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Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread


Ironside  50 | 12405
16 Jan 2024   #331
Do Polish cider next!
OP Torq  8 | 955
16 Jan 2024   #332
Do Polish cider next

My age, social status and respected position that I enjoy in my local community prevent me from doing what you asked me.

...not to mention my basic dignity as a Polish citizen and patriot.

If you asked for mead or maybe wheat vodka, or even some traditional beer... but cider???

Tell ya what, Iron. This conversation will remain between us and in the future we shall never mention this again.
Ironside  50 | 12405
16 Jan 2024   #333
My age

Poland is an Empire of Apples. geez...
Do Polish whiskey then!
OP Torq  8 | 955
16 Jan 2024   #334
Do Polish whiskey then!

That's a more sensible and manly request. We have some very decent single malts. Yes, I will do our local whiskey some time in the future (don't want to change this thread into an alcoholic's dream ;)).
OP Torq  8 | 955
17 Jan 2024   #335
Sie sind frei, Doktor Korczak: 1942

There are very few figures in the history of Poland who provoke such a common sympathy and admiration in every Polish heart, regardless of its owner's age or political alignment, as the Old Doctor, Janusz Korczak. He was a Jewish pediatrician, pedagogue and an early children's rights advocate. During WW2 Polish underground organization Żegota offered him sanctuary on the "Aryan side". He turned the offer down repeatedly.

During the Grossaktion Warschau of 1942, German soldiers came to collect the 192 orphans that the Doctor was taking care of and about one dozen staff members to transport them to the Treblinka extermination camp...

Janusz Korczak was marching, his head bent forward, holding the hand of a child, without a hat, a leather belt around his waist, and wearing high boots. A few nurses were followed by two hundred children, dressed in clean and meticulously cared for clothes, as they were being carried to the altar.

- Ghetto eyewitness, Joshua Perle

... according to eyewitnesses, an SS officer recognized Korczak as the author of one of his favorite children's books and offered to help him escape.

Korczak refused the offer.

He went with his children to Treblinka where he was murdered on 7th August 1942.

P.S. In the first photo we see Wojciech Pszoniak as the good Doctor in Andrzej Wajda's 1990 film Korczak.
OP Torq  8 | 955
17 Jan 2024   #336
East bound and down, loaded up and truckin': 2023

OK, so maybe the 3rd generation Jelcz truck will no longer transport milk, cleaning products or clothes, like his early predecessors used to, but this monster of a truck, presented first at 32nd International Defence Industry Exhibition in Kielce, will have an equally important task to accomplish: it will serve as a platform for Polish HIMARS and K239 Chunmoo rocket launchers...

... with over half a century of truck-making tradition, Zakłady Samochodowe Jelcz can be trusted to provide the Polish army with reliable and durable trucks for difficult times. We need a lot of these vehicles and we need them fast, so put the pedal to the metal, boys! :)
Alien  24 | 5881
17 Jan 2024   #337
3rd generation Jelcz

It looks interesting.
OP Torq  8 | 955
18 Jan 2024   #338
Katowice, for a change: 2024

No wars, past or future, in Pol-Shorpy on this lovely Thursday morning. Just a calm evening photo of the Silesian Voivodeship's capital, Katowice. For a change. :)
OP Torq  8 | 955
18 Jan 2024   #339
The slogan "Katowice for a change" was voted for by the citizens of the Upper Silesian capital. As for the logo, before anyone has any strange connotations...

"The logo consists of two parts. Its black base depicts the cultural and industrial heritage of Katowice, while the upper layer represents the current potential of the city, built on the Silesian traditions. The multicolour visualisation reflects the following characteristics of the city: its metropolitan character (blue), an alternative (magenta), heritage & multiculturalism (red), transformation (yellow), activity (purple), eco-responsibility (green), business (gold), energy (graphite grey). The logo is closely associated with the slogan "KATOWICE for a change".

katowice.eu/en/en/katowice-city/symbols
OP Torq  8 | 955
18 Jan 2024   #340
Where the devil says goodnight: 1920s

Poczesna may be a small (784 inhabitants) village in the middle of Silesian nowhere, and some of their local authorities' jackets in 1920s had definitely seen better days...

... but they had a red-brick borough office building already back in 1921, when all the peasants' houses around were wooden...

Being hardworking and thrifty people, the inhabitants of Poczesna are proud to still have the very same building as their borough office seat over one hundred years later...

... but the locals live in brick houses (or at least breeze-block/aerated concrete) themselves, drive Škodas and Toyotas, and spend their holidays in Croatia (and hopefully got themselves some new jackets ;)).
Alien  24 | 5881
18 Jan 2024   #341
Škodas and Toyotas,

They tend to drive Audi and Volkswagen.
OP Torq  8 | 955
19 Jan 2024   #342
Upside down, girl you turn me: 2015

Kaszuby is more than just beautiful forests and lakes; many more attractions await the tourists lucky enough to find themselves in this most beautiful region of Poland. For example, in Szymbark they can visit an underground bunker of the Pomeranian Griffin partisans (and experience a simulation of artillery/aerial bombardment), see a replica of a Siberian gulag building, marvel at the longest plank in the world or - finally - visit the famous upside down house. Beware though - strange things happen to your otic capsule when you're inside. :)
OP Torq  8 | 955
19 Jan 2024   #343
They tend to drive Audi and Volkswagen.

