Questions tagged [poland]

Poland was an important Eastern-European kingdom between the 11th and 18th centuries. For the next 123 years, it was partitioned between other countries. In 1918 it became a democratic republic, which after World War II joined Warsaw Pact. In 2004, Poland joined the European Union. Check full tag wiki page to see examples of related topics.

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Was there a battle at "Wodziki" in October 1914?

A gravestone for Friedrich Adel Ferdinand Torsten Graf Posadowsky-Wehner, Freiherr v. Postelwitz, Kgl. Preuss Oberst und Kommandeur des (2 Oster.) Gren Rgt. 13 says gefallen am 7 Okt. 1914 i Wodziki ...
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3 answers
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Did France send people from other countries to fight first during WWII?

I am from Poland. This past weekend, I talked with my mother-in-law, who was born in 1935 in France. In 1939, right before World War II broke out, she and her family went back to Poland. I was shocked ...
Michu93's user avatar
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Would the USSR have invaded Poland in WW2 if the Germans had not crossed into previously-agreed Soviet sphere of influence?

On Quora, I read the following opinion by user Ahmad: During the war against Poland however, the Germans crossed over into the region that had been granted to the Soviet Union as part of the Molotov–...
Anixx's user avatar
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What was the ethno-linguistic makeup of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?

What was the ethno-linguistic makeup of the Rzeczpospolita, that is, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth prior to the partitions? EDIT: Clarification, asking what were the percentages to total ...
Markku P.'s user avatar
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13 votes
5 answers
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Why would this word have been an unsuitable name in Communist Poland? Is it because it's a racial slur?

In Marek Hłasko's The Graveyard (set in communist-occupied Poland) there is a scene where, in a political party meeting one of the party members (Nowak) is forced to change the name of his dog. This ...
beeclu's user avatar
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1 answer
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How could Stutthof's inmates reach Palmnicken?

There's a Palmnicken Massacre section in Polish article about Stutthof concentration camp (not available in English version). It says (translation mine): The female prisoners of the sub-camps were ...
trejder's user avatar
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4 votes
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What can I learn from this man's uniform?

This is my Polish Great Grandfather - I'm trying to create his story by looking at his uniform. Imperial Russian Uniform? Lithuanian cross? Help! Photo taken in Saint Petersburg, Russia He was born ...
Michele Geller's user avatar
5 votes
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550 views

Did the Ottomans conquer Poland-Lithuania?

Türk Tarihi | History of Turks claims that the Ottomans took Poland-Lithuania as a vassal in the late 1570s. Where did they get this from? I searched everywhere but I couldn't find anything.
Kamal Saleh's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
2k views

Do we know the names of the German soldiers entombed at Babie Doły?

The Eugene Register-Guard newspaper ran the following story on the 18th of June 1951 Warsaw, Poland - (U.P.) - A 32 year-old German Soldier who said he had been buried alive for six years in a Nazi ...
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When did Wiktoria Narutowicz die?

Is it possible to find when Wiktoria ze Szczepkowskich, mother of Gabriel Narutowicz (his Wiki-page) died? I found rodovid.org but there is no date of death. I also checked in Gabriel Narutowicz ...
Michu93's user avatar
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Who got a pardon from Gabriel Narutowicz?

In December 1922 Gabriel Narutowicz was president of Poland and were killed 16th of December. Just after 5 days of being president of country he got assassinated by Eligiusz Niewiadomski. I found that ...
Michu93's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
295 views

What was the conspiratorial name of Roman Stanislaw Dmowski?

What name did Roman Stanislaw Dmowski before he returned to Warsaw in 1905? in Autumn 1905 after the proclamation of the constitution in Russia, he [returned] to Warsaw, where he could live under his ...
Michu93's user avatar
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14 votes
1 answer
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Why did peasant serfdom last longer in Eastern Europe than in Western?

My concern is for the early-modern period, roughly 16th to 19th centuries. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia seem to provide the best known examples of long-lasting serfdom. The article on ...
Eldritch Sandwich's user avatar
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When and why did the given name Dariusz get popular in Poland?

I recently realized that Dariusz is a) a reasonably popular given name in Poland, and b) sounds a lot like the modern Iranian name Daryush, which is derived from the name of Darius, one of the most ...
Jan's user avatar
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How significant was the literary loss due to WWII?

From the Wikipedia list of libraries damaged during World War II, I learnt that millions of books stored in libraries were lost from bombings and intentional destruction by the Nazis, especially in ...
Soquenti Asseurompe's user avatar
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Why did China decide to support Poland in 1956, but not Hungary?

In 1956, the fate of the Eastern Block was pretty uncertain: The Khrushchev Thaw was causing the satellite countries to rethink their place in the world, as de-Stalinization was bringing the promise ...
Yasskier's user avatar
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Was there any significant cultural shift in Russian Empire caused by the partition of Poland?

