The people of Poland have alvays been hospitable to artists and talented people from abroad. Polish culture has been greatly influenced by its ties with neighbouring countreies, the Germanic, Latinate and other ethnic groups and minorities living in Poland like the Jews.

1. Władysław Szpilman
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Władysław Szpilman (5 December
1911 – 6 July 2000) – was a Jewish
pianist and composer. Szpilman
studied the piano at the Chopin School
of Music in Warsaw and at the
Academy of Arts in Berlin, where he
composed his Piano Suite "The Life of
Machines”.
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He returned to Warsaw and he joined
Polish Radio in 1935. He wrote music
for radio plays and films : ”I lost your
heart” , ”There is no happiness
without love” , ”If you are in love with
a girl”, ”Heather”, score for the film
”Dr Murek”, that brought him
popularity.

2. q
Władysław Szpilman and his
family were forced to move into
a "Jewish District"— the
Warsaw Ghetto — in 1940. His
entire family was transported to
Treblinka in 1942, where they
were all murdered. Szpilman
avoided capture and death by the
Germans and their collaborators
several times.
q
Szpilman remained in the
Warsaw Ghetto until it was
abolished after the deportation of
most of its inhabitants in April–
May 1943 and went into hiding.

3. Wit Stwosz
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Wit Stwosz (also Veit Stoss) (1448 in
Horb am Neckarnear Stuttgartu -
1533 in Nurumberg) is one of the best
sculptors and painters of the Middle
Ages. He arrived from Germany to
Cracow in 1477.
q
Wit Stwosz is the author of the Altar
of St. Mary's, the tomb of Casimir
IV in Wawel Cathedral circa 1492, the
marble tomb of Zbigniew Oleśnicki in
Gniezno, Crucifix of circa 1491 and
the altar of Saint Stanislaus.

4. The Altar of Wit Stwosz
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The altarpiece “of unheard of
proportions” that Veit Stoss
constructed for St Mary’s Church
in Cracow during the 1480’s is
the largest of its kind in Europe.
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It is the largest Gothic altarpiece
in the world.
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The altar was stolen by the Nazis
during World War II, but in 1947
it was returned to the church to
which it belongs.

5. Jan Matejko
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Jan Matejko was born in
1838 and died in 1893 in
Cracow.
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His father, Franciszek
Matejko who was a Czech
from the village of
Roudnice married the half-
German, half-Polish Joanna
Karolina Rossberg.
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He was a Polish painter
known for paintings of
notable historical Polish
political and military events.
Jan Matejko, Self-portrait, 1892

6. The most famous paintings
of Jan Matejko :
Battle of Grunwald

7. Stanczyk