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Posts by Softsong  

Joined: 2 Sep 2007 / Female ♀
Last Post: 16 Sep 2014
Threads: Total: 5 / In This Archive: 5
Posts: Total: 494 / In This Archive: 163
From: USA, Myrtle Beach
Speaks Polish?: No
Interests: History of Poland, psychology, music

Displayed posts: 168 / page 3 of 6
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Softsong   
1 Oct 2008
History / Who were European natives? What happened to them? Where they are? [79]

Thanks for looking up the specific information and providing a link. Glad you found the information interesting. I had my MtDNA tested last fall, and I am part of the U5 haplogroup. I was disaapointed at first thinking that I would be from Haplogroup H. However, a number of Poles belong to this group, as well.
Softsong   
13 Oct 2008
Travel / Heading to Poland via Ireland [5]

Been very busy planning my getaway. I leave in an hour from SC in the USA to visit with friends living in Ireland. They are Polish citizens. Then, I fly to Poland and do some work on my genealogy. Mainly seeing the ancestral areas of my grandparents.

Hope to take lots of pictures. It's been eight years since I first visited Poland and I am looking forward to it!
Softsong   
15 Oct 2008
Travel / Heading to Poland via Ireland [5]

Thanks SeanBM,

I am in Dublin now! The weather began cloudy, then misty rain, then sunshine, pouring rain, and back to sunshine with a rainbow!

Amazing place, I am enjoying it. Still a bit jet-lagged. Awww.....I appreciate your encouragement about finding my roots.

I'll write more and post pictures when back. I'm on a borrowed PC right now.
Softsong   
16 Oct 2008
Travel / Heading to Poland via Ireland [5]

Thanks for the tip, Sean.....I would love to hear some traditional Irish music. The country definitely has soul. Black current. O.K. Will give it a whirl....

Lovely city, I do feel at home in it. I am staying in Lucan with some friends.

I've been back a few weeks now, but the memories of my trip to Ireland and Poland are still fresh in my mind. Been busy since my return, but would like to share some pictures now. Let's see if this works.

OK....that was The Viking Church in Dublin. Not sure how many photos I can put in one message, so here's a link to the rest:
Softsong   
1 Nov 2008
Genealogy / I need help with the surname "Wandke" (West Pomerania) [13]

Hmmm.....the name ending sounds like an ethnic German name. Especially with first names like Gustav and Freiderich. But it could be Kashubian, too. I am not an expert.

But in that area of Poland, there were a lot of Kashubian (West Slavic peoples) and pre-WWII, the western Kashubes became mixed with Germanic peoples and converted to Lutheranism. In the eastern areas of Pommerania, they kept their Slavic identify and Catholic religion.

Both were probaby equally a mixture of Slavic and Germanic, but those in the western areas were expelled as ethnic Germans, and those in the eastern areas are now still in Poland and their identity is Slavic.

I am half Polish and half ethnic German and found that while the Lutheran church has most of the ethnic German records, at times, the Catholic church maintained them, too if no Lutheran church was available.

You might go to a site called PolandBorderSurnames for more information, or to the Mormon genealogy pages. They will list the microfilms and churches that kept records in that area.

Good luck...PS....alternate spellings could be Wandtke or Wantke.
Softsong   
4 Nov 2008
Life / Polish Shelf Toilets [32]

Well, perhaps you will get the thread "going" again. No pun intended! LOL
Softsong   
9 Nov 2008
History / German POWs after WW2 - did the allies commit mass murder? [228]

Again, the topic was a question about the Allies. And then it degenerated into the Poles, Russians, and Germans. There have been other topics discussing these things.

I have little knowledge about Allied conduct during the war and the closing days of the war, but I was surprised when searching for descendents of my relatives who were expelled from Poland that in the three allied zone camps where many were held, there were posters reminding the soldiers that they were forbidden to befriend any Germans, or have relationships.

If a child was born because a soldier impregnated one of the Germans or expellees, they were initially, forbidden to support the child or marry the mother.

An online acquaintance who was 14 years old at the time and fled on a horse across rivers where the bridges had been blown up, said that he feared the allies, too. And his father was fighting on behalf of Poland.

Not at all excusing what happened during the war, but attempting to bring the discussion back on topic.
Softsong   
9 Nov 2008
Life / Deadly Roads - "Are polish roads really THAT dangerous?" [139]

I was in Poland in October, and was quite pleased to see a new interstate highway connecting Gdańsk to the Torun area. It was a toll road, and it was the first week that it had been open. It saved us a lot of time. And most importantly....

My last trip to Poland in 2000, the road was single-lane from Gdańsk to Warsaw much of the way, and passing was a bit scary.

This new road is beautiful and safe.
Softsong   
17 Nov 2008
Love / I'm 18 and this Polish worker is 25. Can it work? [22]

there is another forum that deals with age-gap relationships. Younger woman and older guys and visa versa. You may want to read their stories. Some are also long distance like you.

agelesslove.com

good luck
Softsong   
1 Dec 2008
News / What did Poland get out of the wars and struggles for others? [1108]

I am not an expert on WWII history, but I did learn quite a bit about the history of Poland while doing my genealogy. I was actualy quite surprised and proud to learn of all that Poland did do. Especially, since I realized that it had not been an independent country for many years before WWII, and had a lot of catching up to do.

