GEOGRAPHY

Poland is one of the largest countries of Eastern Europe. The land area of 312,638 square kilometres making it the 9^th largest country in Europe and the 66^th in the world. Poland is bounded in the north by the Baltic Sea and Russia, east by Lithuania, Belarus and the Ukraine, south by the Czech Republic and Slovakia and west by Germany.

STATISTICS AND INFORMATION

English long form:                          People’s Republic of Poland

English short form:                         Poland

Capital:          Warsaw (Warszawa)

Flag:              two equal horizontal bands of white and red tops

Area:              312,680 square kilometres

Population:    approximately 40 million and approximately 10 million living abroad

Ethnic division:                               Poles approximately 98%
Others (Ukrainians, Belo Russians, Germans, Jews, Slovaks, and Lithuanians)

Currency:       1 Złoty = 100 groszy;
1 Złoty = 0,27 €, 1 € = 3,65 Złoty

Languages:    Polish, small groups speak also German, Russian and Slovakian.

Religions:      Roman Catholic 95% (about 75% practising), Eastern Orthodox, Protestant and other

Government type:                           democratic state

HISTORY

“Christianity, patriotism and a passionate love of freedom are the dominant trends of the ten centuries of Poland's turbulent history.”

The history of Poland is marked by the series of all the Polish kings, from the late ninth century to the late eighteenth. There were altogether 40 Polish kings and some is more important than others by its work.

The first Polish state was established in the 10th century by Mieszko I. Under him the Poles became Christians.

In the 16th century, Poland and Lithuania expanded eastward to annex much of the Ukraine and some Russian territory. From this time the Russians also became one of Poland's major opponents.

Nevertheless, one of the best kings was Jan Sobieski (1629-1696), who saved Europe from a Turkish invasion in 1683. Its huge army besieged Vienna, which had it been seized it would have meant the victorious Turkish army would continue its invasion and thus place western Europe in mortal danger. Jan Sobieski, a great commander, saved Europe.

During the 1930s Nazi Germany put forward demands for the annexation of the free city of Gdansk and began to organize incidents on the Polish-German border. On Sept 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, forcing Britain and France (who both supported Poland) to declare war. The German campaign in Poland was short.

Much of the Jewish population was forced into ghettos and later removed to such death camps as for example. In 1943 an unsuccessful uprising in the Warsaw ghetto was brutally suppressed by the Germans. Many Christian Poles also died in the camps, while others were taken to Germany as labourers.

The election of a Polish pope, the first non-Italian in generations, in 1978 helped to support the national spirit and contributed considerably in shaking off the communist rule.

In Gdansk a committee led by Lech Walesa, an electrical worker, demanded the right to form independent trade unions (see Walesa, Lech). A national confederation of trade unions called Solidarity (“Solidarnosc”) was formed.

CULTURE

The Poles speak a Slavic language and belong to the western branch of the Slavic peoples. Religion plays a major role in Polish life, and the Poles have remained faithful followers of the Roman Catholic Church. Their religious feelings strengthened their opposition to the Communist regime. Education is compulsory for all children from 7 to 15 years of age, and there are general, vocational, and technical secondary schools.

The most important product of Poland or the most important drink in Poland is “VODKA WYBOROWA”.

“VODKA WYBOROWA” is famous worldwide. “VODKA WYBOROWA” has the best quality of Polish Vodkas because “VODKA WYBOROWA” is a pure, crystal-clear, colourless vodka. It is usually served with cold meat and fish of all kinds as well as with hot meat and fish courses.

The most famous company in Poland of production of Chocolate is “WEDEL”. The company produce different kinds of chocolate products.

Welcome to my presentation in English. I would like to present you today the beautiful country POLAND.

I will give you the most important information about the geography and the history of Poland and special details about the culture, the people and the daily live of Polish people.

I ´ll start with the geography of Poland with the question WHERE IS POLAND ? (-> FOLIE 1)

Here is Poland.

Poland is one of the largest countries of Central-Eastern Europe with about 312,000 square kilometres land area. This makes Poland the 9^th largest country in Europe and the 66^th in the world. Poland is bounded in the north by the Baltic Sea and Russia. In the East of Poland by Lithuania, Belarus and the Ukraine. In the South by the Czech Republic and Slovakia. And west by Germany. Here you can see our country: Austria, where we actually live. and you see that Austria is smaller than Poland. Poland is about fourfold bigger than Austria. I give you this detail so you can imagine how big  Poland is.

Alright. From the land position details I would like present you now shortly the most important facts about Poland. Here are the statistic information. (-> FOLIE 2)

Firstly you see the flag of Poland. The flag of Poland shows two equal bands of white and red tops. The flag of Poland is similar with the Indonesian or Monaco flag.

