... that Polish advocates of Neo-Slavism, such as
Roman Dmowski, believed that reconciliation with the Russians was necessary to counter the German threat?
... that an early 18th-century civil war in Poland gave rise to a proverb about a state of division, disorder and anarchy?
... that the Maurzyce Bridge(pictured), built in 1928 near
Łowicz, was the first
welded road bridge in the world?
... that neither of the major combatants won the bloody Greater Poland Civil War which terminated after the accession of ten-year old
Hedwig (Jadwiga) to the
Polish throne?
... that, although
Piotr Skarga's political treatise Kazania sejmowe ("Sermons to the Diet") was ignored during his lifetime, he was labeled a "patriotic seer" centuries after his death?
... that mechanical billy goats (pictured) butting heads atop the mid-16th century
Poznańcity hall attract hundreds of spectators daily?
... that Żywoty świętych ("Lives of the Saints") by the Polish Jesuit
Piotr Skarga contained graphic and detailed descriptions of tortures and suffering?
... that Lilpop, Rau i Loewenstein(logo pictured) was the largest manufacturing company in Poland before its factory was destroyed by the Germans during World War II?
... that the trilingual 14th-century Sankt Florian Psalter(page pictured) contains one of the oldest texts in
Polish?
... that the Counter-Reformation in Poland concluded successfully with the
Repnin Sejm of 1768, which abolished legal discrimination against religious dissidents?
... that legend has it that a
Teutonic Knight erected the Leaning Tower of Toruń(pictured) so as to atone for falling in love with a woman, the tower's tilt signifying his deviant conduct?
... that "We want to be Germans and nothing but Germans" was a call sent out to the world by the Jungdeutsche Partei members of the
German minority living in prewar Poland?
... that the settlements of Mikuszowice and Komorowice were divided by a national border for centuries, but are now part of one city and one country?
... that the painter Bronisława Janowska rejected a marriage proposal from the man she loved because he was divorced?
... that the motto of a cookbook by Paul Tremo(pictured), a court chef to King
Stanislaus Augustus of Poland, was, "not everyone thinks, but everyone eats"?
... that during the Września children strike of 1901–04, ethnic Polish schoolchildren were flogged for protesting against religious instruction in German?
... that Polish-born
Joseph Conrad has been described as one of the "two great English-language writers of sea stories"?
... that 17th-century Polish poet Anna Stanisławska(pictured) wrote about her life and three marriages in a series of 77
laments?
... that Compendium ferculorum by Stanisław Czerniecki, first published in 1682, is the first cookbook written originally in Polish?
... that Theodore de Korwin Szymanowski(pictured), one of the earliest promoters of a
Unified Europe, proposed a customs union, a central bank, and a single currency as far back as 1885?
... that the Polish inventor and bridge designer Marian Lutosławski was killed in a mass execution by the
Bolsheviks several days before his trial was supposed to take place?
... that, in order to disguise the V-2 missile launch site in Blizna(pictured), in what is now southeastern Poland, the
Nazi Germans created a mock village with plywood cottages and barns, as well as plaster people and animals?
... that Polish Jewish writer Rokhl Auerbakh worked overtly as the director of a soup kitchen and covertly as a member of a secret group that chronicled daily life in the
Warsaw Ghetto?
... that
Auschwitz survivor Bat-Sheva Dagan (born Izabella Rubinsztajn in
Łódź, Poland) writes
Holocaust stories for children that have
happy endings "in order not to rob them of their faith in mankind"?
... that during the
Holocaust, Roman Gross was rescued from the Tarnopol Ghetto by Józef Regent, whom he in turn had rescued from deportation earlier in the war?
... that at the age of thirteen,
Shmuel Shilo survived three roundups of Jews from the Łuck Ghetto and lived to tell the story?
... that the Bloody Sunday massacre of Jews took place in German-occupied
Stanisławów two months before the Stanislau Ghetto was formally set up in December 1941?
... that the massacre of about 1,500 Jews in
Józefów was committed by the men of the German Reserve Police Battalion 101, who were too old for the regular army?
... that, when it occurred, the mass shooting in the Pińsk Ghetto was the second largest
anti-Jewish operation in a single settlement?
