He came from a family with Austrian-Jewish roots. Wilhelm Orlik – Rückeman commanded a tank regiment during the Polish-Bolshevik war, and just before the outbreak of World War II he…

Feliks Koneczny was born on 1 November 1862 in Krakow to a Czech family of Moravian origin. Interestingly, the future historian and creator of the original concept of civilisation did…

During the interwar period, Poland boasted the League of Air and Anti-Gas Defence (LOPP), a paramilitary organisation that was formed on 10 February 1928 as a result of the merger…

Born on 7 February 1896 in Nowogródek, Jakub Kagan became famous as an outstanding Polish composer and pianist of Jewish origin. His life was marked not only by a great…

Many of his paintings have been reproduced and published as postcards. Almost the entire Kossak family was artistically and literarily talented. Wojciech’s father Juliusz, a talented painter, was among the…

During the Second World War, Rozalia Kostus, a widow with two children, Genowefa and Mieczysław, lived in Sambor. Their house at 1 Kopernika Street became a refuge for Jews when…

There have been few figures like Jan Szczepanik in the history of European civilisation. He is the “Renaissance man” of recent times. His inventions were the prelude to colour photography…

During the occupation of Poland, the Germans completed the violent pacification of several hundred Polish villages, murdering most of their inhabitants. The largest single mass murder took place on 2…

Born on 15 May 1818 in Warsaw, Bogumił Dawison made a name for himself as an excellent actor. His life’s journey, marked by both struggles and triumphs, is an extremely…

He had three aliases in the underground – “Janek”, “Marek” and “Łukowski”. During the Second World War, Marek Arczyński was among the founders of the Żegota Council to Aid Jews,…