UK, Ireland / Why are Polish people, especially women, so disrespectful toward the English? [442]

Bad things happen in peacetime too, buddy! My point being that what occurred during the lean Black Market years throughout much of Eastern Europe was nothing to be proud of, it cannot, indeed should not, be whitewashed either!

The US troops were on the whole a valiant bunch, yet as with the Jews who wound up in concentration camp and later turned kapo, there will always be plenty of rotten apples in the bunch to go around.

UK, Ireland / Why are Polish people, especially women, so disrespectful toward the English? [442]

I know Poles for years, directly from Poland, right here in the US! A Pole conversely can comment on what's going on the the UK based upon

relevant conversations with Poles as well as Brits who presently live there, even if a person hasn't physically been back to the country in many years.

One has relations, e-mails, phone conversations, newspapers etc..

Concerning my remarks about women having to prostitute themselves in those places I mentioned, one also must face such facts however unpleasant!
Think it's easy for me to fess up to the abuses among scores of US servicemen in Germany after the war who gang raped German women??

Yet it happened, and I as an American (forget about as a Jew) simply must accept it, difficult, indeed shameful, as it may well be to shed the image of G.I.'s as some sort of conquering heroes.

UK, Ireland / Why are Polish people, especially women, so disrespectful toward the English? [442]

I know from the first-hand knowledge and experiences of those whom I spoke with about such things! Sure, people aren't going to come up to you and say, "Yo, I was a slut for the KGB!" or something of this nature, but it was known to have occurred.

Because something is unpleasant doesn't mean it should be put on someone else's lap, dolno.

UK, Ireland / Why are Polish people, especially women, so disrespectful toward the English? [442]

One, even several select personal experiences such as yours, dolno, scarcely qualify to exclude the general masses of people who suffered greatly under the Black Market years!

UK, Ireland / Why are Polish people, especially women, so disrespectful toward the English? [442]

Poles, Czechs, Romanians, and particularly the Russians themselves, suffered dreadfully under Communism, forcing women in particular to "grow up", shall we say, faster than in most other countries, not to mention those outside of the former Eastern Block!

Young women, even teens, among the above three nationalities were often forced to sell themselves into prostitution merely to stay alive, selling their bodies in exchange for food as well as basic supplies. It was a tough grind in those years and so, although guaranteed work and a place to live, life was horrible under Stalin's post-War minions. The latter undoubtedly left its imprint on the peoples personalities, especially the female population, made to appear cockier, older, and infinitely more self-assured than most men.

Hungary's "Goulash Communism" was more Western, therefore not really comparable with Poland, erstwhile Czechoslovakia, Romania or the one-time Soviet Union.

Travel / Why do you visit Poland? [223]

Zakopane's considered a must see, but can be a wee bit pricey, I'd wager:-)
Although I've never been, I've been told it is well worth a visit!

Real Estate / Where to look on the internet for Poland Real Estate [114]

Similar expression in Dutch "onroerend goed", lit. "non-movable goods".
Just an aside, not directly related to topic thread:-)

Life / Things that annoy you in Poland. [133]

Poland and the Poles surely have been through the ringer as few other European nationalites, that's for certain! Even the Italians can fall back on the Renaissance if ever the "M****" is hurled at the them. The Germans are able to summon forth centuries of supreme, indeed often superior, achievement in nearly every facet of human accomplishment as soon as the word "Nazi" invariably comes up.. The Russians boast the largest single land mass on earth, unusually rich in natural resources...

Poland has had to fight in order to be taken seriously, and I dare say, still is.

Genealogy / Displaced Persons Camp / Work camp and concentration camp difference [86]

In order to qualify for citizenship today in the Federal Republic, official (written) proof must be furnished that BOTH parents were/are German nationals.
Several years ago, I asked a young man whose parents were from Spain, but who was born in Frankfurt (and who spoke only German, no Spanish!), whether he had to apply for German citizenship or whether it was granted automatically as it would be, for instance, here in the States. He replied that technically, he was not a German citizen because his mother and father were guest workers in Germany and therefore never became German citizens; he was still considered a Spanish national!

Perhaps not applicable in Bugaj'daughter's case owing to questions of statehood vs. statelessness, but it might be worth looking into.

