Opposition to sexual minority rights in Poland is among the highest in the EU. Populist political actors in the country repeatedly scapegoat gays and lesbians, presenting them as a threat to the Polish nation and its shared norms and values, particularly those derived from religion. Building upon previous research which shows how discourse constructing homosexuality as a threat to the nation has been used by social and political actors to legitimize homophobic rhetoric and behaviour, our paper shows whether nationalism—understood here as national collective narcissism—predicts prejudice towards gays and lesbians at the level of individual beliefs.

This article aims to conceptualize the present state of public archaeology in Poland, which has recently become topical in archaeological practice. The author defines public archaeology and discusses the historical background of such activities in the context of the specific traditions of Polish archaeology. He then describes the main forms of outreach activities undertaken by archaeologists in Poland and presents community-oriented initiatives that go beyond the education of the general public about the past and strive to engage local communities in activities focused on archaeology and archaeological heritage. He concludes by outlining some directions that this sub-discipline may adopt in future.

Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries AD, the Lower Vistula valley represented a permeable and shifting frontier between Pomerelia (eastern Pomerania), which had been incorporated into the Polish Christian state by the end of the tenth century, and the territories of western Prussian tribes, who had resisted attempts at Christianization. Pomeranian colonization eventually began to falter in the latter decades of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, most likely as a result of Prussian incursions, which saw the abandonment of sites across the borderland. Subsequently, the Teutonic Order and its allies led a protracted holy war against the Prussian tribes, which resulted in the conquest of the region and its incorporation into a theocratic state by the end of the thirteenth century. This was accompanied by a second wave of colonization, which resulted in the settlement pattern that is still visible in the landscape of north-central Poland today. However, not all colonies were destroyed or abandoned in between the two phases of colonization. The recently excavated site of Biała Góra, situated on the western side of the Forest of Sztum overlooking the River Nogat, represents a unique example of a transitional settlement that included both Pomeranian and Teutonic Order phases. The aim of this paper is to situate the site within its broader landscape context which can be characterized as a militarized frontier, where, from the later twelfth century and throughout much of the thirteenth century, political and economic expansion was combined with the ideology of Christian holy war and missionary activity. This paper considers how the colonists provisioned and sustained themselves in comparison to other sites within the region, and how Biała Góra may be tentatively linked to a documented but otherwise lost outpost in this volatile borderland.

Introduction. A considerable number of positive effects after the consumption of fruits has been pointed out in the past: hypolipidemic action, reduction of blood glucose levels, hepatoprotection and improvement of the antioxidant status as well as, inter alia, antioxidant, antiradical, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and anti-adipogenic status. Materials and methods. The changes in the levels of phenolic acids and their derivatives in fresh as well as in processed fruits (chokeberry, wild strawberry, apples var. Idared and Champion, cherry, apricot, peach, raspberry, cranberry, and bilberry) were studied using HPLC with UV detection. Dried fruit homogenates and compotes were produced. Also, fruits were fried to simulate jam production. Results and discussion. Eleven phenolic acids and their derivatives were identified in tested samples: caffeic, chlorogenic, p-coumaric, ferulic, gallic, ellagic, protocatechuic, p-hydroxybenzoic, gentisic, syringic and vanillic acids. In most cases, the thermal processing of fruits caused a decrease in the levels of phenolic acids. In some preserves, the level of selected individual phenolic compounds was unchanged or was significantly increased. Conclusion. It can be concluded that thermal processing can have a differential effect on the levels of phenolic acids in preserves and general conclusions could not be formulated. The fruit composition in which a phenolic acid is present can play a role in this context.

Introduction. Wines produced in cool climate regions may be competitive with wines obtained in traditional wine-producing countries. The aim of this paper was to conduct a quality analysis of the chemical composition of selected varieties of cool-climate grapes and to assess the enological parameters of wines obtained from them. Materials and methods. The chemical composition of 11 varieties of grapes as well as the basic enological parameters, profile of volatile components, and antioxidant and sensory properties of wines obtained from selected varieties were assessed. Results and discussion. The extract content of the assessed varieties of grapes varied within the range of 128.5–218.5 g×kg–1. The fruit was characterised by similar acidity but significantly heterogeneous antioxidant activity. The basic quality parameters of wines were in accordance with the EU regulations. Antioxidant activity and polyphenol content in red wines were approximately 5–7 times higher than those in white wines. In the sensory assessment the wines obtained high grades. Conclusion. Wines from the cool climate regions fulfil the EU normative requirements and are characterised by original sensory features. They may compete with products from traditional wine-producing countries.

