Genealogy / What ethnicity would you say a person would be if someone came from kresy Poland [41]

Few heads up: A part of my family comes from Kresy. Three generations of our men worked as head foresters in Podolia - both under Austria and for independent Poland. [The fourth one - after receiving his education in Forestry faculty at Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań - also became a head forester around Toruń and - after the war - one of the directors of the Directorate of the National Forests at Toruń and then Gdańsk.]

One of my great great aunts taught several generations of Hucul children in their native Rusyn language. Six other women from my family, three generations of them - all rooted in Kresy, were also teachers. Lack of intelligence?

You conveniently forgot about Lwów culture - its two universities (Uniwersytet Jana Kazimierza and Politechnika Lwowska), its Polish School of Mathematics, its Scientific Society, Picture Gallery, Great Theater, National Museum. You forgot about scores of intelligentsia and their families deported to Siberia and Kazachstan, and many scholars and scientists murdered by NKVD and NAZIs.

And then, Stanisławów, or Iwano-Frankiwsk - ignorantly mocked by you in some other thread. I personally knew several Polish families that came from that city. The most intelligent, funny, social and cheerful people. For example, Pan Staś, aside from doing boring accounting, he also had a very good baritone voice, played guitar quite well and knew several dozens of Kresy songs. I still remember some of them. His wife, pani Frania, taught us alternative history lessons in our primary school (but only when some students were absent). About Katyń, Wołyń, Jałta, Mikołajczyk and all that ****. "Children, let's go out to our woods to have a botany lesson."

And if this personal relations do not impress you then go to wikipedia, pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisławów
and scan the list of famous people related to Stanisławów: actors, generals, politicians, scholars, engineers, economists, diplomats, architects, singers, musicians, sportsmen, etc. Not producing intelligent people?

Then take some little places, such as Czortków in Tarnopol Province: population 5,200 in 1921, 19,000 in 1931.
Here are few excerpts translated from Jarosław Abramow-Newerly, Granica Sokoła
- We had in Czortków our own City Theatre, although an amateur, but at a quite high level. There were the ladies: Krukowska, Krzyżanowska, Wasilewska. The latter was also a guide of a "Sokół" (Falcon) movement, an excellent actress. Similarly as Kostkiewicz, a locomotive engineer, who played additionally in orchestra on a piccolo. This troupe presented the New Year's Czortków Nativity Scene, which was shown several times, because it was so liked. They mocked the local authorities. Some felt offended, I remember.

- But not Mayor Michałowski?
- No, no. The Mayor had a sense of humour.
...
- We were often visited by the professional theatre of Madam £ozińska from Stanisławów. It was excellent, but our local one was not any worse. A famous Warsaw's actress Ewa Bonacka came from Czortków, sir.

- A wife of Władysław Daszewski, a stage designer?
- That's it. Her mother was so proud that her daughter were succeeding in Warsaw's Polish Theatre. - She gets so many flowers, always - and she showed us how many. We also head a theatre in our school, directed by our Latin teacher, professor Krwawicz. He also directed the City Theatre and he directed our symphony orchestra. We were not short of musicians, because there were music schools of two Stanisławs: £ukasiewicz and Mucha.

Oh, Czortków, sir, it was an unusual city. Unusual. Clean, well maintained. Blooming. As a little Lwów. With wonderful orchards. In every garden bunches of grapes. And if we had not enough of them we took the express train to Zaleszczyki for the fruits. Zaleszczyki was called the Polish Merano. Similarly as the famous Italian city, Zaleszczyki was located on a peninsula, shaped like a horseshoe. Flown around by Dniestr river. Unusually picturesquely located, with sunny climate, where fruits ripened: grapes, watermelons, peaches, apricots, melons.

- Every self-respecting citizen of Czortków. sir - continued pan Jan - had his own wine cellar. And what kind! "Palcy lizać. Sam mniód!" And the great people. Hearty, warm, "adhesive" - as I usually say. I will always recognize a countryman from Podolia -- wherever he would be.

