The Belgians have mastered the ancient principle:divide and rule. Unable to control their African colonies with the use of armed force, they decided to convince their subjects that they were divided into a race of masters and subhumans. The deliberate actions of Brussels years later led to one of th
The idyllic stories about Hansel and Gretel, Tomek Paluch or Little Red Riding Hood do not resemble their prototypes in any way:fairy tales told in peasant huts in France, Germany and England several hundred years ago. Then, in the stories, blood poured in streams, and the corpse was littered thickl
In the fall of 1917, power in Russia lay in the streets. Not only the Bolsheviks and the whites took part in the dramatic game for the future of the country and Europe. A ruthless intelligence war broke out in the shadow of the Kremlin. And people were around it ... peculiar indeed. Take, for e
It all started on September 1, 1939, at 4:45 am, when the battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire towards Westerplatte. Over the next seven days, the defenders repulsed thirteen strikes and more than a dozen forays, killing and injuring nearly 1,000 Germans. Eventually, however, they had to surren
Many myths have arisen around the defense of Westerplatte, and the staff of the Military Transit Depot have already been recognized years ago as an undisputed collective hero. But do all soldiers really deserve this name? Definitely not. The beginning of the legend of a handful of defenders rele
He had a sadist-stepfather, dressed up in feminine trimmings and got married at a distance of 1,300 kilometers. In addition, with his own foster sister. We are discovering the forgotten youth of the Iraqi dictator. Saddam Hussein was born in 1937. His childhood was not an easy one. Anyway, few
Marek Edelman has repeatedly emphasized that the goal of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was death with dignity in hand. However, at the time the clashes began, only a small percentage of the fighters had firearms. Why was there so little of it? The answer is simple. The command of the Home Army simply d
A lot has been written about the unfulfilled colonial aspirations of the Second Polish Republic. However, what would happen if history had turned out differently and lets say Madagascar would actually end up in our hands? Madagascar, as a Polish colony, is close to the hearts of many compatriot
The destruction of the center of Dresden became a symbol of the murderous effectiveness of the Allied carpet raids. However, it was not the most lethal operation of this type. The March 1945 bombing of Tokyo resulted in many more casualties. As a result, nearly 100,000 people died! The American
When a submarines captain desertions, the matter must be heard widely. The betrayal of the commander of ORP Orzeł - the most famous submarine in Polish history - to this day ignites emotions and causes fierce discussions. How was it really? Lieutenant Commander Henryk Kłoczkowski was considered
In crime novels set in the Second Polish Republic, real geniuses of the detective art lead the way. In the real story, you would have to look for them with a candle. Incompetence, naivety and simple stupidity - this is the pre-war State Police in a nutshell. One high-profile case tells everythin
Officially, pre-war Poles were an extremely prudish nation. No one was shocked by articles about bloody murders, spiced up with drastic descriptions and illustrated with photos of dismembered victims, but sexual crimes? People agreed that I should not write about it As a result, only a few rape
American writers, historians and the entire state apparatus have spent decades trying to create a perfect image of the US Army soldier of World War II. A young patriot, ready to give his life for freedom and democracy. The reality was much more complicated. In order to bring peace, we must murde
For Stanisław Kisielewski, disputes with his superiors were daily bread. One day the commander of his unit - the 6th regiment of mounted riflemen - marched into the stables and again began to reproach the unfortunate sergeant. For disorder, clumsiness, disrespect for service ... Measure changed. Kis
Guibert of Nogent called him the liquid sacrifice to Satan. Columbanus recommended a two-year fast for this act, and Jean Gerson recommended self-flagellation as a cure. Whats the matter? The turn of the 4th and 5th centuries AD marks not only the decline of antiquity and the beginning of the Midd
Żigolaks beauty, unimaginable courage, fanaticism, dangerous life - these are the features that always attracted women. So Feliks Dzerzhinsky could not complain about the lack of success with the opposite sex. Before he became the Eternal Flame of Revolution and the red executioner he was ... the gr
From the first hours of the Normandy landings, Caen was a strategically important point on the way to the liberation of France. Unfortunately for the Allies, the commander of the 21st Army Group, General Bernard Law Montgomery, led the attack on the city. Proud, always right and ... hopelessly inept
They wander in clusters, unlike humans, making sounds that barely resemble human speech. They have twisted animal faces, cropped hair and blank eyes, wrote a terrified Malcolm Muggeridge in the 1930s. What beasts must the British journalist living in Moscow mean? I saw them in Moscow and Lenin
From the Polish perspective, Jagiełłos career began in 1386, when he came to Krakow, was baptized and sat on the royal throne. What did he do before? Was he running in the woods with animal skins and a spear in his hand while praying to pagan idols? No way. Jagiełło was a consummate politician and m
The war is lost, the Fuhrer is dead, the Third Reich has gone to hell, and the capital city has been conquered. You have to somehow arrange yourself in the new reality! It quickly turned out that the Nazis fit in perfectly with the post-Nazi conditions ... The German Nazis did not dissolve into
Moomins are an icon of pop culture today. Tove Janssons books about their adventures have been translated into over 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. It all started with a somewhat eccentric artist turned writer. Of course I am talking about Tove Jansson, also known as - Moomin mom
Bust of Hadrian. He was the first Roman emperor to wear a beard The Emperor Hadrian (76 A.D.-138 A.D.) was the first ruler of Rome to wear the beard, rather thick and curly, as we can see from the numerous busts that portray it and that we can still admire today. Mainly the aesthetic choice
Underground Warsaw throughout almost the entire occupation was looking for an opportunity for revenge, carrying out attacks on individual officers of the terror apparatus or even entire groups of them. However, the chance of real retaliation for the victims of Szuch and Pawiak came only with the beg
In September 1918, the police visited the apartment of Fritz Haarmann, a Hanoverian meat trader, in connection with the reported missing 17-year-old Friedel Rothe. The visit did not help find the young man, but resulted in Fritz being sentenced to nine months in prison. Reason? Officers found him in