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Zagajewski, Adam

(Encyclopedia)Zagajewski, Adam, 1945–2021, Polish poet, b. Lviv, Jagiellonian Univ. (B.A., 1968; M.A., 1970). He and his family were forcibl...

Přemysl

(Encyclopedia)Přemysl pərzhĕmˈĭsəl [key], earliest dynasty of Bohemia. Its semilegendary founder was the peasant Přemysl, whom the Bohemian Princess (sometimes called Queen) Libussa chose as her husband at s...

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...

Dzierżoniów

(Encyclopedia)Dzierżoniów jēĕrzhôˈnyo͞of [key], Ger. Reichenbach, town, Dolnośląskie prov., SW Pol...

Casimir I

(Encyclopedia)Casimir I kăsˈəmēr [key], c.1015–1058, duke of Poland (c.1040–1058), son of Mieszko II. He succeeded in reuniting the central Polish lands under the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire, but he w...

Vistula Lagoon

(Encyclopedia)Vistula Lagoon, Pol. Zalew Wiślany, shallow inlet of the Baltic Sea, 322 sq mi (834 sq km), c.60 mi (100 km) long and from 6 to 11 mi (9.7–18 km) wide, N Poland and W Russia, separated from the Gul...

Gombrowicz, Witold

(Encyclopedia)Gombrowicz, Witold vēˈtōld gŏmbrōˈvĭch [key], 1904–69, Polish writer. Gombrowicz is recognized as an original satirist, an existential innovator who mingled the real with the unreal to convey...

Augustus II

(Encyclopedia)Augustus II, 1670–1733, king of Poland (1697–1733) and, as Frederick Augustus I, elector of Saxony (1694–1733). He commanded the imperial army against the Turks (1695–96), but had no success a...

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 ...

Świna

(Encyclopedia)Świna svēˈnə [key], channel, 13 mi (21 km) long, NW Poland, leading from the Zalew Szczeciński (Ger. Stettiner Haff) to the Baltic Sea. It passes between the islands of Wolin and Usedom. Świnouj...