History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


Hey, I went to a similar language camp, although it was in Poland, right on the border, organized by UNESCO. My impressions were the same. Initially we thought Germans were just kidding with their pompous Marxismus und Leninismus stuff. You know, the official part had to be the way it had to be, but on our own time we hoped to have some honest chat with other kids (I was also around 15/16 at the time). But that was a no go.

Some of the kids were honest (and frankly brave) enough to tell us they were forbidden from any kind of political honesty, and from entering any personal relationships with Poles. These kids screamed fear in their eyes.

Long story short, there was some intervention from DDR Ministry of education as a reaction to Poles being a little bit too honest in their political views.

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


I dunno. Must be something in the blood.


Matyjasz gave you a list for your research.


Sure.
Read on pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministerstwo_Bezpiecze%C5%84stwa_Publicznego later UB.


Don't be silly.
There wasn't enough building material for that. It was badly needed for rebuilding the country after 60% of its infrastructure has been destroyed by the Germans during WW2.


WTF are you talking about. You bounce back between denying other countries had uprisings and using some connections among them (or lack thereof) to prove what? That Germans got beat once by the commies and they stayed put?

Work / A list of English Schools in Poland run by a UK citizen? [24]


I think nobody can decide for you what to study.
But rest assured, in Poland studies in English do not require a calculator.

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


In Poland they died trying to free it. As Grzegorz wrote, there was nowhere to escape. Where do you propose Poles could have jumped over the border? DDR?


BBoy, you will chuckle at Poles loosing in 1939. They did. But they didn't give up despite millions of Germans occupying the country. Was it easy for the DDR to fight. Hell, no. Was it easy in Poland? What do you think Polish anti-communist go through? Medals of honor from commies?

Your 900 pale in comparison to thousands of Poles resisting from day one of commie rule in Poland.


Yes, brave Czechs did it, as you wrote above.
Hungarians did it and it was probably the fiercest of them all - a blood bath.


Why should I do your homework? The information is not hard to get.
Check Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


East Germans gave up after one try while Poles tried for decades, in spite of 60K soviet troops in Poland and another 300+ next door at our commie brethren in DDR.


Some of the anti-commie propaganda was even more ridiculour than commie propaganda :)

Although in some countries they indeed succeeded when it comes to weeding religion out of main stream life.

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


Wow, so after all it wasnt only East Gerans who rebelled against commies?


None was killed trying to escape to DDR for sure. Few attempted escapes to the USSR or CSSR


And yet Poles held its first free elections after the fall of communism almost two months before East Germans decided it was safe to do some masonry work on the wall.


You're all over the place. What does the Pope's input in the fall of communism have to do with condoms in Africa?

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]

Largest number of uprisings against communism.
The strong position of church in Poland held the nation together against commies
Exports of forbidden literature (that included the bible)from Poland to the USSR
Heck, JP2 was a pole, in case you forgot. If he didn't cause Soviets trouble then I don't know who did.

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


BBoy, do you think the soviet troops stationed in DDR were forbidden from being engaged in Poland if it came to the use of military? What's more, Honecker offered East German troops to help deal with Solidarity in early 1980's.

What's the difference where those troops were stationed?

Using the same logic you might say that city A or city B in Poland was safe because the nearest Soviet base was an hour away from them.


Of course some tried. Some were killed while trying to escape, some by Stasi.

That happened in all communist block countries to a greater or lesser degree. The fact remains that Poles gave the Soviets the most trouble in the commie times and that is fact. And it certainly not was East Germany that inspired the last stand between people and communism.


Where the hell did I say that?
Quote me.

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


BBoy, you need to read up on those. You obviously have no idea.

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


According to the 1956 treaty (which was developed by later, more precise amendments), the Soviet military in Poland was limited to 66,000 troops, although the Soviets never fully disclosed the actual number of personnel of the Northern Group to the Polish government. and the Polish government had no right to inspect the Soviet bases.The treaty also limited the number of Soviet bases in Poland to 39, while the actual number of bases reached 79

....
After the fall of communism in Poland in 1989, and with the signs of the fall of the Soviet Union, the new Polish government wanted the Soviet troops to leave Poland.[3] By that time the Northern Group had already shrunk to 58,000 troops

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Group_of_Forces

East Germany: 338,000 in 1991.

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


(that would be do you)
My girl friend at the time was a girl from Zwickau. I know a little.


