Poles are divided into hostile tribes. Radicalization is on the rise, and institutions do little to support those trying to tame it.
Tag: poland
The right-wing leader is struggling to appease his coalition partners, raising the possibility of a realignment among the country’s various political factions.
Proposals to ban smoking on private balconies are led by activists trying to modify citizen’s lifestyles and fight ‘ideologically different phenomena,’ even when the real harm of these divergent behaviors is negligible.
The presence of the faithful at Mass, regardless of the threat to their health and lives, is essential for the Church to physically survive. And the state is an accomplice.
The 2012 death of Savita Halappanavar, who was unable to get an abortion in Ireland, set off nationwide opposition to a ban on the procedure. What happens when a similar case arises in Poland?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/K44uVqqyfiE expand=1] Poland is a nation divided. On October, its constitutional tribunal ruled that terminating pregnancy due to fetal defects was unconstitutional, making abortion almost completely illegal in a country with strong influence of the Catholic Church and among Europe’s most restrictive laws on this and other social issues. The abortion ruling sparked massive […]
Compared to other EU member states, Poland was barely affected by the international financial crisis or the refugee crisis of 2015. Now, the country could emerge from the coronavirus pandemic in a stronger position than before.
Ephroim “Johnny” Jablon’s entire family was gassed to death. At 94, he can’t forget the smells and so many other details of the camps. Such memories are dying away.
It was 3 p.m. on January 27, 1945, when the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Soviet Army. The full scope of the Nazi barbarities, which included the extermination of six million Jews, was about to be exposed to the world. That January afternoon 75 years ago also marks the beginning of the documenting process, the painful but necessary gathering of evidence, accounts, photographs and film that would later be used in the Nuremberg war crimes trials, and stand as the historical record of the Holocaust. About 1.3 million people (mostly Jews) had been deported to the Polish camp […]
WARSAW — Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) won last weekend’s parliamentary elections. So why was longtime party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski so obviously glum during his victory speech? The first answer is in the performance of other Polish political parties: combined, the three main blocks of the democratic opposition received more votes in total […]
The expected reelection of the conservative ‘Law and Justice’ (PiS) party could usher in new restrictions against the rights of people to live as they choose.
The accusation is serious: North Korea is sending forced laborers to Poland to be able to send money back to the regime. No one wants to take responsibility.
Campers don’t visit Mrzeżyno, on the Baltic Sea, to sing ‘Kumbaya’ and eat s’mores. They go to shoot guns and fire grenade launchers.
A dozen dead and mutilated seals, together with a few porpoises, have recently been found on Polish beaches in the Baltic Sea. How did it get to this?
Looking at the fading colors of this Wroclaw memory, you couldn’t really tell that at that time, Poland was in the early stages of one of the country’s worst economic and political crises. A year later, it would culminate in students uprising and ensuing repressing, around the same time as the Prague Spring in neighboring […]
The Catholic Church may have only itself to blame for failing to attract young people.
-OpEd- WARSAW — The Narewkowska trail runs through the middle of one of Europe’s last remaining protected nature reserves, Poland“s Białowieża Forest. But now, the trail is slated to be paved over to become an automobile roadway. If plans ultimately move forward to pave the 24-mile trail, the entire forest would become vulnerable to industrial […]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dj8myWqT_nU expand=1] OneShot — Jewish boy surrenders, 1943 (Anonymous Nazi photographer) The Warsaw Ghetto uprising against Nazi occupation started in April 1943. Jürgen Stroop was sent by Himmler to pacify it. He documented the liquidation of the ghetto in a report that would later be used against him and other SS officers during Dachau and Nuremberg’s trials. This picture was one of the photos found in the report, and went on to symbolize the evil of Hitler’s Final Solution. OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video. Follow […]
-OpEd- PARIS — A people brings glory upon itself up when it is able to confront the complexity of its history. On the contrary, it dishonors itself when it takes on a defensive posture with its past. In Poland, both houses of the legislature have now voted in favor of a law criminalizing any reference […]
POZNAN — We’re in an old bar mleczny, a so-called “milk bar,” a gastronomic remnant from Soviet times where workers could get fed for very little. The lunch at this dining spot, situated in the central city of Poznan, will capture the essence of what would be a two-week trip around Poland. Mind you, this […]
Much has and hasn’t changed in Poland since the fall of Communism. But while the country’s economy is rolling, sharp differences in ideology bring real risks for the future.
