History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

See how successful a country Poland is? Even idiots can afford John Deere tractors. ;)


Perhaps, but they are neomarxists culturally; besides, "marxist" is an excellent general insult and I use it as such.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


Well, I should have written neo-Marxists.


... and surprisingly many people are talking openly about it these days.


You're right. Calling them geniuses was going too far. :)

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Farmers' Rage: 2024

"Down with the EU's climate policy", "Let EU maniacs eat worms themselves" - says the banner on this farmer's tractor. Farmers' protests, caused by the EU attempts at cooking the frog a bit too fast, continue all over Poland. EU geniuses decided to destroy European farming and at the same time import food from huge, owned by international concerns, farms in South America and Ukraine (where EU farming laws don't apply and the European norms for pesticide use are very often exceeded twentyfold (!)). Polish farming can feed 120 million people and it's a strategic resource of primary importance for Poland.

It's a bit ironic that the group that benefited the most from Poland's EU membership is at the moment the most euroskeptical (to put it very mildly). If only the Marxists ruling the EU could possibly go a bit easier on their leftard agenda, all this could have been avoided. Alas, leftards will leftard.

Perhaps the Brits knew what they were doing when they left the Union?

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


Yes, not all familoki are multi storey blocks of flats...

... but, as you said, they are made of red brick, so will last for centuries (and already did!) if properly taken care of.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Supplement to the above

Alas, not all the familoki are as charming as those in Nikiszowiec. Some of them, like the ones in Ruda Śląska below, are very often in deplorable condition and are being demolished all over Silesia...

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Industrial tenements: late XIX century - today

When the Industrial Revolution reached Silesia many tenements were built to house working-class families, many of whom were moving to cities to work manufacturing jobs. They were called familoki (from German Familien-Block) and many of them are still inhabited today even in places where there are no longer factories, coal mines or steelworks. In the photos here you can see the famous redbrick familoki of Nikiszowiec in Katowice.

Bird's eye view on Nikiszowiec in the evening...

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

I'm a Skat-man: 2023

The photo above was taken during last year's individual skat Polish Cup in Katowice. Skat is a card game that originated in Germany but gained a lot of popularity in Poland, especially in Upper Silesia (it is sometimes called "Silesian bridge") and Kashubia. The game is complicated and fascinating from mathematical point of view; it develops strategic thinking and, according to Krzysztof Kołodziejczyk - the president of Polish Skat Association, it helps junior players achieve much better results in mathematics at school.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


Your reading comprehension is absolutely abysmal. Ask Russians here if they think I'm an arse licker ha ha :)

News / How will Poland be affected by WW3 which has now started [559]


Exactly. People are so easily outraged these days. :)

News / How will Poland be affected by WW3 which has now started [559]

Meanwhile, Duda causes outrage in Ukraine...

wydarzenia.interia.pl/raport-ukraina-rosja/news-andrzej-duda-mowil-o-okupowanym-krymie-reaguje-ukrainski-amb,nId,7309846

... use your favourite online translator. :)

Off-Topic / Pop A Cork - Wine [396]


Yeah, yeah. Maybe (just maybe) when one day you finally decide to grow some balls, Alien, you will be ready for the ultimate pleasure - Chateau de Potato...


OK, that does it. You are now officially homosexual.

Work / Are Poles workaholics? [135]


Like all of us here. The question is: why do we do it? If I ever find out, I'll let you know.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


:)

If you say so, Alien. If you say so.

Sssshh...

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Polish-Persian brotherhood: 1942

Polish-Iranian friendship started much earlier than... polishforums.com/history/pol-shorpy-photo-88175/15/#msg1951117.
For thousands of Polish refugees from USSR during WW2, Iran became a home away from home.

Writer Ryszard Antolak noted, "The deepest imprint of the Polish sojourn in Iran can be found in the memoirs and narratives of those who lived through it. The debt and gratitude felt by the exiles towards their host country echoes warmly throughout all literature. The kindness and sympathy of the ordinary Iranian population towards the Poles is everywhere spoken of".

Iranians truly set an example of hospitality which has not been forgotten in Poland until this very day.

News / How will Poland be affected by WW3 which has now started [559]


Sure. Finns are tough bastards and maybe Swedes are still not 100% pussified, who knows. Good idea.


That's true. Why there hasn't been a full mobilisation in Ukraine yet is beyond me. This whole war is strange as f*ck.

News / How will Poland be affected by WW3 which has now started [559]


The green fascism, at first glance, is just blunt doctrinarism, especially when the rest of the world outside the EU doesn't give a flying f*ck about CO2 emission limits, but with the coming war, when we need industry and economy in general at full revs, it's pure idiotism.


Sorry, Iron. I'm not very much into useless, exotic languages. I knew a little bit from school but luckily I already forgot. Especially after spending some time on Passion-histoire forum long time ago (that's when I decided to forget French completely).


Well, I'm not an optimist - remember how all the countries in Europe did everything to divert Hitler's first strike from themselves and direct it at somebody else? All the countries except Poland. Bring it on b*tches and "two weeks in Berlin" was the general attitude. Not to mention "nie oddamy ani guzika". When Ukraine falls, the Baltics won't last a week (even with their cute new Maginot line *rolls eyes*) and guess which is Putin's next most obvious target. I'll give you a hint: it starts with "Pol" and ends with "ska". That's why it's vital for Ukraine to survive, but in the US there's internal bickering and the EU has just decided to aid Ukraine with 0.08% of European GDP over the next four years. Brilliant, kurwa, brilliant.

