List of Polish people

This is a partial list of notable Polish or Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.

Physics

• Czesław Białobrzeski
• Andrzej Buras
• Georges Charpak, 1995 Nobel Prize
• Jan Kazimierz Danysz
• Marian Danysz
• Tomasz Dietl
• Maria Dworzecka, Polish-American computational nuclear physicist
• Artur Ekert, British-Polish, one of the independent inventors (in 1991) of quantum cryptography
• Krzysztof Gawedzki, mathematical physicist
• Marek Gazdzicki, high-energy nuclear physicist
• Ryszard Horodecki
• Leopold Infeld
• Aleksander Jabłoński
• Jerzy Stanisław Janicki
• Sylwester Kaliski
• Elżbieta Kossecka
• Jan Eugeniusz Krysiński
• Stanislas Leibler, Polish-French-American
• Maciej Lewenstein, theoretical physicist
• Olga Malinkiewicz
• Albert A. Michelson, American, 1907 Nobel Prize
• Lidia Morawska, Polish-Australian
• Stanisław Mrozowski
• Władysław Natanson
• Witold Nazarewicz, Polish-American nuclear physicist
• Henryk Niewodniczański
• Georges Nomarski
• Karol Olszewski
• Jerzy Plebański, theoretical physicist
• Jerzy Pniewski
• Nikodem Popławski, theoretical physicist
• Sylwester Porowski, blue laser
• Józef Rotblat, 1995 Nobel Peace Prize
• Stefan Rozental, nuclear physicist
• Wojciech Rubinowicz, theoretical physicist
• Maria Skłodowska Curie (Marie Curie), two Nobel Prizes
• Jan Sładkowski
• Marian Smoluchowski, kinetic theory, Einstein–Smoluchowski relation
• Andrzej Sobolewski
• Haroun Tazieff, geologist, volcanologist, cinematographer, writer and French Cabinet minister
• Andrzej Trautman, mathematical physicist
• Witelo, philosopher, medieval optics
• August Witkowski
• Stanley Wojcicki, Polish-American
• Mieczysław Wolfke
• Stanisław Lech Woronowicz, theoretical physicist
• Zygmunt Wróblewski
• Marek Å»ukowski, theoretical physicist
• Wojciech H. Zurek, theoretical physicist

Chemistry

• Osman Achmatowicz
• Józef Boguski
• Kazimierz Boratyński
• Jan Czochralski, modern semiconductors
• Emil Czyrniański
• Tadeusz Estreicher, cryogenics pioneer
• Kazimierz Fajans, Polish-American physical chemist
• Kazimierz Funk, biochemist, the concept of vitamins
• Andrzej Górak
• Antoni Grabowski, chemical engineer
• Konstanty Hrynakowski
• Andrzej Jajszczyk
• Alina Kabata-Pendias
• Aharon Katzir, Israeli pioneer in electrochemistry of biopolymers
• Wiktor Kemula
• Włodzimierz Kołos
• Stanisław Kostanecki, organic chemist
• Marek Gatty-Kostyal
• Józef R. Lewandowski
• Ignacy Łukasiewicz, inventor of kerosene lamp
• Mieczysław Mąkosza
• Leon Marchlewski
• Bolesław Masłowski
• Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Polish-American
• Mark Miodownik, British materials scientist and engineer
• Ignacy Mościcki
• Marceli Nencki
• Karol Olszewski
• Krzysztof Palczewski, biochemist
• Janusz Pawliszyn
• Sylwester Porowski
• Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss Nobel Prize winner
• Michał Sędziwój, Latinized as Sendivogius: alchemist, physician, discoverer of oxygen
• Zuzanna S. Siwy, Polish-American
• Maria Skłodowska Curie (Marie Curie), two-time Nobel Prize winner
• Edward Sucharda
• Jędrzej Śniadecki
• Wojciech Świętosławski, "father of thermochemistry"
• Bohdan Szyszkowski
• Włodzimierz Trzebiatowski
• Filip Neriusz Walter, pioneer of organic chemistry
• Zygmunt Wróblewski
• Józef Zawadzki, physical chemist

Biology, medicine

• Joseph Babinski, French-Polish neurologist, discoverer of the Babinski reflex
• Gabriela Balicka-Iwanowska, botanist
• Napoleon Baniewicz, Polish-Lithuanian nobleman and neurologist, discoverer of the Baniewicz reflex
• Edmund Biernacki, physician, discoverer of erythrocyte sedimentation rate
• Czesław Bieżanko, entomologist
• Jan Biziel, physician, social activist
• Tytus Chałubiński, physician
• Napoleon Cybulski, neurophysiologist, discoverer of adrenaline
• Maria Antonina Czaplicka, anthropologist
• Jan Czekanowski, anthropologist
• Kazimierz Dąbrowski, psychiatrist, creator of the theory of positive disintegration
• Wiktor Dega, surgeon and orthopedist
• August Dehnel, biologist
• Józef Dietl, physician
• Hermann Dietz, physician, senator of the Republic of Poland, social activist
• Jan Dzierżon, zoologist, apiarist
• Stefan Falimierz, physician, herbalist
• Sidney Farber, American pediatric pathologist and cancer biologist, founder of the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
• Edward Flatau, neurologist
• Ludwik Fleck, Polish-Israeli microbiologist, philosopher of science
• Eva Frommer, child psychiatrist and anthroposophist
• Kazimierz Funk, biochemist, coined the term vitamin
• Marian Gieszczykiewicz, physician and bacteriologist
• Emil Godlewski, embryologist
• Samuel Goldflam, neurologist
• Adam Gruca, surgeon and orthopaedist
• Ryszard Gryglewski, pharmacologist, physician
• Tomasz Guzik (born 1974), physician
• Ludwik Hirszfeld, microbiologist and serologist
• Janina Hurynowicz, neurophysiologist
• Feliks Paweł Jarocki, zoologist and entomologist
• Stefania Jabłońska, dermatologist
• Walery Jaworski, physician
• Konstanty Jelski, ornithologist
• Zbigniew Kabata, biologist
• Ewa Kamler (born 1937), biologist and ichthyologist
• Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, paleobiologist
• Aleksander Koj, physician, scientist
• Ryszard Kole, Polish-American pharmacologist
• Jerzy Konorski, neurophysiologist
• Stefan Kopeć, biologist
• Hilary Koprowski, polio vaccine
• Tadeusz Krwawicz, medical pioneer
• Elwira Lisowska (born 1930), biochemist
• Abraham Low, American neuropsychiatrist
• Margaret Lowenfeld, British paediatrician and pioneer of Sandplay Therapy
• Liliana Lubińska, neuroscientist
• Zofia Majewska, neurologist and professor
• Karol Marcinkowski, physician
• Eugène Minkowski, psychiatrist influenced by Bergson and phenomenology
• Ludwik Młokosiewicz, botanist
• Maksymilian Nowicki, biologist
• Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, biologist
• Marek Pienkowski (born 1945), Polish-American immunologist
• Piotr Ponikowski, cardiologist
• Moshe Prywes (1914–1998), Israeli physician and educator; first President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
• Tadeusz Reichstein (1897–1996), Polish-Swiss physiologist; 1950 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
• Zbigniew Religa, cardiologist
• Józef Rostafiński, biologist
• Albert Sabin, polio vaccine; President of the Weizmann Institute of Science
• Andrzej Wiktor Schally (1926–2024), Polish-American Nobel-laureate endocrinologist
• Hanna Segal, British leading Kleinian psychoanalyst
• Michael Sela (1924–2022), Israeli immunologist; President of the Weizmann Institute of Science
• Henryk Skarżyński, otolaryngologist, audiologist, phoniatrist
• Michalina Stefanowska, neurophysiologist
• Eduard Adolf Strasburger (born in Poland, of German descent), botanist
• Andrzej Szczeklik, immunologist
• Jan Sztolcman, ornithologist
• Wacław Szybalski, Polish-American physician
• Władysław Taczanowski, zoologist
• Andrzej K. Tarkowski, embryologist
• Zbylut Twardowski, Polish-American physician
• Jerzy Vetulani, neuroscientist, pharmacologist and biochemist
• Emil Warmiński, physician, social and national activist
• Józef Warszewicz, botanist and biologist
• Rudolf Weigl, typhus vaccine
• Wanda Wesołowska, zoologist
• Helena Rosa Wright, English physician influential in family planning
• Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska, Polish-American physician
• Jozef J. Zwislocki, neuroscientist

Astronomy

• Franciszek Armiński
• Tadeusz Banachiewicz
• Jan Brożek
• Albert Brudzewski
• Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer, the son of a Polish father and a mother who was of mixed German-Polish descent; he is also often considered a German by Germans
• Wojciech Dziembowski
• Władysław Dziewulski
• Michał Falkener
• Jan Gadomski
• Elisabeth Hevelius, astronomer and wife of Johannes Hevelius
• Johannes Hevelius, mayor of Gdańsk; often also considered a German
• Felicjan Kępiński
• Marian Albertovich Kowalski
• Kazimierz Kordylewski
• Wojciech Krzemiński
• Jan Latosz
• Stanisław Lubieniecki
• Bohdan Paczyński
• Marcin Poczobutt-Odlanicki
• Alexius Sylvius Polonus
• Adam Prażmowski
• Antoni Przybylski
• Agata Różańska
• Konrad Rudnicki
• Jan Mikołaj Smogulecki
• Jan Śniadecki
• Andrzej Udalski
• Wiesław Wiśniewski
• Aleksander Wolszczan, first discovery of extrasolar planets
• Thomas Zebrowski
• Anna N. Å»ytkow

Mathematics

• Nachman Aronszajn, Polish-American
• Michel Balinski, American-French
• Stefan Banach
• Tadeusz Banachiewicz
• Kazimierz Bartel
• Andrzej Białynicki-Birula
• Karol Borsuk
• Jacob Bronowski, Polish-British
• Jan Brożek
• Andrzej Ehrenfeucht, Polish-American
• Meier Eidelheit
• Samuel Eilenberg, Polish-American
• Andrzej Grzegorczyk
• Witold Hurewicz
• Henryk Iwaniec
• Tadeusz Iwaniec, Polish-American
• Zygmunt Janiszewski
• Stanisław Jaśkowski, logician
• Jan Jaworowski, Polish-American
• Mark Kac, Polish-American
• Stefan Kaczmarz
• Marek Karpinski, computer scientist
• Dawid Kielak
• Bronisław Knaster
• Sławomir Kołodziej
• Robert Kowalski, American-British logician
• Zdzisław Krygowski
• Krystyna Kuperberg, Polish-American
• Włodzimierz Kuperberg
• Kazimierz Kuratowski
• Izabella Łaba, Polish-Canadian
• Franciszek Leja
• Stanisław Leśniewski
• Adolf Lindenbaum
• Stanisław Łojasiewicz
• Antoni Łomnicki
• Jerzy Łoś
• Jan Łukasiewicz, logician, inventor of the parenthesis-free Polish Notation
• Benoit Mandelbrot, Polish-born French-American
• Edward Marczewski
• Józef Marcinkiewicz
• Stanisław Mazur
• Stefan Mazurkiewicz
• Jan Mikusinski
• Michał Misiurewicz
• Andrzej Mostowski
• Jan Mycielski, Polish-American
• Jerzy Spława-Neyman
• Otton M. Nikodym
• Wiesława Nizioł
• Andrew Odlyzko, Polish-American
• Władysław Orlicz
• Aleksander Pełczyński
• Józef H. Przytycki
• Maksym Radziwill, Polish-Canadian
• Helena Rasiowa
• Marian Rejewski, mathematician-cryptologist who broke the German Enigma cipher
• Jerzy Różycki, Enigma-breaker
• Stanisław Ruziewicz
• Czesław Ryll-Nardzewski
• Stanisław Saks
• Wojciech Samotij
• Juliusz Schauder
• Wacław Sierpiński
• Roman Sikorski
• Julian Sochocki, Polish-Russian
• Hugo Steinhaus
• Włodzimierz Stożek
• Wanda Szmielew, logician
• Władysław Ślebodziński
• Ivan Śleszyński, Polish-Russian
• Jan Śniadecki
• Alfred Tarski, Polish-American
• Stanisław Ulam, co-designer (with Edward Teller) of the hydrogen bomb
• Kazimierz Urbanik
• Tadeusz Ważewski
• Mariusz Wodzicki
• Józef Hoene-Wroński
• Kazimierz Zarankiewicz
• Stanisław Zaremba
• Henryk Zygalski, Enigma-breaker
• Antoni Zygmund, Polish-American
• Kazimierz Å»orawski

Computer science

• Krzysztof R. Apt
• Paul Baran, American
• Krzysztof Cios, Polish-American
• Jarosław Duda
• Andrzej Ehrenfeucht, Polish-American
• Siemion Fajtlowicz, Polish-American, known for his Graffiti
• , Polish-American
• Piotr Indyk
• Jacek Karpiński
• Marek Karpiński
• Marian Mazur
• Jan Mycielski, Polish-American
• Zdzislaw Pawlak
• Emil Leon Post, American
• Stanisław Radziszowski, Polish-American
• Andrew Targowski, Polish-American
• Jack Tramiel, Polish-American
• Andrzej Trybulec, Mizar system
• Stanisław Ulam
• Jan Węglarz
• Michał Zalewski

Linguistics

• Jolanta Antas
• Jerzy Bartmiński
• Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay (1845–1929), developed the theory of the phoneme and phonetic alternations.
• Andrzej Bogusławski (1931–2026), Russian-Polish-Russian lexicographer, philosopher of language, semioticist
• Aleksander Brückner (1856–1939), Slavicist and Polish-language lexicographer
• (1903–1970), Polish–English lexicographer (Kościuszko Foundation Dictionary)
• Jan Bystroń
• Jan Czekanowski
• Andrzej Gawroński
• Grzegorz Knapski
• Władysław Kopaliński
• Onufry Kopczyński (1736–1817), creator of Polish-grammar terminology
• Alfred Korzybski, originator of general semantics
• Mikołaj Kruszewski
• Jerzy Kuryłowicz
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1771–1847), Polish-language lexicographer
• Jan Mączyński
• Halina Mierzejewska
• Jan Miodek
• Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski (1921–2016), Polish–English lexicographer, historian, and engineer
• Anna Siewierska
• Jan Stanisławski, Polish–English lexicographer
• Antoni Józef Śmieszek
• Michel Thomas
• Zdzisław Wąsik
• Anna Wierzbicka
• L. L. Zamenhof, inventor of Esperanto

Invention

• Bruno Abakanowicz, mathematician, engineer, inventor of the integraph
• Stefan Bryła, first welded road bridge
• Mieczysław G. Bekker, Lunar Roving Vehicle
• Jan Czochralski, Czochralski process
• Juliusz Bogdan Deczkowski, medical equipment
• Stefan Drzewiecki in 1884 built the first electric-battery-powered submarine
• Jan Dzierżoń, first successful movable-frame beehive
• Leo Gerstenzang, Q-Tips
• Rudolf Gundlach, Gundlach Rotary Periscope
• Józef Hofmann, pneumatic shock absorbers
• Stefan Kudelski, Nagra audio recorders
• Stephanie Kwolek, inventor of Kevlar
• Kazimierz Leski, ballast tank funnels
• Janusz Liberkowski, Anecia Safety Capsule
• Ignacy Łukasiewicz, kerosene lamp, oil refinery
• Henryk Magnuski, walkie-talkie
• Julian Ochorowicz, precursor of radio and television; philosopher, psychologist
• Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski, petroleum-drilling platform inventor
• Kazimierz Proszyński, cinematic camera
• Marian Rejewski, broke German Enigma-machine ciphers, invented the cryptologic bomb
• Jerzy Różycki, invented "clock" method used in breaking German Enigma-machine ciphers
• Tadeusz Sendzimir, processing steel
• Władysław Starewicz, first puppet-animated film
• Abraham Stern, first computing-machine and device for calculating the square roots of numbers
• Wacław Struszyński, seaborne direction finding antenna, which made a vital contribution to the defeat of U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic
• Jan Szczepanik, television patents
• Władysław Tryliński, trylinka
• Józef Tykociński, sound film
• Stefan Tyszkiewicz, automotive and audio improvements
• Mieczysław Wolfke, precursor of holography
• Casimir Zeglen, bullet-proof vest
• Henryk Zygalski, Zygalski sheets

Engineering

• Karol Adamiecki
• Krzysztof Arciszewski
• Mieczysław G. Bekker, first moon rover
• Włodzimierz Błasiak
• Stefan Bryła, first welded road bridge
• Romuald Cebertowicz, soil solidification
• Zdzisław Celiński
• Georges Charpak, particle detector
• Jerzy Dąbrowski, designer of PZL.37 Łoś bomber
• Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, Polish-Russian engineer, electrician, and inventor
• Adam Freytag
• Rudolf Gundlach, tank designer
• Kazimierz Gzowski
• Edward Jan Habich
• Tytus Maksymilian Huber
• Jacek Jędruch
• Stanisław Kierbedź
• Stefan Kudelski, electronics engineer, inventor of the Nagra tape recorder
• Józef Kosacki, Polish mine detector
• Janusz Liberkowski, inventor
• Henryk Magnuski, walkie-talkie
• Ernest Malinowski, 19th-century constructor of Peru's Ferrovias Central, the world's highest railway at the time
• Henry Millicer, aviation
• Ralph Modjeski, bridge designer
• Zenon Mróz, materials science engineer
• Jan Nagórski, first man to fly over the North Pole
• Martin Ostoja-Starzewski, engineering scientist
• Antoni Patek, pioneer in watchmaking and a creator of Patek Philippe & Co.
• Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski
• Zygmunt Puławski, designer of PZL P.11 fighter
• Bogdan Raczkowski, engineer and urbanist in Bydgoszcz
• Ludwik Regamey, engineer and social activist
• Wojciech Rostafiński, NASA
• Kazimierz Siemienowicz, pioneer of rocket
• Stefan Tyszkiewicz, automotive engineer, inventor of the airport luggage trolley
• Stanisław Wigura, aviation
• Piotr Wilniewczyc, weaponry
• , telecommunications
• Franciszek Å»wirko, aviation

