- Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II born (May 18, 1920, Wadowice, Poland – April 2, 2005, Vatican City) reigned as the 264th Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City from October 16, 1978, until his death more than 26 years later, making his the second-longest pontificate in modern times after Pius IX's 31-year reign. He is the only Polish pope, and was the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Adrian VI in the 1520s. - Bruno Schulz
Bruno Schulz (July 12, 1892 - November 19, 1942) was a Polish novelist and painter, widely considered to be one of the greatest Polish prose stylists of the 20th century. Schulz was born in Drohobycz, at the time when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the province of Galicia (now Drohobych is in Ukraine) to assimiliated Jewish parents. - Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski (born March 28, 1928, Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish-American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. Known for his hawkish foreign policy at a time when the Democratic Party was increasingly dovish, he is a foreign policy realist and considered by some to be the Democrats' response to Republican realist Henry Kissinger. - Irena Sendler
Irena Sendler (also called "Irena Sendlerowa" in Polish language) (born 15 February 1910 in Warsaw). Polish social worker. During World War II she was an activist of Polish Underground and Polish anti-Holocaust resistance in Warsaw, where she helped to save about 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto by providing them false documents and hiding places in individual and group children houses out of the Ghetto. - Jan Brzechwa
Jan Brzechwa, real name Jan Wiktor Lesman (August 15, 1898 - July 2, 1966) was a Polish poet and author, mostly known for his contribution to children's literature. He was also a famous translator of Russian literature, translating mostly works by Aleksandr Pushkin, Sergey Yesienin and Vladimir Mayakovskiy. He was married twice and had a daughter, Krystyna, from his first marriage. "Brzechwa" is the writer's pseudonym; it is a name for the flight, … - Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin (Polish: Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, sometimes "Szopen"; French: Frédéric François Chopin; English surname pronunciation: or ; March 1, 1810, Żelazowa Wola - October 17, 1849, Paris) was a Polish piano composer of the Romantic period. He is widely regarded as one of the most famous, influential, and prolific composers for piano of all time. Chopin was born in the village of Żelazowa Wola, … - Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński - Polish poet and Home Army soldier. Baczyński was born in Warsaw in the family of renowned literary critic Stanisław Baczyński and school teacher Stefania Zieleńczyk. His mother was a Catholic. His uncle, Adam Zieleńczyk, escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto. During the German occupation of Poland he began to cooperate with the left-wing underground press, most notably with the "Płomienie" ("Flames") and "Droga" ("Way") magazines. - Vytautas The Great
Vytautas the Great (Lithuanian: '; ; Ruthenian: "Vitovt"; Latin: "Alexander Vitoldus"; ca. 1350 - October 27 1430), also known in English by the traditional Polish and German name Witold"', was one of the most famous rulers of medieval Lithuania. With the title "Didysis Kunigaikštis", the equivalent of king, he was the supreme ruler of his dominions. The later translation is Grand Duke (for its etymology, see Grand Prince). - L. L. Zamenhof
Ludvic Lazarus (Ludwik Lejzer, Ludwik Łazarz) Zamenhof was an eye doctor, philologist, and the initiator of Esperanto, the most widely spoken and successful constructed language in the world. According to biographers A. Zakrzewski and E. Wiesenfeld, his native languages were Polish, from the neighborhood where he was raised, and his parents' languages Russian and Yiddish, but his father was a German teacher, … - Jan Miodek
Jan Miodek, Professor of Wroclaw University, is a linguist in the normative tradition. With numerous television appearances ("Ojczyzna polszczyzna") and newspaper articles, he is a popular media figure. Many laypeople consider him to be "the authority on the Polish language". His many columns, essentially dealing with minor problems, were published and republished in many books. He is one of the members of the Polish Language Council. - Aleksander Brückner
Aleksander Brückner was a Polish scholar of Slavic languages and literatures (Slavistics), philologist, lexicographer and historian of literature. He is among the most notable Polish scholars of the late 19th century and early 20th century, as well as the first to prepare complete monographs on the history of the Polish language and culture. He published more than 1,500 titles. - Roman Ingarden
Roman Witold Ingarden, a Polish philosopher, working in the fields of phenomenology, ontology, and aesthetics. Before the second World War, Ingarden published his works mainly in German, and during WWII he switched to Polish, therefore his major works on ontology went largely unnoticed by the wider philosophical community. - Gallus Anonymus
