Baháʼí Faith in Poland

The history of the Baháʼí Faith in Poland begins in the 1870s when Polish writer Walerian Jablonowski wrote several articles covering the religion's early history in Persia. There was a Polish-language translation of Paris Talks published in 1915. After becoming a Baháʼí in 1925, Poland's Lidia Zamenhof returned to Poland in 1938 as its first well-known Baháʼí. During the period of the Warsaw Pact, Poland adopted the Soviet policy of oppression of religion, so Poland's Baháʼí community, strictly adhering to its principle of obedience to legal government, abandoned its administration and properties. An analysis of publications before and during this period found that coverage by Soviet-based sources was basically hostile to the Baháʼí Faith while native Polish coverage was neutral or positive. By 1963, only Warsaw was recognized as having a Baháʼí community. Following the fall of communism in Poland because of the Revolutions of 1989, the Baháʼís in Poland began to initiate contact with each other and have meetings; the first of these arose in Kraków and Warsaw. In March 1991, the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly was re-elected in Warsaw. Poland's National Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1992. According to Baháʼí sources there were about 300 Baháʼís in Poland in 2006 and there have been several articles in Polish publications in 2008 covering the persecution of Baháʼís in Iran and Egypt. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated that there were about 300 Baháʼís in 2005.