composed of 100 senators who are elected for a term of four years in general election in a vote by secret ballot. Alongside the Sejm, the President of the Polish Republic, the Council of Ministers and all citizens of Poland, the Senate is allowed 30 days to examine any piece of draft legislation passed by the Sejm,14 days if a bill is considered to be urgent. Any bill submitted by the Sejm to the Senate may be adopted by the latter without any amendments or amended or rejected. Any resolution of the Senate, as a result of which a bill is repealed or amended, is considered to be passed provided it has not been rejected by the Sejm, however, for the state budget, the Senate has 20 days to examine it. For amending the constitution, the Senate has 60 days for analysis, if the constitution is amended, identical wording of the amendment must be approved by both the Sejm and the Senate. The president cannot decide to stage a nationwide referendum on matters of importance unless he or she has been given explicit permission to do so by the Senate. The Senate is also empowered to examine any reports submitted by the Commissioner for the Protection of Citizens Rights, however, unlike the Sejm, the Senate has no role in providing for oversight of the executive. The Senate can be traced back approximately five hundred years to a council of royal advisors, in 1501 at Mielnik, senators attempted to force the soon to be crowned king Alexander I Jagiellon to devolve all royal powers relating to the governing of the state to them. However, whilst Alexander first agreed, after his coronation he refused to affirm this privilege, later the Nihil Novi act of 1505 affirmed the right of both the Chamber of Envoys and Senate to propagate common law for the kingdom. At this time the competences of the Senate were also laid down as pertaining to participation in legislation, foreign policy, in 1537 the Senate followed a course of action which would have seen it become the most important institution in protecting landowners’ rights and freedoms. However, this view was at odds with those of Sigismund I the Old who believed that the Senate was becoming far too powerful. Resultantly, over the period of 1562–69, the Senate lost many of its powers and influence, eventually becoming subordinate to its formerly-equal companion body, the Chamber of Envoys
7.
Warsaw
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Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland, roughly 260 kilometres from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.750 million residents within a metropolitan area of 3.101 million residents. The city limits cover 516.9 square kilometres, while the area covers 6,100.43 square kilometres. Once described as Paris of the East, Warsaw was believed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world until World War II. On 9 November 1939, the city was awarded Polands highest military decoration for heroism, Warsaw is one of Europe’s most dynamic metropolitan cities. In 2012 the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Warsaw as the 32nd most liveable city in the world, in 2017 the city came 4th in the “Business-friendly” category and 8th in the “Human capital and life style”. It was also ranked as one of the most liveable cities in Central, Warsaw is considered an Alpha– global city, a major international tourist destination and a significant cultural, political and economic hub. The city is a significant centre of research and development, BPO, ITO, the Warsaw Stock Exchange is the largest and most important in Central and Eastern Europe. Frontex, the European Union agency for external security, has its headquarters in Warsaw. Together with Frankfurt, London and Paris, Warsaw is also one of the cities with the highest number of skyscrapers in the European Union, the city is the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of Warsaw. The historic city-centre of Warsaw with its picturesque Old Town in 1980 was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, buildings represent examples of nearly every European architectural style and historical period. Warsaw provides many examples of architecture from the gothic, renaissance, baroque, neoclassical and modern periods, furthermore, the city is positioning itself as Europes chic cultural capital with thriving art and club scenes and renowned restaurants. Folk etymology attributes the city name to a fisherman, Wars, according to legend, Sawa was a mermaid living in the Vistula River with whom Wars fell in love. In actuality, Warsz was a 12th/13th-century nobleman who owned a village located at the site of Mariensztat neighbourhood. See also the Vršovci family which had escaped to Poland, the official city name in full is miasto stołeczne Warszawa. A native or resident of Warsaw is known as a Varsovian – in Polish warszawiak, warszawianin, warszawianka, warszawiacy, other names for Warsaw include Varsovia and Varsóvia, Varsovie, Varsavia, Warschau, װאַרשע /Varshe, Варшава /Varšava /Varshava, Varšuva, Varsó. The first fortified settlements on the site of todays Warsaw were located in Bródno, after Jazdów was raided by nearby clans and dukes, a new similar settlement was established on the site of a small fishing village called Warszowa
8.
Polish People's Republic
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The Polish Peoples Republic covers the history of Poland under Communist control between 1952 and 1990. The name was defined by the Constitution of 1952 which was based on the 1936 Soviet Constitution, between 1947 and 1952, the name of the Polish state was the Republic of Poland, in accordance with the temporary Constitution of 1947. The Soviet Union had much influence over internal and external affairs, and Red Army forces were stationed in Poland. In 1945, Soviet generals and advisors formed 80% of the cadre of the Polish Armed Forces. The Polish United Workers Party became the dominant political party, officially making the country a Communist state, at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Stalin was able to present his western allies, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, with a fait accompli in Poland. His armed forces were in occupation of the country, and his agents, the USSR was in the process of incorporating the lands in eastern Poland which it had occupied between 1939 and 1941. In compensation, the USSR awarded Poland German territories in Pomerania, Silesia and these awards were confirmed at the Tripartite Conference of Berlin, otherwise known as the Potsdam Conference in August 1945 after the end of the war in Europe. Stalin was determined that Polands new government would become his tool towards making Poland a Soviet puppet state controlled by the communists. He had severed relations with the Polish government-in-exile in London in 1943, the communists held a majority of key posts in this new government, and with Soviet support they soon gained almost total control of the country, rigging all elections. This important victory would be their last, however, as the communists, tightening their grip on power, many of their opponents decided to leave the country, and others were put on staged trials and sentenced to many years of imprisonment or execution. In June 1946 the Three Times Yes referendum was held on a number of issues—abolition of the Senate of Poland, land reform, the communist-controlled Interior Ministry issued results showing that all three questions passed overwhelmingly. Years later, however, evidence was uncovered showing that the referendum had been tainted by massive fraud, Gomułka then took advantage of a split in the Polish Socialist Party. One faction, which included Prime Minister Edward Osóbka-Morawski, wanted to join forces with the Peasant Party, another faction, led by Józef Cyrankiewicz, argued that the Socialists should support the Communists in carrying through a socialist program, while opposing the imposition of one-party rule. Pre-war political hostilities continued to influence events, and Mikołajczyk would not agree to form a front with the Socialists. The Communists played on these divisions by dismissing Osóbka-Morawski and making Cyrankiewicz Prime Minister, between the referendum and the January 1947 general elections, the opposition was subjected to persecution. Only the candidates of the pro-government Democratic Bloc were allowed to campaign completely unmolested, meanwhile, several opposition candidates were prevented from campaigning at all. Mikołajczyks Polish Peoples Party in particular suffered persecution, it had opposed the abolition of the Senate as a test of strength against the government, although it supported the other two questions, the Communist-dominated government branded the PSL traitors. This massive oppression was overseen by Gomułka and the provisional president, the official results of the election showed the Democratic Bloc with 80.1 percent of the vote
9.
