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

Have you tried the Red Cross War Victims and Holocaust Archives and Tracing Services? There is a UK branch, I believe, but I only know the US site.

They have lots of info, some of which they got from dp persons themselves during and after the war in various countries, from camps the Red Cross visited at that time, and some of which they got from papers left by the captors (in the case of work camps) or dp surviviors they helped find new locations afterwards.

They can help find people, possibly put you in touch with living relatives and sometimes, they know where caches of letters from people searching for their missing relatives are, which they may have been given or are holding in their files for survivors, when found.

Go here to start, but check for the UK branch, too; there may be a link for that at this site:

redcross.org/services/intl/holotrace/facts.html

Life / Electricity in Poland: plug and voltage? [73]

We are using a Radio shack 50 watt adapter that has three "port plugs" that flat fold into the block shaped adapter; they pop out when needed to plug into the wall. One is for England, one for Australia and one for EU. It converts 120 volt to 220 volts as all similar adapters do, but we needed a separate piece like the plug shown above to make the plugs on the adapter extend out long enough to fit the round indented plugs in our hotel walls; it had to be plugged onto the adapter then our appliances plugged into the adapter itself. Didn't have to do that in Uk when there, so that was different.

Genealogy / Borcyk (Borczyk) from Gdansk [5]

What is the name you need to have looked up? I am a volunteer amateaur genealogist in the states, moving to Krakow in September.

I will try to help if I can.

Genealogy / Jambrich/Yambrick surname? [34]

I agree with Wroclaw. You can have the name Stern and be Polish--be born there, lived there, died there, all your ancestors living there for a hundred years. That makes you Polish, despite the origin of the name or what religion you are, if you culturally identify yourself as Polish.

Many of the people named Jambrich from the early 1900s at ancestry dot com stated they came from Slovakia or Austria. They could have been Polish people who moved to those area before immigration to the US.

Do you know who the earliest ancestor to immigrate to the US was? Their 1st name? Or where the family first settled when they came here?

I can try and do a search for you.

Food / Where to buy napisco Oreo Biscuits in Warsaw [15]

Try a store called Kuchnie Swiata (World Kitchen). I heard they have Nabisco Oreo cookies there sometimes, just as they do at our Krakow location in the Galeria Krakowska. They will also order things for you sometimes, if you ask nicely.

kuchnieswiata.com.pl/sklepy.html

Good luck!

Life / Polish home remedies for cold, stomach ache, migraine? [49]

Gumishu mentioned the hot milk-butter-garlic concoction, and that is very popular here--especially for children.

For adults, I recently became aware of "Tea with Electricity." I think it is called something like herbata z prontkyi (or prontek). A shot of rum in piping hot, black tea. Supposed to cure colds and sinus troubles. For those who do not like rum, they use cytronowka vodka, heated, and pour it into Ceylon Gold type tea that is lighter in color.

My Polish neighbor swears by echinacea tea with raspberry syrup in it for a cold.

She also likes Amol--you put the bottled liquid in a bowl of hot water, drape a towel over ypur head and lean over the bowl. It appears to be a eucalyptus-herb blend that is organic and is supposed to open sinuses and clear throats.

I heard Amol is the store version of a grandmother's homemade remedy from a long time ago, but I do not know that for sure.

Life / Orphanages in Poland [82]

In Krakow, if you wish to volunteer with Polish children in state-run orphanages, you must undergo physical and psychological tests, first. These tests must be done here, not back home. If you do them back home, they will make you redo them again here, at your own expense.

These tests can include, but are not limited to:

-a complete general physical
-a vision check
-blood work and lung/torso x rays to check for evidence of TB and HEP-C
-urine analysis to check for drug/alcohol addiction
-fingerprinting/background check for some locations
-MMPI-type psychological test at nearly all locations
-multiple personal interviews with the director and some admin staff
-multiple personal interviews with the rn, aide or medical worker who comes to the site
-possibly, an interview with the tutor who comes to the site to work with the unwed mothers there (if it is one of the orphanges which also has this kind of division, as some do)

They do this to ensure that the person offering time w/the kids is not mentally ill, a pedophile, a drug addict or a criminal and is in sound health. This is called taking care of the children. I do not blame them for it. It takes 1-3 months from beginning to end for the testing and registering of the documents and can be costly if you're not a Polish national.