News / How will Poland be affected by WW3 which has now started [559]


No problem.

What sauce would you like with it, wariacie?

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Three brothers: so long ago that even Novi wasn't born yet

Long time ago three brothers - Lech, Czech and Rus - set out on a perilous quest. Yes, yes... we all know the story, but did you know that in the original version of the legend there were not three but two brothers? In the first version, written by Jan Długosz, there were two brothers - Lech and Czech - and Rus appears much later in the story as the son of Lech. That would, of course, confirm Crow's theory of Poland being the Great Mother of All Slavia. :)

News / How will Poland be affected by WW3 which has now started [559]


... also, Russia - in their current war-time production mode - can manufacture 2 million artillery shells a year. The EU promised Ukraine 1 million shells; however, it is now apparent that they will get no more than 600 thousand, with a bit of luck. Also, after much debate, the EU gives Ukraine 0.08% of their GDP in aid over four years.

Again: what conclusions should Ukraine, and then Poland, draw? What actions should Ukraine, and then Poland, take?

I would be interested to know your opinion, guys. What should Ukraine and Poland do, now that the US is likely to withdraw from Europe and the EU wants Ukraine to lose (but is trying to keep up some minimal appearances with some peanuts money). Please, tell me.

News / How will Poland be affected by WW3 which has now started [559]

Guys... don't you see what's happening?

The EU has just decided to give Ukraine 50 billion euro... in four years. Of course, to do this Orban had to be bribed but that's a detail. Anyways, 50 billion euro in 4 years is about 0.08% of the combined EU GDP. Yes, it's not a typo, 0.08%. 15 times more was spent on coronavirus recovery fund. :D One day of war, by the way, costs Ukraine about $100 million.

So, there are two possibilities:

a) the EU are complete and utter retards for whom their safety and pushing Russia further away from their borders is worth 0.08% of their budget;

b) the EU wants Ukraine to lose the war but has to keep up minimal appearances.

I think we can safely say that the EU are not retards (well, not technically anyway). We are left then with b).

When Ukraine falls, it will be the Baltics' and Poland's turn. We can expect the EU to be similarly generous then. What are the conclusions, therefore, that Poland should draw?

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

OK, OK... Saxon Gardens. Geez...

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


Sh*t me it goes around. Gówno mnie to obchodzi.

It's "ogród" not "ogrody". So there.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


In Polish it's Ogród (sing.) Saski. Should I give a flying f*ck whether it's Saxon Garden or GardenS in English?

No. I didn't think so.

Now you can write to all those websites to change the English name, e.g.:

mwfc.pl/en/location/saxon-garden-warsaw/
its-poland.com/attraction/saxon-garden-and-tomb-of-the-unknown-soldier
kidsinthecity.pl/listing/the-saxon-garden-ogrod-saski/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxon_Garden
inyourpocket.com/warsaw/saxon-garden_21137v

... that should keep you occupied for a little while.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Saxon Garden: late 19th century

In this rare photochrom 19th century photo we can see the famous Saxon Garden in Warsaw with a fragment of Saxon Palace in the background. It's been almost 80 years since German troops blew up the building (after the fall of Warsaw Uprising) which they themselves used for propaganda events...

In 2021 the decision to rebuild Pałac Saski was made. The reconstruction, of which the estimated cost is about 3 billion PLN, will be completed in 2030, and the palace will be reconstructed according to its state on 31st August 1939.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]


Yes, the caliber of European politicians seems to be getting ever smaller; and at the time when we need them the most. :-/

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Warschauer Kniefall: 1970

Chancellor of West Germany fell to his knees in Warsaw in 1970. Those who witnessed the scene were awe-struck: a politician actually displayed his emotions by confessing to guilt and begging for forgiveness. With his head bowed low, he froze in this position for twenty or thirty seconds. This is how Willy Brandt described the situation many years later in his memoirs: "As I stood on the edge of Germany's historical abyss, feeling the burden of millions of murders, I did what people do when words fail".

The gesture was disputed within Brandt's own party, whose voters had included a significant proportion of expellees from the former German territories in Poland, most of whom then went to the conservative parties. According to a Der Spiegel survey of the time, 48% of all West Germans thought the "Kniefall" was excessive, 41% said it was appropriate and 11% had no opinion.

A monument to Willy Brandt was unveiled on 6 December 2000, in Willy Brandt Square in Warsaw (near the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes Monument) on the eve of the 30th anniversary of his famous gesture.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Supplement to the above:

Colonel Kukliński during a visit to Poland in 1997...

... and at a Warsaw Pact meeting in Moscow in 1980 (standing behind Jaruzelski).

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Traitor, hero, soldier, spy: 1972-1981


In every scenario we were f*cked. Completely and utterly f*cked.

In the Warsaw Pact war plans, in every possibility, in every permutation, in every possible combination of events, in every game plan, Poland was to become a nuclear ground zero.

There was no way for us to play on this chessboard. A grandmaster would fail. There was no bluff out of this game of poker. The coolest gambler would stand no chance.

We had to overturn the chessboard. We had to break the card table. And we did.

The rest is history.

But this was only the first chapter. Or wasn't it?

Work / Are Poles workaholics? [135]


Georgia is indeed a lot like Poland. A country of brave people, also suffering from difficult neighbourhood.

History / Pol-Shorpy Photo Thread [950]

Supplement to the above:

Our most beloved brother, may Allah always bless Him and His Family, receiving a modest gift during one of the official meetings with ministers...