Wikipedia article on Tsardom of Russia claims that acquisition of Wild Fields and Kiev Academy caused an influx of intellectuals in Russia, which in turn kick-started later reforms by Peter The Great ...
Reverent Lapwing's user avatar
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Which place in Europe and/or Russia had its catenary lines removed/replaced several times for political reasons?

I could swear I remember reading about a city or rail line -- maybe in Germany? Maybe in Poland? -- that had the overhead electrical wires for trains removed, exported to another city or country, and ...
Mayor of the Plattenbaus's user avatar
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1 answer
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What does this acronym and the symbol in the middle represent?

One of my Polish friends just bought a ruined old brick house in a village in Poland, which was supposedly reigned by Germany during the second world war (I didn't ask the name nor the location of the ...
KratosMath's user avatar
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2 answers
368 views

What was the border regime between Poland and Czechoslovakia like during the 1970s and 1980s?

Poland and Czechoslovakia shared a rather long border after WW2. This border included several touristically relevant places, e.g. Snežka in the Krkonoše mountains and several peaks in the High Tatras. ...
Jan's user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
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Where can I find information on a Polish castle dismantled by Sweden?

I recently visited a castle in Krakow, Poland, where I learned that a Polish castle was dismantled by a Swedish king and loaded onto boats to be rebuilt in Sweden. Unfortunately, the castle sank to ...
Tanj's user avatar
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Can anyone identify these (possibly WW1 Polish) uniforms?

The only hint I have is that the gentlemen in the picture were Polish and it was reputed to have been taken in 1917. So far I suspect that they may be cavalry?
Tim Dawson's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
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Did Augustus the Strong sleep with his own daughter?

I'm working my way through Robert Massie's voluminous biography of Peter the Great at the moment. It's truly a pleasure to read; one really does have the sensation of stepping into Peter's world. ...
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1 vote
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Is history of Polish Catholicism exceptional? [closed]

Zygmunt Zieliński in his study called "The myth of a Catholic Pole" in the book Polish political myths of the 19th and 20th centuries observes: (…) the criterion for distin­guishing the ...
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1 vote
1 answer
125 views

What is the name for the very first Polish state likely established around 966 by Mieszko I through baptism of Poland?

In the year of likely around 966, Mieszko I united all of the tribes occupying a part of today's western Poland through Christianization of it, therefore making Poland an official sovereign state (at ...
Beans's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
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What was the treatment of Polish POW in British or Soviet uniform in WW2?

Suppose that Polish soldier, member of Polish Armed Forces in the West, becomes a German POW. How good or bad would have be treated ? Like UK/US POW (relatively mildly) or like Polish POWs from 1939 (...
rs.29's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
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Identifying this uniform, possibly German or Polish

This photo was in my great-aunt's album. She only identified it as "he came from Germany", but the picture was taken in Bunzlau, which I believe to be in Poland. I am guessing it is from ...
MaryP's user avatar
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8 votes
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Why was Austria given the best chunk in the First Partition of Poland, even while protesting it?

In the First Partition of Poland, Austria was given 2.7 million people, versus 1.3 million for Russia, and almost 1 million for Prussia. Austria got more than twice as much land as Prussia, and only ...
Tom Au's user avatar
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16 votes
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Why was Poland subject to much harsher Russification than Finland was?

A Wikipedia page describes Russification of Poland: Russification in Congress Poland intensified after the November Uprising of 1831, and in particular after the January Uprising of 1863. In 1864 the ...
Mitsuko's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
446 views

Identify male uniform 1860-80 north Central Europe single breast trouser boot round cap

This photo is believed to be from 1860-1880 Poland/Lithuania, as the house behind them looks like a Polish thatch house. The man in question is in the center back of the photo. Uniform is single ...
Mr. Magoo's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
249 views

Why has Witold Pilecki not been included in the Righteous Among the Nations? [closed]

Witold Pilecki was a Polish resistance fighter who volunteered to enter the Auschwitz I concentration camp. From there, he organised a resistance movement and gathered intelligence on the atrocities ...
Max Muller's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
94 views

What are the themes of post-WW2 Polish immigration to the United States? [closed]

What are the themes of post-WW2 Polish immigration to the United States? What was life like for this immigrant community?
Jake Price's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
460 views

When in September 1939 did the British diplomatic mission leave Warsaw?

On September first 1939, at 4:45 in the morning, the Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on Danzig/Gdansk. September twenty-second is when German troops completed their encirclement of Warsaw. Somewhere in ...
Mastrem's user avatar
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16 votes
1 answer
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Any information about the photo with Army Uniforms

Found an old photo and want to identify which period does it belong to and where it could have been taken or which country are these soldiers from. Found word "Brattig" on the other side, maybe ...
denh's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
356 views

What is the actual Polish street name of the street in Martinau, now Rokitnica, of Strasse der SA?

