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Posts by Gruffi_Gummi  

Joined: 2 Jul 2011 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 16 Nov 2012
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Posts: Total: 106 / In This Archive: 71

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Gruffi_Gummi   
15 Dec 2011
Life / Why are Polish people so obsessed with race? [160]

I have met different nationalities from around Europe but Polish seem to be obsessed with peoples race.

Personally I don't care. I am married to an East Asian.
Gruffi_Gummi   
14 Dec 2011
Work / (English and teaching in Poland) Help needed urgently re a VISA [13]

Maybe this is a naive advice: you are a British citizen, so dealing with the immigration bureaucracy in Britain will be probably easier for you. If possible, marry her, get all the British paperwork for her, so she can come to Poland as a Briton, without worrying about visas, work permits etc.
Gruffi_Gummi   
13 Dec 2011
Study / Racism in Czestochowa? I'm a black student from France. [14]

This is usually not racism per se. This is simply a reaction to someone different. Folks in big cities are used to foreign students and employees of multi-national companies. Conversely, for people from small towns a black or Asian person is still something exotic, and there is some small chance that you may draw some looks and comments that definitely are insensitive, and may be perceived as racist. Please be advised, however, that there is no cultural background in Poland for REAL racism (i.e. the sense of inherent inferiority of certain races). No history of slavery, colonialism and so on. So, the best advice I can give you is: be tolerant to country bumpkins. :)
Gruffi_Gummi   
13 Dec 2011
History / Are there still communists in Poland? [58]

What do you guys think about it? . Lenin also attacked Poland but he didn't succeed, are those people who have that picture traitors? .

In the United States, such people would be considered traitors. But in Poland the population is being conditioned to reject patriotism in its commonly recognized meaning.
Gruffi_Gummi   
11 Dec 2011
Love / Amount of money for gift (I have a girlfriend in Poland) [56]

Imagine that I have an American gf, and am sending her a Christmas card with a $20 bill tucked in...
This would be a very short-lived relationship.

1. A friend or a girlfriend?
A small, nice gift worth $20 (but not money!) is appropriate for a friend. But if you are talking about a relationship, then sending a $20 bill would be rather rude, especially considering the undertones present in you post (and that's why you got these replies).

2. If she is a girlfriend, then an acceptable minimum is a $50 gift card. If you don't have money, it's also ok to shop around for something inexpensive, but nice and unique (for me, a silver Navajo bracelet bought at Four Corners worked like a charm). Generally, don't expect that a "Polack" girlfriend (as you nicely called her) would have different expectations than an American one.

3. Women are expensive. This is a fact of life. Get over it. TANSTAAFL, and "you get what you pay for" apply. :)
Gruffi_Gummi   
9 Dec 2011
History / Question about land of former Poland/modern Belarus [11]

Both the Ashkenazi phenotype (the "European" looks) and DNA suggest at least some mixing of the genetic material with other Europeans, although those brave souls who were enriching their communities' gene pools were doing it largely without the blessing of either a priest or a rabbi. :) In Poland, this dates back at least to Casimir III the Great and Esther.
Gruffi_Gummi   
9 Dec 2011
History / Question about land of former Poland/modern Belarus [11]

1. I have no idea, and probably nobody knows, except German Einsatzgruppen.
2. 1944-1946 and 1955-1959.
3. Probably very low. Jews preferred marrying within their own community, and the same applied to Poles. Defying the cultural and religious pressure was always difficult, and even today intercultural/interfaith relationships face obstacles. Consider, for example, this Rabbi's response to a question regarding an interfaith marriage:

"For Jews, "marrying within the faith" isn't a cultural preference or prejudice. Rather, it is one the commandments G-d gave us at Mount Sinai. A Jew who marries a
non-Jew transgresses a Torah prohibition. The practice of not "intermarrying" is in fact one of the oldest features of Judaism (...) We were chosen as a permanent protest group against idolatry and immorality. Intermarriage is therefore antithetical to the Jewish purpose and to the Jewish identity."

4. Related to 1. In this case, the personnel files of Urząd Bezpieczeństwa (communist secret police) may hold the largest part of the answer.
Gruffi_Gummi   
8 Dec 2011
History / Question about land of former Poland/modern Belarus [11]

According to the 1921 cenzus for Województwo Nowogródzkie, it was 8.9%. Naturally, the distribution was not uniform.
pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plik:Woj.nowogr%C3%B3dzkie-Polska_spis_powszechny_1921.pdf&page=47

in which the Poles living there were moved to Lower Silesia

Oh, one more off-topic thing for the sake of correctness: People from the Lwów (Lviv) area were moved to Lower Silesia. Those from the areas you asked about were resettled to Pomerania (Kashubia).