Anna Kucewicz

October 29, 2021
A Polish/Scottish tale of Bonnie Prince Charlie and three Clementines

As the winds howl and the rain lashes against our Galloway steading (farm building) in south-west Scotland, I'd like to share with you a tale of three ladies. Their stories...

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September 17, 2021
Finally a museum about our Polish families in Soviet captivity

On 17 September 2021, to commemorate the day in 1939 when the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, a Museum has opened telling the history of Poles deported to...

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August 31, 2021
The humble sosna pine tree of Poland

My family's quest for finding pine forests is quite legendary. Since childhood, I've been taught to look for the sosna (pine-tree) on walks in the countryside. Whether for grzyby (funghi),...

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July 31, 2021
Warsaw Uprising: Why I stand to attention at 17.00 on 1 August

"Stańcie do Apelu” - stand for the roll call always sends a shiver through my spine. The silence just before a soldier or scout reads this at 17.00 on the...

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June 30, 2021
Reader, I got the passport!

My Polish passport finally arrived last month! I've written previously about my identity as a Pole born abroad and my concerns that a Polish passport wasn't really for me -...

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May 28, 2021
Artist Jan Matejko – putting Poland on the map

The portrait of Jan Matejko’s “Copernicus: Conversations with God” recently arrived at the National Gallery in London. It is the first work of a Polish artist to be on show there and...

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April 20, 2021
Was Prince Phillip’s great grandmother Polish?

It was moving to witness such an intimate family funeral of Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Much has been said about his Danish and German ancestry, yet even less about...

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March 27, 2021
Polish Palms for life and health

With Easter approaching, Palm Sunday for Poles, is as colourful as any feast due to the "palms"- bazie or palemki made from fresh branches of willow with catkins or "kotki" (little...

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February 27, 2021
Polish citizenship is so much more than a passport

Recently I have been contacted by many of you interested in Polish citizenship. Although I’ve written about the process in my guide to citizenship, the paperwork is just the legal...

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January 29, 2021
For post-war Polish refugees, learning English was about so much more than words

Do you recognise a cultural divide in your early life between the Polish and English languages?

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