Czechia and Poland: neighbours who met on a mountain to resist communism

The border between Czechia and Poland runs across the summit of Sněžka, the highest mountain in Czechia. The peak, 1,603 metres above sea level, belongs to the Krkonoše range, which Poles call Karkonosze, and the frontier follows the ridge. In the late 1970s it became a meeting place for people with nowhere else safe to meet: Czechoslovak signatories of Charter 77 and Polish activists from the workers' defence committee KOR. They crossed on hiking permits, talked and went home. It is one of the better stories in the relationship between two neighbours who have not always found friendship easy.

A long shared frontier

Czechs and Poles share a long border across mountains and plains, and their histories overlap. Silesia was a Bohemian crown land before it passed to Prussia and the Habsburgs in the eighteenth century. The kingdoms of Bohemia and Poland were linked at times by dynastic ties, and Hussite armies raided across Silesia in the fifteenth century. The languages are related and partly mutually intelligible, though speakers follow the written word better than the spoken.

The modern border dates mostly from the twentieth century. After 1918 the two new states disputed Cieszyn Silesia, a small industrial region with Czech, Polish and German speakers. After a brief conflict in 1919, the Conference of Ambassadors decided in July 1920 to divide it along the river Olza. The town of Těšín (Cieszyn in Polish) was split: the western part became Czechoslovak Český Těšín, the eastern part Polish Cieszyn. The same river still marks the border, and bridges now link the two towns across an open frontier.

The Czech side of the area, known in Polish as Zaolzie, has a Polish minority that is still active in cultural associations and schools. In October 1938, after the Munich Agreement, Poland annexed the area; it returned to Czechoslovakia in 1945. The episode remained a sore point, though the larger events of war and the Soviet bloc largely overshadowed it.

1968 and 1978: two memories

The communist period left two memories that pull in different directions. In August 1968 forces of five Warsaw Pact states, Poland among them, invaded Czechoslovakia to end the Prague Spring (see the Prague Spring and 1968). Czechs remember the Polish participation with bitterness. In December 1989 the Warsaw Pact governments, Poland's included, declared the invasion wrong.

A decade after 1968 a different kind of cooperation began. Charter 77, the Czechoslovak human-rights initiative, made contact with the Polish KOR and later Solidarity. Activists met secretly in the Krkonoše from 1978 (check the sources of the Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes). The meetings were small and risky, yet they became part of the founding story of the region's democratic opposition. Solidarity's success in Poland in the summer of 1989 was among the signals that changed the mood in Czechoslovakia that autumn.

The post-1989 relationship

In 1991 Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary formed the Visegrad Group, covered in Visegrad Group explained. Czechia and Poland joined NATO together on 12 March 1999 and the EU on 1 May 2004, and entered the Schengen area on 21 December 2007, when routine border checks ended. The border can now be crossed anywhere, and walkers in the Beskids and the Jeseníky often cross it without noticing.

Trade is substantial. Poland is among Czechia's most important trading partners and a large market for Czech exports (as of 2026; check the Czech Statistical Office, czso.cz, for current rankings), and Polish workers are a significant group in the Czech labour market, particularly in industry, construction and services. Cross-border regions called Euroregions, such as Nisa, Glacensis and Silesia, use EU funds for joint projects (see EU funds and cohesion policy in Czechia).

Turów: a dispute in the courts

The sharpest recent conflict was about a coal mine. The Turów lignite mine and power plant lie in south-western Poland, near the town of Bogatynia, close to the Czech and German frontiers. Poland extended the mine's licence in 2020. The Czech side, with the Liberec region in the lead, complained that the mine was draining groundwater from Czech villages, bringing dust and noise, and that a proper cross-border environmental assessment had not been carried out.

In February 2021 the Czech government took Poland to the Court of Justice of the EU, an unusual step between neighbouring member states (case C-121/21). On 21 May 2021 the Court ordered Poland, as an interim measure, to stop mining at Turów immediately. Poland did not comply, and in September 2021 the Court imposed a daily penalty of half a million euro. The governments then negotiated, and on 3 February 2022 the prime ministers Petr Fiala and Mateusz Morawiecki signed an agreement under which Poland committed to protective measures, including a barrier against groundwater loss, and to financial compensation. Czechia then withdrew its case (check the Ministry of the Environment and the text of the agreement for details).

The case was a test of how neighbours settle a cross-border environmental dispute inside the EU, and it showed interim measures at work between two member states.

Differences and common ground

The two governments do not always agree. They differ on some energy choices, on particular EU proposals and in domestic politics, and relations have run warmer and cooler. They share a strong interest in security, particularly towards Russia and Ukraine (see NATO and Czechia). Rail and road links across the border are a standing item on both agendas, so check current timetables before travelling.

For people moving between the two countries the practical points are those of the EU: citizens of either can live and work in the other under the rules in EU citizens' rights in Czechia. The languages are close enough that speakers can often follow each other in writing, though false friends abound. For the other neighbours, see Germany, Austria and Slovakia.

Frequently asked questions

How high is Sněžka?

1,603 metres. It is the highest mountain in Czechia and lies on the border with Poland.

What was the Turów dispute?

A conflict over a Polish lignite mine near the Czech border. Czechia took Poland to the Court of Justice in 2021, and the two governments settled the case by agreement in February 2022.

Why is Těšín divided?

The Conference of Ambassadors divided Cieszyn Silesia along the Olza river in 1920. The western part became Czechoslovak Český Těšín and the eastern part Polish Cieszyn.

Do Czechs and Poles need passports to cross the border?

No routine checks take place at the border since both joined the Schengen area on 21 December 2007, though you should carry ID.