The BEST Guide to POLAND
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Posts by Tacitus  

Joined: 6 Jul 2017 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - Q
Last Post: 18 Nov 2024
Threads: Total: 2 / Live: 1 / Archived: 1
Posts: Total: 1248 / Live: 791 / Archived: 457

Displayed posts: 792 / page 11 of 27
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Tacitus   
9 Mar 2021
Love / She's muslim and I am christian, will it ever work? Has anyone had similar experiences [63]

I had a muslim gf for two years and while it did not work out, that was due to reasons unrelated to our religions. What you habe to make sure is to set the expectations accordingly. If you are religious and have no intention to convert, make sure to tell her that and also make it clear that you dont want to be bothered by her family about this. Make sure that you don't have any secret resentments. Are you fine with not marrying in a church, or is this something you deeply regret? Because that is something that might come up later during an argument.

As for your "friends", I wouldnt worry too much about them especially if they have never met her.
Tacitus   
18 Feb 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

Possibly some extensive economic cooperation with Eastern European countries?

Don't we have that already? Poland just became Germany's 5th biggest trading partner, and in return Germany has become the biggest trading partner of all the East European countries.
Tacitus   
18 Feb 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

From pretty much any historical book about Stalingrad.

Wikipedia gives the following numbers.

Battle of Stalingrad, 91,000 of the survivors became prisoners of war[...] only approximately 6,000 of them lived to be repatriated after the war.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_prisoners_of_war_in_the_Soviet_Union

According to this, 94,5% of German PoWs who were captured in Stalingrad died in captivity.
Tacitus   
18 Feb 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

It is estimated that around 96% of German war prisoners were able to return back home from USSR.

That is a good joke. Roughly 95% of the German prisoners taken in Stalingrad died, and from the approx. 3.3m German prisoners taken overall, only 2.2. returned. Now this is partly because many of them were already in bad condition, and the Soviets were starving themselves, thus making it understandable why so many died, but let us not make the Soviets better than they really were.
Tacitus   
19 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

Kohl seemed to have an abundance of charisma, as did Brandt

You are right with Brandt, in his case it helps that he belonged to the resistance against the Nazi, that eased possible suspiscions against him. Kohl however was rather dull in public appearances. The press made often fun of his borish behaviour, comparing him unfavourably to his predecessor Schmidt, who knew how to present himself as a true intellectual. Kohl was however very charming in personal meetings and managed to woo pretty much every foreign politician he met, which came in handy 1989/90.

The point is, being charismatic is not necessary for becoming chancellor in Germany. Germans do appreciate charisma in foreign leaders, otherwise JFK and Obama would not have been as popular as they are/were.
Tacitus   
19 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

Charisma is something most Germans do not value in their leaders any more for certain reasons.

What matters is that he is the prime minster of Germany's largest state which he has so far guided reasonably succesful through the pandemic.

EU federalist, which is terrible in any case

The dream of a fully united Europe is one we all share, don't we? It is the best way to ensure peace and prosperity for Europe for the future. But to my knowledge he has not really said much about his foreign policy ideas.
Tacitus   
19 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

Quite the contrary, he has done a lot for the integration of the Turkish community in the NRW.

He has the making of a decent chancellor, though he will have giant shoes to fill.
Tacitus   
18 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

whereas Germans are sad to see them go, both of them, as that weakens them.

Indeed, something that is often lost in the debate is how closely London and Berlin usually worked together on European policies, especially those that concerned the economy. The British free market approach is much more comfortable to the German mind-set than the French "Big state companies are the best" viewpoint.
Tacitus   
17 Jan 2021
History / Will Poland rebuild classical buildings? [24]

To much beauty and history was destroyed during the wars.

Indeed. Whenever I visit Dresden, I can't help but feel a tinge of sadness, because no matter how good it looks now, it will never be as it once was.

Still I appreciate any effort to rebuild historical, particulary if they can become a tourist destination. I've read that the the building in Potsfam that became museum has become a tourist magnet.
Tacitus   
17 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

without asking other EU countries for their permission or even for their opinion

The article you linked states the opposite. The other EU leaders were not asked once, but twice, but none of them tried to stop the deal for which the EU comission had a legal mandate.

