History / Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto? [582]

I think the 1938 reference of the OP might be a confusion with German camps which were active before the outbreak of war which are now in Polish territories (wasn't there one near Gdansk?).

Auschwitz was originally a Polish army barracks and was used to house Polish prisoners until the destruction of the ghettoes. Jews weren't interred there for a couple of years (waiting until they'd killed enough Poles, I suppose).

An interesting ghetto to consider would be £odz. The Jewish leader there (Rumkowski?) controlled a lot of what went on and pulled a lot of deals with the Nazis. Although the ghetto had better provisions and facilities than many others he also gave the speech to his people about "give me your children" to send to the camps. Check wikipedia, it has some interesting stuff.

Regarding Ukranians, there were concentration (holding) camps during Akcja Wisła in 1947 during the time they were being transported across Poland but not the same thing as a nazi one. Likewise there were camps for holding German civilians after the war before they were shipped to Germany.

History / The restoration of Polish cities from WW2 destruction [123]

Apparently the great door lock in the castle was able to be restored in detail because the great lock at Blenheim Palace in England is a copy of it. Researchers were able to go an study it.

History / Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto? [582]

I think what this shows is that we need not consider the blueys, spies etc as either Jews or Poles but as (often unscrupulous) individuals who took advantage of th situation for their own gain... and there are plenty of those everywhere.

History / Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto? [582]


Errm, wasn't Fanta actually a branch of Coca-Cola?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanta

I believe it kept trading under that name throughout nthe war and post-war the manager handed all the profits to CC.

snopes.com/cokelore/fanta.asp

History / Famous Russian Poles [243]

Ooops, put it on other thread but it might have been better here. The artist Witkacy was a "Russian" citizen. He fought in the Russian army in WW1.


There's also the point that a number of the people moved into the "reclaimed territories" didn't know how to farm that particular type of land. People from mountain regions in south etc didn't always have knowledge of how to farmia in Warmia (for example).

Couple that with a totally disasterous non-commital agro-policy for a few decades.

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

Personally I think Poles are very polite for not killing those bastards who walk straight to the front of the queue in the post office and say "Oh, just a quick question" and proceed to get served. That the assistants who stop serving you to serve them are also still alive is a sign of great politeness.

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


True. I've realised that waiting inbetween two post office kiosks or not forcing my place in a queue is the road to being ignored.

I once stood with my wife in a supermarket queue. she then went to get something else. The women all circumnavigated me and then sternly accused me of pushing in. When I blew my top and said if they flt that way I'd stand at the end of the queue, despite the fact that my wife had been there and that they had all pushed past me, they got a little embarrassed. "Oh yes, there was a lady there, wasn't there?" Then one or two of them insisted that I go infront of them.

Life / Olsztyn life; I'm Indian and I like the place [43]


I think there are only one or two schools which offer Polish to foreigners. That being said, there might be work either through the university or privately. Companies like Michelin have a number of French and British workers who need teaching. The local library organisation also has a number of exchange volunteers who sometimes need classes.

There ar a number of language schools offering a variety of languages (French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch, English, Russian etc).

The number of non-Polish is growing, so there would probably be a greater call for Polish classes.

For anyone asking about the weather in may, well it can be warm and sunny (can also be wet). What is certain is that the spring is there and the forsts are wonderful places.

Lived here for 6 years.

Law / Polish EU Drivers Licence - can I get one the easy way (by paying for it)? [185]

I just went to the licence office and asked about an exchange (mind you, I have an EU licence)

History / Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto? [582]


The ironies of history... built by Poles (as an army barracks), extended by Germans, (partly) destroyed by inmates and (partly) dismantled by Germans, rebuilt by Poles (as a museum) and now refurbished/restored by Germans.


What about the Poles who were first housed there, the Gypsies et al? Anyway, I thought Israel was more into collecting Jewish items, like the Bruno Schulz murals. Maybe they could transport the whole camp over there.

Life / Olsztyn life; I'm Indian and I like the place [43]


Don't know about that... the big argument is whether to take down the Soviet war memorial

Life / Olsztyn life; I'm Indian and I like the place [43]


Already 2 McD's... the rot is spreading

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

Of course you are, you didn't say "excuse me,".

Life / Polish movies with English subtitles [87]

A numer of recent mainstream Polish films have been issued on DVD with English subtitles.
Ranczo, Da Vinci, Angels in Krakow, Ogniem i Mieczem and loads more.

What's annoying is that British/US films issued by Polish firms such as monolith DON'T have English subtitles, just Polish lektor and Polish subs.