Genealogy / Wielgie village in Poland [8]


Based on geographical and historical data the village of Wielgie near Lipno seems the most likely choice out of the group of the four candidates you mentioned. Luckily for the OP, the website of this particular commune of Wielgie is lovingly maintained by a local historian at wielgie.pl

History of Lake Piaseczno (Orłowo), by mgr. Janusz M. Koszytkowski, September 12, 2011
Translated excerpts from Polish:
The settlements in the Commune and Parish Wielgie developed in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century. A list of parishes of archdeaconry Dobrzyń shows that in 1510 there existed parish Wielgie of St. Lawrence, consisting of the villages: Wielgie, Nowa Wieś, Bętlewo, Tupadły, Modusy, Orłowo i Piaseczno.

...
In the Middle Ages the lake and adjacent area was the property of the prince, Conrad of Mazovia. The settlements around the lake have been repeatedly invaded and looted by raiding Prussian tribes, Lithuanians and the Teutonic Knights.

...
After the Second Partition of Poland in 1792 Frederick William II brought in Prussian settlers to the Dobrzyń lands, including areas around the lakes Tupadły-Piaseczno. They converted the wilderness around the villages Teodorowo, Piaseczno and Orłowo to the agrarian culture. The Prussian clans included: Strejlau, Janke, Wahl, Dill von Dellau, Rossol, Remer-Rejmer, Dikoff, Ditloff, Prusak, Hess, Rentfleisch and others. They build a Lutheran church, Protestant cemetery and schools in Orłowo and Theodore.

OP: Did you see the name Janke mentioned in the last paragraph? You will find the email address of Mr. Koszytkowski at the bottom of almost every webpage on that site. Write him, in Polish if possible, and enquire about the Janke clan.


None is very conveniently located for a visit to Wielgie. You would still have to travel a bit by road.

Bydgoszcz, Wielgie - 125km, 1:52h . Small airport
Warszawa, Wielgie - 155km, 2:41h .

Law / Is there a legal requirement for us to support aging parents in Poland? [26]


The father, who once tormented the family. The mother, whose parental rights are limited. Now - the old, the sick - they are demanding money from adult children unseen for years. Social welfare and the courts are tough: you have to pay.

Polityka, in Polish:


polityka.pl/spoleczenstwo/artykuly/1518414,1,dzieci-placa-alimenty-rodzicom.read

Genealogy / Is Aleska a Polish baby name ? [42]

Then there is also a legitimate Slovenian name Aleška (freq: 34 in 2007), a feminine version of Aleš (freq: 10,740 in 2007). Derived from Aleks, Alekš, Alexsis, Alexsander.

The same name exists in Czechia and Slovakia. Recent frequency of Aleš in the former one - 31,151. Aleška - a feminine version of Aleš.

Genealogy / Is Aleska a Polish baby name ? [42]


Well actually, there are many Valeska/Waleska names. It is a German name and it means strong, beautiful, powerful. Here is how:

Waleska (Walaska, Valeska, Valasek or Valiska) is the legendary founderess of the city of Kłodzko (Latin Glacium, Glacensis urbs, Glocium, German Glatz, Czech Kladsko), who reigned on Castle Hill in pagan times.

The oldest document mentioning Waleska dates from 1625 - the Kłodzko's chronicler Georgius Aelurius devoted an entire chapter to her in his work Glaciographia. Some legends say that she was the daughter of Krak and sister of Princess Wanda.

But all the legends agree that she was beautiful, statuesque and strong. She had a long, golden hair braided in pigtails, she excelled in hunting and she shoot with a bow and arrows. She could break a horseshoe with bare hands.

The linguists derive her name from "gold haired" - "zlatovláska" in Czech, later transformed to the German "Walaska" or "Waleska". During this transformation the "golden" part has been lost and the "haired" was left. In Polish that would be "włoska, włosiana".

Legends:
One story says that she drew her superhuman strength from her wonderful braid. Thanks to it she defeated the dragon hiding in a pit under a linden tree in Żelaźne, shooting him with arrows from a distance of several kilometers. The country, which she ruled, was famous for its wealth, and it was envied by the neighbours. Jealous Christian Czechs wanted to grab her land. They treacherously seized her and cut off her enchanted braid. She ended her life immured alive in a church which was called after that a pagan temple.

Another story says that there was a pagan virgin Waleska, which entered into collusion with the devil. Thanks to this she was cruel and evil, yet beautiful and brave. No knight could match her in battle. Her strength was enchanted in the beautiful, long hair. She was merciless to her subjects, and her dealings with the devil brought the misery to the countryside. The subjects revolted. One night, when Waleska was asleep, they cut off her hair. As a result, she has become vulnerable. She was imprisoned and then walled up in the wall of the castle. Her golden hair and the miraculous bow have been deposited in the temple on Castle Hill. It turned out that it was only she who could wield the bow. It was useless in the hands of others.

