American Interests in Poland

What Interests American, Irish, British, etc about poland?
the Culture? the history? Other?

For me its a great deal of things. mostly the history, I am 3rd Generation so
it was unfortunate that I wasnt taught the culture, even though it was very
much a part of our familys life when my Grandmother was alive, when she died
it died along with her.

should have refrased the title to international Interests in Poland.

well you all get the point anyway :)

awww geese at least one post would do :) lol

I know American interest is growing. alot in the history , there are some
difficulties with families connecting with their roots. I seen Promise in this area
but not only with Poland, all over europe. ancestry is growing here, many have
discussed problems with finding their families in Poland, but not so much other
areas.

MY thoughts on this was that Students who are working their way thru college should
take up this task, charge a reasonable fee, and get the information that is needed.
it would not only help these college students, but the person who is looking and
cant make the trip to poland.

but there would have to be a base in each area. because of travel reasons.
man I dont even live there, but I have it all figured out!!

lol.
ps. I would be American base.
anyone care to share thoughts on this? bad Idea?? yes/ no

Ps. off to work. Have great day.

Patrycja19 .......Just got back from a trip to Poland , looking for lost relations in the " Stary Krai ". That part was quite easy, I had a village , the family name , and some old photo's. It took 10 seconds flat after having met the first person in the one road village.

But this would not be posible without some polish language in your vocabulary.

The second part of the trips objective was frustrated, even with the help of my polish cousins. I wanted to find birth records of my mother, Parish records for the period to cover 1908 - 1927 are nowere to be found. Not with the parish priest where they are meant to be, not with local archives nor indeed with the district archives, but they only hold 100 year old records.

This is not uncommon I'm told by a local historian, these records cover the details of people ,some of whom were taken from thier family home into forced labour by the invading German army.They also prove the identity to peoples rights to compensation for a number of injustices of war and later to the depopulisation of the Lemko people and the loss of homesteads.

One of the cousins work in the local registrars offices and she say this could take a long time to trace, so as a job for students to do in spare time could take things into a very long timescale. Fortunatly we can get duplicate birth cerificates by applying to the courts with the word of two local peole who are old enough to vouch to her identity. These people are all in thiere mid 80's so we may be lucky if we move fast.

well, I was looking at the easy side of it, mine were found the day I requested.
but i had town names , excact spellings, and birth dates for siblings.

I believe it could come into some long dragged out process. but at the same time
one record had me twistedly happy! I am sure the same would go for many
Polish-Americans/American Poles.

RIght now, where i see Majority of problems is the getting to Poland records.
they get all the info here gathered, but it stops. so of course Planning trips to
Poland are in the making once they establish where they came from or originated.
but , Many cannot take time from work, busy schedules, etc. to make trips and
many have said , I have visited, but didnt get a chance to look for records as they
made the trips with tourist groups and this was not part of the ciriculum.

Ive not had trouble with the records with town names. MY Problems are with early
records from 1700 to abt 1790 or so.
the only other problems is Archives and finding the correct one for the correct
locations.

I dont think I would advertise tracing that far back, we all know it would be
impossible , but there is some to be found. War and a number of things has
made it virtually impossible for some.

but, least a glitter of hope, and something to help out in area of education for
Poland.

reason I say that is, I have come across many possible family members who didnt
know their history, and found it to connect with mine. it was equally rewarding
for us both.

:) just a suggestion. Patrycja

In all honesty, it was a guy I met that got me interested in Poland, initially. He's from Poland, and I wanted to better understand his culture so I could better understand him. Upon researching Poland, I found it to be an intriguing country with a lot of history. I would like to visit there someday, as well as many other European countries just to be able to experience the many different cultures the world has to offer.

Good Post, btw!:)

Angelia

As for me, it was also to better understand a wonderful Polish-Canadian man I had met.

It was also for historical, economical and political reasons. In 2002, I was in Normandy and I read a thank you note, written by a Polish person, to the Canadian soldiers who died in Dieppe in 1942. The note had been left at the cenotaph in the Main Square in Dieppe, during the 60th anniversary ceremonies of the landing in Dieppe. That's when Poland first registered on my radar.

Poland was affordable for me (although it was a lot more expensive than I had thought) and I believed that my money would have the greatest impact in Poland. I definitely wanted to visit a country that had survived history with such courage and conviction. I would go again in a second.

Finally, I was surprised and delighted to find a bit of shared history with France, being a French-Canadian. (We are very different from the French though.)

I liked the fact that it is not overdone (I like simple elegance), with few high-rises and a beautiful countryside (I loved the lace curtains everywhere, the roses, the tableware - I could go on....

FISZ:


I see there is a little misconception about America, lol :)