Why does Poland love the US?

Expatroit:
yup, CUBA sounds like a good place for you

Ding ding ding! Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner for the most idiotic post on PF today. Congratulations, Expatriot

Apparantly, your HS has mis-informed history teachers.

laughable? The liberated concentration camp victims would disagree with you

Piorun;
I dont mean to be sarcastic, but I recognize all three of the above.. So what has that to do with my statement?

The major players in WWII have divided up the world into the spheres of influence after the war at that very conference. This left Poland in Soviet sphere, before WWII Poland was independent. So can you honestly say that this gave Poland its independence? No it was Wilson not Roosevelt that did that. Your time frame is just a tad off if you want the credit.

I don't think Polish people love US. I think that USA hegemony is very comfortable for Polish people so it is more and more realistic calculation than love like in 90s.

I have some interesting statistics (2007).

The game was already over? Hitler was at the gates of Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad. He had control of all of the European continent from Norway to the Mediteranean Sea, had north Africa except for Gibraltar, Egypt and Malta and Cyprus. You either didn't cover WWII in your high school studies or you skipped a lot of classes.

I vote for the latter since you also apparently skipped spelling as well. The Poles are Slavs. A Pole is a Slav, not a slave. Silent e makes a big difference.

Piorun;
I ask for no credit for anything. I am an 83yr old man. I served my country (AMERICA) during WW2. I remember liberating a German slave labor camp and have a Polish prisoner on his hands and knees thanking me as I fed him my rations. He appreciated it.

My hat is off for you than. I’m sure that plenty of Poles appreciate your contribution, and what you have achieved in WWII. If no one here said that before let me be the first one to Thank You for your sacrifice. However this doesn’t change the fact that many of those liberated had no country to go back to. Many of them felt cheated out of the victory. As a veteran yourself I’m sure you understand. Great number of the Polish veterans of war had to stay abroad. The ones that have returned faced persecutions by the new government of Poland forced upon them by that very conference. This is not what they fought and sacrificed their lives for. It’s not that you contribution is not appreciated, it’s just that history is being distorted by a simple statements like these. For many of my countryman the fight continued when it was long forgotten in the west. It took another 40 years to overcome it.

Many of Brits and Americans that read the statements about the Yalta conference think that Poles somehow despise them and have a tendency to take it the wrong way. This is not the case, even during the communist times Polish people felt a great admiration for the west and never resented it. Since the movement of people is free now and many have traveled abroad they have experienced firsthand haw we are perceived by the western people so the sentiment have changed a bit. But it’s not all that negative as you might think.

Dont be silly,German tanks rolled in from the west,at the same time Poland rolled in from the north,simple,fact ,and something I notice you are not disputing,get over it,your countries past is not perfect,big deal.


Dont be a moron,it was Polish warsaw pact forces marching in with the russkies,not British troops.......


So why oh why do you keep defending it then?Get over yourself.


here we go again,blaiming a criple and a drunk for all your problems...Adults dont go around blaming everyone else...


Long forgotten in the west???Are you crazy? Just ask Franek what "Duck and Cover" means......or ask any brit over 30 what a four minute warning was....


Me thinks you only back track now because you have been shamed by a true hero...hows that humble pie tasting?

Franek,
For what its worth,thank you to you and all your buddies for crossing the oceans to help us ALL out, simple words on a forum can never be enough but,Thank you.

again ...

Yes but not as allies there is a difference you know.


But British policy that led to it, so the blame is equal.


I did you however are still going like the energizer bunny.


You seem to? Or am I wrong?


Yes I was. I have not back tracked, I simply pointed out what you don't understand.

Well, first of all there is 10 million Americans of Polish descent (in a country of 350 mil, that’s about one out of 35). So there are a lot of family ties there. Another thing is how the US was always fighting communism, while most of Western Europe was, to say gently, “commie friendly”.

Franek , you are amazing person and dont forget that. I think these guys could
learn alot more from you then they ever could from a book..its what people
lived thru that tells history, in books your getting the brief summary of years of
war.. the truth lies with those who lived thru it and each story is their own and
none can be wrong because its how they lived through it to tell of it today !!!

No,of course not!Just took advantage of the czech's being somewhat busy fighting the germans...hhhmmm sounds a bit like what the russkies got upto a year later does it not?


lmao,1947,the czechs vote in a communist aligned government..1968 Polish troops march arm in arm with fraternal brothers(sic) red army to surpress Czech uprising....yeah mate,its all our fault :)


Yawn,you slagged off American GI's,one shows up on here and you change your tune........


lmao,I'll tell that to my neighbour then who lost his leg fighting the Reds in Korea...or the guy down the road with shrapnel scars in his face from fighting the Reds in Malaysia shall I...when you say "western Europe",please be clear and say France,OK :)

You right, I said "most of the Western Europe" and meant France, Germany, Italy etc. Can anybody remember back in the 80's when the Russkies pulled out their SS-20's and the US rolled out their Scud missiles and the plans for Star Wars? Can anybody remember the commie outrage in those countries, not only they didn’t pay for it, they didn’t want it in their backyard. BTW, the Soviets collapsed soon after; they simply couldn’t keep up with the expense.