Her braid was reportedly stored, until the eighteenth century, in the so-called Green Room of the castle, as a talisman to protect Kłodzko city. It was taken away by Frederick the Great, who took Kłodzko and joined all the Kłodzko lands to Prussia. He also took away the legendary drum covered by the skin of Jan Žižka - the leader of the Hussites.

There is a stone bas-relief of a feminine bust on the wall surrounding the fortress of Kłodzko. Tradition assigns it to the image of Waleska. The face of the sculpture was destroyed after 1945 by Polish settlers from the east in the act of vandalic revenge. Her appearance is now known only from the pre-war photographs.

Translated from Polish Wikipedia: pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waleska

See also:
610 Valeska (1906 VK) - a planetoid from the main belt of asteroids, orbiting the Sun within 5 years and 150 days at an average distance of 3.08 a.u. It was discovered on September 26, 1906 in Heidelberg by Max Wolf. The name comes from the Germanic name Valeska and was inspired by the letters VK in the initial marking of the asteroid: 1906 VK.

And there is of course Madam Walewska, as any kid in Poland knows it. :-)

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

Also:
cug (colloquially); ciąg; przeciąg; przewiew; zaciąg
[I suspect a German origin for this version of cug.]

Example: Dobry cug w kominie => A good draft in a chimney.

News / Icy blast cleans the streets of the homeless in Poland.. [63]


You are right on these two points, but the rest make sense only sometimes. Here is what happened to me in one year only, in one place only, in Toronto, where I usually waited for streetcars to get a ride home.

+ I was once threaten by a bum with a cane for daring to offer a hot food, instead of money, in the fast food place - 5 meters away from the streetcar shelter where he approached me.

+ One of my such offers was refused on the grounds that the man "was vegetarian". The same place and few other ones (in the vicinity of 50 meters) were serving veggie meals as well - which he obviously ignored.

+ Same place again: I bought a good meal to an evidently hungry man and he thanked me profusely. That made up for the two previous failures.

Genealogy / Jordanowski name [5]

Interesting, but why do you think so? Any sources? If you took it from the "Stankiewicze" web page, there is indeed the following entry:

Jardanowski - 1405 od nazwy miejscowej Jordanowice, dziś Wiardunki (pilskie, gmina Ryczywół).
Jardanowski - 1405, from the nameplace Jordanowice, today Wiardunki, Ryczywół community, district of Piła.
stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=530

However this seems like a free-for-all interpretation. I say it because there are also three places in Poland named Jordanów, two - Jordanowo and one - Jordanów Śląski - all of which could serve as a prototype for the name Jordanowski:

1. village Jordanów, Brzeziny community , district of Brzeziny, £ódź Province
2. village Jordanów, Gąbin community, district of Płock , Masovian Province
3. town of Jordanów, Jordanów community, district (suski) of Sucha Beskidzka, Małopolska Province
4. village Jordanów Śląski, Jordanów Śląski community, district of Wrocław, Wrocław Province
5. village Jordanowo, Złotniki Kujawskie community, district of Inowrocław, Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province
6. village Jordanowo, Świebodzin community, district of Świebodzin, Lubuskie Province

Of those six places Jordanów #3(Sucha Beskidzka) has been established by Wawrzyniec Spytek Jordan from Zakliczyn in 1564. Jordanów #1 (Brzeziny) has been established in 1832 by Jan Suchecki, Poraj coat of arms; it was named after his mother Magdalena primo voto Jordan, Trąby coat of arms.

What makes those two places interesting is the common connection: family: Jordan, coat of arms: Trąby, the house seat: Zakliczyn. See Jordanowie, pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordanowie

One of the best known members of the Jordan family was Henryk Jordan (1842-1907), professor at Jagiellonian University, doctor and social activist, creator of the idea of so-called Jordan Gardens - unique to Polish Partitions and later to Poland, and unseen anywhere else in Europe at those times. Henryk Jordan was born into an impoverished noble family from the village of Zakliczyn, district of Tarnów.

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Jordan

Ogródki/Ogrody/Parki Jordanowskie, anyone?

