Language / Verbal Aspect - "składała" vs. "złożyła" [15]

I sometimes confuse the usage of "klasc" vs. "polozyc" too. I find reading helps a lot, much more than simply speaking practice, as Poles will often not correct me since many say they're not sure either which is correct. They do it by native speaker instinct. However in a newspaper or the like, it MUST be written right!

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

If the Jews allegedly provoke anti-Semitism aka anti-Semitism is the Jews' fault, then by that logic Germano-Polonophobia is the Germans' and Poles' fault as well, not so?

:-)))

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

Righto, like Bal Shem Tov and the Dybbuk in 17th cent. Poland!

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

Lies?? Strict Catholic doctrine teaches that the Jews murdered Christ, mentioning the Romans aka Pontius Pilate merely as the onlooking governor of the territory known as Judaea. The Protestants on the other hand were slightly more open minded regarding the Jews, most notably in the figure of President George Washington, who unhesitatingly permitted all Jews to settle in North America, i.e., the United States so long as they required little to any gov't. assistance and would remain more or less self sufficient!

It was after all the Catholics and not the Protestants (remember, Luther was a born Catholic) who spread the nonsense of the Jewish blood libel. Hitler, as most of the early core Nazis, including Streicher (the most virulent of the anti-Semites) and Himmler, were all raised strict Catholic, albeit as adults they abandoned their childhood faith in favor of paganism.

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

@kaprys,

I'm relieved to know that you have no problem with Judaism. Guess what, I don't have a problem with Catholicism either, so long as those who practice it are enlightened, as with Jews who respect the rights of their Palestinian neighbors or Muslims who don't deem all non-Muslims as infidels fit for cruel death.

All I resent in ANY religion are double, indeed, triple standards:-)

USA, Canada / Polish-Jewish survivor of the Holocaust celebrates her 100th birthday [29]

The institutions of Church, mosque, synagogue etc. in themselves are scarcely evil. Evil is how these institutions skewed doctrine in order to justify hatred.

@Undercover, if I'm an aging English professor with an "inferiority complex" (whatever that means), what does that make you? Still waiting for an answerLOL

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

Come on, quit whining kaprys! Haven't I sung praises to Polish cooking, Chopin, film etc. However, no culture is without her handicaps, and it's well known that the Catholic Church throughout Europe DID foster anti-Semitism, whether intentionally or not. Jewish blood-libel tales surely didn't do much to foster good relations between Jews and Christians, did it??

The US has many wonderful aspects, and yet our record with slavery and the Native Americans is not something of which I'm proud, even if I had nothing to do with it per se.

You see my point:-)

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

On the contrary, kaprys. For a long while, the Jews were to be sure "appreciated", yea, needed, by Poland as tradespeople, pawnbrokers, tax collector and the like.

The Jews remained in a country whose hostility towards them was simmering beneath the surface because they really had no place else to go. Sad but so.

USA, Canada / Polish-Jewish survivor of the Holocaust celebrates her 100th birthday [29]

Jews didn't choose to be hated, Church doctrine took care of that. Luther wanted the Jews to convert. When most refused? He declared in words succinct and unmistakable that they should be burned out of their homes and driven from their houses.

And the Jews "asked for" such treatment?? A simple nudge to assimilate gently on the part of the Catholic hierarchy would have been more than sufficient:-)

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

DirkDiggler, I'd research a little more about King Darius and the Persians' attitude towards the Israelites before casting espursions on the latter as the reason we celebrate Purim.

@kaprys, no normal person opts for victimhood. First, it's bloody demeaning, secondly, it makes no sense. The Jews were dealt a low hand by virtue of their population density almost from the start. In trying to defend themselves against libel, the Jews were blamed for being victimized, constantly battling others in order to free themselves from the stigma of being subjugated!

USA, Canada / Polish-Jewish survivor of the Holocaust celebrates her 100th birthday [29]

Poland was also one of the worst in her treatment of returning Jews after the War, ahead of Austria, although behind Romania. A dubious distinction indeed.

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

@Easy Terran, the salient question here is rather when were you RIGHT?

It's fine to challenge shibboleths a la Normal FInkelstein and his "Holocaust Industry" garbage, only let's keep the actual facts vs. the "fake" news a la Trump, in perspective, "pretty please"LOL

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

Easy Terran, since when were the Jews "perpetrators" of anything during the period of which we're talking other than of trying to survive against nearly insurmountable odds?

If you're not interested in honest discussion, I suggest you join your fellow travelers in the PiS or even the AfD. They'd enjoy your sort of chat. Heck, that bloke Hoecke, formerly of the AfD thinks that Berlin's Holocaust Center on Potsdamer Platz is already one too many and sees it solely as a Jewish monument to German shame.

I fear we've all become infected with them same simplistic non-logic.

Genealogy / Origins of Polish surnames that end in "o". Are they from ukrainian origins [15]

My surname is Pajdo and is surely not purely "Polish" in origin.

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

"Am I wrong?"

Quite wrong, as usual:-) You typically blame the intended victim for that which was foisted upon him! Of course Jews are no more or less "perfect" than any other peoples. Why then the double standard?

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

Pilate could have refused. Furthermore, to suggest that the Jews alone, in and of themselves, brought their tortured history upon their people, is the height of hypocricy!

