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!

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]


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]


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]

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.

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.

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 / 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.

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 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]

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

Charles de Gaulle fought with the Poles against the Russians in 1920-21. It was there that he, along with Polish officers, learned that the next war would be fought with an emphasis on tanks and airplanes. All were ignored by the French high command in 1940. Undoubtedly, de Gaulle, who stated that the U.S. and U.K. gave away too much of Europe to Stalin, is a hero in Poland.


British, and other Western historians, have a tendency to use criticism of the Second Polish Republic to mask the complicity of Poland's Western "allies" in:

1) permitting the rearmament of Germany,
2) failing to make war on the Germans in September 1939 in fulfillment of military self-defense agreements,
3) abandoning the Poles fighting in the West to exile from Stalin's puppet regime, and
4) shifting Poland's borders and government without the consent of the pre-war Polish citizens of the Kresy.
It is far easier to bash Poland and Poles than to address their own disingenuous promises and complicity in the disaster that befell the citizens of the Second Polish Republic.

[quote-rozumiemnic]"the only British historian that says a lot of truth in his writings about Polish history,"
illogical sweeping statement surely? the only one? Really goofy?
Anyway I read that he is far from impartial in his treatment of who suffered in WW2, and that this has been a contentious issue.[/quote]

Travel / The best and inexpensive way to travel from Prague to Warsaw? [15]

Yes, the bus is cheaper and the train is more comfortable. However, due to the commissions, cross border travel gets much more expensive by train. I would suggest taking the bus to Wroclaw and then taking a train to Warsaw. The bus station is right next to the train station so it is an easy transfer. Another option would be to take a train to the Czech side of the border somewhere, walk across the border, then get on a train on the Polish side. I did that a few years ago, but not from Prague. Please note that more local trains are crossing the borders now, so check the schedules online:

rozklad-pkp.pl/en

Travel / The best and inexpensive way to travel from Prague to Warsaw? [15]

It is also possible, and maybe cheaper and faster, to take a minibus from Cieszyn to Krakow. From there many train options exist to get to Warsaw quite quickly and conveniently. However, don't expect to be able to find those minibus schedules online!

History / Is 5th partition of Poland possible? What kind? How? When? [73]

The partition of the novel state of Ukraine is now underway. It is being propped up with Western financial support, which it is exhausting with its corruption. A President Trump may well come to an agreement with Putin about changing Ukraine's formal borders to recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea. With the blessing of the U.S., Poland could again include the beautiful Polish city of Lwów. Poland may need to leave the E.U. to become whole again, but it is not Poland that is in danger of shrinking.

News / Poland -- Europe's only counterweight to Russia [271]

Trump is open to renegotiating the existing order. Why does the U.S. still have bases in Western Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall and communism? That doesn't make any sense anymore. If Trump invests in Poland, we will want to defend it. Trump won't take the nuclear option off the table, and the defense of the U.S. nuclear umbrella is all that Poland needs to prevent a war with Russia. With that, Poland no longer needs to worry about the fickle Germans as a major ally. Russia unilaterally abrogated the Budapest Memorandum, and the borders of the failed novel Ukrainian state are open to renegotiation. Trump will renegotiate that, and it is an opportunity that Poland would be foolish to miss to regain Lwów. It is a beautiful Polish city!

History / Association of Lovers of Lwów and Southeastern Kresy [27]

No, I don't plagiarize. The word was used by authors Llana and Rębała as published by The Christian Science Monitor. Read much?


I have been to Lwów, Ternopol, Kowel and other places across Stalin's border. I think the countryside in the Kresy is a beautiful sight, although I am not happy to see the desecrated Polish cemeteries used as cow pastures now. Why would Poland be obligated to industrialize these places any more than the forests near Białystok? The issue is: Can Poland increase the standard of living of the region's population? There is no requirement that Poland turn the region into Western Germany. The hope for the present population of Western Ukraine lies with Poland, not Ukraine'e corrupt government, which has proved time and time again that it is hostile to real political reform and anti-corruption efforts.