... that World War II resistance fighter Jerzy Zakulski, who rescued a Jewish mother and child from the
Kraków Ghetto, was executed by Poland after the war?
... that Berek Lajcher chose a hot summer day to launch a prisoner revolt at the Treblinka death camp while German and Ukrainian guards went swimming in the nearby
Bug River?
... that the announcement of the reopening of the Embassy of Poland in Manila coincided with Poland's decision to expand its economic involvement in Asia?
... that Polish mountain climber Tomasz Mackiewicz went missing on January 27 during his seventh attempt to reach the summit of the 8,126-metre (26,660 ft) high
Nanga Parbat in Pakistan?
... that Emany Mata Likambe,
Zaire's former ambassador to Poland, was discovered homeless and living in the streets of
Warsaw in 1994, after his government had failed to pay him for over two years?
... that it was not illegal to possess or use cannabis in Poland until 1997?
... that an average of 150,000 braided ring-shaped breads, known as obwarzanki krakowskie(pictured) are sold daily from street carts in
Kraków?
... that Bogna Burska's initial painting compositions were narratives of congealed blood forms made with red paints applied by fingers on walls, canvas, and glass?
... that the Coexist symbol used on bumper stickers was first published as a 3 m × 5 m (9.8 ft × 16.4 ft) outdoor poster by a Polish artist in a juried exhibition in
Jerusalem?
... that one of the founders of CD Projekt, publisher of The Witcher video game series, used to peddle cracked copies of PC games in a
Warsaw marketplace?
... that slippery jacks(pictured), known in Polish as maślaki, deriving from a word meaning "buttery", are considered a delicacy in
Polish cuisine?
... that the Polish
street food known as zapiekanka(pictured) has been described both as "Polish
pizza" and "a poor relative of its distant Italian cousin"?
... that the Polish-born Jakub Mareczko was the most successful under-23 cyclist in Italy in 2014?
... that the 1990 Earth-grazing meteoroid above
Czechoslovakia and Poland was observed from two sites, which for the first time enabled geometrical calculations of the
orbit of such a body?
... that Kolejka ("Queue"), a popular Polish educational board game about communist
shortage economy, has itself been in short supply?
... that the Poland–Ukraine border(border posts pictured), the most often crossed stretch of the
European Union's eastern boundary, is also a major smuggling route?
... that the delay of planned restoration of the ruined Katowice historic train station, which attained monument status in 1975, has led to public protests?
... that Zambian-born Polish economist and
MPKillion Munyama(pictured) did not originally plan to stay in Poland, but the
fall of communism changed his mind?
... that while international rankings show corruption in Poland as steadily decreasing, over 80 percent of the Polish public still sees it as a significant problem for the country?
... that the Thorn Castle (now in
Toruń), one of the first castles of the
Teutonic Knights, was demolished by rebellious burghers a century or so after its construction, at the beginning of the
Thirteen Years' War?
... that the last Polish red zlotys(example pictured) were known as "insurgent ducats", produced at the
Warsaw mint in 1831, on the eve of the
November Uprising?
... that one of the
Easter traditions in Poland includes making and displaying of an Easter palm(example pictured), the tallest of which can reach over 30 metres (98 ft)?
... that Margaret Michaelis-Sachs took photos of the Jewish market in
Kraków which "carry the weight of history, offering a visual trace of a way of life that was destroyed by fascism"?
... that Jacek Malczewski, a
Symbolist painter, drew his inspiration from exotic and Biblical sources, but inadvertently translated them back into Polish folklore in his own art?
... that the National Museum of Wrocław(pictured) holds one of the largest collections of contemporary art in Poland, extending even to the museum's remodelled attic?
... that
popes awarded blessed swords and hats to defenders of
Christendom, including at least 12
emperors, 10 kings of France, 7 kings of Poland, 6 kings of Spain, and the nation of Switzerland?
... that the Royal postmaster Roberto Bandinelli moved to Poland to escape possible imprisonment in
Florence?
... that the Polish-Russian border, now only 232 km (144 mi) long, used to be much longer?
Selection 2
... that 120 Polish miners died in the rubble when the newly built train tunnel collapsed along the Poprad River Gorge(pictured) in the
Beskid Mountains?