-Analysis- WARSAW — For the Polish government, coal is nothing to worry about. Sixteen Polish cities exceeded the annual limit of days with smog in the first two months of this year alone. And still, the government hasn’t taken any steps to restrict poisonous coal dust or remove the fossil fuel from the market. Coal […]
The arrival of Russia-friendly Donald Trump in the White House has heightened concerns that Moscow is ready for its next move after Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
WARSAW — Jakub Kwiecins and Dawid had been together for nearly seven years, living rather anonymous lives as a couple in Warsaw until their 15 minutes of Internet fame arrived last July after posting their own version of Roxette’s hit “”Some Other Summer“”. And while the exuberant clip prompted articles in the international LGBTQ media, […]
-Analysis- WARSAW — In Poland, hatred is clearly fueling violence. But after six racist attacks were registered in a four-day period, this was the reaction from the country’s Interior Minister: “”There is no racism in Poland.”” The victims of these attacks are foreigners from the Polish cities of Wrocław, Legnica. Lublin and Ozorków. Four kebab […]
BIALYSTOK — There are plenty of cities in Poland that have something to hide. Bialystok is one of them. That’s where 80,000 Jews disappeared. Twice. The first time was during World War II; the second time, right after the War, when residents desecrated the Jewish cemetery and used it in the winter for riding their […]
WARSAW — More than 60 Ukrainians of Polish descent in the breakaway region of Donbass have asked Poland if they could be evacuated there, a request Warsaw has refused. Instead, it offered a modest aid package. “Many of us are elderly people. There are single mothers too. It’s not possible to live here any more. […]
WARSAW — Schools in Poland celebrated “Rainbow Friday” for the first time so that students, regardless of their sexual orientation, feel accepted and respected. But in the conservative Catholic country, leaders of the governing Law and Justice party are protesting against the celebration, and are urging parents to sign declarations against it. Campaign Against Homophobia, […]
Only when an abortion is legal, can we begin to speak of moral decisions and love. But men, we are told, are scared and frustrated by these protests. One Polish woman’s frank words for men.
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On This Day – October 19
The massive march in Warsaw and other protests against Poland’s proposed strict new anti-abortion law is a revolutionary moment in what it means to be a Polish woman.
New signs from Poland that racism and xenophobia are on the rise. A Polish lecturer at the University of Warsaw, Jerzy Kochanowski, was beat up on a tram in Warsaw for speaking German to a professor from another university, Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reports. An inebriated man near Kochanowski reportedly told him not to speak […]
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On This Day – September 17
WARSAW — Even as change spreads from such historically Catholic countries as Ireland and Mexico, same-sex marriage rights still look to be years away in Poland, home to a diehard traditional Catholicism that some say was even too pious for Pope Francis. The 2015 Eurobarometer survery found that just 28% of Poles favored same-sex marriage, […]
The recent visit by Pope Francis highlighted how little Polish leaders care about the emergency of Europe’s refugee crisis.
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Pope Francis In Poland For World Youth Day
Dziennik Polski, July 27th Wednesday’s edition of Polish daily Dziennik Polski features extensive coverage on the World Youth Day celebrations in Kraków. Pope Francis arrives Wednesday, slated to lead an estimated two million Catholics in prayer during his five-day trip to Poland. It is Francis’ first visit to the homeland of his late predecessor Pope […]
A decade ago, the “Polish plumber” became the symbol of British fears of immigrants coming in poorer Europe Union countries. After the UK’s referendum to pull out of the EU, uncertainty reigns for all.
Since the conflict in Ukraine, Western military leaders are operating under the assumption that an armed conflict with Vladimir Putin’s Russia will eventually happen. Signs of tension are everywhere.