On this day in 1678, the influential Polish theologian and philosopher Andrzej Wiszowaty died in Amsterdam. Wiszowaty was a prominent member of the Polish Brethren: a Protestant community that emerged in the 1560s as a result of a split within the Polish Reformed Church. The Brethren, also known as Arians, Socinians, and Anti-Trinitarians, refused Christian doctrines about Hell and the Trinity, advocated the separation of church and state, and preached equality between all people. Although they were initially tolerated in Poland, the Sejm had their academy in Raków destroyed in 1638, and they were officially banished from Poland in 1658.

Numerous Polish Brethren found refuge in Holland, where many of them had studied. They mainly came to Amsterdam, where they fostered close relations with other religious minorities. Andrzej Wiszowaty and his family were amongst these migrants, settling in Amsterdam in 1666. He is known in particular for his leading role in the printing of the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum: a monumental series of works by Polish Brethren, published in Amsterdam between 1668 and 1692, which was to influence Voltaire and John Locke. Wiszowaty was also active as a poet, translator, and preacher. A commentary he wrote on a book about Hinduism, published in Leiden in 1651, proves that he knew Dutch.

Upon Wiszowaty’s death, the Dutch poet Gerardt Brandt wrote an epitaph in his honour, which reads:

No gravestone, but the earth of a cemetery covers the body
Of Wiszowaty, who, although he was poor, was rich
In virtue and scholarship; and expelled by Papism,
He found his resting place at the river IJ, and eternal life with God.

The case of Wiszowaty is one of many examples of historical Dutch-Polish friendship, fuelled by migration, religion, and scholarship.

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 58.

Between 2 and 4 August, the Dutch Chopin Festival will take place in Castle Oud Poelgeest, in Leiden. This year’s theme is “influenced by Chopin”. One of the legacies of Poland’s best-known composer is the popularisation of the mazurka. This type of music, characterised by its liveliness and a strong accent on the second beat, has its origins in three Polish folk dances: the mazur, the kujawiak, and the oberek. Prior to Chopin, a large number of mazurkas were written by the Polish composer Maria Szymanowska. Chopin’s mazurkas for piano subsequently propelled the genre’s popularity, which reached its height in Europe and the United States during the mid to late nineteenth century.

In the Netherlands, examples of mazurkas feature in the songbook Jan Pierewiet: a collection of Dutch and Flemish folk songs meant for children, published between 1933 and 1972. Moreover, multiple mazurkas were written by composers from Curaçao, which is one of the islands comprising the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Among them was Jan Gerard Palm, who lived in the nineteenth century and is considered the first composer of classical music from Curaçao. He wrote several mazurkas, including one for the birthday of his son in law. Another well-known composer from Curaçao who wrote mazurkas was Wim Statius Muller, who was a student of Jacobo Palm, a grandson of Jan Gerard Palm. Muller even earned the nickname “Curaçao’s Chopin” because of his romantic style of piano composition!

For more information about the Chopin Festival, see this website.

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 57.

Poland and the Netherlands share a lot of football history. For example, in addition to the matches played between the national men’s teams we wrote about earlier, the Dutch and Polish women’s teams have crossed paths as well: they have faced each other in three friendly matches, the first of which took place on 8 August 2009 in Tilburg, where the Netherlands won 2-0. Ten years later, in 2019, Poland won the second match 0-1. The third encounter was played last year and once again ended in a Dutch victory: 4-1. Goals were scored by Ewa Pajor, Małgorzata Grec (own goal), Lineth Beerensteyn, Lieke Martens, and Jill Roord.

This month, moreover, football club NAC Breda presented their shirts for the new season, which feature the names and photographs of Polish soldiers who died during the liberation of Breda in 1944. In 2019, on the 75^th anniversary of the liberation, NAC temporarily renamed their stadium after General Maczek, who led the Polish 1^st Armoured Division. In addition, numerous Polish footballers have played for Dutch clubs. Some of the best-known examples include keeper Jerzy Dudek (Feyenoord), striker Arkadiusz Milik (Ajax), and of course forward Włodzimierz ‘Wlodi’ Smolarek (Feyenoord and FC Utrecht), who also enjoyed success with the Polish national team and settled in the Netherlands, becoming youth coach for Feyenoord.

Conversely, Dutch players have participated in the Polish competition, such as Fred Benson (Lechia Gdańsk), Kew Jaliens (Wisła Kraków), and Johan Voskamp (Śląsk Wrocław). Dutch coaches have been active in Poland as well. Robert Maaskant, for example, was trainer of Wisła Kraków in 2010 and 2011. Starting in 2006, furthermore, the national Polish men’s team was coached by Leo Beenhakker. Under his guidance, Poland in 2008 made its debut at a European Championship, but the team – which included Euzebiusz ‘Ebi’ Smolarek, the son of ‘Wlodi’ – did not make it past the group phase. Although Beenhakker was fired in 2009, he was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta for his contribution to Polish football.

Lastly, Polish football enthusiasts in the Netherlands regularly organise amateur competitions. They too are part of Dutch-Polish football history!

