History / Questions about Polish borders, Galicia and Cossacks. [50]


Here are two grand totals extracted from 1907 Austro-Hungarian Statistics, all of Galicia:
1907 Austro-Hungarian Statistics, all of Galicia, population by religion

Population: 7,064,439
Roman Catholic: 3,198,974 (45%)
Greek Catholic: 3,078,918 (44%)
Jewish: 740,955 (10%)
Other: 45,592 (1%)

1907 Austro-Hungarian Statistics, all of Galicia, population by language

Population: 7,044,153
German: 190,895 (2.71%)
Polish: 3,763,341 (53%)
Ukrainian: 3,080,708 (44%)
Other: 9,209 (0.13%)

[There is an error for grand totals in the original table. There are also some minor errors, like printing the number 1% whenever it should be 100%.]


Which is obviously NOT true. As you see, in 1907 there was 45%-44% split between Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics, and 53%-44% split between Polish and Ukrainian/Ruthenian language speakers.


Speakers (year 1907):
Lwów All: 125,696 German: 7,472 (6%) Polish: 60,773 (48%) Ukrainian: 57,414 (46%) Other: 37 (0%)
Kraków All: 85,578 German: 1,994 (2%) Polish: 82,888 (97%) Ukrainian: 87 (0%) Other: 609 (1%)

Law / Question about the drinking laws of Poland. [45]

A young man, pretending to be drunk and then taken to a sobering chamber in Poznań, ate all his money - approximately 500 zlotys. He was afraid to be robbed by the orderlies.

History / The history and discussion of the Bambrzy people in Greater Poland/Posen area [25]


Apparently it matters, otherwise you would not get this kind of reaction. I have tried to help you again - this time explaining the rules, but you have grown too arrogant to my liking. That's what I am going to do, following Pawian advice - I am getting out of here.

History / The history and discussion of the Bambrzy people in Greater Poland/Posen area [25]


No, if you had really, really prepared yourself to your own thread you would have known that the Bambers quickly polonized, already in the second generation.

The main driving force behind this state of affairs was the prosaic fact that Bambers were devout Roman Catholics. Ignorance of the Polish language prevented their participation in the spiritual life in their parishes; also being a minority in the Polish territories the knowledge of language was necessary for the proper conduct of their own economy.


So no, "German names do NOT apply to this post". You just farted it out.

Secondly, this thread is NOT "about German settlers to Posen", it is about German settlers to Poznan - or more correctly "Royal City of Poznań", "Regia Urbe Posnani". See post #3, with the translation of the document 1709, originally written in Latin.

The good King Jan III Sobieski, the victor from Vienna, just died few years before (1696) - after reorganizing the administration of HIS ROYAL CITY of POZNAŃ in 1693. Lucky for him, he did not have to face all the tribulations imposed on Poznań by the foreign armies: Saxons, Swedes, Prussians, rebellious Poles, and even Russians. The Great Northern War, The War of Polish Succession, and the Seven Years War had devastating effects on the entire province. But yet, it was still the Poland's Province of Wielkopolska, with its capital Poznań.

But if you are so very eager to call it Posen, you have to wait until 1793 when Prussia authored and participated in the 2nd Poland's Partition - stealing the Greater Poland and renaming it as Prussian Prowinz Posen.

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historia_Poznania_1650-1768

History / The history and discussion of the Bambrzy people in Greater Poland/Posen area [25]

Fragment of translation of Luboń contract:

Let it be known to everyone now and to their descendants, that we the undersigned: Mayor and the Councilors, Voit and the Assessors, twenty men and Stewards, acting as the administrators of estates belonging to the Royal City of Poznań, owning a village called Luboń, recently ruined by Swedish war and various incursions, as well as devoided of population by pestilence, which the Lord had affected the whole city of Poznań with the surroundings in 1709, in order for this settlement to become perfect again, we have undertaken to announce and publish our intent of bringing people to whom liberties would be given.

It just happened that certain group of free German people, seeking new place to settle down, found the village of Luboń to their liking and approached our offices with their request.