It would really be hard for any nation to be divided into three parts with different rulers and cultures jammed down your throat. It find it incredible that the country was able to function as a unified country after all that time of partitions.

And I was dismayed because when I was in school nothing much was ever taught about Poland. We learned about the partitions, and that after WWI, Poland was back on the map, and that Hitler invaded it at the start of WWII. That's all I remember, and I liked history. Would have noticed since I am half Polish.

I do feel that Poland was a loyal ally of Britain and the USA and it would have been great to participate in the victory parades, etc. Instead, Poland wound up behind the iron curtain. It's as if WWII only ended in the late 80's, in my opinion.

But, perhaps it is stretching it a bit to say that Poland needs to be thanked by Great Britain for all it did. It does seem to be mutual, even if maybe more could have been done for Poland. I thought that Poland was asked to hold out for a few weeks, and help would arrive. And then the winds changed, and it was thought that maybe if Hitler was appeased with Poland, the rest of Europe would be o.k.

I felt proud to know that Poland did hold out even with postal workers and everyone who could fight doing so. Held out as long as France did. And France had been a modern power for quite a long time, no partitions in its history. I do see Poland as the phoenix that rises from the ashes. And ashes it was. To my knowledge, hardly any country had so much bombed, and absolutely destroyed. My Polish ex-bf's grandmother gave me a coffee table book that shows the before and after pictures of cities in Poland and the rebuilding work. I think because Poland continued to fight so hard, is why this massive destruction took place.

In America, there are a lot of bridges, roads and places with names honoring Poles who helped America fight in her battle for independence from Great Britain. I do believe that Poles have done a lot to stop Muslim invasions, to help America, and to help herself and Britain. It seems Poles have always supported the cause of freedom.

It may not have worked out the best, for Poland, but Poland has survived and is beginning to thrive. I believe more and more people will recognize what the country has gone through, and how hard they have worked to get where they are. And there has been help. The EU, etc. Maybe some mutual gratitude would be the best thing rather than you need to thank me more, or dwelling on the past hurts that cannot be undone.

Maybe they need to be a bit over-the-top about it for the time being.
And as always, these topics are difficult. It would be good if one day there was less you-must-apologize-to-me for this, and thank-me-for-that and finger pointing. Discussions of history in an open, manner that is factual, rather than accusatory. A discussion that acknowledges it is over, and that most of the people who lived then are gone, and there are new people alive now who benefit most from mutual friendships. Education, remembrance of what took place only for the sake of avoiding it in the future, rather than for mud-slinging.
Softsong   
7 Dec 2008
Language / KASHUBIAN SCHNITZELBANK? [2]

Wow....you made me think of something I had not in quite some time. My Dad was the leader of a band in a NYC nightclub. They often did something like that when my Mom and I visited him at work. Yes, and I do think it was called the Schnitzelbank. I thought it was a German thing, though.

Wish I could help you with the words. Hmmmm....let me search the net.

O.K. here's what I got....

Ist Das nicht ein Schnitzelbank? Ja das Ist eine Schnitzelbank

schnitzelbank.com/poster.htm

This was the version I am familiar with. Had no idea it was in Kashubian, too.

Did a search on the words you mentioned in the Kashubian version and came across a Pomeranian Forum.
Can't read it, but maybe this is what you are looking for?

naszekaszuby.pl/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=937&forum=2&post_id=6297
Softsong   
10 Dec 2008
Language / An interesting website for those learning Polish [10]

You could use poltran.com

I've found the translations that I get are awkward, but it helps. I've attempted to write in Polish with it with laughable results.
Softsong   
13 Dec 2008
USA, Canada / Stories from Babcia's homeland Poland- Please join in the discussion [29]

Enjoyed your story! And the nice things you said about Americans attempting to find out more of their roots. I just visited Poland in October and also in 2000 and enjoyed it very much! I got to see all the places where my grandparents and great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents had lived!
Softsong   
13 Dec 2008
News / All this mess about Danzig... [122]

Yes, sometimes just the mention of that which was an issue at one time, brings up charged feelings.

However, a careful reading of the statement in the context of the original thread makes it quite plain that BB was using the "crazy-at-this-point idea" of returning Danzig to Germany....in order to demonstrate how similar and impractical Crow's idea is. Just because the population of a place ONCE was a certain ethnicity fails to mean it should return to that ethnicity.

The problem with words on a forum, especially one where many people speak different languages and are "talking" in a second language is that misunderstandings can occur. I am sure if he spoke that sentence, his voice intonation would show this was far from a serious idea and none that was meant to merit any discussion.
Softsong   
13 Dec 2008
News / All this mess about Danzig... [122]

No Bratwurst....your English is quite good!

However, you were making a statement easily subject to being taken literally.
Especially by others who might be generally fluent in English, but still have a few problems with nuances. Plus it was a controversial-type statement that often produces a knee-jerk reaction due to past conflicts. Sometimes those emotional knee-jerk reactions get in the way of rational logic.

