X-Nico

38 unusual facts about Poland


Bolesław Skarżyński

Bolesław Skarżyński (1901-1963) was a renowned Polish biologist.

Bones of Love

"Bones of Love" is the first single from the album Indecent Songs (which was released in Poland in 2003).

Bukowo, Szczecin

Bukowo is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland situated on the left bank of Oder river, north of the Szczecin Old Town and Middle Town, south of the town of Police.

Bydgoszcz Voivodeship

Bydgoszcz Voivodeship 1946-1975 was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1946–1975.

Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Straße

Apart from being very close to the Oder river and the border crossing to Słubice, Poland, Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Straße is home to part of the Viadrina Museum in the Junker house and Museum for Junge Kunst.

Częstochowa Voivodeship

Though most of the current territory of the former Częstochowa Voivodeship belongs to the Silesian Voivodeship, it historically is part of Lesser Poland, apart from western areas, around Lubliniec and Olesno.

Elections in Poland

Great Sejm – or the Four-Years Sejm of 1798–1792, which voted for the May Constitution of Poland;

He abdicated in 1795 after the partitions of Poland ended the existence of sovereign state of Poland for 123 years.

Gdańsk Voivodeship

The name Gdańsk Voivodeship has been used twice to designate local governments in Poland.

Gdansk Voivodeship (2) was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1945–1975, superseded by the voivodeships of Gdansk (1), Elbląg and Słupsk (area of Lębork).

Gdańsk Voivodeship (1) was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1975–98, superseded by Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Human rights in Poland

Human rights in Poland are guaranteed by the second chapter of the Constitution of Poland.

A 2010 report by United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor noted that "Poland's government generally respects the human rights of its citizens"; it did however note problems, mainly police misconduct, lengthy pretrial detention, laws that restricted free speech (although rarely enforced), corruption in the government and society.

Jan Pitass

Jan Pitass (July 3, 1844 - December 11, 1913) was a Polish priest who was the founder and first pastor of the oldest Polish parish (St. Stanislaus - Bishop & Martyr Church) in the diocese of Buffalo, New York.

Kamnica

Kamnica, Poland, a village in the Miastko district of Bytów County, Pomeranian Voivodeship

Kazimierz Pietkiewicz

Kazimierz Pietkiewicz (born 1861 - October 30, 1934 in Anin) was a Polish socialist and independence activist.

Kordon

Kordon, Poland, a village in Gmina Narewka of Hajnówka County of Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland

Koszalin Voivodeship

– a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in years 1950–75, created from eastern part of Szczecin Voivodeship, superseded by the voivodeships of Koszalin (2), Slupsk and Pila.

Left and Democrats

LiD did not manage to elect any of its members to the upper house Senate.

Mil Mi-3

It is also a Russian designation for the Polish-Soviet co-operation on larger helicopters based on the Mi-2 that could replace the Mi-4 from 1971.

Nestlé Waters North America

Poland Spring water is derived from multiple sources in the state of Maine, including Poland Spring and Garden Spring in Poland, Clear Spring in Hollis, Evergreen Spring in Fryeburg, Spruce Spring in Pierce Pond Township, and White Cedar Spring in Dallas Plantation.

Poland, Indiana

After completion, Tom and Marsha plan to launch the boat in Kentucky Lake, then take the Tombigbee waterway to the Gulf of Mexico, then on to see the world.

Politics of Poland

The Council of Ministers is responsible to the prime minister and the Sejm; the prime minister proposes, the president appoints, and the Sejm approves the Council of Ministers.

Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament (known together by the very same name as the lower house "Sejm"), the Sejm and the Senate.

Executive power is exercised by the government, which consists of a council of ministers led by the Prime Minister.

The political system is defined in the Polish Constitution, which also guarantees a wide range of individual freedoms.

The politics of Poland take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government of a multi-party system and the President is the head of state.

The Senate (Senat) has 100 members elected for a four-year term in 40 multi-seat constituencies under a rare plurality bloc voting method where several candidates with the highest support are elected from each electorate.

The president, as the head of state, is the supreme commander of the Armed Forces and has the power to veto legislation passed by parliament, but otherwise has a mostly representative role.