Smolensk
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Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River,360 kilometers west-southwest of Moscow. The walled city in the center of Smolensk was destroyed several times throughout its history because it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk is noted for electronics, textiles, food processing, the name of the city is derived from the name of the Smolnya River. The origin of the name is less clear. One possibility is the old Slavic word смоль for black soil, an alternative origin could be the Russian word смола, which means resin, tar, or pitch. Pine trees grow in the area, and the city was once a center of resin processing, the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII recorded its name as Μιλινισκα. Within the city and its surroundings the river takes in small tributaries. In the valleys are stretched streets, high ridges, hills, Smolensk is situated on seven hills. The old part of the city occupies the high, rugged left bank of the Dnieper River, the area features undulating terrain, with a large number of tributaries, creeks and ravines. Smolensk is among the oldest Russian cities, the first recorded mention of the city was 863 AD, two years after the founding of Kievan Rus. According to Russian Primary Chronicle, Smolensk was located on the area settled by the West Slavic Radimichs tribe in 882 when Oleg of Novgorod took it in passing from Novgorod to Kiev, the first foreign writer to mention the city was the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. In De Administrando Imperio he described Smolensk as a key station on the route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Rus people sailed from the Baltics up the Western Dvina as far as they could then they portaged their boats to the upper Dnieper. It was in Smolensk that they supposedly mended any leaks and small holes that might have appeared in their boats from being dragged on the ground and they used tar to do that, the Principality of Smolensk was founded in 1054. Due to its position in Kievan Rus, the city developed rapidly. By the end of the 12th century, the princedom was one of the strongest in Eastern Europe, numerous churches were built in the city at that time, including the church of Sts. Peter and Paul and the church of St. John the Baptist, the most remarkable church in the city is called Svirskaya, it was admired by contemporaries as the most beautiful structure east of Kiev. Smolensk had its own veche since the beginning of its history
10.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
11.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
12.
University of Warsaw
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The University of Warsaw, established in 1816, is the largest university in Poland. It employs over 6,000 staff including over 3,100 academic educators and it provides graduate courses for 53,000 students. The University offers some 37 different fields of study,18 faculties and over 100 specializations in Humanities and it was founded as a Royal University on 19 November 1816, when the Partitions of Poland separated Warsaw from the oldest and most influential University of Kraków. Tsar Alexander I granted permission for the establishment of five faculties – law and political science, medicine, philosophy, theology, the university expanded rapidly, but was closed during November Uprising in 1830. It was reopened in 1857 under the name Akademia Medyko-Chirurgiczna based in the nearby Staszic Palace with only medical and pharmaceutical faculties, over 70% of students were of Polish nationality, but after the revolution in 1905, the proportion dropped below 10% as a result of the boycott. The university was resurrected during the First World War and the number of students in 1918 was estimated at 4,500, after Polands independence in 1918 the new government focused on improving the university, and in the early 1930s it became the countrys largest. New faculties were established and the curriculum was extended, the university was named after Chief-of-State and Marshal of Poland Józef Piłsudski after his death in 1935. Following the Second World War and the devastation of Warsaw, the University successfully reopened in 1945, the University of Warsaw is one of the top Polish universities. It was ranked by Perspektywy magazine as best Polish university in 2010,2011 and 2014, international rankings such as ARWU and University Web Ranking rank the university as the best Polish higher level institution. On the list of 100 best European universities compiled by University Web Ranking, QS World University Rankings positioned the University of Warsaw as the best higher level institution among the worlds top 400. In 1795 the partitions of Poland left Warsaw with access only to the Academy of Vilnius, in 1815, the newly established autonomous Congress Poland de facto belonging to the Russian Empire found itself without a university at all, as Vilnius was incorporated into Russia. The first to be established in Congress Poland were the Law School, in 1816 Tsar Alexander I permitted the Polish authorities to create a university, comprising five departments, Law and Administration, Medicine, Philosophy, Theology, and Art and Humanities. The university soon grew to 800 students and 50 professors, after most of the students and professors took part in the November 1830 Uprising the university was closed down. After the Crimean War, Russia entered a period of liberalization. In 1862 departments of Law and Administration, Philology and History, the newly established academy gained importance and was soon renamed the Main School. However, after the January 1863 Uprising the liberal period ended, during its short existence, the Main School educated over 3,000 students, many of whom became part of the backbone of the Polish intelligentsia. The Main School was replaced with a Russian-language Imperial University of Warsaw and its purpose was to provide education for the Russian military garrison of Warsaw, the majority of students were Poles. The tsarist authorities believed that the Russian university would become a way to Russify Polish society
13.