I applaud all of you who speak so well in a second language! You have my admiration! :-)))

hehhehehe...love how expressive your face is! :-)
Softsong   
14 Dec 2008
Life / ANYONE OWN A POLISH DOG? [22]

I've thought about a PON. I think they are really cute. Right now though, my home is home to my son's dog, and a few cats. So, maybe someday.
Softsong   
14 Dec 2008
News / All this mess about Danzig... [122]

When in Poland I received a gift of a large book printed in the 1960's that showed Gdańsk before the war, after the war and rebuilt. I too think it wonderful that it was reconstructed as close to how it was before the war!

It is a beautiful city today and definitely Polish, but long-time ago residents that are German also appreciate that it looks like the city they love. A real credit to Poles who during communist days had little money to do the reconstruction. I saw lots of pictures of ordinary Poles working hard on the details of the buildings.

I did not know until recently how different it was with Konigsberg, today called Kaliningrad.
Softsong   
14 Dec 2008
News / All this mess about Danzig... [122]

No Borrka, I was unaware so much damage was done by the Red Army after the fighting. Thanks for the information. I do remember that everyone, Poles and Germans fled westward to escape them.

The prosperity of Gdańsk by contrast to Kaliningrad was an interesting observation.

However, I have read on the net soemwhere of some who would wish to make Kaliningrad once more a Prussian area. Not sure I can find the link again. If I do, I'll post it. Anyway, my point is never say never about claims. Even the weirest ones. LOL
Softsong   
14 Dec 2008
News / All this mess about Danzig... [122]

That was funny. The "generous" bike route to East Prussia.

And makes a point. I think whether, Poles, Germans, Baltics, everyone could point to some injustice of the other.

BTW.....I was attempting to see if I could find the link that I mentioned. So far no luck, but on second thought I believe it was in regard to the Lithuanian Prussians that lived there and decided to align with Germany. Very complicated as to various Lithuanians and their views of each other. I think the speculation was that now that area is too hard to get to for Russia and some Lithuanian Prussians might like to resurrect Prussia based not on Germans, but original Pruss and Lithuanians.

My eyes cross attempting to understand all the former cultures and ethnicities in the area. :-/
Softsong   
14 Dec 2008
News / What did Poland get out of the wars and struggles for others? [1108]

I remember in history classes hearing how when you too heavily punish an adversary, it sows the seeds for the next war. With Japan, the USA learned from what happened after WWI with Germany, so after WWII, Japan was treated differently. No military activity allowed, we became her protector. Japan became prosperous and is now one of the best allies the USA has ever had.

So, I disagree with Babinich's technique of how to successfully settle a war.
Softsong   
14 Dec 2008
Life / ANYONE OWN A POLISH DOG? [22]

And the PON is great for people with allergies to dogs. All that hair, but no shedding! :-)
Softsong   
15 Dec 2008
Love / Polish men vs German men: Who is hotter? [513]

Oh yes! :-) I may be a babcia, but....... *wicked grin* just call me cougar! LOL

Looked at the overall picture, the one with their numbers and was attracted to #2
and #7.

#2 definitely had the bode, but overall I liked #7 the best! I do admire a great physique, but tend to be more into a normal-looking body that is used in activity without seeming to spend all the time in the gym.

What is strange is that I liked two blondes. I am usually open to the face and eyes and not so into a particular color.

Thanks for the eye candy. O.K. We need someone to post a Polish one or some more pix. These guys are upping the competition!
Softsong   
15 Dec 2008
USA, Canada / Stories from Babcia's homeland Poland- Please join in the discussion [29]

I am enjoying all the stories. And what Polonius3 has said is very true. Polish-American people gain a lot by being close to their grandparents. My mother was a 1st generation American, who could speak Polish.

That is because she loved going to her grandparent's house on her own every chance she got. Her brother and sisters were always busy playing with their friends, and did not spend one-on-one time with their grandmother like my Mom did. My maternal grandmother was 100% Polish, and so were the grandparents that my Mom visited. They came from Poznan, in the Gniezno area.

When my Mom was grown, and her Dad had passed away, her grown siblings were stunned that she could speak perfectly to her mother in Polish, and they understood nothing. Polish was not spoken in the home because my maternal grandmother had married an ethnic German from Poland, and he spoke German. The family never used either language, only English. Her sisters were so jealous! LOL

My mother taught me some Polish, and my grandmother said some sayings in Polish to me that I still remember.

But what I remember about my grandmother the most was her generous nature. She fed every stray cat, always shared whatever she had with guests expected and unexpected. When I went to Poland in 2000, my hosts told me, "God in house, guest in house." And that is just how my grandmother was.

When I was in my 8th month of pregnancy, I got a puppy. Everyone was telling me that it would be too much work with a newborn. But my grandmother, told me to keep the puppy for your son. And they grew up together. She loved the critters.

Here is a picture of my maternal grandmother with my Mom sometime in the 1940's in Brooklyn, New York. If I do this correctly. I am not good at posting pictures on here. :-)