... that a 19th-century brick synagogue (pictured) in Radzanów designed with
Moorish-style motifs, serves now as a public library as there are no Jews left in the village?
... that painter Maurycy Trębacz belonged to the first generation of Jewish artists from Poland who broke away from the age-old
religious prohibition on portraying a human figure (example pictured)?
... that artist and academician Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, who taught and inspired Poland's national painter
Jan Matejko, gave private art classes for free to struggling artists?
... that the Great Polish Map of Scotland(portion pictured) was the brainchild of a Polish war veteran and is claimed to be the largest terrain relief model in the world?
... that the Battle of Martynów in 1624 was one of the largest Polish victories over the
Tatar raiders?
... that the ruined town of Miedzianka in Poland was a site of a secret Soviet
uranium mine?
... that a sketch by Kabaret Olgi Lipińskiej ("Olga Lipińska Cabaret") resulted in an official protest by the Soviet embassy in
Warsaw, followed by
secret police questioning?
... that the Cossack Zhmaylo Uprising ended without a decisive battle having been fought?
... that sources give two different commanders for the Polish forces participating in the Battle of Grudziądz of 1659?
... that one of the most popular Polish cabarets, Pod Egidą ("Under the Aegis"), performing since 1967, faced persecution from the communist authorities in the
People's Republic of Poland?
... that the Polish Writers' Union had an annual budget set by the state allowing for food supplements, health clinics, foreign travel, cars, vacations, stipends, and cash prizes?
... that Stanisław Klimecki served as the
mayor of
Kraków only for a few weeks before being fired and arrested by the
Gestapo in September 1939, which led to his execution in 1942?
... that Bruno Müller was implicated in
Nazi German atrocities against Polish academics, Ukrainian Jews, and prisoners in a slave labor camp, but died a free man?
Selection 4
... that
Jan Matejko's painting Stańczyk(pictured), portraying a solemn
court jester, is considered one of the most recognized and significant paintings of Poland?
... that the subversive newsletter made for
German occupation authorities by the Polish underground Tatra Confederation was so well written that the Germans thought it was produced internally?
May 2012
Selection 1
... that at its extreme, serfdom in Poland required a peasant (pictured, in
stocks) to work eight days a week for his feudal lord?
... that an opole was an early Polish administrative division that predated the creation of a unified
Kingdom of Poland?
... that Piotr Skrzynecki(pictured), founder of the Piwnica pod Baranami ("Rams Cellar") cabaret, who became a "legend in his own lifetime", did not care for material wealth and was homeless for a time?
... that deputies of the Sejm of the Duchy of Warsaw circumvented the restriction on debating by staying in the chamber after the session officially ended?
... that the fourth
Rebbe of Radomsk, founder of a network of 36 Hasidic yeshivas in pre-war Poland, paid for the education of over 4,000 students out of his own pocket?
... that Polish writer Ferdynand Goetel(pictured) participated in the first delegation sent by the Nazis to confirm the discovery of the
Katyn massacre perpetrated by the Soviets?
... that Polish writer and educator Konrad Prószyński, author of internationally recognized
primers, had to struggle with the censorship in the
Russian Empire?
... that
bibliophile, literary historian and theatre director Jan Lorentowicz, who first published the complete works of
Jan Kochanowski, was also an amazing father according to his daughter's memoirs?
... that playwright Jerzy Szaniawski, who married at age of 76, was starved and physically abused by his wife, 20 years his junior, until his death in 1970?
... that Polish model and fashion designer Joanna Horodyńska used to present a TV program while laying in a foam-filled bath tub?
... that the ideas of 17th-century Polish reformer Stanisław Dunin-Karwicki have been both praised as the harbinger of later reforms and criticized for not going far enough?
... that Wroniec, a dark fairy tale by
Jacek Dukaj, was a taboo-breaking take on
martial law imposed in Poland on 13 December 1981?
... that a Polish women's magazine, Miasto Kobiet ("Women's City"), organizes a recurring
clothing swap known as Szafobranie, or "Wardrobe Picking"?
2011
December 2011
Selection 1
... that when confronted with an ethical dilemma, Celestyn Czaplic's(pictured) contemporaries asked themselves, "what would Czaplic think of that?"