Słupsk Voivodeship

was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from 1975 to 1998, previously part of Szczecin Voivodeship (1945–50) and Koszalin Voivodeship (1950–75), superseded (since 1999) by Pomeranian Voivodeship and West Pomeranian Voivodeship (Sławno County).

Smerd

Sources from the 11th and 12th centuries mention smerds’ presence in the Kievan Rus (e.g. Russkaya Pravda) and Poland.

Środa County

Two counties (powiats) in Poland may be referred to in English by this name, as in Polish they are both named powiat średzki (which means "powiat of Środa").

SS-Oberabschnitt Weichsel

After 1940, Oberabschnitt Weichsel became heavily involved in commanding atrocity actions in Poland; as World War II progressed, the Oberabschnitt itself became nearly one and the same with the office of the SS and Police Leaders.

Stanisław Rehman

Stanisław Rehman (1838–1899), was a city councillor in Kraków, Poland.

Urząd Ochrony Państwa

The UOP replaced the communist-era Służba Bezpieczeństwa (SB), I Departament People's Republic of Poland Ministry of Internal Affairs - intelligence, II Departament People's Republic of Poland Ministry of Internal Affairs - counter-intelligence, whose responsibilities had additionally included the suppression of opposition to the government prior to 1989.

W.W.S.1 Salamandra

The W.W.S. 1 Salamandra (Salamander) was a single-seat training glider designed and built in Poland from Autumn 1935.

W.W.S.2 Żaba

The WWS-2 Żaba (Frog) was a single-seat training glider designed and built in Poland from 1937.

Welfare in Poland

Due to the economic recession that the economy of Poland suffered in the 1990s, spending in real terms in some areas that have remained stable as a percent of the GDP, such as education and medical services, have fallen.


2012 Men's Junior European Volleyball Championship

The 2012 Men's Junior European Volleyball Championship is being held in Gdynia, Poland and Randers, Denmark from August 24 to September 2, 2012.

Ariel Jakubowski

Ariel Jakubowski (born September 7, 1977 in Człuchów) is a Polish footballer who currently plays for Polish side Wisła Płock.

Austeria

Austeria (aka The Inn) is a Polish feature film directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, produced by Zespół Filmowy "Kadr" and released in 1983.

Baltic pipeline

Baltic Pipe, a planned gas pipeline between Denmark and Poland

Bogatynia

Today Bogatynia is one of the richest towns per capita in Poland, due to its two principal enterprises: the Turów Coal Mine, a large open-pit on the grounds of the former Rybarzowice village (Reibersdorf), and the associated thermal power station, Elektrownia Turów, operated by the Polska Grupa Energetyczna, the third-largest of the country.

Brudzew

Brudzew, Kalisz County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Bukownica

Bukownica, Gostyń County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Chraplewo

Chraplewo, Nowy Tomyśl County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Czołowo

Czołowo, Poznań County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

David Coffin

Coffin comes from a musical background: His father, Rev. William Sloane Coffin, studied to be a concert pianist with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, his grandfather was pianist Arthur Rubinstein, and his great-grandfather was Polish conductor Emil Mlynarski.

Friedewald train collision

Repairs to the boiler were carried out by Interlok, Piła, Poland.

Gabriele Oriali

He was also part of the team that defeated the strong teams of Argentina and Brazil, and defeated Poland in the semi-final.

Gołkowo

Gółkowo, Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Jacob's Rescue

Jacob's Rescue is a 1994 children's book by Malka Drucker and Michael Halperin based on a true story that takes place in Warsaw, Poland during the holocaust.

Jakob Walter

In 1806, Walter and his brother were conscripted into the regiment of Romig and served in the campaign of 1806-1807 in Poland, as part of King Jérôme’s contribution to the Grande Armée.

Jan Latosz

While most of the academy approved of the reform plan, Latosz presented a different solution through his old acquaintance Alberto Cardinal Bolognetti, former Papal nuncio to Poland in the times of king Stephen Bathory.

