History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


Please! The atom bomb was ready in August 1945 and the Americans would have used it against Germany if necessary. I agree it was the Soviets that did most of the fighting, but even if the Nazis had made it to Moscow and even if the Allies hadn't landed in Normandy the Americans would have had the technology to bomb Germany into obilivion in August 1945!

Again, if the fate of the world had been at stake it was technically possible for the Americans to construct a plane with extra fuel tanks to fly to Germany and back. An atom bomb is easy to transport.

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]

If the Americans really had needed to, they would have built a long distance airplane that would have been able to fly from Iceland - which was under American control - to Germany and back. They had everything that was necessary to construct such a plane.

It was the Americans that won WWII because they had the atom bomb, as delphiandomine pointed out correctly!

News / Prediction: Poland to be World Superpower in XXI century [147]


nicely put! ;-)

History / Poland-Lithuania would we be better off together? [16]


Didn't Poland and Lithuania join the European Union in 2004? Why not intensifing Polish-Lithuanian co-operation under the umbrella of the EU?
From an outside German point of view this path seems to be the most promising one.

Due to the fact that there are 38 million Polish citizens and only 3 mio Lithuanians, which is less than ten percent of Poland's population, Lithuanians would get lost in the shuffle of the ethnic mix-up a new Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Genealogy / What does Germanised mean? [29]


You probably know about the Nueces massacre (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nueces_massacre). More then 30 first generation German Texans that opposed slavery and remained loyal to the Union were massacred by Confederate soldiers in 1862.

Genealogy / What does Germanised mean? [29]


This is sometimes very hard to tell.

When the All-Bohemian Social Democratic Party broke into a German and a Czech fraction in the early 1900s, due to massive differences caused by the rising ethnic tensions between Germans and Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia, there was the funny coincidence that the family name of the leader of the new German party was "Czech" while his Czech oponent bore the family name "Nemec".

In my school I had a (decendant of Sudeten Germans) school friend whose father's name was Eduard Benesch while in 1945 the Czech communist leader's name was Klement Gottwald.


I really did not know there is a settlement of Upper Silesians in Texas. I have close relatives in Austin so I traveled a lot around in Texas. I know there is a Sorbian village called "Serbin" not too far from Austin but an Upper Silesian settlement is news to me. Did they stay in contact with other immigrant settlements from Germany or, due to their Polish vernacular, did they stay among themselves before they got Americanized?


You need to check the Viennese telephone book. On some pages it looks like you looking for a person in Prague or Brno.

News / Czech drug legalisation threatens Poland [111]


I wanted to menion that too, the thing about alcohol. Thanks!

Do you know a single country where strict laws on drugs have improved anything? Look at countries like the US and Russia that have draconic punishments for the use of drugs. The percentage of drug consuments there is increasing steadily. The only people that suffer, that are put to jail are consuments. Most of the dealers make their money and walk away freely. Things are much better in countries like Holland, Switzerland, Czechia and the liberal German Bundesländer where consuments are not criminalized. In fact the rate of Marihuana smokers in the Netherlands is constant since the 1970s.

News / Czech drug legalisation threatens Poland [111]


You like to write about things you don't have a clue of! I can't take your comments for serious! All you are stating here is propaganda from hardliners.

News / Czech drug legalisation threatens Poland [111]


I read about this study. I don't want to say everything stated in this study is complete rubbish but these studies all have one big problem: They were made on Cannabis consumers that all have become conspicuous to authorities because either the police caught them or they called for help from psychologists.

This would be just like if you analyse the security of airplanes but the only data you get is from airplanes that crashed. All results you would get from such data would be completely distorted and your result probably would be: Never enter an airplane because death from crashing is certain!

News / Czech drug legalisation threatens Poland [111]


Did you ever try pot yourself? I did! So I can't take it too serious if you write about things you don't know. In my opinion you will do a great disservice on young people if you over-dramatize the negative side-effects of Marihuana because then some of them will believe really dangerous drugs like Heroin, Cocaine, Crack and Meth are not too dangerous also.

The majority of studies analyzing the long-term effects of cannabis products on consumers prove that it is not more dangerous than alcohol.

