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Pope Francis thanks Poland for its hospitality
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Holy Father Francis concluded his first five-day pilgrimage to Poland on Sunday, July 31, 2016. The Pope’s visit to Poland was in large part connected to the World Youth Day event held in the country, however the Holy Father also held numerous other meetings with high-ranking state officials in addition to visiting Jasna Gora and the former German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Read more
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Armed Forces Day Celebrated
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During official celebrations marking Poland’s Armed Forces Day, President Andrzej Duda thanked soldiers for their service during the NATO Summit and World Youth Day. The official event in Warsaw was concluded with a traditional military parade – both on the ground and in the air.
In his speech, Andrzej Duda reminded that 96 years ago, during the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, people went to battle together who in normal circumstances did not always see eye to eye. “Back then they were all united: peasants, workers, intellectuals, students, scouts. Everyone – one million soldiers. Only recently re-born, worn down by over 100 years of partitions, Poland defended what was then its brittle statehood. It defended its poor, developing state,” the president said.
A parade started after the president’s speech was concluded. It consisted of almost 1,500 soldiers, over 150 military vehicles and over 50 airplanes and helicopters.
Read more
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Krakow in the
Capital
World Youth Day comes to DC
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On Saturday, July 30, 2016 on the campus of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC over 1,200 young Americans joined in celebrating Krakow’s World Youth Day.
The all-day event was filled with numerous Polish accents: white and red flags and Krakow city flags flew across campus, pilgrims enjoyed a delicious dinner which featured Polish pierogi and kiełbasa, and Polish folk songs and dance were performed by the Ojczyzna Dance Group from Baltimore.
Watch our video from the event
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Two Polish Films were awarded at the prestigious Rhode Island International Film Festival.
Hycel / The Dogcatcher
directed by Daria Woszek won Best Short Narrative Film and also recieved the RIIFF Official Academy Nomination. This means it will be on the so called Oscar long list.
Dwa Światy
/ Two Worlds
directed by Maciej Adamek won Best Feature Documentary. As you may recall
Two Worlds
was screened in Washington, DC this summer as part of AFI Docs. Congratulations to the Polish teams behind these films.
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Klara Kochanska, a student at the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School, was awarded at the 43rd Student Academy Awards competition. Kochanska's work
Tenants
was selected out of more than 1,700 submissions overall. Bravo!
The Student Academy Awards were established in 1972 to provide a platform for emerging global talent by creating opportunities within the industry to showcase their work. More
here
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Review of Kieślowski's Dekalog
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The Wall Street Journal has published a review of Krzysztof Kieślowski's epic masterwork
Dekalog. Considered one of the twentieth century’s greatest achievements in visual storytelling, a digitally restored version of Dekalog will be screened in New York and Chicago in September. Read the full review.
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Congratulations to Team Poland!
At the Rio Games Polish Olympians set one new World Record and won two gold, three silver and six bronze medals.
Poland's combined Olympic medal count from all summer and winter games surpassed 300 during the Rio Olympiad and currently stands at 302.
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Anita Włodarczyk
smashed the world record in
Women's Hammer Throw
with a distance of 82.29 meters! This result won her
Olympic Gold
and set a
New World Record
! The Polish
Queen of the Hamme
r,
as Włodarczyk is called, is now Olympic Champion, two time World Champion, and three time European Champion. We salute you Anita!
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Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozłowska
and
Natalia Madaj
(center) rowed to
Gold
in
Women's Double Sculls
, earning Poland's first ever Olympic gold medal in women's rowing. Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozłowska won a bronze medal in this competition four years ago in London with then partner Julia Michalska. Congratulations to our Golden rowers!
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Piotr Małachowski
, European and World Champion, won
Silver
in
Men's Discus Throw
at the Rio Olympics! Upon returning to Poland Małachowski auctioned off his Olympic medal to raise funds for three year old Olek Szymanski who has retinoblastoma, an eye cancer affecting young children. The successful auction helped raise the necessary funds to cover costs associated with
Olek's treatment in New York.
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Marta Walczykiewicz
clinched the
Silver
medal in Canoe Sprint
Women's K-1 200 Meters
! A 5th place finisher in London during the 2012 Olympics, this is Marta's first Olympic medal and Poland's first-ever medal in this event.
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Maja Włoszczowska
won Silver in
Women's Cross Country Cycling and was the last Olympian to medal for Poland at the Rio Games. Maja previously won a Silver Medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
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Did you know: for the first time in Olympics history, the women's result (82.29m) was better than the men's result (78.68m) in hammer throw. Bravo once again to Anita Włodarczyk for her World Record!
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Rafał Majka
won Poland's first medal of the Rio Olympics, earning the
Bronze
in
Men's Road Race
. Rafał's incredible performance gave Poland it's first Olympics cycling medal since the 1988 games.
