Coal smog can make many poles feel like they're living in the 19th century. Now a growing grassroots movement is pushing local and national governments to cut smog and rethink the country's heavy reliance on coal.
This year's climate conference is convening in the heart of Poland's coal country. As the world meets to negotiate a follow-up to the landmark Paris Agreement of 2015, Poland's leaders are promising continued reliance on coal.
"Leaders of the world, you must lead," urged naturalist David Attenborough, who was given a "people's seat" at the two-week UN climate conference in Katowice, Poland, alongside two dozen heads of state and government.
Katowice, home to one of Poland's oldest coal mines, closed in March. Now the city will host a series of UN talks on climate change. Budding artists have embraced the cleaner air and inspiration as the coal mining industry changes, others miss the community spirit.
All UN member nations — except the US — approved a UN pact regulating migration in July. Now Poland's Law and Justice party says it plans to oppose the pact, while Slovakia's government is concerned it may bring more migrants to the country than Slovakia is prepared to accept.
A photo exhibit with the portraits of some 70 Holocaust survivors have been on display at the Boston Common for two weeks, but have become especially relevant in the wake of the deadly synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh.
The White House said Jakiw Palij served as a guard at the Trawniki Labor Camp, where about 6,000 Jewish men, women and children were shot dead on Nov. 3, 1943, in one of the single largest massacres of the Holocaust.
Bannon is in the process of setting up an umbrella group with a headquarters in Brussels to help support and coordinate these different nationalist parties. One of the people helping him is his friend, Benjamin Harnwell.
The synergy that has propelled the French national team to the title game in the most recent World Cup in Russia has been colorblind — but French citizens and fans have not.
In 1944 Henryk Ross buried his negatives. He was the official photographer of the Lodz ghetto in Poland. The ghetto was being liquidated, and Ross was unsure if he would survive to retrieve his work. He did.
This week the right-wing Polish governing party proposed a new law to outlaw the use of phrases like "Polish death camp" or "Polish concentration camp."
Reciting "Rosary to the Borders," they called to be protected from the dangers facing them. The episcopate insisted that it was a purely religious initiative.
NATO says a Russian invasion of Ukraine is "highly probable." The Ukrainian government says a large convoy of humanitarian aid coming from Russia is just a "Trojan horse." If the humanitarian crisis is indeed a pretext for an invasion, it certainly wouldn't be Moscow's first time.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki equated "Jewish perpetrators" with Polish and others, drawing immediate criticism from Israel's prime minister who called Morawiecki's words "outrageous."
The Jewish residents of the Polish village of Jedwabne were killed July 10, 1941. For years the village attributed the massacre to German soldiers. In 2000, historian Jan Gross wrote a book that told a different story, that the Jews were killed by their Polish neighbors. The book caused an uproar in Poland and the story of Jedwabne continues to reverberate in Poland today.
Famed Renaissance artist Leonardo Da Vinci detailed a design for a new instrument in his Codex Altanticus. But it never moved beyond his sketchbook. Now, more than 500 years later Polish pianist Slawomir Zubrzycki has built and played the inventor's viola organista.
In Poland, a recently opened WWII museum was embroiled in a standoff with its own government over the correct version of history. And the nationalist government has won.
When the Nazis wiped out Jewish life and culture during World War II, it was hard to imagine it would ever come back in Poland. But it is starting to return. Though it's not Jewish people who are leading the way.
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Arts
Unearthing photos and memories of life in the Lodz ghetto
PRI's The World
March 22, 2017
In 1944 Henryk Ross buried his negatives. He was the official photographer of the Lodz ghetto in Poland. The ghetto was being liquidated, and Ross was unsure if he would survive to retrieve his work. He did.
Global Politics
Policing the language of the Holocaust in Poland
PRI's The World
August 18, 2016
This week the right-wing Polish governing party proposed a new law to outlaw the use of phrases like "Polish death camp" or "Polish concentration camp."
Conflict
Polish Catholics come together at the country's borders, praying to 'save Poland'
Agence France-Presse
October 07, 2017
Reciting "Rosary to the Borders," they called to be protected from the dangers facing them. The episcopate insisted that it was a purely religious initiative.
Conflict
Moscow has a long history of making interesting excuses for its military interventions
PRI's The World
August 12, 2014
NATO says a Russian invasion of Ukraine is "highly probable." The Ukrainian government says a large convoy of humanitarian aid coming from Russia is just a "Trojan horse." If the humanitarian crisis is indeed a pretext for an invasion, it certainly wouldn't be Moscow's first time.
Conflict
Poland's government insists it wasn't denying the Holocaust when it blamed Jews, in part, for World War II
Reuters
February 18, 2018
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki equated "Jewish perpetrators" with Polish and others, drawing immediate criticism from Israel's prime minister who called Morawiecki's words "outrageous."
Culture
Photos: A Polish village still struggles with its history. In World War II, people killed their Jewish neighbors
PRI's The World
July 13, 2017
The Jewish residents of the Polish village of Jedwabne were killed July 10, 1941. For years the village attributed the massacre to German soldiers. In 2000, historian Jan Gross wrote a book that told a different story, that the Jews were killed by their Polish neighbors. The book caused an uproar in Poland and the story of Jedwabne continues to reverberate in Poland today.
Arts, Culture & Media
Leonardo Da Vinci imagined this instrument, but it never became real until now
PRI's The World
November 19, 2013
Famed Renaissance artist Leonardo Da Vinci detailed a design for a new instrument in his Codex Altanticus. But it never moved beyond his sketchbook. Now, more than 500 years later Polish pianist Slawomir Zubrzycki has built and played the inventor's viola organista.
Culture
Poland’s right-wing government thinks this WWII museum isn’t ‘glorious’ enough
PRI's The World
February 23, 2017
Updated
In Poland, a recently opened WWII museum was embroiled in a standoff with its own government over the correct version of history. And the nationalist government has won.
Arts, Culture & Media
This Polish grad student wants to help bring Yiddish back to life in Poland
PRI's The World
March 24, 2014
When the Nazis wiped out Jewish life and culture during World War II, it was hard to imagine it would ever come back in Poland. But it is starting to return. Though it's not Jewish people who are leading the way.
Culture
A synagogue is born in a little Polish town, but no Jews are left
GlobalPost
May 25, 2016
A non-Jewish Polish retiree had a dream to rebuild his hometown like it was before the Nazis wiped out all the wooden temples and the Jews there.