History / Association of Lovers of Lwów and Southeastern Kresy [27]

The present is that "other people" from the Kresy are relocating to Poland to take jobs due to Poles working in the West of the E.U. They are remixing into Polish society and culture. Poles still sing Hej Sokoły at karaoke nights about leaving a girl in the green Ukraine. It is very much alive in the present.

History / Association of Lovers of Lwów and Southeastern Kresy [27]

Exactly. Those educated under the communists don't know much about history, especially about the ethnic composition of pre-war Ukraine and what happened to the Ruthenians who rejected the novel Ukrainian ethnicity and political movement. Only recently has that history started to be published by post-communist social scientists. Hopefully, PiS will force out whatever remaining communists remain pushing the communist party line in the Polish universities. Eventually, the truth comes out.

History / Is 5th partition of Poland possible? What kind? How? When? [73]

The Polish-American lobby is far more numerous in the U.S. Ukies are more populous North of the border in Canada. The fact remains that Ukraine, in its present de facto borders isn't going to be accepted into whatever is left of the E.U. (Ukraine's claim to Crimea is now just a fantasy, which even Germany and France are ignoring in the Minsk accords.) Only by moving the borders will Catholic Galician Ruthenians gain access to the E.U.'s labor markets.

The Russians voided the Budapest Memorandum, so the U.S. has a free hand to recognize other borders as well. Considering that the U.S. recognized Ukraine's present Western border in exchange for the promise of the U.S.S.R. recognizing fundamental human rights at Helsinki in 1975, that contract was void for a lack of consideration. Thus, nothing "illegal" about reversing Stalin's border. With the acquiescence of the U.S.and Russia, Poland can ignore the rest of Europe if it so chooses, including Brits still in denial about their role in the loss of the Kresy.

History / Is 5th partition of Poland possible? What kind? How? When? [73]

Ukraine is not presently a sovereign state. See Crimea and Donetsk, etc. See above comment on the Budapest Memorandum being void, and the lack of legal consideration for the Helsinki Accord.

History / Is 5th partition of Poland possible? What kind? How? When? [73]

Factually incorrect. Russia, a nuclear power and permanent member of the U.N. Security Council with veto power has already begun the first partition of Ukraine. That is the Realpolitik. It is simply a matter of what other borders will be changed before stability is achieved. A comprehensive solution with Russia would include restoration of Poland's former third largest city, return of lands seized from Romania by Stalin, and the reemergence of an independent Trans-Carpathia.


I should note that the issue of Trans-Dniester can also be resolved with the Russians only as part of a larger regional deal.

History / Is 5th partition of Poland possible? What kind? How? When? [73]

The Russian occupations of Crimea, Trans-Dniester, and parts of Georgia aren't at all flimsy. They are quite stubborn reminders of how the world actually works. Pretending that treaties that you don't like aren't valid is quite a British art, but the Russians are much more blunt about renouncing treaties. Of course, neither the Budapest Memorandum nor the Helsinki Accords were actual treaties.


And who the hell are you to presume to speak for them? A Brit who claimed Polish citizenship without renouncing British citizenship?

History / Is 5th partition of Poland possible? What kind? How? When? [73]

First get a life. Then get a grip on it.

No one has suggested anything about the modern rump state of Lithuania. It is a fraction of its former size!

History / Is 5th partition of Poland possible? What kind? How? When? [73]

Since the international community doesn't try to cross these borders or interfere with the Russian occupation in any meaningful way, they are clearly recognized by the international community. The U.N. is powerless to change anything, and the U.S., U.K. and NATO decline to start WWIII over any of this. That is the fact.


Really? Your grandparents could speak Polish and another language from the Kresy? You have friends and cousins from the Kresy who aren't ethnically Polish? You lived with people who returned to Belarus, Ukraine or Lithuania every November to reunite with family members and remember those in their families who passed on? You know people who witnessed the massacres of women and children by the Ukrainian fascists? Is that why they don't want to return to a beautiful Polish city?

Or maybe you just didn't meet these people in alternative lifestyle circles in Warsaw?