Polish Greatness

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Polish pottery plant makes tableware for... CIA!
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4. Polish pottery plant makes tableware for... CIA!

Renowned Polish pottery maker Bolesławiec has designed and produced a limited edition of custom-made tableware for the CIA.

The order, which the company handled some time ago, was strictly confidential until the US Central Intelligence Agency declassified information about it. The design of the pottery produced for the CIA is reserved and not available for purchase.

Predictably, it is unclear how the CIA zeroed in on Bolesławiec and why it decided to place an order with the Polish pottery maker. “Perhaps it was the result of a visit by American soldiers to our company, or maybe the fact that our products are sold at the Pentagon,” Helena Smoleńska, CEO of the Bolesławiec factory in southwestern Poland, told the broadcaster. “It was a unique order, one of a kind globally.”

Handling the job was quite a task as well. The biggest challenge was to render the agency's logo in the right way. Each time it had to be painted by hand with no templates used. The colour pattern also had to be selected properly and meet the requirements of the Americans, the broadcaster said.

Bolesławiec exports 90 percent of its products, selling them to 25 countries worldwide, with buyers in the United States snapping up roughly half the shipments.

Polish pottery plant makes tableware for... CIA!

 

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400 YEARS; RUSSIAN HOMAGE TO THE KING OF POLAND.
octobre 30, 2011

Prussian and Russian Homage to the King of Poland.

July 4, 1610 at Klushino (Kłuszyn) hetman Żółkiewski only with 7000 people defeated 35 000 soldiers of Shuiski russian’s prince and his Swedish friends. From the Grunwald 1410 until the Miracle on the Vistula 1920 was the greatest ours victory. Poles took Moscow, the Tsar was taken prisoner and taken to the Polish.

Vasili IV of Russia 22 September 1552 – 12 September 1612 was Tsar of Russia between 1606 and 1610. Born Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky, he was descended from sovereign princes of Nizhny Novgorod and a 20th generation male line descendant of Rurik the Viking.


Ruriks family tree



Boyars elected the new tsar of Russia Mikhail I Fyodorovich Romanov Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov 12 July 1596 – 13 July 1645 was the first Russian Tsar of the house of Romanov. He was the son of Feodor Nikitich Romanov and Xenia later known as « the great nun » Martha. The Romanov were a noble family who were related to the Rurik Dynasty through marriage. They were offered the throne and ruled Muscovy and then Imperial Russia from 1613 to 1762. The family eventually died out. Female-line descendants succeeded them as Holstein – Gottorp – Romanov and continued to rule till 1917.



400 years; Russian Homage to the King of Poland.

 

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Polish Constitution of May 3rd 1791
Jan Matejko's 9x15 ft painting executed on the centenary of the passage of the Constitution shows Stanis�aw August Poniatowski, King of Poland, being bourn in triumph from the Royal Palace, seen in the background where the Constitution had just been passed, to Warsaw's St. John's Cathedral. The painting hangs in the National Museum in Warsaw.
The Constitution of May 3, 1791
by Hon. Carl L. Bucki

"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal." These words, so close to the hearts of all true patriots of freedom, begin the second paragraph of the American Declaration of independence. But we must not attribute their origin solely to Thomas Jefferson, for these words are identical to those of Wawrzyniec Goslicki a Polish philosopher whose writings were to be found in Mr. Jefferson's library. How could it be that a Pole might supply the words of inspiration for the founding of the United States of America? One should not be surprised. Intellectually and philosophically, America and Poland have shared a common devotion to the cause of liberty and freedom. This devotion is what we celebrate today, on this, the 205th anniversary of the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791.

The mere concept of a written constitution is itself a revolutionary idea. No longer is government to be based upon the whims of a monarch or the commands of a dictator. In the history of the world's nations, the first written constitution was that adopted for the United States of America in 1787. The second written constitution was that which Poland adopted in 1791. Geographically distant, Poland and the United States shared both a kindred spirit and a common challenge. In contrast to all of its powerful neighbors, Poland in the late 18th century was remarkably democratic. Its kings were elected and its parliament, or Sejm, possessed broad legislative authority. Although Poland extended political privileges to only about ten percent of the adult population, this percentage closely approximated political access in America, where suffrage excluded slaves and was generally limited to male property owners. By the 1780's, both of these democratic experiments were in serious danger. In America, the Articles of Confederation had proven itself to be a dismal failure. In Poland, the liberum veto allowed any deputy to block legislation. So ineffective was the government that it was no longer able to defend itself against the intrigues of Russia, Austria, and Prussia.

Both Poles and Americans came to realize that freedom is not so much a privilege to enjoy, as it is a reward for those who will honor and defend. After a long summer of debate, the Constitutional Convention approved its proposal for a new government for the United States on September 17, 1787. In the following year, on October 6, 1788, the four year Sejm began its deliberations. Under the leadership of Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kollataj, extensive reforms were incorporated into a Constitution that was approved by King Stanislaw August Poniatowski on the third day of May, 1791.

We shall never know whether the Constitution of May 3, 1791, might have provided the structure for true reform in Poland. Sadly, it was in effect for only a short time. Russia, Austria and Prussia acted quickly to occupy the territories of Poland, and by 1795, Poland had ceased to exist, except in the hearts of its people. In contrast, the United States could continue its democratic experiment in relative isolation. Protected by a vast ocean from the oppressive monarchies of Europe, the United States enjoyed the opportunity to evolve into a truly democratic society. That process was neither quick nor easy. Witness the struggles for political reform in America, beginning with adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1791, the abolition of slavery as a consequence of a most tragic civil war, the extension of suffrage to women, and the civil rights movement of more recent years.

Why should we honor Poland's Constitution of 1791? Clearly, the Constitution never fulfilled its immediate and short term objectives. Poland did not survive the second and third partitions, and as a political entity, it was effectively eliminated from the map of Europe for more than a century. In operation for only a few years, the Constitution never developed into a full expression of political liberty. Of what relevance is the Constitution to us, who are removed from its focus both by thousands of miles and by many generations?

We honor the Polish Constitution of 1791 not so much for what it achieved as for what it represents. It is a symbol of the Polish people and of their struggle for liberty, justice, and honor. The American Constitution was drafted by men who had rebelled from the tyranny of the British crown, and who sought to escape the burdens of taxation. The Polish Constitution was written by the aristocracy. With the most noble of intentions, its authors saw government as an instrument of service for the common good. They recognized that government must serve not the interests of the few, but the welfare of the entire nation. With this thought, they were prepared to sacrifice their wealth and good fortunes for the cause of a free and independent nation. Indeed, the Constitution of 1791 epitomized a recognition that duty and responsibility were the true foundations of liberty. This unparalleled sense of generosity was most profound, so much so that it earned admiration from all ends of the political spectrum. The Prussian statesman Ewald von Hertzberg would express the fears of European conservatives. The Poles, he wrote, "have given the coup de grace to the Prussian monarchy by voting a constitution . . . . How can we defend our state . . . against a numerous and well-governed nation." Meanwhile, on the left, Karl Marx could only admire this Constitution when he wrote as follows:

• 
  "Despite all its shortcomings, this Constitution looms up against the background of Russian, Prussian and Austrian barbarism as the only work of liberty which Eastern Europe has ever created independently and it emerged exclusively from the privileged class, from the nobility. The history of the world has never seen another example of such nobility of the nobility."

Although we may reject the contrasting philosophies both of von Hertzberg and of Marx, their respect for the Polish Constitution reveals the inherent integrity of that instrument. Apart from any political point of view, the world can only admire the sincerity of the Constitution's purpose and objectives.

The Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, is a reflection of the Polish spirit, a spirit that is devoted to truth and justice at all times, under all circumstances, and despite all impediments. Its words, its concepts, its principles are not an exceptional portrait of the Polish character. Rather, they are a shining symbol of the finest qualities of the Polish nation. How else can one explain the survival of Poland despite 120 years of foreign domination. President Woodrow Wilson recognized the vibrancy of this character when he included in his fourteen points the concept of a free and independent Poland. How else could Poland have survived the long period of Communist repression. Surely it is no accident that the downfall of communism began in the shipyards of Gdansk. Surely it is no accident that a native son of Poland now speaks as a defender of liberty from his post as supreme pontiff.

In October 1962, a crowd of 400,000 people greeted President John Kennedy on his visit to Buffalo. Before the largest audience ever to assemble in Western New York, the President expressed well the spirit of the May Third Constitution, when he spoke as follows: "I know that there are some who will say that the people of Poland, however brave, are in a prison from which there is no escape that they will not be permitted to express themselves. But this ignores the driving force . . . of liberty." Poles have never wavered in their belief "that freedom would triumph in the end. I subscribe to that same belief. Let us remember that [the ideal of freedom] is universal. It knows no oceans, no boundaries, no limitations."

The Constitution of May 3, 1791, stands for the proposition that free people everywhere must step forward despite all odds, to

Constitution Day: May 3, 1791

 

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Swiatecki bomb ejector – was slip bomb device of Polish inventor Władysław Świątecki used in many allied bombers during World War II.

History

Świątecki designed a bomb-release system in 1923. His invention was patented in 1926 in Poland. The first use was planned for the Karaś P.23 light bomber and for Łoś bomber but not used. From 1930 the inventor produced the “Swiatecki bomb slip” in own branch in Lublin. First use of his invention took place in 1925 when the Polish Navy mounted it in imported aircraft – Cant Z-506B.

After the Invasion of Poland in 1939 Świątecki evacuated to Hungary and via Yugoslavia and Italy to France (Paris) where he worked as engineer in military industry. Then, when France collapsed in June 1940, he escaped again, with his family, travelling to North Africa and then by ship to England. There he demonstrated his device to the Ministry of Aircraft Production. He went on to serve in the Royal Air Force as a Flight Lieutenant.

The slip device was modified for use in the Lancasters of 9, 12 and 617 Squadrons of the Royal Air Force for the use of the Tallboy and Grand Slam giant aerial bombs. The Boeing B-29 was modified to carry Grand Slam and Tallboy and the giant 42000lb T-12 bomb, the slip device (The D-9 carrier) was a modification of the Swiatecki bomb slip. These weapons were the largest air-dropped bombs before the atomic bomb. In Project Harken and Project Ruby the Swiatecki devices performed flawlessly.

His slip device was the subject of debate at the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors from 1946 to 1955. The Ministry claimed the device was invented at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough and developed by Vickers Armstrongs. The family received an ex gratia award of £350.

In 1943, an updated version of Świątecki invention was created by Jerzy Rudlicki for the American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

Władysław Świątecki

Władysław J. Świątecki (1895 – 28 April 1944) was a Polish inventor and airman.

Biography

Early life

Born 1895 in Poland. His father was a General Practitioner in St Petersburg, Jan Swiatecki and his mother was Josefa Papreska. He flew in the War of Liberation for Poland 1918 – 1920. Decorated with the order Virtuti Militari, a high Polish decoration for bravery.

Career

Świątecki invented the slip bomb device, which he patented in 1926.The device was planned for the Karas light bomber and for Łoś bomber but not used, though the device was handed over to the Polish Air Force before the war and used by other European air forces. Escaped from Poland in 1939 through Hungary, Yugoslavia and Italy to France (Paris) where he worked as engineer in

military industry. Then, when France collapsed in June 1940, he escaped again, with his family, travelling to North Africa and then by ship to England. There he demonstrated his device to the Ministry of Aircraft Production. He went on to serve in the Royal Air Force as a Flight Lieutenant at Blackpool. There he used his technical skills to translate British technical documents into Polish.

Death and afterward

Died on the 28th April 1944 at the Paderewski Hospital, Edinburgh, of kidney failure and is buried in Edinburgh.

His slip device was the subject of debate at the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors from 1946 to 1955. The Ministry claimed the device was invented at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough and developed by Vickers Armstrongs. The family received an ex gratia award of £350. The basis of the family claim was a letter written to the Ministry of Aircraft Production by Władysław Świątecki in 1944, just before he died. On a visit to Farnborough he noticed that Lancaster aircraft were being fitted with his bomb slip device. In his letter he claimed patent infringement which the Ministry denied. The family claim was put forward by his sons, the eldest son also called Władysław Świątecki and Tad Świątecki. The former was an eminent physicist who died in 2009.

Swiatecki bomb ejector by Paweł Gielej, class Ib

 

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Britain's first female second world war spy to get overdue recognition


Krystyna Skarbek, aka Christine Granville – Churchill’s favourite spy – will be honoured with bronze bust at Polish Hearth Club

Mark Brown Arts correspondent

Tue 9 May 2017 14.30 EDTLast modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 19.33 EST

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Krystyna Skarbek in France, August 1944. Photograph: Unknown
She was a glamorous countess and British spy whose extraordinary wartime heroics included skiing out of Nazi-occupied Poland with the first evidence of Operation Barbarossa – the Nazi plans to invade Soviet Russia.

Later in the war she played a role in the liberation of France as first contact between the French Resistance and Italian Partisans, and single-handedly secured the defection of a strategically important German garrison.

But the name and achievements of Krystyna Skarbek, the first and longest-serving female special agent in the second world war, are still little known. Now a bronze bust of her will stand in the Polish Hearth Club in London.

The unveiling on Tuesday evening has been organised by the writer Clare Mulley, who wrote Skarbek’s biography, The Spy Who Loved, published in 2013.

The new bust illuminates a remarkable life, one of tremendous valour but also tragedy, which ended with Skarbek’s murder in 1952.

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“She was a remarkable woman, it is ludicrous that she is not better known,” said Mulley. “That is not to take anything from all the other women and men who served, all their stories are fantastic, but her story is incredible and she has just not been honoured as she should be.”

Skarbek, a Polish countess who would later use the name Christine Granville, was so incensed by the Nazi invasion of her native country that she demanded that the Secret Service take her on.

It did, and among her many adventures and achievements was managing to get hold of microfilm that was the first evidence of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazis’ preparations for the invasion of its supposed ally, the Soviet Union.

She skied out of Poland with footage – hidden in her leather gloves – that landed on the desk of Winston Churchill. He became an admirer, calling her, according to his daughter Sarah, his “favourite spy”.

In 1944 she was parachuted into France as part of a Special Operations Executive team preparing the way for liberation forces. She made the first contact between the French Resistance and the Italian Partisans, and, acting alone, secured the defection of an entire German garrison in an important Alpine strategic pass.

Later she learned of the arrest of a senior SOE colleague and two French Resistance officers. They were due to be shot and, after Skarbek failed to have them properly rescued, she cycled 25 miles to the German camp and bullied the senior Gestapo officer into keeping them alive.

“She basically terrified him with exaggerated claims of how soon the allies would be there and how she would get him shot if the men were not released,” said Mulley.