So by understanding and accepting their request, and reflecting on the need to developing the estate as quickly as possible, especially that these people are of Roman Catholic faith, and believing that the German people maintain farms in good order, obey the law, pay taxes or rent on time, willingly provide manpower, and follow all duties and orders, we let these German people to settle and build in this our village of Luboń - giving them all the village fields, meadows, and overgrown pastures from where they could collect firewood as well as building materials - but with their obligation of carrying all the burden, such as of peasants, and for benefit of the all town.

poznanczyk.com/poznanczanie3.html

• 
  districts of Poznañ, former Bambry villages mentioned in above links
  

Genealogy / I am doing research on Great Grandfather, Simon Terpiloski, town Wysoky? [6]


That's all fine; this is just a guessing game. :-)
On the other hand the Belarusian Vysokoye lies quite a distance from today's Lithuanian border. Both villages are exactly 260 km apart, directly as crow flies, from North to South.

Genealogy / I am doing research on Great Grandfather, Simon Terpiloski, town Wysoky? [6]



The word "Wysoki" means High (masculine). Similar, "Wysoka" means High (feminine) and "Wysokie" - High (neutral). If used as a name place the first two versions could not stand alone, but would have to be followed by a noun, as in "Wysoki Las" (High Forest) or "Wysoka Góra" (High Mountain). However, the third, neutral version, could stand alone; "Wysokie" simply implying "High Place" or "High Village".

"Wysokie", when spelled Vysokie, could be pronounced in English exactly the same as Vysoki; hence it was easy to loose the final letter E in the word.

There are 15 "Wysokie" villages in Poland, three of them in NE province, Podlaskie Voivodship.

Wysokie, Gmina (municipality) Korycin, Sokółka County,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wysokie,_Sok%C3%B3%C5%82ka_County

Wysokie, Gmina Raczki, Suwałki County,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wysokie,_Sok%C3%B3%C5%82ka_County

Wysokie, Gmina Wiżajny, Suwałki County,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wysokie,_Gmina_Wi%C5%BCajny

The latter lies right on the Lithuanian border.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


I thought it was a rhetorical question, which in fact is.
But touché, in formal terms. :-)

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]

Issue 1:


I am sorry, but you actually misquoted yourself. In the first post you clearly said:


Those are not the same things. Ignoring your logical lapse here (you actually reversed the meaning of your intentional statement), your original statement actually implies this: there can hardly be individualistic Poles, because the Polish culture prevents them to becoming ones.

Changing horses in midstream is fine, but at least admit to it.

Issue 2:
So according to you, it is fine just to ramble you opinion, without regards to historical truth, social data, reality or scientific principles. Well, this is fine with me but forgive my lack of enthusiasm to your methods of the type: "because I know", "because I sense", or "because I can tell the difference". Yours is just one person's opinion, to which you obviously have full rights, but which means actually nothing to me or to general population as a whole - until hypothetised and then proven either by social experiment, or at least by a theory.

While your statement:


makes sense but then you have not discovered America here. Of course they are, nobody contests that. But the collectives are not static - as you seem to be implying by invoking YOUR national/religious generic model of Polish society, based on your observation of American Polonia - but they change dynamically. You were given countless examples here of adaptation of unruly individualistic Polish societies into very cooperative organisms working well together in emergencies. That's the dynamics.

Law / Are Polish the same as Belgian?? [8]


No, the North Americans. :-)
I am the last one to provide authoritative answers on McDonald's, since I visit such places once a year or so, but I seem to remember that long ago there were big red plastic bottles of Heinz and yellow bottles of mustard on every table. They are gone now, replaced by the shallow plastic tubes of ketchup that are no longer as messy as their predecessors, the mini plastic packets - thus solving the drive-thru ketchup and fries misery of the drivers.

• 
  Heinz.jpg
  

Travel / What's worth seeing in Poznań? [17]

One can squeeze four days or more out of these:
+ Rogalin, 19 km S of Poznan: Raczyńskis' Palace and Art Gallery (Monet, Matejko), 1000 years old Rogalin's Oaks. French Park, English Park, Warta Meadows.

+ Museum of Musical Instruments, a corner of Old Market and Wożna. Cozy, unique, very interesting.

+ Botanical Gardens, Ogrody district

+ Kórnik castle with fantastic 19th c. interiors, arboretum, several walking trails of various length (1.5, 7, 10, 22), Beaver Trails - educational trails of various lengths taking you through various ecosystems: pine forest, marshes, river valley. Birds, beavers. Lakes and beaches. 25 km SE from Poznań.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


I'll try to make it short: you are a relative newcomer here, so you may not realize that you are not the first one to come up with one of the statements like this: "All Poles are X", where X are usually derogatory, rarely neutral, and sometimes laudatory. But they all have something in common: logically, they are all false.

