Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread

They're the future, love them or hate them.


... with electric cars, mostly minuses.

I'd say that there are huge benefits to them.

They're certainly here to stay.

An even better future would be with few or no private cars at all.

Yip. Like depleting the Earth of rare minerals, whilst creating huge carbon footprint in the process, and used batteries problem for another couple of thousand years.


Ferraris and Lamborghinis preferably. They already got the exemption from the year 2035 law. Planes and cars for the rich, meat for the rich, and for the poor: public transport and insects. You green commies have to go a bit slower - you're cooking the frog too fast! :) "You will have nothing and you will be happy", as Mr Schwab said. :)

Luckily, more people see that green communism is as bad as the red one.

There's always this that and the other that people can find against things they don't like.


Vulgar and far too fast.

Private vehicles are not in any way a positive thing.


And there was me thinking I was neither.


Did he? When?

When a child smiles, the whole world smiles: 1968



"In the name of children, the International Chapter of Order of the Smile decided to grant you this most sunny of all decorations!" - with this formula the Herald of the Chapter grants the decoration. This, first a Polish and then an international, award is given to adults distinguished in their love, care and aid for children. It was established in 1968 by a group of "Kurier Polski" journalists and in 1979 the Secretary General of the United Nations officially recognized the Order. Among its recipients are Nelson Mandela, Empress Farah Pahlavi, Astrid Lindgren, and Zbigniew Religa.



In the photo above we see the most honourable Chevalier of the Order of Smile, Henryk Skarżyński. Professor Skarżyński is an otosurgeon and a world-renowned specialist in pediatric otolaryngology whose work restored hearing to countless children.

The founder, Cezary Lezenski was a friend of mine as was his later partner Wiesia, also now sadly gone.

They did an incredible amount of good work for kids in the worst possible situations.

Incidentally Czarek was also a Righteous Among The Nations and had been a child soldier in WW2.

Yes. Even Rolls Royce is tainted with vulgarity. A Bentley is the only way to go.

Hugely.

They're for nouveau riche northern millionaires.

I like them though, especially the old 80s ones.

Next to a Rolls, the fanciest and most expensive Cadillac or Merc just looks trashy.

Continental of course. The only luxury car in which you don't want to have a chauffeur.

Me too! I like the 1960s ones.


Absolutely. The whole point of such a car is the pleasure of driving it.

Welcome, our Persian brother: 2016



2016 was the year when the Most Honourable dr Ali Akbar Salehi visited Poland on the invitation of Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki. Our dear Persian brother was warmly received also by the President Andrzej Duda and Marshals of the Sejm and Senat. Long-years cooperation (past and future) was discussed and important decisions were made.

Prime Minister? President? Marshals of both Sejm and Senat? WTF? Who was this Salehi guy that he was received with greater honour than Pope himself could ever hope to? Why was the series of other meetings conducted in later years to which the press wasn't invited? Very good questions, my dear Pol-Shorpy readers - I always admire your sharp-as-a-razor inquisitive minds. However, the questions will have to remain unanswered... for the time being.

Ssshh...

Supplement to the above:

Our most beloved brother, may Allah always bless Him and His Family, receiving a modest gift during one of the official meetings with ministers...

You write like a Pawian.

Traitor, hero, soldier, spy: 1972-1981




In every scenario we were f*cked. Completely and utterly f*cked.

In the Warsaw Pact war plans, in every possibility, in every permutation, in every possible combination of events, in every game plan, Poland was to become a nuclear ground zero.

There was no way for us to play on this chessboard. A grandmaster would fail. There was no bluff out of this game of poker. The coolest gambler would stand no chance.

We had to overturn the chessboard. We had to break the card table. And we did.

The rest is history.

But this was only the first chapter. Or wasn't it?

Supplement to the above:

Colonel Kukliński during a visit to Poland in 1997...



... and at a Warsaw Pact meeting in Moscow in 1980 (standing behind Jaruzelski).

Warschauer Kniefall: 1970



Chancellor of West Germany fell to his knees in Warsaw in 1970. Those who witnessed the scene were awe-struck: a politician actually displayed his emotions by confessing to guilt and begging for forgiveness. With his head bowed low, he froze in this position for twenty or thirty seconds. This is how Willy Brandt described the situation many years later in his memoirs: "As I stood on the edge of Germany's historical abyss, feeling the burden of millions of murders, I did what people do when words fail".

The gesture was disputed within Brandt's own party, whose voters had included a significant proportion of expellees from the former German territories in Poland, most of whom then went to the conservative parties. According to a Der Spiegel survey of the time, 48% of all West Germans thought the "Kniefall" was excessive, 41% said it was appropriate and 11% had no opinion.

A monument to Willy Brandt was unveiled on 6 December 2000, in Willy Brandt Square in Warsaw (near the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes Monument) on the eve of the 30th anniversary of his famous gesture.

....that photo has still the same effect, it has become an icon in some way here in Germany.

People like Brandt aren't born anymore....

