History / Why are Jews pestering Poland for "proper" WW2 monetary restitution/reparations? [750]


Sokrates and a few others are rather hopeless sometimes... :)

History / Why are Jews pestering Poland for "proper" WW2 monetary restitution/reparations? [750]


BB, there are always two different versions of history: the one that is accepted worldwide and the other one that is written by politicians of a country. Poland is no exception in this respect.

History / Why are Jews pestering Poland for "proper" WW2 monetary restitution/reparations? [750]


Oh, absolutely not. An occupied country does not seize to exist while an annexed territory becomes part of the annexing nation. Poland was annexed by force. It did not exist at that time and this was an accepted fact worldwide (except for Turkey, Denmark and Spain?).

History / Why are Jews pestering Poland for "proper" WW2 monetary restitution/reparations? [750]


That's the official Polish version of history. You call it occupation while the rest of the world calls it annexation.

History / Why are Jews pestering Poland for "proper" WW2 monetary restitution/reparations? [750]


While I agree with you here, I still see a problem with it. If the loss of Jewish property during and after the war would be compensated by Poland, then - from a legal perspective - why not the German one? Probably the reason why Poland's politicians are blocking claims from all sides.

History / Why are Jews pestering Poland for "proper" WW2 monetary restitution/reparations? [750]


I bet there are also a lot of protestants to the west of Poland who would like their pre-war property back ... ;)

History / Actually, there never was any Polish-German hatred [149]


The repair work was done west of the Iron Curtain, but not in the east for obvious reasons. You just have to hang out on PF for a while to notice the differences between postings of folks from the west and east.

History / Actually, there never was any Polish-German hatred [149]


Only in places like Mallorca where there might be the chance of a nice little bar fight between the Brits and Germans. I've never seen a separation elsewhere in Europe. Actually, it's quite the opposite in my experience: Germans and Brits get along quite well and enjoy getting pissed together.


I don't believe that it is the Germans who avoid the Poles.

News / Official language of EU (is not Polish) [119]

Amathyst, just a little correction:

Italy: Italian and German
France: French and German

History / Actually, there never was any Polish-German hatred [149]

Exactly. Teach the kids how to think independently first and wait with history lessons until 12th grade.

History / Actually, there never was any Polish-German hatred [149]

What part of the term 'history lesson' don't you understand? In Poland history is taught in a certain way at school. Germany teaches history in a different way. The USA teaches yet another view of history. All versions can instill hate in kids.

History / Actually, there never was any Polish-German hatred [149]


He meant those at school.

History / Actually, there never was any Polish-German hatred [149]


What is better? Getting over with the past and trying to live together, or living in the past forever and being eaten alive by hate?

Genealogy / Otte? [6]

Possible, but unlikely. Otte and Ott are widespread in Germany.

christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/en/Default.aspx

History / The heroic jump of the 1st Polish Independent Paratrooper Brigade [81]


To be fair: at first the Polish government was hesitant to take the German territories. They annexed it only after it was made clear to them that Stalin wouldn't give back the Polish lands in the east, AFAIK.

History / The heroic jump of the 1st Polish Independent Paratrooper Brigade [81]


Since when are you using terms that were invented by the Polish communists for propaganda purposes? I thought you hate those guys... :)


Which Poland was more than happy to annex...

USA, Canada / My boyfriend is being deported to Poland because his US visa expired, help needed [53]


Those numbers don't mean anything unless we know how many Poles tried to get into the country each year and what the reason for their visit was. Maybe the decrease in refusals corresponds to a decrease in Polish travellers to the US?

Edit:
Oops, just saw that FuzzyWickets said almost the same already.

UK, Ireland / The Daily Mail - coverage of the Polish people [161]

LOL

News / Hollywood's War with Poland. [150]


Well, slaughtering German soldiers gets a cheer in some other countries, too. So why are you surprised that people who are watching a f*cked-up movie like 'Inglorious Basterds' are stupid enough to laugh about those scenes? Be it in Germany or elsewhere.

News / Hollywood's War with Poland. [150]


Yes, they are car thieves ... :)

History / Which nation were the biggest pussies of WWII? [120]



You misunderstood. What I said was that the vast majority of people in the former East Bloc had arranged themselves with the system. They weren't communists, they didn't care too much about politics. So, I was questioning your statement that the majority of Poles were anti-communist. I believe that they - as everybody else in the east - simply adjusted to the system and tried to live a good life. Read post #104 again, please.

History / Which nation were the biggest pussies of WWII? [120]

Sokrates

Would you mind to answer #104, please? I'm really interested.

History / Which nation were the biggest pussies of WWII? [120]


That's the question here. On what facts do you base your assumption that the vast majority of Poles were against communism and the invasion of Czechoslovakia? Wasn't it more like a few million party members were all for it, the vast majority of the people didn't really care and arranged themselves with the system, and a small minority were against it? I mean, that's how it was in all countries of the former East Bloc (as far as I know). So why would Poland be different?

History / Which nation were the biggest pussies of WWII? [120]


The invasion of Czechoslovakia is part of Polish history, and responsible for it was the Polish government of that time - even if it acted on behalf of the Soviets. Why is it so hard to accept that?

History / Which nation were the biggest pussies of WWII? [120]


Yeah, right. After the war everybody claimed to have been in the resistance during the war. There were more resistance fighters in France than citizens... :)

History / Which nation were the biggest pussies of WWII? [120]

Even though they fought bravely in the Pacific theatre, I consider the Americans to be the biggest pussies of all. Nuking two defenseless cities full of civilians is not what I would call 'brave'...

Genealogy / Swierkocz Family [3]


He was born in Galizien, Austria-Hungary.

Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]


This has nothing to do with having a 'thin skin'. It's all about respecting certain boundaries, which is the basis of human interaction.

Let's have a few drinks now... ;)

Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]


There is a big difference between a 'joke' about something horrific like the Holocaust for example, and a joke about a snobbish Brit with bad teeth, don't you think? Why is it hypocritical in your eyes to make a distinction between something that is (IMHO) off-limits, and something rather harmless that is 'just' stereotypical?


I agree. Never heard a Polack joke here in the US. Well, at least on the west coast that is. Don't know about Chicago, though.

Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]

ShortHairThug, you missed my point completely. 'Jokes' about concentration camps, war crimes, Jews (referring to Nazi stuff here) and so on are as much off-limit to me as 'jokes' about the bombing of Dresden or Hiroshima. There are certain things in life one doesn't joke about. If you don't understand that, well ... then there is no point to discuss this any further.

A harmless joke about the humourless Germans, the stupid Poles, the tight-fisted Scots is nothing compared to the above.