... that the Zielony Balonik ("Green Baloon") literary cabaret of
Kraków was rumoured to be a place of "orgies, nude dancing and all manner of dissipation"?
... that Teofil Lenartowicz wrote a poem about a heavenly golden cup decorated with scenes of idealized Polish countryside?
... that the plans for a
popular front between communists and socialists in Poland collapsed after the Oblicze Dnia ("Face of the Day") newspaper was launched in 1936?
... that an
anarchist group called the Revolutionary Avengers(rubber stamp pictured), active 1910–1914, has been described as the most radical terrorist organization in the history of Poland?
... that the kremówka cream cake (pictured) gained international recognition after
Pope John Paul II noted he had once eaten 18 of them as part of a bet?
... that Tadeusz Vetulani was a pioneer of
biodiversity research in Poland and conducted studies about the forest
tarpan and the
konik horse, launching restoration and breeding schemes?
... that the 1945 Augustów roundup which resulted in the disappearance and likely murder of about 600 Polish citizens by the
Soviet Union is considered the largest crime committed in Poland after
World War II?
... that Polish architect Stefan Kuryłowicz (one of his buildings pictured) is credited with modernizing the architecture of
Warsaw in the decades following the
collapse of Communism?
... that Polish-German "cotton king" Juliusz Karol Kunitzer survived a 1893 assassination attempt, but died during that of 1905?
... that
bas reliefs being made by the sculptor Henryk Kuna for a public monument in
Vilnius were used as cemetery pavers during the Nazi occupation of the city?
... that the Central Committee of Polish Jews, formed in 1944, was instrumental in organizing and implementing the
aliyah, or Jewish migration to the new State of Israel?
... that the 75-metre (246 ft) tall towers of St. Florian's Cathedral(pictured) in
Warsaw's eastern district of
Praga highlight its role as a form of protest against the Russian domination of Poland?
... that in the aftermath of the unsuccessful
January Uprising, Polish insurgent Zygmunt Padlewski(pictured) was captured and executed by the Russian authorities?
... that geneticist Piotr Słonimski joined with colleagues to organize support for scientists repressed during 1982–1983, the time of
martial law in Poland?
... that the town of Marche,
Arkansas, was founded by a Polish count who wanted to restore the agricultural environment familiar to most Poles before their arrival in the United States?
... that soon after the creation of the Łomża Ghetto,
Nazi Germans killed all the Jews suspected of collaborating with the previous occupying power, the
Soviet Union?
... that the PWS-4, a Polish sports aircraft built in 1928, was not developed beyond a single prototype?
... that despite great risks, the Polish
Jaskółka class minesweeperORP Rybitwa successfully towed her sister ship
ORP Mewa to port after Mewa had been hit by German bombs in September 1939?
... that in 1949 the Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Yugoslav and Czechoslovak socialist parties founded the Socialist Union of Central-Eastern Europe as a common centre for work in exile?
... that the bronze Gniezno Doors, of about 1175, are the only
Romanesque doors in Europe decorated with scenes from the life of a saint (his murder pictured)?
... that there are different theories about the parentage of Constance, the
Piast princess who ruled over
Wodzisław Śląski until her death in 1351?
... that Polish publicist and politician Jan Ludwik Popławski was one of the first chief activists and ideologues of the right-wing
National Democracy political camp?
... that the entire Częstochowa massacre, in which hundreds of Poles and Jews were murdered by the
Wehrmacht, was captured in narrative form by a German photographer?
... that collective punishment meted out to mostly innocent
Ukrainian peasants by
Polish authorities during the Galicia Pacification campaign resulted in increased bitterness and encouraged extremists on both sides?
... that Polish philosopher Józef Kalasanty Szaniawski(pictured) began as an advocate for restoring Poland's independence but ended as a high government official in
Russian Poland – and an enemy of philosophy?
... that the 1988 Polish strikes shook the country's Communist regime to such an extent that it was forced to begin talks on relegalization of
Solidarity?
... that during the Battle of Yevenes, Polish lancers of the
Legion of the Vistula(pictured) lost all their banners, which caused the dissolution of the regiment?
... that thanks to its well-preserved medieval fortifications, the town of Paczków is called the Polish
Carcassone?
