Notes from Poland

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy, director of Belsat television, a Polish service broadcasting into Belarus in Belarusian and Russian languages.

They discuss the background to the current mass protests in Belarus, Poland’s broader interest in its eastern neighbours, the muted international response, and the threat of Russian intervention.

Producer: Sebastian Leśniewski 

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In the third part of our Brief History of Poland series, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill looks at the establishment and development of the Jagiellonian dynasty - covering the period between 1370 and 1505. He examines the beginnings of the Polish-Lithuanian union, the addition of Royal Prussia and the Baltic port of Danzig, the growing freedoms of the nobility, and the evolving political culture of tolerance and its limitations.

The Brief History of Poland series will cover over a thousand years of Polish political and cultural history, from 966 until today.

Producer: Sebastian Leśniewski.

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This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill is back with Ben Stanley, a political scientist at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, to talk about the upcoming presidential run-off between incumbent Andrzej Duda and opposition candidate Rafał Trzaskowski.

They discuss the candidates' prospects, their potential paths to victory, the controversies of the campaign, and scenarios for what might happen after the election.

Also check out our previous episode on the first round of the elections, featuring the battles over “LGBT ideology”, Donald Trump’s apparent intervention, media bias, and the minor candidates of the left and far right.

Producer: Sebastian Leśniewski

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This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to Ben Stanley, a political scientist at SWPS University in Warsaw, about the upcoming presidential elections.

They discuss the prospects of the two front runners, the controversies over "LGBT ideology", Donald Trump's apparent intervention, media bias, and the minor candidates of the left and far right.

Also check out our previous episode on the earlier campaign for a May 10 election, which did not take place due to COVID-19, and on tensions within PiS's ruling coalition.

Producer: Sebastian Leśniewski

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In the second part of the Brief History of Poland series, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill looks at the Piast dynasty in the period between 1025 and 1370. He examines the development of the dynasty, the feudal fragmentation of the kingdom and its restoration, the rising conflict with the Teutonic Knights, the dazzling reign of Kazimierz the Great, and the oldest known Polish song - Bogurodzica.

The Brief History of Poland series will cover over a thousand years of Polish political and cultural history, from 966 until today.

The first episode is available here.

Producer: Sebastian Leśniewski


Music credit: Collegium Vocale (under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license).

Excerpt from Bogurodzica: Translated by David Welsh, in Monumenta Polonica: The First Four Centuries of Polish Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology, ed. Bogdana Carpenter (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Slavic Publications, 1989).

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In the latest Notes from Poland podcast, our editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to contributing writer Juliette Bretan, who is an expert on Polish popular culture of the 1920s and 1930s.

They discuss the music, cinema, stars and broader history of the interwar period, while also presenting seven classic songs – from tango to cinema, from Mieczysław Fogg to Eugeniusz Bodo and the eastern sounds of Lwów.

Producer: Sebastian Leśniewski

You can find the lyrics and publication details of the featured songs here.

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This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to Marcin Makowski, journalist at Do Rzeczy weekly magazine and the Wirtualna Polska online news portal. 

They discuss the controversies over Poland's upcoming presidential elections amid the coronavirus crisis, and the growing possibility that the ruling coalition may soon collapse.

Producer: Sebastian Leśniewski

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This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to Marcin Piątkowski, international economist and author of Europe's Growth Champion: Insights from the Economic Rise of Poland. 

They discuss the coronavirus crisis and its likely effects as well as broader questions of Poland's post-1989 economic success and how it can be continued.

Producer: Sebastian Leśniewski

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In the latest Notes from Poland podcast, our editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to Tomek Bagiński, filmmaker and executive producer of the original Netflix series The Witcher. 

They discuss how a television production of this size comes together as well as the Polish inspirations behind the series and Bagiński's career.

Producer: Sebastian Leśniewski

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In the latest Notes from Poland podcast, our editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform in Brussels.

In an in-depth interview, Bill and Gostyńska-Jakubowska discuss Poland's position in the European Union and the ongoing conflict over rule of law.

Producer: Sebastian Leśniewski

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