Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread

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Legends :) When did you leave Poland, Alien?

1989

Jaysus... 35 years... *sighs*

Are they treating you well there?

Well, a life sentence.

You left Poland the year I was born. Wow.

You really are an Alien.

Raz... dwa... trzy!: 2018



Volleyball is the only olympic team sport in which Poland is a two-times World Champion (and two times runner-up). Our male team is currently the best in international ranking (ladies sit in respectable 7th place), and in 2023 the final of CEV Champions League was played between two Polish teams. Volleyball fans in Poland can look with mild amusement at football fans (although preferably without them noticing :)).

My apologies to the 1974 team that I forgot. Of course it should be three-times World Champions.

Early 1970s
Coca Cola, previously bashed by communists as an imperialist capitalist beverage, enters Poland:

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1971.
After the massacre of protesting shipyard workers by communist army and police, the previous Party Secretary Gomułka was deposed by his own buddies who elected Edward Gierek for the post.

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In the heart of Cracow: 2024



Pałac Potockich is certainly an interesting place in an interesting city: book premieres, interesting lectures, literary festivals, concerts, meetings with writers and translators, workshops for children, and many other activities attract visitors all year round. There is also an art gallery and a well-stocked bookshop in there. If you're ever in Cracow, make sure to check what is going on in Potockis' Palace culture centre.

The people you are writing to would certainly be more willing to check what beer is served in a nearby pub. Remember that PF is not a Cultural Forum.

To some extent it certainly is, and - anyways - it should be our aim to educate, shouldn't it? :)

No kuźwa, chyba masz rację/ of course, you are right.

wasn't PRL Coca-Cola better quality than the original?

That's just what we thought.

Why should it be???

Was Polish water better?

I don`t think so. :):):) Certainly it wasn`t Poland Spring water. :):):)

Why him?: 2018



That the students of Fine Arts Academy in Łódź wanted to make their city more beautiful - this is commendable and praiseworthy.

That they decided on a huge colourful mural as their medium of expression - with this I have no problem at all.

However, why on earth they chose Pawian as their model - this I shall never understand.

Nice mural.

I can't abide bow ties though.

Zróbże minę uprzejmą, żubrze: 2023



The European Bison or, as it should properly be called, żubr is one of the symbols of Poland. About 2500 of those animals (a quarter of world's population) live in Poland in eight free herds and about 200 in zoos and breeding facilities. Until 1960s there was only one free herd of bisons is Europe, in Puszcza Białowieska, and the animal itself was on the verge of extinction. Thanks to the efforts of Polish foresters and international cooperation the species was not only saved from extinction but is now thriving in its natural environment.

Of course, there is also Żubr beer.

@Torq

Nice post.


In my opinion, one of the best Polish beers.

No, the taste is just tolerable. It is cheap beer for mongrels.

Obviously not a true Pole! In his own words!!!!

The ape has finally and drunkenly fallen into his bed........

An Englishman who loved Poland: 1927



In the photo we see G.K. Chesterton and his wife being welcomed by Polish authorities at the main railway station in Warsaw. The great British writer visited Poland in April 1927 and everywhere he went (Poznań, Kraków, Lwów, Wilno, Zakopane, Troki) he was received cordially. The English convert to Catholicism and one of the greatest writers of the 20th century was a faithful friend of Poland and a partisan of the Polish ideal.

He may have visited Poland once however he was a deeply unsavoury individual.

Personally unpleasant, openly fascist and generally a nasty piece of work.

Quite a good writer though if you like undemanding genre fiction.

Another famous person who visited Poland at around the same time and liked her stay there was Annie Besant. Not a good writer and difficult company too but a better person than Chesterton. She was quite close to the great Janusz Korczak.

A friend of mine (very elderly) has a photograph of Dr Besant getting off a plane in the 30s at Pole Mokotowskie when the Warsaw airstrip was there.

Writers of "undemanding genre fiction" are rarely nominated to Nobel Prize in Literature (as Chesterton was in 1935) or considered by critics to be successors of Matthew Arnold, John Ruskin or Thomas Carlyle.

He was held in high regard by, and was an influence on, many writers (including Jorge Louis Borges and T.S. Eliot) and philosophers (e.g. one of the "immortals" of Académie Française, Étienne Gilson). Also - let's not forget - Chesterton was invested as Knight Commander with Star of the Papal Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Pius XI. Not bad for "quite a good writer of undemanding genre fiction". :)

For me personally, his Heretics, Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man are among the most important books that shaped my worldview.

However, I can understand perfectly well why you don't like him, Jon.


Hmm... yes, the Good Doctor should certainly be included in this thread (and will be, soon).

Anyone can be nominated for anything. He didn't get one though.


He wasn't a successor to any of those. 'Critics' can consider whatever they like and frequently do.


As I recall, Jimmy Savile was a papal 'knight'. He used to go to Leeds Cathedral dressed up like a Christmas tree, raising a sword when the host was elevated during Mass...


One of the most striking figures of that century. People often forget that before the war he was one of Poland's most popular radio broadcasters.