Legal mobilization in the courts has emerged as an increasingly important social movement strategy, which complements other political strategies. This paper explores legal and institutional factors that can account for the varying levels of legal mobilization in countries with a civil law system. It examines the different legal opportunity structures (LOS) (such as judicial access and material and procedural law) and the extent to which strategic litigation has been employed by trade unions and other social actors to promote equal pay in four European countries: Switzerland, Germany, France, and Poland. While every component of LOS influences legal mobilization, legal factors and legal context alone are not sufficient to explain the observed variations. Rather, they constitute an important general framework in which other social and political factors, such as norms about gender roles, equality, and litigation, are also significant. Two issues seem to be especially relevant and have emerged as a rewarding field of analysis—the role of media coverage and organizational action frames.

This article explores the introduction of electoral gender quotas and the unprecedented social mobilization in pursuit of gender equality in Poland. The quota law was adopted as a citizens’ initiative organized by the Congress of Women, a new women’s movement. The article analyzes the factors that account for the success of this initiative, which permanently changed the public debate on gender rights in Poland. In contrast to other countries with legislative gender quotas, the Polish law was the result of bottom-up processes, and it has a strong democratic legitimacy. The law has not significantly influenced the representation of women in the Parliament, yet it significantly mainstreamed the gender perspective in the public debate. Nonetheless, the way in which the quota law has been applied by political parties shows that Polish women in politics are a “minority” devoid of power, and that the prospects for a parity democracy are still remote.

Contrary to expectations, the EU’s eastward expansion in 2004 did not sound the death knoll of nationalism in the region; rather, it signalled its reinvention and, in some respects, reinvigoration. In this paper, we examine three ways in which nationalism has been redefined in Hungary and Poland in the context of EU enlargement. First, consensus on the desirability of European unification has lessened the importance of left/right party divisions; in its place, the “nation” has provided a fulcrum for inter-party contestation. Second, EU integration has provided nationalists in the region with a backdoor for realising old nationalist ambitions of national reunification across the porous borders of the EU. Third, we examine the way radical nationalist organisations in Hungary and Poland increasingly define themselves in opposition to the EU.

The distribution and ecological data base of Vaucheria bursata, V. frigida, V. geminata, V. racemosa, V. erytrospora, V. canalicularis,and V. debaryana occurring in streams of the Kraków-Czestochowa Upland (Poland) are provided.

Despite recent emphasis on the impact of nationalism on archaeology, the discussion has centered more on the ideological framework of the culture-historical school of archaeology, particularly on the concept of archaeological culture. Comparatively little attention has been paid to how archaeologists contributed to the construction of the national past. This article examines Slavic archaeology, a discipline crisscrossing national divisions of archaeological schools, within the broader context of the ‘politics of culture’ which characterizes all nation-states, as ‘imagined communities’ (Anderson 1991). Indeed, the current academic discourse about the early Slavs in Ukraine, Russia, and Romania appears as strikingly tied to political, rather than intellectual, considerations. In eastern Europe, the concept of archaeological culture is still defined in monothetic terms on the basis of the presence or absence of a list of traits or types derived from typical sites or intuitively considered to be representative cultural attributes. Archaeologists thus regarded archaeological cultures as actors on the historical stage, playing the role individuals or groups have in documentary history. Archaeological cultures became ethnic groups, and were used to legitimize claims of modern nation-states to territory and influence.

A new species, Fridericia dissimilis n. sp., found during a study of the aquatic oligochaete fauna in the region of [math]nie[math]nik Massive (Sudety Mts, south-western Poland) is described. The species belongs to the Fridericia group of species characterised by asymmetrical spermathecae with a single diverticulum, but it is easily distinguished from other species by, the enormous size of the gland at the ectal orifice of the spermatheca and the shape of ampulla, andby the shape of the brain and seminal vesicles.

The winged stages of Rhithrogena wolosatkae Klonowska (male and female imagines and subimagines) and eggs from the type locality in the Bieszczady Mountains, Southern Poland are described and illustrated. Its phyletic relationships and biology are discussed.