Gallus Anonymus (Polish: "Gall Anonim"; 11th-12th centuries) is considered to be the first author of Polish history by creating the work "Cronicae et gesta ducum sive principum Polonorum" (Chronicles and Deeds of the Dukes or Princes of the Poles, ca. 1115). Gallus greatly influenced the subsequent course of Polish history, as his version of Poland's early history emphasized that the ruler's authority was inferior to that of God, … - Julian Stryjkowski
Julian Stryjkowski was a Polish journalist and writer, notable for his social prose of leftists character. He was born April 27, 1905 in Stryj (modern Ukraine), to a family of Hasidic Jews. He graduated from the Faculty of Polish language and literature of the Lwów University and in 1932 started working as a teacher of Polish language in a gymnasium in Płock. Initially a Sionist, in 1934 he joined the Communist Party of Western Ukraine, … - Józef MacKiewicz
Józef Mackiewicz was a prominent Polish language writer and publicist. He was an enthusiastic anti-Communist, but during his life Mackiewicz was attacked by the right as well as by the left. The Polish nationalists hated him for desecrating Polish national values. In fact, Mackiewicz was an enemy of narrow ethnic nationalism : he regarded himself as a citizen of the multinational Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Jozef Mackiewicz was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. - Maurycy Gottlieb
Maurycy Gottlieb was a Jewish painter, of Polish speaking Galician Jews from western area of Ukraine. He was born in Drohobych (at that time Austria-Hungary), Galicia, modern Lviv region, western Ukraine. At fifteen, he was enrolled at the Vienna Fine Arts Academy. Later, he would study under Jan Matejko in Kraków. However, he experienced anti-semitism from his fellow students, and left Matejko's studio after less than a year, … - Biernat Of Lublin
Biernat of Lublin (Polish: "Biernat z Lublina", 1465? - after 1529) was a Polish poet, fabulist and physician. He was one of the first Polish-language writers known by name, and the most interesting of the earliest ones. He expressed plebeian, Renaissance and religiously liberal opinions. Biernat wrote the first book printed in Polish, a prayer-book, "Raj duszny" (Soul's Paradise, 1513). - Czesław Niemen
Czesław Niemen (real name Czesław Juliusz Wydrzycki was one of the most important and original Polish singer-songwriters and rock balladeers of the last quarter-century, singing mainly in the Polish language. Niemen was born in Wasiliszki in Grodno county. He made his debut in the early 1960s, singing Polish rock and soul music. He possessed an unusually wide voice range and equally rich intonation. He was also an ardent composer and a keyboard player. - Jędrzej Śniadecki
Jędrzej Śniadecki was a Polish writer, physician, chemist and biologist. His achievements include the creation of modern Polish terminology in the field of chemistry. - Alexander Jagiellon
Alexander Jagiellon (Polish: "Aleksander Jagiellończyk"; Lithuanian: "Aleksandras"; 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, was the fourth son of Kazimierz IV Jagiellon. He was elected Grand Duke of Lithuania on the death of his father (1492), and King of Poland on the death of his brother Jan I Olbracht (1501). - Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz
Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz was a Polish journalist and author of over a dozen popular novels. The best known, which in Poland became a byword for fortuitous careerism, was "The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma" (Polish: "Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy", 1932). The book seems to have subsequently inspired the 1971 novel "Being There" by Jerzy Kosiński. - Ignacy Hryniewiecki
Ignacy Hryniewiecki (Polish name; ; ; pseudonym "Kotik", Russian for "Kitten"; August 1855 or autumn 1856 – 1881) was a Polish revolutionary and the assassin of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. - Stanisław Przybyszewski
Stanisław Przybyszewski was a Polish novelist, dramatist, and poet of the decadent naturalistic school. He wrote both in German and in Polish. - Wanda Landowska
Wanda Landowska (July 5, 1879 - August 16, 1959), was a Polish (later a naturalized French citizen) harpsichordist whose performances, teaching, recordings and writings played a large role in reviving the popularity of that instrument in the early 20th century. She was the first person to record Bach's Goldberg Variations on the harpsichord (1931). Landowska is easily recognized for her beautiful profile, with aquiline nose, as she was often photographed while playing. - Henry Ii The Pious
Henry II the Pious (Polish: "Henryk II Pobożny"; German "Heinrich II der Fromme"; 1196/1207 - April 9, 1241) of Silesia was the third son of Henryk I the Bearded and of Hedwig of Andechs (pol. Jadwiga Śląska). Henry the Pious succeeded his father in 1238 and became the most powerful of all the Polish dukes. He united the majority of Polish territories (Silesia, Greater Poland and Little Poland). - Mikalojus Daukša
Mikalojus Daukša. He has translated the preface from Polish translation of the original text by Spanish Jesuit theologist Jacob Ledesma. Later he did prepare Lithuanian translation of postilla. He is supposed to have introduced a number of neologisms into the Lithuanian language: "mokytojas" "a teacher", "valia" "will", "įkvėpimas" "inspiration", "išmintis" "wisdom", etc - Christopher Kasparek
Christopher Kasparek (born 1945) is a physician, a writer, and a translator from Polish into English. - Henry I The Bearded