After the war, Skarbek was treated appallingly by the British authorities, who initially refused her citizenship even though she was unable to return to the now Soviet-controlled Poland.

“One of the last bits of paper in her files at the National Archives includes a line from the British that said ‘she is no longer wanted’. It is just extraordinary. That is a direct quote,” said Mulley.

Skarbek eventually shamed the authorities into giving her citizenship, but times were hard for her and she was forced to get a job as a bathroom steward on passenger liners. “She is cleaning toilets whereas previously she was a countess who travelled first-class.”

All of the crew were encouraged by the captain to wear their war medals, so Skarbek wore all of hers, including an OBE, the George Medal and the French Croix de Guerre.

No one believed this foreign, probably Jewish, woman could possibly have such medals and she was treated terribly apart from by one steward, Dennis Muldowney, with whom she is thought to have had a relationship.

When they returned to London the friendship soured, but Muldowney was unable to accept rejection. He stalked her and confronted her at the Shellbourne hotel, stabbing her though the heart with a combat knife.

The idea for a bust at the Polish Hearth Club, a place Skarbek would visit after the war to dance and regale officers with her stories, came from Mulley.

It has been made by her husband, Ian Wolter, and includes soil from Poland and the park in London where Polish special forces were trained. “She is literally cast in the soil of her native country and the country she adopted after war, countries she fought so hard and courageously for. I think it is beautiful,” Mulley said.

After the biography and the bust may come the film, with the book rights sold and talk of Angelina Jolie being interested in the story. “Fingers crossed … I want a worthy, brilliant film, I

Britain's first female second world war spy to get overdue recognition

 

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Poland pays tribute to resistance fighters killed by communists 72 years ago
28.08.2018 10:00
Tuesday marks 72 years since two members of Poland’s underground Home Army (AK), Danuta Siedzikówna and Feliks Selmanowicz, were executed by the communist regime after World War II.

Foto: pamiec.pl

Siedzikówna (also known as Inka, her nom de guerre) was a medical orderly and was executed when she was just 17 years old.

She was killed together with Selmanowicz (codename Zagończyk) in the northern city of Gdańsk on 28 August 1946, by the Soviet-backed communist regime that came to power in Poland after World War II.

Many who had served in the Home Army (AK), the underground force loyal to the Polish government-in-exile in the UK, were victims of a wave of terror after the war, were vilified as enemies of the state, killed and buried secretly in unnamed graves.

Inka’s and Zagończyk’s remains were found in late 2014 by a team from Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) led by Krzysztof Szwagrzyk.

Memorial ceremonies were on Tuesday scheduled to be held in Gdańsk, on Poland's Baltic coast, where a funeral with special honours for the two resistance fighters took place two years ago.

The 2016 funeral ceremonies, which marked the 70th anniversary of their execution, were attended by senior Polish officials, including President Andrzej Duda.

A decision to posthumously promote the two heroes was announced during a Mass before the funeral.

President Andrzej Duda said at the time: "A country needs heroes to be strong and to be able to bring up the next generations."

Poland pays tribute to resistance fighters killed by communists 72 years ago

 

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Polish traces in Cameroon
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4. Polish traces in Cameroon

The name of a Polish explorer who ventured to western Cameroon was to be erased from the map forever. Today he has his own commemorative plaque in the palace belonging to the king of the Mondoleh people.
“Many Europeans including Germans, French, and British, arrived at this coast inhabited by my countrymen. They all had but one goal – to conquer. They wanted to grab our lands. Unlike your compatriot who came here as a friend and was welcomed as such by my great-grandfather,” says Dr Ekoka A. Molindo, the king of the Mondoleh people. Dressed in festive attire, he presides over the ceremony unveiling a commemorative plaque dedicated to Stefan Szolc-Rogoziński, a Polish explorer of western Cameroon. The face of a young 19th century explorer explorer who made pioneer discoveries in this part of Africa, carved in white and red granite by Bogdan Wajberg, an artist from Lodz, stares at visitors from the wall of the royal palace. The ceremony was attended by Poland’s honorary consul Mirosława Etoga, director of the State Ethnographic Museum Adam Czyżewski, project organisers and members of the “'Vivat Polonia 2016” expedition: Maciej Klósak, Dariusz Skonieczko, Władysław Rybiński, and Mariusz Raniszewski. “This is a patch of Poland that will now remain here,” the king said in his concluding remarks as he invited everybody inside.

A twenty-year-old’s mad plan

The next day, we see King Molindo using a machete to clear a path through the thick equatorial forest growing on Mondoleh Island. “Don’t be afraid. There are no snakes on the island,” he smiles at us as we tread carefully. It was here that Szolc-Rogoziński and his companions: Klemens Tomczek, a geologist, and Leopold Janikowski, a meteorologist, set up a base camp which they called “Stefania” from which they would set off on their expeditions into the interior of Africa. After more than one hundred and twenty something years, not a trace of the base camp remains.

The island once inhabited by several dozen people is now deserted. The lack of fresh water drove out even the most tenacious residents. “I hope we will be able to re-develop it. My ancestor leased a portion of it to your countrymen. I'm prepared to give you a part of the land as a sign of friendship between our two peoples,” says the chief.

When Polish explorers arrived here, these lands belonged to the last unchartered territories on Earth. Szolc-Rogoziński knew this all too well. He came up with a mad plan that would sooner be conceived by a proponent of Romanticism than by a pragmatic positivist of the late 19th century.

He wanted a country without its own state to have a foothold in West Africa. No wonder then that Aleksander Świętochowski a supporter of positivism, was among his staunchest critics. Yet the explorer’s passion cast a spell on Poland’s contemporary elite. The famous writer Boleslaw Prus compared him to the globetrotter Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, and Henryk Sienkiewicz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, wrote about his plans comparing them to adventures straight out of a Jules Verne book. Szolc-Rogoziński was not the least discouraged by his own young age. He was twenty-one years old when he embarked on his expedition, which was financed by its two patrons Konstanty Count Branicki and Benedykt Jan Count Tyszkiewicz.

The adventurers set off from the French port of Le Havre on board the sail ship Lucie-Marguerite on 13 December 1882. Shortly after setting sail, they sung Dąbrowski's Mazurka, the Polish national anthem, and hoisted a flag featuring a mermaid. The coat of arms of Warsaw was intended as a symbol of Poland, in place of the red-and-white national flag, which was not listed in international maritime registers at the time. After a difficult voyage lasting several months, the travellers reached the shores of Cameroon. Where Limbe stands today, there was a settlement called Victoria, founded by the British missionary Alfred Saker in 1858. A tablet dedicated to the memory of the missionary is located on the town’s main promenade. Saker was not thrilled to see the newcomers who soon turned out, effectively, to be his rivals.

The Polish travellers climbed Mount Fako and named one of its peaks Mons Rogoziński after the expedition’s leader. Then they set off towards the interior. Their journey through the Kingdoms of Mungo, Balung and Bakundo lasted several months. Their biggest challenge proved to be not so much the difficult terrain, but the great number of villages ruled by independent tribal chiefs. The explorers had to negotiate passage separately with each tribal chief, offer gifts to the indigenous people and benefit from their hospitality, which occasionally turned into long days of feasts with lots of alcohol.

Towards the end of his last escapade Szolc-Rogoziński was nearly crushed by rampaging forest elephants and developed a severe leg injury, which forced him to interrupt his trek. The journey was continued alone by Klemens Tomczek who became the first European to see the huge Elephant Lake, surrounded by green hills. When the explorers returned to Mondoleh, Tomczek fell ill with malaria and died.

