How do Polish view others

I am American born of Polish, Lithuanian, and German descent. I am curious, how to the Polish view Lithuanians and Germans?

I know that there are a lot of poles that dislike Germans....the one's that I've met anyway. They say that Germans still think they are superior.

Poles dislike Germans this is true.

How to Poles feel about Lithuanians?

Probably nothing :)

I haven't heard anything either. Only about the germans. And jews. And of course, the russians.

I think many Poles "like" Lituenians and that is possibly based on the glorius history of Polish and Lithueanian state. I'm hearing that Lithuenians have different popular opinion about Poles remembering 1920 war when Poland anexed Vilnius. So history plays its role at present time.

Many Poles probably think Lithueanians are slavic people and not many had ever met a Lithuenian man or woman.
Almost everybody in Poland has seen a German, Poles tend to be friendly toward Germans but are short tempered, too. The fact that Germans are loud, talk loud when at restaurant or when walking the streets or something similary unimportant would make many Poles jugde that Germans are domineering in their nature, arogant etc.

In truth , Polish cultuer is VERY similar to German culture. What pisses of many Poles is Germans luck of interest in Poland, Poles and many are obviously jelous for Germany's prosperity.

An old joke:
Who would Poles fight first if attaced again by Germans and Russians at the same time?
Of course they would fight the Germans first because bussines first then pleasure.
Many Poles would love to see Poland kicking some German ass really strong. Last time in soccer we failed. :)

Poles dislikes most:
1. Roma
2. Romanians (probably confuse them with Roma)
3 Arabs
4Ukrainians
5 Jews
6 Russians

Poles feel symphaty toward:
1. USA
2. Italy
3. France
4. England
5. Chech
6. Hungarian
7. Sweden

cbos.pl/SPISKOM.POL/2003/K_001_03.PDF#search=%22Polacy%20AND%20inne%20narody%22

Kowalski,

Ukranians: In this part of Poland many people have Ukrainian heritage. So it seems strange to me that they are on the 'dislike' list.

I'd like to hear PF members thoughts on this. :)

Wroclaw
As far as I know there was exodus of Polish people by Ukrainian soldiers during the WWII (actually, my grandmother's family was severly affected - they killed their brothers and father). There are many Poles who have been forced to stay in Ukraine or Russia after the war -- you can notice the Polish last names on many occasions there.

Here is what I'm taling about:

Mass Grave of Massacred Poles Found in Ukraine

"A Ukrainian government commission has concluded that thousands of [POLISH] people buried in a mass grave outside Kiev were killed during Stalin's purges, not by Nazi soldiers."

therebel.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6689

I don't know why Poles seem no to like Romanians though.

vito,

I'm trying to get a better understanding of this. I understand that at the end of WW II many people were moved from the east of Poland and part of Ukraine to west Poland.

I just thought that after sixty years these people or there family [nowadays] would have a positive opinion of Ukraine. Not because they were moved [no-one would like that] but because they are proud of their roots.

On the other hand, I can quite understand your anger with regard to Ukraine.
You may think me naive on this subject but I'm willing to learn. :)

Vito,

I've read the link. Now I understand.

Thanks.

Romanias are on the list due to Poles confusing them with Roma from Romania. I have no source to prove but I've heard that Romanians themselves put Poles very hight on their list of "likes", right after Italians and French whom they like most.

Ukrainians have gaine much after orange revolutins and following efforts to reconsile two nations so more recent statistics should place them higer.

Thank you for this. It is very interesting. I enjoy hearing other points of view from other cultures.

I suppose it is more for previous generations but my uncle was born and brough up in Lwow( Polish Lwow) so he didn't like Ukrainians.

I think that Poland has quite bad geographical location- between 2 big countries who were always happy to invade us ( or at least cut a bit of our land ) .That is why probbaly we like countries like USA, GB- far away, in general rather friendly never our enemies.

Even though I know Germans now are normal I still don'y like them very much. And French too, but I guess it's because of their president

I also heard about it, but it turned out that my friend had totally opposite experience with the Lithuanians. He said that from the beginning they were very friendly, and after they heard him speak something in polish to his friend, they became even more friendlier. :)

As for Germans, the whole "Powiernictwo Pruskie" issue really intoxicates the Polish-German relationships. Besides we can slowly see a shift of the look on the Poles/Germans/Jews relations during the WWII. In the 40's it was: Germans = oppressors, Poles and Jews = victims; later it was Germans and Poles= oppressors, Jews = victims; and now it's Poles = oppressors; Jews = victims and Germans = observers. :)

Young Germans, that don't remember those times are fed up with being blamed for everything bad that happened during the WWII and are starting to slowly rewrite the history of their country. It's really a bad news for it's neighbors. :)


Czech’s on the fifth place? All my friends that visited Czech rep. had really bad experiences with it’s inhabitants. As long as they spoke to them in German they were really polite, but the minute my friends started to talk among themselves in Polish the attitude of most Czech’s they had met changed drastically for worse. :)

I suppose they must have met the wrong people though.

Why the Hungarians on 6th place ? They were on Germany's side in WW II....

