Forests of Poland

Western and northern parts of Poland as well as the Carpathian Mountains in the extreme south, are much more forested than eastern and central provinces.

[1] However, due to the 19th century economic exploitation during the partitions of Poland, as well as, the Nazi German and Soviet occupations between 1939–1945 with trees shipped to battle fronts across Europe, deforestation and slash and burn conditions of war shrank Polish forests to only 21% of total area of the country (as of 1946).

[3] Up until the end of the 18th Century, beginning in what is known as the Middle Ages, forests were considered places for travellers and ordinary folk to stay away from, as they were home to bandits and were believed to be inhabited by evil spirits.

These woodsmen lived on what the forest could produce, collecting pitch resin for sale – important as method of illuminating city streets – logging construction lumber, collecting lime, beeswax, honey, hops, mushrooms and whatever other saleable items could be harvested in the forest and sold in villages outside of it.

[3] Because of their isolation from society in general, woodsmen and their families developed their own style of dress, music, sewing, dialect, celebrations, and the type of dwellings.