Still present

When Szolc-Rogoziński and his companions realized that the territory they were exploring had become an object of rivalry between Germany and Great Britain, they sided with the latter as the lesser evil both for the natives and the Poles. Szolc-Rogoziński went so far as to take over the administration of Victoria. Despite successes in signing territorial treaties with subsequent caciques, the entire effort of our compatriots eventually turned out to be in vain. Under the provisions of the Berlin Conference, which divided Africa among European empires, all of Cameroon became a German protectorate. The explorers closed the base on Mondoleh and returned home. After a series of failures, Szolc-Rogoziński suffered a mental breakdown and died in unclear circumstances in Paris, run over by a horse and carriage.

In Africa, there are no traces of Szolc-Rogoziński, Tomczek and Janikowski. On Bismarck’s explicit instructions, all Polish names were erased from maps and atlases and replaced with German equivalents. Our compatriots’ names were to be blotted out from the history of geographical discoveries.

From now on, their memory will be kept alive by the plaque in the king’s palace. And Poles are still present in Cameroon. They are mostly men and women missionaries who minister across the country, ranging from villages lost in the jungle to the country’s north,

Polish traces in Cameroon

 

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AUSTRALIA'S FIRST GOLD DIGGER WAS
A POLISH EXPLORER
(By "BARTLE FRERE")
The locality where Explorers,
Robert O'Hara Burke, and William
John Wills perished on their return
journey from the Gulf of Carpentaria
in 1862 is close to Innaminka. This
centre is near the junction of Cooper's
Creek, with Strzelecki Creek, on the
western side of the Queensland bor-
der in that territory.
Strzelecki Creek was named in
honour of Count Edmund Paul Strze-
lecki (K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S.),
Polish explorer, scientist and philan-
thropist, the first gold digger in Aus-
tralia and the discoverer of Mount
Kosciusko. As Strzelecki Creek is
known to North Queensland cattle
men droving stock to the Adelaide
market some details of this remark-
able explorer may be of interest to
them, as well as to the mining
community.
Sir Edmund Paul de Strzelecki was
born in Poland, became a British sub-
ject by naturalisation as well as a
Knight Commander of the Bath and
a Knight Commander of St. Michael
and St. George. He spent only five
years in Australia from 1839 to 1843,
but during that period he was success-
ful in discovering gold in the Bathurst
district (N.S.W.) and County of Wel-
lington (N.S.W.), as well as coal in
Tasmania, and in exploring and naming
our highest mountain (Kosciusko).
Strzelecki travelled on foot over 7000
miles of New South Wales, Victoria
and Tasmania and made the first ex-
tensive geological and mineralogical
survey of the regions he crossed.
Governor Gipps was in office in
New South Wales when Strzelecki
made the first discovery of gold and at
this Governor's personal request the
explorer withheld from the public the
news of his successful prospecting.
His Excellency the Governor expressed
the fear of what might happen if 45,000
convicts suddenly discovered there
was gold to be picked up in the
Bathurst district and other localities
lying on the western side of the Blue
Mountains. Thus Strzelecki forfeited
his claim to a fortune in order to
please Governor Gipps and the first
gold rush was postponed for a further
ten years. Recent geographical publi-
cations also disclose that this explorer
found genuine traces of gold near the
future townships of Hartley and Wel-
lington (N.S.W.), during his excur-
sions along the Great Dividing Range.
Edmund Paul de Strzelecki was
born in the year 1796 in the Polish
province of Poznan, which had been
seized by Prussia three years previously
when, in spite or the heroism of the
great Polish patriot, Kosciusko, Poland
fell under the blows of the German
and Russian armies.
The boy (who was destined to be one
of Australia's great explorers) grew
up surrounded with many patriotic
anecdotes. He was then imbued with
a vision of the past glory and liberty
of his native country and with the
name of Kosciusko in his heart. It
must also be mentioned that Strzelecki
was descended from a very old family
of Polish knights, who traced their
origin back to the 13th century.
Amongst this ancient family were for-
mer soldiers, diplomats, prelates, and
farmers. In the 14th century a Strze-
lecki's name appeared in Poland's
"Magna Carta," in the 15th century
there was an Archbishop Strzelecki of
Lwow, in 1730 Peter Strzelecki settled
in Great Poland near Poznan and
married a local Polish bride. Their
son married a sister of Archbishop
Raczinski (Primate of Poland) and
from this marriage was born Edmund
Paul de Strzelecki, who was knighted
by Her Majesty Queen Victoria with
the Order of St. Michael and St.
George for his Australian exploration
and discoveries. Despite their illus-
trious connections the family, at the
time of Edmund's birth, were not in
a very affluent position.
The youth soon became a traveller.
At the age of 14 years his father sent
him to school in Warsaw and lodged
him at the home of a friend. When
Edmund had attained the age of 16
years he returned home and in the
absence of his parents packed his bags
and then disappeared for five years.
He enlisted as a soldier and was on
active service in the Napoleonic wars
for this period of absence from the
parental home. In the year 1818 his
brother Peter located him in the city
of Cracow and persuaded the prodigal
son to return to his family.
Strzelecki, at this period, had grown
into a handsome young man of 21
years and in his home town he soon
became a social success. During this
period he fell in love with Adyna
Turno, a young lady who loved him
in return. She was some years
younger than Edmund, and her father
did not approve of the lovers arrang-
ing to meet each other. They accord-
ingly met in secret and planned an
elopement. It was arranged that
Adyna would slip out of the home
while her father slept before the fire
previous to his having supper. This
plot miscarried, however, as the in-
tended father-in-law discovered Ed-
mund's plans and the chase was on.
Adyna was caught and her lover
found himself in such a torrid atmos-
phere that he left his home in Poland
never to return. Adyna did not for-
get her gallant lover. She continued
his sweetheart and remained un-
married up to her death. During the
next 40 years they corresponded, al-
though separated by many thousands
of miles of partially explored territory.
Strzelecki first set out for Heidel-
berg, (Germany). He making use of
money which his brother and sisters
had given to him, he became a student
at the university, studying regularly
for the first time such subjects as bot-
any, zoology, mineralogy and geology.
In the year 1830 he arrived in Scotland
and explored the highlands north of
the Caledonian Canal. During this
period he made very careful observa-
tions of the methods of Scottish sheep
farmers and these observations he
passed on to Australian pastoralists,
when discussing such matters during
his later sojourn in our pastoral areas.
He was a very apt student of the Eng-
lish language and, by his charm of
manner, he made many friends in
Edinburgh and London. After spending
four happy years rambling through
the British Isles he decided to visit
the United States of America. It is
not recorded in history how Strzelecki
acquired the funds for these travels.
Perhaps in the period (112 years ago),
it was comparatively inexpensive to
hitch-hike one's way through the
European countries and across the
States of North and South America
provided that one possessed the charm
of manner, the aristocratic elegance and
the conversational brilliance with which
our young explorer was credited.
However, in the year 1834 he took
his passage by ship from Newcastle,
(England), to New York. (U.S.A.) He
explored the eastern states of America
and visited their capitals, Boston, New
York, and Charleston, as well as
Niagara and the Great Lakes. He
also visited Montreal and Quebec,
Canada. From that dominion he
travelled to the southern states of
America and to Mexico and California
and thence to South America—Chile,
Argentina and Peru. In the year 1837
he set out from Chile for the Pacific
