The second of two episodes on the re-birth of Poland. When the borders of Poland were finally settled, the nation was larger than most had anticipated, including lands to the east that had substantial minority populations.
All this territory came at a price: warfare and poor relations with the new neighbors.
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Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening Theme
Mazurka in A Minor
Composed ca. 1840 by Frédéric Chopin. Public domain.
Performed by Olga Gurevich. Public domain recording. Source.
Closing Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
Oh, boy.. There are so many important Polish mathematicians that had lived betweent he world wars that I have lost count.. There are Banach and Tarski of the Banach-Tarski paradox (even though Tarski was originally Teitelbaum, he was nevertheless a fierce Polish patriot). There are Borsuk and Ulam of the famous Borsuk-Ulam theorem fame. There is Sierpinski. These are the ones that pop into my mind right now..
Actually eastern europe in general, Poland in particular seems to have lived a cultural renaissance in “between the wars” period. Maybe a bit like Weimar germany, where intense cultural creativity went hand in hand with intense political turmoil..
It may surprise you, but Poles were also very active in Egyptology.. They were also very active as alpinists.. A lot of mountains all over the world contain “polish routes” or “polish glaciers”..
One last note: Poles also seem to have a knack for breaking codes. It was poles who did more than half the work in breaking the german Enigma codes. British like Alan Turing came much later and in typical british fashion, they stole the limelight..
On a separate note: Do you plan to make some episodes on the history of the jews before ww1 and between the wars? They might not have a state, but cultually they were extremely important.