Poland - Pick-149a - Group of 10 notes - Foreign Paper Money

Foreign Paper Money. R. Traugutt portrait. Group of 10 notes.

The złoty is the official currency and legal tender of Poland. It is subdivided into 100 grosz (gr). The widely recognised English form of the currency name is the Polish zloty. It is the most traded currency in Central Europe and ranks 22nd in the foreign exchange market.

The word złoty is a masculine form of the Polish adjective 'golden', which closely relates with its name to the Dutch guilder whereas the grosz subunit was based on German groschen, cognate to the English word "groat". It was officially introduced to replace its predecessor, the Polish marka, on 28 February 1919 and began circulation in 1924. The only body permitted to manufacture or mint złoty coins is Mennica Polska, founded in Warsaw on 10 February 1766.

As a result of inflation in the early 1990s, the currency underwent redenomination. Thus, on 1 January 1995, 10,000 old złoty (PLZ) became one new złoty (PLN). Since then, the currency has been relatively stable, with an exchange rate fluctuating between 3 and 4 złoty for a United States dollar. Though Poland is a member of the European Union, nearly 60% of Poles are strongly against replacing the złoty with the euro.

Romuald Traugutt (16 January 1826 – 5 August 1864) was a Polish general and war hero best known for commanding the January Uprising of 1863. From October 1863 to August 1864 he was the leader of the insurrection. He headed the Polish national government from 17 October 1863 to 20 April 1864, and was president of its Foreign Affairs Office.

Before the uprising he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Russian army, where he won distinction in the Crimean War. He retired from the army in 1862 and became involved with Polish nationalists. After leading a partisan unit in the initial rebellion, he became leader of the rebel forces in October 1863.

After the uprising failed, Traugutt was betrayed by Artur Goldman and sentenced to death by the Russian court. He was hanged near the Warsaw Citadel on 5 August 1864, aged 38, together with the rebel commanders Rafał Krajewski, Józef Toczyski, Roman Żuliński and Jan Jeziorański. The Roman Catholic Church is considering his beatification due to his overwhelming devotion to God and sacrifice for his homeland Poland. One of his early biographers has been the Marian Father, Józef Jarzębowski (1897-1964), who devoted three volumes to Traugutt's life and work.

In 1916, a monument was raised in Warsaw on the site of his execution, and in 1925, the area around it was dedicated as Traugutt Park. In 1945, he was honored on the first postage stamp of the newly re-emerged Republic of Poland as part of a three-stamp set honoring national heroes. He had been earlier honored on a stamp in the 1938 set for the 20th anniversary of Poland’s independence after World War I. Poland issued additional stamps in his honor in 1962 and 1963. He was also commemorated on the Polish 20 złoty banknote of the 1980s.

The high school in Częstochowa is named after him, and a memorial column to him was erected in 1933 in Ciechocinek.

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