So, at least one village and one town has been named after a noble family Jordan. Question is, where the Jordanowski name really came from? A name of a peasant, an artisan, a Jew from any of those villages/towns, an illegitimate child of one of those noble Jordans? Someone related by trade to the network of Jordan Gardens?

Food / Semolina in Poland (kasza manna?) [4]


Kasza (or kaszka) manna - known under the American brand name: "cream of wheat", or "wheat groats" in general - is made from regular wheat, while semolina - from durum, hard, wheat. Semolina is used in industrial production of pastas, couscous, bread and cakes. Semolina comes in various sizes (including fine flour size), while kaszka manna is more of less of the same standard, fine groats, size. Flower and bran fractions are removed during purification process of kasza manna.

As you have said - semolina is more yellow, while "kasza manna" should be white with a yellowish tinge. The latter contains very little fibre, minerals and vitamins, but large amount of starch.

Durum wheat or macaroni wheat is the only tetraploid species of wheat of commercial importance that is widely cultivated today. (wikipedia)

Try to google: semolina sklep Kraków

Genealogy / Rębielice Szlacheckie [10]


Some of the queries indicate a cavalier attitude to names spelling. I can understand difficulties in reading some old handwriting and in the past I suggested sending images of such documents here for us to scrutinize them, or closer cooperation. In some cases it worked exceptionally well. In some other cases - people still continue playing their guessing game, making even more errors and then fly away resentful for being corrected.

Genealogy / Rębielice Szlacheckie [10]

froglegs12:
I am not really interested in searching for your GG-mother, but here is one suggestion that might help you: If you really want anyone to successfully help you then at least make an effort to write geographical names without errors, and - if possible - with Polish diacritics (See the helper line just above this text box).

Relielice just does not cut it; it does not fit any pattern of Polish language. But Rębielice does.

Here are the two villages, your referred to:
Rębielice Szlacheckie, Gmina Lipie, Kłobuck County, Silesian Voivodeship
Danków, Gmina Lipie, Kłobuck County, Silesian Voivodeship

With these, correctly spelled, names you can now easily locate these villages on Google maps, and also visit wikipedia pages - both English and Polish versions. I really recommend the latter, even if you do not speak Polish, because it usually contains many more details about geographical names than the former version does. In there you may find many facts that are useful in genealogical research, such as the name of the nearest parish, etc. Use Google translate (translate.google.com) if you have to.

Genealogy / Floetenstein, Prussia - need to verify Polish name. [4]



Correct German spelling: Flötenstein, Rummersburg

[Berg=mountain but Burg=castle]

Confirming:
Baldenburg (German), Biały Bór (Polish), Szczecinek County, Western Pomeranian Province, 2219 inhabitants (in year 2010)
Rummelsburg(German), Miastko (Polish), Bytów County, Pomeranian Province, 10 841 inhabitants (in year 2009)
Flötenstein (German), Koczała (Polish), Człuchów County, Pomeranian Province

Although these places are located in three different counties and two different provinces, they are in fact close to each other:
Biały Bór - Koczała - 24 km by road
Miastko - Koczała - 20 km by road
See Google maps: Koczała, Polska

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]


Since you said it again I suddenly realized that you do not understand what is a structure of universities in Poland. For example, the School of Medicine has nothing to do with Poznań University of Technology. They are completely separate entities: administration-wise, academically, and so on. And they are rated separately, by whatever method. If I remember well, there are about six state universities in Poznań. There are probably some private ones as well.

Each school, in turn, has bunch of faculties. Here are, for example, the faculties of Poznań University of Technology:
Architecture, Chemical Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computing and Information Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications, Engineering Management, Machines and Transportation, Mechanical Engineering and Management, Technical Physics.

By contrast, Adam Mickiewicz University, has the following faculties: Biology, Chemistry, Educational Studies, Geographical and Geological Science, History, Law and Administration, Mathematics and Computer Science, Modern Languages and Literature, Physics, Polish and Classical Philology, Political Science and Journalism, Social Sciences and Philosophy, Theology, Pedagogy and Fine Arts ( Kalisz).

One could argue for combining resources of at least these two.

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]


But you also refuse to see the obvious that this ranking method is screwed, as this page demonstrates: webometrics.info/Size_by_Domain_World.asp

Garbage in ==> garbage out

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]


The faculty ranking info must be written in some invisible ink, which my browser is not able to detect.:-) What the heck are you talking about?

