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1656. Siege of Warsaw: Polish King Jan II Casimir recaptures Warsaw from Swedish occupiers
1847. Founding of Parisville, Polish settlement in Michigan.
1569. The Lublin Union was signed and direct rule over Lithuania was passed to Poland. Lithuania maintained certain ministers, laws, money and an army. The territories of Volinija, Kiev and Podolija were transferred to Polish rule.
1926. Opening of the Ben Franklin Bridge (then known as Delaware River Bridge) built by Ralph Modjeski.
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MATKA BOSKA JAGODNA
Blessed Virgin of the Berries. The first fruits and wild berries are ripened by this day.
1796. Death of Polish botanist Krzysztof Kluk, who classified Poland’s flora.
1800. Birth of painter Piotr Michalowski.
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1935. Death of Michał Bobrzyński (b. Sept. 30, 1849). A notable Polish historian and conservative politician, Bobrzyński was a symbolic figure of the Cracow conservative circles of the late Habsburg monarchy. In 1877, he became a professor of legal history at the Jagiellonian University.
1879. Birth of Alfred Korzybski, who developed the theory of General Semantics, which states that human beings are limited in what they know by (1) the structure of their nervous system and (2) the structure of their languages. Korzybski published many books in the United States and lived in Lakeville, Conn. until his death in 1950.
1844. Birth of Rev. John Pitass in Upper Śląsk , Poland. First pastor of St. Stanislaus parish, the Mother Church of Buffalo Polonia.
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INDEPENDENCE DAY. (U.S.)
1610. Battle of Klushino: King Sigismund III's Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army defeats Russia and Sweden.
1931. Statue of Woodrow Wilson unveiled in Poland in appreciation for his efforts on Poland’s behalf.
1934. Death of Madame Sklodowska Curie, 66, in France, Nobel Prize winner chemist who discovered radium and polonium.
1943. Death in a plane crash of Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, and a vigorous advocate of the Polish cause on the diplomatic scene. The exact circumstances of his death remain in dispute, which has given rise to ongoing conspiracy theories.
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1877. Birth of Wanda A. Landowska, Warsaw Poland, harpsichordist (Musique Ancienne).
1945. Polish American World War II ace Col. Francis Gabreski scores his 28th downed enemy plane.
1881. Birth of Cardinal August Hlond, former Primate of Poland.
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1607. Defeat of the rebels in the Zebrzydowski Rebellion at Guzów, a revolt against King Sigismund III Vasa by Polish-Lithuanian nobility, who felt the king was placing too many limits on their power.
1950. Signing of the Treaty of Zgorzelec, which established the Polish-German border.
1922. Death of Blessed Maria Theresa Ledochowska (b. April 29 1863), Roman Catholic nun and African missionary.
1923. Birth of Wojciech Jaruszelski, Polish army officer, political leader who declared martial law in Poland to crush the Solidarity union.
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1572. Death of King Zygmunt August, last of Poland’s Jagiellonian dynasty.
1944. Operation Ostra Brama began. The primary goal of the Home Army operation was to liberate Vilnius from German occupation. The Home Army forces intended to establish themselves as the “hosts of the area” in anticipation of the Red Army’s arrival.
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1997. NATO invites Poland, Hungary & Czech Republic to join.
1925. Birth of Dr. Alina Szczesniak, who emigrated to the United States and became the world’s leading authority on food texture. She was a food scientist and researcher for General Foods Corporation for 34 years.
1924. Birth of Congressman John Dingell († 7 Feb. 2019).
1824. Birth of Włodzimierz Bonawentura Krzyżanowski († 1887), Union officer. Born in Rożnowo, Grand Duchy of Poznań, Krzyżanowski was a Polish American engineer, politician, and brigadier general in the Union Army. ¶ A Polish noble, he took part in the 1848 uprising against Prussia and left Poland after its suppression. During the American Civil War he enlisted in the United States' Union Army, recruited a company of Polish immigrants, and became colonel of the 58th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, listed in the official Army Register as the "Polish Legion." ¶ He was a first cousin to Frédéric Chopin, whose mother Justyna Krzyżanowska's brother was Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski's father. ¶ After the war, Krzyżanowski was given governing duties in Alabama. He later served as the appointed governor of Georgia. Supposedly he also served as the first American administrator of Alaska Territory. It is said that the supposed posting was a reward for his services as personal representative of Secretary William H. Seward during the negotiations for the purchase of Alaska. He served in the U.S. Treasury Department and later in the customs service in Panama and New York. ¶ Krzyżanowski died in New York City. On 13 October 1937, the 50th anniversary of his death, his remains were transferred with military honors from Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, to Arlington National Cemetery. President Franklin D. Roosevelt broadcast a nationwide tribute via radio, and Poland's President, Ignacy Mościcki, transmitted his from Warsaw.