... that Polish advocates of Neo-Slavism, such as
Roman Dmowski, believed that reconciliation with the Russians was necessary to counter the German threat?
... that an early 18th-century civil war in Poland gave rise to a proverb about a state of division, disorder and anarchy?
... that the Maurzyce Bridge(pictured), built in 1928 near
Łowicz, was the first
welded road bridge in the world?
... that neither of the major combatants won the bloody Greater Poland Civil War which terminated after the accession of ten-year old
Hedwig (Jadwiga) to the
Polish throne?
... that, although
Piotr Skarga's political treatise Kazania sejmowe ("Sermons to the Diet") was ignored during his lifetime, he was labeled a "patriotic seer" centuries after his death?
... that mechanical billy goats (pictured) butting heads atop the mid-16th century
Poznańcity hall attract hundreds of spectators daily?
... that Żywoty świętych ("Lives of the Saints") by the Polish Jesuit
Piotr Skarga contained graphic and detailed descriptions of tortures and suffering?
... that Lilpop, Rau i Loewenstein(logo pictured) was the largest manufacturing company in Poland before its factory was destroyed by the Germans during World War II?
... that the trilingual 14th-century Sankt Florian Psalter(page pictured) contains one of the oldest texts in
Polish?
... that the Counter-Reformation in Poland concluded successfully with the
Repnin Sejm of 1768, which abolished legal discrimination against religious dissidents?
... that legend has it that a
Teutonic Knight erected the Leaning Tower of Toruń(pictured) so as to atone for falling in love with a woman, the tower's tilt signifying his deviant conduct?
... that "We want to be Germans and nothing but Germans" was a call sent out to the world by the Jungdeutsche Partei members of the
German minority living in prewar Poland?
... that the settlements of Mikuszowice and Komorowice were divided by a national border for centuries, but are now part of one city and one country?
... that the painter Bronisława Janowska rejected a marriage proposal from the man she loved because he was divorced?
... that the motto of a cookbook by Paul Tremo(pictured), a court chef to King
Stanislaus Augustus of Poland, was, "not everyone thinks, but everyone eats"?
... that during the Września children strike of 1901–04, ethnic Polish schoolchildren were flogged for protesting against religious instruction in German?
... that Polish-born
Joseph Conrad has been described as one of the "two great English-language writers of sea stories"?
... that 17th-century Polish poet Anna Stanisławska(pictured) wrote about her life and three marriages in a series of 77
laments?
... that Compendium ferculorum by Stanisław Czerniecki, first published in 1682, is the first cookbook written originally in Polish?
... that Theodore de Korwin Szymanowski(pictured), one of the earliest promoters of a
Unified Europe, proposed a customs union, a central bank, and a single currency as far back as 1885?
... that the Polish inventor and bridge designer Marian Lutosławski was killed in a mass execution by the
Bolsheviks several days before his trial was supposed to take place?
... that, in order to disguise the V-2 missile launch site in Blizna(pictured), in what is now southeastern Poland, the
Nazi Germans created a mock village with plywood cottages and barns, as well as plaster people and animals?
... that Polish Jewish writer Rokhl Auerbakh worked overtly as the director of a soup kitchen and covertly as a member of a secret group that chronicled daily life in the
Warsaw Ghetto?
... that
Auschwitz survivor Bat-Sheva Dagan (born Izabella Rubinsztajn in
Łódź, Poland) writes
Holocaust stories for children that have
happy endings "in order not to rob them of their faith in mankind"?
... that during the
Holocaust, Roman Gross was rescued from the Tarnopol Ghetto by Józef Regent, whom he in turn had rescued from deportation earlier in the war?
... that at the age of thirteen,
Shmuel Shilo survived three roundups of Jews from the Łuck Ghetto and lived to tell the story?
... that the Bloody Sunday massacre of Jews took place in German-occupied
Stanisławów two months before the Stanislau Ghetto was formally set up in December 1941?
... that the massacre of about 1,500 Jews in
Józefów was committed by the men of the German Reserve Police Battalion 101, who were too old for the regular army?
... that, when it occurred, the mass shooting in the Pińsk Ghetto was the second largest
anti-Jewish operation in a single settlement?