I live in Frankfurt/Germany, a city that is liberal towards the use of re-creational drugs and decriminalized it pretty much. People in Frankfurt have the right to possess 5 grams of Marihuana or Hash and the Police will let you walk away with it. I know clubs and bars where it is tolerated that people consume marihuana, almost everybody I know has experiences with smoking pot, and our society is still functioning pretty well. It's not considered a big deal.

Of course Cannabis is a drug and like every drug it can be dangerous and harmful. I don't want to downplay this. Drugs are nothing for children, adolescents and for people who are mentally fragile! This must be clear! Now you will probably say who knows who is mentally fragile and who will be able to cope with it. I don't know myself but drugs in Frankfurt are so ubiquitious the mentally fragile will get their drugs anyway. By partially legalizing soft drugs the state at least regained a little bit of control over the illegal market back.

If you write all drugs, including alcohol and nicotine are dangerous and should be prohibited than I can comprehend that, but a society without the right for rush would be a pretty boring one. This is my point of view. ;-)

News / Czech drug legalisation threatens Poland [111]

I know dozens of people who smoke Marihuana or Hash on a regular basis for years or even decades. They all have jobs, a family and still are law abiding citizens and valuable members of society. I don't think their intelligence has decreased. Good, it may be harmful for your lungs but so is Nicotine too.

Some people can cope with it some people can't, just like it is the case with the use of Alcohol. No matter how you look at it: Cannabis products are not more dangerous than Alcohol! And I know what I am talking about because I did it myself for quite a while on a daily basis, and personally I still prefer a good joint over a beer or a glass of liqueur.

And the "Cannabis is a starter drug" argument does not convince me either. The problem is since Marihuana is illegal in most countries you have to buy it from dealers and they are the ones that bring Cannabis users in contact with hard drugs.

Look at countries like Holland where Weed is legal and free to pruchase for decades. Has the rate of drug addicts increased there? No, it is stable for years.

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]

Poles where in in the quiet uncomfortable situation that they had to fight against each other, since they were drafted into the German, Austrian and Russian armies.

The German army tried to put all "German" soldiers of Polish ethnicity to the Western front because they feared a loyality conflict when "German" Poles had to fight "Russian" Poles on the Eastern Front, but this fact was not taken into account always.

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]

First of all, according to Wikipedia the Olsa Territory was populated by Poles, Czechs and some Germans -- and Poles were not the majority! Since Polish and Czech are West Slavic languages and there is a dialect continuum between Poland and Czechia I guess people there could change nationality easily if necessary. Is Wikipedia wrong about that? Then what are your sources that you claim Poles were the majority in Olsa territory?

The only reason for Great Britain to negotiate with Germany in Munich was not to be forced to go to war. It was not their heartfelt wish to maul the last democartic state in Central Europe (besides Switzerland). And Polands flat-footed behaviour towards Czechoslowakia indeed alienated British politicians and the public opion in a way that they thought "The Poles are not better than the Germans so why should we fight for them!". When WW2 broke out there was a huge anti-war movement in France and their slogan was "Faut-il mourir pour Dantzig? (Do we have to die for Gdansk/Danzig?)". They all claimed for the fact that the Polish state itself relentlessly tried to gain as much territory as possible from her neighbours.

Of course I wasn't alive in 1938 so all I know about the Munich Agreement is from various sources like books, the internet and television documentaries, which all might be biased.

But there are several sources that prove that Hitler shouted with joy when he learned that Poland would support Germany and Hungary in their territorital claims and would make claims herself agains Czechoslowakia, because it was his opinion it would isolate Poland from its Western Allies.

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]

Please do not put every word I wrote on the gold scale. I am at work and along the way I have to please my boss, otherwise he fires me, so sometimes I am bit distracted because I also have other things to do besides writing about Central European history! ;-)

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]


Practically all of them found themselves without any possessions in what is now Germany and Austria. But humans do not live on practical things only, otherwise we would be like animals. There also is a symbolic sphere that is important for humans.

So for some it makes a big difference if some people kick you out of your country take all of your possessions and say "This is because you are a traitor!" or if people come kick you out of your country, take all your possessions and say "We are doing this because according to the Potsdam agreement all your belongings will be confiscated and you will be transferred west of the rivers Oder and Neisse".

Chamberlain just didn't want to go to war when it was pretty obvious that war is inevitable. Poland made a mistake by making the impression it would ally Germany and Hungary. The Brits and French made the mistake because they gave Hitler anything he wanted. They should have stopped Hitler in 1935 when he breached the Treaty of Versailles by letting German army marching into the Rhineland.

