Life in communist Poland - personal relations

Yes, guys, I meant Szarik the Alsatian which means Small Ball in Russian, the dog that the Polish tank crew keeps and extensively exploits to defeat Nazi Germans. If Hitler had known that Szarik would fight against his armies, he wouldn`t` have attacked Poland.

There were three Szariks who played the role, one of them is displayed in a permanent exhibition.

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szarik

Reksio, a character from a cartoon. A good natured dog who is very helpful and caring.

And Cywil, the dog exploited in the communist police unit to catch criminals and track down lost kids.

I watched all of them, Szarik and Reksio were very good entertainment for young viewers. However, I didn`t like that Cywil police dog somehow - I don`t know why. Too realistic??

Jon, you mentioned Laika which travelled into space, but when I said communism, I meant only Polish one.

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I see it is too difficult. Iron tried to crack a joke about the police dog but I asked who, not what. :):)

Let me offer a hint by narrowing the question down: who was the most popular captain in communist police??

Dude, you mean Sowa. It wasn't for me, I was too young or just not interested. You forgot about Borewicz. lol!

No, I don`t. That was in mid 1960s, I was also too young then. Think of later "heroes." :)


No, I didn`t. Order must be - let`s avoid mess. Nie pchać się

So not Sowa - Owl, but captain Wildcat! I tried to collect all episodes but it was difficult coz due to shortages in paper and printing paint production comic books were deficit goods.

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????Some obscure BS never heard about it or if I had i forgot about it like in three seconds.
What was good it was Kajko i Kokosz.

Oops. You probably had no time or interest for comic books. I was obsessed with them - they helped me forget the depressing communist atmosphere.

Well, I was keeping him for later use as the most popular lieutenant in communist police - from a 1980s TV series which is still watched today. That role was a clever trick by communist propagandists to warm up the image of a communist policeman - Borewicz smokes Western cigs, wears a pseudo US military jacket, seduces at least one woman in each episode, can fight, sing, dance etc. Viewers knew it was propaganda but they still liked the series very much.

I didn`t like him - he is too cheeky, too self-confident, too brazen and arrogant - I have never liked such disgusting types. :):)

See him in action:

youtu.be/bFraRUj3Sgg

What was the most popular ape in communist times? :):)

Tytus i believe!. I only had two or so comics of tytus romek i atomek when i was growing up in nigeria but i later read some were social commentaries or satire at communist regime.

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Yes,. Tytus, a human- chimp hybrid who tries hard to become a a fully fledged human. He usually fails in tasks requiring specific knowledge but is always victorious in situations which involve human decency, compassion, friendship.


I had more but not all coz they were immediately sold out.


You mean those comic books created after the collapse of communism. While the books made in communist times sell hidden propaganda which is often anti-Western.

Also, when I looked at the subjects mentioned in each episode, the cartoonist tried to refer to current events which happened at the time. E.g., in 1969 he released a book about Tytus in the army - I believe his goal was to warm up the image of the Polish Army which had taken part in the invasion of the Czechoslovakia a year earlier.

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Pawian have you seen "kierunek murzynski most". Today unthinkable.

hahaha Yes, amazing. I always liked that volume about Tytus in the army, although I detected hidden communist propaganda in it. :):)

I stand corrected. I thought the author was doing some subtle satire or whatnot in his books but turns out he was another bootlicker for the regime

Fortunately, that bootlicking wasn`t so frequent. The main message of those comic books was entertainment combined with important issues, e.g, environment protection.

Today I had a replacement class with fresh students and first I asked them various questions and then it was their turn to ask me. So, one brave boy ventured with: When did you first drink alcohol? hahaha very funny. I replied that at 11. They got very excited and started looking at each other and laughing until I explained it was New Year`s Eve and we were at a party and I reached for and drank a big glass of sparkling wine without my parent`s consent coz I wanted to try adult stuff. .

Alcohol was cheap and easily available in communist times - when I watch old TV series today, I am amazed at those bottles of vodka standing proudly on tables at various family occassions - adults drank a lot and kids watched and learnt.

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Are you sure he wasn't Finnish (Finns have a very.... weird relationship with alcohol, it serves a similar role to sexual innuendo for Americans or Poles....).

No, he wasn`t. He comes from a decent family where alcohol is a rare occurence, sort of social taboo, so he thought it was an exciting topic to talk about with an open-minded and outgoing teacher. :):)

BTW, I have also been very careful with alcohol in my home - never was a bottle or can openly displayed on the table. When my relatives came for reunions during holidays and I drank with my uncle or brother in law, I performed various tricks to keep it secret - we did it in my room and I immediately hid the glasses in the drawer after each shot in case a kid suddenly entered the room.

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I liked riding on those trams which were designed in early 1970s. Due to abundant glazing, they were called fish tanks. Being tall, I had no problem with hitting the ceiling with my head, also didn`t have to duck to see the views outside, like it constantly happened on older types of trams. I see those trams are still used today though in small quantities.

Hats off to engineers who designed them!

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Yeah,in Warsaw and some other towns still but I hate the rattling noise they make and are not comfi for the seniors I suppose.

The Konstal 105N was produced from 1973 to 1992, surprisingly enough. Great Tram. Still plentifull, after modernizations.

You can be right but I never paid attention to such trifles - I just enjoyed the views. :):):) But, yes, an elderly person has difficulty climbing up those stairs to enter the tram. Also the disabled or people with prams.


Yes, that was one of the problems of communism. An initially good design was produced for decades despite getting obsolete with time. The same with some cars, FIATs were also manufactured for dozens of years coz there was no money to buy a new license from abroad or develop their own car.

I actually love it! It has a lot of character. I miss the old trams. I'm glad that when I first came to Poland I was just in time to see the last of a lot of things that had been part of everyday life under the old regime. It's great to see the prosperity and improvements now but whenever we gain something, we lose something too. Who remembers the old buses? The design looked as if it dated from the 1950s, possibly earlier. By the 2000s they were rusting badly, leaking, if you sat near the window on a rainy day you got rained on even when the window was closed! Huge pools of water everywhere, absolutely freezing in winter.

Do you mean Ikarus buses from Hungary or Jelcz-Berliet from Poland. Jelcz was more sophisticated.

I remember in the early 90s there were still a few _really_ old style streetcars around with wooden slats on the floor (presumably to clean mud/snow/whatever from people's feet)

Here's a view (I don't remember the seats being made of wood but you see the slats on the floor)

wykop.pl/cdn/c3201142/comment_vUgpKoW3OqSIsjTxm5mi6MNgcv9MOcHT,w400.jpg

That tram carriage wasn`t Polish production. It must be German coz Polish cities have acquired a lot of second hand German trams.


Neither. Atch means Jelcz buses called cucumbers.

I thought those stopped being used in the 1980s or so... I'm pretty sure I've never been on one (and weren't they more for PKS than for use within cities?)

I assumed she was talking about the old accordion buses (wiki calls them 'articulated' and 'przegubowy' ) I remember the rubber at the joints sometimes seemed to crack and leak...


Quite probable, they were buying second hand rolling stock well into the 1990s (or early 2000s?) the worst were Dutch which were awful in summer (originally intended to be air-conditioned it was usually/always turned off).

The production stopped in 1986, so they were used longer than that.


You are close but there were different versions, two or three of them were redesigned for urban transport.

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No, some of them were quite small. More like the one below. Pawian is right, that's Jelcz.

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Which wasn`t a pure Polish design, coz it was Czechoslovakian license. And again produced for decades. Eh, communism.