... that World War II resistance fighter Jerzy Zakulski, who rescued a Jewish mother and child from the
Kraków Ghetto, was executed by Poland after the war?
... that Berek Lajcher chose a hot summer day to launch a prisoner revolt at the Treblinka death camp while German and Ukrainian guards went swimming in the nearby
Bug River?
... that the announcement of the reopening of the Embassy of Poland in Manila coincided with Poland's decision to expand its economic involvement in Asia?
... that Polish mountain climber Tomasz Mackiewicz went missing on January 27 during his seventh attempt to reach the summit of the 8,126-metre (26,660 ft) high
Nanga Parbat in Pakistan?
... that Emany Mata Likambe,
Zaire's former ambassador to Poland, was discovered homeless and living in the streets of
Warsaw in 1994, after his government had failed to pay him for over two years?
... that it was not illegal to possess or use cannabis in Poland until 1997?
... that an average of 150,000 braided ring-shaped breads, known as obwarzanki krakowskie(pictured) are sold daily from street carts in
Kraków?
... that Bogna Burska's initial painting compositions were narratives of congealed blood forms made with red paints applied by fingers on walls, canvas, and glass?
... that the Coexist symbol used on bumper stickers was first published as a 3 m × 5 m (9.8 ft × 16.4 ft) outdoor poster by a Polish artist in a juried exhibition in
Jerusalem?
... that one of the founders of CD Projekt, publisher of The Witcher video game series, used to peddle cracked copies of PC games in a
Warsaw marketplace?
... that slippery jacks(pictured), known in Polish as maślaki, deriving from a word meaning "buttery", are considered a delicacy in
Polish cuisine?
... that the Polish
street food known as zapiekanka(pictured) has been described both as "Polish
pizza" and "a poor relative of its distant Italian cousin"?
... that the Polish-born Jakub Mareczko was the most successful under-23 cyclist in Italy in 2014?
... that the 1990 Earth-grazing meteoroid above
Czechoslovakia and Poland was observed from two sites, which for the first time enabled geometrical calculations of the
orbit of such a body?
... that Kolejka ("Queue"), a popular Polish educational board game about communist
shortage economy, has itself been in short supply?
... that the Poland–Ukraine border(border posts pictured), the most often crossed stretch of the
European Union's eastern boundary, is also a major smuggling route?
... that the delay of planned restoration of the ruined Katowice historic train station, which attained monument status in 1975, has led to public protests?
... that Zambian-born Polish economist and
MPKillion Munyama(pictured) did not originally plan to stay in Poland, but the
fall of communism changed his mind?
... that while international rankings show corruption in Poland as steadily decreasing, over 80 percent of the Polish public still sees it as a significant problem for the country?
... that the Thorn Castle (now in
Toruń), one of the first castles of the
Teutonic Knights, was demolished by rebellious burghers a century or so after its construction, at the beginning of the
Thirteen Years' War?
... that the last Polish red zlotys(example pictured) were known as "insurgent ducats", produced at the
Warsaw mint in 1831, on the eve of the
November Uprising?
... that one of the
Easter traditions in Poland includes making and displaying of an Easter palm(example pictured), the tallest of which can reach over 30 metres (98 ft)?
... that Margaret Michaelis-Sachs took photos of the Jewish market in
Kraków which "carry the weight of history, offering a visual trace of a way of life that was destroyed by fascism"?
... that Jacek Malczewski, a
Symbolist painter, drew his inspiration from exotic and Biblical sources, but inadvertently translated them back into Polish folklore in his own art?
... that the National Museum of Wrocław(pictured) holds one of the largest collections of contemporary art in Poland, extending even to the museum's remodelled attic?
... that
popes awarded blessed swords and hats to defenders of
Christendom, including at least 12
emperors, 10 kings of France, 7 kings of Poland, 6 kings of Spain, and the nation of Switzerland?
... that the Royal postmaster Roberto Bandinelli moved to Poland to escape possible imprisonment in
Florence?
... that the Polish-Russian border, now only 232 km (144 mi) long, used to be much longer?
Selection 2
... that 120 Polish miners died in the rubble when the newly built train tunnel collapsed along the Poprad River Gorge(pictured) in the
Beskid Mountains?
