Poland

Polish Flag and National Anthem

Poland

Geography

Location: Central Europe, east of Germany

Area comparative: slightly smaller than New Mexico

Climate: temperate with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters with frequent precipitation; mild summers with frequent showers and thundershowers

Terrain: mostly flat plain; mountains along southern border

Natural Resources: coal, sulfur, copper, natural gas, silver, lead, salt, amber, arable land

People

Population Growth Rate: -1% (2024 est.)
Life expectancy: 76.7; 80.9 (female); 72.8 (male)
Births per woman: 1.32 (2024 est.)

Net migration rate: -6.2/1000 (2024) (World Rankings) - (highest out-migration in Europe)

Ethnic Groups: Polish 96.7%, German 0.4%, Belarusian 0.1%, Ukrainian 0.1%, other and unspecified 2.7%

Religions: Roman Catholic 89.8% (about 75% practicing),

Eastern Orthodox 1.3%

Protestant 0.3%,

Other 0.3%,

Unspecified 8.3%

Language: Polish 97.8%, other and unspecified 2.2%

Economy

One of the most robust economies in Central Europe with industry concentrated in machine building, iron and steel, coal mining, chemicals, shipbuilding, food processing, glass, beverages.

Per capita income: purchasing power parity - $44,100 (2023 est.) (2023 World Ranking: 54th)
GDP growth rate: 0.16% (2023)
Inflation: 11.53% (2023)
Unemployment: 2.91% (2023 est.)

Slavs in Europe

Haplogroup R1a Migration

Migrated from Central Asia in 3^rd or 2^nd millenia BCE

West Slavs: Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Wends, or Sorbs

East Slavs: Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarussians

South Slavs: Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and Macedonians (Bulgarians, of mixed origin like the Hungarians, speak a Slavic language)

Poland: Ethnic Origins

Wyspianski's portrait of Wanda Siemaszkowa as the bride in Wesele, 1901

W. Slavic tribe the polanie

pol means “field” in Polish

reference to geography of Poland

Polish ethnic stock

Mixed with Germanic tribes from the W

E Slavs from the Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

Scandinavians (esp. Swedes) from the N

Peasant Culture

The Polish Peasant, Thomas and Znanecki

Polish family picking berries in the US

Characteristics of peasant life

familial solidarity

absolute; loyalty/assistance to family demanded by degree of relation

LAND – SANCROSANCT

the means of family sustenance

Patriarchy-boys more important than girls – they get the land

Pride = familial, not individual

likewise with shame

**Collectivity/family group identity

not indiv.

Reinforced by village, community

Polish Political History

1st United State: Mieszko I 966

Converted to Christianity (Catholicism)

Founds the Piast Dynasty

Major competitors, invaders

Teutonic Knights

Tatars

Wladyslaw I reunites in 1320

Kazimierz the Great 1333-1370

Jadwiga marries Wladyslaw II Jagiello 1386 - founding the

Jagiellonian Dynasty

Defeat the Teutons at Battle of Tannenburg in 1410

16th Century

Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania

Noble Republic 1572-1795

Elected Monarchy

First Republic/Constitution May 3, 1791

The Second Republic (1918-1939)

Interwar Period

General Pilsudski

WWII

Molotov-Rippentrop Pact

Invasion September 17, 1939

Occupation by Nazis

Eastern Front (Soviets, Katyn)

Holocaust

Communist Period 1945-1989

Solidarity Movement

Strikes, Gdansk Shipyards

Lech Walesa

Pope John Paul II

Martial Law

Legacies of Communism

Traditional bases of National Identity

Catholicism, Marianism

Our Lady of Czestochowa (The Black Madonna)

National Shrine of Czestochowa in the US

**Poland as Christ in Europe

Other Values:

Nationalism, Patriotism (anti-Germanic, anti-Russian)

Land (as in ownership - farming and as in the Fatherland)

The Polish Family

Contemporary bases of National Identity

Urban/rural divide

Poland only about 59% urban population compared to 75% urban EU average

European, Western, Pro-EU (member since 2004) and NATO (member since 1999)

National Security paramount***

Spending on military by 2024 - 3.8%

Ranks 8th in percentage; 14th in real terms!!

Effect of 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

NATO troops and equipment in PL as NATO's "forward presence"

Military Tradition

Military families - even in PRL

Older, traditional connection with bravery, chivalry, patriotism

Martyrdom, victimhood

"we do the most"

"we have suffered the most"

our allies keep abandoning us, betraying

Examples: the partitions (dismemberment)

Restored as part of settlement of WWI

Polish-Ukrainian War 1918-1919

Polish-Soviet War 1919-1920

WWII

Suffering at hands of Third Reich: Occupation, Holocaust

Suffering at hands of Soviet Union/Red Army: Katyń massacre, Warsaw

Uprising

Post-war - Allies consign it to "Soviet sphere"

Poland

We've suffered enough already.

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