Sh!loads or soviet troops in Poland.
You clearly have no idea.


You can't be not serious :)
USSR was done then already.


So you speculate what I might say (but haven't said it) and then you call me an idiot based on your imagination. Interesting.

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


I didn't say Germans didn't want to live in freedom.
East Germans, however, did sweet squat about it. And then, when it was perfectly safe they started demolishing the wall.


Oh, I believe you.
See, Poles made no secrets about their hatred to communism.
And that was the difference I wrote about.

Life / What is the nature of Polish people's hygiene? [76]


Well, here's a noel idea for you - take a shower.

Work / A list of English Schools in Poland run by a UK citizen? [24]



I'm not sure how you would like to achieve both.

Life / What is the nature of Polish people's hygiene? [76]


You have a surprisingly intimate insight into people's anuses.
A hobby of yours?

USA, Canada / USA, the nation of immigrants [30]


See? You got nothing out of it and frankly, I am disappointed with the lame spit you offered. Where's your wit?

My point is simple - America is not #1. It used to be but it's not anymore. The sooner Americans realize that the sooner they will start working to get back on track.

I don't hate America. I would love America to get better. Much better, so that would continue buying Canadian products :)

USA, Canada / USA, the nation of immigrants [30]


Nice try.
Now, excepting the little pieces clearly designed to make people laugh, prove him wrong on one single point in that video.

If you absolutely hate a grain of humor in political commentaries, check this one out: youtube.com/v/myWKjtxE4p8

History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]


All Poles had to go through some form of military preparedness. Most schools had an armory (for educational purposes) some with live ammunition. All males were trained to defend the country (and the noble idea of communism) to degrees depending on various personal and social circumstances. That was all because the West was supposedly getting ready to invade the glorious communist block.

On a daily basis the propaganda machine was most obvious on TV, especially the regular news (7.30 PM, day in day out). The trick was simple. A few flicks from around the world. A strike in England, fuel crisis in the US, a train crash in France or an oil spill somewhere else. And in the other news, an XYZ Polish factory achieved higher than expected production, the Soviets sent us yet another token of their love for us (a flower, a tractor or what have you).

That's pretty much the gist of it.

Poland was unique within the Soviet Block though. The most difficult nut to crack for the Soviets. The only country where religion was left alone and where the default reaction of the general population to the commie propaganda was by default: bullcrap. Hence, according to the Soviet ideologues who mapped the road to the absolute communist nirvana in 10 stages, the USSR was at stage 10, Poland at stage 1.

USA, Canada / USA, the nation of immigrants [30]


Really?
Watch it tomorrow. On HBO.

USA, Canada / USA, the nation of immigrants [30]


Let's see what other Americans have to say on the subject:

Language / Slang words like man, dude [29]

That's an adaptation of usage, not invention.
I heard "ziomal" and "ziom" before anybody even considered hip hop or crap.

Life / Polish funerals-no coffins inside a church ?? [5]

I haven't seen a funeral in Poland without the coffin in Church. Unless the deceased wasn't much of a christian.

Language / Slang words like man, dude [29]


"ziomek" will be certainly used by people over 30. Its origin gas nothing to do with any hip hop garbage, other than it is being used by the subculture. The word has been in use for at least 100 years.

Life / WHAT DO YOUNG POLES SEE IN RAP CRAP? [63]

Here's another sample of rap. Just ad some words (for some reason they call it lyrics).
Yup, that's all there is to it.

Life / WHAT DO YOUNG POLES SEE IN RAP CRAP? [63]


It's kinda like p!ssing in the middle of a city square. It is also crude and it also expresses the p!sser's mood, no?

News / IS NOBLE WINNER SZOSTAK POLISH? [68]


Why waste money in military intelligence. Just use a local phone book BEFORE you bomb targets.

Life / Who is your favourite polish writer? [15]

Joseph Conrad

Polonia / Watch TVP outside Poland. [3]


Hot Spot Shield will hide your IP but it that might be not good enough as the transmitted IP may belong to a net block outside of Poland anyway.

What you need is IP spoofing, but in most countries it is illegal.

Life / Buying a laptop in Poland with English O/S [11]

Windows is one thing, you can always get a copy in any of the available language versions later. But what about the keyboard?

News / Poland Remembers start of WW2 [200]


so what?
Where were the German land forces in Britain following the blitz?
Why weren't they there? Any idea?
Geography was of no help?