The National Library in Warsaw is located on Niepodległości street as well as in the Krasiński Palace. The baroque palace was built in the 17th century and renovated between 2014-2016.
The most popular Polish book abroad
It was burned, rewritten, banned, accepted, and finally: available and recommended. And, oh, how we craved for it.
“Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” writes St. Paul in Romans 5:20 and it does not take a lot of imagination to see the first part of that sentence realised horribly in the 20th Century. But if one believes that Paul’s words came from the Holy Spirit, the remaining part of the verse must also hold true. The horrors of WW2 cannot be erased or dealt with, but God has ensured that His children are not left in total despair without a way out. And, as usually, He did that through the hands of a single humble person. Sister Maria Faustyna Kowalska was up for the task.
St. Faustina, as she is known today, was supposed to bring the message about God’s mercy to the whole world. It was not meant to change or add to the way we understand God or anything about the Revelation, but to give new power to one of His attributes that might have been put in question by the upcoming events. Faustina wrote, and later rewrite, her diary inspired by her spiritual directors and remained faithful to the precept in spite of numerous doubts. She started in 1934 and finished in 1938, three months before her death, a year before WW2 broke out.
Apart from documenting daily events from conventual life, with common struggles of relations with other nuns, battling weaknesses and deficiencies of human nature, the Diary contains a detailed record of Faustina’s spiritual life, her mystical communion with God, and most of all, the words of Jesus directed to her and the whole world. It is the antecedant of the image of Merciful Jesus, better known as “Jesus, I trust in you”, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Novena, and other ways of devotion to Divine Mercy.
The goal has been achieved: the message spread to even the most remote ends of the Catholic Church. It fueled the faith of today’s Catholics with new hope and love, and let the Church prevail. With that, “Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul” became the most popular and widely translated book by a Polish author with some claiming that it is the second most important book in the world.
Polish Art And Culture During World War II
The Second World War was a particularly difficult time for Polish art and culture, as the country was completely overrun, pillaged, purged and ruled by the Nazi German Third Reich for most of the six years of the war, and later also by the Soviet Red Army as it advanced westward towards Germany. Polish society quickly became subordinated to the rule and order of the invaders, and over time was completely fragmented and ultimately destroyed. As a result, Polish art and culture was not only endangered, but became increasingly difficult to create and partake in.
Both during and after the war, the Catholic Church – together with some affluent and resourceful Polish citizens, and with the cooperation of the Polish Underground State in London – was active in saving national treasures in the form of artwork, as well as living artists themselves from the pillaging and murdering campaigns of the invaders. About 25 major museums were destroyed during World War II in Poland, while libraries, theatres and universities were either closed or designated for use only by the Germans following the outbreak of the war. The invaders looted public and private buildings, and took countless pieces of artwork and treasures to Germany.
Under the circumstances, the challenge of saving significant artwork and other assets of national culture was a formidable task, let alone create new works of art. Yet despite the tremendous challenges to artistic expression and censorship in almost every aspect of their lives, Poles did not give up for one moment.
Secretly, a rudimentary education system was maintained, and even the theater was active in some places. At the same time that people were sentenced to death for owning radios and listening to Polish-language broadcasts, there were over 1,000 underground newspapers in print during the war, and clandestine theatres remained. Music also went underground. Amongst the most famous musicians of the time were: Eugenia Umińska, Kazimierz Wiłkomirski or Witold Lutosławski. Other underground artists included Stanisław Ostoja-Chrostowski, Eryk Lipiński and Konstanty Maria Sopoćko.
It is also worth mentioning that many artists did not survive the war, but nevertheless contributed to the Polish art scene of the period. Examples of such artists include Bruno Schulz, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer or Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński.