Škoda is practically a Volkswagen, and Toyotas are more reliable these days than Audis (Polish peasants value reliability!).
Alien  24 | 5881
19 Jan 2024   #344
Škoda is practically a Volkswagen

Only at first glance, but in reality there is a difference in the quality and appearance of cars between Skoda and VW or Audi.
OP Torq  8 | 955
19 Jan 2024   #345
difference in the quality

... but Skodas are cheaper while being quite sturdy too, and Polish peasants are thrifty...

and appearance of cars

... Polish peasants are not homosexual to care about cars' appearance.

Now, comment about the upside down house instead of advertising for German automotive industry, Alien. ;)
Ironside  50 | 12405
19 Jan 2024   #346
Audi.

Audi is for psychopaths if you drive an Audi you should check your psychopathy level.
Alien  24 | 5881
19 Jan 2024   #347
comment about the upside down house

There is the same house on the island of Usedom on the German side. I was in it. No further comment is needed.
Alien  24 | 5881
19 Jan 2024   #348
@Torq
@Ironside
I don't drive an Audi. Let's continue talking about cars in Off Topic
OP Torq  8 | 955
19 Jan 2024   #349
Moje serce zostało we Lwowie: 1939

Plac Halicki

Wały Hetmańskie, Opera Lwowska, Teatr Skarbka

-------

No description. Just a song.

Moje serce zostało we Lwowie
W moim mieście zieleni i bzów
A ja chodzę wśród ludzi samotna przez świat
Tyle dni i tygodni miesięcy i lat
Zatrzymałam się w drogi połowie
Okradziona z mych marzeń i snów
Ale czekam na dzień gdy we Lwowie
Ze swym sercem połączę się znów...



OP Torq  8 | 955
19 Jan 2024   #350
Supplement to the above...

Monument of king Jan III Sobieski in Lwów

The same monument moved to Gdańsk
OP Torq  8 | 955
19 Jan 2024   #351
Learning to Read and Write: 1920s

Illiteracy was one of the major problems that newly independent Poland had to deal with. The first census of 1921 revealed that 33.1% of Polish citizens couldn't read or write, in 1931 it was still 23.1% (about 7.5 million people). Schools were built all over the country to encompass all Polish children with a common education system. In the photo we see a village school in the Holy Cross Province (Kielce Voivodeship).
OP Torq  8 | 955
20 Jan 2024   #352
Watchful Eagles: 2024

Beautiful blue skies over poetic fields, fluffy white clouds, lovely forests and lakes accompanied by chirping birds in the background: welcome to the most dangerous place on Earth.

The Polish Eagles guarding the border at Suwałki Gap are no longer worker-peasant ones but they sport a tasteful old golden crown. Chances are that in a couple of years the eagles will watch NATO forces bridging the Suwałki Gap and flooding reinforcements into the allied Baltic States.

In the past, with tens of journalists present, the operation always went smoothly. The day when all those drills will have to be translated into a real-life combat operation seems to be approaching fast.
Alien  24 | 5881
20 Jan 2024   #353
seems to be approaching fast.

Can you stop spreading panic? Please.
OP Torq  8 | 955
20 Jan 2024   #354
Can you stop spreading panic?

Panic? Far from it.

In times like these, Alien, panic is criminal. Panic is out of question.
OP Torq  8 | 955
20 Jan 2024   #355
La basílica de Nuestra Señora de Licheń: 2004

Catholic Disneyland, they said. Catholic Las Vegas, they laughed. Monumental quintessence of aesthetic eclecticism and tackiness, they judged.

F*ck 'em.

No. Scratch that last sentence. May dear God have mercy on them, I meant to say.

Despite evil tongues, The Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń - built from 1994 to 2004 - one of the tallest churches in the world (its main tower measuring 141.5 meters in height), is visited by millions of absolutely delighted pilgrims every year (Lord bless them and their children).

Oh, and YES, arseholes, I happen to love the hussar-wings pews...
jon357  73 | 23221
20 Jan 2024   #356
Licheń

Is it true that it's a calendar building?

Meaning 365 windows, 52 doors and 7 altars.
OP Torq  8 | 955
20 Jan 2024   #357
Meaning 365 windows, 52 doors and 7 altars.

It also has 33 steps leading to the main entrance (like 33 years that Our Lord Jesus Christ lived on Earth), and 12 pillars symbolizing 12 apostles. The organs have 7 thousand pipes (the most in Poland, 4th in Europe, 13th in the world), and Saint Virgin Mary in the main icon is holding Polish White Eagle close to her heart.

Any other questions?
Alien  24 | 5881
20 Jan 2024   #358
Any other questions?

Who paid all this?
OP Torq  8 | 955
20 Jan 2024   #359
Who paid

It was funded fully from the donations of the faithful.

Bazylika Matki Bożej Bolesnej została wybudowana w latach 1994-2004 wyłącznie z ofiar wiernych i bez wsparcia ze strony państwa.

ampolska.co/art-2593-Obraz-Bolesnej-Krolowej-Polski-Matki-Bozej-Lichenskiej.htm
jon357  73 | 23221
20 Jan 2024   #360
Any other questions?

None. You seem very knowledgable about it. A friend visits it quite often and enjoys her trips there. She keeps inviting me and I might go one day.

I'm not much into pilgrimage sites but went to Swieta Lipka a while ago and liked it. The souvenir stalls outside didn't impress though and I gather that people say the same about Lichen.

Have you been to the Orthodox shrine at Grabarka?

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