... that a 19th-century brick synagogue (pictured) in Radzanów designed with
Moorish-style motifs, serves now as a public library as there are no Jews left in the village?
... that painter Maurycy Trębacz belonged to the first generation of Jewish artists from Poland who broke away from the age-old
religious prohibition on portraying a human figure (example pictured)?
... that artist and academician Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, who taught and inspired Poland's national painter
Jan Matejko, gave private art classes for free to struggling artists?
... that the Great Polish Map of Scotland(portion pictured) was the brainchild of a Polish war veteran and is claimed to be the largest terrain relief model in the world?
... that the Battle of Martynów in 1624 was one of the largest Polish victories over the
Tatar raiders?
... that the ruined town of Miedzianka in Poland was a site of a secret Soviet
uranium mine?
... that a sketch by Kabaret Olgi Lipińskiej ("Olga Lipińska Cabaret") resulted in an official protest by the Soviet embassy in
Warsaw, followed by
secret police questioning?
... that the Cossack Zhmaylo Uprising ended without a decisive battle having been fought?
... that sources give two different commanders for the Polish forces participating in the Battle of Grudziądz of 1659?
... that one of the most popular Polish cabarets, Pod Egidą ("Under the Aegis"), performing since 1967, faced persecution from the communist authorities in the
People's Republic of Poland?
... that the Polish Writers' Union had an annual budget set by the state allowing for food supplements, health clinics, foreign travel, cars, vacations, stipends, and cash prizes?
... that Stanisław Klimecki served as the
mayor of
Kraków only for a few weeks before being fired and arrested by the
Gestapo in September 1939, which led to his execution in 1942?
... that Bruno Müller was implicated in
Nazi German atrocities against Polish academics, Ukrainian Jews, and prisoners in a slave labor camp, but died a free man?
Selection 4
... that
Jan Matejko's painting Stańczyk(pictured), portraying a solemn
court jester, is considered one of the most recognized and significant paintings of Poland?
... that the subversive newsletter made for
German occupation authorities by the Polish underground Tatra Confederation was so well written that the Germans thought it was produced internally?
May 2012
Selection 1
... that at its extreme, serfdom in Poland required a peasant (pictured, in
stocks) to work eight days a week for his feudal lord?
... that an opole was an early Polish administrative division that predated the creation of a unified
Kingdom of Poland?
... that Piotr Skrzynecki(pictured), founder of the Piwnica pod Baranami ("Rams Cellar") cabaret, who became a "legend in his own lifetime", did not care for material wealth and was homeless for a time?
... that deputies of the Sejm of the Duchy of Warsaw circumvented the restriction on debating by staying in the chamber after the session officially ended?
... that the fourth
Rebbe of Radomsk, founder of a network of 36 Hasidic yeshivas in pre-war Poland, paid for the education of over 4,000 students out of his own pocket?
... that Polish writer Ferdynand Goetel(pictured) participated in the first delegation sent by the Nazis to confirm the discovery of the
Katyn massacre perpetrated by the Soviets?
... that Polish writer and educator Konrad Prószyński, author of internationally recognized
primers, had to struggle with the censorship in the
Russian Empire?
... that
bibliophile, literary historian and theatre director Jan Lorentowicz, who first published the complete works of
Jan Kochanowski, was also an amazing father according to his daughter's memoirs?
... that playwright Jerzy Szaniawski, who married at age of 76, was starved and physically abused by his wife, 20 years his junior, until his death in 1970?
... that Polish model and fashion designer Joanna Horodyńska used to present a TV program while laying in a foam-filled bath tub?
... that the ideas of 17th-century Polish reformer Stanisław Dunin-Karwicki have been both praised as the harbinger of later reforms and criticized for not going far enough?
... that Wroniec, a dark fairy tale by
Jacek Dukaj, was a taboo-breaking take on
martial law imposed in Poland on 13 December 1981?
... that a Polish women's magazine, Miasto Kobiet ("Women's City"), organizes a recurring
clothing swap known as Szafobranie, or "Wardrobe Picking"?
2011
December 2011
Selection 1
... that when confronted with an ethical dilemma, Celestyn Czaplic's(pictured) contemporaries asked themselves, "what would Czaplic think of that?"