Social sciences

• Tadeusz Andrzejewski, archeologist, Egyptologist
• Zygmunt Bauman, sociologist, philosopher
• Stefan Błachowski, psychologist
• Maria Czaplicka, anthropologist
• Kazimierz Dąbrowski, psychologist
• Jan Władysław Dawid, psychologist
• Tomasz Drezner, Renaissance jurist
• Agnieszka Dudzińska, sociologist
• Barbara Engelking, sociologist
• Zygmunt Gloger, ethnographer, archaeologist, historian
• Kazimierz Godłowski, historian and archeologist
• Ludwig Gumplowicz, a founder of sociology
• Norbert Guterman
• Alicja Iwańska, sociologist
• Franciszek Kasparek, jurist, professor of international law, rector of Kraków University
• Oskar Kolberg, ethnographer
• Józef Kostrzewski, archeologist, museologist
• Marek Kotański, psychologist
• Leon Kozłowski (1892–1944), archeologist; Prime Minister of Poland, 1934–35.
• Ludwik Krzywicki, anthropologist, economist, sociologist
• Jan Kubary, naturalist, ethnographer
• Hersch Lauterpacht, creator of the legal concept of crimes against humanity
• Raphael Lemkin, creator of the legal concept of genocide
• Andrzej Łobaczewski, psychiatrist, originator of political ponerology
• Wiesław Łukaszewski, psychologist
• Bronisław Malinowski, anthropologist
• Władysław Markiewicz, sociologist
• Kazimierz Michałowski, archeologist, Egyptologist
• Karol Myśliwiec, archeologist, Egyptologist
• Julian Ochorowicz, psychologist, philosopher, inventor
• Maria Ossowska, sociologist
• Stanisław Ossowski, sociologist
• Bronisław Piłsudski, cultural anthropologist
• Jadwiga Staniszkis, sociologist
• Paweł Śpiewak, sociologist
• Henryk Stroband, jurist and mayor of Toruń
• Tadeusz Sulimirski, historian and archeologist
• Jerzy Szacki, historian of ideas
• Zbigniew Szafrański, Egyptologist, archeologist
• Jacek Szmatka, sociologist
• Piotr Sztompka, sociologist
• Edmund Wnuk-Lipiński, sociologist, founder of PAN's Institute of Political Studies
• Robert Zajonc, psychologist
• Florian Znaniecki, sociologist

Economics

• Karol Adamiecki
• Leszek Balcerowicz
• Czesław Bobrowski
• Henryka Bochniarz
• Joanna Cygler
• Gabriel Czechowicz
• Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki
• Zyta Gilowska
• Adam Glapiński
• Władysław Grabski
• Henryk Grossman
• Robert Gwiazdowski
• Leonid Hurwicz, 2007 Nobel Laureate
• Danuta Hübner
• Michał Kalecki
• Grzegorz Kołodko
• Monika Kostera
• Tadeusz Kowalik
• Stanisław Kronenberg
• Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski
• Ludwik Maurycy Landau
• Oskar Lange
• Janusz Lewandowski
• Edward Lipiński
• Kazimierz Łaski
• Grzegorz Marek Michalski
• Wacław Micuta
• Hilary Minc
• Marek Rocki
• Dariusz Rosati
• Jacek Rostowski
• Edward Szczepanik
• Sławomir Szwedowski
• Louis Wolowski
• Halina Wasilewska-Trenkner
• Antoni Å»abko-Potopowicz

Other sciences

• Henryk Arctowski (1871-1958), geophysicist, meteorologist, Antarctic explorer
• Leon Barszczewski, explorer
• Piotr Ignacy Bieńkowski, scholar, archaeologist, professor
• Karol Bohdanowicz, geologist
• Aleksander Czekanowski, explorer of Siberia
• Jan Czerski, paleontologist, explorer of Siberia
• Zofia Daszyńska-Golińska, socialist politician, suffragist
• Helene Deutsch, psychoanalyst
• Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski, geophysicist, meteorologist, polar explorer
• Ignacy Domeyko, geologist
• Benedykt Dybowski, naturalist, explorer of Siberia
• Gaspar da Gama, traveller, interpreter, explorer
• Bronisław Grąbczewski, explorer
• Mirosław Hermaszewski, the first Polish cosmonaut
• Leonard Jaczewski, engineer, explorer of Asian Russia
• Maria Janion, critic and theoretician of literature, feminist
• Henryk Jordan, founding father of physical education
• Józefa Joteyko, physiologist, psychologist and pedagogue
• Antoni Kępiński, psychiatrist
• Janusz Korczak, pedagogue, writer
• Irena Krzywicka, feminist, writer, translator
• Zofia Licharewa, geologist, museum founder
• Henryk Lipszyc, specialist in Japanese culture, translator, ambassador of Poland in Tokyo
• Rosa Luxemburg, Marxist political theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary
• Józef Morozewicz, mineralogist, petrographer
• Halszka Osmólska, paleontologist
• Jacek Pałkiewicz, journalist and explorer, best known for discovering the sources of the Amazon River
• Michael Alfred Peszke (1932-2015), psychiatrist, historian
• Benedykt Polak (Benedict the Pole, Benedictus Polonus), explorer
• Jan Potocki, linguist, Egyptologist, sociologist, author of The Saragossa Manuscript
• Eugeniusz Romer, cartographer
• Stanisław of Skarbimierz, political scientist
• Paweł Edmund Strzelecki (1797-1873), geologist, explorer of Australia
• Antoni Józef Śmieszek, Egyptologist
• Józef Trzemeski, polar explorer
• Bernard Wapowski, "father of Polish cartography"
• Andrzej Wawrzyniak (1931-2020), diplomat, founder of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw
• Paweł Włodkowic, jurist
• Czesław Zakaszewski, hydrologist

History

• Roman Aftanazy, historian of former Eastern Borderlands and librarian
• Szymon Askenazy, historian and diplomat
• Marcin Bielski, chronicler
• Michał Bobrzyński, historian and politician
• Józef Borzyszkowski, Kashubian historian
• Filip Callimachus
• Alina Cała
• Marek Jan Chodakiewicz
• Piotr Cywiński
• Tadeusz Czacki
• Norman Davies, British-Polish historian
• Małgorzata Dąbrowska, historian, Byzantist
• Jan Długosz, 15th-century chronicler of Poland
• Maria Dzielska
• Marian Kamil Dziewanowski, Poland, Russia, modern Europe
• Karol Estreicher (senior), father of Polish Bibliography
• Stanisław Estreicher
• Tadeusz Estreicher
• Józef Feldman
• Mieczysław Gębarowicz, art historian, museum director, custodian of Ossolineum
• Aleksander Gieysztor
• Władysław Grabski
• Roman Grodecki
• Oskar Halecki, historian of Poland
• Marceli Handelsman, historian of Poland
• Paweł Jasienica, historian of Poland
• Jacek Jędruch
• Wincenty Kadłubek, 13th-century historian of Poland
• Stefan Kieniewicz, 19th-century Polish history
• Jerzy Kirchmayer, 1944 Warsaw Uprising
• Jerzy Kolendo, archaeologist, epigraphist and historian of the Mediterranean Basin in antiquity
• Hugo Kołłątaj, 18th–19th-century historian, philosopher and politician
• Feliks Koneczny, Polish history, social philosophy
• Władysław Konopczyński, Polish and world history
• Iwona Korga, historian, president of the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America
• Stanisław Kot, historian, politician, diplomat
• Władysław Kozaczuk, military history, military intelligence, World War II
• Manfred Kridl, history of Polish culture and literature
• Marcin Kromer, 16th-century Bishop of Warmia, secretary to two Polish kings, and historian of Poland
• Jan Kucharzewski, historian and politician
• Marian Kukiel, military historian and politician
• Lucyna Kulińska
• Ewa Kurek
• Stanisław Kutrzeba, Poland, Polish law, Kraków
• Gerard Labuda
• Joachim Lelewel, historian of Poland
• Jerzy Jan Lerski
• Dariusz Libionka
• Wacław Lipiński
• Stanisław Lorentz, art historian
• Czesław Madajczyk, World War II
• Janusz Magnuski, World War II Polish and Soviet armor
• Tadeusz Manteuffel, medievalist
• Maciej Masłowski, art historian
• Benjamin Mazar (1906–1995), Israeli historian and archeologist; President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Maciej Miechowita
• Lidia Milka-Wieczorkiewicz
• Karol Modzelewski
• Stephen Mizwa
• Teodor Narbutt, Polish historian of Lithuania
• Adam Naruszewicz, 18th-century historian, participant in the Great Sejm
• Kasper Niesiecki, Jesuit lexicographer and heraldic scholar
• Szymon Okolski, 17th-century historian
• Bartosz Paprocki, Polish and Czech heraldic scholar
• Michael Alfred Peszke (1932–2015), Polish Armed Forces, World War II
• Tadeusz Piotrowski, historian of Poland during World War II
• Richard Pipes, Polish-American historian of Russia and the Soviet Union
• Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski, World War II, Polish-Jewish relations; engineer; lexicographer
• Teresa Prekerowa
• Stanisław Salmonowicz, historian of law
• Henryk Samsonowicz, historian specializing in medieval Poland
• Konstancja Skirmuntt
• Julian Stachiewicz, military historian
• Szymon Starowolski
• Aneta Stawiszyńska
• Dariusz Stola
• Maciej Stryjkowski, historian, writer, poet
• Irena Strzelecka
• Tomasz Strzembosz, Polish World War II history
• Karol Szajnocha, historian and novelist
• Józef Szujski
• Zygmunt Szweykowski, Polish literature
• Władysław Tatarkiewicz, philosophy and aesthetics
• Rafał Taubenschlag, history of law
• Janusz Tazbir, historian, specializing in the culture and religion of Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries
• Józef Turowski, World War II OUN massacres of Poles
• Adam Ulam, Polish-American historian of Russia and the Soviet Union
• Adam Vetulani, history of law
• Piotr S. Wandycz, Polish-American historian of Central and Eastern Europe
• Leon Wasilewski
• Ewa Wipszycka, historian and papyrologist
• Richard Woytak, World War II era
• Julia Zabłocka (1931–1993), historian, classical scholar, archaeologist
• Wincenty Zakrzewski, 16th-century Poland
• Adam Zamoyski
• Janusz K. Zawodny, World War II
• Ignacy Å»agiell (1826–1891), historian of ancient Egypt
• Marek Å»ukow-Karczewski, historian and journalist
• Kazimierz Å»urowski, archaeologist

Philosophy

• Adam of Łowicz
• Edward Abramowski
• Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz
• Zygmunt Bauman
• Stefan Błachowski
• Józef Maria Bocheński
• Anna Brożek
• Stanisław Brzozowski
• Adam Burski
• Piotr Chmielowski
• Leon Chwistek
• August Cieszkowski
• Nicolaus Copernicus
• Edward Dembowski
• Anioł Dowgird
• Adolf Dygasiński
• Michał Falkener
• Ludwik Fleck, 20th-century philosopher of science
• Danuta Gierulanka
• Józef Gołuchowski
• Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki
• Jakub Górski
• Grzegorz of Stawiszyn
• Joanna Hańderek
• Jan Hartman
• Władysław Heinrich
• Michał Heller
• Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński
• Janina Hosiasson-Lindenbaum
• Roman Ingarden
• Jakub of Gostynin
• Jan of Głogów
• Jan of Stobnica
• Józef Emanuel Jankowski
• Feliks Jaroński
• Stanisław Jaśkowski
• Jan Jonston
• Leszek Kołakowski
• Hugo Kołłątaj
• Alfred Korzybski
• Tadeusz Kotarbiński
• Władysław Mieczysław Kozłowski
• Józef Kremer
• Franciszek Krupiński
• Krystyn Lach-Szyrma
• Irena Lasota
• Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek
• Stanisław Leszczyński
• Stanisław Leśniewski
• Casimir Lewy
• Karol Libelt
• Wincenty Lutosławski
• Jan Łukasiewicz
• Kazimierz Łyszczyński
• Adam Mahrburg
• Ewa Majewska
• Marian Massonius
• Émile Meyerson
• Konstanty Michalski
• Wawrzyniec Mitzler de Kolof
• Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski
• Julian Ochorowicz
• Maria Ossowska
• Stefan Pawlicki
• Leon Petrażycki
• Sebastian Petrycy
• Bolesław Prus
• Adam Schaff
• Ulrich Schrade
• Barbara Skarga
• Stanisław Staszic
• Józef Supiński
• Józef Kalasanty Szaniawski
• Jan Szylling
• Maria Szyszkowska
• Jan Śniadecki
• Jędrzej Śniadecki
• Magdalena Środa
• Aleksander Świętochowski
• Alfred Tarski
• Władysław Tatarkiewicz
• Józef Tischner
• Andrzej Towiański
• Bronisław Trentowski
• Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka
• Kazimierz Twardowski
• Michał Twaróg of Bystrzyków
• Vitello
• Józef Warszawski
• Władysław Weryho
• Michał Wiszniewski
• Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy)
• Władysław Witwicki
• Karol Wojtyla
• Jan Woleński
• Adam Ignacy Zabellewicz
• Marian Zdziechowski
• Eleonora Ziemięcka
• Czesław Znamierowski
• Florian Znaniecki

Prose literature

• Franciszka Arnsztajnowa, playwright
• S. Ansky, Bielorussian, Polish-Jewish author of The Dybbuk
• Joanna Bator, novelist, feminist
• Witold Bełza, librarian, writer, publicist on Bydgoszcz
• Halina Birenbaum, Polish Israeli writer, translator, chronicler of the martyrdom of Polish Jewry
• Karol Olgierd Borchardt, maritime author
• Tadeusz Borowski, writer and journalist
• Tadeusz Boy-Å»eleński, writer; translator of over 100 French literary classics
• Edmund Chojecki, journalist based in France
• Joanna Chmielewska, crime writer
• Sylwia Chutnik, novelist, feminist, social activist
• Joseph Conrad (Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski), English-language novelist
• Stanisław Czerniecki, landowner and chef, author of the first Cookery book in Polish 1682
• Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa, cookbook author
• Maria Dąbrowska, novelist and translator of the Diary of Samuel Pepys into Polish
• Johannes Dantiscus (Jan Dantyszek), Latin poet and Prince-Bishop of Warmia
• Jacek Dehnel, writer, poet, translator, painter
• Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz, author of the novel, The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma
• Jacek Dukaj, science-fiction writer
• Adolf Dygasiński, novelist
• Leszek Engelking, short story writer
• Felicjan Medard Faleński, poet, novelist
• Aleksander Fredro, poet, comedy writer
• Jerzy Giedroyć, legendary émigré editor (Kultura)
• Janusz Głowacki, playwright, nonfiction author
• Ferdynand Goetel, novelist, playwright, essayist
• Witold Gombrowicz, novelist, playwright
• Stefan Grabiński, horror writer
• Mieczysław Grydzewski, legendary editor (Skamander, Wiadomości Literackie)
• Henryk Grynberg, writer
• Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki, literary and theater critic
• Józef Hen, novelist, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and reporter
• Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, writer, journalist, essayist, World War II underground fighter
• Marek Hłasko, novelist, short story writer
• Klementyna Hoffmanowa, writer of memoir and children's literature
• Paweł Huelle, essayist
• Juliusz Kaden-Bandrowski
• Wincenty Kadłubek, political scientist, writer, chronicler
• Ryszard Kapuściński, writer and journalist
• Wojciech Karpiński, writer and essayist
• Maria Konopnicka, writer, novelist
• Tadeusz Konwicki, writer
• Janusz Korczak, writer, pedagogist
• Jerzy Kosiński, writer
• Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, novelist and World War II resistance fighter
• Stefania Kossowska, journalist, writer, editor and broadcaster in emigré London
• Marek Krajewski, crime writer, known for his series of novels set in pre-war Wrocław with Eberhard Mock as the protagonist
• Hanna Krall, writer
• Ignacy Krasicki, author of the first Polish novel, The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom, and of Fables and Parables
• Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Poland's most prolific writer (and one of the world's most prolific), noted especially for his historical novels
• Wojciech Kuczok, novelist, screenwriter, film critic
• Antoni Lange, writer, poet, philosopher
• Stanisław Lem, science-fiction writer, essayist, philosopher
• Stanisław Lubieniecki, writer, astronomer* Waldemar Łysiak, writer
• Józef Mackiewicz, writer, journalist
• Kornel Makuszyński, children's writer
• Dorota Masłowska, writer and playwright
• Juliusz Mieroszewski, publicist, translator of Orwell's 1984 into Polish
• Kazimierz Moczarski, writer and journalist
• Sławomir Mrożek, dramatist and writer
• Wiesław Myśliwski, novelist
• Anna Nakwaska, children's author and educationist
• Joanna Olczak-Ronikier, novelist
• Eliza Orzeszkowa, Positivist writer
• Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, writer
• Teodor Parnicki, historical novelist
• Jan Chryzostom Pasek, memoirist
• Sergiusz Piasecki, writer
• Krzysztof Piesiewicz, screenwriter and politician
• Jerzy Pilch, writer, columnist, journalist
• Elena Poniatowska, columnist and novelist
• Jan Potocki, The Saragossa Manuscript
• Bolesław Prus, The Doll and Pharaoh
• Ksawery Pruszyński, writer and journalist
• Stanisława Przybyszewska
• Stanisław Przybyszewski, novelist, dramatist, and poet who wrote in both German and Polish
• Mikołaj Rej, a founder of Polish literary language and literature
• Małgorzata Rejmer, writer
• Sydor Rey, writer, poet, novelist
• Władysław Reymont, 1924 Nobel laureate
• Zyta Rudzka, novelist
• Henryk Rzewuski, novelist
• Pinchas Sadeh, Israeli novelist and poet
• Barbara Sanguszko, enlightenment writer and salon hostess
• Andrzej Sapkowski, fantasy writer
• Sat-Okh, Polish-Shawnee writer
• Bruno Schulz, novelist and painter
• Henryk Sienkiewicz, 1905 Nobel laureate
• Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1978 Nobel laureate
• Piotr Skarga, poet, writer, humanist
• Andrzej Stasiuk, writer, journalist, literary critic
• Jędrzej Śniadecki, terminologist, writer
• Stefan Themerson, children's writer, film maker, inventor of "semantic poetry", philosopher
• Olga Tokarczuk, writer, psychologist, 2019 Nobel laureate
• Magdalena Tulli, novelist, translator
• Marian Turwid, writer and painter from Bydgoszcz
• Leopold Tyrmand, writer
• Meyer Wolf Weisgal, American journalist, publisher, and playwright; President of the Weizmann Institute of Science
• Józef Weyssenhoff, novelist, poet, literary critic
• Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy)
• Stanisław Wyspiański, painter and writer
• Franciszek Zabłocki, comic dramatist and satirist
• Janusz A. Zajdel, science-fiction writer
• Gabriela Zapolska, novelist
• Rafał A. Ziemkiewicz, political fiction and science-fiction writer
• Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, writer
• Antonina Å»abińska, writer
• Stefan Å»eromski, novelist
• Jerzy Å»uławski, novelist

