Yes, European history is an important part of secondary school curriculum, and many people study history at college. Although I trained as a mathematician, I took many history classes at the university.

I can't speak for all Americans of course, but I never learned anything specifically about Poland in our education system. There are options to take European history in university on specific countries, but I've never come across a class that covered Polish history. It's mostly been British, German, Greek, Roman, and Russian history.

Hey Andrzej,

I'm not sure that Americans really know much about Poland, unless they have Polish ancestry and take an interest... otherwise we are only really taught about the invasion and occupation of Poland during WWII. My high school history teacher had some Polish ancestry (as do I) but even so, we didn't spend much more time on it than the average highschool student who doesn't take extra history courses would - about a month on WWII in total, and probably a day on the initial invasion of Poland. Now I'm curious - what do you think would be the most important thing for Americans to know about Poland?

Americans learn the bare essentials with regards to European History. They know nothing about Polish History unless they study it independently.

I agree with the others; Americans generally don't know anything about Poland. Andrzej - here are three questions for you. 1. What are the major Sports in Poland? 2. What is the national dish, and what are typical dishes? 3. What are the major sources of national pride for Poland? I would love to know about this!

Nasza duma narodowa

Polska w wieku XVI XVII była jednym z najwiekszych mocarstw w Europie ówczesnego czasu.Jednak na skutek osłabienia państwa wewnetrznymi sporami Polska straciła niepodległość na 123 lata do roku 1919 i odzyskała wolność na jedynie 20 lat. Od 1939 do 1989 Polska wchodziła wskład Związku Radzieckiego, a poźniej jej ziemie okupowała Trzecia Rzesza .Naród Polski i polacy dumni sa bardzo z tego, ze mimo przeciwności losu i dwóch mocnych mocarstw Niemcy, Rosja które od zawsze chciały zająć ziemie Polskie udało nam sie przetrwać jako naród wolny i zachować własną torżsamość narodowa. Dumą samą w sobie dla Polaków jest bycie Polakami

Konkretnymi wydarzeniami, z których polacy sa bardzo dumni to: -wybrór Jana Pawła II na papierza -Lech Wałesa i Solidarnosc (obalili komunizm) -Bitwa pog Grunwaldem ( wielkie zwycięstwo armi polskiej nad armią niemiecką) i ograniczenie niemieckiej dominacji w srodkowej europie na ponad 300lat -heroiczna walka Polskich zołniezrzy na wszystkich frontach II wojny światowej -Bitawa 1920 tzw Cud nad Wisła gdzie armia polska zatrzymała ofensywę bolszewicką, która miała zająć całaEeurope -Fryderyk Chopin

Incredible response! Thank you, Dagmara. I read that several times and had a lot of fun doing so! And I have learned quite a bit about Poland today!

Chopin's Grand Polonaise remains one of my favorite of his works, as does Minute Waltz. I think I can still play a bit of the second one.

And now that you mention it, I do think that we studied Lech Walesa when I was in high school.

So fun to be able to learn about Poland through an automatic translator! Incredible!

Very little about Polish history is taught in the US. One reason for this is that the Soviets took control of Poland after WWII. Those who fought valiantly for Poland in WWII tended to support the restoration of the Polish government, and thus they were not treated well by the Soviet government. The heroics of people such as Irena Sendler and Witold Pilecki, and the truth about the Katyn massacre, were not well known until democracy returned to Poland around 1990.

We have published articles about Sendler and Pilecki, and they are two of the most widely read articles we've ever published, so there is significant interest in Polish history in the US.

See:

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/September-October-08/On-This-Day--Witold-Pilecki-Allows-Himself-to-be-Captured-by-the-Nazis.html

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/international/May-June-08/Irena-Sendler--Holocaust-Heroine--Dies-at-98.html