History / Teaching our kids about Poland's History [57]

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.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]

All of Europe denied the concept of self-determination of people before WWI. Then after WWII, half of Europe was denied self-determination of peoples. There is no evidence that a majority of people in Western Ukraine had wanted to be separate from Poland after WWI. Since the Soviet archives note protests from Ukrainians marching to the Polish border to demand that Poland invade to save it from Stalin in the 1930's, and Yale's Timothy Snyder concluded that after the Soviet annexation in 1939 Ukrainians were nostalgic for Polish rule, there was more pro-Polish sentiment here than you acknowledge. What is clear is that the Ukrainian nationalists were brutal fascists who killed their relatives in the most barbaric manner and put the Nazis to shame and Stalin engaged in ethnic cleansing starting on the Soviet side of the border before the war. There was no self-determination of peoples here after the war either.


Correction: Kate Brown wrote that people in Western Ukraine before WWI considered Ukraine to have been the steppe:
environmentandsociety.org/mml/transformed-landscape-steppes-ukraine-and-russia
The Dnieper was the dividing line proposed by Lenin at Riga in 1921.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]

Considering that this account comes from before WWI, absolutely not. Read Kate Brown and pay attention to her sources in "A Biography Of No Place". If you haven't read that book, you can't understand the region. It is one of the best books available in English. It won an award for the best history book the year it was published and Harvard University Press doesn't publish commie neo-Stalinism. Bullocks yourself. Ignoramus!

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]

No, according to a Russian historian this was on the Russian side of the partition. People in Wołyn, Podolia, etc., did not consider that they lived in Ukraine. Therefore they did not consider themselves Ukrainian. That is not to say that they had all considered themselves Poles, but the modern Ukrainian ethnic identity is quite new, and somewhat contrived. The Hapsburgs were quite instrumental in creating it. The standard Ukrainian dialect comes Poltava. Western Ukraine historically was a much more Polish influenced dialect.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]

Considering that 100 years ago the people in Western Ukraine didn't consider that they lived in Ukraine, which they considered to be on the other side of the Dnieper, it wouldn't take much for them to relearn their history. People standing in the long lines at the Polish consulate certainly do. Pre-WWII Western Ukraine, including the Soviet side, was much more Polish before Stalin started sending "Poles" to the gulag. (When I am in Ukraine people tell me that my szlachta surname is actually Ukrainian.) Much of the Ukrainian nationalism is pushed by the ruling oligarchs. Patriotism and religion are the last resorts of scoundrels. As Ukraine collapses economically and possibly politically, look for Western Ukraine to look for integration with Poland. Ultimately, people there will choose the superior Polish economic model over the fascist/Soviet Ukrainian nationalism which masks the political corruption.

Study / WŁODZIMIERZ MĘDRZECKI - academic credentials - Warsaw University [3]

Thank you. I had a problem finding that information. He has done great work writing about Ukraine and the East. His defense of the integrity of the 1931 Census against communist propaganda is excellent.

History / Religion Of Children From Interfaith Marriages In The Kresy areas of Poland [3]

Thank you for this. Joyce focuses mostly on Roman Catholic and Orthodox relations. She does note that the faith of the children is a consideration in these interfaith marriages. However, she claims that Roman Catholics and Orthodox can't intermarry without one converting to the other's faith. The Catholic priest she interviews contradicted her on this point. I think that she confused the requirements for having the marriage ceremony in the church building (where the non-Catholic must promise to raise the children Catholic) with the church recognizing a marriage to someone from another faith. If a Catholic married someone in a ceremony in another church, that person cannot remarry without an annulment. So, the Catholic church clearly does recognize these marriages as valid. Unfortunately she doesn't delve into the interrelationships with the Eastern Rite Catholics. There is no need for anyone to convert in a marriage between people practicing different rites of Catholicism. The tradition I mentioned certainly had no impediments in that case.

It is an interesting read. She is an anthropologist and has a different methodology from the commie social scientists and geographers whom she noted usually conflated religion and ethnicity. These clowns never supported their "expert" opinions which assigned ethnicity to groups of people based solely on their academic titles, and such opinions were declared facts which coincidentally justified involuntary border shifts and ethnic cleansing. She notes that one of her Orthodox sources objects to constantly being categorized as a Russian or Belarussian. She cites another academic who noted that there were still people in the region who avoided claiming an ethnicity and called themselves "local". The Kresy always was unique and defied easy categorization.

Law / Boyfriend overstayed 90 days in Poland - will he get a fine or deported? [16]

After getting on the flight to Ukraine, that black X on the British stamp might attract some further questions in Ukraine. He should be prepared to answer questions as to why he got denied entry to the U.K. Americans getting hassled entering the U.K. is not uncommon, especially if they aren't satisfied that someone fits their idea of being a tourist. He should make an effort to convince the border guards in Ukraine that he is there as a tourist, has enough money and credit cards to support himself during his stay, and can leave at the end of his visa. Basically, they want to see that he will spend money there and not be a problem, and leave on time. If you intend to meet him in Ukraine for a holiday, he should tell them that as well.

Law / Boyfriend overstayed 90 days in Poland - will he get a fine or deported? [16]


It would be better that he have a ticket when he lands. With all of the refugee problems, they can check everyone's passport exiting the aircraft before connecting flights. Many airports do this anyhow. He needs to make clear that he is not intending to enter Poland and the onward ticket proves that.


They could expel the Poles from Lwów, but they can never remove Polish culture from Lwów, regardless of what they call it and how silly they choose to dress. Polish culture is still everywhere in Lwów.


They are human, and know that people screw up sometimes.

Law / Boyfriend overstayed 90 days in Poland - will he get a fine or deported? [16]


Which is exactly why he needs to insist that he is just transiting the airport to Ukraine. She can meet him in Lwow and experience its overwhelming Polish culture. If asked about the overstay, he might just say that he had problem leaving over the holidays. If he doesn't look like a dirtball or a terrorist, and is polite, they might cut him a break and not put him on a black list.

Law / Boyfriend overstayed 90 days in Poland - will he get a fine or deported? [16]


No, his passport will show that he was denied entry into the UK, not deported. If he insists that he wants to go to Ukraine, he may be permitted to buy a ticket to Ukraine and try his luck with the Ukies without getting a black mark from Poland as well. Ukraine is a massively corrupt place and they want money from Western tourists. It is his only chance IMHO.

Law / Boyfriend overstayed 90 days in Poland - will he get a fine or deported? [16]

It may depend on the border guard. The best thing to do is for him to say he wants to go to Ukraine to see the beautiful Polish city of Lwow. (He should have gone there first.) They may allow him to go there and reset his 90 days without deporting him to the U.S. I doubt they want to deport him, since someone needs to pay for the airfare. Much depends on how he presents himself, etc. Good Luck!