Journalism

Poetry

• Guillaume Apollinaire, (Wilhelm Apolinary Kostrowicki)
• Franciszka Arnsztajnowa
• Adam Asnyk
• Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński
• Edward Balcerzan
• Stanisław Barańczak
• Miron Białoszewski
• Zbigniew Bieńkowski
• Biernat of Lublin
• Tadeusz Borowski
• Władysław Broniewski
• Jan Brzechwa
• Stanisław Korab-Brzozowski
• Teodor Bujnicki
• Andrzej Bursa
• Tytus Czyżewski
• Jacek Dehnel
• Elżbieta Drużbacka
• Leszek Engelking
• Jerzy Ficowski
• Aleksander Fredro
• Tadeusz Gajcy
• Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński
• Zuzanna Ginczanka
• Stanisław Grochowiak
• Julia Hartwig
• Marian Hemar
• Zbigniew Herbert
• Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna
• Wacław Iwaniuk
• Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz
• Klemens Janicki
• Bruno Jasieński
• Anna Kamieńska
• Franciszek Karpiński
• Jan Kasprowicz
• Jan Kochanowski
• Feliks Konarski
• Maria Konopnicka
• Julian Kornhauser
• Urszula Kozioł
• Ignacy Krasicki
• Zygmunt Krasiński
• Andrzej Krzycki
• Paweł Kubisz
• Jalu Kurek
• Stanisław Jerzy Lec
• Jan Lechoń
• Bolesław Leśmian
• Ewa Lipska
• Henryka Łazowertówna
• Tadeusz Miciński
• Adam Mickiewicz
• Grazyna Miller, translation
• Czesław Miłosz, 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, humanism
• Jan Andrzej Morsztyn
• Zbigniew Morsztyn
• Daniel Naborowski
• Adam Naruszewicz, translation, history
• Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz
• Cyprian Kamil Norwid
• Franciszek Nowicki
• Beata Obertyńska
• Antoni Edward Odyniec
• Artur Oppman
• Władysław Orkan
• Agnieszka Osiecka
• Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska
• Jacek Podsiadło
• Wincenty Pol
• Wacław Potocki
• Halina Poświatowska
• Zenon Przesmycki
• Jeremi Przybora, songs
• Julian Przyboś
• Mikołaj Rej
• Sydor Rey
• Tadeusz Różewicz
• Zygmunt Rumel
• Lucjan Rydel
• Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz
• Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski
• Antoni Słonimski
• Juliusz Słowacki
• Edward Stachura
• Anna Stanisławska
• Anatol Stern
• Leopold Staff
• Xawery Stańczyk, poet, sociologist
• Władysław Szlengel, Jewish-Polish poet and lyricist killed in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
• Włodzimierz Szymanowicz
• Wisława Szymborska, 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Szymon Szymonowic
• Marcin Świetlicki
• Bolesław Taborski, translator of Pope John Paul II into English, BBC editor
• Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer
• Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki
• Julian Tuwim
• Jan Twardowski
• Kornel Ujejski
• Bronisława Wajs, aka "Papusza", Polska Roma poet and singer
• Aleksander Wat
• Kazimierz Wierzyński
• Stefan Witwicki
• Rafał Wojaczek
• Stanisław Wyspiański
• Tymon Zaborowski
• Adam Zagajewski
• Józef Bohdan Zaleski
• Kazimiera Zawistowska
• Piotr Zbylitowski
• Emil Zegadłowicz
• Juliusz Å»uławski

Music

• Chava Alberstein, Israeli singer-songwriter
• Piotr Anderszewski, pianist
• Stefan Askenase, Polish-Belgian pianist
• Emanuel Ax, American pianist
• Grażyna Bacewicz, composer
• Stanisław Barcewicz, conductor, violinist
• Edyta Bartosiewicz, singer
• Kamil Bednarek, reggae and dancehall vocalist, songwriter, composer and musician
• Michał Bergson, pianist composer, promoter of Chopin and father of Henri Bergson
• Marek Biliński, electronic music composer
• Rafał Blechacz, pianist
• Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz, composer ("the Chopin of guitar")
• Stan Borys, singer-songwriter
• Monika Brodka, singer
• Dariusz Brzozowski, drummer
• Jan Borysewicz, composer, singer, guitarist
• Grzegorz Ciechowski, composer, singer
• Fryderyk Chopin, composer and pianist
• Agnieszka Chylińska, singer-songwriter, author and television personality
• Marcel Chyrzyński, composer
• Cleo, singer
• Krzysztof Czerwiński, conductor and organist
• Adam Darski, singer-songwriter, guitarist
• Ania Dąbrowska, singer-songwriter, composer
• Ewa Demarczyk, singer
• Krzesimir Dębski, composer
• Wojciech Długoraj, lutenist, composer
• Andrzej Dobrowolski, composer
• Doda, singer
• Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński, composer
• Jan Drozdowski, pianist and music teacher
• Urszula Dudziak, singer
• Walek Dzedzej, punk performer
• Józef Elsner, composer, Chopin's piano teacher
• Ewa Farna, Polish-Czech singer
• Mieczysław Fogg, singer
• Robert 'Litza' Friedrich, rock singer
• Anna German, singer
• Mikołaj Gomółka, composer
• Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, composer
• Kasia Glowicka, composer
• Konstanty Gorski, composer and violinist
• Henryk Górecki, composer
• Edyta Górniak, singer
• Marek Grechuta, singer-songwriter, composer, and lyricist
• Roman Haubenstock-Ramati (1919–1994), composer and music editor
• Taco Hemingway, rapper
• Jan Hoffman, pianist and pedagogue
• Józef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist
• Mieczysław Horszowski, Polish-American pianist
• Bronisław Huberman, violinist
• Grzegorz Hyży, singer-songwriter
• Zdzisław Jachimecki, musicologist, composer
• Alicja Janosz, singer
• Anna Jantar, singer
• Adam Jarzębski, composer
• Anna Maria Jopek, singer, musician
• Jula, singer-songwriter
• Reni Jusis, singer
• Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, Oscar-winning film composer
• Jacek Kaczmarski, singer-songwriter
• Maria Kalergis, Polish-German pianist
• Bronisław Kaper, film composer
• Mieczysław Karłowicz, composer
• Jerzy Katlewicz, conductor
• Kayah, singer
• Wacław Kiełtyka, guitarist
• Stefan Kisielewski, composer, writer
• Wojciech Kilar, composer
• Krzysztof Komeda, jazz composer
• Zygmunt Konieczny, composer
• Abel Korzeniowski, film score composer
• Roman Kostrzewski, controversial singer-songwriter
• Kasia Kowalska, singer
• Henryk Kowalski (1911–1982), violinist and composer
• Seweryn Krajewski, singer-songwriter
• Dawid Kwiatkowski, singer-songwriter
• Rafał Kuczynski ('Human Error')
• Hanna Kulenty, composer
• Karol Kurpiński, composer
• Lucjan Kydryński, music critic, writer
• Wanda Landowska, harpsichordist
• Teodor Leszetycki, Austrian-Polish pianist, pedagogue
• Monika Lewczuk, singer-songwriter, model
• Franciszek Lilius, composer
• Lydia Kindermann, opera singer
• Karol Lipiński, composer, virtuoso violinist (about equal to Niccolò Paganini)
• Jan Lisiecki, Canadian pianist
• Ewelina Lisowska, singer-songwriter
• Michał Lorenc, film score composer
• Jan z Lublina, composer
• Witold Lutosławski, composer
• Jerzy Maksymiuk, conductor
• Ray Manzarek, American musician, singer, keyboardist of The Doors
• Margaret, singer-songwriter
• Patrycja Markowska, pop rock singer
• Mata, rapper
• Paweł Mąciwoda, bassist, member of the German rock band Scorpions
• Megitza, singer, double bass player, and composer
• Krzysztof Meyer, composer
• Aleksander Michałowski, pianist and pedagogue
• Marcin Mielczewski, composer
• Maciek Miernik, producer
• Carl Mikuli, composer
• Emil Młynarski, conductor and composer
• Stanisław Moniuszko, composer
• Moritz Moszkowski, German-Polish composer
• Czesław Mozil, Polish-Danish singer and musician
• Leszek Możdżer, pianist and composer
• Tadeusz Nalepa, composer, guitar player, vocalist, and lyricist
• Czesław Niemen, singer-songwriter
• Katarzyna Nosowska, singer-songwriter
• Marcin Nowak, guitarist and singer
• Feliks Nowowiejski, composer
• Zygmunt Noskowski, composer
• Natalia Nykiel, singer-songwriter
• Wiesław Ochman, opera singer
• Michał Kazimierz Ogiński, composer
• Michał Kleofas Ogiński, composer
• Hanka Ordonówna, singer, actress, dancer
• O.S.T.R., rapper, musician
• Tede, rapper, musician
• Ignacy Jan Paderewski, pianist, composer
• Andrzej Panufnik, composer
• Włodek Pawlik, jazz musician, composer
• Krzysztof Penderecki, composer
• Maria Peszek, singer-songwriter
• Jerzy Petersburski, pianist, composer
• Egon Petri (1881–1962), pianist of Dutch extraction who never lived in Holland; lived and worked in Poland, 1927–31 August 1939; was fluent in Polish.
• Pezet, rapper
• Bartłomiej Pękiel, composer
• Andrzej Piaseczny, singer-songwriter, actor, and television personality
• Svika Pick, Israeli pop singer, composer
• Dawid Podsiadło, singer
• Jerzy Połomski, singer
• Piotr Półtorak, guitarist
• Zbigniew Preisner, composer
• Zbigniew Robert Promiński, drummer
• Natalia Przybysz, rhythm and blues singer
• Pawel Przytocki, conductor
• Tomasz "Titus" Pukacki, singer
• Krzysztof Raczkowski, drummer
• Mikołaj z Radomia, Middle Ages composer
• Édouard de Reszke, bass
• Jan and Emilja Reszke, violinist and mezzo-soprano, parents of opera stars
• Jean de Reszke, tenor
• Josephine de Reszke, soprano
• Ryszard Riedel, singer
• Maryla Rodowicz, singer
• Artur Rodziński, Polish-American conductor
• Eddie Rosner, jazz, "Polish (or: The White) Louis Armstrong"
• Piotr Rubik, composer
• Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist
• Sanah, singer-songwriter
• Ada Sari, opera singer
• Jadwiga Sarnecka, composer and pianist
• Sarsa, singer-songwriter
• Bogusław Schaeffer, composer
• Xaver Scharwenka, composer
• Marcella Sembrich (1858–1935), coloratura soprano
• Kazimierz Serocki, composer
• Witold Silewicz, Polish-Austrian composer, bassist
• Józef Skrzek, composer and leader of SBB band
• Cezary Skubiszewski, Polish-Australian composer
• Marek Stachowski, composer
• Tomasz Stańko, jazz trumpeter
• Kazik Staszewski, singer-songwriter
• Muniek Staszczyk, singer
• Justyna Steczkowska, singer
• Zygmunt Stojowski, composer
• Jadwiga Szamotulska, pianist
• Wacław of Szamotuły
• Aleksander Szeligowski, composer, pedagog
• Tadeusz Szeligowski, composer, conductor
• Henryk Szeryng, Polish-Mexican violinist
• Władysław Szpilman, pianist
• Patryk Dominik Sztyber, guitarist, singer
• Maria Agata Szymanowska, composer, concert pianist
• Karol Szymanowski, composer, pianist
• Paweł Szymański, composer
• Andrzej Szwalbe, first director of the Pomeranian Philharmonic
• André Tchaikowsky, pianist, composer
• Barbara Trzetrzelewska, singer popularly known as "Basia"
• Grzegorz Turnau, singer
• Ifi Ude, Nigerian and Polish singer
• Michał Urbaniak, jazz musician
• Moshe Vilenski, Polish-Israeli composer, lyricist, and pianist
• Violetta Villas, singer-songwriter
• Andrzej Wasowski, pianist
• Henryk Wieniawski, composer
• Wanda Wiłkomirska, violinist
• Antoni Wit, conductor
• Piotr Wiwczarek, guitarist, singer
• Zbigniew Wodecki, singer, musician, composer, actor and TV presenter
• Tomasz Wróblewski, guitarist, singer
• Aga Zaryan, jazz singer
• Mikołaj Zieleński, composer
• Krystian Zimerman, pianist
• Władysław Å»eleński, composer
• Wojciech Å»ywny, Czech-born Polish composer, Chopin's first professional piano teacher