... that the Zielony Balonik ("Green Baloon") literary cabaret of
Kraków was rumoured to be a place of "orgies, nude dancing and all manner of dissipation"?
... that Teofil Lenartowicz wrote a poem about a heavenly golden cup decorated with scenes of idealized Polish countryside?
... that the plans for a
popular front between communists and socialists in Poland collapsed after the Oblicze Dnia ("Face of the Day") newspaper was launched in 1936?
... that an
anarchist group called the Revolutionary Avengers(rubber stamp pictured), active 1910–1914, has been described as the most radical terrorist organization in the history of Poland?
... that the kremówka cream cake (pictured) gained international recognition after
Pope John Paul II noted he had once eaten 18 of them as part of a bet?
... that Tadeusz Vetulani was a pioneer of
biodiversity research in Poland and conducted studies about the forest
tarpan and the
konik horse, launching restoration and breeding schemes?
... that the 1945 Augustów roundup which resulted in the disappearance and likely murder of about 600 Polish citizens by the
Soviet Union is considered the largest crime committed in Poland after
World War II?
... that Polish architect Stefan Kuryłowicz (one of his buildings pictured) is credited with modernizing the architecture of
Warsaw in the decades following the
collapse of Communism?
... that Polish-German "cotton king" Juliusz Karol Kunitzer survived a 1893 assassination attempt, but died during that of 1905?
... that
bas reliefs being made by the sculptor Henryk Kuna for a public monument in
Vilnius were used as cemetery pavers during the Nazi occupation of the city?
... that the Central Committee of Polish Jews, formed in 1944, was instrumental in organizing and implementing the
aliyah, or Jewish migration to the new State of Israel?
... that the 75-metre (246 ft) tall towers of St. Florian's Cathedral(pictured) in
Warsaw's eastern district of
Praga highlight its role as a form of protest against the Russian domination of Poland?
... that in the aftermath of the unsuccessful
January Uprising, Polish insurgent Zygmunt Padlewski(pictured) was captured and executed by the Russian authorities?
... that geneticist Piotr Słonimski joined with colleagues to organize support for scientists repressed during 1982–1983, the time of
martial law in Poland?
... that the town of Marche,
Arkansas, was founded by a Polish count who wanted to restore the agricultural environment familiar to most Poles before their arrival in the United States?
... that soon after the creation of the Łomża Ghetto,
Nazi Germans killed all the Jews suspected of collaborating with the previous occupying power, the
Soviet Union?
... that the PWS-4, a Polish sports aircraft built in 1928, was not developed beyond a single prototype?
... that despite great risks, the Polish
Jaskółka class minesweeperORP Rybitwa successfully towed her sister ship
ORP Mewa to port after Mewa had been hit by German bombs in September 1939?
... that in 1949 the Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Yugoslav and Czechoslovak socialist parties founded the Socialist Union of Central-Eastern Europe as a common centre for work in exile?
... that the bronze Gniezno Doors, of about 1175, are the only
Romanesque doors in Europe decorated with scenes from the life of a saint (his murder pictured)?
... that there are different theories about the parentage of Constance, the
Piast princess who ruled over
Wodzisław Śląski until her death in 1351?
... that Polish publicist and politician Jan Ludwik Popławski was one of the first chief activists and ideologues of the right-wing
National Democracy political camp?
... that the entire Częstochowa massacre, in which hundreds of Poles and Jews were murdered by the
Wehrmacht, was captured in narrative form by a German photographer?
... that collective punishment meted out to mostly innocent
Ukrainian peasants by
Polish authorities during the Galicia Pacification campaign resulted in increased bitterness and encouraged extremists on both sides?
... that Polish philosopher Józef Kalasanty Szaniawski(pictured) began as an advocate for restoring Poland's independence but ended as a high government official in
Russian Poland – and an enemy of philosophy?
... that the 1988 Polish strikes shook the country's Communist regime to such an extent that it was forced to begin talks on relegalization of
Solidarity?
... that during the Battle of Yevenes, Polish lancers of the
Legion of the Vistula(pictured) lost all their banners, which caused the dissolution of the regiment?
... that thanks to its well-preserved medieval fortifications, the town of Paczków is called the Polish
Carcassone?