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1989. President George H.W. Bush begins two-day visit Poland meeting with Lech Walesa and other Solidarity leaders.
1823. Birth of Polish portrait painter Henryk Rodakowski.
1803. Napoleon Bonaparte creates the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.
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1834. Wawrzyniec Żmurko was born in Jaworów. He was a Polish mathematician, inventor of conographic geometric devices, professor at Lwów University and Lwów Polytechnic, and considered a forerunner of the Lwów School of Mathematics.
1835. Birth of composer and violinist Henry Wieniawski.
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1920. East and West Prussia vote in a plebiscite to become part of Germany. A slice of West Prussia, a strip of land, roughly 30 to 70 miles wide, provides Poland with a secure and direct route to the Baltic sea.
1943. Peak of massacres of Poles in Volhynia, part of an ethnic cleansing operation carried out in Nazi German-occupied Poland by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)’s North Command in the regions of Volhynia (Reichskommissariat Ukraine) and their South Command in Eastern Galicia (General Government) beginning in March 1943 and lasting until the end of 1944. In July and August 1943, most of the victims were women and children. The actions of the UPA resulted in 35,000-60,000 Polish deaths in Volhynia and 25,000-40,000 in Eastern Galicia.
1942. In the longest bombing raid of World War II, 1,750 British Lancaster bombers attacked the German-occupied port of Gdańsk. The Polish submarine Orzel escaped from internment and went on to fight the Germans against long odds.
1938. Death of Mother Coletta Hilbert, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph.
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1704. First reign of King Stanislaw Leszcynski.
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1942. 5,000 Jews of Rovno Polish Ukraine, executed by Nazis. That same day, Germany’s SS shot 1,500 Jews in Józefów, Poland.
2000. Death of Jan Karski, former Polish diplomat who in 1942 tried to warn Great Britain and the United States of Nazi atrocities in occupied Poland. His words fell on deaf ears.
1985. Death of Johnny Banaszak, Buffalo TV personality who for nearly three decades played “Promo the Robot” on the children’s show Rocketship 7. With Jimmy Grzankowski, their “Johnny and Jimmy” duo were a musical mainstay at WKBW television. He was also a member of the award-winning New Yorkers polka band.
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1854. Jacek Malczewski was born. Often referred to as the father of Polish Symbolism, Malczewski is one of the most revered painters in Poland’s history. His creative output combined the predominant style of his times, historical motifs of Polish martyrdom, the romantic ideals of independence, and Christian and Greek mythology.
1904. Birth of writer Isaac Bashevis Singer in Radzymin, Poland.
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1915. Bishop Paul P. Rhode appointed the sixth Bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin, by Pope Benedict XV. During his tenure, he established 10 parishes and 19 parochial schools, and organized the diocesan Catholic Charities and a department of education.
1894. Birth of Tadeusz Sendzimir, engineer and inventor with 120 patents in mining and metalwork. His name has been given to revolutionary methods of processing steel and metals used in every industrialized nation of the world.
1410. Battle of Grunwald. Lithuanian-Polish forces defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Tannenberg, Prussia, thereby halting the Knights’ eastward expansion along the Baltic and hastening their decline. Vytautas and Jogaila with hired mercenaries from Belarus along with Tartars and Czechs defeated the Teutonic Knights between Grunvald (Zalgiriai) and Tannenberg southeast of Malburg. Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen and many of his nobles were killed. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Thorn in which the Knights gave up Zemaitija to Vytautas.
(short version)
1410. Battle of Grunwald. The allied forces of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the army of the Teutonic Order. It is considered one of the largest battles in medieval Europe.
1871. Birth of famed Polish explorer and geographer Henry Arctowski.
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BLESSED CZESLAW (Ceslaus Odrowaz OP, c. 1184–1242) was a Dominican companion (and possible relative or brother) of Saint Hyacinth and a disciple of Saint Dominic himself. He was the spiritual director of a duchess, Saint Hedwig of Poland. Blessed Czeslaw is patron saint of Wroclaw, who is believed to have defended the city from the incursion of the Mongols in 1241. († 1242).