This also brought the fatal message to the German people that democrats are just weak people who talk the talk but do not walk the walk. The allies denied the German democratic governments from 1919 to 1933 anything that they willingly gave the Nazis after 1933 because they feared to go to war with them.

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]


Sorry, but this is exactly what happened, in this point Harry is right!

In 1938 Poland allied Nazi-Germany and fascist Hungary in order to destroy a democratic state. At least this is how it looked to the outside world. And this is one of the reasons why Poland was out of allies in September 1939 and Nazi-Germany and the USSR could infest Poland and scarf it.

I know many of you will hate me now but this is my opinion!

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]

What you write is correct. I stated in my post that there is a slight but important difference in the treatment of Germans by the Polish and Czechoslovakian government in the aftermath of WW2. The Polish government didn't impose a collective guilt on the Germans that were expelled unlike the Czechoslovakian government did with Sudeten Germans.


You are right here, too. During WW1 the future President of the first Czechoslovak Republic Tomas Masaryk, when negotiating with French, British and American officials about the future borders of Czechoslovakia, stated several times that it is impossible to divide the Czech lands at the German-Czech language border. He asked the important question what would be more fair: "3 million Germans under Czech rule oder 6.5 million Czechs under German or German-Austrian rule?".

So after WW1 Sudeten Germans were not asked about their future. I hope you understand this caused resentment and bitterness among Sudeten Germans. There were several demonstrations for self-determination among Sudeten Germans around 1918/1919 that were violently dispersed by shooting at them by the Czechoslovak army.

The borders of the Czech lands didn't really changed for almost a millenium (except the fact that Silesia got lost), this is correct, but the ethnic mix-up of the Czech Lands was a bi-national one - Czech and German. And this fact was not taken account of when Czechoslovakia was founded, which alienated Bohemian and Moravian Germans even more. There lived more Germans than Slovakians in the CSR until 1938.

As a Pole you are probably in favor of the fact, that Upper Silesia got divided into a Polish and a German part in 1923 after the plebiscite I guess? Please note that Upper Silesia also never was divided before.

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]

Facts were made in 1945 and this can't be changed anyway. The ironic thing is that the average Sudeten German (respectively their descendants in Germany and Austria) now have a higher standard of living as the average Czech.

They were a real blessing for Germany. Well educated, good working morale, good entrepreneurial spirit. They came to Germany as have-nots but managed to become anew very soon. More than 2.000 medium-sized companies in Germany were founded by Sudeten Germans.


Dear Frantisek,

just a question, because I am curios. Does is play a role in present Czech history discurses that the Czech Lands were part of the Holy Roman Empire and that the Czech Lands from the Middle Ages until 1945 were bi-national (Czechs, Germans) if not tri-national (Czechs, Germans, Jews) by population?

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]


So, all of them wanted that? Are you really sure about this statement? You say all Sudeten Germans, even the children were guilty of treason? What about Sudenten German Social Democrats like Wenzel Jaksch who fiercly fought against National Socialism, escaped to Great Britain and were forbidden to return to their home country after 1945 and furthermore were dispossed by Czechoslovak authorities?

Come on pal, Sudeten Germans were Czechoslovakian citizens, and guilt is something individual and can't be imposed on a group! This means after WW2 Czechoslovak authorities should have looked for the Nazis among Sudeten Germans, there were plenty of them, and leave the others alone, instead of imposing a collective guilt on them. This just leaves the bitter aftertaste that Czechs just wanted to get rid of an inconvenient minority. This is something the Polish state never did with Germans in their territory by the way, imposing a collective guilt on them. Polish authorites just told Germans: "Due to the Potsdam Agreement the German-Polish border was shifted to the rivers Oder and Neisse and all Germans citizens have to move westwards.". Czech authorites told Sudeten Germans: "You all are guilty of treason, we take your property, deprive you of all human rights and transport you to Germany.". Czechoslovak authorites transported their own citizens to another country after stealing all of their possessions, this is what happened!

Besides that, who asked the Sudeten Germans in November 1918 if they wanted to be a part of Czechoslovakia in the first place? How can expect loyality from people that were treated like strangers in their country in spite of the fact many of them had ancestors that lived in Bohemia and Moravia for more than 700 years?