The English long form is People’s Republic of Poland and the short Form is Poland.

As I have mentioned before (Wie ich schon gesagt habe) the land area of Poland is about 312,000 square kilometres (exactly is 312,683 km˛). The capital of Poland is Warsaw. Other important cities of Poland are Gdansk, Wroclaw, Poznan and Cracow. Cracow was from the 12^th century to the end of the 16^th century the capital of Poland and by the end of the 16^th century Warsaw became the capital of Poland.

Vistula is the longest Polish river and is about 1047 kilometres.

In Poland there live approximately 40 million people and about 10 million abroad of Poland. (mainly in the US or Germany and Austria)

concerning the ethnic division it is to say that approximately 98 per cent are Poles and there live also Russians, Germans, Jews and Slovaks in Poland.

The official language is Polish but small groups speaks also German, Russian and Slovakian.

Typically for Poland is that most of the polish population is religious and they are mostly roman Catholics.

Poland is a democratic state, in special a people’s republic.

And last but not least the national currency is the Polish Zloty. To have a feeling for the zloty, how much  a zloty is, you can see 2 examples. 1 Zloty is about 27 euro-cent (approximately 4 Austrian schillings) or 1 EURO is about 3 point 65 polish zloty.

And now I would like to show you the Polish Currency. In this short folder you see what the money in Poland looks like.

OK That has been the statistic information about Poland, so you have the most important general information about Poland.

Now I will go to History of Poland in short. (-Folie 3)

Christianity, patriotism and a passionate love of freedom are the dominant trends of the ten centuries of Poland's turbulent history.

The entire history of Poland is marked by the series of all the Polish kings, from the late ninth century to the late eighteenth. There were altogether 40 Polish kings and some are more important than others because of what they did.

I would like to present briefly some of the polish kings and tell you about important historical events.

The first Polish state was established in the 10th century by Mieszko I.

In this time the Poles became Christians.

In the 16th century, Poland and Lithuania expanded eastward to annex much of the Ukraine and some Russian territory. From this time the Russians also became one of Poland's major opponents.

Nevertheless, one of the best kings was Jan Sobieski (1629-1696), who saved Europe from a Turkish invasion in 1683. Its huge army besieged Vienna. Had it been seized it would have meant the victorious Turkish army would have continued its invasion and thus place western Europe in mortal danger ????? – verstehe nicht was du damit sagen willst!. Jan Sobieski, a great commander, saved Europe.

During the 1930s Nazi Germany put forward demands for the annexation of the free city of Gdansk and began to organize incidents on the Polish-German border. On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, forcing Britain and France (who both supported Poland) to declare war. The German campaign in Poland was short.

Much of the Jewish population was forced into ghettos and later removed to such death camps as for as example Auschwitz. In 1943 an unsuccessful uprising in the Warsaw ghetto was brutally suppressed by the Germans. Many Christian Poles also died in the camps, while others were taken to Germany as labourers.

The election of a Polish pope, the first non-Italian in generations, in 1978 helped to support the national spirit and contributed considerably in shaking off the communist rule.

In Gdansk a committee led by Lech Walesa, an electrical worker, demanded the right to form independent trade unions (see Walesa, Lech). A national confederation of trade unions called Solidarity was formed. And it is important to say that Lech Walesa, an electrical worker, the leader of this union “Solidarnosc” was chosen in 1993 to become the President!

And now I will get to the last point of my presentation. To the Culture of Poland.

The Poles speak a Slavic language and belong to the western branch of the Slavic peoples. Religion plays a major role in Polish life, and the Poles have remained faithful followers of the Roman Catholic Church. Their religious feelings strengthened their opposition to the Communist regime. Education is compulsory for all children from 7 to 15 years of age, and there are general, vocational, and technical secondary schools.

Poles take their food seriously. Like their central and eastern European neighbours, Poles are insatiable meat eaters. Beef and pork in different guises are the mainstays of most meals. But lamb is a rarity for a Pole and fish will be mostly eaten on Fridays.

But the most important product of Poland or the most important drink in Poland is VODKA WYBOROWA.

VODKA WYBOROWA is the best Polish Vodka and is famous worldwide. VODKA WYBOROWA has the best quality of Polish Vodkas, because VODKA WYBOROWA is a pure, crystal-clear, colourless vodka.

It is usually served with cold meat and fish of all kinds as well as with hot meat and fish courses.

The most famous company in Poland of Production of Chocolate is WEDEL. The company produce different kinds of chocolate products.

I´ve brought a very good chocolate product with me today, and now everybody should taste a piece of it.