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Poland is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast to the north. It is an ancient nation whose history as a state began near the middle of the 10th century. Its golden age occurred in the 16th century when it united with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to form the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the following century, the strengthening of the gentry and internal disorders weakened the nation. In a series of agreements in the late 18th century, Russia, Prussia and Austria partitioned Poland amongst themselves. It regained independence as the Second Polish Republic in the aftermath of World War I only to lose it again when it was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II. The nation lost over six million citizens in the war, following which it emerged as the communist People's Republic of Poland under strong Soviet influence within the Eastern Bloc. A westward border shift followed by forced population transfers after the war turned a once multiethnic country into a mostly homogeneous nation state. Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union called Solidarity (Solidarność) that over time became a political force which by 1990 had swept parliamentary elections and the presidency. A shock therapy program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. With its transformation to a democratic, market-oriented country completed, Poland is an increasingly active member of NATO and the European Union. Template:/box-footer

The Polish–Soviet War, fought between 1919 and 1921, determined the borders between two nascent states in post–World War I Europe. It was a result of conflicting attempts — by Poland, whose statehood had just been reëstablished after it being partitioned in the late 18th century, to secure territories which it had lost in the partitions — and by the Bolsheviks who aimed to take control of the same territories that had since then been part of Imperial Russia until their occupation by Germany during World War I. The conflict ended with the Peace of Riga which divided Ukraine and Belarus between the Second Polish Republic and the newly formed Soviet Union. Both states claimed victory in the war: the Poles claimed a successful defense of their state, while the Soviets claimed a repulse of the Polish Kiev Offensive, which was sometimes viewed as part of foreign interventions in the Russian Civil War.

Medieval fortified granaries in Grudziądz as seen from across the Vistula River. Founded by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, Grudziądz became part of Poland by the terms of the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466. The town was once an important inland port for Poland's grain exports via the Vistula and the Baltic Sea.

From Wikipedia's new or recently improved articles about Poland:

• ... that an average of 150,000 braided ring-shaped breads, known as obwarzanki krakowskie (pictured) are sold daily from street carts in Kraków?
• ... that common hogweed was originally the main ingredient of borscht?
• ... that in 1921 more than 95% of the Czechoslovak citizens of Polish ethnicity lived in the Těšín electoral district?
• ... that SS officer Herbert Mehlhorn was involved in the camouflage of the mass graves of Jewish victims at the Chełmno extermination camp?
• ... 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?

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WikiProject Poland New Poland-related articles Wikipedia:WikiProject Poland/Popular pages

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Bolesław Prus Bolesław Prus, born Aleksander Głowacki (1847–1912), was a Polish journalist and novelist, best known for his novels The Doll and Pharaoh. He was the leading representative of realism in 19th-century Polish literature and remains a distinctive voice in world literature. An indelible mark was left on Prus by his experiences as a 15-year-old soldier in the Polish 1863 Uprising against Imperial Russia, in which he suffered severe injuries and imprisonment. In 1872, in Warsaw, Prus settled into a distinguished 40-year journalistic career. As a sideline, to augment his income and to appeal to readers through their aesthetic sensibilities, he began writing short stories. Achieving success with these, he went on to employ a broader canvas; between 1886 and 1895, he completed four major novels on "great questions of our age." The Doll describes the romantic infatuation of a man of action who is frustrated by the backwardness of his society. Pharaoh, Prus's only historical novel, is a study of political power and statecraft, set in ancient Egypt at the fall of its 20th Dynasty.

St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Białystok Białystok is the largest city in north-eastern Poland, located close to the Belarusian border. Originally part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, it was annexed by Prussia in the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 only to pass into Russian hands with the Treaty of Tilsit of 1807. Under Russian rule, it enjoyed an economic boom fueled by development of textile industry. The city was predominantly Jewish, but most of Białystok's Jewish population was exterminated by the Nazis during the city's German occupation in 1941–1944, despite its resistance in the Białystok Ghetto Uprising. In addition to textiles, Białystok is a large producer of alcoholic beverages and home of the Żubrówka vodka.

Template:/box-header Recent or ongoing events

• A disagreement between the Constitutional Tribunal (building pictured) on one side and the legislative and executive powers, fully controlled by the Law and Justice party since 2015, on the other results in an ongoing constitutional crisis.
• Wrocław is designated one of two European Cities of Culture for the year 2016.

Upcoming events

• On 5 June, Stanislaus Papczyński will be canonized.
• From 8 to 9 July, Warsaw will host a NATO summit.
• From 25 to 31 July, World Youth Day will be held in Kraków.

Holidays and observances in June 2024
(statutory public holidays in bold)

• Children's Day, 1 June

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