Lawyer
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A lawyer is a person who practices law, as an advocate, barrister, attorney, counselor or solicitor or chartered legal executive. The role of the lawyer varies greatly across legal jurisdictions, in practice, legal jurisdictions exercise their right to determine who is recognized as being a lawyer. As a result, the meaning of the lawyer may vary from place to place. In Australia, the lawyer is used to refer to both barristers and solicitors. In Canada, the word lawyer refers to individuals who have been called to the bar or. Common law lawyers in Canada are formally and properly called barristers and solicitors, however, in Quebec, civil law advocates often call themselves attorney and sometimes barrister and solicitor in English. The Legal Services Act 2007 defines the activities that may only be performed by a person who is entitled to do so pursuant to the Act. Lawyer is not a protected title, in India, the term lawyer is often colloquially used, but the official term is advocate as prescribed under the Advocates Act,1961. In Scotland, the word refers to a more specific group of legally trained people. It specifically includes advocates and solicitors, in a generic sense, it may also include judges and law-trained support staff. In the United States, the term refers to attorneys who may practice law. It is never used to refer to patent agents or paralegals, in fact, there are regulatory restrictions on non-lawyers like paralegals practicing law. Other nations tend to have terms for the analogous concept. In most countries, particularly civil law countries, there has been a tradition of giving many legal tasks to a variety of civil law notaries, clerks, and scriveners. Several countries that originally had two or more legal professions have since fused or united their professions into a type of lawyer. Most countries in this category are common law countries, though France, in countries with fused professions, a lawyer is usually permitted to carry out all or nearly all the responsibilities listed below. Arguing a clients case before a judge or jury in a court of law is the province of the barrister in England. However, the boundary between barristers and solicitors has evolved, in England today, the barrister monopoly covers only appellate courts, and barristers must compete directly with solicitors in many trial courts
14.
Economist
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An economist is a practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. A generally accepted interpretation in academia is that an economist is one who has attained a Ph. D. in economics, teaches economic science, the professionalization of economics, reflected in academia, has been described as the main change in economics since around 1900. Economists debate the path they believe their profession should take, surveys among economists indicate a preference for a shift toward the latter. Most major universities have a faculty, school or department. However, many prominent economists come from a background in mathematics, business, political science, law, sociology, getting a PhD in economics takes six years, on average, with a median of 5.3 years. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, established by Sveriges Riksbank in 1968, is a prize awarded to each year for outstanding intellectual contributions in the field of economics. The prize winners are announced in October every year and they receive their awards on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobels death. In contrast to regulated professions such as engineering, law or medicine, in academia, to be called an economist requires a Ph. D. degree in Economics. A professional working inside of one of many fields of economics or having a degree in this subject is often considered to be an economist. In addition to government and academia, economists are employed in banking, finance, accountancy, commerce, marketing, business administration, lobbying. Politicians often consult economists before enacting economic policy, many statesmen have academic degrees in economics. Economics graduates are employable in varying degrees depending on the regional economic scenario, small numbers go on to undertake postgraduate studies, either in economics, research, teacher training or further qualifications in specialist areas. Nearly 135 colleges and universities grant around 900 new Ph. D. s every year, incomes are highest for those in the private sector, followed by the federal government, with academia paying the lowest incomes. As of January 2013, PayScale. com showed Ph. D. economists salary ranges as follows, all Ph. D. economists, $61,000 to $160,000, Ph. D. The largest single grouping of economists in the UK are the more than 1000 members of the Government Economic Service. This figure compares very favourably with the picture, with 64 percent of economics graduates in employment. Some current well-known economists include, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014, milton Friedman, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences laureate in Economics
15.
President of Poland
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The President of the Republic of Poland is the Polish head of state. His or her rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Poland, the president heads the executive branch. In addition the president has a right to dissolve the parliament in certain cases, the first president of Poland, Gabriel Narutowicz, was sworn in as president of the Second Republic on 11 December 1922. He was elected by the National Assembly under the terms of the 1921 Constitution of Poland, previously Józef Piłsudski had been Chief of State under the provisional 1919 Constitution. Who was fed up with regional bickering, staged a coup deposed the president and had the National Assembly elect a new one, Ignacy Mościcki, under the thumb of Sanacja. Just before Piłsudski died, parliament passed the 1935 April Constitution of Poland which incorporated Piłsudskis ideals, Mościcki continued as president until he resigned following the German invasion of Poland in 1939. The transfer from Mościcki to Raczkiewicz was in accordance with Article 24 of the 1935 April Constitution and he served until the 1952 Constitution eliminated the office of the president. Following the 1989 amendments to the constitution restored the presidency, Wojciech Jaruzelski. In Polands first direct election, Lech Wałęsa won and was sworn in on 22 December 1990. The office of the president was continued in the Constitution of 1997, which now provides the requirements for, the duties of, the President of Poland is elected directly by the people to serve for five years and can be reelected only once. Pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution, the President is elected by an absolute majority, if no candidate succeeds in passing this threshold, a second round of voting is held with the participation of the two candidates with the largest and second largest number of votes respectively. The President has the right to initiate the legislative process, the President also makes decisions on award of highest academic titles, as well as state distinctions and orders. In addition, he has the right of clemency, viz. he can dismiss final court verdicts. The President performs his duties with the help of the offices, the Chancellery of the President, the Office of National Security. Several properties are owned by the Office of the President and are used by the Head of State as his or her official residence, the Presidential Palace in Warsaw is largest palace in Warsaw and the official seat of the President of the Republic of Poland since 1993. The first presidential tenant was Lech Wałęsa when he moved to the Palace from Belweder in 1994, the palace also serves as an official residence for heads of state on official visits to Poland and other important guests. Presidential Castle in Wisła in a built for the Habsburgs as their hunting cottage. Since 2002 it is again a property of the President, restored and opened in 2005 by the President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and it is today a recreational and conference centre for the President and a hotel
16.