Genealogy / Displaced Persons Camp / Work camp and concentration camp difference [86]

I know an older Jewish woman, easily in her late sixties, early-seventies by this time, who was born in Celle, Germany not far from Lueneburg in the North and grew up until the age of five or so in a Displaced Persons Camp (Sammellager fuer Fluechtlinge). She then came to the States, speaks no German whatsoever, and talks like a native New Yorker.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

While we're mentioning patriotic song, you forgot the most iconic battle "hymn" of the Jewish Resistance throughout Poland: 'Zog nit keynmol dos du gehst de letzte weg' (Never say that this road ends for you)!

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

How, Joker?? By speaking mostly only in Arabic rather than learning German, lazier still, expecting that they can communicate with locals in their broken English?!

Come on, the Syrian migrants are surely not all "bad" people, they are becoming a drain though socially on German society, I don't care one hoot what Ms. Merkel says.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

We see the latter every day as part of our embarrassing national statistic...if you bother to read the Times:-)
Most news journals don't even bother to print the truth any longer for fear of being labled "fake news" by our
Idiot-in-Chief!

The Reagan Era scarcely "killed people off" in the manner of Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot or certain others of that ilk. As I said, the Anglo-Saxon way

is the more sinister, because the more sereptitious. Unlike the former three, it promises freedom: the freedom to starve on your own time, to go

hungry at will, to die off due to the distinterest of our government which won the Cold War, but lost the social peace. No more Cold War, no more need

to keep our people happy, since nobody's about to defect to Russia as in former times pre-'89.

The Cold War's over, is that great?

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

This is the sad reality, true.

However, had the underpinnings of Christianity been as firmly in place as they should have, it would not have been necessary to desire
the eventual extermination of said Jews, despite the failures of many to assimilate!

And herein lies the crucial difference between the US and much of Europe; in the United States, we may not shoot you at sunrise and pile innumerable corpses one atop the other, tossing them into incinerators. We simply harrass people to death, depriving the deserving of medical attention etc.. Death by attrition rather than by firing squad. Neither a terribly nice option, and one which CAN be avoided.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Jews however, in particular German-speaking Jews, DID in point of fact desire a European homeland, above all, Germany!
One has only to read the rapturous peons to Germany written by the likes of the convert Heinrich Heine, not to mention, Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck,

leader of Germany's Jewish community before WWII:-)

They all desired nothing better than assimilation into the German culture. Hitler had different ideas.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Thank you, Dirk!

We're finally back on the same home page. The only difference between nowadays vs. "the old days" is that today people hint at it more than back in former times.

Sixty or more years ago, it was commonly understood that the family priest/rabbi, the local minister to a loyal, contributing congregant of many years, a politician etc. was nearly always THE intermediary who brokered jobs for those who paid into the system.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Some solid connections sure won't hurt either:-)
Remember, it's not always what, but WHOM, you know!

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

We may not all be equal as people; we are ALL equal as human beings.
This is written in the Bible...if you people have ever bothered to read and understand it!

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Obviously nobody's perfect, "to err is human, to forgive divine" etc. ad infinitum...
Problem is that these days, folks don't even try, certainly not to the degree we once did, say fifty-odd years ago and before.
Mankind's lost the way, and BADLY!

Ought to have known we were heading for a social Armageddon when around the early '90's I remember reading a longish op-ed piece
in the NYT entitled "Sometimes, even G-d needs a vacation", wherein the pastor, the author of the article, remarked he was actually trying to
use whatever legal tactics he and his staff possibly could to discourage "problem parishioners" from bothering the church office on the
minister's "day off".

Hmmm, "minister's day off"?? Last time I consulted the Good Book, a clergyman's duty, bound by their calling, was to be there for whomever required

the requisite soul tending, a soldier in vestments, fighting the good fight against evil of a suffering humanity.

Recently, my spirit still stuck in more halcyon days, I attended the informal memorial of an elderly colleague who'd passed on and we were all gathered

in the Dean's office. I arrived a few minutes after people started gathering, saying, "I wish to extend my condolences on Dr. Luehrmann's untimely passing!", upon which

the priest in his robes seated near to me, looking rather dispeptic, blurts out "GLAD THE OLD FART'S DEAD!", to chuckles and quortles inside the anteroom.

