Teaching our kids about Poland's History

When you say "we" who are you referring to?

Poland.

Wow, was it once their country or something?!

yeh I always thought Australia was quite boring too....you poor child.
The only Polish history we did here in UK was watching that hilarious filmette of the Polish Cavalry charging German tanks. Now I think about it I am sure that was a cut and paste job.

Really though one can always ..y know...read up yourself on what interests you instead of whining about your school's shortcomings.
Y know??? Independent study??

Yup, Ive read that pamphlet too,its a fun read for sure ;)

Yeah brainwash them and moult them into a proper monkeys.


It is called aboriginal for a reason.Do you have to dance ?:)

Time to leave.

Suck up to them??

What an ignorant little oik. Lets be clear about something buddy......you are the intruder. Not them.

They were on that Island a long time before the British and certainly a long time before the Polish.

You should pay them a little more respect because they damn well deserve it.


Oh ......and its Katyn Massacre or Zbrodnia katyńska not to be confused with Khatyn.

Can someone recommend some books about the history of Poland written in English for ten years olds, so they can learn bout history of Poland.

Children should be taught about the Polish history, look at the English, most of them dont even know their Anthem.
I will teach my children about everything, from Mieszko the First to the Cursed Soldiers, Magdalenka and TW Bolek.

Jill, Id start with Norman Davies as he is the only British historian that says a lot of truth in his writings about Polish history, after that I have no idea,

there is an awesome film out there though with Eng Subs:

youtube.com/watch?v=Pn1xzeQy1Lk

I have met Norman Davies personally, he is a manipulator like no other, career opportunist, he tells half the story, carefully prepares his historical propaganda and in primitive manner dismisses any opposing argumentation. He is someone not to be considered anywhere.

" the only British historian that says a lot of truth in his writings about Polish history,"

illogical sweeping statement surely? the only one? Really goofy?
Anyway I read that he is far from impartial in his treatment of who suffered in WW2, and that this has been a contentious issue.

Exactly, and not only that, he travels across the globe and is being treated like celebrity while giving his one to two hour sessions (his speaks most of the time and people applaud like robots) and twists a lot of historical facts his way. He is fundamentally anti-Russian and pro-western, he does Polish history some good but also has done a lot of detriment. His account of WWII was not too bad as he at least was not partial towards the victims - Jews were not on the pedestal for once- and I thank him for that but he is not someone who can be trusted all the way.

So what is wrong with him then? I personally read Igrzyska Bogow, it was one of my serious History books, cant really rememeber disagreeying ever with him.

Had a major plus from me for not glorifying Jews, and saying a bit of truth about what actually went on, though of course he was always GW darling that I know.

I just never heard of any other English historian so deeply involved in Polish issues.

I got a young family member Poland: A History by Adam Zamoyski. Granted it is 436 pages but it covers a thousand years of history. Poland: An Illustrated History by by Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski might be best for younger learners, but I haven't reviewed it personally. Norman Davies is likely a bit too dry for a 10 year old. While Davies is well regarded, and a definite improvement over communist era historiography written by Communist Party historians in Poland parroting propaganda against the Second Polish Republic and repeated by anti-Polonists in the West, he is still not quite free academically from those parameters. The need of some authors to bash Poland to imply that the loss of half of its pre-WWII was justified or inevitable should be carefully considered.

Sorry but as a teacher of primary school aged children I would have to say that the Adam Zamoyski's book, excellent though it is (I have it on my own bookshelf) is completely unsuitable for the average child of that age. The child of ten is generally still a developing reader and even if fluent with an outstanding vocabulary, the intellectual concepts are beyond even a very bright child of that age. An extremely literate, well read child might be able to dip in and out of it but I'd say it would be more in the range of a fourteen to fifteen year old - and then only a very keen reader with an interest in history and genuine curiosity to learn about it.

Właszki.

I'll be the first to admit, Poland's gotten a rotten rap throughout history! As history is nearly always written by the winners, Poland has sadly been relegated to the sidelines, rather than allowed her rightful place alongside her only slightly less maligned neighbors.

If for example Germany hadn't the incalculable history of achievment that she has, she'd have been consigned to dustbin of the past following the completed Morgenthau Plan faster than you can say "złoty"LOL

Fact is however, that the arrogance of accomplishment has empowered the English, the French, the Germans and even the Russians to gloat over Poland as the proverbial backwater bumpkin, fodder for the rich, while barely acknowledging the fact that Chopin, Kopernigk, Lobaczewski and Mme. Curie were neither French, nor Russian, nor German, but Polish z krwi i kości!!!!