Identical twin
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Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy. Twins can be either monozygotic, meaning that they develop from one zygote, in fraternal twins, each twin is fertilized by its own sperm cell. In contrast, a fetus that develops alone in the womb is called a singleton, the human twin birth rate in the United States rose 76% from 1980 through 2009, from 18.9 to 33.3 per 1,000 births. In Central Africa there are 18–30 twin sets per 1,000 live births, in Latin America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, the lowest rates are found, only 6 to 9 twin sets per 1,000 live births. North America and Europe have intermediate rates of 9 to 16 twin sets per 1,000 live births, Multiple pregnancies are much less likely to carry to full term than single births, with twin pregnancies lasting on average 37 weeks, three weeks less than full term. Women who have a history of fraternal twins have a higher chance of producing fraternal twins themselves. There is no genetic link for identical twinning. Other factors that increase the odds of having fraternal twins include maternal age, fertility drugs and other fertility treatments, nutrition, the vast majority of twins are either dizygotic or monozygotic. Less common variants are discussed further down the article, the rates for singletons vary slightly by country. For example, the sex ratio of birth in the US is 1.05 males/female, while it is 1.07 males/female in Italy. However, males are more susceptible than females to die in utero. Zygosity is the degree of identity in the genome of twins, dizygotic or fraternal twins usually occur when two fertilized eggs are implanted in the uterus wall at the same time. When two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm cells, fraternal twins result. The two eggs, or ova, form two zygotes, hence the terms dizygotic and biovular. Fraternal twins are, essentially, two siblings who happen to be born at the same time, since they arise from two separate eggs fertilized by two separate sperm, just like ordinary siblings. This is the most common type of twin, dizygotic twins, like any other siblings, have an extremely small chance of having the same chromosome profile. Even if they happen to have the same profile, they will always have different genetic material on each chromosome. Like any other siblings, dizygotic twins may look similar, particularly given that they are the same age, however, dizygotic twins may also look very different from each other
17.
Prime Minister of Poland
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The President of the Council of Ministers, colloquially referred to as the Prime Minister of Poland, is the leader of the cabinet and the head of government of Poland. The current responsibilities and traditions of the stem from the creation of the contemporary Polish state. According to the Constitution, the President of Poland nominates and appoints the prime minister, fourteen days following his or her appointment, the prime minister must submit a programme outlining the governments agenda to the Sejm, requiring a vote of confidence. The office of the minister is generally considered the most powerful post in Polish politics. However, conflicts stemming from both interest and conflicting powers have arisen between the two offices in the past, the current and sixteenth Prime Minister is Beata Szydło of the Law and Justice party. Near the end of the First World War, an assortment of groups contested to proclaim an independent Polish state, in early November 1918, a socialist provisional government under Ignacy Daszyński declared independence, while a separate committee in Kraków claimed to rule West Galicia. Piłsudski summoned Daszyński to the capital to form a government, where Piłsudski agreed to appoint Daszyński as the republics first prime minister, daszyńskis premiership, however, remained brief, after the politician failed to form a workable coalition. Piłsudski turned instead to Jędrzej Moraczewski, who crafted a workable government for the Second Republics first months of existence. The Small Constitution of 1919 outlined Polands form of government, with a democratically elected Sejm, a minister and cabinet. Despite outlining a parliamentary system, the Small Constitution vested many executive powers onto Piłsudskis position as Chief of State, the executive branch could select and organize cabinets, be responsible to the ministries for their duties, and require the countersignature of ministers for all official acts. The result was the Sejms passage of the March Constitution of 1921, modeled after the Third French Republic, the March Constitution entrusted decision-making exclusively within the lower-house Sejm. The newly created presidency, on the hand, became a symbolic office devoid of any major authority, stripped of veto. Deriving authority from the powerful Sejm, the minister and the council of ministers, in theory, faced few constitutional barriers from the presidency to pass. In reality, however, the premiership remained extraordinarily insecure due to the political climate of the early Second Republic. Fourteen governments and eleven prime ministers rose and fell between 1918 and 1926, with nine governments alone serving between the five-year March Constitution era, distrustful of parliamentary democracy, Marshal Piłsudski and his Sanation movement assumed a semi-authoritarian power behind the throne presence over the premiership and presidency. By the mid-1930s, Piłsudski and fellow Sanationists further stripped parliament, under the communist Polish Peoples Republic, the ruling Polish United Workers Party dominated all sections of the government, as recognized under the 1952 Constitution. The office acted as an agent for policies carried out by the PZPRs Politburo. In face of growing protests from the Solidarity movement for much of the 1980s, as the communist state was quickly dismantled, this impasse remained due to the series of unstable governments falling in quick succession in the first years of the Third Republic
18.
