News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

Poland in my opinion has but to prove legal, not merely historical or even psychological, justification for making such an extreme claim, and I'm not referring solely to the monetary amount!

This will doubtless drag on for years and years, since surely Germany will attempt a counter claim/suit if I don't miss my guess, and seek damages from Poland for territory allegedly "stolen" following the end of the Second World War, such as former, Pomerania and East Prussia. Now, Russia is brought into the act as well, e.g. Kaliningrad, erstwhile Koenigsberg etc.

As with the ongoing Arab-Israeli Conflict, closure is never likely to occur unless both sides resolve somehow to accept a realistic truce agreeable to all parties.

I for one don't see this happening, at least any time soon, I'm afraid.

History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]

Depends of course on one's definition of "great", Rich! In 1938, Hitler was selected as TIME LIFE'S MAN OF THE YEAR, therefore deemed by some as great (don't forget, Henry Luce was an anti-Semite, despite his hiring of Henry Grunewald).

Both Putin and in a different way, Hitler, were both "great"....greatly evil.

History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]

By most accounts, Gorbachev was a great human being, an inspiring leader who overcame his ideological upbringing to somehow see beyond its strictures and haul the Russian nation ever so slowly into some semblance of democracy/"freedom".

A dirty, rotten disgrace that Putin has seen fit to dismantle all his efforts.

With Gorbachev gone, now it's up to people like Navalny to carry the torch before the flame goes out forever!

I take it then that you are in the Putin camp. If or when in however many years nuclear winter envelopes Europe, you'll have only yourselves to blame.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

Your lack of education is scarcely my concern, is it!
I don't dumb down, pal, I level up so handle it:-)

Life / Poland's birthrate on the decline [480]

People nowadays are much more concerned with job security as well as retirement possibilities than was the case years ago!

Instead of castigating those who which to hold off on having children, perhaps ask why this trend came about in the first place. Easy to say, "Oh, go forth and multiply!" etc. ad nauseum, but who's going to be responsible for those children should they become ill and require medical attention??

When we decided to have children, we were only able to do so as both my wife and I were working. As things grew more stable for me, she was able to stay at home and tend to raising the children, yet we are still the ONLY ones among our circle of friends who made the decision to do so.

Had I relied solely on my tenured position, it would have been next to impossible. In certain countries, parents automatically receive an advance which enables income-strapped families to facilitate their child rearing.

In the US, such is confined principally to Third-World immigrants or political refugees and their families.

The days of "Leave it to Beaver" are sadly long over, ne're likely to return any time soon.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

..and you by association being a garbage person, having the stench of such refuse comments on your entire being!

What do you wish to prove by your benighted arrogance, not to mention ignorance?
Shock value?
Well, I for one am far less shocked than plain disgusted.

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

Then you were raised wrong, Rich, simple as that!

@Milo, thanks. I can see I'm finally breaking through.
Dzieki Bogu.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

@jon,
A number of years ago, I was visiting Budapest with my wife. Obviously, we were both American tourists, however Diana doesn't speak a word of Hungarian.

While I know the language well enough for basic conversation, I resented when several random American fellow passengers on our Malev flight (but who didn't recognize us!) began just chattering at us in English in the lobby of our hotel, Hilton Szaloda, on the Buda side. I too pretended I didn't understand English, at which point they thought we were non-Anglophone Hungarians and politely apologized:-)

Had one of them with a phrasebook or in English asked, "Pardon me, sir! Do either of you speak English?" I'd have been glad to to have responded.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

The problem, and scarcely limited to Communist-Era Poland, was that all foreign language instructors weren't native to the country whose language they were teaching, be it English, French or German (Russian being perhaps the exception).

In the US, most "elite" high schools, colleges, universities, generic language centers, will typically INSIST on their foreign language teaching staff being native speakers. For this reason, the quality of such instruction is usually on a high level.

Why Americans as a whole stink at learning other languages is therefore hardly due to the quality of teaching as much as the age at which serious and thorough language acquisition begins!

In certain Northern countries such as the Netherlands or the Scandinavian countries and contemporary Germany, English is taught essentially from the first form/grade on, allowing the pupils to grow up with English as though it were their mother's milk.

Although in truth, the teachers may not all be native English speakers, unlike with languages here in the US, the former are bombarded daily with English, especially American English, from the Internet, the radio, and TV.

While this doesn't guaranty necessarily "good" English, it does expose them to this subject nearly at the same time as they are acquiring their mother tongue.

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

Finally, you're talking sense, Kaszub. All of my posts are carefully thought out and researched as concerns Poland's role during and after the Holocaust.