Jim Parton

He now lives in Southern Poland where he is restoring a seventeenth-century former bishop's palace with his wife at Piotrowice Nyskie, near Nysa.

Joanka

Joanka, Kalisz County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Katarzynowo

Katarzynowo, Rawicz County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Kosobudy

Kosobudy, Szczecinek County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship (north-west Poland)

Koszanowo

Koszanowo, Szamotuły County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Koziegłowy

Koziegłowy, Greater Poland Voivodeship, an urbanized village adjoining Poznań (west-central Poland)

Law enforcement in Poland

In Poland, the national police service Policja is directly responsible to the central government, and whilst it operates with an organisational structure that allows voivodeship commands to exist, the regional authorities do not have any major say in law enforcement policy, and cannot affect the day-to-day operations of their local force.

Lomno

Łomno, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, a village in the Starachowice County in southeastern Poland

Lublin R-XII

The Lublin R-XII was the Polish three-seat sports and touring plane, designed in 1930 in the Plage i Laśkiewicz factory in Lublin, that remained a prototype.

Maciejowice

In September 1939, during the Invasion of Poland, two large units of the Polish Army (13th Infantry Division and Wilenska Cavalry Brigade) evacuated eastwards on a wooden bridge at Przewoz.

Mały Buczek

Mały Buczek, Złotów County, a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lipka, Złotów County, Poland

Młynkowo

Młynkowo, Czarnków-Trzcianka County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

National Democracy

In 1928 the National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe) was founded, as a successor party to the Popular National Union.

Nicholas Ilkov

Father Nicholas Ilkov (Polish: Mikołaj Ilków, Ukrainian: Mikola Іlkіv, born on 10 December 1890 - died in 1940 or 1941, Katyn, Poland) was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest.

Niklas Frank

Niklas Frank (born 9 March 1939) is a German author and journalist best known for writing a book which denounced his father Hans Frank (a German lawyer who was executed after being found guilty at the Nuremberg trials for his actions, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, arising from his involvement with the Nazi party and as Governor-General of occupied Poland during World War II).

Owieczki

Owieczki, Oborniki County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Piaskowo

Piaskowo, Gmina Szamotuły in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Podstolice

Podstolice, Chodzież County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Prochy

Prochy, Wąbrzeźno County in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (north-central Poland)

Sławnikowice, Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus was born in Kieslingswalde (now Sławnikowice in western Poland).

Smolary

Smolary, Gniezno County in Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Stanisław Kulczyński

Kulczyński was awarded the Order of the Builders of People's Poland (1964), the Order of the Banner of Labour 1st class and the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

Stanowice

Stanowice, Góra County in Lower Silesian Voivodeship (south-west Poland)

Susumu Kobayashi

He scored a total of 577 targets in the preliminary rounds of the men's 10 m air pistol, by four points ahead of Poland's Wojciech Knapik from the final attempt, finishing only in twenty-third place.

Tadeusz Nalepa

Tadeusz Nalepa (26 August 1943 in Zgłobień, Poland – 4 March 2007, Warsaw) – was a Polish composer, guitar player, vocalist, and lyricist.

Troszyn

Troszyn, Kamień County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship (north-west Poland)

VH1 Europe

Though produced in Warsaw (Poland), VH1 Europe broadcasts from MTV Networks Europe's premises in Camden Town (London, UK) to the whole continent of Europe, covering also the Middle East, South Africa and parts of Northern Africa.

Weinfeld

Yocheved Weinfeld (born 1947), a Poland-born Israeli female painter

Wielkopolski

There is also another Polish warmblood breed, the Małopolski, bred in the region of Małopolska ("Little Poland") in the south of the country (around Kraków).

Witold Gerutto

Witold Gerutto (1 October 1912 in Harbin, China – 13 October 1973 in Konstancin) was a Polish shot putter and decathlete who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Wolkowo

Wolkowo, Grodzisk Wielkopolski County, Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)

Zarośle

Zarośle, Gmina Zbiczno in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (north-central Poland)

Zgorzałe

In Zgorzałe there is the first street in Poland named Lech Wałęsa Street (2009).

Zielin

Zielin, Gryfino County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship (north-west Poland)