Isn't that lovely.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

As far as having a good life, how in G-d's name can one truly enjoy such a life if it's built solely, or mostly, on the unhappiness/suffering of others?

The answer is one can't.

Never too late to repent for one's sins ON EARTH!

Love / How do guys from Poland flirt? [47]

Off (or perhaps on) topic, kelebeg. Are you perchance Hungarian by birth?

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Now there's a rationalization for indifference on the part of the West if I've ever heard one! Can't you do better than that, Dirk?

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Can you really believe any human group would masochistically prefer the nightmare of eternal isolation to the ideal of harmony and peaceful cohabitation?
Y'all must be either cracked or some type of political provocateurs!

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

I merely wish to set the record straight once and for all. Those who were victims came by that regrettable status honestly. Look up the meaning of the word and I trust you'll see what I mean.

The Jews didn't all wish to exclude themselves and live in hermetically sealed isolation. The Christians wanted that and set up laws that it be so.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

I see you're switching stuff around, making it seem as though the aggressor were in truth the victim instead of the victim as victim.

Were someone to get attacked who is able to defend themselves valiantly, bully for them. However, as I've often reiterated, one size doesn't fit all and why should the healthy six-footer with broad shoulders and a pair of biceps as big as ham hocks necessarily be deemed both "less" of a victim than another person 5ft. 4in. with a weak constitution and who doesn't pump iron every day, not to mention more worthy of being defended by virtue of his size and strength?

Most Jews were indeed more than wanting in physical exercise, having a poor diet and almost complete unfamiliarity with the daily use of firearms, not to mention skilled armed conflict, above all in the shtettl.

The latter scarcely chose their role as victims vs. the former more self-sufficient group.

All I get from many on this Forum is the perennial "empathy fatigue" and please bear in mind that once the conscience goes, so too the soul and humanity has traded her specialness, distinct from the animal kingdom, in exchange for a ring side seat before the Gates of Hell.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Be careful please, with that "Jews had a monopoly on victimhood?" stuff, Dirk, you're playing with fire and might get burned.
Such dodgy rhetoric makes it sound as if the Jews actually "planned" their status as Nazi pawns.

Believe me, if we could've done things differently over the millenia, we'd have done it!

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

Polish people don't necessarily"stare" at strangers any more or less than other relatively homogeneous societies, in which outsiders who appear "different" are often the subject of closer inspection! I'd go as far as to say that Poles may be the more discrete in that sense, compared with say, the small-town Germans whom I initially encountered.

Being tall, but at the time dark, curly-haired, brown-eyed and non-Nordic-looking, I received plenty more stares in Scandinavia than I ever did during my all too brief respite in Poland roughly a few years later:-) When I started to speak in the respective languages much less, that was it, it was too much for them up north to handleLOL

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Well, Morawiecki apparently has relaxed the restrictions of this new law....somewhat!

News / Poland supporting potential new EU members - Georgia and Turkey [32]

Turkey especially is today a political force to be reckoned with!

Erdogan wants to reject Ataturk's vision of a modern nation and return to the time of sultans and caliphates.
This Turkey is clearly not ready for the EU, NOT the erstwhile democratic bridge presided over by enlightened, Western-
thinking politicians, for instance Tansu Cillar.

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

"But generally speaking, the German populace retained their Catholic/Protestant identity."

On the surface so it seems. However, ask an Austrian historian about his or her countrymen's religious affiliations, and they'll probably reply neither "katholisch" (Catholic) nor

"protestantisch" (Protestant), but rather "Nationalkatholizistisch" aka "National Socialist Catholic":-)

Nominally, nearly all Germans were/are Christian, of course, the Jewish population being even back then a decided minority within the German-speaking world.
Plessner's point though is that one of any number of reasons why Hitler was able to sell the Germans (including Austrians) on his exterminationist ideology with such

apparent ease, was that there was little firm Christian underpinning in their society. Therefore, they were quickly sold, most of them, on the notion that the bigger, tougher, stronger, healthier, more mentally agile, were simply better than those less fortunate a la Darwin!

The concept of divine spirit, brotherly love, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount "And the meek shall inherit the earth" and so forth, remained essentially foreign to the historical German character, and hence utterly laughable to the arch-cynical Nazis.