Had the Catholic Church allowed them to co-exist within European society, join guilds in order to learn a proper trade, much less become soldiers in the local militia so as to integrate into Christian life (while still practicing their faith in private) , they wouldn't have been seen as the eternal pariah, doing only the thankless tasks such as money lending etc. which were off limits to Christians.

Travel / Help with a travel plan to Poland [72]

As apparently you don't know Polish, I second my colleagues and would probably stick with the main tourist areas such as Zakopane along with other well-traveled resorts where other foreign visitors tend to congregate and where the principle language will necessarily be English:-)

Although I've never been, what I've seen of Wroclaw from those who send me photos, it's just stunning!

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

@WielkiPolak, I'd be glad to correct you, because you are very wrong! The Romans under the region's governor Pontius Pilate ordered the execution of Christ.

As Christ was himself a Jew, it would seem odd to have fellow Jews conspiring against one of their own, although regrettably, such has been know to happen.

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

SPOT ON, jon!!

The sooner European gentiles in general admit to the fertile soil for anti-Semitism throughout most of the Continent, the far better off for everybody:-)

@Ironside, the Poles and others most certainly did buy into the nonsense that somehow the Jews were evil Christ killers, come on! Secondly, was it the Jews fault that most wound up in a country which already was hostile to their presence based on lies the Church had promulgated about them? The majority just wanted to coexist in peace with their neighbors. This though, you refuse to understand because that's how your mind works!

History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [900]

I'd have to say England was the first, if only because London became the seat of the Polish Gov't. in Exile, principally, because England had never been occupied, as had France, Norway or Denmark.

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

Jews were brought into various European countries as tradespeople, doctors, financial specialists, WHEN NEEDED, gladly, indeed forcible expelled from those same countries when they weren't! True political footballs, the Jews.

Until Cromwell invited them back, round about the mid-17th century, the Jews had been banished for nearly three-hundred years, since around the time of the Lincolnshire Massacres.

Surely, there was little to any love lost between the Jews and their fellow gentiles! The unwilling who refused to assimilate were killed off (conveniently) in local pogroms. Those who donned the crucifix and enthusiastically renounced their faith in favor of Christianity, were welcome to remain, if not warmly.

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

The Germans were the pioneers of ideologically-driven, biologically-motivated anti-Semitism, kaprys! You know that. A fair number of Poles however, did buy into the nonsense, that's all we're saying. The Catholic Church always blamed the Jews for killing Christ. Poland remains an arch-Catholic country, ergo, a large number of less-educated Poles, especially in the countryside, were weened on this stuff with their mother's milk.

Can't throw the baby out with the bathwater all together now, can you?

History / Polish hatred towards Jews... [1290]

Sadly, when truth tellers such as Jan Gross come to the fore, they're vilified as haters of all things Polish, traitors etc.
This is much as it was in Germany during the late '60's, early '70's following the infamous Auschwitz Trials, whereupon younger Germans were actually questioning their culture, wondering aloud eloquently whether or not there was perhaps some flaw in the German character which allowed for such things to occur. Those who spoke up against their parents were also vilified as haters of all things German, e.g. the writings of the psychiatrist Mitscherlich, the American TV-series "Holocaust" etc.

I think there is no more a flaw in the German than in the Polish character, however, the concatination of a series of unfortunate historical events which made the murderous anti-Semitism of the WWII era possible in far too many segments of European society!

UK, Ireland / Culture and civilization, how many of Poles had really forgotten who we really are..! [3]

I only visited Szczecin many years ago, but know many Poles not far from where we live in New Jersey. They all love and also prefer to speak Polish:-)

Language / Idiomatic Polish [65]

Terri, there's an identical saying in German ("Koennen wir mal unter vier Augen") with the identical meaning as well:-)

Mafketis, I probably heard a translation of the original expression which is why mine looks strange!

Language / Idiomatic Polish [65]

Szkoda mi czasu! = You're wasting my time!

News / Jesus Christ is Now Officially the King of Poland [164]

@Johnny, I swear, sometimes you sound just like Archie Bunker!

Meathead: Hey, Arch! You must feel pretty good about belonging to the right religion, huh?

Archie: Well, uh, there Meathead, it'd pretty stupid if I didn't, wastin' my time down here praying to the wrong guy up in heaven,

then when I get to them Poily Gates over there, realizin' I was prayin' to the wrong guy all along!

Travel / Help with a travel plan to Poland [72]

Renier, unless planning a super compact trip with door-to-door pick-up service and luxus accomodations nearly 24 7 in which case no language knowledge of any kind is required, then for G_d's sake, you certainly don't have to burden yourself learning Polish!!

Other than that, some even cursory knowledge of the local lingo might save you lots of aggrevation and frustration:-)

But, suit yourself.

UK, Ireland / Why Irish women are so rude and judgemental towards foreign women? [40]

Unfortunately though, the reputation of the Irish for being, so to speak, all animal instinct while more than lacking in the subtleties of higher intellect and restrained enlightenment, remains in a sense the eternal "Irish curse": damned by ungovernable temperament to be forever lackeys to the colonial English and otherwise beneath the heel of her neighbors.

Like the Germans, and only in the first sense (who've more than their share of Celtic blood) the Irish tend to come across as hardened and cynical, bitter as regards the Catholic Church for keeping them poor for centuries, at the same time almost fatalistic about their lot in life, frequently defined by poverty and hardship.

Language / Idiomatic Polish [65]

"Owczarek niemiecki", I imagine means "German Shepherd".