Life / Are foreigners welcome in Poland? [267]

I've been present when Black people have been brought to some small villages in recent years. Like you say, they are like tourist attractions. In one village we heard people from neighbouring villages were dressing up in their sunday best and taking a walk to see if they could see any Black people.

On the same occassion we had to warn the group of young British Blacks, who came as part of an arts/social project, that they would be entering a place where few people had seen or met a Black person face-to-face. It was necessary because these lads had never been in a place where there were no other Blacks, and the constant attention from passers-by (even in the town) was irritating them. Funnily enough, I'm from Britain and grew up in a very mixed area, but even I look if I see a Black person in town, it being rather uncommon.

Life / Are foreigners welcome in Poland? [267]


Hmm, not sure I agree there. Many of the foreigners (Germans, Americans, Canadians, Brits, French) I know in Poland are (or were) married to locals.

Life / Are foreigners welcome in Poland? [267]

Must be an Olsztyn thing. I've seen girls breast-feeding in church with no complaints

Life / Do Polish workers have post-Christmas break? [12]

Mind you, missing stuff isn't just at christmas... bought a set of old photos from US about 3 months ago. Never arrived. The guy sent replacements to UK. They were then sent to me here.


Oh, I know that one too. When I was in Glasgow I lived at 88 Copeland Rd. I kept getting mountains of mail for 88 Nelson Street (Obviously they could only read numbers). The bloody sorting office was 100 metres from my house. I complained loads of times and took the mail back and gave it to them face to face. One time I was missing something I'd been waiting for. I said I wanted the postie to go to Nelson Street and ask all the people if they'd received it (Nelson street was a tenament, so about 8 flats; Copeland Rd was a house).

The post woman replied, "Oh, there's no point, there's nobody living there with your name!" She just couldn't get it when I pointed out there was nobody in my house with any of the names of the dozens of people living in Nelson Street.


Yippee! Both arrived this week. Only two weeks, not that bad! I'm still waiting for the photos posted from US in November.

History / Polish-German alliance. [489]

A British friend of mine told me about his devout catholic grandmother watching a film report of the pope being jumped on by the crazed female, "Oh, what a shame... I know he's german, but he's still a human being!"


Nah, germans just want their cars back!

Life / Nicorette Inhalator - are they available in Poland? [10]

Are these the artificial, electric cigarettes? yep, available in Olsztyn. Apparently half the local theatre use them.

Life / Nicorette Inhalator - are they available in Poland? [10]

No, and we aint stopped yet, I'll bet!

Genealogy / Polish surname Gil. My ancestors were from the town of Widelka. [74]


I had a teenage student in Olsztyn whose name was Gil. I think she's moved away to study. If I hear from her I'll ask about her family.

Life / Poczta Polska Is Killing ME! Transit time. [28]


and every few minutes someone walks to the front to 'ask a question' and gets erved before everyone else.

History / Is There A Polish Foreign Legion? [35]

Ah, you're not getting mixed up with either Piłsudski's Legions or the fact there are quite a few Poles in the French Foreign Legion? OR that sometimes writers might refer to Napoleon's Polish regiments as 'Polish legions'.

History / Is There A Polish Foreign Legion? [35]

Hmmm, not sure. The old method of teaching French in the French FL is/was to hit the guy who didn't understand until he learned it. I think most foreigners wouldbe beaten to death using that method to teach Polish.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]


Could that be the result of a spelling mistake somewhere? maybe something like Grotowski?

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Fabisiak and Wejkowski?

Genealogy / Does anyone have any relatives who served with 1st Polish Armoured Division (Gen. Maczek) [311]


Not sure about that. there's a band in Gdansk
myspace.com/gdanskpipeband

Language / IS "MURZYN" word RACIST? [686]


This is still a problem because it is often thought of by the older generations as just a short form of Pakistani. I've even heard Asians refer to a 'corner shop' as a 'paki' shop.

I think the problem with 'murzyn' is that it is like 'negro', not necessarily a racist word but rather out-of-date. Murzyn is from the word 'Moor' and not all Blacks are Moorish.


In UK the Russian martial art SAMBO (a term based on the Russian version of samo-obrona) is called SOMBO because it might offend people if it had a racist name like SAMBO. Of course, nobody worries about offending the Russians.


The thing about the word 'nigger' is that it is derived from 'negro' and was used as an insult. The Black community in US started using the word 'to reclaim it' (a bit like how the Gay community now use the term 'queer', which was originally an insult). That Blacks can use the term is controversial even amongst Blacks (and can be used as an insult as well)/

nignog previously had the meaning of someone who was inexperienced, particularly used in the army. Even today they'll use the term 'nig' for a rookie or young soldier.