Poland

Hitler hated the Polish because they were a very strong resistance to him and his Master Plan. The Polish are known for their courage and strong patriotism, something that Hitler viewed as a big obstacle to his plan of creating a Germanized world (and thus erasing Polish culture and tradition). Even before invading Poland, Hitler knew this, and had a special plan made to "deal" with the "Polish problem"- this included killing as many resistance members as possible, especially Polish intellectuals, as they were the first people most likely to form a resistance.

Himmler and Hitler didnt kill all Poles immediately: they would be categorized into several groups: the first were the Polish Jews and Poles with Jewish blood, which were immediately exterminated. Next were the intellectuals, dangerous because of their leadership characteristics, also to be exterminated immediately. The rest of the population were divided into Nordic-looking people and non-Nordic looking people. The latter was sent to forced labor and concentration camps. The Nordic looking Polish people were further divided into categories: those who resisted the Germanization (these were exterminated), and those that wanted to be a part of it. However, most Polish adults (over age of 18) were strongly against Hitler, and this is why Hitler exterminated them, despite their Aryan genetic values. Had the Poles allowed it, Himmler would have set up "Lebensborn" (meaning "Fountain of Life") centers in and around Poland, to serve as mating factories for Aryans. Such Lebensborn centers existed in Norway, as the Norwegians were less resistent to Hitler than the Poles. With the Polish resistance, however, the creation of such centers was not possible. The only solution to get the most out of this "valuable genetic blood" was to steal Aryan looking Polish babies, and to germanize them. Hitler believed that in taking these infants from their mothers, he was fulfilling the Aryan duty to "recuperate our own blood strewn across eastern europe and bring it back to the homeland - if they will not give it to us, we will steal it". Special Nazi units were trained to recognize Aryan Polish children (blond hair, light eyes, etc) and snatch them during the night or whenever. Some babies were even snatched from their mother's arms. As one Nazi officer put it: "When we see a Polish girl with blond hair and blue eyes, we cannot believe she is not speaking German. If she lived in Germany, she would be a beautiful German girl." It is reported that over 200,000 Polish children live in Germany today but are actually kidnapped children from Poland as babies during the war, and they don't even know it!

So Hitler hated Poles for their resistance, their Jewish population, their culture, and mostly because the Polish Aryans refused to become German.

The Borders of Poland are 3582 km long.The neighboring countries are Germany to the west (467 km) the Chech Republic (790 km) and Slovakia (539 km) to the south, Ukraine (529 km) and Belarus (416 km) to the east,and Lithuania (103 km)and the Russia province of Kalingrad Oblast(210 km)to the northeast.To the north,Poland is bordered by the Baltic Sea(528 km) with nice and clean beaches.WELCOME ! BIENVENUE ! WILLKOMM ! BIENVENIDA ! ACCOGLIENZA! ONTVANGST !
The Czech Republic, Belarus, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia and the Ukraine. Starting in the north and going clockwise, Germany's neighbours are:- Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark

Poland did not attack first. The Nazis attacked a radio station on the German side of the border to make it appear that Poland had attacked them. The ruse was complete with dead Polish soldiers which were actually concentration camp victims dressed in Polish Army uniforms, and code named, "canned goods."

In larger cities, such as Praha, Brno, Pilzn, and Ceski Budejovice, it is possible to use euros in tourist oreinted places. However, outside of the tourist center, it is usually impossible to use them. It is best to convert foreign currencies to Czech koruny, which is the accepted currency of the country.

Parliament (Parlament) is divided into two houses. The lower house is called Sejm, the upper house is called Senat.

The major industries in Poland are coal mining, iron and steel production and machine building. Poland has textile/glass production and food processing industries also.

Blue Star Service Banners sometimes called Blue Star Flags have long been a part of our wartime history. They have been hung in the family's windows of service men and women since World War One. These banners first became a way for households to indicate they have family members in the service in 1917. At that time World War I Army Capt. Robert L. Queissner designed this symbol in honor of his two sons who were serving on the front line. It quickly became traditional for a gold star to represent a soldier who had died serving his country. Theodore Roosevelt's family had a banner with a gold star in honor of their son who was shot down over France in 1918.