Yes, the caliber of European politicians seems to be getting ever smaller; and at the time when we need them the most. :-/

Saxon Garden: late 19th century



In this rare photochrom 19th century photo we can see the famous Saxon Garden in Warsaw with a fragment of Saxon Palace in the background. It's been almost 80 years since German troops blew up the building (after the fall of Warsaw Uprising) which they themselves used for propaganda events...



In 2021 the decision to rebuild Pałac Saski was made. The reconstruction, of which the estimated cost is about 3 billion PLN, will be completed in 2030, and the palace will be reconstructed according to its state on 31st August 1939.

Saxon Gardens is a lovely place to walk.

I'd not rebuild the palace though; it's better as it is now.

In Polish it's Ogród (sing.) Saski. Should I give a flying f*ck whether it's Saxon Garden or GardenS in English?

No. I didn't think so.

Now you can write to all those websites to change the English name, e.g.:

mwfc.pl/en/location/saxon-garden-warsaw/
its-poland.com/attraction/saxon-garden-and-tomb-of-the-unknown-soldier
kidsinthecity.pl/listing/the-saxon-garden-ogrod-saski/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxon_Garden
inyourpocket.com/warsaw/saxon-garden_21137v

... that should keep you occupied for a little while.

Yes, given that the alternative doesn't make sense and it's been called Saxon Gardens in English for at least a century.


No, too boring and if they can't be bothered to get a text proofread, I doubt they'd take notice. Repeated mistakes by non-natives doesn't make a mistake correct.

I bet some of them translate Marszałkowska to 'Marshall Street' too.

The best thing I saw on one of those websites was a listing for a play that they called 'Everything is good that finishes good'. Some lazy twat just translated the Polish name of the play back into English.

Sh*t me it goes around. Gówno mnie to obchodzi.

It's "ogród" not "ogrody". So there.

In Polish.

The whole point in translating one language to another is that the target language and the source language differ.

Jak stary jesteś?

OK, OK... Saxon Gardens. Geez...

It would be a beautiful place for a monument not the uprising fighters given how much fighting took place there.

A nice place to walk and some nice restaurants on the north side. I hope the rebuilding doesn't spout too much of the park.

Krasiński (Krasinski Gardens) is good too. It would be a shame to lose green space in central Warsaw. There are already a few prime sites that for-profit developers have their eyes on.

Hopefully the move towards home working will bankrupt a few of them, or at least make the people less likely to give them planning permission.

A typo: "monument to" rather than "monument not". Autocorrect.

Three brothers: so long ago that even Novi wasn't born yet



Long time ago three brothers - Lech, Czech and Rus - set out on a perilous quest. Yes, yes... we all know the story, but did you know that in the original version of the legend there were not three but two brothers? In the first version, written by Jan Długosz, there were two brothers - Lech and Czech - and Rus appears much later in the story as the son of Lech. That would, of course, confirm Crow's theory of Poland being the Great Mother of All Slavia. :)

Yes and as you previously pointed out the correct usage when translated is Saxon Garden. It doesn't suddenly become plural in English when referring to just one location.

The only time it would become plural is when referring to multiple gardens of the same style.

Here is an example:

"The garden next to the Royal Saxon Palace, which was opened to the residents of Warsaw in 1727 and named "Saxon Garden"...in the 19th century it became a model, a kind of public city park. This led to the establishment of other "Saxon Gardens" in other parts of the country, such as in Radom (1822/1824) and Lublin (1837)."

copernico.eu/en/articles/capital-saxon-garden-baroque-vistula-river-warsaw-residence-city-saxon-electors-and-kings-poland

The Polish Tourism Organization (a Polish government website) also uses the proper singular form when publishing information in English:

"you can take a leisurely stroll through one of the large parks, like the Royal Łazienki Park or the Saxon Garden."

pot.gov.pl/en/virtual-site-inspection/incentive-inspiration/warszawa/warsaw-essentials

The singular usage makes sense when considering that the garden was a singular feature of the former Saxon Palace.

Compare to Chatsworth House estate in the United Kingdom which has a garden and refers to it as simply as that and is singular.

About the garden

"The 105 acre garden is the product of nearly 500 years of careful cultivation."

chatsworth.org/visit-chatsworth/chatsworth-estate/garden/

But wait! What about Kew Gardens in London?

It's proper name is the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (the main location) with another location in Wakehurst, Surrey. The site in Kew also has several botanical structures dedicated to different types of gardens like bamboo, grasses and woodlands.


The whole point in translating is to be actuate and respect the source language.

Have you visited the three trees named after Lech, Czech and Rus. Worth a look, however I'd not mourn if someone chopped down Rus and rammed the trunk up Putler's fundament.


No public facility is called "Chatsworth Gardens" unless it's a council estate somewhere.

Saxon Gardens has however been called that in English for at least a century.


"The whole point"??? No. The point is to make it intelligible.

And you've never been to Saxon Gardens anyway, or know anything about it that you've not read online.

Saxon Gardens is a popular place for Warsaw residents to walk, and a bit safer at night now the police patrol it.