Visual arts

• Magdalena Abakanowicz, sculptor
• Tadeusz Ajdukiewicz, painter
• Zygmunt Ajdukiewicz, painter
• Sylwester Ambroziak, sculptor
• Chrystian Piotr Aigner, architect
• Paweł Althamer, contemporary artist
• Michał Elwiro Andriolli (1836–93), illustrator, painter, architect
• Teodor Axentowicz, painter and rector of Krakow Academy of Fine Arts
• Marcello Bacciarelli, Italian-Polish portrait painter
• Tomasz Bagiński, computer graphics
• Balthus (Balthasar Kłossowski de Rola), Polish-French painter
• Mirosław Bałka, contemporary painter and sculptor
• Krzysztof Bednarski, sculptor
• Zdzisław Beksiński, painter
• Bernardo Bellotto, Italian-Polish landscape and court painter
• Władysław T. Benda, painter, illustrator, designer
• Henryka Beyer (1782–1855), painter
• Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz, painter
• Walerian Borowczyk, painter, lithographer and film director
• Olga Boznańska, painter
• Józef Brandt, battle-scene painter
• Maximilian Cercha, painter and drawer
• Jan Chełmiński (1851–1925), painter of historical and military subjects
• Józef Marian Chełmoński, painter
• Gerard Ciołek, architect and historian of gardens
• Józef Czapski, painter
• Tytus Czyżewski, painter, poet, art critic
• Jacenty Dędek, photographer
• Zbigniew Dłubak, painter
• Andrzej Dłużniewski, contemporary sculptor
• Karl Duldig (1902–1986)
• Xawery Dunikowski, sculptor
• Maksymilian Fajans, Jewish–Polish artist, lithographer, photographer
• Julian Fałat, painter
• Wojciech Fangor, painter
• Jakub Fontana, baroque and neoclassical architect
• Teodor and Franciszek Gajewski, sculptors and painters
• Wojciech Gerson, painter
• Stefan Gierowski, painter
• Aleksander Gierymski, painter, brother of Maksymilian Gierymski
• Maksymilian Gierymski, painter
• Paweł Giżycki, architect
• Cyprian Godebski, sculptor
• Chaim Goldberg, Painter, Sculptor and Engraver
• Zygmunt Gorgolewski, architect
• Józef Gosławski, sculptor and medallist
• Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak, architect
• Artur Grottger, painter, illustrator
• Aleksander Gryglewski, interior portraits
• Władysław Hasior, sculptor, painter, stage designer
• Józef Hecht, engraver, printmaker
• Anton Hoffmann, 19th century architect in Bydgoszcz
• Józef Holewiński (1848–1917), graphic artist and painter
• Stanisław Horno-Popławski, painter, sculptor, pedagogue
• Władysław Horodecki, architect
• Ryszard Horowitz, photographer
• Maria Jarema, painter, sculptor
• Ewa Juszkiewicz, painter
• Anna Kamieńska-Łapińska, sculptor, animated-film scenarist
• Johann Christian Kammsetzer, architect
• Tadeusz Kantor (1915–1990), painter, theater director
• Rudolf Kern, Art Nouveau architect in Bydgoszcz
• Stefan Klajbor, architect
• Marta Klonowska, glass maker and sculptor
• Katarzyna Kobro, sculptor
• Roman Kochanowski, landscape painter
• Robert Konieczny, architect
• Gloria Kossak, painter, poet
• Jerzy Kossak, painter
• Juliusz Kossak, painter, illustrator
• Wojciech Kossak, painter
• Jan Kossowski, modernist architect
• Katarzyna Kozyra, video artist
• Lucjan Kraszewski, painter, photographer, illustrator; brother of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
• Nikifor Krynicki, painter
• Alexander Kucharsky, painter
• Zofia Kulik, performer
• Stefan Kuryłowicz, architect
• Teofil Kwiatkowski, painter
• Tamara de Lempicka, painter
• Zbigniew Lengren, cartoonist and illustrator
• Jan Lenica, graphic designer and cartoonist
• Stanisław Lentz, painter
• Aleksander Lesser, painter
• Daniel Libeskind, architect
• Bronisław Linke, graphic artist, painter of the horror of war
• Mieczysław Lubelski, sculptor, ceramicist and creator of the Polish War Memorial
• Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, painter
• Tadeusz Makowski, painter member of Paris School
• Jacek Malczewski, painter
• Rafał Malczewski, painter, writer, climber
• Kazimierz Malewicz, painter, founder of Suprematism
• Stanisław Masłowski, painter
• Jan Matejko, painter
• Agata Materowicz, painter, photographer, graphic designer, FIMO figurines designer and hand-maker
• Józef Mehoffer, painter
• Piotr Michałowski, painter
• Jacek Mierzejewski, painter
• Jerzy Mierzejewski, painter and pedagogue
• Ambroży Mieroszewski, Chopin's first portraitist
• Igor Mitoraj, sculptor
• Dorota Nieznalska, sculptor
• Nikifor, naive artist of Lemko origin
• Jan Piotr Norblin, painting, drawing, caricature
• Jerzy Nowosielski, painter
• Seweryn Obst (1847–1917), painter, illustrator, ethnographer
• Rafał Olbiński, illustrator, painter
• Roman Opałka, painter
• Aleksander Orłowski, painter
• Stanisław Julian Ostroróg, early portrait photographer, known as "Walery"
• Stanisław Julian Ignacy Ostroróg, celebrated photographer son of the other Ostroróg
• Józef Pankiewicz, painter, graphic artist
• Aniela Pawlikowska, portrait painter
• Maximilian Piotrowski, painter and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Königsberg
• Władysław Podkowiński, painter and illustrator
• Józef Pokutyński, architect
• Peter Potworowski, painter
• Stanislaw Przespolewski, painter, sculptor
• Anna Rajecka, 18th-century portrait painter
• Joanna Rajkowska, contemporary artist; designer of Warsaw's artificial palm tree
• Zofia Romer, painter
• Ferdynand Ruszczyc, painter, graphic artist, cartoonist, stage designer
• Henryk Rodakowski, painter
• Władysław Sadłowski, architect
• Wilhelm Sasnal, painter
• Jan Sawka, painter, print-maker, architect, graphic designer, multi-media artist
• Johann Christian Schuch, garden designer, architect
• Kazimierz Sichulski, painter
• Władysław Sławny, photographer
• Jan Stanisławski, painter
• Henryk Stażewski, painter
• Zofia Stryjeńska, illustrator, painter
• Władysław Strzemiński, painter
• January Suchodolski, painter
• Józef Święcicki, 19th century architect
• Józef Szajna, sculptor, stage designer, theatre director
• Stanisław Szukalski, sculptor, painter
• Arthur Szyk, illuminator, war cartoonist, book illustrator
• Wacław Szymanowski, painter, sculptor, designer of Frederic Chopin Monument in Warsaw
• Teodor Talowski, architect
• Włodzimierz Tetmajer, painter
• Franciszka Themerson, painter, illustrator, stage designer
• Stanisław Tondos, painter
• Feliks Topolski, expressionist painter and draughtsman
• Roland Topor, illustrator, painter, writer and filmmaker
• Piotr Triebler, sculptor
• Armand Vetulani
• Zygmunt Vogel, watercolor and drawing
• Marian Walentynowicz, illustrator and comic strip pioneer
• Walenty Wańkowicz, painter
• Max Weber, painter
• Fritz Weidner, designer and architect in Bydgoszcz
• Michał Weinzieher, art critic
• Wojciech Weiss, painter and draughtsman
• Jan de Weryha-Wysoczański, sculptor
• Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski, painter
• Stanisław Witkiewicz, painter, architect
• Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy), painter, photographer, playwright, novelist, philosopher
• Kazimierz Wojniakowski, painter
• Leon Wyczółkowski, painter
• Stanisław Wyspiański, painter
• August Zamoyski, sculptor
• Jerzy Zaruba, graphic artist, caricaturist, stage designer
• Jan Sas Zubrzycki, architect
• Marek Zulawski, painter and art theorist

Entertainment

• Piotr Andrejew (1947–2017) , film director
• Józef Arkusz, film director
• Tomasz Bagiński, creator of short animated films, BAFTA Award winner, Academy Award nominee
• Andrzej Bartkowiak, cinematographer, director, actor
• Eugeniusz Bodo, singer and actor
• Wojciech Bogusławski, actor, theater director, playwright; "father of the Polish Theater"
• Walerian Borowczyk, film director
• Ewa Braun, Academy Award-winning set decorator, costume designer, production designer
• Ewa Demarczyk, actress, poetry singer
• Doda (Dorota Rabczewska), actress, singer
• Paweł Edelman, cinematographer, European Film Award winner
• Aleksander Ford, director
• Piotr Fronczewski, actor and singer
• Jerzy Grotowski, theatre reformer
• Loda Halama, dancer, actor
• Adam Hanuszkiewicz, actor, theater director
• Wojciech Has, film director
• Marian Hemar, songwriter, cabaret artist
• Jerzy Hoffman, film director
• Agnieszka Holland, film director, nominated for Academy Awards and BAFTA Award
• Miłosz Horodyski, film and television director
• Sławomir Idziak, cinematographer, nominated for Oscar
• Stanislas Idzikowski, ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher
• Stefan Jaracz, actor, theater producer
• Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Academy Award-winning composer, nominated to BAFTA Award
• Jacek Kaczmarski, protest songwriter, poetry singer, guitarist
• Janusz Kamiński, two-time-Oscars- and BAFTA Award-winning cinematographer and film director
• Bronislau Kaper, Academy Award-winning composer
• Krzysztof Kieślowski, film director, nominated for Academy Awards
• Anna Kochanowska, radio journalist and politician
• Max Kolonko, Polish-American TV personality, producer, writer
• Joanna Krupa, actress and supermodel
• Kazimierz Kutz, film director
• Irena Kwiatkowska (1912–2011), actress
• Pola Negri, film actress, singer
• Vaslav Nijinsky (Wacław Niżyński), ballet dancer considered the greatest male lead of the early 20th century
• Hanka Ordonówna (1902–1950), singer, dancer, actress
• Jerzy Owsiak, broadcaster
• Krzysztof Pastor, dancer, choreographer and ballet director
• Paweł Pawlikowski, film director
• Marianna Franciszka Pierożyńska (1763–1816), actress, opera singer
• Jan Pietrzak (born 1937), satirist, cabaret performer
• Roman Polanski, award-winning film director raised and educated in Poland
• Beata Pozniak, Polish-American actress, director, activist, writer, producer
• Jeremi Przybora, writer, actor and singer
• Krzysztof Ptak, cinematographer
• Marie Rambert, influential ballet pedagogue and director
• Zbigniew Rybczyński, Oscar- and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker
• Lew Rywin, film producer
• Andrzej Saramonowicz, screenwriter, film director
• Olga Sawicka, ballet dancer and choreographer
• Leon Schiller, theatre director
• Izabella Scorupco, Polish-born Hollywood-actress and singer
• Jerzy Skolimowski, film director
• Przemysław Skwirczyński, cinematographer
• Piotr Sobocinski, cinematographer
• Allan Starski, Oscar-winning production designer, art director, set designer
• Yvonne Strahovski (Strzechowski), Polish-Australian television, film, and voice actress
• Jerzy Stuhr, actor, film director
• Franciszka Themerson, filmmaker and artist
• Henryk Tomaszewski, mime
• Basia Trzetrzelewska, singer
• Anna Tsuchiya, Japanese singer, actress, model of Polish descent
• Andrzej Wajda, Academy Award, Golden Palm, BAFTA Award, Silver Berlin Bear, César Award and Golden Lion winning film director
• Harry Warner, American Warner Bros. co-founder
• Albert Warner, American Warner Bros. co-founder
• Samuel Warner, American Warner Bros. co-founder
• Jerzy Wasowski, radio announcer, composer, pianist, actor and director
• Michał Waszyński, film director
• Leon Woizikovsky, dancer and ballet master
• Dariusz Wolski, cinematographer
• Krzysztof Zanussi, film director
• Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, actor, theater director
• Benjamin Zemach (1901–1997), choreographer and dancer, nominated for an Academy Award
• Andrzej Å»uławski (1940–2016), film director

Business

• Jan Gotlib Bloch, railway financier who in 1898 predicted the railroad-moblized industrial warfare of World War I
• Count Xavier Branicki, financier, philanthropist, co-founder of Credit Foncier de France
• Rafał Brzoska, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, founder and CEO of InPost
• Hipolit Cegielski, businessman and social and cultural activist
• Andrzej Ciechanowiecki, Polish-British Antiquarian, gallery owner, collector and philanthropist
• André Citroën, French automotive industrialist
• Jack Cohen, English co-founder of the Tesco retail chain
• Franciszek Czapek, co-partner in Patek, Czapek & Co.
• Leszek Czarnecki, businessman
• Irena Eris, businesswoman
• Max Factor, Sr., Polish-American cosmetics entrepreneur
• Françoise Frenkel, bookshop entrepreneur
• Henryk Grohman, textile manufacturer and patron of the arts
• Nathan Handwerker
• Anna Jabłonowska, early social and industrial entrepreneur, magnate
• Karol Jaroszyński, entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist
• Barbara Piasecka Johnson, humanitarian, philanthropist, widow of J. Seward Johnson, Sr.
• Leopold Stanisław Kronenberg, banker
• Stanisław Kronenberg, financier
• Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, merchant, spy, opened first Coffeehouse in Vienna (1683)
• Dominika Kulczyk, businesswoman
• Grażyna Kulczyk, businesswoman, philanthropist, art collector
• Jan Kulczyk, CEO of Kulczyk Investments, richest 21st-century Pole
• Sebastian Kulczyk, businessman
• Michał Łempicki, mining engineer, entrepreneur, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Empire
• Henry Lowenfeld, Polish-born British theatrical impresario and brewing entrepreneur
• Tomasz Lubienski, early industrialist co-founder, with his brothers, of Zyrardow textile industry
• Henryk Łubieński, banker, lawyer, industrial pioneer and Russian exile (1848)
• Zofia Lubomirska, textile entrepreneur in Przeworsk
• Michael Marks, co-founder of Marks and Spencer retail chain
• Dariusz Miłek, businessman and entrepreneur, founder of CCC SA.
• Henryk Orfinger, cosmetics entrepreneur
• Samuel Orgelbrand, editor
• Antoni Patek, co-founder of watchmakers Patek Philippe & Co.
• Antoni Protazy Potocki, banker and industrialist who developed Odesa into an international port (1780s)
• Izrael Poznański, textile magnate, philanthropist
• Helena Rubinstein, Polish-American cosmetics entrepreneur, one of the richest women who ever lived
• Frank Russek (1875/1876-1948), Polish-born American co-founder of the Russeks department store chain
• Karol Scheibler, German-born Polish textile magnate
• Feliks Sobański, landowner and philanthropist
• Zygmunt Solorz-Å»ak, businessman and media tycoon, owner of Polsat and Plus
• Michał Sołowow, businessman and rally driver
• Piotr Steinkeller, German-Polish industrial pioneer, King of Zinc
• Henri Strzelecki, founder of Henri Lloyd, Ltd., sportswear manufacturer
• Piotr Szulczewski, Canadian-Polish businessman and computer scientist, co-founder of e-commerce platform Wish.com
• Stefan Tyszkiewicz, founder of Stetysz early Polish car manufacturer
• Hyppolite Wawelberg, Polish-Jewish banker and philanthropist
• Karol Wedel, Chocolatier, confectioner
• Antoni Weynerowski, founder in Bydgoszcz of the firm Leo, renamed Kobra
• Louis Wolowski, financier co-founder of Credit Foncier de France
• Andrzej Artur Zamoyski, initiated river transportation