And the Swedes on 7th ??? Don't you remember The Deluge ????

:(

The British tend to dislike the French too... we have a stereotypical view of them - all pomposity and sneers. Plus they have weird taste in food. And the women don't shave their armpits. Ewww.

Q. How can you tell when a Frenchman's been to your house?
A. The dustbins are empty and the dog's pregnant.

Ba-doom-tish.

What do you like about France the most?
I've only been there as a little child, and a few years ago at the airport in Paris. I love their bakery. "Pain au chocolate"

Hmmm...France. Maybe I'll make that my next destination...

I plan on visiting Paris sometime next year with my gf. Can't wait! Helps of course if you know a little bit of the lingo. I really should polish up!

i like the people, the varied scenery, the cafe culture, the food, the weather, the wine and beer...

i was there for 3 different reasons, 1st Skiing in January absolutely fabulous and made very welcome, 2nd for the Le Mans 24 hour race, where i happen to meet a lovely French woman and lastly I went camping all down the west coast of France 1 month Later with that very same French Lady.. So this year alone was a lovely year there with great memories.. And La Rochelle where i stayed a few days was Beautiful, (and it happened to have a lovely little Irish pub, so i wasn't denied my guinness)

What about how do poles see hispanics , Have you ever heard something from them or are there in poland some spanish people.

Yes there are some Spanish people in Poland.
And I think people have a quite stereotypical view on them, just like on everybody else.

If I'm correct there's a difference between Hispanics and Spaniards, right?

Basically, besides that Poles, men as well as women, find Spanish and Hispanics people usually very attractive, they don't think anything more about them at all. It's because of the distance that separates Poland from Spain and both Americas. I think that its also the other way around. Spaniard’s and Hispanics don't think much about Polish people.

I can tell you I like a lot of them . I have a lot of mexican friends.
My mom and some family members do not like them at all.
They say they destroyed the neighboor hood. From what I seen in chicago I would say she right. They don't take care of there own property. and live with way to many Family members.

But living in La it seems different with them. They seem americanised here more so then in chicago. I don't know, its a little different here,even though its the same culture.

Personally I like the french. I have a friend who is French canadian. He was born in the Us and he he's great.
I been to france and I had a blast . I don't speak french. But when i did talk to a french man I used polish first . And then English .. HA HA.

I had a lot of fun in a bar in france. But I had to use hand signals or signs to get the Beer I wanted..

And from what my cousins have said Ukrainan women are beautifull. He said a lot of them are in poland . He said this in confidence so his wife did not hear......LOL

I as a pole born in chicago like everyone no matter what country they come from.
But as a note. I will never buy a japanese car or a german one. So I won't spend my money in that matter.

But Other wise I like all nationalities. There are good people and loving people from all walks of life. And then there are the ones that hate everyone. Even americans.

Except they all want to come here. Which I think is funny.....................

Hi, I live in Warsaw. I met here people from Spain, Portugal, South America, Cuba and Dominicana Rep. Many of them are my students, some of them friends. They are here for different puroses- travel, love, diplomatic work, buisness, education etc. They all seem to enjoy their life here...

There is a long history of hatered between those 2 nations due to conflicts over the centuries.
At one point Ukraine was inhabited by a Polish population, especialle the western part of it.

Since Polish had a lot of land and lost it, the feeling of hatered, especially on Polish side have escalated. Some Polish people still want to claim those lands nowdays.

I don't desregard the crimes both of the nations have comitted against each other.

My pal was a quite long time in Spain, and told me that if a Spaniard wants to isult a Catalonian, they call them a 'Polish'.

i moved to poland after 3 years in madrid... was really suprised at the similarities between the two cultures... the joie de vivre especially...

The opinions, observations, likes and dislikes posted are as revealing as the Country of Poland. A recent visit to Poland revealed that there are people, young people, who are intent on modernizing the Country overnight and there are others, the elder generation, who make an equally determined effort to return the country to pre WWII standards.

While in Poland we visited the cities where our ancestors lived, where we were born, and the City where we lived at the onset of WWII.

It is the contrast between the cities and rural Poland that was most stricking. Rural Poland relies on living horse power, candle power, and outside wells; in contrast the cities are modernising at breakneck speed to become more and more like the rest of Western Europe.

We perceived many Polish People as exhibiting feelings of rejection by the West. If possible they would errase the 50 years of Communist Rule to join the Western states of Europe. Alas, that is not going to happen overnight. There are too many remnants of that rule still present, not the least of which is the expectation of the retiring population that were promised everything by that state. There is also the exploitation of the ex-Commust polititians of the elderly in Poland, 'I will restore everything promised as soon as you elect me.'

There is no "Marshall Plan" for Poland! Have we forgotten that it was the "Marshall Plan" that rebuilt Europe? To include such states as England, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, etc., virtually every country adversely affected by the war on the Western side of the Iron Curtain.

It will take the next fifty years for Poland to regain its stature, respect of neighboring states, and economic viability on the European continent. It is painful to observe the Country of my birth, fifty plus years after the war, still adversely affected by the devastation visited upon it by the German and Russian onslought to start WWII.