All Polish women are pack rats. False, some are.
All Polish women are beautiful. False again, some are.
All Polish woman have big tits. False again, some have.
All Poles are conservative. False again, some are.
And here comes your own statement: "Poles are collectivists at heart". [You did not use the quantifier "all" but you implied such.] So guess what? You statement is as much worth as the other statements, including the one about the tits.

And here is where I should really stop and conclude, since I assume you are a reasonable person, ready to recognize you own errors in judgement.

==========

But in case you are still prepared to fight the battles, I am willing to provide some extra "ammunition" here:
+ I assume that your research in this topic is very amateurish: you are not a scientist specializing in some field of social science or anthropology. You do not spent countless hours in some gloomy libraries researching the subject, you do not write scientific papers and you do not go through devastating peer reviews. You have nothing to stand on here. You are just an opinionated person, as anyone else here. In case I am wrong here, I am ready to apologize and revise some of this.

+ I do not know what kind of historical books you read. There are books and books. Some are really debatable. I also read tones of historical books, and papers. But that does not make me an expert. I am still an amateur.

+ Internet? You know as much as I do, that every Internet topic has both proponents and opponents. Not much help here.
+ How many people do you really know well enough to categorize them as individualistic vs. collective types? 100 maybe? 1000 at most. 10,000 impossible. So granting you these 1000 people, and making them accessible to you for yor research: what kind of methodology you have used to collect and analyse your data, compute statistical errors, and go through all these estimates in order to present us with your sweeping observation. If you did not do any of this, than again your conclusions are worthy exactly ZERO.

Here is you opening post:


I am going to ignore that bit about Jews because it sounds like a strange agenda. Other than that:
+ You do accept that Polish nation have produced some great leaders over centuries: political, military, cultural, scientific. Where did they come from, if not from very "individualistic attitudes" per se.

[The quotes in the sentences below are your own words]
+ So in your opinion, Joseph Conrad was "a collectivist at heart" or "an individualist" influenced by his "own ideas"? If the former, justify your claim based on his life and his literary works.

+ In your opinion, Maria Curie-Skodowska "was just stubborn and opinionated", or "just had to process idea through her head and follow her own will, whatever it may be?".

We could go on and on: for every single "collective" person from your pool of 1000 I could present you with a real life figure that strongly qualifies and individualistic: rebellious poets, vanguard theater directors, composers, mathematicians, painters, etc. Soon you would run out of your cases, believe me.

I rest my case.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]


Krawal, since 1948, the only producent of dolls in Poland - or so they say. I can read the labels. :-)
"We play melodies". So this must be a tune playing doll.

Language / The Polish word for fart? [28]


Seems like the toy, not the bird.

Contrary to what some respected Polish encyclopaedia (and many other second hand useless sources) say: "zbijanie bąków", "puszczanie bąka" or "strzelanie bąka" had originally nothing to do with the poor Great Bittern bird nor with the foul and loud physiological effects. The latter meaning came later in the process of imitation of the humming sound that some spinning tops were making.

BÄ…ki, the simple lovely toys, became most popular in Poland during middle ages. Their design though was not exactly the same as the modern ones: there was no screw for propelling the toy, but the top was given the spinning motion by striking it with a little whip from the laying position until it reached enough speed to enter into the spinning and precession motions. The experts were able to maintain the motion by skillfully lashing the top from time to time - the same way as a skillful wagoner occasionally strikes his horses to maintain their speed. [Political correctness do not apply to the Middle Ages, especially in this topic]

I read somewhere that this top propelling method was still known among Polish folk before WWII. So now, here are the meanings of the phrases:

"zbijać bąki" - to strike the spinning tops
"puszczać bąki" - to start the tops
"strzelać bąki" - to crack the whip when spinning the tops

Bąk had many other names in Old Poland: cyga, kręglica, fryga, wartołka, warchołka. Andrzej Kochanowski, a nephew of the great Jan, wrote:

- Jaką po długich salach grą się bawią dzieci. W długiem kole patrzając, ta biczmi pędzona, krzywem kołem polata.

Pious £azarz Baranowicz, Archbishop of the Greek Rite of Czernihow, writing in XVII c used the metaphor of this game:

"Serce jako cyga, gdy jÄ… zacinajÄ…

Obrót ustalon z cygi z zajęciem miewają.