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]


What do you mean by that, Iron?

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]


This is correct. But Poland had the right to represent the Free City of Danzig in foreign affairs, additionally Poland's army had the right to build facilities on the Westerplatte and there was a Polish post office within Danzig's city limits.

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]

No Harry, you are wrong! I read a lot about that. Problem is after the devour of Czechoslovakia Hitler was determined to destroy Poland. Since he knew the Poles were too proud and too stubborn to give up Danzig he ignited some propaganda smoke grenades for the international media in the form of "We only want free access to East Prussia and self-determination for the inhabitants of Danzig", because he hoped somehow this would give reason to lay the blame for the beginning of WW2 on the doorsteps of Poland.

It's not that the Poles did everything right before WW2, but this does not change the fact that Hitler wanted to go to war to Poland. There are plenty of documents that prove that Hitler was determined to go to war with Poland in 1939. Do you speak any German? I could send you some links in German language.

Or you should read again the discussion from February and March we all had this year regarding Gdansk/Danzig: Poland did reasonably well in land terms out of the postwar settlement

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]

When I was in Poland in 2010 we were driving through some villages in Western Pomerania. I notized that practically every house was rearranged. A former window was made a door while the original door was bricked up. The original external wall was amended and stuff like that.

I guess this is what a person has to do in order to acquire a new home emotionally, when you were transplanted there against your will.


The German battleship Schleswig-Holstein started to fire at Westerplatte and German airforce assaulted the city Wieluń in the middle of the night without a formal decleration of war. What is there to negiotiate in such a case?


This was just whistling in the dark. Don't you think?

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]

May father's family is from Weiden/Oberpfalz in Eastern Bavaria, only 30 kilometers from the Bohemian/Czech border. We just were there last weekend and took the opportunity to make a one day trip to Mariánské Lázně (Marienbad) and some neighbouring villages. It is striking how deserted many villages in the Czech borderland still appear. Many houses looked like they were empty since 1945.

History / Czech and Polish character in World War two [81]

Poland did not necessarily chose to fight, but German troops attacked Poland on September 1st 1939, from the North (East Prussia), the West (Germany proper) and the South (Slovakia) so Poles did not have an alternative but to try to defend themselves.

When Nazi Germany absorbed the "Rest-Tschechei" in March 1939 Czechoslovak President Hácha was in Berlin a couple of days before the German invasion and tried to negotiate with Hitler. So he really had a chance to decide whether to go for war a not. Since he knew other European countries would not support the Czech state it was wise not to resist the Nazi invasion because it would have been futile.

This is a privilege the Poles did not have. But as far as I know the Poles they would have never accepted the destruction of their country without a war anyway.

Regarding the losses of Czechoslovak population you forgot to substract the more than 3 million German speaking Bohemians and Moravians that were driven out of their country or killed after May 1945. Since the Munich agreement was declared null and void they were proper Czechoslovak citizens and should be treated as such.

History / The story about German- Polish reconciliation [194]

Very important remark.

I remember when I went to the US for the first time with my parents in 1980, we seriously discussed beforehand that WWIII could break out and we would have had to stay with our American relatives in that case.

In our village we had a siren that was tested twice a year with different alarm signals for nuclear assault, assault with chemical or biological weapons, invasion of Soviet and East German ground forces and conventional airstrike. All bridges had attachments for bursters.

I remember one night I woke up because our house was shaking because hundreds of American tanks dashed through our village. The next day we found our neighbour's squished cat on the street. For more than one time I almost shitted my pants because strafers with an altitude of not more than 250 meters were flying over our playground. They were so fast you couldn't see them, only hear their incredibly loud noise.

As Central Europeans we can be more than happy those times are over!

History / The story about German- Polish reconciliation [194]


What a sad reason to learn German. Did you learn phrases like these ones:

History / The story about German- Polish reconciliation [194]


Not to forget Latin.

UK, Ireland / First proper "Polish" School in the UK - The Next Stage of Ghettoisation [283]

Sure! Agreed!

UK, Ireland / First proper "Polish" School in the UK - The Next Stage of Ghettoisation [283]


True, but it also needs to be said that the American New England states pushed all of its inhabitants that remained loyal to the British crown out of the country 200 years ago - most of them moved to "British North America" aka. "Canada".