Henry I the Bearded (1163 - 19 March 1238), of the Silesian line of the Piast dynasty, was Duke of Lower Silesia from 1201. He was later also Duke of Lesser Poland and thus senior prince of all Poland from 1232 until his death. - Dubrawka
Dubrawka of Bohemia (Czech, "Doubravka"; Polish, "Dobrawa" or "Dąbrówka"; died 977) was the daughter of Duke Boleslav I of Bohemia and of Biagota. Dubrawka married Mieszko I in 965. FATHER: Boleslaus I the Cruel SIBLINGS: Boleslaus II the Pious, Mlada (Maria) and Strakhkvas (Christian). HUSBAND: Mieszko I CHILDREN: Boleslaus I of Poland and Świętosława. - Vaslav Nijinsky
Vaslav Fomich Nijinsky (Вацлав Фомич Нижинский; transliterated: Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky; Polish: Wacław Niżyński) (March 12, 1890 - April 8, 1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish origin. Nijinsky was one of the most gifted male dancers in history, and he became celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations. - Konstanty Kalinowski
Kastuś Kalinoŭski and two other Polish language clandestine newspapers. In his literary work, Kalinoŭski underlined the need to liberate all peoples of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Russia's occupation and to conserve and promote the Greek-Catholic faith and Belarusian language. He also promoted the idea of activisation of peasants for the cause of national liberation, the idea that was until then dominated by the gentry. - Andrzej Krzycki
Andrzej Krzycki herbu Kotwicz (1482-1537) was a Renaissance Polish writer and archbishop. He earned an education at the University of Bologna studying under prominent humanists. He started a career in church hierarchy in 1501 and become in 1512 secretary of Zygmunt I's wife. Krzycki wrote in Latin prose, but wrote poetry in Polish. He is often considered one of Poland's greatest humanist writers. - Konstantinas Sirvydas
Konstantinas Sirvydas died 1631) was Lithuanian from Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth religious preacher, lexicographer and one of the pioneers of Lithuanian literature. He was a Jesuit priest and a professor at the Academia Vilnensis and he authored, among other works, the first grammar of the Lithuanian language and the first tri-lingual dictionary in Lithuanian, Latin and Polish (1619). He was born in Lithuania some time between 1578 and 1581, … - Salomon Morel
Salomon (also Solomon or Shlomo) Morel was a Polish Jew, who, between February and November 1945, was a member of Communist State Security, known in Polish as Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, and the commandant of the Stalinist-era concentration camp "Zgoda" in Świętochłowice, Poland. Officially people held in the camp were political prisoners and German nationals, … - Rafał A. Ziemkiewicz
Rafał Aleksander Ziemkiewicz is a Polish political fiction and science fiction author and journalist. During his studies at the University of Warsaw (Polish language and literature) in 1984 he joined SFAN science fiction fan association and started writing short stories. His first short story ("Z palcem na spuście") was published in 1982. His book debut was "Władca szczurów" (Warsaw), (1987). - Karol Irzykowski
Karol Irzykowski was a Polish writer, literary critic, film theoretician, and chess player. Irzykowski came of an aristocratic land-owning family that had fallen on hard times. In the years 1889 to 1893 he studied Germanistics in Lemberg. In the years 1894-1895 he worked occasionally as a teacher, but his outspokenness prevented him from having further work in that line. From 1895 he lived in Lemberg and worked as a parliamentary and court stenographer. - Gregor von Rezzori
Gregor von Rezzori (born Gregor Arnulph Hilarius d'Arezzo; May 13 1914 - April 23 1998) was an Austrian-born German-language novelist, memoirist, screenwriter and author of radio plays, as well as an actor, journalist, visual artist, art critic and art collector. He was fluent in German, Romanian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Yiddish, French, and English; during his life, von Rezzori was successively a citizen of Austria-Hungary, Romania, and the Soviet Union, … - Gavin Hood
Gavin Hood (b. May 12 1963 in Johannesburg) - South African actor, writer, producer and director, best known for winning the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards for the 2005 film "Tsotsi". Hood was born in Johannesburg and educated at St Stithians College and the University of the Witwatersrand, where he studied law, and at the film school of the University of California, Los Angeles. - Michael Kandel
Michael Kandel is an American translator and author of science fiction. He received a doctorate in Slavistics from Indiana University, and is an editor at the Modern Language Association. Kandel is perhaps best known for his translations of the works of Stanisław Lem from Polish to English. Recently he has also been translating works of other Polish science fiction authors, like Jacek Dukaj, Marek Huberath and Andrzej Sapkowski. - Walery Jaworski
Walery Jaworski, was one of the pioneers of gastroenterology in Poland. In 1899 he described bacteria living in the human stomach that he named "Vibrio rugula". He speculated that they were responsible for stomach ulcers, gastric cancer and achylia. It was one of the first observations of Helicobacter pylori.
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