Picture courtesy of The Quilter's Cache

This tradition was most common during WWI and WWII though it has been carried out by some in more recent wars. The stars are placed on a white background with a red border. If a family has more than one person in the armed service the stars are put one below the next on the banner. When a soldier dies in action the blue star is replaced with a gold star. Another method is to put a smaller gold star on top of the blue star so the blue still surrounds the gold.

Militarily, Hitler succeded very quickly in invading and subduing half of Poland. The other half was occupied by the Soviet Union (Russia) as agreed by treaty with Hitler.

Analog TV is 625 line PAL, like in most of western Europe. Prior to 1995 polish analogue tv was broadcasted in SECAM D/K.

Digital TV varies around DVB. For satellite platforms: Canal Plus owned Cyfra+, and Polsat owned Polsat Cyfrowy it's MPEG2 DVB, for TVN owned 'n' it's MPEG4/AVC DVB. For cable it's DVB-C. There's no conversion to terrestrial digital TV, and it has not as for this moment been decided if it's going to be MPEG2 or MPEG4/AVC, but it is most likely to be the latter one.

There's no Closed Captioning. Some digital channels broadcast optionally original sound along with DVB softcoded subtitles. For analogue TV voiceover is used instead of full dubbing [with movies for children being an exception]. Sound varies for analogue broadcast from mono, thru NICAM and Zweiton [A2] up to Dobly Digital. Digital broadcasts usually transmit in stereo or AC3

No it isn't.

According to the World bank in 2008 Poland was ranked the 18th largest economy in the world based on GDP. Whilst the economy slowed down recently, it still managed 1.7% growth over the last year. It didn't suffer a recession as did all other countries in Europe.

== == The great majority of them (about 90%) were murdered by German soldiers. Initially, many of them were forced to live in appalling conditions in ghettos established by the Nazis. Warsaw, Krakow and Lodz (Litzmannstadt) are among the best known. Late in 1941, Chelmno extermination camp was established for the sole purpose of gassing Jews. Other extermination camps followed: Belzec, the Birkenau section of Auschwitz, Sobibor, Treblinka II and a key section of Majdanek. Just before the start of World War 2, over one-third of all Jews in Europe lived in Poland - about 3.3 million out of about 9.5 million. By the end of the war, 3 million Polish Jews had been killed by the Nazis. (This is based on pre-war frontiers for both figures). Many Jews were saved by Poles who risked their lives doing so. However, after the war, there were pogroms in Poland and a further 600 Jews were killed . The best known of these pogroms took place in Kielce in July 1946. Many Jews fled to the United States, or Israel, when it was established in 1948.

See related link.

Most famoes river: Wisla

Most famoes mountain: Giewont

The Invasion of Poland began on September 1, 1939 when Hitler invaded the country and lasted until October 6, 1939. The final death toll reached over 900,000, with approximately 200,000 Polish casualties.

They type of cars that are driven in Poland are left-hand drive vehicles. In May 2014, an obligatory was imposed by Poland to reposition the steering wheel of right-hand drive passenger vehicles to the left-hand side.

Germany invaded Poland first on Sept. 1 1939 from the West and within a few weeks, the Soviet Union invaded from the East. This was agreed upon by Germany and the Soviet Union, in a secret contract, which was made to split Poland between them and create a non-aggression pact.

HMRC States

You don't pay duty or tax on goods you bring in from the European Union (EU) as long as you:

transport them yourself

will use them yourself or give them away as a gift

have paid duty and tax in the country where you bought them

Cigarettes 800

Cigars 200

Cigarillos 400

Tobacco 1kg

Anything above these amounts will lead to Customs asking questions

Name Poland is most likely derrived from 'Polans' [Polanes/Polanians - Polanie in Polish]. Polans were west slavic tribe, dated back to 8th century [that is shortly prior to establishment of Kingdom of Poland]. Name Polanie itself comes from 'pole' - 'crop fields'.

Krakow is located in Poland. Specifically Krakow is in Southern Poland. It is a town that is a four hour train ride from Warsaw. It has a very large steel mill in its town.

The people of Poland are called the Polish.