1980. Polish railway workers in Lublin blocked the main rail link between Moscow and Western Europe by leaving trains and engines on the tracks. This action disrupted Soviet communications and was part of broader worker unrest in Poland, contributing to the eventual formation of the Solidarity trade union
1873. Jan Matejko establishes a school of fine arts in Krakow.
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SAINT JADWIGA D’ANJOU († 1399)
1629. Birth of Poland’s warrior king, Jan Sobieski.
1944. Soviet troops cross Bug River and march into Poland
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ST. SIMON OF LIPNICA
Bernadine Franciscan of Lipnica (1482), 15th Century Polish church reformer, canonized June 3, 2007.
1981. Polish communist party expels former party leader Edward Gierek, blaming him for the rise of the Solidarity movement.
1944. Polish troops under General Anders occupy Ancona Italy
1974. Completion of the Warsaw Radio Mast, near Gąbin, Poland. It stood at a height of 2,120 feet, making it the world's tallest structure at that time.
1915. Birth of polka radio pioneer Eddie Gronet.
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1980. Lt. Col. Matt Urban, America’s most decorated soldier, receives Medal of Honor.
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SAINT MARGARET OF ANTIOCH OF PISIDIA, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
Święta Małgorzata zapowiada środek lata.
St. Margaret's Day - half the year away.
1936. Birth of former Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski.
1996. Renata Mauer of Poland won first gold medal of the Olympic Games, for shooting.
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1619. Original records of the Jamestown colony and Captain John Smith from this day confirm the colony of Jamestown “enfranchised” the Polish tradesmen who were critical to the struggling colony’s export economy. The Poles stopped their work because they were not given the same rights as their British neighbors. The colony’s House of Burgesses recognized the economic threat and gave the Poles the right to vote.
1901. Dedication of St. Josaphat Basilica, Milwaukee, Wisc.
1942. Nazis began their transport of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the German death camp at Treblinka.
1982. Official end of martial law in Poland that lasted for 586 days.
1878. Birth of Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit († August 7, 1942), a Polish-Jewish educator, children’s author, and pediatrician known as Pan Doktor (“Mr. Doctor”) or Stary Doktor (“Old Doctor”). After spending many years working as director of an orphanage in Warsaw, he refused freedom and stayed with his orphans when the institution was sent from the Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp, during the German operation Grossaktion Warsaw of 1942.
1515. Emperor Maximillian and Vladislav of Bohemia forged an alliance between the Habsburg [Austria] and Jagiello [Polish-Lithuanian] dynasties in Vienna.
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ST. MARY MAGDALENE
Gdy Maria Magdalena deszczem zaczyna,
to zwykle deszcz dłużej trzyma.
A rainy start on Mary Magdalene Day,
so much more is on the way.
1515. First Congress of Vienna settles issues between Poland and Holy Roman Empire and demonstrates the Habsburgs growing influence.
1944. Soviets set up Polish Committee of National Liberation.
1944. Polish Committee of National Liberation manifesto published by Soviet-imposed administration. It is regarded as the symbolic starting point of Communist rule in Poland. The text of the manifesto, which was printed in Moscow, was also personally amended by Joseph Stalin.
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1944. Soviet Army marches into Lublin, Poland.
1942. Nazis open a 2nd Treblinka Camp opened for the extermination of Jews, as the evacuation of the Warsaw ghetto began. Also imprisoned here are several thousand Romani.
1885. Ojczyna (Fatherland) founded in Buffalo. Semi-weekly newspaper. Ceased publication in 1887.
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SAINT KINGA
Married at 16 to King Boleslaus IV of Poland. According to tradition, she told him she had vowed to live celibately. He agreed to this for a year, then they both took a vow of celibacy before the bishop. He is known as Boleslaus the Chaste, though the title may have come from a need to explain the couple’s childlessness. They ruled together for 40 years, and she was generous in supporting the Friars Minor, the poor and sick, and in ransoming Christian prisoners from the Turks. In widowhood, Kunigunde entered a Poor Clares convent she founded.
1969. Death of Witold Gombrowicz in Vence, France. A Polish poet and playwright, Gombrowicz is considered one of the foremost figures of Polish literature of the 20th century. Alongside Bruno Schultz and Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz “Witkacy,” he is regarded as the most important Polish avant-garde artist of the 20th century.
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ST. JACOB THE GREATER
Patron of laborers. By Polish custom, half of all eggs laid today are given to the poor.
