More features:
-
Wolf's Lair
To the English it’s Wolf’s Lair, to the Poles Wilczy Szaniec. Adolf Hitler, however, would have used the term Wolfschannze....
-
National Football
‘Abroad, football has moved on. Here it has stood still’. Those were the words of Leo Beenhakker when he took over the Poland job two years back, and they’re as relevant now as they were then....
-
Smoking
After holding out to be one of the few remaining EU countries with no prohibitions on smoking, a new law put into effect on November 15th, 2010 finally limited smoking in public places....
-
Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Born in Kuryłówka in 1860 the man many credit for sparking the Uprising is rightfully regarded as a national icon....
-
The Drowning of Marzanna
Despite the strong Catholic character of modern Poland, some pagan traditions have endured. One of the most blithely bizarre and eyebrow-raising is the spring equinox celebration known as the Drowning of Marzanna (Topienie Marzanny)....
-
Błędowska Desert
Here’s sand in your eye: smack between Kraków and Katowice (in fact 40km from each city), lies Pustynia Błędowska - a bonafide, genuine, centuries-old desert....
-
Jan Karski
‘Every government and church says, “We tried to help the Jews,” because they are ashamed, they want to keep their reputations....
-
Zbigniew Cybulski
Referred too as the Polish James Dean Zbigniew ‘Zbyszek’ Cybulski personified the confusion and longings of Poland’s post-war youth....
-
Tadeusz Kościuszko
History produces few men like Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746-1817, commonly anglicised as Thaddeus Kosciusko)....
-
Staypoland Hotel Reservation
In Your Pocket have teamed up with local specialists Staypoland.com to allow you to book hotel rooms online....
-
Creepy Poland
You have not come to Poland to visit a pyramid, but that’s exactly what you can do if your journey takes you up north....
-
Irena Sendler
Known as the female Schindler, Irena Sendler - who died in May 2008 at the age of 98 - is credited with having saved the lives of some 2,500 Jewish children in the Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War....
-
General Wojciech Jaruzelski
Born to landed Polish gentry in 1923 and sent to a forced labour camp in Kazakhstan by invading Soviet forces in 1940, Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski is perhaps one of life’s most unlikely committed communists....
-
Leon Schiller
Born in Kraków in 1887 he graduated from the cities Jagiellonian Univeristy with degrees in philosophy and Polish Literature under his belt, before pursuing further academic titles at the Sorbonne in Paris....
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