And the CZ took advantage when we were fighting Ruskies few years earlier for the same Piece of land.


Yes it is trying to salvage what was left of your Empire. So you sacrificed the CZ in Yalta.


I demand a proof of this lie

I just looked this up on Google.There were 586,628 Thousand Americans killed in Europe during WW2 not counting the wounded and missing.. I wonder what Expatroits high school teacher thinks is so laughable about that.

I ask for no thanks for what I did in WW2. I was just one in many million Americans that were called to duty. We were at war.

I know that I will hear that there many more Europeans killed in that period. I just wish that I had the answer. I dont.SORRY

Isthatu2 did my observation hurt you that much? You seem to argue for the argument sake now, without contributing anything useful here (there is no voice of reason in your statements). Reading your posts I thought you were much more intelligent than that and my statement was a motivational tool for you. But I see ignorance and pride now. What a disappointment.

P.S
My offer of reading up on the subject matter still stands. When you are ready to discuss it your more than welcome to. Now there is no use.

Franek, I don't care if you expect any thanks or not. I thank you regardless. From the buttom of my hart, I thank you and may God Bless You.

***

There is another reason "Why does Poland love the US?” After the crackdown on Solidarity in 1980, there were only 3 countries the Polish political refugees could escape to: USA, Canada and Australia. None of the European countries would accept the Solidarity refugees, mainly because of the fear of the Soviet reprisal and the opposition from their own Communist Parties. This is how I land up in the US.

you learn something every day, i never knew this before i read it, thnx.

Can you tell me why just the Europeans feared the Soviet reprisal?? I mean was it a case of reach (in a military sense of course) or just that Britain lost its balls for once??

not to turn it back on us but,my ex g/fs dad came here for this reason in the 80s....


I will,thanks,can you point me in the direction of some web pages please? Im afraid the only really good source in English I own is Red star White eagle by ole Norm,and thats in storage at the minute.

It wasnt meant to turn into a big issue,just pointing out to expat that it wasnt as simplistic as Poland never attacking anyone.

(I will try to show facts without showing my private attitude)

As to Polish - American realtions. Yalta is very painful history. What we need to remember USA wasn't our ally in 1939 ... What is important, most of Polish people don't look on US by WWII prismate. Yes everybody knows how it was and in discussions about history we like to point out some things.

In 90s US was very popular because they won Cold War and they supported Poland in 90s. Half of Polish debt was canceled and there was strong political support for Poland.

Later euphory ended (we know how)

and Poles are more realistic in their attitude towards US. surveys show the reality: most Polish people have neutral feeling towards this country.

Most Polish people know that USA isn't our potnential enemy and in a lot of cases can be helpful.

OBVIOUSLY YOU NEED TO CRACK A BOOK ON POLISH-RUSSIAN HISTORY OR SOMETHING.

As I sit here and read the resposes to this thread, I get very frustrated that I cant express why in my mind, I can see why older Poles remember that America was always a friend.I know and seen things that history books do not mention.

I am speaking of your grandparents. How well That I recall
That when we freed villiages in Germany,The young girls that were forced to work on German farms greeted us as we liberated them. I still remember these pretty little things with thier babuskas,hugging us and kissing us.( THEY LOVED AMERICANS) Then there were the Poles conscripted in the German army.. They surrendered in droves.They had no desire to die for Hitler.(They loved us) for them the war was over.

Come to think of it,I was but 19 years old. Today I am a Dziadek. So these peop[le that I speak of were your Grandparents. You young folks have a lot to learn. Life is good for you now.But it was not always like that

I don't have any good sources in English either but here at least you will find opinions of the conflict by Richard M. Watt and Victor S. Mamatey.

And its you and your generation that can teach us,if we are prepered to listen.
I fear however that like all past generations the youth of today look at the world as though they are the first to experiance things and that they are the first geneation to "really understand", I owe a debt to my grandparents and their generation that can never be put into words,thankfully though,those few words I can express are not in German thanks to guys like you and the countless others who gave up those years of their lives that we have all taken for granted in our lives. 19,at 19 I was busy chasing girls and traveling europe,a free europe.

(thanks for the link P'.)

Franek- Whether you want it or not, you have my thanks. Many of us have lost a family member/s during WW2. My grandfather served in France during this time, and my grandmother manufactured depth chargers in a NY factory.


See Lukasz, that wasn't so hard ;)

The American "people" as a whole, do care a lot about helping others and making sacrifices to help out in any crisis. Unfortunately, I can't say that our government has done anything positive (lately) in foreigners eyes, so we aren't liked by anyone now. Our president has a whopping 20-30 % approval rating. Worst in History.

Expatriot..where did you go? I'd like to enjoy some more laughs before the day's end.

as to history American president Wilson or Reagan is better example of USA supporting Poland.

WWII is more complicated issue because after Germans we had Russians in our country.


We know something about bad choices in elections ...

Two great men in that pic lukasz.They dont make 'em like that anymore.
(is it bad taste to say the Holy Father look to be about to start a Rap?)