Politics

• Tomasz Arciszewski (1877–1955), first Prime Minister of Poland in exile (1944–47)
• Kazimierz Feliks Badeni (1846–1909), count, Minister-President of Austria (1895–97)
• Menachem Begin (1913–1992), founder of both Herut and Likud, sixth Prime Minister of Israel
• David Ben-Gurion (born David Grün; 1886–1973), head of the Jewish Agency, first Prime Minister of Israel
• Marek Belka (born 1952), director of economic policy in the interim coalition administration of Iraq, Prime Minister of Poland (2004–05)
• Bolesław Bierut (1892–1956), leader of communist Poland (1948–56)
• Michał Bobrzyński (1849–1935), Governor of Galicia (1908–13)
• Anna Borucka-Cieślewicz (born 1941), elected to the Sejm in 2005
• Zbigniew Brzeziński (1928–2017), Polish-American political scientist, advisor to US President Jimmy Carter
• Matheus Butrymowicz (1745–1814), liberal member of the Great Sejm assembled in Warsaw (1788–92)
• Jerzy Buzek (born 1940), Prime Minister of Poland (1997–2001), President of the European Parliament (2009–12)
• Jan Ciechanowski (1887–1973), Ambassador to the United States
• Alexandre Colonna-Walewski (1810–1868), Polish and French politician and diplomat; French Foreign Minister under Napoleon III.
• Józef Cyrankiewicz (1911–1989), Prime Minister of communistic Poland (1947–52 and 1954–70)
• Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (1770–1861), prince, statesman, Prime Minister (1830–31)
• Ignacy Daszyński (1866–1936), prime minister of the Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland (1918)
• Jan Dekert (1738–1790), merchant, mayor of Warsaw (1789–90)
• Isaac Deutscher (1907–1967), writer, journalist, political activist
• Heinrich Dietz (1840–1901), member of the Prussian parliament, philanthropist
• Roman Dmowski (1864–1939), nationalist politician, statesman
• Andrzej Duda (born 1972), sixth President of the Third Polish Republic (2015-2025)
• Feliks Dzierżyński (1877–1926), founder of Soviet State Security under the original name Cheka
• Edward Gierek (1913–2001), leader of communist Poland (1970–80)
• Maciej Golubiewski (born 1976), political scientist and diplomat
• Władysław Gomułka (1905–1982), leader of communist Poland (1956–70)
• Ludwik Gorzkowski (1811–1857), politician and revolutionary activist
• Julian Gutowski (1823–1890), Mayor of Nowy Sącz (1867–70)
• Piotr Jaroszewicz (1909–1992), Prime Minister of communist Poland (1970–80)
• Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014), last leader of communist Poland (1981–89), first President of the Third Polish Republic (1989–90)
• Wojciech Jastrzębowski (1799–1882) was a polymath who in 1831, after fighting in Poland's November 1830 Uprising, drafted the first constitution for his proposed European union.
• Ryszard Kaczorowski (1919–2010), sixth and last President of Poland in exile (1989–90)
• Jarosław Kaczyński (born 1949), identical twin brother of Lech, leader of Law and Justice party, Prime Minister of Poland (2006–07)
• Lech Kaczyński (1949–2010), fourth President (2005–10) of Third Polish Republic, died in Smolensk air crash
• Hugo Kołłątaj (1750–1812), co-author of Constitution of 3 May 1791
• Bronisław Komorowski (born 1952), fifth President of the Third Polish Republic (2010–15)
• Wojciech Korfanty (1873–1939), leader of Silesians during the Third Silesian uprising
• Janusz Korwin-Mikke (born 1942), far-right politician, former member of the Sejm
• Stanisław Kot (1885–1975), historian, politician, diplomat
• Leon Kozłowski (1892–1944), archeologist; Prime Minister of Poland (1934–35).
• Adrian Kubicki (born 1987), Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York City
• Jan Kucharzewski (1876–1952) , first Prime Minister of Kingdom of Poland (1917–18)
• Jacek Kuroń (1934–2004), politician, social activist
• Anna Kurska (1929–2016), judge, lawyer, and member of the Polish Senate
• Aleksander Kwaśniewski (born 1954), third President of the Third Polish Republic (1995–2005)
• Andrzej Lepper (1954–2011, leader of Samoobrona and Deputy Prime Minister
• Herman Lieberman (1870–1941), lawyer and prominent Socialist politician
• Feliks Lubienski (1758–1848), Minister of Justice, introduced the Code Napoleon, state archives, and public libraries
• Katarzyna Lubnauer (born 1969), leader of Modern political party
• Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919), leading Marxist theoretician
• Teofil Magdziński (1818–1889), political activist in Bydgoszcz, representative at the Reichstag
• Julian Marchlewski (1866–1925), Soviet politician
• Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz (born 1959), Prime Minister of Poland (2005–06)
• Tadeusz Mazowiecki (1927–2013), politician, first Prime Minister of the Third Polish Republic (Poland)
• Adam Michnik (born 1946), influential journalist
• Ludwik Mierosławski (1814–1878), insurgent, general, Paris communard
• Stanisław Mieroszewski (1827–1900), member of the Imperial Council of Austria
• Stanisław Mikołajczyk (1901–1966), Prime Minister of Poland (1943–44), Agrarian Party politician
• Karol Modzelewski (1937–2019), activist, politician and academic
• Jędrzej Moraczewski (1870–1944), first Prime Minister of II RP (1918–19)
• Ignacy Mościcki (1867–1946), third President (1926–39) of the Second Polish Republic
• Walery Mroczkowski (1840–1889), anarchist, friend of Mikhail Bakunin
• Lewis Bernstein Namier (1888–1960), British politician and historian
• Gabriel Narutowicz (1865–1922), first President of the Second Polish Republic (1922)
• Karol Nawrocki (born 1983), seventh President of the Third Polish Republic (since 2025)
• Józef Oleksy, Prime Minister of III RP (1995–96), Speaker of the Sejm (1993–95; 2004–05)
• Janusz Onyszkiewicz (born 1937), Solidarność spokesman, mathematician, alpinist, Minister of Defence
• Marian P. Opala, Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court
• Stanisław Osiecki, Minister of Agriculture 1923, Minister of Trade & Industry (1925-26)
• Jozef Maksymilian Ossolinski (1748–1826), founder of Ossolineum, Poland's signal cultural patron
• Stanisław Ostrowski (1892–1982), third President of Poland in exile (1972–79)
• Ignacy Paderewski (1860–1941), second Prime Minister of the Second Polish Republic (1919)
• Longin Pastusiak (1935–2025), Marshal of the Senate (2001–05)
• Waldemar Pawlak (born 1959), Prime Minister of Poland (1992 and 1993–95)
• Karolina Pawliczak (born 1976), lawyer and politician
• Shimon Peres (born Szymon Perski; 1923–2016), President of Israel (2007–14), Prime Minister of Israel (1984–86; 1995–96)
• Teodoro Picado Michalski (1900–1960), Costa Rican president, Polish mother
• Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935), statesman, politician and Marshal of Poland
• Emilia Plater (1806–1831), revolutionary, independence leader
• Władysław Broel-Plater (1808–1889), independence activist, founder of Polish Museum, Rapperswil
• Alfred Józef Potocki (1817 or 1822–1889), count, Minister-President of Austria (1870–71)
• Ignacy Potocki (1750–1809), co-author of Constitution of 3 May 1791
• Adam Pragier (1886-1976), leading socialist deputy, exiled minister and writer
• Władysław Raczkiewicz (1885–1947), first President of Poland in exile (1939–47)
• Edward Raczyński (1891–1993), fourth President of Poland in exile (1979–86)
• Antoni Radziwiłł (1775–1833), prince, the Duke-Governor of Grand Duchy of Posen (Poznań) (1815–31)
• Józef Retinger (1888–1960), writer, adviser, grey eminence, founder of the Bilderberg conferences
• Adam Ronikier (1881–1952), count, president of the Central Welfare Council (1916–18; 1940–43)
• Kazimierz Sabbat (1913–1989), fifth President of Poland in exile (1986–89)
• Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (born 1948), vice-president of European Parliament (2004–07)
• Władysław Sikorski (1881–1943), general, Prime Minister of Poland (1939–43)
• Radosław Sikorski (born 1963), politician and former foreign minister (2007–14)
• Walery Sławek (1879–1939), independence fighter and former prime minister
• Stefan Starzyński (1893–1939), President of Warsaw (1934–39)
• Władysław Studnicki (1867–1953), politician and publicist
• Romuald Szeremietiew (born 1945), independence activist and former Minister of National Defense
• Krzysztof Szczerski (born 1973), Ambassador to the UN
• Beata Szydło (born 1963), Prime Minister of Poland (2015–17)
• Theodore de Korwin Szymanowski (1846–1901), conceptualised an economic union for Europe in 1885
• Róża Thun (born 1954), anticommunist activist, activist for European Union
• Donald Tusk (born 1957), chairman of Civic Platform; President of European Council (2014–19) and Prime Minister of Poland (2007–14; 2023–)
• Kazimierz Tyszka (1872–1951), Minister of Railways (1923–25), in Władysław Grabski's government
• Lech Wałęsa (born 1943), trade unionist who started dismantling of the Soviet bloc, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, second President of the Third Polish Republic (1990–95)
• Ludwik Waryński (1856–1889), socialist activist in the 19th century
• Wanda Wasilewska (1905–1964), communist activist during World War II
• Edward Werner (1878–1945), born in Poland to parents of German origin; vice-Minister of Finance, and Polish diplomat during World War II
• Alexander Wielopolski (1803–1877), count, Marquis of Gonzaga, statesman
• Wincenty Witos (1874–1945), politician of the agrarian party
• Stanisław Wojciechowski (1869–1953), second President of the Second Polish Republic (1922–26)
• Walery Antoni Wróblewski (1836–1908), politician, insurgency commander
• Joanna Wronecka (born 1958), Ambassador to the UN
• August Zaleski (1883–1972), second President of Poland in exile (1947–72)
• Jan Zamoyski (1542–1605), chancellor and grand hetman of the crown

Law

Diplomacy

• Władysław Bartoszewski (1922–2015), foreign affairs minister of III RP (1995; 2000–2001)
• Józef Beck (1894–1944), foreign affairs minister of II RP (1932–1939)
• Alois Friedrich von Brühl (1739–1793), Polish-Saxon diplomat, starost of Warsaw
• Matthew Bryza (born 1964), American diplomat
• Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (born 1950), foreign affairs minister of III RP (2001–2005)
• Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (1770–1861), Polish diplomat; Russian Imperial foreign minister (1804–1806)
• Władysław Czartoryski (1828–1894), prince, the main diplomatic agent of the National Government (1863–1864)
• Roman Dmowski, foreign affairs minister of II RP (1923)
• Bronisław Geremek, foreign affairs minister of III RP (1997–2000)
• Agenor Maria Gołuchowski, count, foreign affairs minister of Austria-Hungary (1895–1906)
• Krzysztof Grzymułtowski, diplomat and voivod of Poznań, author of the Eternal Peace Treaty with Russia (1686)
• Stanisław Janikowski, diplomat in Rome, to Holy See (1927–1954)
• Wacław Jędrzejewicz (1893–1993)
• Julian Klaczko (1825–1906), Polish diplomat
• Stanisław Kot, historian, politician, diplomat. Polish ambassador to the Soviet Union (1941–1942), Italy (1945–1947).
• Józef Lipski, Polish ambassador to Germany (1933–1939)
• Juliusz Łukasiewicz, Polish ambassador to the Soviet Union (1934–1936) and France (1936–1939)
• Ivan Maysky (1884–1975), Soviet diplomat
• Stefan Meller, foreign affairs minister of III RP (2005–2006)
• Lewis Bernstein Namier (1888–1960), British diplomat and historian
• Andrzej Olechowski, foreign affairs minister of III RP (1993–1995)
• Ignacy Paderewski, foreign affairs minister of II RP (1919) and third prime minister of Poland
• Stanisław Patek, foreign affairs minister of II RP (1919–1920)
• Edward Bernard Raczyński, count, Polish ambassador to the United Kingdom (1934–1945) and foreign affairs minister (1941–1943)
• Adam Rapacki, foreign affairs minister of communist Poland (1956–1968)
• Józef Retinger (1888–1960), advocate for a European Union
• Tadeusz Romer, foreign affairs minister of the Polish Government in Exile (1943–1944)
• Dariusz Rosati, foreign affairs minister of III RP (1995–1997)
• Adam Daniel Rotfeld, foreign affairs minister of III RP (2005)
• Radosław Sikorski, foreign affairs minister of III RP (2007–2014)
• Konstanty Skirmunt, foreign affairs minister of II RP (1921–1922)
• Aleksander Skrzyński, foreign affairs minister of II RP (1922–1923; 1924–1926)
• Krzysztof Skubiszewski (1926– 2010), first foreign affairs minister of III RP (1989–1993)
• Romuald Spasowski, Polish ambassador to the United States (1955–1961; 1978–1981)
• Jan Szembek, count, foreign affairs deputy secretary (1932–1939)
• Yosef Tekoah (1925–1991), Israeli diplomat and President of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
• Andrey Vyshinsky, Soviet jurist and diplomat
• Alexandre Joseph Count Colonna-Walewski, Polish and French foreign affairs minister
• Leon Wasilewski, foreign affairs minister of II RP (1918–1919)
• Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski, general, Polish ambassador to Italy (1938–1940)
• Sergey Yastrzhembsky (born 1953), Russian diplomat
• August Zaleski (1883–1972), foreign affairs minister of II RP (1926–1932)
• Maurycy Klemens Zamoyski (1871–1939), foreign affairs minister of II RP (1924)
• Josef Zieleniec (born 1946), Czech foreign affairs minister

Military

• Władysław Anders, general, military commander during the Battle of Monte Cassino (1944)
• Krzysztof Arciszewski, general of artillery of Holland (1639), and Poland (1646)
• Józef Bem, military commander, commander-in-chief of Hungarian army (1849)
• Janusz Bokszczanin, colonel, last chief of staff of the Home Army (1944–1945)
• Edmond Wilhelm Brillant (1916–2004)
• Moshe Carmel (1911–2003), Israeli Major-General and Israeli Minister of Transportation
• Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, military commander, victor of Kircholm (1605)
• Józef Chyliński, resistance fighter
• Michał Czajkowski (Sadok Pasha) (1804–1886), Polish commander-in-chief of an Ottoman Cossack brigade during the Crimean War (1853–1856)
• Stefan Czarniecki, Field Crown Hetman of Poland (1665)
• Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, general, military commander during the Napoleonic Wars
• Jarosław Dąbrowski, military commander during the January 1863 Uprising and the Paris Commune (1871)
• Henryk Dembiński, military commander in the November uprising and the Hungarian uprising of 1849
• Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski, general, ambassador, nominated President of Poland (1939)
• Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki, general, military commander in the Greater Poland Uprising (1919)
• Bolesław Bronisław Duch, World War II general
• Jerzy Pajaczkowski-Dydynski (1894–2005), soldier in World War I and in the 1920–21 Polish-Soviet War; at his death, he was the oldest man in the United Kingdom (111 years old)
• Emil August Fieldorf, general, last deputy commander-in-chief of the Home Army (1944–1945)
• Wanda Gertz, major, soldier during World War I, Home Army commandant in World War II and in German POW camps
• Józef Haller, politician, commander of the Polish Army in France during World War I
• Stanisław Haller, general, murdered by the NKVD in the 1940 Katyn massacres
• Hava Inbar (died 2024), Lieutenant Colonel of the Israeli Defense Forces and the first female military judge in the world
• Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski, Grand Crown Hetman (1682/3–1702)
• Jan Nowak-Jezioranski (1913–2005), journalist and World War II hero
• Berek Joselewicz, Polish-Jewish colonel in the Kościuszko Uprising and in Napoleon's Polish Legions; commanded the first Jewish military formation in modern history
• Mikołaj Kamieniecki, first Grand Crown Hetman of Poland (1503–1515)
• Werner Kampe, SS Hauptsturmführer war criminal, Kreisleiter of the NSDAP, Mayor of Bydgoszcz
• Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski, general, founder of the resistance movement "Polish Victory Service" (27 September 1939)
• Kazimierz J. Kasperek, most decorated Polish Navy officer of World War II
• Wanda Józefa Maria Kirchmayer, second lieutenant of the Polish Secret Military Organization (1940–1944)
• Tadeusz Klimecki, general, the Chief of the General staff of the Polish Army (1941–1943)
• Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, general, commander-in-chief of the Home Army (1943–1944), during Warsaw Uprising (1944)
• Stanisław Koniecpolski, Grand Crown Hetman (1632–1646)
• Stanisław Kopański, general, the Chief of the General staff of the Polish Army (1943–1946)
• Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish and American commander, general and revolutionist
• Jan Kozietulski, colonel, commander during the Napoleonic Wars
• Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski, Polish Union general in the American Civil War; Chopin's first cousin
• Marian Kukiel, World War II general, historian
• Franciszek Latinik, general, military governor of Warsaw during the 1920 Battle of Warsaw
• Aleksander Lisowski, commander of 17th-century Lisowczycy
• Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski, Prince, Field Crown Hetman (1657–1664), victor at the Battle of Chudniv (Cudnów) (1660)
• Walenty Łukawski, captain in the Bar Confederation, abductor of King Stanisław August Poniatowski
• Stanisław Maczek (1892–1994), commander of the Polish Armored Division; after World War II, commander-in-chief of Polish forces in exile
• Bernard Mond, Polish–Jewish general
• Mieczysław Norwid-Neugebauer, general and minister of Polish–Jewish family
• Leopold Okulicki, general, last commander-in-chief of the Home Army (1944–1945)
• Juliusz Konstanty Ordon, officer in the November uprising (1830–1831)
• Adam Ostrzycki, Marshall of the confederation army 1665-6
• Tadeusz Pełczyński, chief of staff of the Home Army (ZWZ / AK) (1941–1944)
• Józef Piłsudski, statesman, interwar Marshal of Poland
• Emilia Plater, countess, heroine of the November 1830 Uprising
• Józef Poniatowski, prince, Polish general and marshal of France
• Kazimierz Pułaski (Casimir Pulaski), Polish and American military commander
• Konstantin Rokossovsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union during WWII
• Stefan Rowecki, general, military commander, commander-in-chief of the Armed Resistance (ZWZ) (1940–1942) and Home Army (1942–1943)
• Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski, general, Chief of Staff during the Battle of Warsaw
• Edward Rydz-Śmigły, marshal, military commander, successful in the Polish-Soviet War, C-in-C of the Polish Army in the September 1939 Campaign
• Yitzhak Sadeh (born Isaac Landsberg; 1890–1952), a founder of the Israel Defense Forces
• Danuta Siedzikówna (1928–1946), medical orderly in Polish Army
• Władysław Sikorski, general, commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces and Prime Minister of Poland (1939–1943)
• Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski (1885–1962), general, physician and 28th Prime Minister of Poland (1936–1939)
• Piotr Skuratowicz, general of the Polish Army, was murdered by the NKVD in the Katyn massacre
• Stanisław Sosabowski, commander of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, which saw action at the Battle of Arnhem during Operation Market Garden (1944)
• Kazimierz Sosnkowski, general, Commander-in-Chief of Polish Armed Forces (1943–1944)
• Adam Sowa, former deputy chief executive of the European Defence Agency
• Józef Sowiński, general, hero of the November uprising (1830–1831)
• Zygmunt Szendzielarz ("Łupaszko")
• Ignacy Szymanski, veteran of November 1830 Uprising and American Civil War (on the Confederate side)
• Jerzy Świrski (1882–1959), vice admiral in the Polish navy under British command during World War II
• Jan Tarnowski, Grand Crown Hetman (1527–1561), victor of Obertyn (1531)
• Jozef Unrug (1884–1973), German-born vice-admiral in Polish navy, imprisoned in Colditz Castle during WWII
• Maria Wittek (1899–1997), brigadier general, head of Women's Auxiliary Military Service (1928–1949)
• Wojtek (1942–1963), a Persian bear, adopted during World War II by soldiers of the 2nd Polish Corps
• Stefania Wojtulanis-Karpińska (1912–2005), Captain in the Polish Air Force, pilot in Air Transport Auxiliary during Second World War, where known as Barbara Wojtulanis
• Piotr Wysocki, led the November Uprising (1830)
• Aleksandra Zagórska, lieutenant colonel, independence activist and organiser of women's military squads (1917–1921)
• Kordian Józef Zamorski, general; chief of the Polish state police (1935–1939)
• Jan Zamoyski, Great Chancellor of Poland (1578–1605) and Grand Crown Hetman (1581–1605)
• Władysław Stanisław Zamoyski, general in the Crimean War, diplomat (1803–1868)
• Elżbieta Zawacka, general; the only woman among the Silent Unseen
• Stanisław Żółkiewski, chancellor of Poland, military commander, conqueror of Moscow (1610), Grand Crown Hetman (1613–1620)
• Janusz Å»urakowski, World War II fighter pilot and Avro Arrow test pilot

