Poles in France
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Poles in France form one of the largest Polish diaspora communities in Europe. Between 500,000 and one million people of Polish descent live in France, concentrated in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, in the metropolitan area of Lille, the coal-mining basin around Lens and Valenciennes and in the Ile-de-France.
Stanisław Leszczyński's Palace in Wissembourg
Hôtel Lambert was a center of Polish exiles associated with Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski.
The Polish Library in Paris, founded in 1838, was added in 2003 to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.
Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption is the main Polish church of Paris.
The Polish Army in France formed in France under the command of General Władysław Sikorski in late 1939, after the fall of Poland resulting from the Polish Defensive War. About 85,000 troops were in the process of being organized into fighting formations when the Battle of France started. The army was partially destroyed in the hostilities, but over 20,000 soldiers were evacuated and formed a new Polish army in the United Kingdom.
Polish soldiers in training with MAS 36 rifles, France, 1940.
Wladyslaw Sikorski presents the banner for the Polish sapper unit in France.
Polish Renault UE column in France, 1940.
The ceremony parade presenting the banner of the Independent Podhale Rifle Brigade, 1940.