Most Poles adhere to the Christian Faith, with about 88% belonging to the Roman Catholic Church!

A lot...... probably easiest if I answer this as a timeline. Hope this helps!

1939

Sept 1 - Germany invades Poland.

Sept 3 - England and Allies (at this stage - France, Australia and New Zealand) declare war on Germany.

Sept 6 - South Africa declares war on Germany

Sept 17 - the Soviet Union invades Poland.

Nov 30 - Soviet Union invades Finland.

1940

April 9 - Germany invades Norway and Denmark. Denmark surrenders on day of invasion, Norway holds out until June.

May 10 - Winston Churchill appointed British Prime Minister. Germany invades Wester Europe - Luxembourg, Holland and Belgium. Luxembourg surrenders.

May 12 - Germany invades France.

May 14 - Holland surrenders. Home Guard created in Britain.

May 27 - Dunkirk - 340,000 British and French troops are evacuated from French soil, many by volunteers in dinghys and fishing boats from England.

May 28 - Belgium surrenders

June 4 - last of the forces evacuated from Dunkirk.

June 9 - Norway surrenders.

June 10 - Italy enters the war on the side of the Germans and declares war on England and France.

June 14 - Germany takes Paris

June 30 - Germany takes the Channel Isles - the only British soil to be occupied by Germany.

June 21 - Italy invades southern France

June 22 - France surrenders

July 9 - Britain starts night bombing raids on Germany

July 10 - Battle of Britain begins

Sept 7 - the Blitz begins on London.

Sept 13 - Italy invades British-held Egypt

Sept 20 - Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact. Japan enters the war on the side of Germany.

Oct - Italy invades Greece.

Nov - Slovakia, Hungary and Romania join the war on the side of the Germans.

1941

March - Bulgaria joins the Axis (German allies)

April 6 - Germany invades Greece and Yugoslavia.

May 10 - House of Commons in London damaged by air raid

June 22 - Germany invades Russia

Dec 7 - Pearl Harbour in USA attacked by Japan, USA enters the war the following day.

Dec 25 - Hong Kong surrenders to Japan

1942

Japan catches up for lost time....

Jan 2 - Japan takes Manila in the Phillipines

Feb 15 - Japan takes Singapore

May 5 - Battle of the Coal sea between US and Japan navies

May 30 - Americans start bombing Germany from Britain

Nov 8 - British and US troops win back North Africa.

Dec 11-13 - Germany and its allies declare war on US.

1943

19 April - May - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Poland - the largest single revolt by Jews against the Nazis during the war.

May 16 - the Dam Buster raid.

Sept 18 - Italy surrenders.

Oct 10 - Italy turns turncoat and declares war on Germany.

1944

June 4 - Rome freed by the Allies

June 6 - D Day landings

June 12 - First doodlebug lands in Britain

Aug 15 - Allied forces land in southern France

Aug 20 - Allied forces liberate Paris

Aug/Sept - Warsaw uprising - the largest ever civilian revolt in history

Sept 11 - US troops enter Germany

Oct 20 - US troops land in the Philippines

Dec 16 - Battle of the Bulge

1945

Jan 12 - Soviets liberate Warsaw and Krakow in Poland

Feb 13 - Soviets capture Budapest, capital of Hungary

April 16 - Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin.

April 30 - Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide

May 7 - Germany surrenders

May 8 - Winston Churchill announces VE Day. WWII ends in Europe.

A former worker at a Polish shipyard, he played an important role in bringing an end to Communist rule in Poland. He was consistently involved in activities toward the establishment of free--therefore illegal under Communist regime--trade unions in Poland. He played a key role in creating the first free Trade Union "Solidarity" in 1980, which in turn led the anti-Communist movement of Poland in the 1980s. After the fall of communism, he was elected the first President of Poland, While he did not get reelected ever again, he was much more successful in being recognized internationally, including the winning of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983.

No, the currency of Poland is the Polish złoty (PLN), but like most other EU member states, Poland is obliged to adopt the euro once the Polish economy meets certain criteria. However, the predicted date of this adoption is gradually put back by the ruling politicians and Poles are increasingly sceptical about the common EU currency.