What I see here instead is that their ranking is based on the number of web based publications, both formal and informal, and - more likely than not - not peer-viewed.

So, I agree with Sidliste_Chodov: this is a general university ranking, solely based on the web traffic. Although interesting as a method, the validity of such ranking could be easily questioned. For example, what conclusion could you draw from the following table, taken from the same website, webometrics.info/Size_by_Domain_World.asp?

It displays number of pages, in millions, country by country, published in specific domains, but also in all domains altogether. Below are some results in this simplified format: (rank, country, millions-of-pages-from-all-domains)

(1 USA 33807)
(2 China 9764)
(3 Japan 7919)
(4 Germany 6544)
(5 UK 4238)
(6 Russia 3567)
(7 S.Korea 3244)
(8 Poland 3111)

and there are 42 more countries trailing Poland, including (9 France 2954), (14 Canada 1946), etc. At the first glance this is stupefying, isn't it? But if you know a little about Poland you can easily recall that there is a lot of universities/colleges in Poland - both public and private - of various qualities, which publish a lot of internal scientific, or quasi scientific, papers. This is why this statistic is obviously screwed.

Secondly, this page is self-promoting. For example, here is their advice given to academic institutions, currently ranked low:


webometrics.info/about_rank.html

But let us assume for a moment, that their statistics makes more sense when broken into individual domains, such as amu.edu.pl (A Mickiewicz University, Poznań) or ump.edu.pl (Poznań University of Medical Sciences). If you care to follow a self deprecating


and have some fun, try to extract the world rank of the first five best schools, country by country. I checked data from some former communist countries - Central and Eastern Europe - plus Russia and Greece for a good measure. Suddenly the 2675 rank of Medical School in Poznań does not look that bad at all!

Obviously, most of these schools should really work hard to catch up with the well established Western European schools. But here are some observations nevertheless:

1. The Czech Republic universities have the best ranking in average (of five best schools), in the group I have chosen, but Poland is not that much behind.

2. The well established Greece is more or less at the same level as Poland, so Greeks have nothing to be overly proud of.
3. Russia - surprise, surprise - is not even close to Poland.
4. Some Balkan countries, such as Serbia, do not even register on the basic scale. No data available.
5. Most Balkan countries are ranked at the 2000-4000 level, way, way behind Poland - (300-600)

So, girls and boys, take it easy when reading and interpreting various university rankings.

Life / What is wrong with Poznan? [197]


Here is a real life anecdote from a fair city of Poznań:
Long time ago, in the 50s, ZMP - the communist youth organization - had a big power to intervene into anything that happened at universities, including grading foreign students from brotherly socialist countries - Africa, Middle East and Asia. Professor K. from Poznań University of Technology, a man with a rigid moral spine, after given a stern warning against failing too many of those students, turned 180 degrees around and started grading every foreign student with 5 mark (grade A, 100%). This made some ZMP activists a bit uneasy, since they knew that the good professor was not easy to be influenced by anybody, including young communists. When questioned about his new tactics he answered: "Well, if any bridge they built ever collapses, I will have this satisfaction that it won't be in Poland."

Delph: I give you 20 points in appreciation of your valiant defence of my former home city. When you reach 100 points I will let you in secret of a good place where my very close relative, aside from studying at Medical School, bakes pastry, including NA cookies, and serves dozens specialty coffees. :-)

WhyMedSchool: When I first moved to Poznań I did not like it either. Proverbially frugal people, nothing in common with Easterners, the proverbial spenders - "zastaw się a postaw się" types, as my mom used to say. When in street car in Wrocław one drunk could make everybody laugh and joke together. Not in Poznań - everybody would stick to himself/herself. But then I learned that you need to earn their trust first and so they would open their hearts to you.

I saw these pictures from Poznań yesterday. I liked them; Poznan is not boring at all:
johntigert.posterous.com/poznan-people-polish-independence-day

Language / Difference between wise and intelligent in Polish [30]


I am just curious: do you mean a primitive "multiple choice" test or some of its modifications? Select one of four options? Fill the blanks?

It this is what you mean, then I can assure you that no "good test taker" would ever pass any of my reasonably well designed sets of little problems to solve. Say: three-five problems, 20-30 minutes to go. I am not bragging, that's what it was. No, the problems were not designed to test any intelligence of a student, but just two things: his/her problem solving ability and a knowledge he/she supposedly has acquired in some period before. So random guess approach would be completely useless there and any "good test taker" would fail in less than few minutes. I know it. Some tried this road before, until they learned to comply.