It's all PR, Właszki and you might as well know it:-)

@Lyszko: when parents are from different nationalities, a child is genetically binational and hence since Chopin (tfor sure typical Polish name ;)) had a French father (Nicolas Chopin), he was obviously 50-50. You cannot simply forget about his FATHER or may be you mean that Frédéric Chopin was made by the ... Holy Spirit ;). I know that you guys are so much into French bashing (the result of de Gaulle's nationalistic policies and closing American military bases in the early 1960's (1963?) but leaving someone's parents out simply because they do not have "politically correct" (= irony ;)) nationalities does not make sense. No need to teach you how "babies are made" ;). "lol". So Frédéric Chopin was both Polish and French no matter how you put it! . If your mother is for instance Greek and your father is from Sweden, you are obviously a mixture of both and it also applies to kids with Polish mothers and French fathers (or vice versa and of any other combination of nationalities).

And as to Marie Curie, if she could become someone, it was thanks to her husband (Pierre Curie) and the conditions and finances France could offer. If she had stayed in Poland, she would not have made it for all sorts of obvious reasons.

Although of course not my "cup of tea", I could refer to ... Goebbels ... ;)

PS: de Gaulle was nevetheless not seen as the devil by Poles since they have named a Rondo (with a statue) after him in downtown Warsaw.

Not sure I see your entire point, InPolska. Are you then defending "nature" (birthright etc.) over "nurture" (upbringing irrespective of birthplace)? Mme. Curie was for Poles good ol' Manya Skłodowska long before she met Pierre! Mr. Łobaczewski was a Pole because present-day Russia belonged during the late 18th century to what is now considered "Poland", i.e. Polish territory. Chopin's father was obviously French, though his mother was Polish by birth and national origin, and to Poles his spirit belongs to Poland, not France; he remains "dusza Polski" to all:-)

Perhaps I'm a bit thick, that's all, I just didn't quite grasp what you were driving at.

@Lyszko: I'm just being ironic ;). To leave Chopin's father out does not make sense, does it? As to Marie Curie, she became a French citizen. Sorry, it cracks me up as here there is so much French bashing and I notice that among the great Poles 2 were also French (not to mention POLISH NATIONAL ANTHEM praising a ... French guy). How could they humiliate .... themselves and associate with the ... devil? As written in hundreds of PF posts, the French are the worst kind of people, completely stupid, pure garbage, subhuman, even lower than rats, Or most probably Frédéric's mother, Marie Curie and Poles in general were more intelligent than PF's trolls (no doubt about that ;)).

Thanks for the good laugh!

Have a nice evening! :)

No comment as to the French:-)

Charles de Gaulle fought with the Poles against the Russians in 1920-21. It was there that he, along with Polish officers, learned that the next war would be fought with an emphasis on tanks and airplanes. All were ignored by the French high command in 1940. Undoubtedly, de Gaulle, who stated that the U.S. and U.K. gave away too much of Europe to Stalin, is a hero in Poland.


British, and other Western historians, have a tendency to use criticism of the Second Polish Republic to mask the complicity of Poland's Western "allies" in:

1) permitting the rearmament of Germany,
2) failing to make war on the Germans in September 1939 in fulfillment of military self-defense agreements,
3) abandoning the Poles fighting in the West to exile from Stalin's puppet regime, and
4) shifting Poland's borders and government without the consent of the pre-war Polish citizens of the Kresy.
It is far easier to bash Poland and Poles than to address their own disingenuous promises and complicity in the disaster that befell the citizens of the Second Polish Republic.

[quote-rozumiemnic]"the only British historian that says a lot of truth in his writings about Polish history,"
illogical sweeping statement surely? the only one? Really goofy?
Anyway I read that he is far from impartial in his treatment of who suffered in WW2, and that this has been a contentious issue.[/quote]

Nice point,Lew Lwowski! Indeed, recent Polish history is sometimes seen as a mere extension of the end of WWI. Poland suffered terribly at the hands of both the Germans AND the Russians. Katyń is but one tragic instance!!

One very important thing to learn is the case of the Cursed (Unbreakable) Soldiers knowledge of which was repressed so strongly by the commie regime.

The other imporant, in my opinion the basis of the knowledge about what is going on on the political scene of the "New" Poland, is what happended in Magdalenka, Roundtable talks, Kiszczak files, TW Bolek and the Night of Files of 1992.. when you grasp what an amazing person Jan Olszewski truly was will you have a different look at what is going on now.

Resortowe Dzieci i a must read.
Also would advise watching the Nocna Zmiana and Plusy Dodatnie Plusy Ujemne

Lol as if that has anything to do with knowledge of history.

Olszewski was absolutely useless. You weren't even alive then, but anyone that was around then will tell you that his government was diabolically bad. They were fighting even with Olszewski's party leader (Kaczyński) and he was also completely incapable of reversing the austerity introduced. As a government, it was one of the biggest failures in Polish history.


You want people to know all about how Polish people shot their own people? ;)

Little something me and friends from Choir decided to play at the end of the Mass because of the Cursed Soldiers' Day that is fast approaching, our Parish Priest referenced to this event couple of times during the Mass as well :)

soundcloud.com/user-587394143/bozecospolske