Life / Are Border Collies popular in Poland? [30]


That just goes to show how much I was able to teach him :)

Edit: that pops up another question, related to the topic at hand: in how far are "race"-pets preferred in Poland? I mean do Polish ppl specifically look for a certain race of dog or cat or do they generally don't care as long as it's a suitable animal?

>^..^<

M-G (he is a drop dead gorgeous fellow, but my oh my was he stubborn)

History / In Memory of victims, who had their lives cruelly taken at Treblinka Death Camp in Poland [104]


Well, it's not completely true that there is a total lack of administration. They remain Germans and Germans like to do anything Gründlich (thoroughly). There are books in the Bundesarchiv of Germany that spell out names and dates (of transport and so on), but they somehow don't connect to the books kept in the camps respectively. This makes it fairly hard to make precised statements as to where certain ppl arrived and of those that were gassed no record was kept at all on the day itself. Unlike the prisoners that stayed in one of the barracks. They were kept in administration fairly thoroughly. Based on these facts one can make fairly accurate statements as to whether a person was gassed upon arrival or if he/she was kept in detainment for a while. Problem with this is that the dates are not always coherent, so that part will always remain guessing and deducting.

As I stated above, most of my findings are relatively accurate. As for the family members that went to Auschwitz I can tell they weren't gassed immediately as there is an arrival record of them (don't know if I mentioned that above). Comparing this record to the occupation records of that September month, has led me to the conclusion that they must've been gassed somewhere around two weeks after arrival.

You are correct when you say that David Irving is a decent researcher, however there are some serious flaws in his findings, as I am sure you will know.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Off-Topic / Does anyone else find Cygans fascinating? [60]

Troll alert!

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Off-Topic / Does anyone else find Cygans fascinating? [60]

Troll alert!

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Off-Topic / Does anyone else find Cygans fascinating? [60]

Trolls alert!

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

History / Today is the 1st of September (WWII start in Poland) [138]



Both were a mistake, but in a way unavoidable: the US were (kinda covertly) already participating in the war and had already taken sides by sending goods to GB and the SU was the nemesis; after all, he had proclaimed so many times that Communism was his archenemy. If he were in some crazy way true to his own ideology, he just HAD to attack the SU. And he could have gotten the SU on her knees, if it weren't for Yugoslavia and Greece. The "necessary" invasion of those two countries after Mussolini screwed up once again in Greece and a switch in Yugo from pro-Nazi régime to anti-Nazi régime, delayed the attack on the SU with about 6 crucial weeks, without which there would've been a very real chance that he would've conquered Moskou before the dreaded winter started. I'm not sure, but I seem to remember that the original date for the attack on the SU was planned for early May instead of the 22nd of June. He could've waited a year, but the SU was building up for an inevitable attack on Nazi Germany too, so it was catch-22 for Hitler.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

History / Today is the 1st of September (WWII start in Poland) [138]

He was about 100 away from Moskou when winter set in and the Russian troops didn't have any substantial answer at the time, so chances may very well be he would've captured Moskou. So there may be some truth in there. But it didn't happen, so we have to revert to "if-history" and that's not really my favourite style of history.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

History / Today is the 1st of September (WWII start in Poland) [138]


Because before the 27th of March 1941, the Yugoslav govt was pro-German. Plain and simple. The overthrowing of this govt on that date was reason for Hitler to invade Yugo.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

History / Today is the 1st of September (WWII start in Poland) [138]


I suggest you read about the Tripartite pact - a pact Nazi Germany made with Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Yugo was put under pressure to join this pact too, and the Yugoslav prince gave in to this pressure on the 25th of March 1941. Two days later his govt was overthrown. This infuriated Hitler as usual and not even two weeks later he invaded the country.

Greece did a marvellous job by beating the Italians back into Albania, however, against the Germans they did not have a chance. They held out for a while but the Greek mainland was pretty quickly conquered - only on Crete it lasted longer.

>^..^<

M-G (Oxi!)

