History

In 966 the ruler of the Polanians (the origin of the name of Poland) was baptized and as a result Poland appeared on the political map of Europe. The country fought long and hard for its place in Central Europe. Its dynamic development started in the first half of the fourteenth century with Casimir the Great, who built many fortified towns, the first university and codified the law. In 1386, the Polish King, 12-year-old Jadwiga, married the Duke of Lithuania, Jagiello,  which marked the beginning of a joint Polish and Lithuanian history as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the 2nd half of the fifteenth century it was one of the greatest powers of Europe, then under the leadership of influential Jagiellonian dynasty. In the sixteenth century ( its golden era) the country was a center of culture and learning, and universal tolerance made ​​it a haven for many religious refugees, including Jews. In 1573, with its first election, a democracy was born. Unfortunately the turbulent seventeenth century, with its numerous wars and internal conflicts, finally weakened the power of the king in favor of the magnates and led to the disintegration of the Kingdom. In the years 1772 -1795 Poland was divided between the growing power of other kingdoms (Russia, Prussia, Austria-Hungary) and the country disappeared from the map of Europe. Poland regained its independence in 1918.

 

The Twentieth Century

 

Twenty one years after Poland regained its independence, World War II began. On September 1, 1939 Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany from the West and on September 17 the Soviet Union invaded from the East. They divided the country among themselves and began the process of the extermination of the Polish population ( manifested in the Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, and Soviet executions of intelligentsia). As a result of World War II nearly 6 million Polish citizens were killed, including about 3 million Jews. Despite an active resistance movement (one of the largest in occupied Europe) and the activities of the underground government, conferences in Tehran (1943) and Yalta (1945), decided the fate of Poland, which lost about 30% of its pre-war territory and about 38% its of pre-war assets and remained in the zone of influence of the USSR behind the Iron Curtain. In the winter of 1989, as a result of the “Round Table” talks,  an agreement was signed to carry out fully free elections to the Senate. Elections on June 4, 1989 brought victory for the “Solidarity” (opposition) party and ended the period of communism in Poland.