History of Poland
Poland or officially, the Republic of Poland, is located in central Europe. It shares borders with Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Belarus and Ukraine. It has a population of 38.4 million people and the country is divided into 16 administrative units. The World War II was a grim event for Poland as millions of Polish people perished in this war.
Political makeup
Today Poland has a representative parliament, a president and a prime minister, demonstrating a representative democracy. It is composed of Council of Ministers, where the prime minister leads them. Historically, the migration of Slavs in the early Middle Ages to the land today called Poland had a significant impact on the politics and general history of the country. The most significant date to conduct the historical survey of Poland is perhaps 966 AD when its ruler, Mieszko, imposed Latin Christianity on its people. In 1025 his son Boleslaw made Poland an official Medieval Kingdom.
The historical records of this event and the events of about a100 years after the year 966 appear to be vague (Lukowski & Zawadzki, 2006). Substantial records show that Jugalia of Lithuania was accepted into the Catholic Karkow Cathedral in February 1386 (Lukowski & Zawadzki, 2006). The later twentieth century Poland also has its mystery entrenched in history archives. After the Second World War the Polish historians seemed adamant in portraying a ‘Piast Poland’. The boundaries of this country were similar to the post-1945 state.
This attempt to expand the boundaries of Poland was an attempt by Polish Communist Nationalists who wanted to return the homeland to its glorified original past. It served as a stability measure after facing the difficulties of fluid borders for one thousand years. The borders used to vary based on political decisions that would accept or discard a group or groups of people. As a result the borders of Poland changed many times in a lifespan.
This volatility in border lines created confusion among several groups of people, who to this day are victims of identity confusion. Certain groups of people cannot decide if they are Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Jews, Lithuanians or Belarussians (Lukowski & Zawadzki, 2006). The term ‘Polak’ is a derivative of Pole or plain- the land of middle Warta River.
Prior to WWII minorities in Poland made up significant proportion. The historical situation of Poland is unique as it is the only country in the European history that disappeared and then reappeared on the world map (Biskupski, 2000). Poland was not supposed to be an active entity in WWI, but it was made into one by the “war’s chief actors” (Biskupski, 2000, p. 37).
As a result, Poland probably truly registered on the world map as some form of influential entity as a result of WWI. The world did not know much about Poland before then. As a result of the unfolding of war and the way it was controlled by the actors of war, Poland remerged. It must be noted that from 1795 to 1918 there was no Polish state on world map. Even though resistance movements were active by the Polish people against the oppressors.
In 1863, despite the failure of military uprising against the Russians, the Polish regained their positions through educational resources. It was a passive strategy to regain a strong foothold against the oppressors. The Polish Republic was established in 1918, which lasted till 1939, when Nazi Germany and Russian forces devastated the country.
With the victory of the Allied forces in 1945 Poland went through major political and geographical changes again. By this time through mass migrations, expulsions, and wars the demographics had changed considerably. Later a gradual transition from communist state to capitalist and later to a republic can be seen in Poland.
Today the Polish borders contain an area of 312,683 sq. km., but once it was the largest country in Europe encompassing an area of a million square kilometers. Also, its political system is a result of the failure of the Communist Poland (Biskupski, 2000). To compensate for this, the new governing system based on parliamentary system was introduced. In 1997, the country adopted the new constitution where the president is elected every five years by popular vote.
Holidays/celebrations
Many of the Polish holidays are national celebrations. For instance, the Constitution Day on May 3rd is celebrated to honor Poland’s first constitution passed in 1791. November 11th is the Polish Independence Day, as on this day in 1918 it gained independence from Prussian, Russia and Austria after 100 years of oppression.
The usual Christian festivals such as Easter and Christmas are celebrated with religious fervor. November 1 marks the All Saint’s Day. Corpus Christi is celebrated 60 days after Easter and Assumption Day is celebrated on August 15. Other holidays that are not specific to Poland are also celebrated such as the Labor Day on May 1st.
Religion
Poland is at a very unique geographical and sociological place in the context of religion. The country is surrounded by the most secular states in Europe and also with countries that are still considered religious. In this amalgamation Poland carves out its own special place. In a way, Poland is similar to England in terms of religious influence of migrants. England had been recognized in history as a secular country but with the arrival of people from religious countries its status and religious dynamics have shifted.
Poland is not a different story as it was secular but the arrivals of religious people or with the changes in its borders, the demographic state of the country changed, which also incorporated religious factors. Poland and Europe in general has lost its place as an exception when it comes to religion.