Which is good, since the deal will be invaluable for the economic recovery after the pandemic.
Tacitus   
16 Jan 2021
UK, Ireland / Advice about UK life insurance options [27]

decides that by default you body belongs to them and hope people don't notice.

I mean if you can't be bothered to invest 5 minutes in order to assure that your organs rot in the ground, you are clearly not very attached to them.

open to potential abuse

Which is there are nunerous safeguards against this in any modern country.
Tacitus   
15 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

Rather strange to see the Polish political Center and Left be compared to the Soviets when his PiS behaviour is so much closer to it (just switch their doctrine from religion to Communism).
Tacitus   
15 Jan 2021
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [957]

What a nutter.

Indeed. I suppose it is senseless to continue a rational discussion on this subject with someone who is so far removed from reality.

I mean let us not kid around. A purely conventional war - unrealistic as it is - would have likely killed millions of people and ended with the SU ruling all of Europe.
Tacitus   
15 Jan 2021
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [957]

how? Tell me how it influenced me or my parents.

I already did. The detente lessened the risk of war, and made it more difficult for the SU justify their opression. Obviously Poland some did benefit more from it than others - the East Germans the most since they were in a unique position - but overall it paid off quite. Again, no miracles, but infinitely more than the previous approach. Small steps were the best way to try and change Eastern Europe for better, once it became clear after 1968 that revolutions were not realistic for now.

Regan pushing Soviets bankrupted them

Reagan was smart enough to not simply go for a confrontational route, he instead offered to negotiate at every turn for which he could rely on the trust the West had gained with Eastern officials during detente. Many negotiators who were involved in the negotiations after the wall fell had gained much experience during the negotiations for the Helsinki Accords.

some ideologically biased kid!

I am not the one who lets his bias shown by disregarding the facts. I pointed to concrete results the detente delivered which you simply choose to ignore.
Tacitus   
14 Jan 2021
History / What have the Germans hidden in Poland? [28]

they seem to treat it okay at least..

Yeah now, but the treatment of it was rather appalling for the first few decades. The first time German experts were permitted to see them, quite a lot of documents had already rotten away.

At least now they are treated decently until their return to Germany in the future.
Tacitus   
14 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

certain procedures to be fulfilled to make it legal and binding.

Such as?

In the 60' PRL gov let west Germany gov know about it

I'd like a source on that.
Tacitus   
14 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

was just a Soviet colony and that Kremlin asked that dude to write that agreement.

Like I said, that doesn't matter as long as the government in question was the internationally recognized government.
Tacitus   
14 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

1953 is disputable and 1990 doesn't apply to it at all.

1953 is not legally disputable. It does not matter that Poland was not a democracy at this time, treaties and declarations between dictatorships are just as legally binding. It is called international law, not law between democracies.

And of course the 2+4 treaty and the border treaty and the good neighbourhood treaty all apply since they designed to solve all outstanding issues from WWII, with the 2+4 treaty serving as a peace treaty. The only reason why the latter two were even necessary was because the signatory powers that a reunited Germany needed to reassure Polish fears and give a further guarantee on the border. This would also have been the final opportunity for Warsaw to raise the issue of reparations. Since they didn't, it was considered a closed case and thus the 2+4 treaty concluded it.

As I have pointed out a few times before, Poland's insistence on the border guarantee actually closed all options for them to later raise the issue of reparations again. Because the 2+4 treaty has one possible weakness. It only included the 4 victorious powers, not the other countries that suffered from the Nazis. Thus the other countries could technically argue that they were not sufficiently consulted and their interests not properly respected. A weak objection, but one that could possibly be made. However Poland could not do the same, since Polish objections and wishes were indeed listened to, to the satisfaction of Warsaw which Berlin could easily prove with records and the treaties.

To summarize, the case of reparations has been legally settlef and there is no way Warsaw could legally challenge it. Hence they don't use the legal way, but use it as a moral argument.