Islands and arrived in Sydney,
(N.S.W.) two years later (1839.)
Strzelecki kept careful records of all
he saw and, wherever possible, gave
precision to his notes by borrowing
scientific instruments to assist him.
Before reaching Australia his chief
contribution to science was his care-
ful geological survey and his theory of
origin of the main volcano on the is-
land of Hawaii.
He also had other interests besides
physical science. While in the United
States he had at least one interview
with President Andrew Jackson, and
had much to say on such questions
as the South American slave traffic
and the treatment of the Indians by
the Spaniards. In the Argentine he
was the guest of the dictator, General
Rosas. During his stay in California
he went gold prospecting, and he
visited the silver mines of Sonora. It
can thus be safely asserted that a very
experienced traveller stepped ashore
at Sydney Cove on the 27th of April,
1839, in the person of Count Edmund
Paul de Strzelecki. At the time it
his arrival Sydney had a rather un-
savoury reputation for burglary and
lawlessness. In his diary he records
that he left his watch and purse on
board, and armed himself with a stout
stick. On his return to his ship he
added, with surprise, the following
diary entry: "I found, however, on
that night in the streets of Sydney a
decency and a quiet which I have
never witnessed in any other of the
ports of the United Kingdom, no
drunkenness, no appearance of prosti-
tution, no sailors' quarrels were to be
seen."
Strzelecki's visit to New South
Wales was principally concerned with
mineralogical investigations, but he
soon became more interested in the
geology of this territory. His field of
scientific research was situated about
150 miles inland from the coast of
New South Wales, and ran parallel
to the eastern coast of Australia from
Port Stephens (N.S.W.) through
Westernport (Victoria) and along this
line in a southerly direction through
Tasmania. The researches led him in
1839 to the first discovery of gold in
Australia as abovementioned. It was
not generally known that Strzelecki
was the first successful "digger" in
Australia until a Legislative Councillor
named MacArthur revealed the fact in
the Legislative Council of New South
Wales, in 1853—that was 14 years after
the event.
It may be mentioned that Strzelecki
always worked on foot—his party be-
ing made up of three men, with two
pack horses. It must be assumed
that when he discovered the gold he
must have been alone, as otherwise
his companions must certainly have
divulged the secret. In the year 1840
Strzelecki decided to climb the highest
peak in the Alps on the New South
Wales—Victorian border. He had
often viewed the Alps while working
further east. It was actually not the
summit of the range which Strze-
lecki scaled and measured, but a
neighbouring peak. On the top he
found a rocky mass which reminded
him in its shape of the tomb of his
hero, Kosciusko, in the Cathedral of
Cracow (Poland), so he called the
mountain Kosciusko. Strzelecki found
the altitude to be 6510 feet, but a
neighbouring peak was later found to
be 7323 feet, and Strzelecki's name of
Kosciusko was transferred to it.
On his return to Sydney, 106 years
ago, after ascending the Australian
Alps and naming its highest peak after
the Polish hero Kosciusko. Count
Strzelecki wrote to his sweetheart
Adyna Turno, enclosing a mountain
flower from the Australian Alps, and
included the following message: "Here
is a flower from Mount Kosciusko, the
highest peak in Australia, the first in
the new world bearing a Polish name.
I believe that you will be the first
Polish woman to have a flower from
that mountain. Let it remind you
ever of freedom, patriotism and love."
Shortly afterwards, and in the same
year (1840), Strzelecki entered Vic-
toria and named the region he passed
through Gippsland, in honour of his
friend Governor Gipps, of New
South Wales. He worked slowly
south, backwards and forwards across
his line in the region of the Snowy
River, and then made for the coast
at Westernport and thence to Mel-
bourne. After a few weeks' rest he
set out for Tasmania where Sir John
Franklin, the famous Arctic explorer,
was then the Governor holding office.
Franklin welcomed Strzelecki like a
brother, and placed every official as-
sistance at his disposal—ships, men,
instruments and equipment.
Strzelecki's observations were
adopted as the basis of Launceston's
water supply, and of the great irriga-
tion scheme now harnessing the
mighty waters of the island's lakes.
This explorer also discovered coal and
other minerals, as well as exploring
parts of the hitherto unknown east
and west coasts of Tasmania. In the
year 1842, still assisted by Franklin,
he explored the islands of Bass Strait,
Wilson's Promontory, Sealers' Cove
and Corner Inlet. In the following
year (1842) Strzelecki sailed for
England via Singapore, Japan, China,
Malaya and Egypt. Two years later
(1845) he published in London: "The
Physical Description of New South
Wales and Van Dieman's Land," a
500-page book, for a long time the
standard work on Australia. This work
had been dedicated to Sir John Frank-
lin, who at that time, having re-
linquished his post as Governor of
Tasmania, was about to embark on his
last fatal journey to the North Pole.
The splendid work of Strzelecki in
Australia consisted of a five years
tour on foot over 7000 miles of coun-
try, constantly recording his discov-
eries with paper and pencil. The
Royal Geographical Society honoured
this explorer with its gold medal, and
Strzelecki applied for and was granted
British naturalisation. At this time
(1847-8) the Irish people were suffer-
ing from famine, due to the failure of
the potato crop, and Strzelecki, always
a philantrophist, was active on the
Committee of Relief. He was the chief
administrator of the relief in Ireland.
For these important services, he was
made a Knight Companion of the
Order of the Bath.
In the year 1849 he returned to Lon-
don, and was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Geographical and Royal
Societies. Though London lionised
him, he found time to promote the
immigration to Australia of thou-
sands of Irish families. When the
Crimean War broke out he assisted in
providing comforts for the British and
Allied troops, and supported very ably
Florence Nightingale's appeals for
help in her hospital work, which were
published in the "Times" of London.
Strzelecki never married, but in the
year 1857, at the age of 60 years, he
travelled to Geneva, where, under ro-
mantic circumstances, he met again
(after a separation of 40 years) the
girl he had loved as a boy and to
whom he had sent an Australian wild
flower from Mount Kosciusko. After
a short summer together on Lake
Constance the lovers separated, the
old lady returning to her home it
Pozen (Poland), and the old gentle-
man to his home in Saville Row, Lon-
don. They never met again, but con-
tinued to write to each other till the
end.
With regard to the discovery of
gold in New South Wales by this ex-
plorer in 1839, it is recorded that
Strzelecki was satisfied to waive his
claim to the actual precious metal
which was his right, but history does
not narrate whether he was hand-
somely rewarded to do so. All we
know is that from being a man with
meagre assets he became wealthy
enough to run an expensive London
house for 30 odd years, and to accept
a knighthood from Her Majesty
Queen Victoria, and never to work
again for his living.
In the year 1860, when he had at-
tained the age of 64 years, he was
honoured with the degree, honorary
DCL of Oxford, and nine years later
the Order of St. Michael and St.
George was conferred on him for his
Australian discoveries. Strzelecki con-
tinued to live a full and active life till
well into his seventies—riding for
exercise, dining out, and busying him-
self with his philantrophic work. In
1873, at the age of 77, his health be
came weaker, and he was no longer
able to leave his home at Seville Row.
However, he continued to receive his
friends at home till a few weeks be-
fore his death, on October 6, 1873. He
was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery,
in a modest grave, which remained
unadorned till a marble plaque cover-
Fix this texting it was placed there in 1943

AUSTRALIA'S FIRST GOLD DIGGER WAS A POLISH EXPLORER - Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954) - 14 Jan 1947

 