Intelligence

• Feliks Ankerstein, interwar covert-operations officer and deputy to Edmund Charaszkiewicz in Office 2 of the General Staff's Section II (Intelligence)
• Edmund Charaszkiewicz, interwar covert-operations officer and coordinator of Józef Piłsudski's Promethean project to dismember the Soviet Union
• Maksymilian Ciężki, chief of the Polish Cipher Bureau's German section (BS–4), which from 1932 decrypted German Enigma ciphers, paving the way for Britain's World War II Ultra secret
• Roman Czerniawski, Polish Air Force captain and British Double Cross System agent
• , Home Army (AK) colonel, chief of the General Staff's Section II (intelligence) (1942–1943)
• Wiktor Tomir Drymmer, close collaborator of Foreign Minister Józef Beck, and chief of the secret prewar K-7 organization that supervised certain Polish covert operations
• Józef Englicht, prewar deputy chief of the Polish General Staff's Section II
• Michael Goleniewski, Cold War Polish, Soviet, and American-CIA agent
• Jan Karski, emissary who confirmed the reality of the Holocaust to Western Allies
• Bolesław Kontrym, Polish agent, Red Army combrig, Polish Army major
• Jan Kowalewski, engineer, intelligence officer and cryptologist, one of many who broke Soviet ciphers during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1921
• Andrzej Kowerski, Polish Army officer and World War II British SOE agent; colleague of Krystyna Skarbek
• Ryszard Kukliński, Polish Army colonel, Cold War CIA master spy
• Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, Polish spy at the Battle of Vienna (1683); founder of Vienna's first coffee house, which offered coffee produced from coffee beans captured from the Turks
• Gwido Langer, head of Poland's Cipher Bureau, which from 1932 broke Germany's military Enigma ciphers
• Kazimierz Leski, engineer, fighter pilot, World War II "Musketeers" and Home Army intelligence officer
• Stefan Mayer, prewar Section II intelligence officer who supervised the General Staff's Cipher Bureau
• Jerzy Pawłowski, Olympic gold-medalist fencer and Cold-War double agent
• Tadeusz Pełczyński, general, chief of the General Staff's Section II (1929–1932; 1935–January 1938)
• Sergiusz Piasecki, Polish agent, covering the area of Soviet Belarus (1922–1926)
• Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish consul-general and intelligence agent in London (1948–1949); the most influential contemporary critic of German literature
• Tadeusz Schaetzel, intelligence officer, chief of the General Staff's Section II (1926–1929)
• Krystyna Skarbek, aka Christine Granville, World War II British SOE agent
• Mieczysław Zygfryd Słowikowski (Rygor-Słowikowski), Polish Army intelligence officer whose work in North Africa facilitated Allied preparations for the 1942 Operation Torch landings
• Jerzy Sosnowski, major, Polish spy in Germany (1926–1934) as Georg von Sosnowski, Ritter von Nalecz
• Antoni Szymański, Polish military attaché in Berlin (1932–1939)
• Halina Szymańska, World War II British intelligence agent; wife of Antoni Szymański
• Jan Włodarkiewicz, lieutenant colonel, the first commander of Wachlarz
• Marian Zacharski, Cold-War Polish intelligence agent convicted of espionage against the United States

Holocaust resistance

• Irena Adamowicz
• Mordechaj Anielewicz, Warsaw Ghetto uprising
• Dawid Apfelbaum, Warsaw Ghetto uprising
• Władysław Bartoszewski
• Adolf Berman
• Alexander Bogen (1916–2010), partisan leader
• Anna Borkowska (Sister Bertranda)
• Icchak Cukierman
• Gusta Dawidson Draenger
• Marek Edelman
• Leon Feldhendler (1910–1945)
• Hela Felenbaum-Weiss (1924–1988), partisan fighter
• Tuviah Friedman (1922–2011), Nazi hunter
• Izrael Kanal
• Yitzhak Gitterman
• Bernard Goldstein
• Haika Grossman
• Irena Gut
• Kazimierz Iranek-Osmecki, Polish Army officer, Home Army officer, historian of aid given to Jews in World War II by the Polish Underground State and by ordinary Polish civilians
• Henryk Iwański
• Jan Karski
• Juliusz Kühl
• Michał Klepfisz
• Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, co-founder of Å»egota
• Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz, co-founder of Å»egota
• Countess Karolina Lanckorońska
• Zivia Lubetkin
• Aleksander Ładoś, Polish de facto Ambassador to Switzerland
• Edward Mosberg (1926–2022), Polish-American Holocaust survivor, educator, and philanthropist
• Maurycy Orzech
• Witold Pilecki
• Konstanty Rokicki, Polish consul in Bern who forged Paraguayan passports to rescue Jews
• Tadeusz Romer, Polish ambassador to Japan and in Shanghai Ghetto
• Stefan Ryniewicz, Polish diplomat
• Irena Sendler, saved nearly 2,500 Jewish children in World War II
• Joseph Serchuk (Józef Serczuk; 1919–1993), leader of a Jewish partisan unit in the Lublin area
• Henryk Sławik, "Polish Schindler", diplomat in Hungary
• Leopold Socha, another "Polish Schindler"
• Chaim Sztajer (1909–2008), known for his participation in the Treblinka uprising
• Simon Wiesenthal, Nazi hunter
• Józef and Wiktoria Ulma
• Jankiel Wiernik (י1888-1972), influential figure in the Treblinka extermination camp resistance
• Samuel Willenberg (1923–2016)
• Henryk Woliński
• Lidia Zamenhof
• Szmul Zygielbojm
• Jan and Antonina Å»abiński

Religion

• Yitzchak Meir Alter, Rebbe founder of the Ger Hasidic dynasty
• Andrzej Alojzy Ankwicz, Roman Catholic archbishop of Lwów (1815–33) and archbishop of Prague (1833–1838)
• Baal Shem Tov (Yisroel ben Eliezer, 1698–1760), rabbi and founder of Hasidic Judaism
• Blessed Jan Beyzym (1850–1912), Jesuit missionary among lepers in Madagascar
• St. Józef Bilczewski, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lwów, 1900–1923
• St. Andrew Bobola, Jesuit
• St. Evan Yurewicz, Catholic, missionary
• Tadeusz Brzozowski, elected first Jesuit Superior General after the restoration of the Society of Jesus
• Szymon Budny, Polish-Belarusian humanist and Arian priest
• Juliusz Bursche, Polish Lutheran bishop killed by the Germans at Sachsenhausen concentration camp
• St. Casimir Jagiellon, grandson of King Władysław II Jagiełło
• St. Adam (Albert) Chmielowski (Albertine order)
• Bl. August Czartoryski, Prince
• Edmund Dalbor, Primate of Poland, Cardinal, 1915–1926
• Albin Dunajewski, Bishop of Kraków, Cardinal, 1879–1894
• Stanisław Dziwisz, Archbishop of Kraków, since 2005, Cardinal
• St. Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, Archbishop of Warsaw (1862), exiled and Titular Archbishop of Tarsus (1882)
• Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Archbishop of Warsaw, 1856–1861
• Jacob Frank, Jewish messianic leader who combined Judaism and Christianity
• Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, vicar, humanist, and theologian
• Piotr Gamrat, Primate of Poland, 1541–1545
• Józef Gawlina, military bishop, Divisional general, theologian, archbishop
• Józef Glemp, Primate of Poland, 1981–2006
• Adam Stanisław Grabowski, Prince-Bishop of Warmia
• Michał Heller, physicist and philosopher, Templeton Prize laureate
• August Hlond, Primate of Poland, 1926–1948, Cardinal
• Stanislaus Hosius, legate to Poland, Cardinal and Prince-Bishop of Warmia
• St. Hyacinth, Dominican
• St. Jadwiga, Queen of Poland, 1384–1399
• Henryk Jankowski, Prelate, Chaplain of "Solidarność"
• Marian Jaworski, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lviv, 1991–2008, Cardinal
• Aleksander Kakowski, Archbishop of Warsaw, Cardinal
• St. Raphael Kalinowski, Carmelite
• St. Jan Kanty, professor at Kraków University
• Stanisław Karnkowski, Primate of Poland, 1581–1603; Interrex, 1586–1587
• St. Stanisław Kazimierczyk, priest and preacher
• Chaim Kreiswirth, Chief Rabbi of Congregation Machzikei Hadass Antwerp, founder and rosh yeshiva of the Mercaz HaTorah yeshiva in Jerusalem
• St. Maksymilian Maria Kolbe, Franciscan martyr, Auschwitz 1941
• Hugo Kołłątaj, priest, statesman
• Bolesław Kominek, Archbishop of Wrocław, 1972–1974, Cardinal
• St. Stanisław Kostka, Jesuit
• St. Faustina Kowalska, Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy
• Maria Michał Kowalski, Archbishop of the Catholic Church of the Mariavites, introduced women clergy in 1929
• Adam Kozłowiecki, Jesuit, Archbishop of Lusaka, Cardinal
• Feliksa Kozłowska, inspiration of the Mariavite Church
• Ignacy Krasicki, Primate of Poland
• Adam Stanisław Krasiński, Bishop of Kamieniec Podolski, 1757–1798
• John Krol, Archbishop of Philadelphia, Cardinal, 1961–1988
• Mieczysław Halka Ledóchowski, Primate of Poland, 1866–1886, Cardinal
• Mary Theresa Ledóchowska, missionary, founder of the Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver
• Saint Ursula Ledóchowska, religious, founder of the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus
• Włodzimierz Halka Ledóchowski, Superior General of the Society of Jesus (1915–1942)
• Jan Łaski (1456–1531), Primate of Poland, 1510–1531
• Jan Łaski (1499–1560), Protestant reformer; nephew of the Primate
• Władysław Aleksander Łubieński, Archbishop of Lwów, Primate of Poland, 1759–1767; Interrex, 1763–1764
• Franciszek Macharski, Archbishop of Kraków, 1978–2005, Cardinal
• Ryszard Markwart, catholic priest and national activist
• Tomasz Miśkiewicz, mufti of Polish Muslims and Imam of Białystok
• Mieczysław Mokrzycki, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lviv, since 2008
• Mikołaj Stanisław Oborski (1576–1646), Jesuit
• Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Bishop of Kraków, 1423–1455; first Cardinal of Polish origin, from 1449; statesman
• Zbigniew Oleśnicki, nephew of Zbigniew Oleśnicki; Cardinal Primate of Poland, 1481–1493
• Edward O'Rourke, bishop of Gdańsk
• Piotr of Goniądz, spiritual leader of the Polish Brethren
• Jerzy Popiełuszko, Catholic priest and dissident assassinated by the Polish security service in 1984, martyr of the Church
• Walenty Potocki (died 1749), Count; converted to Judaism as Avrohom ben Avrohom, the Ger Tzedek of Vilna
• Tadeusz Puder (1908–1945), Polish Roman Catholic priest of Jewish origin
• Jan Puzyna, Bishop of Kraków, 1895–1911, Cardinal
• Jerzy Radziwiłł, Bishop of Kraków, Cardinal, 1591–1600
• Sholom Rokeach, the first Belzer Rebbe, 1817–1855
• Tadeusz Rydzyk, Redemptorist, broadcast radio controller
• Czeslaw Sokolowski, Roman Catholic priest, theologian, university rector
• St. Stanisław of Szczepanów, Bishop of Kraków, martyr 1079
• Adam Stefan Sapieha, Bishop/Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal, 1911–1951
• Franciszka Siedliska, religious, founder of Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth
• Piotr Skarga, Jesuit preacher
• Kajetan Sołtyk, Bishop of Kyiv, 1756–59; Bishop of Kraków, 1759–1788
• Boruch Steinberg, the first Rabbi and an officer of the Polish Army before and during World War II
• Kazimierz Świątek, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev; Apostolic Administrator of Pinsk, Cardinal
• Edmund Szoka, Catholic Archbishop of Detroit, Cardinal 1981–1990
• Jakub Szynkiewicz (1884–1966), Imam of Poland, translated portions of Qur'an into Polish
• Jozef Teodorowicz, last Armenian Catholic Archbishop of Lwow (1864–1938)
• Hipolit Terlecki, theologian
• Józef Tischner, priest, philosopher and first chaplain of the trade union, Solidarity
• Andrzej Towiański, philosopher and 19th century messianist
• Mikołaj Trąba, Archbishop of Gniezno, first Primate of Poland, 1418–1422
• Jakub Uchański, Primate of Poland, 1562–1581; Interrex, 1572–73 and 1574–1575
• Vilna Gaon (1720–1797), non-Hassidic Jewish leader, the "saintly genius from Vilnius"
• Piotr Wawrzyniak, priest, economist and activist (1849–1910)
• Chaim Elozor Wax (1822–1887), rabbi
• Karol Józef Wojtyła, Auxiliary Bishop of Kraków 1958–1963, Archbishop of Kraków 1963–1978, Pope John Paul II 1978–2005
• Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of Poland, Cardinal, 1948–1981
• Lawrence Wnuk, Protonotary apostolic, decorated Polish Canadian, (1908–2006)
• Schneur Zalman, first Hasidic Rebbe of Chabad (1745–1810)

Nobility

Royalty

• Mieszko I, first Duke of Poland
• Doubravka of Bohemia, first Duchess of Poland
• Świętosława (Gunhild), daughter of Mieszko I of Poland, mother of Canute the Great, King of England, Denmark and Norway
• Bolesław I the Brave, first King of Poland
• Mieszko II Lambert, second King of Poland
• Richeza of Lotharingia, queen of Poland
• Casimir I the Restorer, duke of Poland
• Bolesław II the Bold, third King of Poland
• Władysław I Herman, duke of Poland
• Bolesław III Wrymouth, duke of Poland
• Mieszko III the Old, duke of Greater Poland, Senior Duke of Poland
• Casimir II the Just, duke of Cracow, Senior Duke of Poland
• Leszek I the White, duke of Cracow, Senior Duke of Poland
• Henry I the Bearded, duke of Silesia, Senior Duke of Poland
• Konrad I of Masovia, duke of Mazovia and Kuyavia
• Henry II the Pious, senior duke of Poland, commander of Polish forces in the Battle of Legnica (1241)
• Przemysł II, King of Poland
• Władysław I the Elbow-high, king of Poland
• Louis I of Hungary, king of Poland
• Elizabeth of Poland, Queen of Hungary, Regent in Poland
• Casimir III the Great, Piast Dynasty last King of Poland
• Jadwiga of Poland, first female monarch of Poland
• Władysław II Jagiełło, Lithuanian, king of Poland, victor at the Battle of Grunwald (1410)
• Władysław III of Varna (Ulászló I), king of Poland and Hungary, killed at the Battle of Varna (1444)
• Casimir IV Jagiellon, king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, victor in the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466)
• John I Albert, king of Poland
• Alexander Jagiellon, grand duke of Lithuania and king of Poland
• Sigismund I the Old, king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania
• Roxelana (Khourrem, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent)
• Barbara Radziwiłłówna, consort of Sigismund II August
• Bona Sforza, Queen consort of Poland
• Sigismund II Augustus, last Jagiellon king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Anna Jagiellon, reigned together with her husband Stephen Báthory
• Henry III of France, king of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Stephen Báthory, Hungarian-born king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Sigismund III Vasa, king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and king of Sweden
• Władysław IV Vasa, elected Tsar of Russia, king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Marie Louise Gonzaga, Queen of Poland, Grand Duchess of Lithuania
• John II Casimir Vasa, king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, victor at the Battle of Beresteczko (1651)
• John III Sobieski, king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, victor at the Battle of Vienna (1683)
• Maria Clementina Sobieska, queen of France, England, Scotland and Ireland
• Michael I, king of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Stanisław Leszczyński, king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Duke of Lorraine
• Marie Leszczyńska, Queen consort of France
• Catherine Opalińska, queen of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Duchess of Lorraine
• Augustus II the Strong, king of Poland, Elector of Saxony
• Augustus III of Poland, king of Poland, Elector of Saxony
• Maria Amalia of Saxony, consort of Carlos III, king of Spain
• Stanisław August Poniatowski, last king of the Poland, co-author of the Constitution of 3 May 1791
• Princess Maria Christina of Saxony (1770–1851), Princess Carignano House of Savoy

Assassins

• Leon Czolgosz, American assassin of American President William McKinley
• Ignacy Hryniewiecki, assassin of Tsar Alexander II of Russia
• Eligiusz Niewiadomski, modernist painter, art critic, assassin of Polish President Gabriel Narutowicz
• Janusz Waluś, assassin of Chris Hani

Miscellany

• George Adamski, controversial ufologist
• Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz, sailor
• Franciszek Czapek, watchmaker
• Aleksander Doba, explorer who holds the record for the longest open-water kayak voyage ever made
• Michał Drzymała, resistance hero
• Piotr Gawryś, contract bridge champion
• Wincenty Gostkowski, watchmaker
• Halina Grabowski, war hero
• Barbara Hulanicki, fashion designer, founder of Biba
• Piotr Iwanicki, wheelchair dancing world champion
• Alicja Iwańska, resistance movement and anti-communist activist
• Marek Kamiński, adventure traveler
• Rutka Laskier, diarist, killed during the World War II Holocaust
• Piotr Naszarkowski, engraver
• Stefan Ossowiecki, psychic
• Stanisław Pietkiewicz, cartographer and geographer
• Feliks Rajmund Podkóliński, physician, soldier
• Ludwik Rajchman, bacteriologist, founder of UNICEF
• Czesław Słania, postage stamp and banknote engraver
• Renia Spiegel, diarist, killed during the World War II Holocaust, known as "the Polish Anne Frank"
• Stanisława Tomczyk, spiritualist medium, early 20th century
• Wilfrid Michael Voynich (Michał Habdank-Wojnicz, 1865–1930), Polish revolutionary and bibliophile remembered as the eponym of the mysterious Voynich manuscript
• Warren Winiarski, California winemaker
• Kuba Wojewódzki, journalist, television personality, drummer, comedian, and columnist
• Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska, physician, pioneering female doctor in the United States
• Maciej Zien, fashion designer

