A report on Poland and History of Poland (1945–1989)

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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)

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

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of Poland

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Dziady, a theatrical event that spawned nationwide protests

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

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

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.

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

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

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

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, located in Warsaw

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

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

25th anniversary of Solidarity, summer 2005 in Gdańsk

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

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

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

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.

PKP Intercity Pendolino at the Wrocław railway station

Adam Michnik, an influential leader in the transformation of Poland

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

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)

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.

- Poland

9 related topics with Alpha

Polish People's Republic

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Władysław Gomułka and Leonid Brezhnev in East Berlin, 1967

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Polish university students during lecture, 1964

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

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.

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.

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

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.

The Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland.

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

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

For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world.

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.

Solidarity (Polish trade union)

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30th anniversary mural depicting the murdered priest Jerzy Popiełuszko who publicly supported Solidarity during the 1980s

Students in Scotland collect signatures for a petition in support of Solidarity in 1981

Solidarity, ETUC Demonstration—Budapest 2011

Solidarity („Solidarność”, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy „Solidarność”, abbreviated NSZZ „Solidarność” ), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland.

Solidarity's leader Lech Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and the union is widely recognised as having played a central role in the Historyend of Communist rule in Poland.

German and Soviet soldiers stroll around Sambir after the German-Soviet invasion of Poland.

Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)

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Formally concluded with the defeat of Germany by the Allies in May 1945.

Expulsion of Poles from western Poland, with Poles led to the trains under German army escort, 1939.

Public execution of Polish civilians randomly caught in a street roundup in German-occupied Bydgoszcz, September 1939

Nur für Deutsche ("For Germans only") sign, on Kraków line-8 streetcar

Polish teachers guarded by members of ethnic German Selbstschutz battalion before execution

Polish Franciscan, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, at Auschwitz, volunteered to die in place of another prisoner.

1941 announcement of death penalty for Jews caught outside the Ghetto, and for Poles helping Jews

Photos from The Black Book of Poland, published in London in 1942 by the Polish government-in-exile.

Public execution of Polish priests and civilians in Bydgoszcz's Old Market Square on 9 September 1939.

Boys' roll call at main children's concentration camp in Łódź (Kinder-KZ Litzmannstadt). A sub-camp was KZ Dzierżązna, for Polish girls as young as eight.

Earliest World War II partisan unit, commanded by Henryk "Hubal" Dobrzański, winter 1939

German Panther tank captured by the Poles during 1944 Warsaw Uprising, with Batalion Zośka armored platoon commanded by Wacław Micuta

Walling-off Świętokrzyska Street seen from Marszałkowska Street on the 'Aryan side' of the Warsaw Ghetto, 1940

Identifying ethnic German prisoners massacred by Soviet secret police NKVD near Tarnopol, July 1941

Sovietization propaganda poster addressed to the Ukrainian population residing within Polish borders. The text reads "Electors of the working people! Vote for joining of Western Ukraine into the Soviet Ukraine"

Residents of a town in Eastern Poland (now West Belarus) assembled to greet the arrival of the Red Army during the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. The Russian text reads "Long Live the great theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin-Stalin" and contains a spelling error. Such welcomings were organized by the activists of the Communist Party of West Belarus affiliated with the Communist Party of Poland, delegalized in both countries by 1938.

During 1942–1945, nearly 30,000 Poles were deported by the Soviet Union to Karachi (then under British rule). This photo shows a memorial to the refugees who died in Karachi and were buried at the Karachi graveyard.

Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East, Warsaw

Poster in German and Polish listing decrees of labour obligations

Notice of death penalty for Poles refusing to work during harvest

Some three million gentile Polish citizens perished during the course of the war, over two million of whom were ethnic Poles (the remainder being mostly Ukrainians and Belarusians).

To this day the events of those and the following years are one of the stumbling blocks in Polish-Russian foreign relations.

Polish government-in-exile

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Władysław Sikorski, first Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile.

The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent occupation of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union, which brought to an end the Second Polish Republic.

Only after the end of Communist rule in Poland did the government-in-exile formally pass on its responsibilities to the new government of the Third Polish Republic in December 1990.