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THE THEORY OF PROBABILITIES IN PHYSICS THE GREAT Polish theoretical physicist, Marian Smoluchowski was a contemporary of Einstein's, older by a few years. He died during the First World War in Cracow in September 1917. His work in the theory of fluctuations and kinetic theory of gases, especially in the theory of Brownian motions, is well known to physicists. It is interesting though, to survey these pioneering contributions from the perspective of many decades and observe how the ideas of the theory of probabilities influenced the development of the kinetic or "particle" point of view in theoretical physics. Smoluchowski, at the same time. as and independently of Einstein, elaborated and carried forward the ideas of Maxwell and Boltzmann. Some of his fundamental contributions concerned the role of statistical fluctuations in phenomena involving assemblies of particles, and confirmed their importance in explaining phenomena like the Brownian motion and opalescence. One might say that, before him, most studies were concerned with the thermodynamic variables representing the first means or expected values of the relevant random variables. Because it went further into an examination of the deviations and second moments, the work of Smoluchowski gave further confirmation to the reality of a kinetic picture of matter. It is instructive to consider the increasing role of the probabilistic approach during the years that followed his work. For 241 S. M. Ulam, Science, Computers, and People © Birkhäuser Boston 1986 Science, Computers, and People one thing, quantum theory generalized this approach, extended it, and made it even more basic. It is true that what was called an assembly of elementary particles now forms a more general, if less concrete, picture. Sometimes, in considering nuclear phenomena, one pictures a collection of a considerable number of "virtual" particles or events. The statistical approach like the one, for example, used by Fermi for collision processes in meson production is often very useful even when the number of particles involved is rather small! Here again, the study of fluctuations or deviations from first means is especially important, since the number of the particles is large, though not enormously so. Moreover, in the more classical fields of physics, for instance in hydrodynamics, the ideas which originate historically in thermodynamics (that is statistical treatment) find ever wider applications - to mention only the theory of turbulence in this connection. It is interesting, even today, to reread som

Marian Smoluchowski and the Theory of Probabilities in Physics

 

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IT GROUPED 400,000 COMBATANTS LOYAL TO THE POLISH GOVERNMENT IN EXILE
Armia Krajowa: 75 years ago was founded the largest resistance movement of the WW2
@ElentirENG Español2·14·2017 · 19:00 2
The French resistance of the Second World War is world famous. Nevertheless, it was not the most numerous, a position owned by the main organization of the Polish resistance.

They began the resistance before finishing the nazi occupation of Poland

Precisely today marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of that organization: the Armia Krajowa (AK, Home Army). Of course, the Poles were not idle until 1942. After all, and unlike other countries, Poland had not signed any surrender before the nazis and their soldiers continued to fight on almost all European fronts. The first organization of the Polish resistance was the Służba Zwycięstwu Polski (Service of the Victory of Poland), created 27 of September of 1939, that is to say, days before the completion of the German occupation of the part of Poland that Hitler had Awarded in his secret pact with Stalin in August of that year.

A democratic and strongly Catholic movement

This first organization was replaced on November 17, 1939 by the Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Union of Armed Struggle), which on February 14, 1942 -on today’s day- became the Armia Krajowa. The AK was characterized by being an organization loyal to the Polish Government in exile, which was based in London. It fought to return freedom and democracy to Poland, and it did it by bringing together people of different political and creed tendencies, although mainly the AK was made up of Catholics. In fact, its oath said:

“Before God Almighty and Mary the Blessed Virgin, Queen of the Polish Crown, I pledge allegiance to my Fatherland, the Republic of Poland. I pledge to steadfastly guard Her honour, and to fight for Her liberation with all my strength, even to the extent of sacrificing my own life.”

Sabotage and intelligence operations

The AK counted in its ranks with about 400,000 members (both men and women), and its actions against the nazis in Poland were counted by tens of thousands, with numerous attacks on military bases, infrastructure and personnel of the German forces. In addition, they played an important role as an intelligence service: 43% of all reports received by British intelligence from continental Europe during the war came from the Polish resistance. They not only provided reports on the situation in Poland, but also in Germany: for example, the AK provided the United Kingdom with valuable information about V-1 flying bombs and V-2 missiles used by the Germans to attack Great Britain. But no doubt one of his most audacious intelligence operations was made by the Polish officer Witold Pilecki, who let himself be captured on 19 September 1940 to be taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp, to obtain information on what the Germans were doing there. After spending 949 days in that hell, Pilecki managed to escape and wrote a detailed report that was sent to the Polish Government in exile, which communicated it to the British, with the request to carry out an aerial attack that allowed a massive jailbreak of prisoners from the camp. Nevertheless, the British considered “exaggerated” the report, discarding the operation.

The only movement of resistance that created a group of aid to Jews

The AK was the only organization of resistance of World War II that organized a service of aid to the Jews: the Żegota. This action posed a huge risk to those involved, since Poland was the only occupied country in which the nazis punished all aid to the Jews with the immediate execution of the person involved and of all the inhabitants of his house. Despite this, 450,000 Poles hid Jews and 1.2 million Poles took part in actions to hide or rescue Jews. Thanks to the Żegota, some 25,000 Polish Jews were saved from extermination. In addition, AK provided arms and support to Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto during its uprising in the spring of 1943. AK itself had Jews in his high command, such as Marceli Handelsman, Jerzy Makowiecki and Ludwik Widerszal.

Cichociemni: AK’s elite commands

Special mention also deserves the Cichociemni (a compound word that could be translated as “silent and dark”), an elite unit formed in the United Kingdom by more than three hundred Polish soldiers who had managed to reach Britain after the evacuation of Dunkirk. They were trained to do sabotage operations in Poland, where they were parachuted. Its first operation was executed on February 15, 1941, and remained active until the end of December 1944, when Poland was occupied by the Soviets. Of the 316 Cichociemni released in the country, 103 died during the war in combat, executed or in accidents, and 9 of them were executed after the war by the Communist government installed by Stalin in Poland.

The Warsaw Uprising and Stalin’s Revenge

Undoubtedly, the most important operation of the AK was the “Akcja Burza” (Operation Tempest). This organization undertook a series of armed uprisings in several Polish cities in the summer of 1944. The most important was the Warsaw Uprising, which began on August 1st and would last two months, waiting for the Soviets to cross the Vistula River. Nevertheless, Stalin decided to revenge of the Polish victory over Bolsheviks in 1920: the Soviet forces stopped their advance before the Polish capital during that time, allowing to the Germans to put down completely the rebellion, something that the nazis did with great brutality, leaving the Polish capital practically devastated.

The Soviet occupation and the betrayal of the communists to AK

The Armia Krajowa was very weak after the Warsaw Uprising. Its relations with the Soviets had not been good, especially after the discovery of the graves of the forest of Katyn, in which the NKVD buried to the thousands of Polish officers to whom Stalin ordered to assassinate after occupying Eastern Poland in 1939. Fate of the members of the AK after the Soviet occupation of Poland would be unfortunate. Already in July 1944, during Operation Ostra Brama -the liberation of the city of Vilnius, present capital of Lithuania-, the Soviets deported or executed the members of the AK that participated in the combat after to have defeated to the Germans. They would not be the last. Stalin considered that the AK was a threat to his desire to establish a communist puppet government in Poland. Some of the 60,000 AK members who had survived the war were detained by the Soviets. Many of them were tortured, and 50,000 were eventually sent to Gulags in Siberia. The Polish communist government offered an amnesty to the remaining ones, but it was a deception used to capture many of them, who ended up imprisoned or executed. Witold Pilecki, a war hero, was treated as a traitor and executed by the Communists after the war.

