History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [943]


Well, we live in a changing world. Perhaps to a larger extent than we suspect at the moment.

Law / Taxes and money, need some clarifications... [8]


Do you mean Belka's tax? That's 19% off the profits from the investment, not the entire sum. Unless somebody purchased funds/stocks before Belka tax was introduced (2002) and kept them longterm, then they are exempt from the tax.

News / Army of Poland and other kin Slavic countries [39]


By the time we reached Bulgaria I only had a couple of them left. Most stayed in Ukraine and Romania. :)


Those were quite popular in Poland too, and as far as I remember cost quite a lot; a prestige item!

News / Army of Poland and other kin Slavic countries [39]

Those Indians and Knights (especially) were quite nice!


... the best thing about uhlans was that they could be taken off the saddle and put back. That was the whole point of playing with uhlans - they were supposed to charge the enemy, get hit, and poetically fall off their saddles.

EDIT:

Wow! The Donetsk ones were class!

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Jaysus... 35 years... *sighs*

Are they treating you well there?

News / Army of Poland and other kin Slavic countries [39]


That's true. I remember that once, when our father took us for summer holidays in Bulgaria in 1989 (he drove us there in an old Fiat 125p), I took a huge plastic bag of those soldiers to give them away to "sojusznicy" on my way there (yes, I was a strange kid). And I did.

It warms my heart until this day to think that there were kids somewhere in Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria playing with Polish knights, uhlans and czerwone berety. :)

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


0_0


Legends :) When did you leave Poland, Alien?

News / Army of Poland and other kin Slavic countries [39]

@Bobko

Czerwone Berety! Legends!

Every boy wanted to be one when I was a kid :) And every boy collected little plastic Czerwone Berety...

... when we played war with friends one Czerwony Beret was always worth ten ordinary soldiers. Aaaaah... the memories. :)

And, of course, let's not forget Edek and Czesiek...

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Polish synth pop legends: 1984

Papa Dance were an interesting phenomenon on Polish music scene in the 80s. Some people considered them kings of kitsch, others were hardcore fans. I, being a man of simple taste and simple pleasures, belonged to the latter group.



All my childhood I thought they sang "Dwa dni, dwa dni na Tobie" at the beginning of the song. I was so disilussioned when I realised, much later in life, what the real lyrics were.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


Hmm... I suppose.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

@Bobko

Very interesting, thank you!

This is a bit strange though...


... four years for espionage, as a high rank officer, during war? The judge was rather lenient there, wasn't he?

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


I do. And rest assured, I'm not the only one.


What?

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

The Lion Has Landed: 2010

If there is one thing that Poles can appreciate, it is courage.

A huge cloud of volcanic dust covered the skies over Europe shortly before the funeral of president Lech Kaczyński, causing most scheduled flights all over the continent to be cancelled. Overwhelming majority of invited guests called off their visits but the Prime Minister of Morocco, the Most Honourable Abbas El Fassi, was having none of it. He ordered the pilot of a small Cessna 560 to take off from Rabat and fly at a low attitude, below the volcanic dust. He landed in Cracow, to the amazement of Balice Airport authorities and air traffic controllers, as the first foreign guest.

Nothing's forgotten, Moroccan Lion. Nothing's forgotten...

News / How strongly are Poles sure that president Duda defend Poland's interests ? [251]

Well, guys, if Duda wants to pardon Wąsik and Kamiński again, then apparently he himself doesn't think that his first pardon was valid.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Give 'em hell, boys!: 1920

Commander-in-chief, marshal Józef Piłsudski, watches his infantry units marching to the front of Polish-Bolshevik war to defend Poland's newly regained independence.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


But you see, for some people no matter how many proofs, documents, books, eye-witness testimonies etc. there are, they will still cling to their hatred; that's what they felt their whole life, that's what they built their identity on, so they're not going to abandon it just like that only because of some silly things like facts or truth.


...and yet, they keep hating him all the same. You know this old saying: "every good deed must be properly punished".

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Small pearl: 2023



Not only big agglomerations of Poland are worth visiting, there are also many pearls among smaller cities and towns. Sandomierz, a city of merely 21,500 people, hides many secrets and treasures...

polskapogodzinach.pl/sandomierz-atrakcje-turystyczne/

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


Frontline combat in a line unit was not necessarily a common experience, and he was decorated for his performance on the battlefield. Not exactly behaviour of a coward (which Grunni was suggesting).


Nor to me, but we can't expect all people to follow our beliefs. You can be a patriot of Poland and an atheist. Moreover, back then there were many people who believed in communism; it would be unwise to accuse all of them of bad will or insincerity.


What nonsense.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


That story doesn't hold water.

