Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread

Nice. A fellow knight of Mary holding high office. *thumbs up*


Good for him! We need more people who treat their faith seriously in this godless world.

This man is a big change from the lover of ceremony and regalia that was Shoigu.

Ukraine should tremble.

Only sinners should tremble, be them Ukrainian, Russian or Polish.

True.

During his confirmation speech, he ended it by saying:

"I have always believed in an important principle in life, which guides my daily actions. That is, 'It's permissible to make mistakes, but it is not permissible to lie'."

This got many of us very excited.

The fact that he does not have hundreds of millions of dollars, or a yacht, or a villa, or a supermodel lover - and instead talks about his solemn oaths to the Virgin Mary.... well.

That's just f*cking scary.

This is too good to be true...

*goes googling for kompromat on Belousov*

Oh, yeah, the stuff is an absolute mess. My mom would have to hose me off.


🙂. If the pedagogy only paid as well, we'd constantly be pestering one another for tips and best practices.


Let's hope he hears her whispers about the need to find a way to bring this war to an end.

Found nothing. The guy is sound. Glory to Mary.


If he is a genuine knight of Mary, and it looks like he is, this whole affair in Ukraine will be over soon.

Or Her whispers to rid Her land of Ukraine of violent orcs.

You mean he will convince Putin to retreat and leave Ukraine alone?

Backwater: circa 1890



Before we make fun of India or joke about Cанитарные Bойска, we would be well advised to remember that water had to be carried from wells in many European towns (not to mention villages) well into the 20th century, and nosiwoda (water carrier) was a proper job back then. In the photo we can see a water carrier in the streets of Bolesławiec (lat. Boleslavia, ger. Buntzlau). Some sources date the photo at 1873 others at 1895, so I guess it's safe to assume that it was taken some time on the threshold of the 20th century, and we can see that on the threshold of the 20th century there was no running water in a rather large town in the middle of Europe.

Commie blocks before commies: 1937



What looks like small commie blocks from 50s-60s is actually an example of then-modern blocks of flats in pre-war Warsaw (Potocka Street, Żoliborz).

Same in every developed country in Europe, regardless of its system. Those are far better than average.

They look nicer than the new ones built on Ul. Potocka recently by private developers.

In general.... the new big apartment complexes being built look far less.... livable than the old commie era osiedle made up of panel buildings (bloki z wielkiej płyty)

Especially in spring summer the old osiedla are greener and the buildings are spaced better and trees offer shade and there are easily accesible stores etc.... the new buildings are built too close together with no green spaces at all...

Some of those are excellent. There are some good examples in Ursynōw. The low building costs allowed larger apartments to be built with good balconies and decent communal gardens.



The profit motive. Humans come a poor second to squeezing as much revenue out of the projects for the 'investors' to spend on luxuries. Some of the newer blocks are shameful and far worse than the 80s ones. When capitalism is allowed to operate with very little restraint, it's as if ordinary people aren5 allowed to have nice things.

It's a scandal that the planning authorities allow it to happen to the people they're supposed to represent.

Dark Matter: 1947



Wincenty Pstrowski (in the photo above) was a hero of socialist labour. His portraits hung on the walls of schools and government offices; streets, mines and ships were named after him. He came back to Poland in May 1946, after working for 10 years as a miner in Mons (Belgium). In February 1947 he hacked through 72.5 metres of tunnel (240% of norm), 85 metres in April (273% of norm), and 78 metres in May (270%). His tunnels had 2 metres of height and 2.5 metres of width.

Praying for that.


Holy smokes! He was a human drill.

And in 1948 he already died.

Chariots of Firemen: 1920s





In 1920s Warszawska Straż Ogniowa (Warsaw Fire Brigade) exchanged all their old horse-drawn fire engines (some of them 100 years old!) into brand new motorised ones. In the second photo, taken in 1925, we can see brave Warsaw firefighters with one of their newly acquired cars. They distinguished themselves in September 1939, heroically fighting fires in bombarded Warsaw, and during the German occupation hundreds of Warsaw firemen joined firefighters' resistance organisation Skała (Rock).

Calm before the storm: 1938



A Jewish craftsman calmly walking through Zamenhofa street in Warsaw...

How much is that doggy in the window?: 1939



As many as 400 Luftwaffe planes took part in the bombing of Warsaw in September 1939. In the photo we see a Polish girl standing on the ruins of her house at Żelazna 8. She went out to play with her friend and meanwhile He-111 bombers came over Warsaw. The dog survived, her family didn't. No Luftwaffe pilot was sentenced for war crimes in 1939 - they were honourable soldiers, just following their orders. Until today no reparations have been paid by Germany for 6 million dead Polish citizens and unimaginable material destruction.

Lived to tell the story: 1939



Ludwik Nowakowski, a veteran of January Uprising (1863), in a radio studio in 1939. I don't know if the recording survived.

They see us rollin', they hatin': 1920s



Three gentlemen enjoying the drive in the countryside. Notice the perfect condition of the road.

No traffic jams, unlike on German highways towards Poland on Friday evening.

Always on the move: 1939



Bombs or not, the tram services must run. Tram no. 3 taking the right turn from Królewska Street into Marszałkowska.

Immediately, I got other flashbacks about trams in streets in old Poland. Used as barricades against the enemy.
Here, Warsaw Rising 44.

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Hey, Pawian :) Where have you been, you Polish swine?

Not that I missed you, but I was kinda worried.

Ja, ich bin Polnische Schweine und Banditen! hahahaha


I was busy during the exams first and now I have been busy on the farm. I desperately lack time. I measure it in minutes to move from one thing/activity/location to another. .

Childhood memories: 1920



To an untrained eye this probably looks like Masztalerska Street in Poznań (looking towards Wroniecka). However, it is actually Zaułek St. in Bydgoszcz, and the kids in the photo probably didn't even realise that at that very moment a huge battle was raging on the outskirts of Warsaw, the battle to decide the future of their country and of Europe. Aaah, to be a child again, blissfully unaware of all the horrors of the world. :)

And this is Lublin with its City Gate where regular theatre performances take place.

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Corpus Christi: 1934



The octave of Corpus Christi celebrations in pre-war Poznań (3rd June 1934).