History / Today is the 1st of September (WWII start in Poland) [138]


The Dutch army mobilized in September 1939 as they hoped to remain neutral again, but somehow knew they would be invaded sooner or later. This fear was to be confirmed with the "Venlo-incident", in which English secret agents were lured to Venlo, a town on the German border by ppl who posed themselves as either British agents or German agents who had fallen off with Hitler. As soon as the English agents arrived, they were kidnapped by those German agents and dragged into Germany. Venlo lies half in Germany.

As from January 1940 ongoing msgs were received from a German officer Hans Oster (who later participated in the assasination attempt of 20 July 1944) by Dutch Major Sas (the commander in chief) that the invasion was imminent, but those warnings were withdrawn every time at the last moment. I think the first word of an invasion was somewhere half January 1940. When the final warning came on the evening of the 9th of May ("Tomorrow at dawn") the Dutch troops were put on alert, but since they had so many warnings, the attitude was a bit laissez faires. But when the Germans came that morning, they were ready.

The Dutch army was in a sorry state: basically built during WW1 (and at that time it was indeed strong enough to withstand any invading enemy), and way too weak to withstand the superior power of the German army. Nevertheless, they fought where they could and fighting was especially vicious at the Grebbelinie, the Peel-Raamstelling, Zeeland, Rotterdam (more or less) and the entrance to the Afsluitdijk in the North. Germans, expecting the invasion of NL to take no longer than a day or two, grew angry with the Dutch resistance after 3 days and sent word that if the Dutch army would not capitulate, they would bomb Rotterdam and after that Utrecht and Amsterdam. The Dutch army already made contact with the German forces to negociate the truce and capitulation, when the German planes had already taken off to bombard Rotterdam. German efforts from the ground to stop the imminent bombardment (as the Dutch had already surrendered) were ignored as the pilots had instructions to ignore all signs from the ground. Rotterdam got bombarded, the entire old city was in flames and app 8000 ppl died. Rotterdam was one of the most beautiful cities of the Netherlands before it got bombarded. It's also one of the few big cities that the Germans bombarded severely outside of a battlefield during the war. The others are London, Warsaw, Belgrade.


A couple of months after the Dutch surrender the Dutch soldiers were allowed to go back home - except the Jewish soldiers of course. He did this with all the pow's of the small countries he conquered. Actually, it's unknown why he did this. To create goodwill? Or perhaps because he was afraid he wouldn't have enough space and resources to maintain these huge numbers of pow's? It's unknown.

Edit: a few months before the invasion Hitler had said in a speech on the radio "The Dutch are my friends! We would never want to hurt or attack them! If they want to remain neutral, I will respect their wish and I will personally see to it that nobody ever harms the Dutch."

>^..^<

M-G (Neen!)

Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]


As per the 2nd generation they're not Poles anymore, they are Americans. Americans of Polish anchestry, but that's the only thing Polish they have. They are 100 per cent American. I know other teams in America do this too: Irish American, Italian American, Jewish American, but imo it's all nonsense. They are born and bred within the US, so they are Americans. Nothing more, nothing less.

Since I believe that nationality is determined by the country you're born in, it would be point 2.

>^..^<

M-G (olé)

History / Today is the 1st of September (WWII start in Poland) [138]


Except their faces and language (for the most part, that is). :)

History / In Memory of victims, who had their lives cruelly taken at Treblinka Death Camp in Poland [104]


I did, but it should matter to all of us as these were ppl and if we start denying it en masse, we start to be co-guilty. Like the Germans who watched and did nothing. Saw "Road To Treblinka", which is on YouTube as well, it's a pretty decent documentary. It's in five parts. Just do a search for Road To Treblinka. It should pop up. It's in English :)

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]


But where do you draw the line? Because your great- great- great-grandfather was Polish, you are Polish too, even if you yourself, your parents and grandparents have never set foot in Poland? I think there comes a point where you have to say that you're American and again, in my opinion that is the place where you were born, not the place where your parents or grandparents were born. If I take this to my own situation, I would be Portugese, because my great- great- great- (...) great-grandparents came from there?