JACK BUCKBY REPORT – It’s Time for Israel and Poland to Make Up
In February a row broke out between Poland and Israel. A planned summit of Visegrad leaders on February 18th in Israel was cancelled, following comments by the Israeli Prime Minister. Benjamin Netanyahu had been quoted as saying that the Polish had collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War – and it rightly angered Polish leaders and, indeed, the Polish people
What Is It Like To Live In Poland?
Americans tell us their story about life in Poland. Watch Poland Daily Culture!
Drown that witch already!
If it is 21st of March and you see packs of kids parading with an effigy of a woman, and then burning and drowning it afterwards, please hold your horses of outrage. They are not some radical activists of the mythical patriarchy, but rather children celebrating an ancient Slavic tradition.
The ‘drowning of Marzanna’ has been known and practiced in these lands for centuries. This pagan ritual consisted of preparing a straw figure of Marzanna, a goddess of winter and death, wrapped in white cloth, dressing it up in beads and ribbons, and flaunting it around the village. At dusk, it would be taken outside that village, set ablaze, and cast into a river in order to drown it.
The meaning of the ritual itself, one of death and rebirth, has been lost in time, but the tradition remained, even though the Catholich Church tried to eradicate it at one point in history. In the past, the drowning of Marzanna was performed on the fourth Sunday of Lent, but last century it was fixed on 21st day of March – the beginning of Spring. On that day, you can still spot elementary school pupils, apart from playing truant, drowning the poor wretch with the intention of making Winter finally go away and make room for Spring in all its glory.
The Phenomenon of Polish Pottery from Bolesławiec
Ceramics were one of the earliest forms of art in Central Europe, and – to a considerable extent – it started in the region of Lower Silesia, in Poland. The city where it began is called Bolesławiec, which to this day is known as the capital of Polish pottery (also called as the city of pottery). The first pottery makers were noted there in the 14th century.
On your next trip to Poland, Bolesławiec is a MUST visit, and you should at least try to discover some of its biggest treasures. The selection of hand-made products on display is enormous, and every local store has a generous supply of products to be bought. It is recommended to plan at least a few hours’ trip to discover the pottery, as only looking at it is addictive and it takes time to take it all in!
One of the greatest contemporary Poles – Pope John Paul II – was fond of the little ceramic pieces from Bolesławiec. It is therefore no wonder that our president, Andrzej Duda, together with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda decided to gift a beautiful set of the Bolesławiec pottery to Prince William and Princess Kate when they visited Poland a few years ago.
All authentic pottery products from Bolesławiec are embossed on the bottom with the “Hand made in Poland” designation, which underlines their originality and is a guarantee of superior craftsmanship.
Today, most pieces from Bolesławiec are presented in the region’s trademark cream color, with colorful motifs or flowers in all different shapes. The most popular designs though are blue dots, abstract flowers, spots, or “windmills”. What makes the stoneware pieces even more special is the fact that many individual artists do their own work on the pottery pieces to make them unique and sought after.
A Ceramics Museum was established in the city of Bolesławiec some time ago, and city’s largest annual festival – the Bolesławiec Pottery Festival – which takes place on the third weekend of August, is always associated with this theme as well. It gathers tourists from all around the world.
Poland’s largest container port sold to Singapore-led consortium
A consortium comprising Singapore’s PSA International, the Polish Development Fund (PFR) and the IFM Global Infrastructure Fund (GIF) managed by IFM Investors, has signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of Gdańsk Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT Gdańsk), Poland’s largest container terminal.
The Gdańsk terminal is the fastest growing container port in Europe and is ranked amongst the 15 largest container ports by volume on the continent. The terminal was built in 2005 and, following a significant capital expenditure programme, its capacity doubled in 2016 with the completion of a second quay. Container volumes have grown steadily to reach 1.9 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in 2018. The port is also the only terminal in the Baltic Sea that can serve Ultra Large Container Vessels, the world’s largest container ships with a capacity of up to 23,000 TEUs.
