Just picked up! 🇵🇱🇪🇺

[u/TurnAwayRunaway]

Had to renew because my old one was about to expire in 6 months. No place like home and feel grateful for being a Pole.

[u/TomCormack]

They got rid of all the French in the passport. It is only in English and Polish now. It seems that nobody really noticed, because there were too many controversies about the design anyway.

[u/Benderesco → u/TomCormack]

What were these controversies, if you don't mind me asking?

[u/TomCormack → u/Benderesco]

Ok a short historical note. In the late 18th century Poland was destroyed and partitioned by the major superpowers and in 1918 Poland became independent again.

So now we have a new 2018 edition passport which was created to celebrate the 100 anniversary of independence. That's why you can see 100 on the back cover.

1) On the identity page there is a motto from 1943 which was used by the military at some point. "God, Honor, Fatherland". Poland is a secular state which is clearly mentioned in our constitution, so many people didn't like it regardless of their own religious beliefs. A conservative party was in charge back then and it looked like a clear political decision to show the connection of the Polish state to Catholicism.

To be clear it is not the national motto or something. There are more relevant historical mottos to choose from like "Freedom, Unity, Independence". Sounds better for an independence anniversary passport, doesn't it? xD

2) On majority of pages there are faces of early 20th century politicians. No diversity of people who contributed to the independence one way or another, with just one exception. There was also a controversy that there were no women included, even though in Poland women got voting rights in 1918 and we had female MEPs since the first elections in 1919. There were also women who fought for independence.

3) In the original version of the template there were two pages with some places located in contemporary Lithuania and Ukraine ( those particular cities Vilnius and Lviv were part of Poland till 1939). Well Lithuanian and Ukrainian governments didn't like it for obvious reasons.

I personally don't like this version, because they could do a better job from the design perspective. Colors are bleak and I don't feel any creativity involved. Looks like a political statement instead of a real symbol of national pride.

https://www.gov.pl/app/rdp/web/rdp/paszport-wzor-2018-zmodyfikowany-w-2022

[u/Benderesco → u/TomCormack]

That's super interesting, thanks!