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Miłosz, Czesław

(Encyclopedia)Miłosz, Czesław chĕsˈwäf mēˈwŏsh [key], 1911–2004, poet, essayist, and novelist, b. Szetejnie, Lithuania (then in Russia). Widely considered the greatest contemporary Polish poet, Miłosz wa...

East Prussia

(Encyclopedia)East Prussia, Ger. Ostpreussen, former province of Prussia, extreme NE Germany. The region of East Prussia has low rolling hills that are heavily wooded, and it is dotted by many lakes (especially in ...

Hecht, Selig

(Encyclopedia)Hecht, Selig, 1892–1947, American biophysicist, b. Glogow, Austria (now Poland). He moved to the United States in 1898 and was graduated from the College of the City of New York (B.S., 1913) and fro...

Marie Leszczynska

(Encyclopedia)Marie Leszczynska lĕshchĭnˈskə [key], 1703–68, queen of France, wife of Louis XV, and daughter of Stanislaus I of Poland. Married in 1725, she bore 10 children and was the grandmother of Louis X...

Ladislaus Herman

(Encyclopedia)Ladislaus Herman lädˈĭslousˌ hĕrˈmän [key], 1040–1102, duke of Poland (1079–1102), brother and successor of Boleslaus II. His rule was one of weakness and decline. At his death the kingdom ...

Kremenets

(Encyclopedia)Kremenets krĕmĭnyĕtsˈ [key], Pol. Krzemieniec, city, in Ukraine. Founded in the 11th cent., Kremenets was part of the Kievan duchy and in the 13th cent. became a fortified city of Halych-Volhynia....

Königsmark, Countess Maria Aurora

(Encyclopedia)Königsmark, Countess Maria Aurora märēˈä ouro͞oˈrä köˈnĭksmärk [key], 1666–1728, Swedish noblewoman; sister of Count Philipp Christoph Königsmark. She went to Dresden in search of her m...

Witos, Wincenty

(Encyclopedia)Witos, Wincenty vēntsĕnˈtĭ vēˈtôs [key], 1874–1945, Polish politician. The leader of the Polish Peasant party, he was premier three times (1920–21, 1923, 1926). Witos's government was overt...

Boleslav II

(Encyclopedia)Boleslav II, d. 999, duke of Bohemia (967–99), son and successor of Boleslav I. Continuing his father's policies, he largely completed the Christianization of Bohemia. In 973 he agreed to the establ...

Bock, Fedor von

(Encyclopedia)Bock, Fedor von fāˈdôr fən bôk [key], 1880–1945, German field marshal. During World War II he led German armies in Poland, the Low Countries, France, and Russia. In 1941 he failed to take Mosco...