Beginnings The beginnings of Polish influence in Romania can be traced back to the 14th century with the founding of the
Principality of Moldavia. Trade between the
Baltic and
Black Seas between the two neighboring countries facilitated their growing bond. During this era Moldavia was a vassal state of first the
Kingdom of Poland and later the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth several times. Samuel Teofil Glück, Polish physician and envoy of the Polish émigré activists at
Hôtel Lambert and insurgent authorities during the
January Uprising of 1863–1864 to Romania, became the head of the civilian health service in Romania in 1864, and the court doctor of
Carol I of Romania in 1866. He also initiated the introduction of the
Gregorian calendar in Romania. There is a memorial at the site. Poles from the
Russian Partition of Poland conscripted to the Russian Army and Romanians were among
Allied prisoners of war held by the Germans in a
POW camp in
Stargard in modern northwestern Poland. During the war, Lucjan Skupiewski, Polish physician born in
Warsaw, was the organizer and manager of all hospitals for the wounded in the Bucharest area. After the war, he stayed in Romania, and was the deputy deputy mayor of Bucharest and senator for the Polish minority. In early 1919, Poland began to clash with the
West Ukrainian People's Republic Army on the territory of
Galicia and
Pokuttia. As a result of these clashes, the Polish government asked Romania for military support in Pokuttia. After the request was accepted, the Romanian 8th Infantry Division led by General
Iacob Zadik was sent to the region on 22 May 1919. The
mission in Pokuttia lasted until 24 August 1919.
Polish–Romanian alliance seen from the Polish side of the border in 1930 Beginning in 1921, a series of
treaties were signed in the
interwar period by the
Second Polish Republic and the
Kingdom of Romania which created the
Polish–Romanian alliance. The treaties formed a basis for good
foreign relations between the two countries that lasted until
World War II began in 1939. Both countries shared a common border in the
interbellum, before the
Soviet Union invaded and eventually annexed
eastern Poland and northeastern Romania following the German-Soviet
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. in Romania in 1931
Romanian Bridgehead After the
invasion of Poland which started the
Second World War, up to 120,000 Polish troops withdrew through the
Romanian Bridgehead area to neutral Romania and
Hungary. The majority of those troops joined the newly formed
Polish Armed Forces in the West in France and the
United Kingdom in 1939 and 1940. Because of their escape through Romania, the Polish army was one of the largest forces of the Allies prior to the
United States entering the war and Germany's attack on the Soviet Union (
Operation Barbarossa). Also 25,000 civilian refugees fled from Poland to Romania. In mid-September 1939, despite German and Soviet pressure and Romania's declared neutrality, the Romanians agreed to transport evacuated Polish gold through Romanian territory to the port of
Constanța, from where it was further evacuated via
Turkey to
Polish-allied France. When the German ambassador to Romania, Wilhelm Fabricius, protested Romania's violation of neutrality, Romanian Foreign Minister
Grigore Gafencu pretended to know nothing about the transport of Polish gold, only promising to "carry out a proper investigation." The evacuation was successful. Romania's stance infuriated the Germans, and Fabricius threatened Minister Gafencu that Romania had "committed a grave breach of neutrality, which should never happen again." During the war, ten Polish elementary schools and seven high schools were established for Polish refugee children in Romania, including in
Călimănești,
Ploiești and
Târgoviște. In the second half of 1940, because of the German danger, some Polish refugees were evacuated from Romania to
Cyprus. In 1942, Polish Prime Minister-in-Exile
Władysław Sikorski's intervention to British and American authorities thwarted Soviet attempts to obtain Allied approval for the planned annexation of eastern Poland and Romania. From 1944, Romanian prisoners of war were held by the Germans, alongside Polish and other Allied POWs, in the Oflag 73,
Stalag VIII-B and
Stalag VIII-C POW camps, located in
Beniaminów,
Łambinowice and
Żagań, respectively. After the war, many Poles from the sizeable Polish communities in
Bukovina and
Lupeni were repatriated to Poland. ==Modern relations==