A long time ambition of Germany

Let us be real here, that is a totally unrealistic and even somewhat anachronistic goal. Even now it is already somewhat ridiculous, that countries like the UK and France sit on this table, despite only habing a fraction of e.g. China's or the USA's population. Given the predictions in terms of economic and population growth, this disparity will only become larger with time. No doubt India will one day become a member, probably at the expense of the UK. And the French seat might hopefully become a seat for the EU, once we have a truly common security and foreign policy.

being constantly reminded

The current PiS is most likely the last one to raise this issue, simply because time is not on their side. There are still people alive from WWII, and Poland has only been part of the EU for less than a generation, not enough time to profoundly change the outlook of all its' people. This will change however inevitably. PiS will not gove up on this issue (not pressing it either of course) since it would mean losing face as long as they are in government. Once they are voted out - whenever this will happen - the new, probably PO-led government won't raise issue again, and neither will a successor government led by PiS under a new party leadership. Because by then it will have become a truly ridiculous endeavour.
Tacitus   
14 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

The London Agreement

I was thinking about the treaty between Poland and the GDR but that one is important too.
Tacitus   
14 Jan 2021
News / New "Polish memorial" in Berlin [316]

There's no possibility of that ever happening

Indeed. The case has been long legally settled. First 1953 and then conclusively 1990/91.

PiS knows that which is why they only use this to get domestic support.
Tacitus   
13 Jan 2021
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [957]

What about tens of millions that had nothing out of it

Like I said, the Hellsinki Accords, the Four Power Agreement and the Basic treaty affected millions of people, the former had influenxe everybody who lived in the Eastern Bloc.

If you are blind to understand that detente achieved something, while confrontation did not, than that is on you.
Tacitus   
13 Jan 2021
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [957]

@Ironside

It made no difference at all for all there rest of the people

I am sure the thousands of people who got their freedom thanks those efforts appreciated it, however as I pointes out the Four Power Agreement, the Basic treaty and the Helsinki Accords affected the lifes of many more for better. Meanwhile the confrontational strategy of the previous decades yielded no results at all.
Tacitus   
12 Jan 2021
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [957]

Stasi that suggested that it was also consistent with them moving from physical abuse towards psychological abuse too around that time.

Oh most certainly, but they at least significantly toned down their attempts of kidnapping escaped East Germans from West Germany, and it also prevented them from too openly supporting the terrorist group RAF, fearing the bad publicity. The aim of the GDR for its' entire existence was to be recodnized as a second German state on the same footing as the FRG ( which hilariously the SU constantly undermined because they made it implicitely clear that they considered Bonn's agreement to the Oder-Neisse-border to be more important than East-Berlins). The Basic was seen as the first step, and in order to make further headway (and later for economic aid) the GDR made at least some concessions from time to time. Which again was not revolutionary, but infinitely more than what the politics of confrontation the previous decades had achieved.

Gorlitz/Zgorzelec

Indeed, the pandemie is in general very tough on those living in border areas.
Tacitus   
12 Jan 2021
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [957]

I've always thought that East Germany should be looked at as two different eras

There is some merit to that thought. The system of course did not fundamentally change, but the GDR was now more concerned about their image and toned down some of their worst behaviour or at least tried to hide it. The Helsinki Accord for example discredited the death penalty, and as a result the GDR almost completely stopped executions before it banned it outright in 1987.
Tacitus   
12 Jan 2021
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [957]

No you couldn't!

Of course we did.

It was agreed upon during the negotiations for the treaty of Warsaw that some ethnic Germans who still lived in Poland were allowed to leave for the West, while conditions for those remained in Poland improved. The same happened in negotiations with the SU. The GDR stopped executing people to make a better impression on West German society for their quest for recognition, and later negotiated on channels that were established for the Basic treaty of 1972 a release of dissidents (basically selling them for money). This detente paved the way for the Four Power Agreement on Berlin, that made the life easier for those living in the divided city, and the Helsinki accords that decreased tensions in Europe and forced the SU to accept certain human rights for the first time.

Those were all remarkeable achievements that happened within a few years, compared to nothing in the preceeding 20 years or so.