November 11, 1918 – Polish Independence Day
Poland celebrates its Independence Day on November 11, in commemoration of the Armistice ending hostilities in World War I, which led to the rebirth of…
November 11, 2024
Partitions – 1795-1918
Kościuszko National Monument – America’s Tiniest National Park – in today’s Wall St. Journal
When I took a look at the Wall St. Journal this morning, I saw an article on page 1 (below the fold) titled “Tiniest National…
May 31, 2024
May 20, 1881 – General Władysław Sikorski Born
Polish World War II Commander-in-Chief and Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski was born on May 20, 1881 in the Galicia region (southeastern Poland), which was then…
May 20, 2024
May 13, 1901 – Polish Hero Witold Pilecki Born
Polish hero Witold Pilecki was born on May 13, 1901 into a patriotic Polish family in Olonets, a small town in Karelia near the Finnish…
May 13, 2024
May 3, 1791: Polish Constitution Adopted
On May 3, 1791, Poland adopted the first democratic written constitution in Europe, following the lead of the Americans who had adopted their Constitution in…
May 3, 2024
Kazimierz Prószyński – Inventor
Polish inventor Kazimierz Prószyński invented the Pleograph motion picture camera in 1894 (its name derived from the phonograph), which was both a camera and a…
March 13, 2024
Legendary Composer & Pianist Frédéric Chopin
Today is the anniversary of the birth of legendary piano virtuoso, leading Romanticism composer and Polish national hero Frédéric (Fryderyk) Chopin, on March 1, 1810.…
March 1, 2024
General Tadeusz Kościuszko: Polish and American Hero
Polish and American hero Tadeusz Kościuszko was born on February 4, 1746. Kościuszko was one of the first alumni of the Corps of Cadets (Korpus…
February 4, 2024
“The Peasants”: A Painterly Polish Tale
Last week, the Wall St. Journal gave a glowing review of the new Polish film based on Władysław Reymont’s sweeping novel The Peasants, about a…
January 31, 2024
Polish-Haitians – Descendants of the Napoleonic Polish Legions
Thanks to one of my friends, I’ve learned that there’s a little-known historical footnote to Napoleon and the Polish Legions (see January 25, 2024 blog…
January 30, 2024
Napoleon, Polish Legions & the Polish National Anthem
SkyHistory has an intriguing article that names 10 great military generals from history. They introduce them as follows: “The course of human history has been…
January 25, 2024
The Fourteen Points – Polish Independence
On January 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson presented, to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, the Fourteen Points which he considered essential conditions to…
January 9, 2024
