A report on Polish People's Republic, Kraków and History of Poland (1945–1989)

Tomb of Casimir III the Great at Wawel Cathedral. Kraków was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596.

Map showing the different borders and territories of Poland and Germany during the 20th century, with the current areas of Germany and Poland in dark gray

Poland's fate was heavily discussed at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Joseph Stalin, whose Red Army occupied the entire country, presented several alternatives which granted Poland industrialized territories in the west whilst the Red Army simultaneously permanently annexed Polish territories in the east, resulting in Poland losing over 20% of its pre-war borders - areas primarily inhabited by ethnic Belarusians or Ukrainians. Soviet-backed Polish communists came to power and oversaw the country's entry into the Warsaw Pact in 1955.

The Church of St. Adalbert is one of the oldest churches in the city, dating from the 11th century.

Border changes of Poland after World War II. The eastern territories (Kresy) were annexed by the Soviets. The western territories, referred to as the "Recovered Territories", were granted as war reparations. Despite the western lands being more industrialized, Poland lost 77,035 km2 (29,743 sq mi) and major cities like Lviv and Vilnius.

Woodcut of Kraków from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493

The PKWN Manifesto, officially issued on 22 July 1944. In reality it was not finished until mid-August, after the Polish communist Moscow group was joined by the late-arriving Warsaw group, led by Gomułka and Bierut.

The 1970 Polish protests were put down by the Communist authorities and Citizens' Militia. The riots resulted in the deaths of 42 people and over 1,000 injured.

View of Kraków (Cracovia) near the end of the 16th-century

Postwar Polish communist propaganda poster depicting "The giant and the putrid reactionary midget", meaning the communist People's Army soldier and the pro-Western Home Army soldier, respectively

Queues waiting to enter grocery stores in Warsaw and other Polish cities and towns were typical in the late 1980s. The availability of food and goods varied at times, and the most sought after basic item was toilet paper.

Tadeusz Kościuszko takes the oath of loyalty to the Polish nation in Kraków's market square (Rynek), 1794

ORMO paramilitary police unit during street parade at the Victory Square, 9 June 1946, Warsaw

The new Warszawa Centralna railway station in Warsaw had automatic doors and escalators. It was a flagship project during the 1970s economic boom and was dubbed the most modern station in Europe at the time of its completion in 1975.

Act of granting the constitution to the Free City of Krakow. After the Partitions of Poland, Kraków was independent city republic and the only piece of sovereign Polish territory between 1815 and 1846.

Lech Wałęsa co-founded and headed the Solidarity movement which toppled Communism. He later became the President of Poland.

Flower vendors in Rynek. First autochrome in Poland, dated 1912

The show trial of Captain Witold Pilecki, sentenced to death and executed May 1948

The 1980 Gdańsk Shipyard Strike and subsequent Summer 1981 Hunger Demonstrations were instrumental in strengthening the Solidarity movement's influence.

Kraków Ghetto, 1942—a German checkpoint during operation Aktion Krakau

The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, initially called the Stalin's Palace, was a controversial gift from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin

Kraków's territorial growth from the late 18th to the 20th century

Władysław Gomułka and Leonid Brezhnev in East Berlin, 1967

1951 East German stamp commemorative of the Treaty of Zgorzelec establishing the Oder–Neisse line as a "border of peace", featuring the presidents Wilhelm Pieck (GDR) and Bolesław Bierut (Poland)

An abandoned State Agricultural Farm in south-eastern Poland. State farms were a form of collective farming created in 1949.

Convent of Norbertine Sisters in Kraków-Zwierzyniec and the Vistula River during the summer season

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of Poland

Łódź was Poland's largest city after the destruction of Warsaw during World War II. It was also a major industrial centre in Europe and served as the temporary capital due to its economic significance in the 1940s.

The Renaissance Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) in Main Market Square

Female textile workers in a state-run factory, Łódź, 1950s

The Kraków Barbican dating from around 1498 was once a fortified outpost of the inner medieval city.

The Fourth Congress of the Polish United Workers' Party, held in 1963

Supersam Warsaw, the first self-serve shopping centre in Poland, 1969

Kanonicza Street, at the foot of the Wawel Castle

The Polski Fiat 125p, produced in Poland from the late 1960s, was based on technology purchased from Fiat

Pewex, a chain of hard currency stores which sold unobtainable Western goods and items

View of Kraków from St. Mary's Basilica in the Market Square

Standard-bearers of the 27 Tank Regiment, mid-1960s

Palace of Art at Szczepański Square is an example of Art Nouveau architecture in central Kraków.

Dziady, a theatrical event that spawned nationwide protests

Bar mleczny, a former milk bar in Gdynia. These canteens offered value meals to citizens throughout Communist Poland.