Serce jak cyga nasze obrot stroi,

Pańskiego bicia jak cyga się boi."


How about that - was I "wzniosły" enough for you? :-)

Food / Babcia Lipińska's naleśniki [7]


Are they close to "krokiety"?


polishgirlcooking.blogspot.ca/2011/07/krokiety-z-kapusta-i-grzybami-pancake.html

• 
  Krokiety: mushroom+sauerkraut, or meat
  

Language / The Polish word for fart? [28]

Close, but no. "Purkać" or "prukać" are the onomatopoeic versions of the word, imitating sound of gas discharge from the bowels. It is considered less vulgar, than some other ones.

From this comes a demeaning, insulting word "prukwa" - in reference to an old, unsympathetic, unfriendly woman.

I do not believe I joined the fray. This is your fault Lyzko. :-) What is wrong with these young Americans, that make them ask questions about kisomnia dupa, etc., and not about "uduchowienie" or other such exalted words?

Travel / My holiday, Gdansk or Kaunus, Lithuania? Help me decide! [23]


And when you go there don't miss the Maritime Museum with its ship model of Peter von Danczk, Piotr of Gdańsk. Originally Pierre de la Rochelle (1462), she was damaged by lightning, partially burned and abandoned by her owner in Gdańsk. She was then rebuilt in Gdańsk in 1470 and converted into a privateer vessel. According to some historians the fact of her repair in Gdansk was a turning point in the local shipbuilding. Carpenters repairing her hull were able to learn the technique of joining planks edge to edge instead of the traditional overlap.

Peter of Gdańsk, under the command of Paul Beneke and his 350-man crew, became one of the most formidable privateers of the times. During one of its voyages in 1475, it was damaged and left in the French port of Brouage, where it was scrapped.

Since 1473, under the command of Paul Beneke ship ran a successful action against England. He won the greatest fame by looting the Burgundian-Florentine galley "San Matteo", gaining a great booty, valued at about 48 000 guilders, including a picture of Hans Memling's "Last Judgment" .

The picture was subsequently passed to St. Mary's Church in Gdansk. It is now in National Museum in Gdańsk, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Judgment_(Memling)


I know the feeling.. :-) If you like historical novels, you could sweeten up the waiting time by reading "The house of Niccolo: Caprice and Rondo" by Dorothy Dunnett.



:=)

Life / Old Polish Tradition of a Son's First Steps [6]


Polish Americans can do all they want, I would not care less. But this tradition sounds fake to me. And the reason is this:
From: "Birthday Traditions from Around the World", coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/birthday-traditions.html


So which part of Poland did you say observe this custom? Serious sources, please.

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


That's right:


etymologia.org/wiki/S%C5%82ownik+etymologiczny/%C5%BCupan?viewer=code

History / Passenger terminal in Port of Gdansk 17th Century [6]


I really do not know much about sea passenger sailing in 17th c. But I know for the fact that passenger ships sailed on Polish rivers, especially Vistula. Not much is known about the way those ships were built but the richer the owner the more expensive the boat was. The King, lay and clergy magnates owned private boats.

The common people also used the passenger shipping. They were mostly trade people, brokers, agents and runners. In urgent trips they used small boats, taking up to 12 passengers. A journey from Warsaw to Gdansk lasted about 10 days. Including a few days of stay in the city - the round trip took almost 5 weeks.

Take a look at this - portgdansk.pl/en, and specifically at the history page of Gdańsk Port. See the first two images showing the congestion of ships in the Old Port. See how the ships are moored at the wharfs. As they say:


Today, Gdansk's port is located in two areas: a so-called Inner Port is located at the mouth of Vistula River and the Outer Port - east of Vistula mouth, facing the Gulf of Gdańsk. There are numerous quys, piers and terminals there, including ferry terminals. See the interactive map here: portgdansk.pl/about-port/terminals-and-quays

The modern port has nothing in common with the historical port. No ships visit Motława river, with possible exception of Tall Ships and and the smaller yachts.

See for example this article and video in Polish, m.trojmiasto.pl/news/Zeglarska-parada-na-Motlawie-na-zakonczenie-Baltic-Sail-n59899.html from the Sailors' Parade on Motława, at the last day of Baltic Sail. See also some pictures here: balticsail.pl.

I have no proof that all the cargo loading took place on Motława. I am speculating here: the Vistula rafts would have hard time navigating upstream Motława, and they were possibly being offloaded (corn, wood, etc.) on the shores of Vistula.