Caveat: a volunteer visa on your own is difficult to get and takes forever. Better to be associated with an international non-profit org and work thru them/come over on their behalf.

Regarding donations of goods and/or money:

Polish NGOs which might welcome your donations and help can be found at the link, below. Click the tab for English at the top of the page, if you cannot read or speak Polish:

media.ngo.pl

I can personally recommend Profamilia, CPES (aka Parasol) and also Dom Dziecka im Jana Brzechowy (aka Pod Kopcem orphanage/mother's home in Krakow) and Dom Dziecka Sieborowicach (orphanage in Sieborowice). And also these larger international orgs w/ Krakow branches: Burego Misia (aka Bure Misie, The Dun Bear Cub group), United Way-Poland, Red Cross-Poland and Special Olympics-Poland.

In re: the original poster's question? Yes it does happen here, and these children are often referrred to as "the lost generation" and the phenomenon is known as "euro-orphanhood". But probably it does not happen on a scale any larger here in Poland than in any other EU nation. To get more information on this, go here:

thenews.pl/news/artykul87800.html

spectrezine.org/europe/Poland.htm

helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/international-news/7141-bringing-up-a-lost-generation-.html

Genealogy / POLISH REFUGEE CAMP - CAMBRIDGE UK - SEARCHING FOR RELATIVES [30]

The Red Cross kept very detailed lists of those in the DP camps in the UK; look into that and into the UN resettlement info listed here, under the heading of UK:

dpcamps.org/addressesN-Z.html

And did you already look at ISTG, for the ship/crossing info:

immigrantships.net

And have you run the name thru Ancestry or thru the UK census records online? If I get the man's name from you, I can try for you.

Also, there are many Polish records now online, free for searching. If you get that far, let me know. I'll do my best to help.

Life / Orphanages in Poland [82]

The requirements at state-run orphanages stand for all volunteers, staff and teachers having regular contact with the children there. Not sure about priests, who give communion once a week in some of them, and I have no idea about doctors and nurses who come there weekly.

I have no idea what public or private school teacher requirements are in Poland. I do not know if that is state-regulated, or if it differs based on type of institution. Sounds like that is not a standardized process here for private school teachers, though.

In the Catholic-run home, it was quite a small operation. We were told it was a former youth hostel from about 1970, that has been completely re-done inside and out, with all new floors, windows, furniture, etc. There were 2 live-in nuns, and 1 who arrived daily to help with cleaning and and cooking. The kids and nuns walked to the local church nearby; it did not appear that the priest ever was at the site on a regular basis.

The state run facilities were basically horror shows/very bad places, though it was obvious the staff ws trying hard. They just do not have enough people/money to do it right, and many of the kids have serious mental/health/other issues. They do have visits from therapists and sociologists, etc, but it is just not enough. Please do consider helping these larger, older, state-run facilities out. They do need money and they do need stuff, no doubt, but what they really need are warm bodies to volunteer/give time free of charge, as mentors to the kids with hope/promise.

The only exception to the "state run places are bad" rule, is the one for mothers who choose to live in with their children in a separate home next to the oprhans home. As long as they attend school, stay off drugs and alcohol and help with raising their child and do their chores, the mothers can stay to age 21. And if they do well in school, they can stay on thru their hoped-for university graduation, as well. They can purchase a state-owned apartment in a block somewhere and pay only 10% of the actual open-market/sale price of the home upon graduation, as well. They get no cash or payments of any kind other than the housing, food and clothes for them and their child, and they must work to get and keep that. Not a bad system, really. Beats our US-style welfare/food stamps/disability checks for drug addicts, in my opinion.

Genealogy / William Alexander, 1850, Krunicza, Prussia, Poland [11]

Ziemowit is probably spot on, but is it also possible that Krunicza is a misspelling for the name Krupnicza? I know the street name here in Krakow, and know there is a Krupnicza Street in Wroclaw and most likely Warsaw, also.

Could it therefore have been referring to the city of Nesvizh (where the drink Krupnik was originally brewed), which was under Polish rule from 1919-1939, but was a part of Russia---and now is part of Belarus?

Might be way off base here, but his name change had me thinking of why Alexander vs Andrews. I started thinking Russia, and got there that way.

And here is where Paszkiet names are distributed here now, if it helps. Poles in the US often mixed and married with Poles who immigrated from the same geographic region of Poland, so maybe he was from one of these highlighted areas, too?

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/paszkiet.html

Good luck!