Polish History

Since its beginnings, Poland has been a moving target, geographically as well as demographically, and the very definition of who is a Pole has been in flux. In the late medieval and early modern periods, the country grew to be the largest in continental Europe, only to be later wiped off the map for more than a century. Yet even under these constraints, Poles persisted in their desire to wrest from their oppressors a modicum of national dignity and, ultimately, managed to achieve much more than that.

Poland, a modern state in the very center of Europe, used to be a battlefield of many nations. Throughout its history, Poland had to fight for its independence—for its very existence. This captivating guide to Polish history will get you acquainted with the country that is probably most overlooked in historical studies. Sure, everyone knows the Second World War started with the Nazi occupation of Poland, but the country is old and very rich in events, great kings, ruling nobles, and defining culture.

In this sweeping novel, James A. Michener chronicles eight tumultuous centuries as three Polish families live out their destinies. The Counts Lubonski, the petty nobles Bukowksi, and the peasants Buk are at some times fiercely united, at others tragically divided. With an inspiring tradition of...

A practical approach to traditional Polish folk practice. Polish Folk Magic is an introductory guide into the folk beliefs, seasonal practices, living ancestral traditions, and authentic folk magic of the West Slavic peoples. With the Polish and Slavic diasporas in mind, Joanna Tarnawska fills...

A New York Times bestseller A USA Today bestseller The long-hidden diary of a young Polish woman's life during the Holocaust, translated for the first time into English Renia Spiegel was born in 1924 to an upper-middle class Jewish family living in southeastern Poland, near what was at that time...

A gripping history of the Nazi invasion of Poland, the true onset of World War II “Exemplary...About as good as military history can be.” —Timothy Snyder, New York Times For Americans, World War II began in December 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; but for Europe, the war began on...

There is a chapter of World War II history that remains largely untold: the story of the fourth largest Allied military of the war, and the only nation to have fought in the battles of Leningrad, Arnhem, Tobruk, and Normandy. This is the story of the Polish forces during the Second World War, the story of millions of young men and women who gave everything for freedom and in the final victory lost all. In a cruel twist of history, the monumental struggles of an entire nation have been largely forgotten, and even intentionally obscured. No Greater Ally redresses the balance,

Dive into a world of timeless faith and rich heritage with Two Pillars of Orthodoxy: Serbia and Poland's Sacred Legacy. This 2-in-1 volume seamlessly brings together Serbian Orthodox Church for Beginners and Polish Orthodox Church: A Beginner's Guide—a perfect blend of history, spirituality, and cultural discovery. Uncover Sacred Treasures: Explore the awe-inspiring monasteries of Serbia and the resilient beauty of Poland’s Orthodox sanctuaries. Each location is steeped in stories of devotion and resilience, connecting you to centuries of tradition. Meet Saints and Heroes: From Saint ...

After a brief revival following World War I, during which it successfully defeated a Soviet attempt to invade in an effort to carry "international revolution" into Germany and Central Europe, Poland once again fell victim to its neighbors in 1939. Adolf Hitler's Third Reich and Josef Stalin's USSR collaborated in the conquest and then split Poland between them. The Germans instituted oppressive rule in their portion of Poland, executing some 7,000 people on political grounds and imprisoning thousands of others.

On 23 August 1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty with a secret protocol that delineated their respective spheres of influence over the territory between them. On 1 September 1939 Nazi Germany launched WWII by invading Poland from the West. On 17 September the Soviet Union invaded from the East. Over 200,000 Polish soldiers were captured by the Red Army. About 15,000 military officers, policemen, and border guards were segregated and interned in three camps: Starobelsk, Kozelsk, and Ostashkov. On 5 March 1940 NKVD Chief Beria provided Stalin with a proposal ...

This book explores the Nazi occupation of Poland 1939-1945--and how ordinary people survived, resisted and endured during those horrible years. Here, with information smuggled out of Poland by the underground resistance, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs documented the Nazi regime’s systematic plan to erase an entire nation: to destroy its culture, enslave its people, and extinguish resistance through terror. Inside this rare report are: Translations of Nazi laws designed to annihilate Polish identity Eyewitness accounts of deportations, executions, and village massacres Chilling ...