History / In WW2 Poland who was eligible to sign the Volksliste ? [48]

This is just a Personal Identity Card - Personalausweis .
Why don't you type (personalausweis ww2) in Google and select "images"? You should see there all sort of German identity cards, of various colours - some pink. Many of them specialized: "Deustcher Volkssturm Wehrmatch Personalausweis ", "Soldbuch Personalausweis Police". Some are in two languages: German/French, German/Russian etc.

And a lot of them are shown with their content. But all you are doing here is showing the cover only, which is not very helpful in your case. You know the saying: "Don't judge the book by its cover".

I understand you hesitation to publish personal data, but why don't you use one of the gazillion graphic packages in order to erase the sensitive data and then publish the damn thing here? If you don't know how to do it yourself, ask one of the teenagers from the neighbourhood, or get some professional help.

History / Passenger terminal in Port of Gdansk 17th Century [6]


Well, there was probably no need for passenger ships as such: one would hire a birth or a cabin on a merchant ship. Polish corn was still a major trade product of Polish nobility, although the first signs of corn market crash were already visible in western Europe in the first half of 17th c.

Take a look at the attached Gdańsk plan, showing the location of city walls. I had to reduce the map somehow, so the names of streets are not very clear, but you can get them from Google maps - once you get familiar with this description. In the center is a kind of island - made by two arms of Motława (Motlau) river: Old M. on the west and New M. on the East. The center of the town, with its Arthus Hall, is where the text "Główne Miasto" name is displayed on the plane - at the west of the island, called Granaries' Island. So you must have already guessed right - all the trade business was mostly done on both sides of the Island. At the north tip of the Island, slightly towards the west there is a famous Crane of Gdańsk's Port (Żuraw), which was mostly used for loading thousands of barrels of Gdańsk's beer, destined for England.

At this point the two Motławas join, then split and join again before joining Vistula. Eight kilometers later, after a bit of splitting and joining the westernmost Vistula branch (Dead Vistula) flows - together with Motława - to the Gdańsk Bay.

So now, open the Google maps, focus on Gdańsk, try to get directions from Żuraw to Dwór Arthusa in order to focus on right part of the city, and zoom in and out. You will be able to read all that useful street names, that might be used in your novel (hi there again :-)).

• 
  Gdansk within the city walls in 17th c.
  

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

Kołczowanie stafu.

Travel / My holiday, Gdansk or Kaunus, Lithuania? Help me decide! [23]


Well, October in Poland is not always gloomy, as it is time of a so-called "Golden Polish Autumn". So, after you have done all that standard obligatory touristy stuff in Tricity, you may want to spare a day or two to take some day trips into vicinity of Gdańsk.

Here are some examples:
Take a 35 minutes bus ride from Main Railway Station to Wyspa Sobieszewska (Sobieszewo Island), lines 112 and 186; or 20 minutes ride by fast bus 212. The 186 bus will take you directly to the beginning of the 6 km trail, with all information worth noting. The trail will take you through picturesque nature reserve "Raj Ptasi" (Bird Paradise) located in the north-western part of the Sobieszewo Island. The best time to visit the Bird's Paradise is the period from April to October. Bird lovers should plan their trip in spring or autumn, because then you can observe most of the species - about 200 of them. Following the entire trail you will pass along the edges of two coastal lakes, two observation towers with the view on Bold Vistula, the lakes, the spit between Bird Paradise Lake and the Gdańsk Bay. You then follow the Bay beach for a while, then cross the Island back to the road and the bus stops to take you home. The 6 km trail takes few hours to enjoy.

If you take a close look at topography of Gdańsk you will should notice a range of low hills just West of Gdańsk, and North towards Gdańsk-Oliwa and Sopot. Oliwa Hills, covered by Oliwa Forests are part of Tricity Landscape Park. Several 40-60 km long trails lead through this park towards Kashubian countryside, but the trails can be accessed within Gdańsk and Oliwa vicinity and shortened to 2-3 hours trips. [I could suggest some specific trips for you if you wished.] But if you do not feel like having a lot of walking then you can just climb the 100 m Pachołek Hill, with its steel observation platform and enjoy the beautiful panorama from there. You can get there from Stary Rynek Oliwski, for example. Anyone in Gdański-Oliwa could show you the way.