For every nameless, pro-Nazi accomplice, there was a Pilecki, a Wojtyla, a Socha, a Sendler or any number of other brave Polish men and women who gladly put their lives on the line as their Christian duty for freedom.

As regards the Polish Underground, I can only add that there are zdrajci, traitors, probably in every known area of human endeavor, people who will sabotage others in the pursuit of their own agenda.

Let there be no misunderstanding that from the partisans in other Occupied nations as well, e.g. Tito, these were virulent anti-Nazis, yet often hardly pro-Jewish!

Life / Orange Flex without plan [8]

Thanks, Lenka!
Just making a pun, that's all:-)

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

@Kaszub,
Prof. Hilberg concurs with most historians that, while the Polish Resistance Movement (Ruch oporu) was one of the largest in Occupied Europe, there is no denying that at a grassroots level, Poland, among other nations, was indeed anti-Semitic and the history of pogroms throughout much of Eastern Europe, such as in the Baltic States and Ukraine (with the exception of Bulgaria and Albania) was a long and brutal one!

In former Whie Russia, currently Belarus, a certain Count Vyacheslav von Plehve, incited countless riots against local Jews.

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

@Kaszub and Cojestdocholery,
Read Raul Hilberg's tome "The Destruction of European Jewry" and then get back to us with your findings!

Class dismissed:-)

Life / Orange Flex without plan [8]

Is Orange Flex anything like Orange Crush (an erstwhile popular soft drink in the States)?

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

Without local support, Hitler's Poland Campaign would have stood a chance!
Certain countries opposed Hitler at the grass roots level right from the beginning, despite a weak resistance movement, such as Bulgaria and Albania!

Sentence should read ".....would'NT have stood a chance!"

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

But I'm sure, Cojestdocholery, quite sure.
You obviate the facts very skillfully, don't you.

Language / Having a really hard time with Polish cases [59]

Polish inflections can and often do look rather daunting in the beginning, I will confess.
Having said that, there are in fact on occasion regular patterns which emerge, particularly in the feminine gender or "rodzaj zenski".

Too little space to enumerate right here, but sometimes, the best way to internalize such endings is to read as much as possible in the beginning, everything from instruction manuals, kiddie mags, even tooth paste tubes (quite literally!) in order to simply gain a feel for the language as an outsider.

Believe me, it works, oddly enough:-)

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

@Cojestdocholery,
You're a fine one to talk about poor English!
I'm not the non-native in this scenario LOL

News / North Koreans working in Poland and in Denmark [36]

About the latter, sadly, you're right!
Hence the utter stupidity of Trump's remark re: more Danes, Swedes or the like coming to work in the States vs. Mexicans or other "Third Worlders".

What could the dude have been thinking?

Lets steer this back to Poland

Po polsku / Czy jest warto odwiedzić Szczecin? [34]

Tak?
Dzieki:-)

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

He's sheer hopeless, Pawianku!
Just throw in the towel on that one.

Po polsku / Czy jest warto odwiedzić Szczecin? [34]

No, wiec ktore miasto ma najwiekszy?

Po polsku / Czy jest warto odwiedzić Szczecin? [34]

Niestety jeszcze nigdy nie odwiedzilem Krakowa, ale miasto ma najpiekniejszy Stare Rynek w Polsce, prawda?

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

@Cojestdocholery, what on earth are you babbling about?
The Jews OFFERED to pay those who helped save their lives by giving them refuge, for heaven's sake! It is their fault if they wouldn't accept it?

News / North Koreans working in Poland and in Denmark [36]

Why, Johnny?
The answer is because Trump and his ilk practically live on outsourcing to cheaper-wage countries. If Denmark wishes to remain "competitive" in a globalized, US-dominated, Capitalist society, it's going to have to face facts and those facts, however unpleasant, are that a North Korean, with or without knowledge of either English or the local lingo, will be way, way, lower in wage than a Dane!

Law / Visa to Poland? Invitation by a Polish student? [21]

You're leaving Zimbabwe in order to go to Poland?
Did I get you right? Maybe you meant you're LIVING in Zimbabwe:-)

I figure you wrote that your fiance's a male nurse.
Does your fiance speak much English and do you intend to learn Polish?

Merely curious, that's all.

Good luck though,

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

Right on, Pawianku!

News / Poland Plans New Canal from Vistula to the Baltic. Drought? [12]

Wasn't aware, thanks.

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

Milo, apparently you haven't understood any of my posts in which without fail, I've always made it quite clear that not ALL Poles were or are anti-Semites!

Might help if you re-read them.

Work / Is teaching English the only way for a foreigner to work in Poland? [30]

Sounds a lot like the US.