Legendary persons

• Krakus, legendary prince and founder of Kraków
• Lech, legendary founder of the Polish nation
• Piast the Wheelwright (Piast Kołodziej), semi-legendary figure in prehistoric Poland (9th century); founder of the Piast dynasty
• Popiel, semi-legendary 9th-century ruler of the western Polans; last of the Popielids
• Lajkonik, a Kraków half-man-half-horse figure representing a Mongol invader, with his own festival after the feast of Corpus Christi
• Our Lady of Częstochowa (known also as "the Black Madonna"), foremost of Polish religious icons
• Abraham Prochownik, legendary Jewish figure, said to have been named prince of the western Polans after the death of Popiel in 842
• Sarmatians, ancient proto-Persian tribe that fed the idea of Sarmatism during the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
• John Scolvus, semi-legendary sailor of the late 15th century
• Syrenka warszawska, legendary fresh-water mermaid said to have been rescued by Vistula fishermen. Iconic symbol of Warsaw
• Pan Twardowski, semi-legendary Faust-like sorcerer; in Polish legend, the first man on the Moon (in the 16th century)
• Janek Wiśniewski, freedom fighter; hero of 1970 Gdynia riots

Fictional characters

• Matteusz Andrzejewski, played by Jordan Renzo, a character in Class, a British science fiction drama programme, and a spin-off of the long-running programme Doctor Who
• Captain William Joseph B.J. Blazkowicz in Wolfenstein 3D
• Ernst Stavro Blofeld, a villain from the James Bond series of novels and films, created by Ian Fleming
• Bolek i Lolek, cartoon characters from a Polish children's TV animated comedy series
• Baba Jaga, Polish version of the forest-dwelling sorceress
• Balinski Wiktor, famous from the Polish legend "Chłopiec z dziwnym mózgiem"
• Waldemar Daninsky, wolfman in La Marca del Hombre Lobo
• Nicodemus Dyzma, in Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz's novel The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma
• Jacob Jankowski, a character played by Robert Pattinson in a 2011 American romantic drama film Water for Elephants
• Marcin Jerek, Polish-born British professor and former CIA interrogator, in the TV series NCIS, played by W. Morgan Sheppard
• Dr. Judym, in Stefan Å»eromski's novel Homeless People
• Kajko i Kokosz
• Florentyna Kane in The Prodigal Daughter and Shall We Tell the President?
• Commander Keen, grandson of B.J. Blazkowicz
• Hans Kloss (Captain Kloss), World War II secret agent in the Polish TV serial Stake larger than life
• Kordian
• Funky Koval, space detective
• Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk, a singer of Polish descent played by Marilyn Monroe in Billy Wilder's 1959 romantic comedy film Some Like It Hot
• Kowalski, a penguin in the children's film Madagascar
• Stanley Kowalski, in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire
• Detective Stanley Kowalski, Polish-American Chicago policeman in the 1990s Canadian television series Due South
• Walt Kowalski, Polish-American Korean War veteran and retired Ford worker, in Clint Eastwood's 2008 film Gran Torino
• Lucyna "Lucy" Kushinada, a netrunner of mixed Polish and Japanese descent in '
• Ligia, heroine of Sienkiewicz's novel, Quo Vadis?
• Man of Iron, symbol of Solidarity and title of Wajda's film
• Koziołek Matołek, like the bear and the horse, the goat is part of Polish folklore, here in Kornel Makuszyński's rendition
• Mike Nomad (with Steve Roper), an American adventure comic strip (1936–2004)
• Count Olenski, estranged husband of Ellen Olenska in Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence (1920)
• Pan Tadeusz, poetic distillation of Polish patriotism and nostalgia
• Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski, in HBO's The Wire, went from police officer to school teacher
• Officer Eddie Pulaski in '
• Stefan "Steve" Radecki, a character played by Anton Walbrook in 1941 British war film Dangerous Moonlight
• Abel Rosnovski in Kane and Abel
• Pan Samochodzik, adventurer created by Zbigniew Nienacki
• Paweł i Gaweł, humorous morality tale about neighbour relations, a favourite children's poem
• Sasquatch (Dr. Walter Langkowski), Marvel superhero
• Sierotka Marysia, archetypal abandoned girl, "Little orphan Mary", living with dwarves
• Walter Sobchak, the "Polish Catholic" in the film The Big Lebowski
• Silk Spectre I & II, superheroines in Watchmen
• Stanislau, ace pilot in Blackhawk
• Stanisław Tarkowski (Staś), protagonist of young-adult novel In Desert and Wilderness by Nobel laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz
• Mieczysław Stilinski, also known as Stiles Stilinski, one of the main characters in American television series Teen Wolf broadcast on MTV and played by Dylan O'Brien
• Michael Stivic, in All in the Family
• Tadzio, a Polish boy (inspired by Władysław Moes) in Thomas Mann's novel Death in Venice as well as 1971 film adaptation of the same name by Luchino Visconti played by Björn Andrésen
• Ijon Tichy, main protagonist in several works of Stanisław Lem such as The Star Diaries, The Futurological Congress, Peace on Earth and Observation on the Spot
• Kasia Tomaszewski, played by Zofia Wichłacz, a character in World on Fire, a 2019 war drama miniseries broadcast on BBC One
• Maciej Tomczyk ala Lech Wałęsa, in the 1981 film Man of Iron, directed by Andrzej Wajda
• Pan Twardowski, a Faust-like figure of Polish legend, literature and film.
• Tytus, Romek i A'Tomek, Polish comic book heroes

• Miś Uszatek, cartoon character
• Walter Koskiusko Waldowski, the "Painless Pole" in the film MASH
• Konrad Wallenrod, in the narrative poem by Adam Mickiewicz
• John Paul Wiggin (Jan Paweł Wieczorek) in the Ender's Game series
• Stanisław Wokulski, protagonist of Bolesław Prus' novel The Doll
• Stanley Thaddeus "Wojo" Wojciehowicz, played by Max Gail, in the American television sitcom Barney Miller
• Wrocław's dwarfs, brass manikins that first appeared on the city's pavements in 2005
• Piotr Zak, composer in a spoof BBC documentary
• Sophie Zawistowski, played by Meryl Streep, in Sophie's Choice based on a novel by William Styron

Models

• Anna Anka (Anna Åberg, Anna Yeager), Swedish-American, born in Poland
• Małgosia Bela, born in Kraków
• Magdalena Frąckowiak, born in Gdańsk
• Gila Golan, born in Kraków
• Monika Jagaciak, born in Poznań
• Anna Jagodzińska, born in Sierpc
• Joanna Krupa, born in Warsaw
• Anja Rubik, born in Rzeszów
• Izabella Scorupco, born in Białystok
• Ewa Sonnet, born in Rybnik, glamour model
• Sasha Strunin, born in Saint Petersburg
• Kasia Struss, born in Ciechanów
• Francys Sudnicka, Polish-Venezuelan, born in Valencia, Venezuela
• Karolina Wydra, Polish-American, born in Opole
• Iga Wyrwał, born in Kalisz

Athletics

• Andrzej Badeński (1943–2008), Olympic sprinter
• Iga Baumgart-Witan (born 1989), Olympic sprinter
• Konrad Bukowiecki (born 1997), Olympic shot putter
• Lidia Chojecka (born 1977), Olympic middle- and long-distance runner
• Jerzy Chromik (1931–1987), Olympic long-distance runner
• Teresa Ciepły (1937–2006), Olympic sprinter and hurdler
• Sofia Ennaoui (born 1995), Olympic middle-distance runner
• Paweł Fajdek (born 1989), Olympic hammer thrower
• Marian Foik (1933–2005), Olympic sprinter
• Wioletta Frankiewicz (born 1977), steeplechaser
• Halina Górecka (born 1938), Polish and German Olympic sprinter
• Piotr Haczek (born 1977), Olympic sprinter
• Michał Haratyk (born 1992), Olympic shot putter
• Zdzisław Hoffmann (born 1959), Olympic triple jumper
• Barbara Janiszewska (1936–2000), Olympic sprinter
• Michel Jazy (1936–2024), French Olympic middle- and long-distance runner
• Ilana Karaszyk (born 1938), Israeli Olympic sprinter and long jumper
• Ewa Kłobukowska (born 1946), Olympic sprinter
• Władysław Komar (1940–1998), Olympic champion shot putter
• Halina Konopacka (1900–1989), Polish-American Olympic champion discus thrower
• Robert Korzeniowski (born 1968), Olympic champion racewalker
• Władysław Kozakiewicz (born 1953), Lithuanian-born Polish Olympic champion pole vaulter
• Łukasz Krawczuk (born 1989), Olympic sprinter
• Elżbieta Krzesińska (1934–2015), Olympic champion long jumper
• Jakub Krzewina (born 1989), Olympic sprinter
• Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak (1929–2003), Olympic champion steeplechaser
• Adam Kszczot (born 1989), Olympic middle-distance runner
• Wacław Kuchar (1897–1981), athlete
• Janusz Kusociński (1907–1940), Olympic champion long-distance runner; murdered by the Nazis
• Maria Kwaśniewska (1913–2007), Olympic javelin thrower
• Marcin Lewandowski (born 1987), Olympic middle-distance runner
• Tomasz Majewski (born 1981), Olympic champion shot putter
• Piotr Małachowski (born 1983), Olympic discus thrower
• Wiesław Maniak (1938–1982), Olympic sprinter
• Bronisław Malinowski (1951–1981), Olympic champion steeplechaser
• Robert Maćkowiak (born 1970), Olympic sprinter
• Tamara Metal (1933–2022), Israeli Olympic high jumper and long jumper, and captain of the Israel women's national basketball team
• Józef Noji (1909–1943), Olympic long-distance runner, murdered in Auschwitz concentration camp
• Rafał Omelko (born 1989), Olympic sprinter
• Wanda Panfil (born 1959), Olympic long-distance runner
• Artur Partyka (born 1969), Olympic high jumper
• Edmund Piątkowski (1936–2016), Olympic discus thrower
• Marek Plawgo (born 1981), Olympic hurdler and sprinter
• Myer Prinstein (1878–1925), Polish-American Olympic champion long-jumper and triple-jumper
• Monika Pyrek (born 1980), Olympic pole vaulter
• Anna Rogowska (born 1981), Olympic pole vaulter
• Tadeusz Rut (1931–2002), Olympic hammer thrower
• Piotr Rysiukiewicz (born 1974), Olympic sprinter
• Edward Sarul (born 1958), shot putter
• Janusz Sidło (1933–1993), Olympic javelin thrower
• Kamila Skolimowska (1982–2009), Olympic champion hammer thrower
• Irena Szewińska (1946–2018), Olympic champion sprinter
• Józef Szmidt (1935–2024), Olympic champion triple jumper
• Ewa Swoboda (born 1997), Olympic sprinter
• Tadeusz Ślusarski (1950–1998), Olympic champion pole vaulter
• Justyna Święty-Ersetic (born 1992), Olympic champion sprinter
• Marcin Urbaś (born 1976), Olympic sprinter
• Jadwiga Wajs (1912–1990), Olympic discus thrower
• Stanisława Walasiewicz (1911–1980), Polish-American Olympic champion sprinter
• Jan Werner (1946–2014), Olympic sprinter
• Anita Włodarczyk (born 1985), Olympic champion hammer thrower
• Paweł Wojciechowski (born 1989), Olympic pole vaulter
• Marian Woronin (born 1956), Olympic sprinter
• Jacek Wszoła (born 1956), Olympic champion high jumper
• Karol Zalewski (born 1993), Olympic champion sprinter
• Kazimierz Zimny (1935–2022), Olympic long-distance runner
• Szymon Ziółkowski (born 1976), Olympic champion hammer thrower

Baseball

• Moe Drabowsky (1935–2006), Polish-born American baseball player
• Bill Mazeroski (born 1936), American baseball player, Hall of Fame
• Stan Musial (1920-2013), American baseball player, Hall of Fame
• Tom Paciorek (born 1946), American baseball player

Basketball

• Aleksander Balcerowski (born 2000), basketball player
• Dardan Berisha (born 1988), Kosovan-Polish basketball player
• Oded Brandwein (born 1988), Israeli-Polish basketball player
• Aaron Cel (born 1987), French-Polish basketball player
• Olek Czyż (born 1990), basketball player
• Margo Dydek (1974-2011), basketball player, FIBA Hall of Fame
• Filip Dylewicz (born 1980), basketball player
• Tomasz Gielo (born 1993), basketball player
• Marcin Gortat (born 1984), Polish-American National Basketball Association (NBA), Los Angeles Clippers player
• Karol Gruszecki (born 1989), basketball player
• Adam Hrycaniuk (born 1984), basketball player
• Steve Javie (born 1955), American NBA referee
• Przemek Karnowski (born 1993), basketball player
• Thomas Kelati (born 1982), American-Polish basketball player
• Mateusz Kostrzewski (born 1989), basketball player
• Łukasz Koszarek (born 1984), basketball player
• Damian Kulig (born 1987), basketball player
• Maciej Lampe (born 1985), Polish-Swedish NBA basketball player
• David Logan (born 1982), American-born Polish basketball player
• Dominik Olejniczak (born 1996), basketball player
• Mateusz Ponitka (born 1993), basketball player
• A.J. Slaughter (born 1987), Polish-American basketball player
• Jeremy Sochan (born 2003), Polish-American NBA player, San Antonio Spurs
• Michał Sokołowski (born 1992), basketball player
• Krzysztof Szubarga (born 1984), basketball player
• Adam Waczyński (born 1989), basketball player
• Adam Wójcik (1970-2017), basketball player

Boxing

• Tomasz Adamek
• Aleksy Antkiewicz
• Joe Choynski
• Zygmunt Chychła
• Leszek Drogosz
• Charley Goldman, International Boxing Hall of fame
• Andrzej Gołota
• Janusz Gortat
• Józef Grudzień
• Marian Kasprzyk
• Jerzy Kulej
• Dariusz Michalczewski
• Kazimierz Paździor
• Zbigniew Pietrzykowski
• Jerzy Rybicki
• Feliks Stamm, coach
• Jan Szczepański
• Artur Szpilka
• Henryk Średnicki
• Izu Ugonoh
• Krzysztof Włodarczyk
• Tony Zale
• Janusz Zarenkiewicz

Checkers

• Natalia Sadowska (born 1991)

