News / Was Kaczyński behind the presidential veto? [65]



He isn't a master strategist, simple an inveterate schemer, and yes he may well have done a one step back two steps forward scheme, or a two steps back one step forward scheme, both well known dirty tricks in politics.


This is however the most likely possibility.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


You may wish to tell that to some of the supporters of the PiS junta on here.


This is a bare-faced lie. Most of the people who've turned out to oppose the coup are first time protestors aged between 25 and 40.

But, you aren't interested in truth, just propaganda...

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


A huge number turning out every evening, in almost every city in the country, has everything to do with everything.


Yes. PiS want to be the only Party, except for fake allied parties under their influence, PRO-style. They are absolutely transparent about this.


Is that the best you can do?

News / 60% of Poles say Szydło's government should resign [238]


It's not unusual to make up fear stories in the absence of truth. A certain type of person/political tendency needs hidden enemies in order to inspire them.

Personally, I think that although Duda's veto/climbdown is a positive thing, we should still be worried. It has all the hallmarks of a classic 'one step back, two steps forward' manoeuvre. Meaning doing just enough to lessen the scale and frequency Polish pro-democracy rallies now, but pushing the same 'reforms' through the back door later, possibly in the middle of winter when large-scale protests are less likely.

Food / Vegetarian/Vegan restaurants in Warsaw [18]

This just reads like an advert, and ia written by a Pole with a fairly good level of English, who recommended the same establishment in another thread.

There are a few vegetarian places in Warsaw now, one of the nicest is the Indian place (called Injachi) just off ul. Widok near Zapiexy (also very good if you like fancy zapiekanki), in the building between there and al. Jerozolimskie, the one closest to Metro Centrum, at the back of the (now building site) Rotunda.

Travel / Cozy and inexpensive pub/bar in Warsaw [9]

Is it an inexpensive bar? Y'know, champagne bars, especially in a touristy bit of town, are never very cheap



Both now closed.

Piękna Mery, on ul. Piękna (about 150 metres from the corner of pl. Konstytucji) is certainly cozy, not expensive and really nice. The owner lived for many many years in New York so he speaks perfect English and the atmosphere there is really good. It's a tiny bar, down a few steps from the street.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


That actually sounds seriously menacing. Certain political tendencies do tend to get aggressive when they don't get their way.


Hard to know what that phrase means. Did you see the pictures of 'demonstration outside Pan Posel Schetyna's house at the weekend. Not exactly a mass rally. About 20 people, all of them 50+ and bizarrely all of them fat. It looked like a Sunday ramble for obese UKippers.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


The young (and not so young) people attending the regular Polish pro-democracy rallies are there to defend democracy. They don't want the return to PiS-bis that Kaczynski etc (and his older, less-educated and often rural voters) seem to favour.

Once the ball starts rolling, it doesn't stop.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]

No. The people who attend Polish pro-democracy rallies have a very clear idea why they are there.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


How do you work that out? The 18-35s at the Polish pro-democracy rallies seem to be a very down to earth bunch of people. Educated, yes, snobs or elitists, no.

News / 60% of Poles say Szydło's government should resign [238]


Poland has the lowest level of volunteering in the EU, however there are some encouraging organisations and foundations now to promote an active involvement in society.

History / In Memory of victims, who had their lives cruelly taken at Treblinka Death Camp in Poland [104]


Yes. We should never, ever forget what happened.

In Poland there were of course several death camps. The sheer scale of Auschwitz tends to mean the others are sometimes overlooked. Majdanek and Atutthof certainly have memorial museums, however people tend to visit the most well-known one. A chilling place. I'm not sure how a museum would be at Treblinka - possibly a small one, due to the location (very out of the way in a beautiful and rural area) and the fact that the camp was raised to the ground by the Germans.

It would be good for it to tell the story of Janusz Korczak, his co-worker Stepha and the children from their orphanage there; it was a part of the countryside that was known to them well, on the way to the palace at Mężenin where he spent a lot of time.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


And unfortunately the PiS junta are around.


A straw poll among trainee nuns walking on foot from Szczebrzeszyn to a well known mega-statue in Świebodzin. Their answers were a bit hard to hear since at the time they were scourging themselves with a cat o' nine tails made from JK's cat.

Work / Poland - gift for my boss and coworkers first day in the new job [9]


A good idea. I'd personally (and I'm after a mega favor from my boss right now) thank him/her by text message for picking me up (a thank you is always appreciated) give the present after the first day's work, and yes, definitely not in front of staff. It should be a (very) modest present from the OP's home country.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


The 18-35 year olds who are out on the streets rather than sitting at home in villages are the ones who matter politically here. PiS must be weeping.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


What we all know. That PiS are stunned by the public response to their attempted destruction of democracy.

Work / Poland - gift for my boss and coworkers first day in the new job [9]


A box of chocolates (not too expensive) or some treat (again not expensive) from your home country would be fine. Do not under any circumstances bring a present for your boss. Not unless you want your new colleagues to hate you.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


Yes, with all the guile but with less skill and charisma. He's also something of an Anastas Mikoyan, hoping to benefit from being (or appearing) not as bad as some of the others.

Macierewicz is the one we should be worried about. As J Kaczynski's physical and mental health visibly deteriorates, he will certainly be on the phone to him day and night.

The 18-35s of urban Poland however will probably surprise them all.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


Crisis management or something more sinister? Too early to say. I was at work so couldn't see it. At least Duda didn't announce Martial Law.


If it's crisis management (the most likely option) they'll go on a charm offensive (not that they have much charm) and keep Kaczynski and Macierewicz well away from the cameras. JK and AM would love a coup, however their advisors hopefully understand the strength of the likely resistance as well as the swift and decisive international response to the first fascist coup in an EU/NATO member state.

History / In Memory of victims, who had their lives cruelly taken at Treblinka Death Camp in Poland [104]


This is a good thing, although I personally prefer the quiet memorial that's there already. It's a place of quiet reflection on the evils of fascism.


This is an obvious risk, however the focus of the memorial museum is not fixed in stone, and can be changed in the same way that the current regime have done elsewhere.


The sad history of that awful nazi camp would be incomplete without that. It should be presented but never excused.

Work / Salary for a senior software engineer in Poland [195]


Yes, you can very easily save that.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


This is something that people are worried about. An election can be manipulated in various ways, from the bread and circuses of the 500+ and the traditional system of Party patronage. Both are regressive steps.


Yes. While PiS scheme and Duda vacillates, there seems to be, as the thread title implies, a huge groundswell of youth involvement that could as easily wrongfoot them as it did Theresa May when she lost her majority.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]

Very eloquent of you.

Worth saying that the sudden explosion of activism by younger voters has totally wrongfooted PiS and their supporters. And they hate it when things don't go to plan.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]

Don't be as silly as usual. Thee have been numerous cases. But you want someone to name one and then you'll weakly bluster that it wasn't 'really' the case for a whole raft of reasons that are just excuses.

Because you suppport the PiS junta, something that the thousands of young voters turning out nightly most certainly do not.

Genealogy / Decipher a Polish name please: ONUFISC or ORUFRISC ? Czyzyk surname [16]

Onufrejczyk is a surname. Best known for a famous murder case back in the 1950s.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]

Read the newspapers.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]

One person?

Language / Hejka / Nara - a trendy youth greeting in Poland? [26]

That's one I've mainly heard in the south.

I'm not fond of hejka, but nara sounds good.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


Are you trying to deliberately mislead people?

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


Which is precisely what is at risk. Parties win elections and lose them. Since you evidently approve of party control, you may not be so happy should a revival and very different party, one that perhaps doesn't exist yet, wins and uses that control.