2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
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On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board. The group was arriving from Warsaw to attend an event marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre, the pilots were attempting to land at Smolensk North Airport – a former military airbase – in thick fog, with visibility reduced to about 500 metres. The aircraft descended far below the approach path until it struck trees, rolled inverted and crashed into the ground. The Polish authorities found serious deficiencies in the organization and training of the Air Force unit involved, several high-ranking members of the Polish military resigned, under pressure from politicians and the media. Various conspiracy theories about the crash have since been in circulation, and are promoted by political figures in Poland. No evidence supporting this version was found in Polish and international investigations, the site of the massacre is approximately 19 km west of Smolensk. The area is remote, Smolensk is the only city nearby and has the only two airports in the area, Smolensk North Airport, where the accident occurred, and Smolensk South Airport. Smolensk North Airport is a military airbase, presently in mixed military-civilian use. At the time of the crash, the airport was not equipped with an ICAO-compliant instrument landing system, the airport did have previously a Russian landing system installed, but that was decommissioned after civilian operations started. The Polish Tu-154 was modified to use western-style ILS, the airport was equipped also with both surveillance and landing radar. The lowest approved visibility conditions to land were cloud base 100 meters, the ground visual navigation aids on 10 April 2010 were not effective. According to the Polish report, the radar was unstable and swung within ±10%, from the photographic documentation of the Polish committee, it appears that the origin of components of the Smolensk North lighting system was unknown. This was not the Luch-2MU system as the Russians stated, the lamps of first group had their lights filters shattered and, of three bulbs installed, one was OK. The aircraft was a Tupolev Tu-154M of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment of the Polish Air Force, built in 1990 at the Kuybyshev Aviation Plant as msn 90A837, it first flew on 29 June 1990. At the time of the accident, the airframe had accumulated 5,143 hours and 3,899 cycles, the service life of the Tu-154M is 25½ years or 30,000 hours or 15,000 cycles. All three Soloviev D-30KU-154 engines were within the limits of 24,000 hours or 11,100 cycles. The crash happened 138 flight hours after the most recent overhaul, the aircraft used the callsign PLF101. PLF is the ICAO three-letter designator for the Polish Air Force used to identify the operator of an aircraft by air traffic control, PLF101 took off from Warsaw at 9,27 Smolensk time after a delay of 27 minutes
19.
Home Army
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The Home Army was the dominant Polish resistance movement in Poland occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej, over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces. Its allegiance was to the Polish Government-in-Exile, and it constituted the armed wing of what became known as the Polish Underground State, estimates of the Home Armys 1944 strength range between 200,000 and 600,000, the most commonly cited number being 400,000. This last number would make the Home Army not only the largest Polish underground resistance movement, the Home Army was disbanded on 19 January 1945, after the Soviet Red Army had largely cleared Polish territory of German forces. The Home Army sabotaged German operations such as transports headed for the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union and it also fought several full-scale battles against the Germans, particularly in 1943 and in Operation Tempest in 1944. The Home Army, in support of the Soviet military effort, tied down substantial German forces, the most widely known Home Army operation was the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. The Army also defended Polish civilians against atrocities perpetrated by German, because the Home Army was loyal to the Polish Government-in-Exile, the Soviet Union saw it as an obstacle to a Soviet takeover of Poland. Consequently, over the course of the war, conflict grew between the Home Army and Soviet forces, all the while, however, many other resistance organizations remained active in Poland. Most of them merged with the Armed Resistance or with its successor. The Polish Government in Exile envisioned the Home Army as an apolitical, Home Army plans envisioned, at wars end, the seizure of power in Poland by the Government Delegation for Poland and by the Government in Exile itself, which expected to return to Poland. In addition to the Polish government in London, an organization operated in Poland itself - a deliberative body of the resistance. The Political Consultative Committee formed in 1940 pursuant to an agreement between several political parties, the Socialist Party, Peoples Party, National Party and Labor Party. In 1943 it was renamed to Home Political Representation and in 1944 to Council of National Unity, after Germany started its invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the Soviet Union joined the Allies and signed an Anglo-Soviet Agreement on 12 July 1941. This put the Polish Government in a position, since it had previously pursued a policy of two enemies. Though a Polish-Soviet agreement was signed in August 1941, cooperation continued to be difficult, until the major rising in 1944, the Home Army concentrated on self-defense and on attacks against German forces. The Home Army supplied valuable intelligence to the Allies, 43% of all received by the British secret services from continental Europe in between 1939 and 1945 came from Polish sources. Until 1942 most British intelligence on Germany came from Home Army reports, until the end of the war, the Home Army remained Britains main source of news from Central and Eastern Europe. Home Army intelligence provided the Allies with information on German concentration camps and on the V-1 flying bomb,242, photographs, eight key V-2 parts, and drawings of the wreckage
20.
Warsaw Uprising
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The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. The uprising was timed to coincide with the Soviet Unions Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces. However, the Soviet advance stopped short, enabling the Germans to regroup and demolish the city while defeating the Polish resistance, the Uprising was the largest single military effort taken by any European resistance movement during World War II. The Uprising began on 1 August 1944, as part of a plan, Operation Tempest. The main Polish objectives were to drive the Germans from the city and help with the fight against Nazi Germany. Also, short-term causes included the threat of a German round-up of able-bodied Poles, initially, the Poles established control over most of central Warsaw, but the Soviets ignored Polish attempts to establish radio contact and did not advance beyond the city limits. Intense street fighting between the Germans and Poles continued, arthur Koestler called the Soviet attitude one of the major infamies of this war which will rank for the future historian on the same ethical level with Lidice. Winston Churchill pleaded with Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt to help Britains Polish allies, then, without Soviet air clearance, Churchill sent over 200 low-level supply drops by the Royal Air Force, the South African Air Force, and the Polish Air Force under British High Command. Later, after gaining Soviet air clearance, the U. S. Army Air Force sent one high-level mass airdrop as part of Operation Frantic, the Soviet Union refused to allow American bombers from Western Europe to land on Soviet airfields after dropping supplies to the Poles. Although the exact number of remains unknown, it is estimated that about 16,000 members of the Polish resistance were killed. In addition, between 150,000 and 200,000 Polish civilians died, mostly from mass executions, Jews being harboured by Poles were exposed by German house-to-house clearances and mass evictions of entire neighbourhoods. German casualties totalled over 8,000 soldiers killed and missing, during the urban combat approximately 25% of Warsaws buildings were destroyed. Following the surrender of Polish forces, German troops systematically levelled another 35% of the city block by block, by July 1944, Poland had been occupied by the forces of Nazi Germany for almost five years. The Polish Home Army, which was loyal to the Polish government-in-exile, had planned some form of insurrection against the occupiers. Germany was fighting a coalition of Allied powers, led by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the initial plan of the Home Army was to link up with the invading forces of the Western Allies as they liberated Europe from the Nazis. However, in 1943 it became apparent that the Soviets, rather than the Western Allies, in this country, we have one point from which every evil emanates. If we didnt have Warsaw in the General Government, we wouldnt have four-fifths of the difficulties with which we must contend and it became obvious that the advancing Soviet Red Army might not come to Poland as an ally but rather only as the ally of an ally. The Soviets and the Poles distrusted each other, and Soviet partisans in Poland often clashed with Polish resistance increasingly united under the Home Armys front, afterwards, Stalin created the Rudenko Commission, whose goal was to blame the Germans for the war crime at all costs
21.