Basztowa Street, filled with some of the most unique historical buildings in all architectural styles; part of the Royal Route of Kraków

Demonstrators in Gdynia carry the body of Zbigniew Godlewski, who was shot and killed during the protests of 1970

Trybuna Ludu (People's Tribune) was a government-sponsored newspaper and propaganda outlet

Pawilon Wyspiański 2000 is a rare example of Postmodern architecture present in Kraków's Old Town.

Andrzej Wajda was a key figure in Polish cinematography during and after the fall of communism

Planty Park, which surrounds Kraków's Old Town

Queue line, a frequent scene at times of shortages of consumer goods in the 1970s and 1980s

Allegory of communist censorship, Poland, 1989. Newspapers visible are from all Eastern Bloc countries including East Germany, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia

A pavilion within the Planty Park during winter

Millions cheer Pope John Paul II in his first visit to Poland as pontiff in 1979

The 237-meter Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, constructed in 1955. At the time of its completion it was one of the tallest buildings in Europe

The New Town Hall of Podgórze, which used to be a self-governing independent town until its incorporation into Kraków in 1915

Lech Wałęsa speaks during the strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard, August 1980

Entrance to the Wielopolski Palace from 1560, the seat of Kraków's mayor, administration and city council

25th anniversary of Solidarity, summer 2005 in Gdańsk

Polish university students during lecture, 1964

Matejko Square, featuring the Grunwald Monument at Kleparz, is one of the city's most important public spaces.

General Wojciech Jaruzelski led the People's Republic during its final decade and became one of the key players in the systemic transition of 1989–90

One of many schools constructed in central Warsaw in the 1960s

Apartment block residences built in People's Poland loom over the urban landscape of the entire country. In the past administratively distributed for permanent use, after 1989 most were sold to residents at discounted prices.

Jerzy Popiełuszko was a Roman Catholic priest who supported the anti-communist opposition. He was murdered by the Security Services "SB" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Center for Business Innovation office complex in Kraków

Adam Michnik, an influential leader in the transformation of Poland

A demographics graph illustrating population growth between 1900 and 2010. The highest birth rate was during the Second Polish Republic and consequently under the Polish People's Republic.

Unity Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the city

A typical socialist apartment building in Warsaw representing the style of functionalism, built due to the ever-growing population and high birth rate at the time

Bombardier city tram on Piłsudski Bridge

Konstantin Rokossovsky, pictured in a Polish uniform, was Marshal of the Soviet Union and Marshal of Poland until being deposed during the Polish October in 1956.

PKP Intercity train at the Main Railway Station

Wawel Cathedral, home to royal coronations and resting place of many national heroes; considered to be Poland's national sanctuary

Saint Anne's Church is the leading example of Baroque architecture in Poland.

Collegium Maius, Jagiellonian University's oldest building

Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine, at the Czartoryski Museum

The National Museum in Kraków is one of Poland's finest galleries of art.

Kraków Congress Centre – the business and cultural flagship of the city

Kraków's renowned Juliusz Słowacki Theatre

German concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau

The history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of communist rule imposed over Poland after the end of World War II.

- History of Poland (1945–1989)

The largest city and official capital since 1947 was Warsaw, followed by the industrial city of Łódź and cultural city of Kraków.

- Polish People's Republic

After the war, under the Polish People's Republic (officially declared in 1952), the intellectual and academic community of Kraków came under complete political control.

- Kraków

During the Gierek era, Poland borrowed large sums from Western creditors in exchange for promise of social and economic reforms.

- Polish People's Republic

From 1953, critical opinions in the Party were increasingly frequent, and the doctrine was given up in 1956 marking the end of Stalinism.

- Kraków

Among the main projects was the Lenin Steelworks and its supporting "socialist city" of Nowa Huta (New Steel Mill), both built from the scratch in the early 1950s near Kraków, of which Nowa Huta soon became a part.

- History of Poland (1945–1989)

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Poland

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Country in Central Europe.

A reconstruction of a Bronze Age, Lusatian culture settlement in Biskupin, 8th century BC

Poland under the rule of Mieszko I, whose acceptance of Christianity under the auspices of the Latin Church and the Baptism of Poland marked the beginning of statehood in 966.

Casimir III the Great is the only Polish king to receive the title of Great. He built extensively during his reign, and reformed the Polish army along with the country's legal code, 1333–70.

The Battle of Grunwald was fought against the German Order of Teutonic Knights, and resulted in a decisive victory for the Kingdom of Poland, 15 July 1410.

Wawel Castle in Kraków, seat of Polish kings from 1038 until the capital was moved to Warsaw in 1596.

King John III Sobieski defeated the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Vienna on 12 September 1683.