“DCT Gdańsk is PSA’s first investment in Eastern Europe, and we look forward to working closely with our partners PFR and IFM to further develop its facilities and to strengthen its position as the preferred port of call for Poland and the Baltic Sea. Through leveraging our global network and our expertise in creating value for the port and shipping communities, PSA will partner with shipping lines, logistics operators and cargo owners to deliver more efficient, flexible and robust supply chain solutions for the region,” said Tan Chong Meng, CEO of PSA International.
“We are pleased that we managed to successfully complete the acquisition of a special asset – the only deep-water container terminal in Poland and the entire Baltic Sea basin. I believe that the unique combination of local and international content, as well as PSA’s operational know-how will reinforce DCT Gdańsk for further growth. The new owners support DCT’s ambitious expansion plans, including construction of a new terminal in the coming years to utilise and leverage economic growth of Poland and the CEE,” added Paweł Borys, CEO of PFR.
“We are delighted to further consolidate our existing partnership with global leader in port operations, PSA, and join leading Polish fund PFR, whose insight into the Polish market has been invaluable to the consortium,” IFM Investors global head of infrastructure Kyle Mangini said. “The transaction also marks another investment for IFM in a core infrastructure asset in Poland, expanding upon our long-standing presence in the country.”
PSA is a leading global port group and partner to cargo stakeholders around the world. With flagship operations in Singapore and Antwerp, PSA’s portfolio comprises a network of more than 50 coastal, rail and inland terminals in 17 countries.
The Polish Development Fund (PFR) is a financial group that offers instruments supporting the development of companies, local governments and individuals, and invests in sustainable social development and national economic growth. IFM Investors is a global institutional funds manager with $US82 billion under management as of December 31, 2018.
The transaction is subject to approval from Poland’s competition authority.
Polish prime minister appeals for EU consensus on digital tax
The Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said yesterday that there should be no tax havens in Europe and that if there is no common European Union digital tax, individual member states will have to act alone. “The European Commission itself and the OECD consider some countries, like Cyprus and Malta – but lately even Belgium or Ireland, as countries which help multinational giants to avoid paying tax,” Morawiecki said.
According to Morawiecki, Poland was one of the countries raising the topic of a common digital tax at meetings of the European Council and that Poland was in regular contact with France and Germany about the issue. Morawiecki also said that, according to his sources, Austria was getting ready to introduce a digital tax despite the lack of EU consensus. “We want to do it together with all EU countries, but the Austrian example shows that, if there is no consensus, member countries will have to take this decision – I hope, not long from now – on their own, independently and with responsibility”.
Last year, the European Commission proposed an EU tax on the online revenues or large digital companies arguing that such companies sent profits through those member states with the lowest levels of corporate tax. An number of EU member states resisted this move as a result of which France and Germany proposed a watered-down version of the proposal at the end of last year.
At last Wednesday’s ECOFIN meeting, EU finance ministers rejected the Commission’s digital advertising tax proposal on the basis that there should be a global agreement on such a tax in order to protect the EU’s competitiveness. The arguments fir rejection focused mainly on the discussions at OECD level, highlighting the importance of having global, rather than simply EU agreement on such a tax.
The ECOFIN ministers did agree that discussion on the digital services tax would be discussed by the Council should the international initiatives to reach a global agreement fail. Malta’s finance minister, Edward Scicluna, said that “changes to production and consumption patterns due to digitisation may require a review of the current tax systems to avoid eroding the tax-base. But this change cannot be undertaken unilaterally,” he stressed.
At the meeting, the ministers approved a revised list of jurisdictions deemed to be non-cooperative on tax which list now includes those jurisdictions which are still deemed to be non-cooperative on tax matters, while other jurisdictions, that had acted on the initial concerns, were removed.
There is no doubt that as economies change and as electronic commerce increases, the tax system has to change to reflect these changes and to ensure that the tax burden in both fair and that tax revenue is not concentrated in jurisdictions different from those in which the underlying revenue it is in reality generated.