Philology
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Philology is the study of language in written historical sources, it is a combination of literary criticism, history, and linguistics. It is more defined as the study of literary texts and written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form. A person who pursues this kind of study is known as a philologist, in older usage, especially British, philology is more general, covering comparative and historical linguistics. Indo-European studies involves the comparative philology of all Indo-European languages, Philology, with its focus on historical development, is contrasted with linguistics due to Ferdinand de Saussures insistence on the importance of synchronic analysis. The contrast continued with the emergence of structuralism and Chomskyan linguistics alongside its emphasis on syntax, the term changed little with the Latin philologia, and later entered the English language in the 16th century, from the Middle French philologie, in the sense of love of literature. The adjective φιλόλογος meant fond of discussion or argument, talkative, in Hellenistic Greek also implying an excessive preference of argument over the love of true wisdom, as an allegory of literary erudition, Philologia appears in 5th-century post-classical literature, an idea revived in Late Medieval literature. The meaning of love of learning and literature was narrowed to the study of the development of languages in 19th-century usage of the term. Most continental European countries still maintain the term to designate departments, colleges, position titles, J. R. R. Tolkien opposed the nationalist reaction against philological practices, claiming that the philological instinct was universal as is the use of language. Based on the critique of Friedrich Nietzsche, US scholars since the 1980s have viewed philology as responsible for a narrowly scientistic study of language. The comparative linguistics branch of philology studies the relationship between languages, similarities between Sanskrit and European languages were first noted in the early 16th century and led to speculation of a common ancestor language from which all these descended. Philology also includes the study of texts and their history and it includes elements of textual criticism, trying to reconstruct an authors original text based on variant copies of manuscripts. Since that time, the principles of textual criticism have been improved and applied to other widely distributed texts such as the Bible. Scholars have tried to reconstruct the original readings of the Bible from the manuscript variants and this method was applied to Classical Studies and to medieval texts as a way to reconstruct the authors original work. A related study method known as higher criticism studies the authorship, date, as these philological issues are often inseparable from issues of interpretation, there is no clear-cut boundary between philology and hermeneutics. When text has a significant political or religious influence, scholars have difficulty reaching objective conclusions, some scholars avoid all critical methods of textual philology, especially in historical linguistics, where it is important to study the actual recorded materials. Supporters of New Philology insist on a diplomatic approach, a faithful rendering of the text exactly as found in the manuscript. Another branch of philology, cognitive philology, studies written and oral texts and this science compares the results of textual science with the results of experimental research of both psychology and artificial intelligence production systems. In the case of Bronze Age literature, philology includes the prior decipherment of the language under study and this has notably been the case with the Egyptian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Hittite, Ugaritic and Luwian languages
22.
Polish Academy of Sciences
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The Polish Academy of Sciences, headquartered in Warsaw, is Polands top academy of sciences. It is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars as well as a network of research institutes and it was established in 1951, during the early period of the Polish Peoples Republic following World War II. The Polish Academy of Sciences functions as a learned society acting through a corporation of leading scholars. The Academy has also, operating through its committees, become a scientific advisory body. Another aspect of the Academy is its coordination and overseeing of numerous research institutes, PAN institutes employ over 2,000 people, and are funded by about a third of the Polish governments budget for science. In 1989, the Polish Academy of Learning in Kraków, resumed its independent existence, separate from the Polish Academy of Sciences, in Warsaw
23.