The WiN: resistance continued against communist occupation of Poland

The end of World War II meant, for the Poles, the change from one dictatorship (the nazi) to another (communist). Many former members of the AK were forced into exile or clandestinity, and a part of them participated in the Wolność i Niezawisłość (Freedom and Independence), which would maintain its struggle against the communist dictatorship until 1952 as guerrillas, wearing the same uniforms as the Poles had dressed when their country was invaded by the nazis in 1939. Treated as bandits and terrorists by the communist government, today in Poland they are known as the “cursed soldiers” and are considered heroes.

Armia Krajowa: 75 years ago was founded the largest resistance movement of the WW2

 

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Polish governor helped US buy Alaska 150 years ago today
23:58, 30.03.2017

inShare


150 years ago today USA paid Russia USD 7,2 mln for 1,5 sq. km of land, namely Alaska. A Russian historian Aleksandr Petrov talks Polish contribution to the history of Alaska and its after-sale fate.
Petrov said that the signing of the Alaska Sale Agreement to the US made the region a place of symbiosis of cultures. Petrov mentioned a number of Polish people who were part of the early history of American Alaska.

One of them was Gawriła Politkowski, from the Polish noble family, a member of Political Affairs Council at the board of the Russian-American Company, an institution which decided on the fate of Alaska.

Among other Polish names mentioned by the Russian historian in the Alaskan context were Pawel Buraczek, one of the vice admirals of the Pacific Fleet, Aleksandr Wiszniewski (Wisniewski) from Vilnius, and Feliks Pietraszkiewicz, a skipper on „Mikolaj I” ship.

In Petrov's opinion Polish researchers should address issue of the Polish input in Alaska's history.

A long time passed before the Americans began to exploit Alaska economically after they bought it from Russia. Instead the area quickly became a haven for all manner of criminals and smugglers from throughout the United States as well as Russia and Canada.

And this is where another Polish thread of American Alaska history begins. Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski, a Polish-born U.S. government official was sent there as a representative of the US adaministration to fight crime. Born in Poland’s Wielkopolska region, Krzyzanowski arrived in America at the age of 21, fleeing persecution after his conspiratorial activities during the Spring of Nations were uncovered. He owed his promotion to the rank of general in the United States to his role in America’s Civil War. He also took part in negotiations on the purchase of the Russian colony. Highly valued by the American elites, Krzyzanowski seemed to be the ideal man for the job.(PAP)
mr/

Polish governor helped US buy Alaska 150 years ago today | News | Polish Press Agency

 

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The Polish-Arabian Horse: A Very Brief History
Posted by Justine Jablonska on March 20, 2011 at 11:30 am

The history of the Polish-Arabian horse is complex and fascinating; others have covered it much more comprehensively. But here’s a very brief snapshot:

16th century: Writings in Poland mention pure-bred Arabians. Used by the Turkish army, they’re taken by Poles as spoils of war.

1699: Poland’s truce with Turkey, so – no more spoils of war. Poles travel to the desert to purchase Arabians from tribesmen and use the horses to upgrade their own, local stock. The offspring are used for cavalry, farm work and carriage pulling.

World War I: Polish Arabian studs nearly decimated. “Of the 500 Arabian broodmares in Poland in 1914, only 25 still lived in 1918” (“History’s Hooves,” March/April 1998 print edition, Saudi Aramco World).

1921: Poland has regained its independence following the war. A new Arabian breeding program is established at Janów Podlaski Stud.

1920s: The Arabian Horse Breeding Society is formed in Poland; its first Stud book is published.

1930s: A few Americans import Polish Arabians (notably, Henry B. Babson of Chicago and J.M. Dickinson of Tennessee).

World War II: Poland loses 89 percent of its broodmares (“History’s Hooves”). More than 80 percent of Janów Podlaski’s horses perish in the 1939 war campaign; the Stud is severely damaged. But some horses are saved by Polish horsemen determined to keep the Polish Arabian in Poland.

Post-World War II: Hungary sends Arabian mares to Poland to help rebuild Poland’s breeding program. The Polish Stud also uses Russian Arabians for that same purpose.

Late 1950s: British breeder Patricia Lindsay buys Polish Arabians for her own program and becomes a purchasing agent for Americans.

Today: Poland has three state Studs – Janów Podlaski, Michałów and Białka – as well as private Studs, and “proudly serves as the wellspring for the greatest Arabian horses in the world,” according to Horsefly Film’s trailer for their new documentary film, “Path to Glory: The Rise and Rise of the Polish Arabian horse.” Read Justine Jablonska’s interview with the filmmakers here.

The Polish-Arabian Horse: A Very Brief History

 

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Rapp-Kopańska. An unusual agent of the Home Army

POLAND
Katarzyna Kaczorowska
Zofia Rapp-Kopańska. An unusual agent of the Home Army
Zofia Rapp-Kochańska-Rylska née Konieczka. Thanks to her beauty, intelligence and excellent German knowledge she was one of the best Home Army Intelligence agents

My first impression when I met her at the contact point (...) was: how nice she is! She was twenty-two years old, her hair a grain of color, a charming, slightly melancholy smile. Mourning for her husband, a black dress, emphasized her beauty. "

Yes, Zofia Rapp described Stanisław Jankowski "Agaton" - head of the Legalization and Technology Department in the Division of the Second General Headquarters of the Home Army, cichociemny.

Various encyclopedias write about her in this way: an intelligence officer of the Home Army Main Command, Department II of Information and Intelligence to the Third Reich, a lecture of the West in the Intelligence Department of "Stall". She established the location of the "Tirpitz" battleship, won the plans for a battery factory for submarines in Hamburg, a participant in the Warsaw Uprising, a widow of the dark-weather luncheon Janie Kochański, pseud. Maciek, later wife of Zbigniew Ścibor-Rylski. So much the official biography behind which there is a woman of flesh and blood. Not only great beauty and elegance, but also intelligence.

She was born on August 25, 1918 in Berlin. Miss Konieczka, because that was her maiden name, she married a merchant from Poznań, Janusz Rapp. Graduate of the Municipal Co-education Junior High School in Poznań, ul. Podgórna - started its studies in 1938 - the wedding took place on April 22, 1940, when Wielkopolska was already the Land of Warta, and the power over the life and death of the Poles living there was held by Arthur Greiser, who immediately introduced terror, mass executions, deportations, arrests . That is why Zofia and Janusz fled to Warsaw, to the General Government.

Zofia, who was born in Berlin, but after 1918 lived with her parents in Poznań, she spoke German perfectly. It was one of the trumps that allowed her to travel with missions to the Third Reich, from where she brought the priceless information to the Allies.
Zofia, a happy married woman, was very short. Widowed on May 7, 1942. But not only because of her completely changed her life.Maybe it is through this Berlin, or maybe through Poznań, which until 1918 was after all a city located in the Prussian partition, or maybe just because of the care of parents for her education, she spoke German well.Without a foreign accent, like a native German. And it was language, contact skills and beauty that made Marie Springer on fake German papers travel between Warsaw, Berlin, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Hanover, Ludwigshafen and Saarbrücken, gaining irreplaceable information and materials that were not allowed to get into the wrong hands. And they got in her hands ...

Thanks to the Poles working as forced laborers in the Hannover - Stöcken factory producing submarine batteries, she gained information that would allow allies to carry out an air raid on the factory.

As a courier, she traveled with a special double-bottomed suitcase - she carried her intelligence reports and food cards falsified by the Department of Legalization and Home Army Intelligence Techniques.She exchanged these cards in the Reich - for two false from the black market trader she received one authentic one.