Let me put it differently. Envision a scenario of one such student locked in my office, with all those books available in several languages, with no supervision for the next 40 minutes and my blessing to use any of them at her/his leisure. She/he will still fail the test, if she/he was just a "chance taker".

And, for your information, my students still liked me, despite of my "trickiness": I was twice selected by popular vote of our university students the best teacher of the year in both - the junior (labs) and the senior (lectures) - categories. Which I still value a lot, notwithstanding other "more professional" achievements..

And I am not by any means an inventor of any special testing method. Check for example MIT, computer science department.

Genealogy / Walenty Racza and Zofia Mical married 1928 lived in Jarczowce? or Staroniwa? [3]


The only common thing shared between these two places is their common general location in Galicia, a former South-Eastern part of Poland. However the distance between those two places is quite big, about 293 km by road. It looks like Walenty and Zofia had to work hard to find each other. :-)

Most of the Google searches for "Staroniwa" lead to Rzeszów, a major city in SE Poland. Staroniwa is a part of it, with its own history, and it is easy to find.

The "Jarczowce" search consistently leads to a place between Tarnopol (Ternopil) and Zborów (Zboriv), 36 km apart, in today's Ukraine. It is not shown on any standard modern Ukrainian map, but you can see it here (a satellite map with the old Polish names overlayed): wikimapia.org/18934586/pl/Jarczowce

If your family records mention anything about a famous stud in Jarczowce, or Count Juliusz Dzieduszycki, then you will know that you are on a right track.


Translated from dzieduszyccy.eu/dzieduszyccy-w-zyciu-publicznym-kraju-ostatnich-trzech-stuleci.html

Language / Difference between wise and intelligent in Polish [30]


That's "uczeń", "wyedukowany" or "wykształcony" - and definitely not enough to be called "mądry". Those that provide this sort of knowledge are "nauczyciel" and "uczony" (academic teacher, and researcher, with good experience and common sense.) One would like to call every "uczony" to be "mądry" but this is unfortunately not the case every time.

Language / Difference between wise and intelligent in Polish [30]


Interesting question. Apparently this is puzzling to many, judging by many such discussions in online media. The standard dictionaries are not that clear here, so people have their own, and quite often disparate, definitions. Here are few samples:

1. uczony(scholar, erudite, savant, scientist)

+ inteligentny (intelligent, sharp, clever)

= mądry [rozumny, roztropny] (wise, smart, clever, sagacious, sharp-witted, judicious)

2. Some people are eager to point out how close it is from "mądry" to "mędrek" - somebody with some knowledge but no intelligence at all.

3. Others equalize "inteligencja" with genes, and "mądrość" with books only.

For me - the first definition makes some sense.

Life / Why is Polish Christmas on the 24th? [87]


Well, this only shows how limited our individual observations can be. My grandmother used to observe the so-called strict fasting on Christmas Eve, even though this was not required by any canonical law, nor by regional customs. She ate nothing, just drank some water all day, till the Vigil Supper. The rest of us were only forbidden from nibbling on meat dishes, stored in the pantry for the Christmas Day.

There was not a drop of alcohol in our house on Christmas Eve: my grandmother and mother rarely drank, and the rest of us were just kids. But visitors were always welcome during the next two days and they would bring some alcohol with them.

I cannot really explain why my grandma observed strict fasting because ordinarily she was far from being sanctimonious. This probably had something to do with her strong inner faith and personal experiences.

History / Polish painting.....Jan Matejko's titled "Under Arrest" [16]


I really cannot say much in general terms about media published and read by American Polonia, because I simply do not seek and do not read local papers in Polish. But I also do not read tabloids, such as "Toronto Sun". There is a bunch of free Polish dailies in Toronto and they are more or less the real estate advertising outlets with very little real content. Few others are either religion oriented - and they have all rights to be such, and there are also some very right-wing ones. The oldest daily, "Związkowiec", has some feeling of neutrality to it, and it seems to serve this part of the Polonia population that has trouble reading in English. Their articles follow more or less the world news plus Polish specific news and stories.

But let's not generalize...