Labour law
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Labour law mediates the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions and the government. Collective labour law relates to the relationship between employee, employer and union. Individual labour law concerns employees rights at work and through the contract for work, Employment standards are social norms for the minimum socially acceptable conditions under which employees or contractors are allowed to work. Labour law arose in parallel with the Industrial Revolution as the relationship between worker and employer changed from small-scale production studios to large-scale factories, Workers sought better conditions and the right to join a labour union, while employers sought a more predictable, flexible and less costly workforce. The state of law at any one time is therefore both the product of, and a component of struggles between various social forces. As England was the first country to industrialize, it was also the first to face the often appalling consequences of industrial revolution in a less regulated economic framework. This was largely achieved through the pressure from social reformers, notably Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. A serious outbreak of fever in 1784 in cotton mills near Manchester drew widespread public opinion against the use of children in dangerous conditions. A local inquiry presided over by Dr Thomas Percival, was instituted by the justices of the peace for Lancashire, in 1802, the first major piece of labour legislation was passed − the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act. This was the first, albeit modest, step towards the protection of labour, the act limited working hours to twelve a day and abolished night work. It required the provision of a level of education for all apprentices, as well as adequate sleeping accommodation. The Factory Act of 1819 was the outcome of the efforts of the industrialist Robert Owen and prohibited child labour under nine years of age, pivotal in the campaigning for and the securing of this legislation were Michael Sadler and the Earl of Shaftesbury. This act was an important step forward, in that it mandated skilled inspection of workplaces, a lengthy campaign to limit the working day to ten hours was led by Shaftesbury, and included support from the Anglican Church. Many committees were formed in support of the cause and some established groups lent their support as well. The campaign finally led to the passage of the Factory Act of 1847 and these early efforts were principally aimed at limiting child labour. From the mid-19th century, attention was first paid to the plight of working conditions for the workforce in general, in 1850, systematic reporting of fatal accidents was made compulsory, and basic safeguards for health, life and limb in the mines were put in place from 1855. Further regulations, relating to ventilation, fencing of disused shafts, signalling standards, a series of further Acts, in 1860 and 1872 extended the legal provisions and strengthened safety provisions. The same Act included the first comprehensive code of regulation to govern legal safeguards for health, life, the presence of a more certified and competent management and increased levels of inspection were also provided for
24.
Anti-communism
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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
25.
Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee
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Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee was an action strike committee formed in Gdańsk Shipyard, Peoples Republic of Poland on 16 August 1980. It was led by Lech Wałęsa and others and is famous for issuing the 21 demands of MKS on 17 August, the widespread strikes of 1980 were far from being the first clashes between the ruling party and the working class in Poland after World War II. Despite having a government, the elite of the Polish ruling class averaged an income twenty times that of the blue-collar worker. This elite ruling class owned or largely controlled the police, media and industry of the state, when, in August 1980, Anna Walentynowicz lost her job at the Gdańsk Shipyard because of her position as editor of the underground newspaper Robotnik Wybrzeze, her fellow workers took action. After negotiating with management and having most of their demands met, by August 18, the MKS represented workers from 156 separate enterprises, and the number was steadily growing. Just two days after the formation of MKS the Polish economy was brought to a standstill as workers struck at factories and ports all along the Baltic coast. By August 21, much of the country was affected by strikes, even including the mines of the Upper Silesian Industrial Area. The Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee at Gdańsk was becoming the center for trade union movement. In the strikes of the 1950s and ‘70s it was the lack of an organized structure that had limited the mobilization potential of striking workers. It was for this reason that the government of Edward Gierek found they could no longer buy off strikers with small concessions, on the day that the committee was formed, August 17, MKS posted a handwritten list of twenty-one demands in the shipyard. In these demands, the workers were calling on the government to protect the rights of the Polish people. With the signing of the Gdańsk Agreement on August 31, delegates from MKS – representing 3500 separate enterprises and 3 million workers, intellectuals and students – met in Gdańsk. The Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee, which had become a federation of unions now officially became Poland’s first independent trade union since World War II. Some historians claim that within weeks Solidarity’s membership included almost 80 percent of Poland’s working population, eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century - and After. Routledge, New York 1997, 2nd Ed, “Non-Violence and the Strike Movements in Poland. ”Breaking the Barrier, The Rise of Solidarity in Poland. Oxford University Press, New York,1991 Strajkowy Biuletyn Informacyiny ‘Solidarność’,2, August 24,1980 http, //files. osa. ceu. hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/45-4-393. shtml http, //www. socialistworker. org/2006-1/570/570_08_Poland. shtml
26.
Solidarity (Polish trade union)
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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
27.
Martial law in Poland
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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
28.
Internment
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Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The term is used for the confinement of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects. Thus, while it can simply mean imprisonment, it tends to refer to preventive confinement, use of these terms is subject to debate and political sensitivities. Interned persons may be held in prisons or in known as internment camps. In certain contexts, these may also be known either officially or pejoratively, internment also refers to a neutral countrys practice of detaining belligerent armed forces and equipment on its territory during times of war under the Hague Convention of 1907. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights restricts the use of internment, article 9 states that No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. The United States set up camps for Cherokee and other Native Americans in the 1830s. From 1863 to 1868, the U. S, military persecuted and imprisoned 9,500 Navajo and 500 Mescalero Apache. Living under armed guards, more than 3,500 Navajo and Mescalero Apache men, women, the term concentration camp saw wider use during the Second Boer War, when the British operated such camps in South Africa for interning Boers. They built 45 tented camps for Boer internees and 64 for black Africans, of the 28,000 Boer men captured as prisoners of war, the British sent 25,630 overseas. The vast majority of Boers remaining in the camps were women and children. Some of them managed to go into exile or went off to join the armies of the Allies in order to fight against the Axis powers, while others ended up in Nazi concentration camps. During the 20th century, the internment of civilians by the state reached its most notorious excesses with the establishment of the Nazi concentration camps. The Nazi concentration camp system was notable for its size, with as many as 15,000 camps. Moreover, Nazi Germany established six camps, specifically designed to kill millions
29.
Solidarity Citizens' Committee
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According to the Round Table Agreement, 35%, i. e.161 out of 460 seats in the so-called Contract Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, were to be allocated by a free election. In the run-up to the election, the Citizens Committee decided to nominate as many candidates in each constituency as there were seats democratically available, the new senate was to have 100 seats, all of which were to be allocated in a free election. The Citizens Committee nominated a candidate for each seat, every candidate had an article in Gazeta Wyborcza and posters showing them with the figurehead of the opposition, Wałęsa. There were other motifs, too, most famously perhaps the minimalist High Noon poster billing the election as the showdown between the government and the people. The Committees candidates won by a margin in all constituencies. Independent, non-Committee candidates obtained a total of 40% of all votes not cast for the ruling Polish United Workers Party and its affiliates. Also, even in this historic election, the turnout was merely 62% in the first and 26% in the second ballot. On 23 June 1989, the Committee candidates which found themselves in the Sejm formed the Citizens Parliamentary Party, however, political frictions soon occurred within the OKP. This cleavage continues to shape the Polish political landscape until this day
30.