Her documents - volksdeutschki by the name of Marie Springer - were faked perfectly, but not only thanks to the skills of counterfeiters working for the Home Army, she once entered Berlin in a wagon full of officers returning from the Eastern Front. Zofia was unlucky enough to bomb the city, during which the authorities closed the capital to civilians from outside. She was smuggled with officers who could not resist the beauty and charm of an elegant blonde.

In Berlin, she not only exchanged fake food cards, but also visited her family. And during one of her visits, my aunt met a cousin of a servant on the "Tirpitz" battleship - the twin of the sunken "Bismarck". This is a true gift from the fate, because - firstly - the allies unsuccessfully tried to track the largest Kriegsmarine ship, threatening convoys flowing to Murmansk, and second - the German officer had a huge need to impress a beautiful cousin and, regardless of the requirements of war and the need for discretion, praised impossibly what he does and where.

In this way Zofia Rapp obtained unquestionable information - "the lone ruler of the North," as the ship was called - stationed in one of the Norwegian fjords.

It was Zofia Rapp who determined where Kriegsmarine "hid" the battleship Tirpitz, called the lone ruler of the North, the terror of the Allied convoys
In September 1943, "Tirpizt" was used in combat - as a support for the landing at Spitsbergen. Together with the battleship "Scharnhorst" and nine destroyers and units of the 349th Grenadier Regiment, the Germans occupied the island in a few days. After the operation "Tirpitz" was directed to the fiords, but the presence of this powerful ship, which could be used at any time for the next sea operation, literally paralyzed the British. It was known that "Tirpitz" must be disposed of. However, it was not known exactly where it was hidden.And it was the long language of Zofia's cousin and her skills that in September 1943, the operation "Source" was carried out - six X submarines attacked the German heavy surface ships gathered in the Altafiord fjord. Explosive charges placed under "Tirpitz" caused serious damage. The British lost six (all used in action) miniature submarines and nine killed and six captive members of their crews. The next and decisive blow was decided a year later - on November 12, 1944. The Allies used heavy Lancaster bombers armed with heavy Tallboy bombs, weighing 5.45 tons. After a direct hit with two bombs close to the ship's side, the ship quickly sank in Tromsø, taking a significant portion of the crew

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View attachment 213602

I don't think that's in Poland, but rather in Russia.

 

[Taz]

View attachment 213602

I don't think that's in Poland, but rather in Russia.

"don't think" The Polish motto.

 

[SobieskiSavedEurope]

View attachment 213602

I don't think that's in Poland, but rather in Russia.

"don't think" The Polish motto.

I think that's more along the lines of the Western European motto, why else would they go from colonial racial genocide, to multicultural racial suicide, so quickly?

 

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Pole named Europe's best firefighter
30.08.2018 09:40
Polish man Rafał Bereza has been named Europe’s toughest firefighter after winning a two-day competition in Hungary, according to reports.

Photo: Public Domain



Bereza, who serves at the fire department in Chełm, in Poland’s east, beat 170 other competitors to secure the title, onet.pl reported.

Five other Poles joined Bereza in the top ten on the leaderboard, according to onet.pl.

“Thanks to my preparation for the event I am a more agile firefighter and can bring help faster to people in need after an accident or in case of a fire,” Bereza said.

He compared the competition to fighting a fire on the third floor of a building.

“A firefighter is never alone, he has equipment, sometimes a hose with water or equipment to pry open a door. In the competition we carry 20 kilograms while wearing full respiratory protection mask, helmet, gloves ... and have to rescue an 80-kilogram person,” Bereza said.

With the victory under his belt, Bereza is now gearing up for world championships in the US in mid-October. (vb)

Pole named Europe's best firefighter

 

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Professor Andrzej Udalski awarded the Karl Schwarzschild Medal

PAP/Paweł Supernak; 19.08.2016
Professor Andrzej Udalski from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw is this year`s recipient of the most important award in the field of astronomy and astrophysics in Germany, the Karl Schwarzschild Medal awarded by the German Astronomische Gesellschaft.

Prof, Andrzej Udalski was honoured for his pioneering contribution to the development of a new field of astrophysical research: Time Domain Astronomy, which studies the variability of brightness and other parameters of the objects in the Universe at different time scales.

The society founded in 1863 is one of the oldest in the world, and the Karl Schwarzschild Medal has been awarded for 60 years. Information on the award was announced during the Members Assembly of the German Astronomical Society during the Congress of the International Astronomical Union in Vienna. The official presentation of the Medal combined with the laureate`s lecture will take place next year during the German astronomers congress in Stuttgart.

"Andrzej Udalski has significantly contributed to almost all areas of astronomy. For over 25 years he has been running the OGLE project, since its inception one of the largest surveys of sky variability and a laboratory of pioneering research in the field of +time domain astronomy+" - commented President of the German Astronomical Society, Prof. Joachim Wambsganss.

In his projects, Prof. Udalski studied extrasolar planets thanks to the effect of gravitational microlensing. He is also interested in methods of transits and studies of variable stars of various types. The scientist also obtained important new information on the structure of the Milky Way and galaxies from the Local Group and quasars.

Prof. Udalski`s and the OGLE team`s research significantly affects many areas of modern astrophysics. The laureate of the Karl Schwarzschild Medal not only supervised the observations and data analysis and interpretation, but also designed the OGLE project observation system and built wide-angle cameras for its individual phases.

Currently, the OGLE project uses a CCD mosaic camera composed of 32 detectors. It is one of the largest scientific instruments of this type in the world. Professor Udalski`s work also includes real-time data analysis in combination with an early-warning system, which enables other observers around the world to quickly react to unexpected astronomical events.

Professor Andrzej Udalski is a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a member of the Polish Academy of Learning and since 2012 also a foreign member of the American National Academy of Sciences. He received many prestigious scientific awards during his academic work, recently the Tycho Brahe 2018 prize awarded by the European Astronomical Society (EAS) and the Dan David Prize 2017 awarded by the Dan David Foundation and the University of Tel Aviv. In 2002, he received the Foundation for Polish Science Prize, and in 2009 the prestigious European Research Council grant ERC-IDEAS for experienced researchers.

The list of previous recipients of the Karl Schwarzschild Medal includes the names of the world`s greatest astronomers. In 1981, the medal was awarded to one of the greatest astronomers of the twentieth century, the late Professor Bohdan Paczyński.

Professor Andrzej Udalski awarded the Karl Schwarzschild Medal

 

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Field hockey: Poland rout Lithuania 11-0 in Olympic qualifier
30.08.2018 13:30
Poland have thrashed Lithuania 11-0 in another convincing field hockey win as part of a campaign to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

Poland's Bartosz Żywiczka (centre) in action against Lithuania. Photo: PAP/Jakub Kaczmarczyk

The victory on Wednesday saw the Polish national men's field hockey team clearing another hurdle on the road to qualifying for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Dominik Kotulski scored four goals for the Polish team in the match, which was played in Gniezno, central-western Poland, as part of the first round of the Hockey Series Open tournament.

The Poles, coached by Karol Śnieżek, were on Thursday set to take on the Czech Republic in their next match at the tournament.

Poland on Tuesday routed Cyprus 17-0 in their first Olympic qualifier.

The two best teams of the Hockey Series Open tournament will advance to the next round of Olympic qualifiers.

Field hockey: Poland rout Lithuania 11-0 in Olympic qualifier