Kraków

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

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

Woodcut of Kraków from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

The Renaissance Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) in Main Market Square

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

Kanonicza Street, at the foot of the Wawel Castle

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

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

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

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

Planty Park, which surrounds Kraków's Old Town

A pavilion within the Planty Park during winter

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

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

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

The Center for Business Innovation office complex in Kraków

Unity Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the city

Bombardier city tram on Piłsudski Bridge

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

Kraków, rarely Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland.

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

The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989

Revolutions of 1989

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The Revolutions of 1989 formed part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.

Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in Red Square, Moscow, 1988

An animated series of maps showing the fall of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which later led to conflicts in the post-Soviet space

The 20–21 March 1981 issue of Wieczór Wrocławia (This Evening in Wrocław) shows blank spaces remaining after the government censor pulled articles from page 1 (right, "What happened at Bydgoszcz?") and from the last page (left, "Country-wide strike alert"), leaving only their titles as the printers—Solidarity-trade-union members—decided to run the newspaper with blank spaces intact. The bottom of page 1 of this master copy bears the hand-written Solidarity confirmation of that decision.

Queue waiting to enter a store, a typical view in Poland in the 1980s

Solidarity Chairman Lech Wałęsa (center) with President George H. W. Bush (right) and Barbara Bush (left) in Warsaw, July 1989

Magyars demonstrate at state TV headquarters, 15 March 1989

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

Erich Honecker lost control in summer 1989.

Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate, 10 November 1989

Berlin Wall, October 1990, saying "Thank You, Gorbi"

Protests beneath the monument in Wenceslas Square, in Prague

Memorial of the Velvet Revolution in Bratislava (Námestie SNP), Slovakia

Armed civilians during the Romanian Revolution. The revolution was the only violent overthrow of a Communist state in the Warsaw Pact.

Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H. W. Bush on board the Soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorky, Marsaxlokk Harbour

Tanks in Moscow's Red Square during the 1991 coup attempt

Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War

Baltic Way was a human chain of approximately two million people demanding independence of the Baltic states from the Soviet Union.

Photos of 9 April 1989 victims of the Tbilisi massacre on a billboard in Tbilisi

Following Georgia's declaration of independence in 1991, South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared their desire to leave Georgia and remain part of the Soviet Union/Russia.

Chechen women praying for Russian troops not to advance towards Grozny during the First Chechen War, December 1994.

Georgian Civil War and the War in Abkhazia in August–October 1993

Current military situation in separatist Nagorno-Karabakh

Eritrean War of Independence against Ethiopia ended in 1991

Russian GDP since the end of the Soviet Union (from 2014 are forecasts)

NATO has added 13 new members since the German reunification and the end of the Cold War.

The facade of the Grand Kremlin Palace was restored to its original form after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The State Emblem of the USSR and the embedded letters forming the abbreviation of the USSR (CCCP) were both removed and replaced by five Russian double-headed eagles. An additional restoration of the coat of arms of the various territories of the Russian Empire were placed above the eagles.

On 4 June 1989, the trade union Solidarity won an overwhelming victory in a partially free election in Poland, leading to the peaceful fall of Communism in that country.

Wałęsa's inauguration as president on 21 December 1990 is considered by many as the formal end of the Communist People's Republic of Poland and the start of the modern Republic of Poland.

Lublin

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Krakowska Gate in the Old Town is among the city's most recognisable landmarks.

Union of Lublin, painting by Jan Matejko at the National Museum of Lublin

19th-century drawing of the Lublin Old Town by Adam Lerue

German and Soviet troops in Lublin during the invasion of Poland in September 1939

Monument and cemetery in Rury where the Germans massacred around 500 Poles in 1940

The site of the former Majdanek concentration camp, located on the outskirts of Lublin

Marie Curie Monument near the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS

Polish MPs in the PZL Świdnik helicopter factory

Lublin Główny railway station, the city's main train station

Lublin has one of three trolleybus systems in Poland

The Centre for the Meeting of Cultures and Teatralny Square, view from the Lublin Conference Center

Historic tenement houses at the Market Square

Krakowskie Przedmieście, one of the main streets of the historic city center

440th anniversary of the Union of Lublin

Birthplace of composer Henryk Wieniawski

The first part of a bypass road around Lublin

Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland.

On 24 July 1944, the city was taken by the Soviet Army and became the temporary headquarters of the Soviet-controlled communist Polish Committee of National Liberation established by Joseph Stalin, which was to serve as the basis for a puppet government.