Little-known facts about Poland

This is actually intriguing - and yes, a little known fact about Poland. Do you have any sources (that's a genuine request, not arguing etc) - pictures especially would be interesting.

Another little known fact about Polish housing is that a (fairly) high end housing development was completed in Warsaw actually during the war, despite occupation etc - it belongs to the city now and semi-homeless people are housed there.

I'd really like to see some photos of that, would be very interesting.


Really? Which one?

As a prize for guessing, I'll buy you a pint next week (or if you're in pl. Grzybowska for that concert on Sunday - there's a 50% chance that I'll be). Perhaps that's taking the mystery thing too far. The development is at the bottom of Zoliborz, near the citadel. Only half of the estate was finished before war broke out however they did actually finish it (not sure who moved there - I'm pretty sure it was spoldzielniowy) a year later, in late 1940.

Contemporary photos show nice landscaping and a tram route.

There are a lot of very little known facts about Poland in wartime. Most people would be surprised that early on in the war, Gentiles used to go into the ghetto for an evening out (most of the good musicians were there). Later of course it was a different sadder story.

I was under the impression too that Poland never built such things, and that they were rather a Soviet thing, the so called "komunalka".

I don't think there's even a word in Polish for komunalka, is there?

Things varied from period to period (the attitude of the regimes in both places) plus architectural fashions, technology, building materials, housing needs and policies etc.

Yes you're right I think, I've never heard of (purpose built) Komunalki in Poland either. Though nothing would surprise me :-)

I've done some more research, and it seems that they did exist to a certain extent. It seems to have occured in pre-war kamienicas, and the policy was abandoned in 1956. New build apartments between 1945 and 1990 always had individual bathrooms and kitchens.

My favourite fact about Poland is that universal free education was introduced by the Communists. It seems from my research that the Communists actually oversaw a mass basic education effort, which is rather contrary to the view of the PRL being a hellhole with no positive characteristics.

The commies also claimed that unlike the capitalist West, they had the true democracy because everyone had "the right to work" -- no unemployment. In the States that's called featherbedding: 3-4 people assigned to do work that 1 person could easily accomplish.

Yes, probably one of the worst things about Communism was the attitude towards work. It seems almost paradoxical to educate massive amounts of people and then to waste them in non-jobs, doesn't it?

"Little-known facts about Poland" thread, the one about Communism is elsewhere

Maybe not Poland-centric...but this was also common in pre/early post war flats in the UK. Flats were like rooms with a washbasin and you shared a bathrooom. You can still see it in cheaper B&Bs in Blackpool. Rising Damp was a great British sitcom set in one of these.

I have no issue with no bathroom window, provided there is ventilation. But I really don't get the frosted door glass panel on pretty much every flat bathroom I have been to. While you can't see clearly through, I still don't want to see the outline of someone sitting on the toilet!

Then stop peeping through the frosted glass!

Who is that?

Here's a little known fact about Poland (and about the rest of the EU, to be fair): even if EU citizens kill somebody here, they can't be deported from Poland. Article 27(1) and (2) of Directive 2004/38 states "The personal conduct of the individual concerned must represent a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society. Justifications that are isolated from the particulars of the case or that rely on considerations of general prevention shall not be accepted."

I'm not aware of any cases involving killers from EU countries who can't be deported from Poland, but there was a case in the UK of a Polish woman who killed her partner by stamping on his head for being drunk. Thanks to EU law she is still there and isn't here. You can read about it here: telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9974183/EU-rules-allow-foreign-killer-to-stay-in-Britain.html

Personally I'd say it's astounding that nations have surrendered such a fundamental right.

Of course, this doesn't apply to non-EU citizens; they can be deported for pretty much any reason, or even none at all.

Jon, you seem to be talking about plac sloneczny.
Also fortnecza was built in 40/41 during the war period.

NIE PRZEZ PRÓG: It's bad luck to kiss, hug or shake hands over a threshold,as it predicts the friendship will break up.

No, not plac Sloneczny - somewhere much nearer town. Interesting about Forteczna though.