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Bureau of European and EurasianAffairsTourists walk on street with traditional housein background, Zakopane, Poland, January 14,2006. [© AP Images]

PROFILE

OFFICIAL NAME:

Republic of Poland

Geography

Area: 312,683 sq. km. (120,725 sq. mi.);about the size of New Mexico.Cities (2004):

Capital

--Warsaw (pop.1,690,821).

Other cities

--Lodz(776,297), Krakow (757,957), Wroclaw(636,854), Poznan (573,003), Gdansk (460,524).Terrain: Flat plain, except mountainsalong southern border.Climate: Temperate continental.

People

Nationality:

Noun

--Pole(s).

Adjective

--Polish.Population (2007): 38.2 million.Annual growth rate: Unchanging.Ethnic groups: Polish 98%, German,Ukrainian, Belorussian, Lithuanian.Religions: Roman Catholic 90%, EasternOrthodox, Uniate, Protestant, Judaism.Language: Polish.Education:

Literacy

--98%.Health (2006):

Infant mortality rate

--7.2/1,000.

Life expectancy

--males 71yrs., females 79 yrs.Work force: 17.2 million.

Industry and construction

--29%;

agriculture

--16%;

services

--54%.

Government

Type: Republic.Constitution: The constitution now in effect was approved by a national referendum onMay 25, 1997. The constitution codifies Poland's democratic norms and establisheschecks and balances among the president, prime minister, and parliament. It alsoenhances several key elements of democracy, including judicial review and the legislative process, while continuing to guarantee the wide range of civil rights, such as the right to

free speech, press, and assembly, which Poles have enjoyed since 1989.Branches:

Executive

--head of state (president), head of government (prime minister).

Legislative

--bicameral National Assembly (lower house--Sejm, upper house--Senat).

Judicial

--Supreme Court, provincial and local courts, constitutional tribunal.Administrative subdivisions: 16 provinces (voivodships).Political parties: Civic Platform (PO), Law and Justice (PiS), the Polish People's Party(PSL), the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), Social Democracy of Poland (SDPL), PolandXXI, and the Democratic Party (PD).Suffrage: Universal at 18.

Economy

GDP (2007): $420 billion.Real GDP growth (2007): 6.6%.Per capita GDP (2007): $11,030.Rate of inflation (2007, average): 2.5%. Natural resources: Coal, copper, sulfur, natural gas, silver, lead, salt.Agriculture:

Products

--grains, hogs, dairy, potatoes, horticulture, sugar beets, oilseed.Industry:

Types

--machine building, iron and steel, mining, shipbuilding, automobiles,furniture, textiles and apparel, chemicals, food processing, glass, beverages.Trade (2007):

Exports

--$143.7 billion: furniture, cars, ships, coal, apparel.

Imports

--$158.8 billion: crude oil, passenger cars, pharmaceuticals, car parts, computers.

PEOPLE

Poland today is ethnically almost homogeneous (98% Polish), in contrast with the WorldWar II period, when there were significant ethnic minorities--4.5 million Ukrainians, 3million Jews, 1 million Belorussians, and 800,000 Germans. The majority of the Jewswere murdered during the German occupation in World War II, and many othersemigrated in the succeeding years.Most Germans left Poland at the end of the war, while many Ukrainians and Belorussianslived in territories incorporated into the then-U.S.S.R. Small Ukrainian, Belorussian,Slovakian, and Lithuanian minorities reside along the borders, and a German minority isconcentrated near the southwest city of Opole.

HISTORY

Poland's written history begins with the reign of Mieszko I, who accepted Christianity for himself and his kingdom in AD 966. The Polish state reached its zenith under theJagiellonian dynasty in the years following the union with Lithuania in 1386 and thesubsequent defeat of the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410. The monarchy survivedmany upheavals but eventually went into a decline, which ended with the third and final partition of Poland by Prussia, Russia, and Austria in 1795.Independence for Poland was one of the 14 points enunciated by President WoodrowWilson during World War I. Many Polish Americans enlisted in the military services tofurther this aim, and the United States worked at the postwar conference to ensure itsimplementation.

However, the Poles were largely responsible for achieving their own independence in1918. Authoritarian rule predominated for most of the period before World War II. OnAugust 23, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Ribbentrop-Molotovnonaggression pact, which secretly provided for the dismemberment of Poland into Naziand Soviet-controlled zones. On September 1, 1939, Hitler ordered his troops intoPoland. On September 17, Soviet troops invaded and then occupied eastern Poland under the terms of this agreement. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941,Poland was completely occupied by German troops.The Poles formed an underground resistance movement and a government in exile, firstin Paris and later in London, which was recognized by the Soviet Union. During WorldWar II, 400,000 Poles fought under Soviet command, and 200,000 went into combat onWestern fronts in units loyal to the Polish government in exile.In April 1943, the Soviet Union broke relations with the Polish government in exile after the German military announced that they had discovered mass graves of murdered Polisharmy officers at Katyn, in the U.S.S.R. (The Soviets claimed that the Poles had insultedthem by requesting that the Red Cross investigate these reports.) In July 1944, the SovietRed Army entered Poland and established a communist-controlled "Polish Committee of National Liberation" at Lublin.Resistance against the Nazis in Warsaw, including uprisings by Jews in the Warsawghetto and by the Polish underground, was brutally suppressed. As the Germans retreatedin January 1945, they leveled the city.During the war, about 6 million Poles were killed, and 2.5 million were deported toGermany for forced labor. More than 3 million Jews (all but about 100,000 of the Jewish population) were killed in death camps like those at Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Treblinka,and Majdanek.Following the Yalta Conference in February 1945, a Polish Provisional Government of National Unity was formed in June 1945; the U.S. recognized it the next month. Althoughthe Yalta agreement called for free elections, those held in January 1947 were controlled by the Communist Party. The communists then established a regime entirely under their domination.

Communist Party Domination

In October 1956, after the 20th ("de-Stalinization") Soviet Party Congress in Moscowand riots by workers in Poznan, there was a shakeup in the communist regime. Whileretaining most traditional communist economic and social aims, the regime of FirstSecretary Wladyslaw Gomulka liberalized Polish internal life.In 1968, the trend reversed when student demonstrations were suppressed and an "anti-Zionist" campaign initially directed against Gomulka supporters within the partyeventually led to the emigration of much of Poland's remaining Jewish population. InDecember 1970, disturbances and strikes in the port cities of Gdansk, Gdynia, and