Even the most heroic and tragic moments of Poland’s modern history - the battle of Warsaw, the Katyn massacre, the Warsaw uprising - are subject to contentious political debate. A new cinematic epic is no exception, says Adam Szostkiewicz.

The intense Polish empathy with America of the days after 11 September 2001 drew on an enduring connection. But there are signs of change, says Adam Szostkiewicz.

The air disaster that killed Poland’s president and many of the country’s leading figures in April 2010 is now a source of national division rather than unity, says Adam Szostkiewicz.

The choice of a successor to the president killed in the "second Katyn" tragedy was always going to be an emotionally and politically complex process. The result suggests that the Poles and their institutions have passed both tests, says Adam Szostkiewicz.