If the parents have already American citizenship and the child was conceived in Poland, but born back home in the US, then the child is an American citizen. It could be accidental, but often it isn't.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]

Best description I heard was American of Polish descent. Don't get me wrong, I say this too to the Americans I meet that claim to be Dutch when it was their great-grandparents who came from NL to the US and they usually have never set foot in NL, but do have a kitschy windmill in their garden or living room :S

Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]


They're waiting all their lifetime, their parent's lifetime and their kids' lifetime, eh? :) It's just folklore, at least, that's how I look at it. I don't look at them being Dutch - it makes nice conversation, but that's it. I think the Americans of Polish descent have the same folkloristic idea about Poland and probably will have the same effect on a visitor from Poland.

M-G (you planning to take over the US? You and what army?:) )

Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]

Well, here the next one comes. First he says this:


Then come the doubts:


Then follows a lot of blahblah...Muslims bad...blahblahblah...US down the drain...And so forth. Then comes the redemption:


And now the evil lefties and progressives, which joys he claims to have enjoyed as a child, have turned into evil Golgothans and get their turn as they want to destroy the Church, but look at all the thing the Church has done for us:


I could respond to all this, but I get too much of a "Touched By An Angel"-feeling with this post of yet another individual who wants to turn the clock back some 200 years. So I won't.

>^..^<

M-G (busy - afternoon coffee-break)

Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]

What I see here is a bunch of old women whining of "how the US and Europe have all gone to the dogs and Poland is the only beacon that is left in the world". Gimme a break, will ya? Because not everybody agrees to YOUR choices and YOUR way of life, doesn't mean that a country goes down the drain.

P3, you really have to quit spouting this nonsense about homosexuals. Really. You start to sound like a cartoonesque Catholic: aahw poor dysfunctional homosexuals, single moms, druggies, ppl who like to switch partners, divorcees....G.I.V.E. M.E. A F.R.E.A.K.I.N.G. B.R.E.A.K.

You know, in NL we have an Evangelical Channel. They used to broadcast these "Christian" TV-movies: help! help! I used to be going down, I am a black drug addict homosexual with 15 adopted kiddos (no not Jewish as the good Christians don't help Jews), which I support by prostituting myself, which has as nasty side-effect that it fulfills my psychotic nymphomaniac disorder as well! But then I met God and everything suddenly went ok. Suddenly I'm not homosexual anymore with no psychotic nymphomaniac disorder, my adoption kiddos have all disappeared and guess what? I'm suddenly not black anymore either! My life is fine now and I owe it all to the Church.

You know, this is the feeling that I get when reading this stuff. If you are so resentful of the Western world, why don't you go join the Amish? Then you can party like it's 1699. But don't use the benefits of the Western world and complain that it's going downhill. You use the result of its progression, remember that.

>^..^<

M-G (you sound like a bunch of old women, really)

Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]

So this is turning yet again into an "us Christians = good - you Muslims = bad"?

Besides, I watched it and knowing it's from this hardcore Christian nutters group, I didn't expect anything else than this outcome.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Life / Polish "Forfiter" :) [26]

Hilarious :)

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]


True, pickled stuff is pretty good for you. Luckily I like pickled food :) Fermented food I don't know about. Probably Zurek is good for you, I only had that 3 times in my life and I loved it :)


Also true. You could also use a little mustard with your food or have a spoon of Balsamic vinegar before you start eating. Balsamic you can actually drink like that. Important feature is that it seperates fat in your stomach into little balls which cannot be absorbed by the body, so if you take a spoon of Balsamic before you eat, you get less fat from that dinner. Same goes for any sour(y) condiment.

Edit: that's how Megan Fox got so hot :)


What is slonina? Salmon?

>^..^<

M-G (eating a pickle before dinner, dipping your meat into a spoon of Dijon mustard, not the sweet mustard)

Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]

Oh, it's bacon. Thanks, Marek.

Oh ok, pork fat/bacon. We call that either Reuzel, Spek or Spekvet. Amazing how Dutch, German and Polish food is basically the same.


I just happen to have read a lot about these things recently and since then I know that it splits up the fat in your stomach and makes it harder for the body to absorb fat out of the food you eat. Best food without a doubt however is tomatoes. Good thing about them is that they actually get healthier when processed into ketchup, purée or sauce. The vitamins have gone, however, but that's not the most important element of them - the liposomes or sth like that. They are good for just about anything; they make you look younger, prevents (in men's cases) prostate cancer, are good for the blood and heart and loads of other things. The reason why they are even better when they're processed into sth is that the skin has disappeared and the skin is kinda hard to digest without it, your body can absorp all the goodies, which it can't when you eat a tomato raw.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]

Thanks NorthManc. In the meantime I've found out already :) And we call it Reuzel, Spek or Spekvet.

