Polish vs British vs American - Clash of cultures

Unfortunately, I know that private photos are of no judicial value to courts in Poland. I read it somewhere a few years ago.

true.. but their value on social media might be greatly underestimated.

In some regions of Poland fields are very narrow. A remnant of old times.

Always divided by miedza.

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Poles tend to respect their dead, no matter how controvercial they were during lifetime, while Brits are able to openly celebrate sb`s death. I was really disgusted to see so many Brits enjoying the death of Margaret Thatcher. I wondered how much hatred those people had cherished in their hearts for so many years..... So sick that simply unbelievable......





When one day Poles go out into streets and have fun after general Jaruzelski`s or another controvercial figure`s death, I will treat it as a next barbaric custom wrongfully adopted from Western culture into Poland.

The PiS supporters were picketing Geremek's funeral with placards that had offensive slogans on.That would be impossible in the UK.

It would in relation ot Geremek because nobody knows him there. But the anti-Thatcher pix are rather telling. Did you miss them?

There was much celebrating. For myself, it was a chance to reflect on her victims more than the death of an evil person.

what victims ?

Does Geremek also fit that description?

He was a very good person. All positive.

There are no people who are all good. Only God fits that description. One can find flaws even in people like Piłsudski, Wałęsa, Lech Kaczyński and JPII.

Geremek (whose real name was Benjamin Lewertow) was too KOR-ish and Michnikite in his views to be a leader of the Polish nation. It can be said to his credit that although he had been a commie cell leader, not just a rank-and-filer, he dropped his membership in 1968.

no, he wasn't - my great-uncle had a good word for almost everyone, but about Geremek could say only "the rest is silence"... He disliked people who snitch... One of his friends was arrestested by SB after returning from France, and it could be only Geremek who accused him

Oh, yes, I forgot about it.

More precisely, a few guys from catholic Radio Maria carried one banner with God, thank you for taking him from us and they displayed it before the church in which the funeral mass service was held.



That was nasty, indeed, completely against Polish culture and tradition. No wonder soon it was counter parodied: God, why didn`t you take him from us? with the image of Radio Maria director on the banner.

It happened in 2008 and probably radicals realised that such acts work against them, so there has been peace and quiet since then.

I don't' think Geremek deserved such disrespect, but the funerals of such people as Hitler, Stalin, Bierut and Jaruzelski would scream out for forceful signs of disapproval and opposition on the part of any decent Pole.

Can't respect any kind of such thing. Funerals are not for that. Awful thing to do.

I wouldn`t put Jaruzelski with those three. They remained hardened mass murderers till their death while Jaruzelski apologised many times for the pain he inflicted on people during martial law.

Another man's fortune is another man's poison.

British culture wins hands down:

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fb-f8CTafHs

Not so sure. Series about idiots have also been made in Poland and became quite popular. I would classify it as concord of cultures, not clash.

He also did everything possible to evade accountability. He used excuses of every kind to delay and derail his trials, even changed lawyers years into the game so it would take a year or more for the new defence counsellor to read into voumes and volumes of case documents. And finally, the health excuses. Too ill to stand trial and healthy enough to give speeches at a commie jubilee meet-up in the Palace of Culture.

Here's a bloke who for the sake of a big military career brown-nosed the Soviets that murdered his own father through cold, starvation and overwork in Siberia.

Jaruzelski wanted the soviet intervention, there stenograms out there, so pawian stop writing bs and watch and read a bit else be quiet.
1980 ussr wasnt as strong and they would not agree to another czechslovakia, so instead Jaruzelski made an illegal organization called WRON, killed tenths of people.. and have never been put to jail.

watch a film if you cant be bothered with reading a bit:
towarzysz general idzie na wojne.

Yes, but did he give orders to murder millions?


Yes, but he gave up power and withdrew in a peaceful manner to avoid further hostilities between Solidarity and his fellow communists. If he was such hardened criminal as Hitler or Stalin, he would have started a civil war instead of allowing Solidarity take over.

But this discussion doesn`t suit this thread. If you want, you can continue it in threads concerning Jaruzelski, there are a few on PF.

Did he allow Solidarity to take over or did he actually ensure his red cronies of a soft landing with zero accountability? Until 2 years ago (as one of the few decent thigns done by Tusk) red rodents were getting fatcat pensions for helping the Krelmin enslave their countrymen for 45 years.

Indeed. People like Goofy simply don't understand that civil war was on the menu had Jaruzelski wanted it - the mess that we saw in Romania was also quite possible had he not agreed to a peaceful transition of power.

As for others, quite a lot of people who earnt a very good living as a result of working with the Communist regime suddenly did an amazing about-face in the early 1990's once they realised that Communism wasn't coming back - and that the best hope of getting a similar position in future was to declare their loyalty to the Church.

Guys, Polo, Goofy and Delph, thank you very much for participation but


This thread is about clash of cultures, not political history of Poland.

Returning to the culture clash, maybe this has already been mentioned (I'm too lazy to read through the entire thread), but one thing that has freaeked Brits out for years is Poles who set aside fresh milk to sour and clabber. To the Brits it goes off, to Poles it creates a thick, rich-tasting, yoghurt-like drink, particularly good chilled on hot summer days with some dilled, buttered new potatoes. Also a good hangover remedy. I bet if it was called fresh yoghurt instead of sour milk (zsiadłe mleko) it would gain acceptance amongst Brits. Wonder what our expat Brits think of it?

Poles have been taken aback by the coin-operated British gas ring. (Dunno if those still exist in the UK?)

Vile, at least to me. But I can't really drink anything other than UHT milk anyway, so I couldn't try it even if I wanted to.


Those have mostly (all?) gone, but the system now involves buying either tokens to feed an electricity/gas meter, or using a "key" (like a USB pen drive) that can be topped up like a mobile phone. You still see such coin-operated devices in some places for certain, such as in holiday cottages on camp sites and so on.

I'd like to point out that from an American point of view, they tend to be quite lost when things aren't provided for them on a plate. I can't say why, but it seems to be related to the American convenience culture.

my irish granny used to leave some milk to go off to make soda bread.
i dont think this would work these days anyway as the milk is over-treated and homogenised.
coin op gas is mostly in holiday cottages and the like.

All pancakes are better if made with clabbered sour milk. Then you need no baking powder and only a pinch of soda for them to rise.

Re gas rings -- the Poles I talked to weren't impressed by their hi-tech, but by the penury and meanness of British landlords who also sparingly doled out loo paper as if it were gold leaf.

What utter bollocks! Is our American friend Polo attempting to demonstrate that lying is culturally acceptable for Americans? (I do hope he is not, given that it is not.)

Although anybody who was in Poland in the mid 1990s will no doubt remember the 'four pieces' ration standard in paid Polish public toilets and the complete lack of toilet paper in state-run establishments.