Warsaw

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Capital of Poland, on the River Vistula; population (2002) 1,671,700. Industries include engineering, food processing, printing, clothing, and pharmaceuticals.

history Founded in the 13th century, it replaced Kraków as capital in 1595. Its university was founded in 1818. It was taken by the Germans after heavy fighting during World War I and following the war became capital of independent Poland. Between the mid-19th century and 1940, a third of the population were Jews. It was taken by the Germans on 27 September 1939 and its 400,000 Jews were forced to live in the city's ghetto. In 1943 there was an uprising by those who had survived; this was put down and the survivors killed. In 1944 the Polish resistance attempted to gain control of the city before the arrival of the Russian army. The Warsaw Rising, as it became known, was crushed by the Germans after nine weeks. Warsaw was finally liberated on 17 January 1945. The old city was virtually destroyed during the war but has been reconstructed.

The physicist and chemist Marie Curie was born here.

The flag's unusual 3:4 proportions are laid down by law. Green represents the forests. Blue symbolizes the Atlantic Ocean. Effective date: 9 August 1960. >>