Polish Round Table Agreement
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The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw, Poland from February 6, to April 5,1989. The government initiated the discussion with the trade union Solidarność. Despite an attempt by the government to crack down on trade unionism, in addition there was fear of a social explosion due to economic malaise and runaway inflation that had depressed Polish living standards and deepened public anger and frustration. By 1988 the authorities began serious talks with the opposition, in September 1988, when a wave of strikes was coming to an end, a secret meeting was held which included Lech Wałęsa and Minister of Internal Affairs Czesław Kiszczak. They agreed on holding the so-called Round Table talks in the future to plan out the course of action to be undertaken in the country. The Round Table talks began on February 6,1989 at 2,23 pm CET and they included the solidarity opposition faction and the coalition government faction. The talks were held in the Council of Ministers Office, the meetings were co-chaired by Wałęsa and Kiszczak. The Polish communists, led by General Jaruzelski, hoped to co-opt prominent opposition leaders into the group without making major changes in the political power structure. In reality, the talks radically altered the shape of the Polish government, the events in Poland precipitated and gave momentum to the fall of the entire European communist bloc, the Yalta arrangement collapsed soon after the events in Poland. This was caused by a mutual distrust of the factions and an unwillingness of the government faction to relinquish power. Despite their fears a number of important documents were signed on April 5 and these documents became known as the Round Table Agreement. An agreement was signed on April 4,1989, Solidarność became a legitimate and legal political party. Free election to 35% of the seats in Sejm and a free election to the Senate was assured. The election of June 4,1989 brought a victory to Solidarność, 99% of all the seats in the Senate. Jaruzelski, whose name was the one the Communist Party allowed on the ballot for the presidency. The 65–35 division was abolished as well, after the first truly free Sejm elections. The Round Table sessions were of importance to the future political developments in Poland. They paved the way to a free and democratic Poland as well as the abolition of communism in Poland
31.
Polish legislative election, 1989
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The Polish legislative election of 1989 was the tenth election to the Sejm, the parliament of the Polish Peoples Republic, and the first election to the recreated Senate of Poland. The first round took place on 4 June, right after the 1989 June 4th Beijing Tiananmen Square massacre in China, with a second round on 18 June. It was the closest thing to an election in the country since 1928. Not all parliamentary seats were contested, but the victory of the Solidarity opposition in the freely contested races paved the way to the fall of Communism in Poland. Solidarity swept all of the contested seats in the Sejm. In the elections aftermath, Poland became the first country of the Eastern Bloc in which democratically elected representatives gained real power, in May and August 1988 massive waves of workers strikes broke out in the Polish Peoples Republic. The strikes, as well as demonstrations, continued throughout spring and summer. These strikes were organized by local activists, who had no idea that their leaders from Warsaw had already started secret negotiations with the communists. An agreement was reached by the communist Polish United Workers Party, the final agreement was signed on 4 April 1989, ending communist rule in Poland. As a result, real power was to be vested in a newly created bicameral legislature. Soon after the agreement was signed, Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa travelled to Rome, perhaps the most important decision reached during the Round Table talks was to allow for partially free elections to be held in Poland. All seats to the newly recreated Senate of Poland were to be elected democratically, the remaining 65% of the seats were reserved for the PZPR and its satellite parties. In addition, all 35 seats elected via the country-wide list were reserved for the PZPRs candidates provided they gained a certain quota of support and this was to ensure that the most notable leaders of the Party were elected. The outcome of the election was largely unpredictable, pre-electoral opinion polls were inconclusive, after all, Poland had not had a truly fair election since the 1920s, so there was little precedent to go by. The last contested elections were those of 1947, in the midst of communist-orchestrated violent oppression and this time, there would be open and relatively fair competition for many seats, both between communist and Solidarity candidates, and in some cases, between various communist candidates. While censorship was still in force, the opposition was allowed to campaign much more freely than before, with a new newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, Solidarity was also given access to televised media, being allocated 23% of electoral time on Polish Television. There were also no restrictions on financial support and it was clear that the Communists were unpopular, but there were no hard numbers as to how low support for them would actually fall. A rather flawed survey carried in April, days after the Round Table Agreement was signed, suggested that over 60% of the surveyed wanted Solidarity to cooperate with the government
listen); 18 June 1949 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish lawyer and politician who served as the Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005 and as the President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010.
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Poland : Order of the White Eagle, Grand Master
Malta : Collar of Order of Merit of Malta (14 May 2007)
Saudi Arabia : Collar of King Abdul Aziz (25 June 2007)
Croatia : Knight Grand Cross of the Grand Order of King Tomislav (10 January 2008)
Georgia : St. George's Order of Victory (23 November 2007)
Ukraine : The First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (6 December 2007)
Portugal : Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (2 September 2008)
Slovakia : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (21 February 2009)[40]
Czech Republic : Order of the White Lion, First Class (21 January 2010)
Hungary : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (18 March 2009)
Lithuania : Grand Cross with Golden Chain of the Order of Vytautas the Great (16 April 2009)
Azerbaijan : Heydar Aliyev Order (Azerbaijan – 2 July 2009)
Romania : Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Star of Romania (7 October 2009)
South Korea : Honorary doctorate from Hankuk University of Foreign Language in Seoul (6 December 2008)
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