There are several Polish institutions at American Universities and local cultural organizations, which provide access to various archives and produce newsletters, promoting high quality events. And I am not talking about "Pierogi events" or "Polka Festival" in Buffalo or Chicago. Here are just few samples:

indiana.edu/~polishst/ - Polish Studies Center at Indiana University
polishcsi.org - Polish Cultural Society of Indiana
ii.umich.edu/crees/aboutus/regionalprograms/polishstudies - University of Michigan Polish Studies
piasa.org - Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America
thekf.org - The Kościuszko Foundation
usc.edu/dept/polish_music/PMJ/ - Polish Music Journal, 1997-2003
edu/dept/polish_music/ - Polish Music Center (with Polish Music Newsletter)

So the cream of Polonia has access to quality publications in America. For example:


Remember, this is California, with its strong ties to Paderewski.

Unfortunately some of the university based institutions are short lived due to lack of finances in support of professors and staff. For example, Brigham Young University, Utah has a Department of German Studies and Slavic Languages, but only the German and Russian Chairs remain; the chair of Polish studies is long gone. Yet, it was once a thriving centre, with Prof. Walter Whipple translating numerous Polish poems, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Whipple

A Cradle Wind
Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer

Toward my cradle flew a Tatra wind,
brushed by eagles' wings and mountain pines
which gape from craggs into the abyss --
it blew and roared above my cradle.

Into my heart poured a lasting fit
of longing for eagles' flight and the
pensiveness of pines swaying in the
mountain tops, engulfed in pure quiet.

-translated by Walter Whipple

And where you may find the best English translation of Tuwim's "Lokomotywa"? No, not in Poland but mission.net/poland/warsaw/literature/poems/locomoti.htm right here (in my humble opinion)


There were so far six posters here, and none was overly excited about the paintings under discussion. So your question here is quite irrelevant. But I'll take the bait.

1. I have seen neither "Carowie Szujscy wprowadzeni przez hetmana Stanisława Żółkiewskiego na sejm warszawski przed króla Zygmunta III" nor "Carowie Szujscy na Sejmie Warszawskim". But I have seen some other Matejko's paintings in original, and many more in reproductions and albums. It used to be a standard to visit musea on yearly school trips in Poland. Kraków was one of the choices.

2. Matejko was just a growing up phase for me. Then there were Kossaks, Brandt, Chełmonski, Gierymski, Orłowski, Michałowski, Suchodolski. With the same theme of the heroic old Poland. Or with the "Hussar/Uhlan/Chevau-léger and a girl" theme. Their role as historical painters was comparable to the Sienkiewicz's role of a historical novelist, "ku pokrzepieniu serc", to lift the hearts.

But I no longer read Sienkiewicz's novels, I graduated to something else. Impressionism is a form that still touches me, so I occasionally buy some such reproductions. "Rybacy brodzący" (Wading fishermen) by Leon Wyczółkowski, would be something that I would choose over "Carowie Szujscy" any time.

Rybacy brodzący, Wading fishermen

History / Polish painting.....Jan Matejko's titled "Under Arrest" [16]


And what does it suppose to mean? You should be happy to see the solid proof that there is no conspiracy involved here. And this was more than one minute google search, for God's sake. But I am glad I did some investigation here, because I learned something interesting about Matejko: that there are two pictures treating the same subject and that the first picture (the one from Wrocław) was painted by just a 15 years old boy.

And yes, Polish can be useful. I received all my education in this language and I am not poorer by that, thank you very much.

By the way: Regardless of your fights with DE in other threads, you and JonnyM are treating him quite unfairly in this thread. He provided some explanation to OP, linked to some source (and there are dozens more of this sort, as you may know) and then asked a reasonable question: Is this really true? What's wrong with that?

History / Polish painting.....Jan Matejko's titled "Under Arrest" [16]

Just to confirm one half of my previous message (#3) I went to website of the Wrocław National Museum:

mnwr.art.pl/CMS/wystawy_stale/sztuka_polska_XVII-XIXw.html

At the bottom of the page is the Museum's guide, stored in 10 pdf files. Sala 6 (Hall 6) is the part of the guide that is of our concern here. Indeed you can see there one of the Matejko's paintings, with the following descriptions, which I translated into English.