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Monika Ciaciuch, Agnieszka Kobus, Maria Springwald
and
Joanna Leszczyńska
earned a
Bronze
medal in
Women's Quadruple Sculls
, becoming the first ever Polish team to medal in this event. Way to go!
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The
Bronze
Medal was won by
Karolina Naja
and
Beata Mikołajczyk
in Canoe Sprint
Women's
K-2 500
Meters. The duo previously won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Before that Beata Mikołajczyk won Silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a different partner (Aneta Konieczna) also in K-2 500m.
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Poland's
Monika Michalik
won Bronze in
Women's Freestyle Wrestling 63kg
after defeating Inna Trazhukova of Russia. Having reached the quater finals in the previous two Olympics, we are thrilled that Monika won her first Olympic medal!
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Wojciech Nowicki finished third in Men's Hammer Throw, winning his first ever Olympic medal with a result of 77.73 meters.
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Oktawia Nowacka
won the Bronze medal in
Women's Modern Pentathlon
. Nowacka is Poland's first ever Olympic medalist in women's modern pentathlon, which is comprised of pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding and running.
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5 Empowering Life Lessons from
Maria Skłodowska-Curie
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Maria Skłodowska-Curie ‒ she used both names ‒ was a trailblazer in more than just science. More than ever, her strong principles and ground-breaking ideas are worth discovering, particularly for what she can teach us today.
Maria Skłodowska-Curie’s indomitable spirit, her courage and her vital contribution to the development of science and struggle for gender equality in every sphere of life can never be overstated. Let her inspire us!
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The Auschwitz Volunteer one of five best books on wartime secret missions
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The Wall Street Journal has named Witold Pilecki's
The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery
one of the five best books on wartime secret missions.
Pilecki, a member of the Polish Underground, volunteered for a daring mission: to get himself arrested and sent to Auschwitz as a prisoner, where his mission was to smuggle out intelligence and build a resistance network among the prisoners. His clandestine intelligence reports from the camp, received by the Allies as early as 1941, were among the first eyewitness evidence of what was going on at Auschwitz.
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During the Rio Olympics, Team USA won the bronze medal in women's fencing team saber. Did you know that two of the four fencers are Polish-American?
Monica Aksamit (far left) was born in New York and spent the summers of her youth visiting her grandparents in Poland. Dagmara Wozniak (second from left) was born in Wrocław, Poland and moved to the United States with her family when she was one. Both Olympians got their start in fencing at the Polish-American Fencing Club in Linden, New Jersey led by Coach Janusz Młynek. We congratulate them on their great accomplishment and wish them all the best. Gratulacje!
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August 18: The Associated Press published a story entitled, "National Gallery returns drawing to heir of Holocaust victim" in which vague language is used to describe World War II era German Nazi Camps in occupied Poland. Following our Embassy's prompt reaction, the AP issued a clarificaition:
In a story Aug. 18, The Associated Press reported that the National Gallery of Art was returning a drawing to the heirs of a woman forced to sell it before she was deported to a concentration camp in Poland. The story should have made clear that the concentration camp was run by Nazi Germany, which had occupied Poland at the time.
Link
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August 20: In an otherwise exquisite article about the daring mission carried out by Jan Karski,
The Daily Beast
editors included a defective code of memory by writing "Polish ghettos" in the articles title. Once informed of this mistake, the title was modified to "Warsaw ghetto."
Link
August 23: In a book review published by the
Associated Press
entitled, "Review: ‘The One Man’ is heartfelt and compelling" the author included a defective code of memory. Our Embassy sent the Associated Press a letter which resulted in the AP editing the phrase from "Polish ghetto" to "Jewish ghetto in occupied Poland."
Link
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September 1 marked the solemn anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II. On this occasion we are giving away one copy of
The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt: War Through a Woman's Eyes 1939-1940.
Question:
Which future President of the United States spent four weeks traveling accross Poland in the summer of 1939?
To enter for a chance to win please email your name, mailing address and the correct response to the question above to
[email protected]
. Out of the correct responses recieved, one winner will be randomly selected.
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The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt is a rare eyewitness account of the early, chaotic days of World War II - the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the Siege of Warsaw and the first few months of the Nazi occupation - written by a young working mother.
Rulka Langer - Warsaw career woman, wife and mother of two small children, Polish born and bred, and a graduate of presigious Vassar College in the United States, was like a milion other Varsovians caught amidst the turmoil of Hitler's "Total War."
With a brilliant eye for detail and her fresh and lively storytelling, Rulka Langer vividly brings to life, from her unique vantage point, the opening chapter of the titanic struggle between good and evil that ultimately engulfed the entire globe.
Originally published in 1942, this new edition includes over 100 photos, maps, illustrations and other supplamental material.
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Embassy of the Republic of Poland
2640 16th St NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 499 1724
Washington.mfa.gov.pl
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