Who were the greatest Poles in history ?

[Maciamo]

This thread is intended to complement the greatest Polish contributions of the world. Instead of contributions, we will now be voting for individuals, regardless of whether their achievements had an impact on the rest of the world or just in their country or region. They can be national heroes, great athletes, artists, scientists, or politicians that shaped the country's identity and history.

Before opening the poll I would like to have as many candidates as possible. I will choose a maximum of 20 for the poll. Here are those that have already been mentioned in the thread about greatest contributions.


- Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus)
- King Jan III Sobieski
- Ignacy Domeyko
- Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin
- Ignacy Łukasiewicz
- Henryk Sienkiewicz
- Ludwik Zamenhof
- Maria Salomea Skłodowsk (Marie Curie)
- Jan Lukasiewicz
- Bronisław Malinowski
- Marian Rejewski
- Wiaslawa Szymborska

I personally hesitate between Marie Curie, Nicolaus Copernicus and Bronisław Malinowski, although if I had to choose I'd go with Curie since her achievements were more important for humanity.

[Bahadir]

Mikołaj Kopernik (although judging by haplogroup (R1b), he's father was probably a German).

[himagain]

Kopernik, truly a great mathematician, but while I give him his due, Chopin affects me at a deeper aesthetic level, and transports me to greater personal fulfillment than Kopernik.

[Maciamo]

Someone on Facebook also suggested Tadeusz Kościuszko.

[Cimmerianbloke]

Shouldn't Pope John Paul II be on this list? I've been a few times to Poland and he is everywhere. History will probably remember him as a key character of the 20th Century. From a Polish point of view, Adam Mieckiewicz and Josef Pilsudski are important figures, both have statues in every major city.

[Dagne]

To me personally Pope John Paul II is at the top of the list.

[himagain]

How about Lech Walesa who had great organizing skills? He must deserve credit as being a notable Polish figure.

[Maciamo]

Shouldn't Pope John Paul II be on this list? I've been a few times to Poland and he is everywhere. History will probably remember him as a key character of the 20th Century.

In my eyes he is one of the great criminals of the 20th century, along with Hitler, Stalin and Mao. It may not look obvious at first (to say the least), but Pope John Paul II's stance against artificial birth control, including the use of condoms, caused millions of death and plenty of suffering around the (Catholic) world. By having the Catholic Church prohibit the use of condoms, he contributed to the spread of AIDS, especially in the developing Catholic world, notably the southern half of Africa, but also in Latin America.

The lack of artificial birth control effectively caused a demographic surge in all these countries which is the main reason why world poverty increased in absolute numbers in the last 30 years (again, mostly in the Catholic world, since poverty decreased in most of Asia during that period).

There are now over 33 million people living with AIDS worldwide, and a staggering 70% of them live in Catholic Africa. Between 2 and 4 million people die of AIDS every year. So far, there has been 25 million deaths and 14 million orphaned children in southern Africa alone. Pope John Paul II is responsible in great part for most of these deaths. That makes him a far worse person than Hitler, a harbinger of disease, death and desperation. What's so great about that ?

[LeBrok]

Maciamo, you overestimated influence of pope and church doctrine on use of contraceptives. The biggest counterargument is Poland, the most catholic country in Europe and maybe in the world, and where love of JP II is still the strongest. The use of birth control is on same scale as in most western countries, and is the main cause of shrinking population.

[Maciamo]

Maciamo, you overestimated influence of pope and church doctrine on use of contraceptives. The biggest counterargument is Poland, the most catholic country in Europe and maybe in the world, and where love of JP II is still the strongest. The use of birth control is on same scale as in most western countries, and is the main cause of shrinking population.

The Polish population is far better educated than the African one. The biggest influence of the Catholic Church is among the uneducated classes, therefore mostly in Africa. Most European Catholics are only Catholic in name or by tradition and do not pay much attention to the Pope's guidelines. But African countries still have the religious fervour Europeans had a century ago (or even 50 years ago).

[Cimmerianbloke]

Maciamo, I agree with Lebrok that your tirade is due to your exacerbated anti-clericalism. Putting JPII on the list with the most murderous souls of the 20th century is giving him too much credit. As for Africans and AIDS, the impact of contraception is nothing but negligible, as in the poorest areas you refer to, there is no contraception available, and would there been, people would rather spend the little they have on food. I am no friend of the papacy myself but I have a deep respect for Wojtyla the man, who made a difference in many people's life, but especially in Poland and in Ireland as I have personally witnessed. Above his role as a church leader, he will also pass in history as the man who resisted communism and was left standing when the USSR fell apart.

[Maciamo]

It has been brought to my attention that Copernicus was an ethnic German, not Pole, and that he spent all his life in German Prussia. His ancestry seems to be more German than anything else. He also registered himself in the Matricula Nobilissimi Germanorum Collegii during his short stay at Bologna University.

His surname is not obviously German or Polish, but his Y-DNA (R1b) makes its more likely to be German. His mother's name, Watzenrode, was undeniably German.