Shuiskiis tsars ushered by Żółkiewski to Warsaw Sejm before Sigismund III in 1611,
1853 
Oil on canvas, 75.5 x 108;

signature on the back: I painted it in 1853 / JM 

Previously in Lwow National Gallery, inv. VIII-23

Two relatively small images [the other being "The Entrance of Henry Valois to Krakow"], clearly differing from the other ones by smooth idealizing style, were made by the fifteen years old, not quite fully developed, painter. The larger of the works, considered the first historical composition of the young artist, refers to the glorious victories of the Polish army in the seventeenth century.

On June 13, 1611, after a long siege, the Polish army under the command of Hetman Żółkiewski captured Smolensk and took into captivity Tsar Vasili IV Shuiski and his brothers. The military success opened the way to the Muscovite throne by Władyslaw - son of the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa.

The Matejko's picture shows the interior of the Senators Hall of the Warsaw Castle when - kneeling before the throne of King Sigismund III - Tsar Vasilii Shuiskii offers to Polish monarch the insignia of his power - the crown and the sceptre. The scene demonstrates the power of the old Republic and humiliation of its later conquerer - Russia. Among the people taking part in the solemn ceremony are: the young prince Władysław, followed by Marshall Marcin Wolski, Hetman Żółkiewski in the armour with the raised hand, Hetman Karol Chodkiewicz with the mace and the bishop of Kraków Marcin Szyszkowski.

An academic drawing style and simplified colors are the hallmarks of the work. The static composition is determined by the the crowded group, extracted by a strong beam of light from the dark room.

... and the confirmation of the second part of the message #3:

Go to the catalogue of Kraków Muzeum: atalog.muzeum.krakow.pl/pl/cat

Search: Matejko, Szujski

This brings the other Matejko's painting with the Szujskis theme: "Carowie Szujscy na Sejmie Warszawskim". Location: Jan Matejko House (Dom Jana Matejki).

History / Polish painting.....Jan Matejko's titled "Under Arrest" [16]


Apparently, there are two paintings by Jan Matejko, depicting this event.
According to this article in Rzepa, 29-10-2011:


The second painting "The Szujski Czars in the Warsaw's Sejm" can be viewed in the newly renovated "Matejko's House" in Kraków.

You can compare both paintings in Polish Wikipedia:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carowie_Szujscy_przed_Zygmuntem_III_(obrazy_Jana_Matejki)

Obviously, the rightist media and blogs continue with the following nonsense:


Just google "Hołd Ruski".

UK, Ireland / Is the UK referred to as the Islands in Polish media back home? [62]


Norman Davies, The Isles: A History


- Amazon.com

History / Are there still communists in Poland? [58]

So maybe something like this happened to OP? :


Jerzy Pilch, "Tysiąc spokojnych miast". In Polish, excellent read, recommended.

History / Are there still communists in Poland? [58]

The only excuse to see pictures of communists in Polish cities - are retro bars and restaurants, playing a big joke on Communism. For example, there is a famous "The Red Hog Inn" (Oberża pod Czerwonym Wieprzem) in Warsaw (one of the best, people say), in Wola district, on the corner of Żelazna and Chłodna streets. Its interior decoration is all communist. One of the big, big paintings in the Inn represents the Communist leaders: Ochab (Polish), Brezhnev (Soviet), Honecker (East German) sitting behind the table with abundance of food in front of them (including a whole roast suckling pig), with Kádár (Hungarian) standing behind, while Fidel Castro dances - holding a cigar in his left hand and a waitress's ass in the right one. This picture supposedly refers to actual event, since the old incarnation of this restaurant was a meeting place to all sorts of sinister communist figures.

Bars like "Popaganda Bar" in Kraków
virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Poland/Wojewodztwo_Malopolskie/Krakow-490219/Nightlife-Krakow-Propaganda_Pub-BR-1.html
are all over Poland.

You can take a "Communist Tour of Nowa Huta, with Crazy Guides" too,

Yes, there will be pictures of Lenin, but do not take it seriously.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]


Disclaimer: I know very little of Kraków. But a puzzle is a puzzle. So, following the Sherlock Holmes footsteps:

1. Kraków Zoo (I saw pictures of Mane Sheep and Heather Sheep there)

2. University of Agriculture, Department of Animal Sciences, Chair of Breeding of Sheep and Goats - Experimental Station in Bielany

3. Błonie Meadows. Are there any trees? It looks like there are some at the borders. And I saw this article from September 9, 2011,

So it must have been a sensation. Sheep came there on 8th, and you were there with your camera three days later, on Sunday. How am I doing dr. Watson?