Jaki Jakób po południu
taka zima też do Grudnia
St. Jacob’s afternoon weather,
foretells the winter until December
1932. Signing of the Soviet-Polish Non-Aggression Pact.
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ST. ANN
Mother of the Virgin Mary. Her feast is the traditional harbinger of fall.
Jeszcze my nie ściepli ciepłych chałaszy,
a Hanka nas już zimą straszy.
Our overcoats are warmed yet,
but St. Ann scares us with winter’s threat.
1400. Restoration of Jagiellonian University.
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1944. The 1st Polish Army was 30 miles south of Warsaw, near the Vistula River's junction with the Pilitsa. Two days later, the Polish resistance began an armed insurrection in Warsaw after the first company of the Soviet Second Army broke through German defenses and entered the outskirts of the city's eastern suburb. The Warsaw Uprising, which lasted from August to October 1944, was an unsuccessful attempt by the Poles to take control of the city before the Soviet army occupied it. The Polish Underground State's main goals were to drive the Germans out of Warsaw, help the Allies defeat Germany, and assert Polish sovereignty. Other reasons for the uprising included a threat of mass German round-ups of able-bodied Poles, calls for an uprising by Radio Moscow's Polish Service, and a desire for revenge after five years of German occupation
1597. Death in Kraków of Jakub Wujek, Polish Jesuit, writer, Doctor of Theology, and Vice-Chancellor of the Academy of Vilnius, who also translated the Bible into Polish. The Jakub Wujek Bible was the main Polish translation of the Bible used in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland from the late 16th century till the mid-20th century.
1966. U.S. State Department announces Poland agreed to accept mail bearing a controversial United States stamp to be issued July 30 marking a thousand years of Christianity in that country.
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1812. Birth of prolific Polish novelist Józef Ignacy Krasinski.
1915. Roman Catholic Diocese surrenders possession of Holy Mother of the Rosary to the Polish National Catholic Church, Buffalo, N.Y.
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ST. MARTHA
Patron saint of servants and cooks.
Około dnia świętej Marty,
ze żniwami już nie żarty.
Around Saint Marta's day,
the harvests leave no time for play.
1979. Anti-communist Young Poland Movement established in Gdańsk, considered one of the most important Polish intellectual groups of the 1970s and 1980s.
1989. Poland’s Sejm (Parliament) changes the country's name and constitution, ending the People's Republic of Poland and beginning the Third Republic of Poland
2022. The American Council for Polish Culture (ACPC) awards Dr. John Radzilowski its Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his leadership and scholarly research in Polish and Polish American history. Radzilowski has served as the Director of the Polish Institute of Culture & Research at the Orchard Lake Schools, one of the most prominent Polish organizations in the United States, since June 1, 2022.
1908. Bishop Paul P. Rhode consecrated, first Polish American bishop in Chicago. He served as vicar general of the Archdiocese from 1909 to 1915.
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1656. Polish army was defeated in the Battle of Warsaw by Swedish and Brandenburgian-Prussian forces. It was a major battle in the Second Northern War between Poland and Sweden that lasted from 1655 to 1660.
1966. United States Postal Service issues stamp in honor of Poland’s millennium.
1941. In London, Polish Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski and Soviet Ambassador to the United Kingdom Ivan Mayski signed the Sikorski-Mayski agreement, which invalidated many of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact's territorial conditions
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1655. Russo-Polish War (1654-1667): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six years.
1940. German occupiers in Olkusz murdered Polish civilians on July 31, 1940 during World War II, which is known as the Bloody Wednesday of Olkusz.
1941. Reinhard Heydrich, one of the main architects of the Nazi's “Final Solution,” begins preparations to execute his plans, which included reintroducing the ghetto in Warsaw.
1944. The Polish Home Army (AK) and the exiled Polish government in London started an armed uprising in Warsaw on July 31, 1944. The uprising's goals were to liberate Poland from German forces, legitimize the exiled government, and establish Poland as an equal country to the USSR. The resistance captured a German arsenal, the main post office, power station, and the Prudential building that evening. The Warsaw Uprising lasted from August to October 1944, but was unsuccessful due to a lack of support from the Soviets and British.
1945. The United States re-established its Embassy in Warsaw on July 31, 1945, with Ambassador Arthur Bliss Lane presenting his credentials on August 4, 1945.
1928. Halina Konopacka of Poland hurls a discus world record of 39.62m to win the first gold medal in women's Olympic athletics at the Amsterdam Games