Genealogy / my Polish Grandfather in Hitler Youth? HOW? [65]


The Nazi authorities also formed special camps for children where they were separated from their parents and sent to work or subjected to Germanization if they met Nazi racial criteria. Depending on the age, they were placed in German foster families, German fatherland schools, German families from rural areas, in the establishments of Hitlerjugend (boys) and Bund Deutcher Mädel (girls), "people's educational centers" in Germany and the centers of Germanization in Warta Country.

After the war, the Polish authorities made ​​attempts to reclaim Germanized children from Germany. Until 1947, nearly 30 thousand Polish young Poles were returned, out of 200 thousand children Germanized during the World War II.

Taken from the exhibition of the Institure of National Remembrance
ipn.gov.pl/portal/pl/396/3670

See also "The fate of Gostyń children during German occupation", in Polish
muzeum.gostyn.pl/i/dg/428.pdf

Some fragments translated here:

Nazis introduced a so-called Janissaries idea, an extremely ugly method of stealing children and educating them in hostility towards their biological parents. The authorities were assisted by children clinics, day nurseries, kindergartens, shelters, and various children's homes, working in the Reich. Children were just stolen under various guises. According to the decree of Himmler's they were hidden away and provided with falsified personal information. Transitional facilities in Warta Country were set in Bruczkowo in Gostyń district, and later in Kalisz, Ludwikowo, Puszczykowo near Poznań and in Poznań.

...
The action began with a racial selection of Polish children's. They stayed in these places in average six weeks. During this time, children were taught German language, Nazi songs and Nazi greetings. They were forbidden to use Polish language and contact their families.

...
The Bruczkowo palace was the site of dramatic events. The Nazis first established a transit camp there for the clergy - 56 Polish priests and 12 monks. 58 of them were deported to the concentration camp at Buchenwald.

In 1942 15 children rebelled. They were taken away to near Poznań, on orders of Arthur Greiser, the governor of Reich, and shot.
...
In December 1, 1942 a penal labour camp for Polish children and youth was established in £Ã³dź, Warta Country. The camp was no different than any other concentration camps for adults. Terror, hard work and terrible conditions qualified that place as death camp. It was named by Nazis as "place of protection of Polish children and youth unaccompanying by adults (Jugendschutzlager)". The camp was located on the BrzeziÅ„ska Street in several brick buildings and two wooden one. Here there were several thousand of Polish children, mostly from 2 to 16 years old. The exact number cannot be estimated. The working day started at. 6 a.m., and ended around 6 p.m. However, each day was extended by a continuous, endless roll calls. Children, older than 8 years, had to work hard to earn quota set by the Germans.

...

Genealogy / my Polish Grandfather in Hitler Youth? HOW? [65]


I think that's the case, but I will check it later, as we are here at the middle of the night and I should get some sleep.

But consider this for example:


My great grandfather had this written in his internal password:
Place of birth: Tarnopol, Soviet Union
Citizen: Soviet Union

Life / When did Poles stop consuming alcohol on Christmas day. Is it a longstanding tradition or [10]

Many people participated in the discussion about boozing on Christmas Eve, including teflcat and myself. But fine with me if you are too lazy to check the link I posted.

And you were told wrong. Old tradition had it that there should be neither meat nor alcohol served until midnight of Dec the 24th. Some abstained from any meal whatsoever during that day until Vigil Supper (at 6 p.m. or so). There are dozens of websites with info like this. See for example this one, randomly selected: wikihow.com/Keep-Polish-Christmas-Traditions-in-Your-Home

Nothing to do with 1989. It's more about erosion of old practice. But I do not care one way or another what people do at their homes, as it is harmless. This is not like sailing and boozing, which is plain stupid and dangerous. In this case I will be your worst Talib ever, as I will report you on the spot to the police.

Genealogy / my Polish Grandfather in Hitler Youth? HOW? [65]

I do not know off hand. I'll check it out tomorrow. But since the scans are not coming we will have to speculate.

Life / When did Poles stop consuming alcohol on Christmas day. Is it a longstanding tradition or [10]

This topic was already discussed here: Why is Polish Christmas on the 24th?.
Experiences varied.

Genealogy / my Polish Grandfather in Hitler Youth? HOW? [65]


That's exactly what I expected. Nowhere it says anything about nationality. And that's fine: any German or any Polish national born in Gniezno would have the same entries (translated from above):

Citizenship: Poland
Place of birth: Gniezno / Poland