Stanisław II Augustus, the last King of Poland, reigned from 1764 until his abdication on 25 November 1795.

The partitions of Poland, carried out by the Kingdom of Prussia (blue), the Russian Empire (brown), and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy (green) in 1772, 1793 and 1795.

Chief of State Marshal Józef Piłsudski was a hero of the Polish independence campaign and the nation's premiere statesman from 1918 until his death on 12 May 1935.

Polish Army 7TP tanks on military manoeuvres shortly before the invasion of Poland in 1939

Pilots of the 303 Polish Fighter Squadron during the Battle of Britain, October 1940

Map of the Holocaust in German-occupied Poland with deportation routes and massacre sites. Major ghettos are marked with yellow stars. Nazi extermination camps are marked with white skulls in black squares. The border in 1941 between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union is marked in red.

At High Noon, 4 June 1989 — political poster featuring Gary Cooper to encourage votes for the Solidarity party in the 1989 elections

Flowers in front of the Presidential Palace following the death of Poland's top government officials in a plane crash on 10 April 2010

Morskie Oko alpine lake in the Tatra Mountains. Poland has one of the highest densities of lakes in the world.

The wisent, one of Poland's national animals, is commonly found at the ancient and UNESCO-protected Białowieża Forest.

The Sejm is the lower house of the parliament of Poland.

The Constitution of 3 May adopted in 1791 was the first modern constitution in Europe.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, located in Warsaw

Polish Air Force F-16s, a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft

A Mercedes-Benz Sprinter patrol van belonging to the Polish State Police Service (Policja)

The Old City of Zamość is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

PKP Intercity Pendolino at the Wrocław railway station

Physicist and chemist Maria Skłodowska-Curie was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes.

Nicolaus Copernicus, the 16th century Polish astronomer who formulated the heliocentric model of the solar system.

Population of Poland from 1900 to 2010 in millions of inhabitants

Dolina Jadwigi — a bilingual Polish-Kashubian road sign with the village name

John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyła, held the papacy between 1978-2005 and was the first Pole to become a Roman Catholic Pope.

The Polish White Eagle is Poland's enduring national and cultural symbol

All Saints' Day on 1 November is one of the most important public holidays in Poland.

Lady with an Ermine (1490) by Leonardo da Vinci. It symbolises Poland's cultural heritage and identity.

Selection of hearty traditional comfort food from Poland, including bigos, gołąbki, żurek, pierogi, placki ziemniaczane, and rye bread.

Traditional polonaise dresses, 1780–1785.

Andrzej Wajda, the recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Golden Bear Awards.

Headquarters of the publicly funded national television network TVP in Warsaw

The Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw, home of the national football team, and one of the host stadiums of Euro 2012.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at its greatest extent in 1619

Other major cities include Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Szczecin.

As a member of the Eastern Bloc in the global Cold War, the Polish People's Republic was a founding signatory of the Warsaw Pact.

In the wake of anti-communist movements in 1989, notably through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democratic republic.

Reception of Jews in Poland, by Jan Matejko, 1889

History of the Jews in Poland

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The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years.

Early-medieval Polish coins with Hebrew inscriptions

Casimir the Great and the Jews, by Wojciech Gerson, 1874

Casimir IV Jagiellon confirmed and extended Jewish charters in the second half of the 15th century

Sigismund II Augustus followed his father's tolerant policy and also granted autonomy to the Jews.

Number of Jews in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth per voivodeship in 1764

Late-Renaissance synagogue, Zamość, Poland, 1610–20

Jewish dress in 17th (top) and 18th centuries

Map of Pale of Settlement, showing Jewish population densities

Caricature of Russian Army assailant in 1906 Białystok pogrom

Hasidic schoolchildren in Łódź, c. 1910s, during Partitions

Rabbi Baruch Steinberg before Warsaw Great Synagogue (1933), reading roll call of the fallen, organized by Union of Jewish Fighters for Polish Independence

Isaac Bashevis Singer (Polish: Izaak Zynger), achieved international acclaim as a classic Jewish writer and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978

Shimon Peres, born in Poland as Szymon Perski, served as the ninth President of Israel between 2007 and 2014

Student's book (indeks) of Jewish medical student Marek Szapiro at Warsaw University, with rectangular "ghetto benches" ("odd-numbered-benches") stamp

Demonstration of Polish students demanding implementation of "ghetto benches" at Lwów Polytechnic (1937).

Graves of Jewish-Polish soldiers who died in 1939 September Campaign, Powązki Cemetery

Yiddish election notice for Soviet local government to the People's council of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in Białystok, occupied Poland.

Jewish-Polish soldier's grave, Monte Cassino, Italy

Map of the Holocaust in Poland under German occupation.