>^..^<

M-G (I don't think there is actually an English name for it besides fat bacon)

Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]


True, but don't go from hardly any movement to massive movement all at once as that is bad for your body too.

>^..^<

M-G (is not going to run today because of the torrential rain all day long)

Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]


Jajajaja :)

Slowly but surely I'm getting back in the shape that I had a few years ago, actually before I came to Ireland. But you know why I couldn't go suddenly from almost nothing to full time...

>^..^<

M-G (doesn't need that much weightloss actually)

Food / Is Polish food still more natural than in the West? [142]


As it is in Germany, NL, and nearly all other countries in Europe. You have a choice too in the West.

>^..^<

M-G (thinks it's nonsense to state that all food in the West is somehow processed)

History / In Memory of victims, who had their lives cruelly taken at Treblinka Death Camp in Poland [104]


They did keep books, but as I found out, they somehow didn't add up to eachother - they weren't linked. For example: if a record from Bergen Belsen stated that, say on the 1st of May 1943 a shipment with so and so many ppl with these and these numbers, names and so on left for Treblinka, you can calculate how long that train at the longest will take to reach Treblinka. But since the Nazis didn't keep records of those who went into the gaschamber upon arrival, only numbers, anything coming into Treblinka from Bergen Belsen is to be based on data coming from Bergen Belsen and compare them with the numbers that were gassed in Treblinka on the projected arrival day of the train to come up with an educated guess. That's the hard part of it all and that makes you feel like a bookkeeper when you're doing this.

This may not be such a good example as in Treblinka hardly anybody who arrived there lived longer than 2 or 3 hours, but even in Auschwitz, the books don't connect to the others. Just read my previous posts on how I got to educated guesses on times of arrival and death.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]


Some freedom you talk about. Freedom of choice - yes, but only if it's the traditional form. Whoa, you have no clue, it seems: did you know that most dysfunctional families are to be found in the traditional form? By far the most child abuse, alcoholism, leading to physical abuse, emotional detachment and so on.

Dysfunctional families have to be looked upon case per case, not like you do, as a group and saying that by default homosexual parents, single mums, ex-jailbird (which I didn't even mention, but ok) and so on, will cause dysfunctional families. Because that is plain nonsense.

Ppl make the choices they want to make these days and if this doesn't cause any problems, then this is fine with me. But since you are a homophobe as you have been proven yourself repeatedly, to you a homosexual couple with an adoption child, or in case of two Lesbian women, with a father that is not part of the family, is per definition bad. And that's not only an ignorant statement. It's also dangerous.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Life / Poland, maybe the world's last bastion of faith [67]


I don't glamourize or admire them, I just don't demonize them like you do. I just accept them, unlike you. And since I don't care about homosexuals having a relationship and it's you who's making those statements, the burden of finding out how long the "average" homosexual affair lasts lies naturally with you, not me. But I can tell you this: a few very famous gay couples have been together for 30 or more years. And a few couples that I personally know have been together for over a decade. Just like heterosexual couples. Some switch partners fast, some stick with one partner their entire life. There's no difference in that respect.


That situation will never occur and you know darn well it never will. You point out the exceptions as being the mainstream - a crucial error in your way of thinking. The vast majority of the ppl will remain in heterosexual, stable relationships. There will always be dysfunctional situations, but they will never be the majority. And I don't see the relevance of Muslims to this story.

You just want us all to go to the Church every Sunday and once we're all Christians all will be well, is that right? Guess what, ppl are free to choose now. Whole wars have been fought in order to gain that right. And now you want to turn it all back to the very opposite of free choice?

>^..^<

M-G (how old are you?)

Life / Before 1980 family in Poland was friendly towards immigrants; now they are not [11]


I call my parents twice a week or they call me a few times per week. We have a rather good contact. They're getting a bit older now, so in a year or 2,3 I will move back to the Netherlands to take care of them.

>^..^<

M-G (respects and honours his parents deeply)