This book is a general introduction to the History of Russia focussing on the events which shaped it's history from the start of it's history till it became a power of note in the 1700s. Tracing the history from Rus Khaganate till Peter the Great, the book covers the history of three major players in the area - Rus Khaganate, Kievan Rus, Vladimir, Moscow and Moscow transitioning into Russia Lithuania and later it's successor states of Polish-Lithuanian Union and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Golden Horde and it's successor Khanates - Astrakhan, Crimea, Kazan and the Nogai Horde The ...

What if everything you think you know about Polish history is incomplete? For centuries, Poland has been portrayed as Europe's eternal victim—a Catholic nation trapped between Germany and Russia, forever defending the West against invaders from the East. It is a powerful story. It is also only half the story. Poland: Gateway to the Orient turns conventional history upside down, revealing a Poland that was not merely Europe's frontier, but one of its greatest crossroads. Long before modern globalization, the lands of Poland connected the Baltic with the Black Sea, Persia, the Ottoman ...

They were told the code was unbreakable. Then a shy mathematician cycled through the rain and proved them wrong. Alan Turing, Gordon Welchman, and the brilliant eccentrics of Bletchley Park who cracked the Nazi Enigma and changed the course of the war. The history books mention Enigma. They mention D‑Day. But they leave out the most important question: how did a team of crossword solvers, chess champions, and a man who couldn‘t tie his shoelaces break the cipher that the Nazis believed was impenetrable? The official records left out one crucial detail: the war was won not only on the ...

Marie Curie & The Fire Within by JD Arden opens on a quiet inferno—her calm demeanor masking an iron will and an insatiable drive to expose the hidden forces of nature. This lean, incandescent biography refuses hagiography and sentimentality, tracing how method, stubbornness, and moral clarity turned dangerous curiosity into discovery without softening the costs involved. Arden writes with surgical clarity: lab benches become battlefields, classrooms become cages, and the slow work of experiment reveals a woman who refused the limits others imposed. Here is science as grit and danger, ...

Based on 10 years of research and a vast cache of primary sources located in archives in Warsaw, Paris, London, New York, and Washington, D.C., Alan Walker's monumental Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times is the most comprehensive biography of the great Polish composer to appear in English in more than a century. Walker's work is a corrective biography, intended to dispel the many myths and legends that continue to surround Chopin. 

250 years ago, Casimir Pulaski arrived in America with no rank, no command, and no country to return to. Exiled from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth after leading a failed uprising against Russian domination, he crossed the Atlantic carrying little more than experience, reputation, and an unbroken belief in liberty. Within months, he would ride onto the battlefield at Brandywine, recognize a deadly British maneuver before others did, and act decisively in a moment that helped preserve the Continental Army. In a war still finding its form, Pulaski brought something rare—discipline, ...

Following the end of the First World War, Poland was wedged uncomfortably between the two dominant nations of Germany and the Soviet Union. Poland was obliged to plot and negotiate to try and prevent them from realizing their ambitions to eviscerate the country. As well as bitter ethnic battles between Germany and Poland for the political control of Upper Silesia, there were also the burning ambitions of Weimar Germany, and later Nazi Germany, to reclaim lands incorporated into the new state of Poland at Versailles.

The Katyn Massacre of 22,000 Polish prisoners of war is a crime to which there are no witnesses. Committed in utmost secrecy in April–May 1940 by the NKVD on the direct orders of Joseph Stalin, for nearly fifty years the Soviet regime succeeded in maintaining the fiction that Katyn was a Nazi...

A Holocaust historian, archivist, and history blogger adds a new dimension to the story of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War II, shining a long overdue spotlight on five young, Polish Jewish women—champions who helped lead the resistance, sabotage the Nazis, and aid Jews in hiding...