Polish nursery rhyme book says Germans smell and gipsies sell their children...

I read the following headline in my paper yesterday

Polish nursery rhyme book says Germans smell and gipsies sell their children.

telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/5514946/Polish-nursery-rhyme-book-says-Germans-smell-and-gipsies-sell-their-children.html

I have a 1 year old Polish daughter and I am not sure what to make of it.

Would it be possible to have a sane rational threaded discussion on this subject. I don't know Polish society so I am curious how this is going down.

Of course any further English links would be great

I reckon all nationalities have nursery rhymes along these lines. In America kids have a counting game that goes:
Eenie, meenie, miney, moe,
catch a N----r by the toe,
if he hollers let him go,
eenie, meenie, miney, moe.

Dont tell Madonna !

Oh , i was told when i was young that gypsies stole other peoples children and sold them....i guess the recession must be hitting them too....Not met any smelly Germans , so not sure that one is true....

Lol reminds me of that case where some kid was stolen in Italy by the gypsies and then found. But I never heard of German's smelling?

OK but what's the problem ? Nobody is forced to buy It.

If you are extremely sensitive your children will not read most of world literature. Out with the Bard, Twain, etc.

^ they weren't racist like this "nursery" piece of trash is.

what specious rubbish, they're hardly going to be reading these at the age of 2, are they? (Prime brainwashing age) Unsurprisingly the author of these nursery rhymes is whining about "political correctness"......yeh bring it on. Besides what is overtly racist about Huck Finn or Othello? Maybe you could explain to us....

Grzegorz rightly says that nobody is forced to buy it, but what about nursery schools and childminders?

The problem with them (and possibly with some of the Polish people replying here) is that that when they notice things like that in a German book ("all Polish smell, all Polish are dirty or sell children in the market"), they raise big alarm about the Germans being bloody racists, while when the case is the other way round, they play it down, simply saying that nobody is forced to buy such a book.

The book is disgusting and it should be clearly said so!

Ooooh...how they would scream and complain and throwing fits and demand apologies!!! :)

It is hard to say, but what I have observed so far the problem is not keeping is away from children (easy to to since you, as a parent have some agency to what the child is exposed to) but the reaction of some people who see nothing wrong with it.

It is racist, it is outdated, it is just not cool anymore to have something like that printed. It is simply a low blow to a fairly good children lit in Poland.

one, two, three, Germans smell of wee :) LOL, that's funny!

This piece of text looks like written by Harry. This is generally the compilation of all "Poles are racists" stuff from last months. I wonder why some people from countries where ghettos, racial/tribal conflicts etc. are nothing unusual are so obsessed with this issue.

*catches it and hands its back to the smelly wee German (wee is small in Scottish ya know*

I'd have laughed if the rhyme had been "one, two three, the English smell of wee, It's really tickled me..


Nah, it's too sophisticated for Harry..

I concur Germans smell of wee and i bought two gypsy kids just yesterday, UK has issues with political correctness, i had toy soldier Germans and they were the bad guys when i played now i can never have a German friend, toy soldiers fvcked me up for life!

The scary thing is that this racist book is reported to have been APPROVED and ENDORSED for use in schools. If I had a child, I would NOT want my child to read this Nazi filth.

What is it with Poland? Why this descent into Nazism?

Nazism you have in your own island, where people often have to escape from their own houses because of racist attacks. Better clean up your own sh*t instead of making a big thing out of two lines of the book, which is "approved" just like a few thousand others.

Parents have to use their judgement. Hateful digs pop up in all manner of places. Is this the garbage that we want to teach our children?

Some Poles need to learn how to channel their outbursts. Putting it in such a book is disgraceful. It's for a more mature audience to discuss and not a nursery rhyme book.

Note to ALL: This thread has nothing to do with Northern Ireland or Romania.

Anyway, I shouldn't have extrapolated that there is a descent into Nazism based on this nursery book episode. It is just an impression I have been forming for some time (much to my dismay as a Leftist and as someone who likes Poland) but I will hold off and reserve judgment for the time being. I take that part back. Let's hope Poland or any other part of Europe doesn't go down that road.

That's English originally, you nicked it.

Lots of old children's rhymes from any country would be considered racist nowadays.

what about this one?

My mother said, I never should
Play with the gypsies in the woods
If I did, she would say,
Naughty little girl to disobey
Your hair shan't curl, your shoes shan't shine
you gypsy child you shan't be mine.

When you can't attack the message, attack the messenger and when you can't even attack the messenger, attack somebody else. Classic Polish debating techniques.

You really should face up to the problems which Poland has with racism. Looking at books like this and the maths question, it's no wonder that a non-white person is twice as likely to be a victim of racist crime in Poland as they are in Germany!

They tried to ban The Three Little Pigs because it was offensive to muslims lol, not to mention we cant have Baa Baa Black Sheep because that's considered insulting to black people!

Oh well, I still find the One, Two, Three Germans smell of wee, incredibly funny and Im sure that Butty does too...

No I don't! Should I and if yes why?

Maybe it's not a good idea to print them, but all ethnical groups have rhymes, sayings, anecdotes and jokes about the other. 'Nuff said.

I thought you had a sense of humour, I honestly, would laugh if someone brought a rhyme out saying English people smelt of wee...It's funny and yes whilst mildly offensive (to Germans lol) it's not the end of the world...it could have been worse

I have!
But what is funny about this rhyme? I wanna laugh too...seriously!