DariuszTelka
11 Oct 2009
History / Matters of Propaganda...Or: how was the West portrayed in Poland? [150]
First a little story...
I moved to Norway when I was 3 years old, (why do I start my threads with that...), and I remember some things from back then, when I would go back to Poland with my father. (My parents split up, me living with my mother in Norway, and my father in Germany). During summer I would go to Germany to stay with my father for summer vacation. We would fill up the car with food and gifts and head for the East German border. There my father would give the guard a box of sigarettes, maybe some dollars, and we would be on our way faster than if he wouldn't have given them to him. My first memory is standing at the border crossing between West and East and seeing the kids from the neighbourhood standing up against the fence on their bikes. I remember the grey buildings, the uncut grass and how skinny the kids looked. Myself, I sat there with my comic book, my walk-man and my violet milka chocolade and look at them, and they would look back at me. I would wonder what they thought of me. I also asked my dad if i could go up to them and talk, but he said no. (Maybe the guard with the kalashnikov and the German sheperd dog had something to do with it).
In Poland my father would give everybody gifts and presents and I would eventually give my friends on the street in the town were we lived all my comics and whatever I brought. It made me quite popular, but also made me feel good. The thing is, I would say I had just as good time, maybe even a little better time with my polish friends, than I would have with my norwegian friends back home in Oslo. There was a real good atmosphere among us kids in the street that I really liked. I have to say that my family on the Polish side were above average income-wise and had a nice house and a western made car. (Woooo). But they still had to stand in line like everyone else in the morning for milk and bread. I remember I asked what my cousin got up so early for, and he told me because of food for breakfast. One day, waiting in line, he passed out and hit his head on the floor and lost all his front teeth, so to this day he has dentures. (he's only 36).
There were many stories like this, and all of you who have family in Poland, or had can ask them about all of this.
Coming back from this vacation (Usually a whole month in Poland), I would get back to school and we would all get the assignement to write what we did on our vacations that summer. I remember I had to read out my eassay to the rest of the norwegian school class. In it I wrote that Poland was not such a bad place, that my family lived in a big house, had a western made car and had bikes and games just like us. But I also remember the feeling of trying to defend it, because the general atmosphere was that eastern europe was backward and communist. I had to try to persuade my classmates that I didn't came from a backward country. Yes it was poorer, but somehow it was still ok.
Today, however, it is another story. When you go to eastern european countries you see beautiful architecture, you see clean streets, you get nice food. As for Poland, it has become so "modern", I am actually planning to move there within the next 5 years. I would never have thought about this if Poland could not give me an my family the life that we have gotten used to here in Norway. I even met a Nowegian firefighter here in my city, who met a Polish woman. They are in the process of buying a house in the town where she comes from and eventually moving there. And this is a settled norwegian with a good job doing this. He would't have if Poland was such a bad place.
I think Poland was the country closest to "the west", under communism. We weren't real communists, just living under their rule. Life went along normally, and money and western goods could be had for money or the right connections. As was with my family. I remember I would drink Pepsi and watch Robocop in my uncles house. Or play on the Atari at their neighbours house. Not much different form my life in Norway. But for my classmates, I had to tell them, convince them, that it wasn't as bad a sometimes portrayed in articles and movies.
Dariusz
First a little story...
I moved to Norway when I was 3 years old, (why do I start my threads with that...), and I remember some things from back then, when I would go back to Poland with my father. (My parents split up, me living with my mother in Norway, and my father in Germany). During summer I would go to Germany to stay with my father for summer vacation. We would fill up the car with food and gifts and head for the East German border. There my father would give the guard a box of sigarettes, maybe some dollars, and we would be on our way faster than if he wouldn't have given them to him. My first memory is standing at the border crossing between West and East and seeing the kids from the neighbourhood standing up against the fence on their bikes. I remember the grey buildings, the uncut grass and how skinny the kids looked. Myself, I sat there with my comic book, my walk-man and my violet milka chocolade and look at them, and they would look back at me. I would wonder what they thought of me. I also asked my dad if i could go up to them and talk, but he said no. (Maybe the guard with the kalashnikov and the German sheperd dog had something to do with it).
In Poland my father would give everybody gifts and presents and I would eventually give my friends on the street in the town were we lived all my comics and whatever I brought. It made me quite popular, but also made me feel good. The thing is, I would say I had just as good time, maybe even a little better time with my polish friends, than I would have with my norwegian friends back home in Oslo. There was a real good atmosphere among us kids in the street that I really liked. I have to say that my family on the Polish side were above average income-wise and had a nice house and a western made car. (Woooo). But they still had to stand in line like everyone else in the morning for milk and bread. I remember I asked what my cousin got up so early for, and he told me because of food for breakfast. One day, waiting in line, he passed out and hit his head on the floor and lost all his front teeth, so to this day he has dentures. (he's only 36).
There were many stories like this, and all of you who have family in Poland, or had can ask them about all of this.
Coming back from this vacation (Usually a whole month in Poland), I would get back to school and we would all get the assignement to write what we did on our vacations that summer. I remember I had to read out my eassay to the rest of the norwegian school class. In it I wrote that Poland was not such a bad place, that my family lived in a big house, had a western made car and had bikes and games just like us. But I also remember the feeling of trying to defend it, because the general atmosphere was that eastern europe was backward and communist. I had to try to persuade my classmates that I didn't came from a backward country. Yes it was poorer, but somehow it was still ok.
Today, however, it is another story. When you go to eastern european countries you see beautiful architecture, you see clean streets, you get nice food. As for Poland, it has become so "modern", I am actually planning to move there within the next 5 years. I would never have thought about this if Poland could not give me an my family the life that we have gotten used to here in Norway. I even met a Nowegian firefighter here in my city, who met a Polish woman. They are in the process of buying a house in the town where she comes from and eventually moving there. And this is a settled norwegian with a good job doing this. He would't have if Poland was such a bad place.
I think Poland was the country closest to "the west", under communism. We weren't real communists, just living under their rule. Life went along normally, and money and western goods could be had for money or the right connections. As was with my family. I remember I would drink Pepsi and watch Robocop in my uncles house. Or play on the Atari at their neighbours house. Not much different form my life in Norway. But for my classmates, I had to tell them, convince them, that it wasn't as bad a sometimes portrayed in articles and movies.
Dariusz