My mother who was born in Beuthen/Bytom, but must have lived at least for a while in Martinau, "Strasse der SA 19". I want to go there and find the street. Martinau was Rokittnitz (part of the ...
Christoph Sauer's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
160 views

For how many years in the eighteenth century were Russian soldiers present within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth borders?

For modern Poland, the answer is rather simple. Russian, and later Soviet soldiers, were stationed inside the Polish borders for almost the whole 19th and 20th centuries (with a notable exception for ...
LookAheadAtYourTypes's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
80 views

What is the most complete study of Count Benyowszky?

Maurice Benyowsky was a notorious adventurer who wrote a well-known, highly fictionalized autobiography (Memoirs and Travels of Mauritius Augustus Count de Benyowsky). His supposed exploits became ...
Aaron Brick's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
225 views

Why did the recorded history of Poland start after the reign of Miezsko I?

Norman Davies says this in his book, God's Playground, Volume I regarding Miezsko I: He started the recorded history of the Poles which has continued without a break from that day to this. Even I ...
Kutsit's user avatar
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18 votes
1 answer
1k views

What is the name and meaning of a World War 2 CCC Medal with both the Polish Eagle and British Statant Gardant Lion?

While looking through a collection of World War 2 medals, I came across this one (picture attached) and have been unable to identify it. It is in the form of a shield, appears to have a Polish eagle ...
Rambo8000's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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What was the reason that Poland wanted a part of Germany north of Stettin/Szczecin and west of the Oder?

If you look at the map you see the so-called Stettiner Zipfel (Szczecin lobe) in the west of the Oder which includes Stettin/Szczecin. OpenStreetMap How the course of the border is defined is ...
Thorsten S.'s user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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Why was Polish king Sigismund II Augustus' coronation held when his father Sigismund I was still alive?

Sigismund II Augustus was born in 1520 and crowned at age 10 in 1530, while his father Sigismund I the Old was still alive. Could someone explain me the reason for this coronation? Sigismund II August ...
Jaroslaw Matlak's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
455 views

Was the end date of Soviet-Japanese Border War the direct reason of starting Soviet invasion on Poland in 1939

The end date of the Soviet-Japanese Border War oddly coincides with the beginning date of the Soviet invasion on Poland in 1939. Was the end date of the Soviet-Japanese Border War the direct reason of ...
Marian Paździoch's user avatar
15 votes
6 answers
2k views

Did the Red Army and German Army clash in Poland in 1939?

I found a youtube lecture by Stephen Kotkin. He is a professor of history, wrote 2 books on Stalin with a 3rd on the way, and has access to certain Russian archives. That's all I know about him, ...
DrZ214's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
278 views

Was there Nazi Collaboration at an Institutional level in Poland?

Following recent legal regulations in Poland prohibiting any association of Polish culpability with the Holocaust and concentration camps, the question that arises is whether there was any Polish ...
El Shteiger's user avatar
16 votes
4 answers
1k views

Help with identifying my great-grandfather's pre-WWI Cossack uniform

My great-grandfahter was a Cossack from "Then Russia" "Now Belarus" where the Belarus, Ukraine and Poland borders met, but I don't now which "type" like Don or Kuban etc. He fled from the place he ...
Henrik T's user avatar
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13 votes
6 answers
9k views

Why did Hitler treat the Slavs inconsistently?

I think it's pretty common knowledge that Hitler viewed the Slavs as subhuman or 'untermenschen'; however; his attitude towards the Slavs as regards the conquests in Eastern Europe seem somewhat ...
user22453's user avatar
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13 votes
3 answers
954 views

Did more Jews live in Poland than any other country, prior to the Holocaust, because of how Polish laws and people regarded Jews?

Poland in 1900 and just before the Sho'ah ranks 1st in a list of nations by Jewish percentage of the population. [1] Now of course in such a ranking that country is Israel. Why did Jews migrate to and ...
Jesse W. Collins's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
5k views

Did Poland help Germany take Czechoslavakia before Germany invaded Poland?

In March of 1939, "with Germany's permission" (WW2 for dummies), Poland invaded Czechoslovakia while Germany was annexing the Sudetenland per the Munich agreement. Only 6 months later, in September, ...
Lanet Rino's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
215 views

Was the Vistula delta inhabited by Slavic tribes or Baltic tribes?

Specifically I'm talking about the area in between the Nogat and Vistula river. Googling maps of Old Prussian territory seem to have a mix of including this land and not including it. This map ...
A. Dean's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
433 views

Before the Great War, was the word "Poland" typically used to refer only to the Russian partition of Poland?

Before World War 1, Poland was partitionned between Prussia, Austria-Hungary and Russia. However I have strong reasons to suspect that the word "Poland" was at that time referring specifically to the ...
Bregalad's user avatar
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