The discussion of Religion in Poland is incomplete without the mentioning of John Paul II. The association of the pope with Poland was so strong that the country on the whole has been largely associated with Catholicism. This perception is also endorsed by events such as mass gathering of Polish people in the streets and squares of Poland for the beatification of John Paul in Rome in 2011 (Garbowski, 2014). Also, the images of Polish people mourning the death of the pope also endorse the perception of Catholic Poland.
The Catholic nature of the country is not only limited to perceptions and images. Statistics also endorse this claim but it is only one part of the whole story. It would be wrong to label Poland as a Catholic country. At one time the sportsman of the year, the winner of the country’s top literary prize and the Polish prime minister were Lutherans, while country’s minister of foreign affairs was Jewish (Garbowski, 2014). The Jews had been living Poland for ages (Rubach, 2010).
Polish values in the context of religions are not separatists or to create and apartheid. John Paul repeatedly urged Polish people to see themselves as precursors of European unification. It was not an attempt to modify or distort Catholic values, in fact John Paul proposed this as a sequence of their religions past.
It should be noted that this urge of unification also stems from the efforts in the past of the unification or Commonwealth of Europe against the Ottoman Empire. The Western Christianity was an umbrella term to unite the Europeans against the Muslims forces of the Turks. Also, the same narrative emerges from the efforts to unite Christians despite the borders and various national identities. During this period (the seventeenth century) Poland ceased to exist.
Art/architecture
The earliest examples of Polish folk art comprise of Christmas figurines, toys for children, shrines and carved bee hives (Torbus, 2001). Long low hanging pictures in homes were quite popular among Polish peasants. Verre eglomise was a popular glass engraved art, and was first produced around the end of the 18th century in Silesia (Torbus, 2001). For peasants who could not afford expensive painting, woodcarvings were an affordable alternative.
The colorful dowry chests were influenced by the Renaissance furniture that belonged to royalty and patricians (Torbus, 2001). Silhouette cutters and papers cut in the form of flowers and birds was also a popular art form. Polish folk art was truly famous for its wood sculptures. Different sculptures across the country were mostly religious; the body of Christ on the cross or the beautifully carved cross itself.
Polish art is a reflection of different trends of the European culture. Although many compare Polish art with French mainstream art but that is aesthetically incorrect (Cavanaugh, 2000). The Polish artist created their masterpieces that truly reflected their own version of their time and trends. The reason that Polish art gets discredited is because of the context in which it was created; a disempowered society. Poland was conquered and divided in 1795 by Russia, Prussia and Austria.
The struggle for independence, justice and liberty had an undeniable influence on Polish culture and art form. A nineteenth century romantic movement saw powerful influence of national identity and the struggle for freedom in Polish literature (Cavanaugh, 2000). Henryk Sienkiewicz and Władysław Reymont are Nobel Prize winning novelist from Poland. Two Polish poets Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska also won the same prize. The romance with national identity and solidarity has been passed down to the contemporary art forms, the influence is irrefutable. However, the contemporary Polish artists have rejected certain elements of arts that were heavily drenched in historicism. Perhaps, the Polish artists recognized that to achieve universality they must rid their art from nationalistic agendas.
This can be confused with a dilemma where Polish artists had two powerful forms of inspirations. They could look at the rest of European trends for their artistic inspirations or they could look inward where Polish history and national identities had immense influence. Despite the fact that Polish artists travelled extensively throughout Europe participating in exhibitions, they could never introduce Polish art as a form of separate national identity (Cavanaugh, 2000).
In the history of European architecture Polish or Lithuanian buildings or architecture rarely stands out (Piotrowski, 2011). The buildings constructed before the eighteenth century seem strangely imperfect; their stylistic features do not seem pure, elemental or consistent. Later constructions have outside influences, only to prove the point that Polish architecture was not significant enough to be carried on in the contemporary designs. The Cathedral of Karkow is an example of this form of architectural conception. Other notable structures include St. Mary’s Basilica and Ratusz.
Poland has a diverse culture and had gone through vague border situation for the most part of its history. Its culture, demographics and arts are ridden with outside influence and reflect some shades of its own historical significance. The country suffered tremendous losses during the First and Second World War but today it is on its way to peace and prosperity.
References
Biskupski, M. B. (2000) The history of Poland. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Cavanaugh, J. (2000). Out looking in: early modern Polish art, 1890-1918. Univ. of California Press.
Garbowski, C. (2014). Religious Life in Poland: History, Diversity and Modern Issues. McFarland.
Lukowski, J., & Zawadzki, H. (2006). A concise history of Poland. Cambridge University Press.
Piotrowski, A. (2011). Architecture of thought. Univ. of Minnesota Press.
Rubach, L. (2010) The autobiography of Leon Rubach: The First Twenty Years. Bloomington: Author House Publishing.
Torbus, T. (2001) Poland. Munchen: Gunter Nelles.