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 56.

Dutch-Polish relations keep evolving, also in the world of science and scholarship. For some years now, the field of palaeontology has profited from the close cooperation between the University of Opole and the Oertijdmuseum (Prehistory Museum) in Boxtel, Noord-Brabant. Researchers from both institutions have been working together to uncover and analyse ancient remains from Krasiejów, a the village not far from Opole. Krasiejów is home to a ‘mass cemetery’ of reptiles and amphibians. Their bones have been washed together by the flow of rivers and are generally well-preserved. The finds are ca. 225 million years old, which places them in the Triassic period, predating the global dinosaur expansion. At that time, the lands we now call Poland had a subtropical, wet climate, which provided perfect living conditions for these creatures.

The latest result of the cooperation between Opole and Boxtel is the reconstruction of a Metoposaurus: a type of amphibia that could measure between 2 and 3 meters in length and mainly fed on fish. The reconstructed skeleton, which was found in Krasiejów and measures 1.7 meters, is currently on view in the Oertijdmuseum in Boxtel. It is the main attraction of an exhibition titled ‘De Onbekende Reuzen’ (‘The Unknown Giants’). Remains of Metoposauruses have been found across Europe and the United States, but the example from Poland is unique, because it is almost complete: 85% of the skeleton is original! The missing 15% have been added in Boxtel with the use of a 3D-printer.

The prehistoric ‘Polish giant’ will be on view at the Oertijdmuseum in Boxtel for at least another 5 months.

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 55.

Did you know that the football match between the Netherlands and Poland last Sunday was the first time the two national teams encountered each other in a European or World Championship? In addition, it was the 20^th official game between the two teams overall. The first ever game was a friendly match that took place in Warsaw on 1 May 1968, and it ended in 0-0. Most other confrontations were part of qualification rounds for a European or World Championship. Until now, team ‘Oranje’ has won 10 times, while the ‘Biało-Czerwoni’ have won 3 times. 7 games ended in a draw.

Most goals were scored in two matches played in 1975, during the qualifications for the European Championship of the following year. Both teams then belonged to the world’s best: at the World Championship of 1974, the Netherlands had finished 2^nd and Poland 3^rd. In the qualifications of 1975, Poland won the first game, which occurred in Chorzów on 10 September 1975: 4-1. Grzegorz Lato, Robert Gadocha and Andrzej Szarmach scored for Poland, while René van de Kerkhof scored for the Netherlands. In the return match, however, which took place in Amsterdam on 15 October that same year, the Netherlands beat Poland 3-0. Johan Neeskens, Ruud Geels and Frans Thijssen were the ones to score that evening.

The Polish coach Kazimierz Górski later recalled that many Poles who lived in France, Belgium, England and even the United States had come to see the match in Amsterdam. The Polish team made an outing to a ship in the docks, where they were very kindly treated by local sailors. The night before the game, most players were busy speaking to their wives on the telephone, who were staying in a hotel a few dozen kilometres from Amsterdam. In the end, the Netherlands won the qualification round and participated in the European Championship of 1976, finishing 3^rd.

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 54.

On 3 May, Poland celebrates the Constitution of 1791: the first constitution in European history, and second only to the Constitution of the United States of America, in force since 1789. The Polish Constitution was introduced during the Great Sejm of 1788-1792, and aimed to profoundly reform the political system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. For example, it combined a constitutional monarchy with a division of executive, legislative and judicial powers (the trias politica), while also introducing political equality between the nobility and townspeople (serfs were not granted personal freedom, but placed under the protection of the government). Also, it banned the nobility’s right of liberum veto, which had led to corruption and the weakening of the Polish-Lithuanian state. King Stanisław August Poniatowski was one of the reforms’ main advocates.

Support for the new Polish Constitution also came from the Netherlands: two citizens of Amsterdam, called Gülcher and Mulder, sent a golden medal to the Polish king via the Warsaw-based banker Piotr Blank. Gülcher and Mulder were bankers as well, who lent significant amounts of money to the Polish court. They had a commercial interest in praising the king, therefore, but they may also have been driven by ideology: Gülcher was a patriot, who believed in the new ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. A Polish newspaper from 2 August 1791 includes a transcript of a letter by Gülcher and Mulder to Poniatowski, which begins as follows: “Most illustrious king! Seized by admiration, together with the whole of Europe, for the revolution which Your Majesty and the Polish Sejm have accomplished, as fortuitous as it is beneficent, we have sought to find a way through which to immortalize this great event.”

Their solution was to employ the services of the famed medalist Johan Georg Holtzey, mint master in Amsterdam and Utrecht. One side of the medal shows a portrait of Poniatowski wearing a wreath of oak leaves: a symbol of civic merit. The Latin text not only addresses him as the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, but also as Patriae Parens: Father of the Fatherland. The other side of the medal features the royal coat of arms and various symbols of freedom, justice and religious tolerance. The inscription reads Terrore Libera: Free of Fear. No doubt, Poniatowski was glad to receive this idolizing Dutch token of solidarity.

