history

The common view that Ultra shaved two years off the war is hard to sustain, but it did save the allies months in time and hundreds of thousands of lives. Britons and Poles can take pride in that achievement. Neither needs to exaggerate it

Forty-one years ago, the Communist junta brought tanks onto the streets of Poland. Today we are restoring dignity to the victims and sending a clear message to the criminals: you cannot sleep peacefully.

“[…] there are no more occupiers. We’re our own masters and hosts,” rejoiced Warsaw politician and columnist Ignacy Baliński in November 1918. But Poland’s newly regained freedom still had to be defended against Russia – just as Ukraine does today.

The effects of World War II – demographic, economic, infrastructural, scientific, educational and cultural – are felt by Poles until today.

It was only with the COVID-19 pandemic that many of us became aware of this. It came as a shock to us that borders and free movement across borders in Europe could be restricted. Norwegians could no longer buy alcohol in Sweden or visit their relatives with such ease – writes prof. Thomas Hylland Eriksen.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been full of painful resonances.  From the forced deportations of countless women and children to the executions of those that would resist

The outbreak of the Second World War, which began on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by the Nazi Third Reich, is one of the events annually commemorated throughout Europe.

There is no room for symbols marked with the red star in public space in free, independent and democratic Poland, nor in free Europe.

There is no grain of truth in the accusations aimed at Poland that its cooperation with Hitler led to the outbreak of World War II.

Rzeczpospolita, so pompously celebrating the centenary of its rebirth last year, has many reasons to be proud. One of them is the Constitution of 3rd May 1791, recognised worldwide as Europe’s first and world’s second democratic constitution. However, it was not a coincidence that the Constitution of 3rd May was the first such act in Europe and a phenomenon on a global scale. It resulted from the centuries-long tradition of Polish parliamentarism and constitutionalism, dating back to the 15th century.