Poland in South Africa

Thesaurus Poloniae is a three-month scholarship programme organised by the International Cultural Centre in Krakow since autumn 2009. The programme is addressed to international scholars conducting research on the culture, history and multicultural heritage of the Republic of Poland and Central Europe.

Please be informed that due to the public holidays the Embassy of the Republic of Poland and Consular Section in Pretoria will be closed on 6 January 2025.

At the initiative of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, the 13th edition of the National Reading took place this year under the honorary patronage of the Presidential Couple. “Kordian” by Juliusz Słowacki was chosen as the reading of the National Reading.

The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria organised a classical music concert entitled “Pearls of Polish Music” performed by Prof Maria Pomianowska on 5 December 2024. The aim of the event was, among others, to promote Polish culture in the context of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2025.

The exhibition presenting the life and work of Fryderyk Chopin was presented in the open air on 5.12.2024 as an event accompanying the classical music concert “Pearls of Polish Music”, the program of which included works by the outstanding Polish composer. The exhibition, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was organized by the Fryderyk Chopin Museum.

The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria, in cooperation with the European Union Delegation in Pretoria, organised on 2 December 2024 a meeting at the University of Pretoria on the subject of Poland taking over the EU Council Presidency in the first half of 2025. The meeting was attended by high-level representatives of the South African Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), the diplomatic corps, think tanks and the media, including the former Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, who currently chairs the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria participated for the first time in the European Film Festival 2024 in Lesotho. The festival is a joint venture of the Delegation of the European Union in Maseru, the Alliance Française du Maseru and the EU Member States. On 16 November 2024, Poland presented the film "Dangerous Gentlemen" directed by Maciej Kawalski at the Alliance Française du Maseru. The film was presented again on 22 November 2024 at the National University of Lesotho in Roma.

The eleventh edition of the South Africa – Poland Heritage Conference took place on 24 November 2024 in Johannesburg entitled the "Commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland and the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising".

A documental film "Edge of light" directed by Wojciech Szumowski was presented for the first time in South Africa. The film tells the story of the Olympian and world championship medallist Dariusz Popiela, who, together with a group of young Polish students, works to rebuild old, forgotten Jewish cemeteries in order to commemorate the memory of those murdered in the Holocaust.

The 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Polish Association in Cape Town was celebrated solemnly on 23 November 2024.