GefreiterKania
1 Sep 2024
History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]
My dad always said that economically it was always going to fall. And the lack of unemployment meant that work ethics suffered somewhat (to put it mildly).
I remember an incident vaguely but it is a good example of this lack of work ethics. We went to Bulgaria for our summer holidays... 1988, not long before the fall of the eastern bloc. When we were crossing the Soviet border my Dad talked to a Soviet customs officer and they joked, laughed and seemed to like each other. On our way back, it was quite late, we waited in the car queue and my Dad noticed that it was Grischa - the same celnik - on duty again, so he grabbed a big bottle of Slanchev Bryag brandy (it was all the rage back then) and he went to drink with his buddy. Upon entering the room he noticed that Grischa was alone there and wanted to just leave him the bottle, but Grischa said "don't worry about it, they'll wait", stopped working (it meant all the cars had to wait) and drank with my Dad for about half-an-hour... maybe 45 minutes. My Dad came back to the car (walking in not exactly a straight line) laughing, thinking it was the funniest thing in the world. My Mum wasn't as amused (also because she had to drive). Imagine if such thing happened in Poland today - the guy would be fired on the spot and if the newspapers found out it would be a huge scandal. As much as I can remember it was similar in many workplaces - people having a drink now and then and generally giving much less f*ck about everything. Untenable in the long run.
It was hardly Confederate States of America and Poland being the blacks was it? Sometimes people throw the word "slaves" and "enslavement" far too easily. It was definitely not enslavement for ordinary people, especially compared to the Nazi occupation.
Was the system headed towards a dead end?
My dad always said that economically it was always going to fall. And the lack of unemployment meant that work ethics suffered somewhat (to put it mildly).
I remember an incident vaguely but it is a good example of this lack of work ethics. We went to Bulgaria for our summer holidays... 1988, not long before the fall of the eastern bloc. When we were crossing the Soviet border my Dad talked to a Soviet customs officer and they joked, laughed and seemed to like each other. On our way back, it was quite late, we waited in the car queue and my Dad noticed that it was Grischa - the same celnik - on duty again, so he grabbed a big bottle of Slanchev Bryag brandy (it was all the rage back then) and he went to drink with his buddy. Upon entering the room he noticed that Grischa was alone there and wanted to just leave him the bottle, but Grischa said "don't worry about it, they'll wait", stopped working (it meant all the cars had to wait) and drank with my Dad for about half-an-hour... maybe 45 minutes. My Dad came back to the car (walking in not exactly a straight line) laughing, thinking it was the funniest thing in the world. My Mum wasn't as amused (also because she had to drive). Imagine if such thing happened in Poland today - the guy would be fired on the spot and if the newspapers found out it would be a huge scandal. As much as I can remember it was similar in many workplaces - people having a drink now and then and generally giving much less f*ck about everything. Untenable in the long run.
it enslaved others :(
It was hardly Confederate States of America and Poland being the blacks was it? Sometimes people throw the word "slaves" and "enslavement" far too easily. It was definitely not enslavement for ordinary people, especially compared to the Nazi occupation.