Chess

• Izak Aloni (1905–1985), Polish-Israeli chess master
• Izaak Appel (1905–missing), chess master
• Arnold Aurbach (1888–1952), Polish-French chess master
• Zdzisław Belsitzmann (1890–1920), chess master
• Abram Blass (1895–1971), Polish-Israeli chess master
• Agnieszka Brustman (b. 1962), woman chess grandmaster
• Oscar Chajes (1873–1928)
• Joseph Cukierman (1900–1941), Polish-born French grandmaster
• Hieronim Czarnowski (1834–1902), Polish-French chess master
• Moshe Czerniak (1910–1984), Polish-Israeli International Master
• Arthur Dake (1910–2000), American born to Polish parents, grandmaster
• Dawid Daniuszewski (1885–1944), chess master
• Józef Dominik (1894–1920), chess master
• Jan-Krzysztof Duda (b. 1998), grandmaster
• Arthur Dunkelblum (1906–1979), Polish-Belgian International Master
• Boruch Israel Dyner (1903–1979), Polish-Belgian-Israeli chess master
• Hanna Ereńska (b. 1946), woman grandmaster
• Samuel Factor (1883–1949), Polish-American chess master
• Alexander Flamberg (1880–1926), chess master
• Henryk Friedman (1903–1942), chess master
• Achilles Frydman (1905–1940), chess player, died in a Nazi concentration camp
• Paulino Frydman (1905–1982), Polish-Argentinean chess master
• Regina Gerlecka (1913–1983), chess player
• Edward Gerstenfeld (1915–1943), chess master, killed in the Holocaust
• Yehuda Gruenfeld (born 1956), grandmaster
• Izaak Grynfeld (1912-?), later known as Ignacy Branicki, Polish-born Israeli chess master
• Róża Herman (1902–1995), Woman International Master
• Krystyna Hołuj-Radzikowska, Woman International Master
• Chaim Janowski (1868–1935), chess master
• Dawid Janowski (1868–1927), chess player
• Max Judd (1851–1906), American chess player
• Bernhard Kagan (1866–1932), German chess player
• Stanisław Kohn (1895–1940), chess master
• George Koltanowski (1903–2000), American International Master born in Belgium to a Polish-Jewish family, set the world's blindfold record by playing 34 chess games simultaneously while blindfolded, and set a record for playing 56 consecutive blindfold games at ten seconds per move (winning 50, drawing 6).
• Henrijeta Konarkowska-Sokolov (b. 1938), Polish-Serbian chess master
• Michał Krasenkow (b. 1963), Russian-born grandmaster, moved to Poland in 1992
• Leon Kremer (1901–1941), chess master
• Adam Kuligowski (b. 1955), grandmaster
• Abraham Kupchik (1892–1970), American chess master
• Salo Landau (1903–1943), Dutch chess player, died in a Nazi concentration camp
• Edward Lasker (1885–1981), German-American chess International Master
• Paul Saladin Leonhardt (1877–1934), German chess master
• Grigory Levenfish (1889–1961), Soviet grandmaster
• Moishe Lowtzky (1881–1940), Ukrainian–Polish chess master, died in a Nazi concentration camp
• Bartłomiej Macieja (b. 1977), grandmaster
• Kazimierz Makarczyk (1901–1972), chess master
• Kalikst Morawski (1859–1939), chess master
• Stasch Mlotkowski (1881–1943), American chess master, born in the US to Polish parents
• Piotr Murdzia (b. 1975), chess International Master
• Miguel Najdorf (1910–1997), Polish-Argentine grandmaster
• Menachem Oren (1903–1962), Polish-born Israeli chess player
• Julius Perlis (1880–1913), Austrian chess player
• Karol Piltz (1903–1939), chess master
• Oskar Piotrowski, chess master
• Kazimierz Plater (1915–2004), International Master
• Henryk Pogorieły (1908–1943), chess master, murdered in the Holocaust
• Ignatz von Popiel (1863–1941), Polish-Ukrainian chess player
• Artur Popławski (1860–1918), chess master
• Dawid Przepiórka (1880–1940), won the first Polish championship, murdered in the Holocaust
• Iweta Rajlich (b. 1981), International Master and Woman Grandmaster
• Teodor Regedziński (1894–1954), chess master
• Samuel Reshevsky (1911–1992), Polish-American grandmaster
• Samuel Rosenthal (1837–1902), Polish-born French chess player
• Gersz Rotlewi (1889–1920), chess master
• Akiba Rubinstein (1880–1961), Polish-Belgian International Grandmaster
• Gersz Salwe (1862–1920), chess master
• Włodzimierz Schmidt (b. 1943), grandmaster
• Leon Schwartzmann (1887–1942), Polish–French chess master, murdered in Auschwitz concentration camp
• Stanislaus Sittenfeld (1865–1902), Polish–French chess master
• Monika Soćko (b. 1978), grandmaster and Woman Grandmaster
• Franciszek Sulik (1908–1997), Polish-Australian chess master
• Bogdan Śliwa (1922–2003), International Master
• Dariusz Świercz (b. 1994), Polish-American grandmaster
• Gedali Szapiro (Grzegorz Szapiro; 1929–1972), chess master
• Savielly Tartakower (1887–1956), Polish-French International Grandmaster
• Jean Taubenhaus (1850–1919), Polish–born French chess master
• Oscar Tenner (1880–1948), Poland-born German–American chess master
• Vitaly Tseshkovsky (1944–2011), Russian grandmaster
• Alexander Wagner (1868–1942)
• Szymon Winawer (1838–1919), chess player
• Radosław Wojtaszek (b. 1987), grandmaster
• Aleksander Wojtkiewicz (1963–2006), Polish-American grandmaster
• Daniel Yanofsky (1925–2000), Canadian grandmaster
• Józef Å»abiński (1860–1928), chess master
• Johannes Zukertort (1842–1888), Polish-born British-German chess master
• Adolf Zytogorski (–1882), Polish-British chess master

Climbing

• Klemens Bachleda, Tatra guide and mountain rescuer
• Kinga Baranowska, mountaineer
• Andrzej Bargiel, ski mountaineer and climber
• Leszek Cichy, high-altitude climber
• Jerzy Kukuczka, high-altitude climber
• Wojciech Kurtyka, high-altitude climber and rock climber
• Aleksandra Mirosław (born 1994), Olympic champion speed climber
• Aleksander Ostrowski, high-altitude climber and extreme skier
• Piotr Pustelnik, high-altitude climber
• Wanda Rutkiewicz, high-altitude climber
• Krzysztof Wielicki, high-altitude climber
• Andrzej Zawada, high-altitude climber

Cycling

• Maciej Bodnar
• Eugenia Bujak
• Zenon Jaskuła
• Justyna Kaczkowska
• Michał Kwiatkowski
• Czesław Lang
• Wacław Latocha
• Rafał Majka
• Przemysław Niemiec
• Katarzyna Niewiadoma
• Mieczysław Nowicki
• Katarzyna Pawłowska
• Daria Pikulik
• Paweł Poljański
• Wojciech Pszczolarski
• Szymon Sajnok
• Sylwester Szmyd
• Stanisław Szozda
• Ryszard Szurkowski, road bicycle racing
• Mateusz Taciak
• Adrian Tekliński
• Piotr Wadecki, road bicycle racing
• Maja Włoszczowska

Fencing

• Robert Andrzejuk (born 1975), Olympic épée fencer
• Kazimierz Barburski (1942–2016), Olympic épée fencer
• Michał Butkiewicz (born 1942), Olympic épée fencer
• Zbigniew Czajkowski (1921–2019), foil and sabre fencer, and coach
• Egon Franke (1935–2022), Olympic champion foil fencer
• Arkadiusz Godel (born 1952), Olympic champion foil fencer
• Sylwia Gruchała (born 1981), Olympic foil fencer
• Roman Kantor (1912–1943), Olympic épée fencer, murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp
• Renata Knapik-Miazga (born 1988), Olympic épée fencer
• Marcin Koniusz (born 1983), Olympic sabre fencer
• Edward Korfanty (born 1952), Polish-born American fencing master
• Adam Krzesiński (born 1965), Olympic foil fencer
• Ryszard Parulski (1938–2017), Olympic foil fencer
• Jerzy Pawłowski (1932–2005), Olympic champion sabre fencer
• Anna Rybicka (born 1977), Olympic foil fencer
• Ryszard Sobczak (born 1967), Olympic foil fencer
• Aleksandra Socha (born 1982), Olympic sabre fencer
• Rafał Sznajder (1972–2014), Olympic sabre fencer
• Ewa Trzebińska (born 1989), Olympic épée fencer
• Witold Woyda (1939–2008), Olympic champion foil fencer
• Barbara Wysoczańska (born 1949), Olympic foil fencer
• Wojciech Zabłocki (1930–2020), Olympic sabre fencer

Football

• Zygmunt Anczok, defender
• Henryk Apostel, coach
• Jan Banaś, attacker
• Jan Bednarek, defender
• Jakub Błaszczykowski, midfielder
• Zbigniew Boniek, midfielder, head of the Polish Football Association (PZPN)
• Artur Boruc, goalkeeper
• Lucjan Brychczy, midfielder
• Andrzej Buncol, midfielder
• Matty Cash, defender
• Ewald Cebula, defender
• Gerard Cieślik, midfielder
• Lesław Ćmikiewicz, midfielder
• Kazimierz Deyna, midfielder
• Bartłomiej Drągowski, goalkeeper
• Jerzy Dudek, goalkeeper
• Ewald Dytko, midfielder
• Łukasz Fabiański, goalkeeper
• Robert Gadocha, attacker
• Ludwik Gintel, defender/forward
• Jacek Gmoch, coach
• Jerzy Gorgoń, defender
• Kazimierz Górski, coach
• Kamil Grabara, goalkeeper
• Ya'akov Grundman (Jakub Grundman' 1939-2004), midfielder and manager
• Paweł Janas, defender, coach
• Ireneusz Jeleń, attacker
• Erich Juskowiak, defender
• Józef Kałuża, attacker, coach
• Henryk Kasperczak, midfielder, coach
• Jakub Kiwior, defender
• Miroslav Klose, attacker
• Józef Klotz, defender; murdered by the Nazis
• Raymond Kopa, attacker
• Hubert Kostka, goalkeeper
• Tadeusz Kuchar, midfielder, coach
• Tomasz Kuszczak, goalkeeper
• Grzegorz Lato, attacker
• Robert Lewandowski, attacker
• Jan Liberda, attacker
• Włodzimierz Lubański, attacker
• Józef Lustgarten, midfielder, manager
• Stefan Majewski, defender, coach
• Szymon Marciniak, football referee
• Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, goalkeeper
• Arkadiusz Milik, attacker
• Józef Młynarczyk, goalkeeper
• Piotr Nowak, midfielder
• Erwin Nyc, midfielder
• Teodor Peterek, attacker
• Krzysztof Piątek, attacker
• Ryszard Piec, midfielder
• Wilhelm Piec, midfielder
• Antoni Piechniczek, defender, coach
• Leonard Piontek, midfielder
• Lukas Podolski, attacker
• Łukasz Piszczek, defender
• Ernest Pohl, attacker
• Fryderyk Scherfke, midfielder
• Itzhak Schneor, defender
• Yisha'ayahu Schwager (Jeszaja Szwagier), Olympic defender
• Ebi Smolarek, attacker
• Włodzimierz Smolarek, midfielder
• Leon Sperling, forward (left wing)
• Zygmunt Steuermann, forward
• Karol Swiderski, forward
• Piotr Świerczewski, midfielder
• Grzegorz Szamotulski, goalkeeper
• Andrzej Szarmach, attacker
• Władysław Szczepaniak, defender
• Wojciech Szczęsny, goalkeeper
• Edward Szymkowiak, goalkeeper
• Andrzej Szczypkowski (born 1971), midfielder
• Łukasz Teodorczyk, attacker
• Jan Tomaszewski, goalkeeper
• Piotr Trochowski, midfielder
• Krzysztof Warzycha, attacker
• Ernest Wilimowski, attacker
• Walter Winkler, defender
• Maryan Wisnieski, attacker
• Gerard Wodarz, attacker
• Łukasz Załuska, goalkeeper
• Piotr Zieliński, midfielder
• Władysław Å»muda, defender

Ice hockey

• Mariusz Czerkawski
• Wayne Gretzky, mixed Polish descent
• Gordie Howe, mixed Polish descent
• Mike Komisarek
• Ed Olczyk
• Krzysztof Oliwa
• Brian Rafalski
• Peter Sidorkiewicz, Polish-Canadian
• Bryan Smolinski
• Pete Stemkowski
• Lee Stempniak
• Daniel Tkaczuk
• James Wisniewski
• Wojtek Wolski, Polish-Canadian
• Travis Zajac

Judo

• Rafał Kubacki (born 1967), Olympic judoka
• Waldemar Legień (born 1963), Olympic champion judoka
• Paweł Nastula (born 1970), Olympic champion judoka

Skating

• Karolina Bosiek, speed skater
• Zbigniew Bródka, speed skater
• Patrycja Maliszewska, short track speed skater
• Elwira Seroczyńska, speed skater
• Jan Szymański, speed skater

Skiing

• Konrad Bartelski, Alpine ski racer
• Bronisław Czech, Alpine ski racer
• Piotr Fijas, ski jumper
• Wojciech Fortuna, ski jumper
• Krystyna Guzik, biathlete
• Monika Hojnisz, biathlete
• Stefan Hula, Sr., Nordic combined skier
• Stefan Hula, Jr., ski jumper
• Justyna Kowalczyk, cross-country skier
• Maciej Kot, ski jumper
• Dawid Kubacki, ski jumper
• Józef Łuszczek, cross-country skier
• Adam Małysz, ski jumper
• Jan Marusarz, World War II Carpathian Mountains escort of intelligence agent Krystyna Skarbek
• Stanisław Marusarz, ski jumper
• Weronika Nowakowska, biathlete
• Tomasz Sikora, biathlete
• Monika Skinder, cross-country skiing
• Kamil Stoch, ski jumper
• Jan Ziobro, ski jumper
• Piotr Å»yła, ski jumper

Swimming

• Katarzyna Baranowska
• Konrad Czerniak
• Agnieszka Czopek
• Otylia Jędrzejczak
• Radosław Kawęcki
• Bartosz Kizierowski
• Michael Klim, Australian
• Agata Korc
• Paweł Korzeniowski
• Daniel Kowalski, Australian
• Sławomir Kuczko
• Ksawery Masiuk
• Mariusz Podkościelny
• Mateusz Sawrymowicz
• Lejzor Ilja Szrajbman; murdered by the Nazis in Majdanek concentration camp
• Rafał Szukała
• Katarzyna Wasick
• Wojciech Wojdak
• Artur Wojdat

Tennis

• Wojciech Fibak
• Magdalena Fręch
• Mariusz Fyrstenberg
• Hubert Hurkacz
• Jerzy Janowicz
• Klaudia Jans-Ignacik
• Jadwiga Jędrzejowska
• Angelique Kerber, German
• Łukasz Kubot
• Magda Linette
• Sabine Lisicki, German
• Kamil Majchrzak
• Marcin Matkowski
• Daniel Prenn (1904–1991), Russian-born German, Polish, and British world-top-ten tennis player
• Michał Przysiężny
• Agnieszka Radwańska
• Urszula Radwańska
• Władysław Skonecki
• Iga Świątek
• Caroline Wozniacki, Danish

Volleyball

• Zbigniew Bartman
• Michał Bąkiewicz
• Mateusz Bieniek
• Agnieszka Bednarek-Kasza
• Izabela Bełcik
• Grzegorz Bociek
• Monika Bociek
• Rafał Buszek
• Fabian Drzyzga
• Tomasz Fornal
• Małgorzata Glinka-Mogentale
• Piotr Gruszka
• Krzysztof Ignaczak
• Jakub Jarosz
• Joanna Kaczor
• Łukasz Kadziewicz
• Karol Kłos
• Jakub Kochanowski
• Dawid Konarski
• Grzegorz Kosok
• Michał Kubiak
• Bartosz Kurek
• Bartosz Kwolek
• Wilfredo León
• Grzegorz Łomacz
• Mateusz Mika
• Joanna Mirek
• Marcin Możdżonek
• Agata Mróz-Olszewska
• Dawid Murek
• Piotr Nowakowski
• Paweł Papke
• Daniel Pliński
• Magdalena Sadowska
• Arie Selinger (born 1937)
• Kamil Semeniuk
• Katarzyna Skowrońska-Dolata
• Artur Szalpuk
• Aleksander Śliwka
• Sebastian Świderski
• Dorota Świeniewicz
• Hubert Wagner
• Anna Werblińska
• Michał Winiarski
• Mariusz Wlazły
• Tomasz Wójtowicz
• Andrzej Wrona
• Paweł Zagumny
• Paweł Zatorski
• Łukasz Å»ygadło

Weightlifting

• Waldemar Baszanowski (1935–2011)
• Marcin Dołęga (born 1982)
• Ze'ev Friedman (1944–1972), flyweight weightlifter killed in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre
• Ben Helfgott (1929–2023), Polish-born British
• Zbigniew Kaczmarek ( 1946–2023)
• Aleksandra Klejnowska (born 1982)
• Szymon Kołecki (born 1981)
• Andrzej Maszewski
• Mieczysław Nowak
• Norbert Ozimek
• Ireneusz Paliński
• Norbert Schemansky (1924–2016), American
• Zygmunt Smalcerz
• Marek Seweryn
• Stanley Stanczyk (1925–1997), American
• Agata Wróbel
• Adrian Zieliński
• Marian Zieliński (1929–2005)

Others sports

• Iwo Baraniewski, mixed martial arts
• Józef Bednarski, wrestling WWF
• Karol Bielecki, handball
• Leszek Blanik, gymnastics
• Jan Błachowicz, mixed martial arts
• Maciej Chorążyk, soccer official and sports journalist
• Janusz Centka, gliding
• Jarek Dymek, strongman
• Mateusz Gamrot, mixed martial arts
• Tomasz Gollob, Motorcycle speedway World Champion
• Andrzej Grubba, table tennis
• Sebastian Janikowski, American football
• Stan Javie, American football official
• Joanna Jędrzejczyk, mixed martial arts
• Stefan Kapłaniak, canoeing
• Sebastian Kawa, gliding
• Justin Koschitzke, former professional Australian rules footballer for St Kilda
• Karolina Kowalkiewicz, mixed martial arts
• Robert Kubica, Formula One and auto racing driver
• Tomasz Kucharski, rowing
• Mateusz Kusznierewicz, sailing
• Jerzy Makula, glider aerobatics
• Wiktor Malinowski, professional poker player
• Piotr Markiewicz, canoeing
• Renata Mauer, shooting
• Przemyslaw Mazur, auto racing
• Gene Mruczkowski, American football
• Scott Mruczkowski, American football
• Zofia Noceti-Klepacka, windsurfing
• Aneta Pastuszka, canoeing
• James Podsiadly, former professional Australian rules footballer for Adelaide and Geelong
• Mariusz Pudzianowski, strongman
• Ivan Putski, professional wrestler
• Helena Rakoczy, gymnastics
• Teresa Remiszewska (1928–2002), ocean sailor
• Arkadiusz Skrzypaszek, modern pentathlete
• Paul Slowinski, Muay Thai
• Adam Smelczyński, shooting
• Rafał Sonik, quad rally driver
• Robert Sycz, rowing
• Jerzy Szczakiel, Motorcycle speedway World Champion
• Sławomir Szmal, handball
• Marek Twardowski, canoeing
• Roger Verey, rowing
• Bogdan Wenta, handball
• Sebastian Wenta, strongman, highland games
• David Wojcinski, former professional Australian rules footballer for Geelong
• Jerzy Wojnar, luge
• Andrzej Wroński, wrestling
• Józef Zapędzki, shooting
• Sobiesław Zasada, auto racing

See also

• List of Polish Americans
• List of Polish inventors and discoverers
• List of Polish Jews
• List of Polish Nobel laureates
• Poles
• Timeline of Polish science and technology

References

External links