Sadly, the reforms were short-lived: conservative Polish nobles conspired to have the Constitution abolished and sought the help of Empress Catherine of Russia, who quickly invaded the Commonwealth in order to maintain control over her western neighbor, which she saw as her protectorate. In 1793, the Constitution was annulled and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned for the second time.

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 53.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam currently hosts an exhibition about the famed painter Frans Hals, a contemporary of Rembrandt, who was born in Antwerp but mostly worked in Haarlem. He is known especially for his portraits of groups and individuals, as well as for his recognisable technique. Several of his works were once part of Polish collections. The last king of Poland, for example, Stanisław August Poniatowski, owned portraits by Frans Hals. Poniatowski was an adamant art lover and collector: according to a catalogue from 1795, he owned nearly 2.500 paintings. This number included 184 Dutch and 143 Flemish works, mostly from the seventeenth century. The king owned pieces by famous artists like Rubens, Rembrandt and Van Dyck, some of which were very expensive at the time. He also had at least two portraits by Hals (or his studio), one of which shows an unknown man. This work later passed to his mistress (and possibly wife) Elżbieta Grabowska née Szydłowska. Another portrait by Hals (or his studio), showing an unknown woman, was in the possession of the king’s nephew and national Polish hero, Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski.

The exhibition in the Rijksmuseum includes approximately fifty paintings from international collections. It is open until 9 June.

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 52.

On 17 March, the yearly Wierszowisko festival took place in Wijchen, the Netherlands: almost 140 children from Polish schools across the Netherlands performed on stage, giving fabulous renditions of Polish poems. In this manner, the festival helps to keep the Polish language – and Polish poetry in particular – alive in the Netherlands. I was happy to be one of the judges, just as last year. I was greatly impressed by the enthusiasm, the theatrical talents and the language proficiency shown by all the young contestants.

The roots of this literary Polish presence go back hundreds of years: Polish texts were published in the Netherlands as early as the seventeenth century! Interestingly, moreover, most of them were poems, written by Polish students and printed in Franeker, in Frisia. As far as we know, the first two were published in 1642, and several more followed in the rest of the seventeenth century. These poems were written for specific occasions, for example to celebrate someone’s promotion, applaud a new book, or express grief over someone’s passing. The addressees of these poems apparently knew (some) Polish. Franeker at that time had a university, which was frequently visited by (Calvinist) Polish students. The university’s popularity was boosted by two Polish professors: Jan Makowski (Joannes Maccovius) and Mikołaj Arnold (Nicolaus Arnoldus). Arnold himself was the author of two published Polish poems, but he also became proficient in Dutch.

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 51.

Migration between Poland and the Netherlands is currently flourishing, but it is not purely a modern phenomenon. In fact, examples reach back as far as the Middle Ages! An interesting, though relatively obscure case of Dutchmen settling in Poland dates from the late fifteenth century. The Municipal Council of Chełmno, a Hanseatic town in the north of Poland, at that time wished to establish a school for higher education. To that end, they invited a group of teachers from the Brethren of the Common Life, who came from Zwolle and arrived in Chełmno in 1473. The Brethren of the Common Life formed a Roman Catholic religious community, that was founded in the fourteenth century by the preacher and educator Geert Grote. The Brethren adhered to the so-called Modern Devotion, a simple and pious lifestyle in service of Christ.

The school in Chełmno became a successful and respected centre of education, which included a large library. Polish scholars have argued that the Brothers also devoted themselves to book production: it is likely that they brought along all necessary equipment from Zwolle, including a printing press. If this was indeed the case, the settlers were among the earliest book printers in Poland! Meanwhile, the Municipal Council of Chełmno looked after the needs of the Brothers, granting them several buildings in the city and even some villages, which generated income. Unfortunately, due to financial and other problems, the Brothers eventually returned to the Low Countries and the school closed its doors in 1539. Because the Brothers left such a sizeable imprint on Chełmno and its surroundings, however, their activities form an important episode in the history of Dutch-Polish relations. Indeed, some scholars contend that the school was attended by one very famous pupil: Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus).

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 50.

Twenty years ago, as Poland prepared to join the EU in 2004, a selection of Polish graphic art was on view at the Stadsbouwhuis in Leiden. The exhibition was organized by Stichting Witryna, which aims to give a stage to Polish art in the Netherlands, particularly modern graphic art. In late 2003, visitors could admire a range of prints by several artists from Toruń, which is a sister city of Leiden. Four artists employed at the Nicolaus Copernicus University of Toruń – Józef Słobosz, Jan Baczyński, Piotr Gojowy and Marek Basiula – brought along mezzotints, woodcuts and other prints. In addition, Dutch-Polish sculptor Aleksandra Zielińska, who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, contributed with multiple artistic 3D-installations.

With the exhibition, Stichting Witryna strengthened the cultural ties between Leiden and Toruń, but also between the Netherlands and Poland, when the EU stood to welcome Poland as one of its newest members.

*I originally wrote this post for the social media outlets of the Dutch Embassy in Poland. This was post no. 49.