More features:
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Krzysztof Kieślowski
The late Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski (1941- 1996) is known and respected the world over as a maker of great feature films....
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Solidarity
Although Solidarity was officially christened in 1980, its roots can be traced some ten years earlier....
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Stanisław Poniatowski
The wonderfully named Stanisław II August Poniatowski (born Count Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski) was the last King and Grand Duke of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764-95)....
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Recommended reading
Orange AlternativeRevolution of Dwarves,Major Waldemar Fydrych & Bronisław Misztal, 2007A cracking addition to any coffee table this hefty manuscript comes stuffed with all the trivia you ever needed to know about the Orange Alternative....
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Roman Polański
Born in Paris, 1933, to Polish parents, Roman Polanski and his family returned to Kraków, Poland two years before the outbreak of war....
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Witkacy
Eccentric, flamboyant and tragic, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz - remembered as ‘Witkacy’ (1885-1939) – was one of Poland’s premier avant-garde icons....
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Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Born in Kuryłówka in 1860 the man many credit for sparking the Uprising is rightfully regarded as a national icon....
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Midsummer's Night
A devotedly Catholic country, Poland still shares some traditions with its Slavic and Scandinavian brothers which seem to have some roots in old pagan traditions....
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No Thank You
Polish tipping etiquette can be confusing for foreigners. While in other civilized countries it’s ...
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The Pianist
Based on the biographical novel by Wladsylaw Szpilman, the Oscar-winning film charts Szpilman’s battle for survival in the Warsaw ghetto....
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The Polish Dwarf
Born near the Polish city town of Halicz in 1739, Józef Boruwlaski rates as one of Poland’s most curious natives....
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Christmas in Poland
Holiday season in Poland of ficially kicks off on December 6th, which is known as Dzień Świętego Mikołaja to some and the feast day of St Nicholas to the rest....
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Eugeniusz Bodo
One chap you’re unlikely to have heard of is Eugeniusz Bodo, the veteran of thirty films, and director of two....
Marek Kamiński

Born in Gdańsk on March 24, 1964, Marek Kamiński ranks as Poland’s greatest living explorer, and in 1995 became the first person in the world to reach both Poles unaided in the same year. It was a childhood accident that originally inspired him to travel the world; having nearly lost his arm the blank days spent recuperating in hospital saw him make a personal pledge to live a life of adventure. And so he did. His expeditions have seen him become the first Pole to make the 600km trek through Greenland, circle the Baltic (approximately 2,000km) in a rubber dinghy in a time of five days and scale Mount Vinson – the highest peak in Antarctica. His most high profile moment, however, came in 2004 when he set off to conquer both Poles once more, this time with 15 year old Jaś Mela from Malbork. Mela managed the feat in spite of losing an arm and a leg after being electrocuted a couple of years before. Battling temperatures of –30 degrees Celsius, and winds of 200km per hour, the pair just managed to hit their target, arriving at the South Pole on December 31. In the process Mela became the youngest and first disabled person to conquer both Poles in one year, and the expedition raised funds to provide artificial limbs for around 65 Polish children and adults. Awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta for his travels, Kamiński is also the co-author of three books and the founder of the Marek Kamiński Foundation (www.kaminski.pl) - an organization set up to promote exploring the Poles and planet in general, as well as increasing environmental awareness in young people. The foundation also runs an educational project (www.nabiegun.pl) aimed at helping those less fortunate.
fot. Peplowski111