Jewish Ghettos in German-occupied Poland and Eastern Europe

Walling-off Świętokrzyska Street (seen from Marszałkowska Street on the "Aryan side")

Announcement of death penalty for Jews captured outside the Ghetto and for Poles helping Jews, November 1941

Ghetto fighters memorial in Warsaw built in 1948 by sculptor Nathan Rapoport

Deportation to Treblinka at the Umschlagplatz

The cover page of The Stroop Report with International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg markings.

34 Mordechaj Anielewicz Street, Warsaw, Poland

Freed prisoners of Gęsiówka and the Szare Szeregi fighters after the liberation of the camp in August 1944

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 saw the destruction of what remained of the Ghetto

Page from a register of several hundred Jewish survivors who returned to Oświęcim after the war; created by a local Jewish Committee in 1945. Most remained for only a brief period.

Chief Rabbi of Poland – Michael Schudrich

President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, 26 June 2007

"Shalom in Szeroka Street", the final concert of the 15th Jewish Festival

Since the fall of communism in Poland, there has been a renewed interest in Jewish culture, featuring an annual Jewish Culture Festival, new study programs at Polish secondary schools and universities, and the opening of Warsaw's Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

In the post-war period, many of the approximately 200,000 Jewish survivors registered at Central Committee of Polish Jews or CKŻP (of whom 136,000 arrived from the Soviet Union) left the Polish People’s Republic for the nascent State of Israel, North America or South America.

Accusations of blood libel by another fanatic priest led to the riots in Kraków in 1407, although the royal guard hastened to the rescue.

Communist states in Europe before the Tito–Stalin split of 1948

Eastern Bloc

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The group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed during the Cold War .

Soviet Union stamp of 1950, depicting the flags and peoples of the Eastern Bloc.

The Big Three (British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Premier of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin) at the Yalta Conference, February 1945

World War II Polish Prime Minister Stanisław Mikołajczyk fled Poland in 1947 after facing arrest and persecution

Political situation in Europe during the Cold War

Germans watching Western supply planes at Berlin Tempelhof Airport during the Berlin Airlift

Countries which once had overtly Marxist–Leninist governments in bright red and countries the USSR considered at one point to be "moving toward socialism" in dark red

Communist countries and Soviet republics in Europe with their representative flags (1950s)

Trybuna Ludu 14 December 1981 reports martial law in Poland

Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, once the most dominant landmark in Baku, was demolished in the 1930s under Stalin

Prominent examples of urban design included Marszałkowska Housing Estate (MDM) in Warsaw

During World War II, 85% of buildings in Warsaw were destroyed by German troops

A line for the distribution of cooking oil in Bucharest, Romania in May 1986

Reconstruction of a typical working class flat interior of the khrushchyovka

Propaganda poster showing increased agricultural production from 1981 to 1983 and 1986 in East Germany

A Robotron KC 87 home computer made in East Germany between 1987 and 1989

Per capita GDP in the Eastern Bloc from 1950 to 2003 (1990 base Geary-Khamis dollars) according to Angus Maddison

GDP per capita of the Eastern Bloc in relations with GDPpc of United States during 1900–2010

Czechoslovaks carry their national flag past a burning Soviet tank in Prague

The Cold War in 1980 before the Iran–Iraq War

Otto von Habsburg, who played a leading role in opening the Iron Curtain

Changes in national boundaries after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc

European countries by total wealth (billions USD), Credit Suisse, 2018

A map of communist states (1993–present)

The "three worlds" of the Cold War era between April–August 1975:
1st World: Western Bloc led by the United States and its allies
2nd World: Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union, China and their allies
3rd World: Non-Aligned and neutral countries

In Western Europe, the term Eastern Bloc generally referred to the USSR and its satellite states and puppet states in the Comecon (East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, People's Republic of Bulgaria, People's Republic of Quandale, and Albania).

In addition to emigration restrictions, civil society, defined as a domain of political action outside the party's state control, was not allowed to firmly take root, with the possible exception of Poland in the 1980s.

Kraków was covered by smog 135 days per year while Wrocław was covered by a fog of chrome gas.

Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw built using Soviet-drawn blueprints in 1952–1955

Socialist realism in Poland

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Ministry of Agriculture, Warsaw, built 1953–1956

Socialist-Realist allegories surrounding the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw

Socialist realism in Poland (socrealizm) was a socio-political and aesthetic doctrine enforced by the pro-Soviet communist government in the process of Stalinization of the post-war Polish People’s Republic.

As in all Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc countries, Socialist realism became the main instrument of political control in the building of totalitarianism in Poland.

The monumental form disseminated by the Communist Government reached its apogee with the construction of an entire new town near Kraków along with a steel mill soon to become the biggest in Poland.