Jaruzelski was no coward. He fought on Eastern Front, weapon in hand - first line combat. Most people would sh*t themselves, break down and cry for their mums if they had to go through a quarter of what Jaruzelski was through.


There are people who didn't receive the gift of faith. They believe in neither God nor devil and they never will. The stories of devils and selling your soul are irrelevant to them; they want the good of their people and country here, on this earth.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

@Iron @Grunni

Yes, sure. Or maybe (just maybe) the guy was a Polish patriot and his gambit worked. There are credible sources and plenty of witnesses still alive to support this version.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Believe what you want, Iron, but think about this: if Jaruzelski was such a villain as you think, then why didn't he drown Solidarność in blood? He could easily have done that.

Why did he take the army out of their barracks, together with all their artillery, in December - they surely didn't fight Solidarność or Polish people; it would have been a massacre if that had been the plan.

That just doesn't make sense.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


Not at all. All of them officers, one of them even with PhD in maths (former Colonel, lecturer at WAT). I definitely wouldn't call them slow. :)

News / Army of Poland and other kin Slavic countries [39]


There are surprisingly few civilian casualties, considering the scale of the invasion and the intensity of fights. It was mentioned (with numbers and comparisons to other conflicts) many times in various threads.


Russians are not losing. Their economy is switched into war mode and they have larger population so in the long run, with waivering western support for Ukraine, it is very likely that they will win.


This is simply not true. You may not like Russians, you may wish them a humiliating defeat, but at least be fair.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


Of course. East Germans were, for some reason, very eager to intervene and among Czechs you could probably also find quite a few still bearing a grudge for 1968.

I too spoke to honourable people, who are all saying the same thing, and I have no reason not to believe them.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Well, Iron, there are well documented books and eye-witness testimonies to support what the General himself said and wrote about when he was still alive.

But hey, I suppose some people will just believe what they want to believe. Oh, well...

History / Can a nation totally change its characteristics and national character throughout history? [62]


Don't mind Pawian, Bobi. He's a disgusting genocide justifier.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


They still had enough strength, and our dear "allies" especially East Germans were more than eager to take part in the invasion.


60 thousand, compared to Polish half-a-million plus reservists. Also, the Russian troops in the barracks were "kindly asked" by nearby Polish units' commanders to stay there (and they did!). I know it from old army officers, who remember also very well what was happening in the Baltic Sea and along the borders in 1980-81.


Of course there were. Read the book, Iron. As I said, it's well researched and documented.

News / How strongly are Poles sure that president Duda defend Poland's interests ? [251]


I don't think escalating was the purpose.

The purpose was to show Duda that he is not above the law and to send him a warning in case he might want to try to block the budget (by sending it to the Constitutional Tribunal) and dissolve the Sejm. In such case there will certainly be an escalation.


How is he a traitor? He is simply a different political option than PiS (pro-European instead of pro-American).

News / How strongly are Poles sure that president Duda defend Poland's interests ? [251]

Convicted criminals should be arrested and imprisoned - there is no doubt about it, and it is not the president's role to keep them as "guests" in the presidential palace.

However...

... there is one thing that bothers me in all this story: we had so many scandals, so many politicians involved in corruption, shady "privatisation" deals, revealing classified information etc. etc. and none of them ended up in jail. Moreover, in overwhelming majority of cases there wasn't even any trial. And now, all of a sudden, two opposition MPs (who worked in the anti-corruption office) are hunted down and imprisoned like worst villains in the galaxy.

There is something suspicious about it...

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Jaruzelski's Gambit: 1981

In December 1981 "friendly" armies of Soviet Union, East Germany and Czechoslovakia stood at Polish borders ready to intervene and quench the Solidarity movement by drowning it in blood.

General Jaruzelski, before proclaiming the martial law, took out Polish army units out of their barracks to the training grounds all over Poland. They were supposed to practice and "get ready for certain actions". What actions? General Dachowski says plainly: "they went out of their barracks with all the artillery and rockets, so they certainly weren't preparing for restoring order inside cities".

Polish Army deployed in battle readiness in their training grounds was a deterrent to the "friendly" intervention. It made it harder. It made it potentially disastrous. Wojsko Polskie was preparing for the defense of their Fatherland.

Polish Army, about 500,000 strong with millions of reservists, was a force to be reckoned with. It was Jaruzelski's force de frappe. It was a game of sorts: Russians showed Jaruzelski their divisions and their strength, he showed them that he also has soldiers. That they might win but it certainly won't be easy. Eventually, the Soviets decided against the military intervention.

About all this, and more, you can read in the new book - Jaruzelski's Gambit...

... a well research and documented publication, much needed these days as there are still idiots claiming that the general (who died in 2014 and is no longer able to defend himself from cowards and their spiteful accusations) asked Soviets to intervene.