Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread

Let's go abroad!: 1965



Polish-Czechoslovakian Friendship Trail ended right at the border, so you could take your kids for a trip abroad (at least a couple of steps abroad) on a low budget, just like the ladies in the photo decided to.

No longer a Festung: 1953



... a staggering 68% of Breslau's buildings were destroyed in WW2. This amazing city of three nations (the longest under the Czech rule, then - for about 400 years - under the Polish crown, and for the shortest, but very important for the development of the city, time a German possession) was rebuilt with an enormous effort and sacrifice of the decimated and impoverished Poland - even more difficult because the completely razed Warsaw had priority in all the reconstruction plans. In the photo we can see a digger clearing the rubble in Plac Kościuszki (former Tauentzienplatz) - still 8 years after the war (!).

....may I ask for a photo of today, as comparison?

Sure...

Nice! Thank you.... :)

Not at all.

Here's a 1938 photo of the department store...



Funny thing, Wrocław was settled with people from Lwów and other eastern cities which the Soviet Union took from us. So, after the war, if you heard somebody with the melodic eastern accent, you could pretty much assume that he/she was from Wrocław - one of the westernmost cities in Poland. European history, eh? :)

Wow! Good work! :)

Yeah....I learned that very early....Germans lost their homes which were rebuild/resettled by people who lost their homes too...got one thinking also from early on!

I was to Lwów once as a kid and was enchanted with the city - Ukrainians are taking very good care of it, just like Lithuanians are taking great care of Wilno, and I'm sure - although I've never been there - Belarussians love their Grodno and Brześć. But the amount of suffering, destroyed lives and broken hearts involved in the changes was immense. Let's hope no "genius" on either side of any border ever tries to repeat the history again.

True!

Have to go...'night all :)

...this polish language of the lone vowels...Brześć...

Good night, BB. :)

Don`t forget it was German decision to build a runway strip in the middle of Wrocław during the war. It entailed pulling down hundreds of buildings. So, it wasn`t only Soviets or Poles who destroyed the historical quarters.

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AmaSSing fact, Germans used that airfield only once to send a plane into the air. The one with the commander of the Wrocław Fortress who escaped when the situation got hopeless.

Ancient Piast lands: 1971



We remain in the Regained Lands with this interesting view of Szczecin, as seen from the Odra River. In the background we can see gothic St. James's church.

Urbs celeberrima: 2023



Let's get back to the present day and to "mainland Poland" with this photo of our good, old Cracow. One cannot deny the importance of this city to Polish soul. Before WW2 there were four main cities that defined Polish identity: Warsaw, Lwów, Wilno and Cracow (of course, there were others like Toruń or Poznań but the four I mentioned were the mainstays of Polishness). After the war Lwów and Wilno were taken away by the Soviet Union and Warsaw lay in ruins. Only Cracow was left and until this very day this city remains dear to every Polish heart.

...wonderful! Looks abit like a romantic painting! :)

The fact that Krakow was not destroyed is not due to the Germans but to the Russians. The same goes for Katowice. Bobko will be happy.

It is a myth with those Soviets who allegedly saved Krakow from destruction. Germans hadn`t planned it coz as I said, they believed Krakow was originally a German city. Check your sources and drop this Soviet propaganda.

The Germans were not in the habit of giving up cities without a fight. It was in the cities that the russians had the greatest losses. Think of Wrocław or Kołobrzeg.

Na ja...we did it with Paris too.....

It seems cities we liked we left standing....(says alot about Berlin, doesn't it:)

Krakow was an exception. Germans didn`t intend to defend it or blow up in revenge.
That was the effect of the magic stone which is hidden in the Wawel Hill. Thanks to its magical aura, Krakow is fully protected and will never be destroyed.

That is why when Russians attack Poland, I will get my family back to Krakow and myself go to the war.

Bratwurst Boy ....please don't say " we". You had nothing to do with it.

Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament here in the UK were also left standing. I don't think they have a magic stone, just that they were wanted for later. Like Krakow. Amazing accuracy really.

Hmmm....I remember these old lectures as I was new to PF....was it Bibzi? Sokrates? Who told me how dumb and unwise and unfair to all our victims it is to make that distinction...as if the Nazis of old had nothing to do with us Germans!

I accepted that....it's one people, with all the good, the bad and the ugly!

Well I don't know....but " we" does sound a bit ...silly tbh.
Did the normal German people really have any choice at that time?

What I like about you BB is you can discuss stuff like this without hurling insults.

Happy Christmas to our German cousins! I remember Christmas in Germany as a child very fondly.

Thank you...and happy holidays to you right back! :)

For the insults....at one time you have heard and said them all, then it gets just repetitive and boring...so you let it be.:)

Guarding the border: 1985



Two border guards at work. Notice that the eagle on the border post and the eagles on the guards' caps are crownless. This is because those were peasant-worker eagles unlike today's bourgeois-monarchist eagles sporting golden crowns. ;)

Mermaid on a beach: 1964



This enchanting Syrena (Mermaid) 103 was a 100% Polish construction (no licence bought in the "rotten West" aided the design and production of this car). Over 500,000 Syrenas in various versions (sedan, cabrio, truck, mini-van) were manufactured in years 1957-1983.

"Peasant worker eagles" - hehehehe!

However, this eagle was also looking west.

Yes. The ones living in Eastern Germany made quite a conscious choice - loads of them voted for Hitler in 1933. Breslau, e.g, - 43.5% support for NSDAP.

OK fair enough...
But still "we" sounds a bit silly.
I would never say it about something the UK.government did. I wasn't there and I wasn't in government....and saying "we" sounds like you are allying yourself with whatever crappie thing they did. Like a football team or something.