History / 1939-1945 British war medal awarded to Polish Soldiers.Waiting to be delivered!! [32]

Anyone know where I can find information about war dead? My grandfather disappeared in 1939 and I'd like to to find out what happened to him. He was a calvary Major, awarded the Virtuti Militari in 1919-1921 (so there may be a record of that somewhere).

History / 1939-1945 British war medal awarded to Polish Soldiers.Waiting to be delivered!! [32]

Thanks, although I've already confirmed the VM and the fact that her served in Pilsudki's legions.

I suppose, what I need is the Polish equivalent of the War Graves commission. An organization that keeps track and identified the war dead and where they are interned.

Life / Rate Poland (Life Quality / Culture and People / Food): 1-10! [232]

1) 7/10 . Air quality and infrastructure is poor
2) 10/10 Great people
3) 5/10. Bland.


Polish food is bland. The quality of restaurants is mediocre. Although, I has to be said that I'm a good cook myself and can out do 99% of the restaurants I've eaten in here, so I'm being fussy. Compared to the Uk there is a lack of quality ingredients.

USA. **** hole from coast to coast, Ive refused to move there (was offered it for work) and now refuse to even visit.

Life / Rate Poland (Life Quality / Culture and People / Food): 1-10! [232]

You asked for my opinion didn't you? I don't class service shops and restaurants as anything to do with the people. Its a job, I don't go into a shop to make friends but to buy milk, their job is stressful enough as it is without handing out an utterly fake platitude such as 'have a nice day'.

Restaurants are crap in Poland, but again thats not the people.

There are ignorant racist people here, poor people who haven't seen or been anywhere, but they are all over the world. Difference in America is that the richer educated people are ignorant as well. The standard remark that 'All American's are stupid' isn't a insult, just a bland statement of fact, whereas in Poland there are some dumb people but a a lot of smart, traveled people as well. Millions of Poles are working abroad and return with a wider view of the world, American Poles included.

I'm British born BTW, so not patriotic about any country, never mind Poland.


You know thats exactly the impression most visitors get of America?

Life / Rate Poland (Life Quality / Culture and People / Food): 1-10! [232]


I didn't say that. You are getting the quotes mixed up.


Jewish? Thats a new one to me.

Weg is a the dutch name for a street, but if you think a userid is a valid way of judging someone, am I right to think you are a moldy old cricket player?


Funny that, more Michelin stared restaurants in London than Paris. Only New York comes close to London for the quality and choice of its food.

Polish bread is pretty good, but the best bread in the world is Ukrainian, albeit made in the Kolos bakery in Bradford. Some UK bread is good but there are many types bread, I've never seen a proper French baguette in Poland.

Polish bread is the best Polish bread you can get; but not all great bread is Polish bread.


How many restaurants can guarantee that their food is organic? I've never seen that in Poland. Polish farmers are NOT organic they use pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Restaurants in Poland don't give a **** about where their ingredients come from or whats in them.

In Poland you will order food and it simply doesn't come with the ingredient specified. Sea Bass for instance; they NEVER serve Sea Bass but replace it with Sea Bream. Sea Bass cost twice as much and they charge exactly the same as the same dish with Bream, but still they lie on the menu. I went to a Thai restaurant and they had the gall to serve Chicken with Thai basil; without the Thai Basil - because the ran out by Thursday every week.

I go to Mexican,Indian, Thai, Chinese or anything but Polish restaurants and the 'chief' obviously have NO idea what the dishes are supposed to be like. Usually its some weird Polish interpretation with cabbage and sauerkraut added. Polish food is better, but my mother-in-law often find major fault with the cooking skills in Polish restaurants. Hell, I can make better pirogies than virtually any I've ever been served.

I stand by my assessment of Polish restaurants; Mediocre;

Life / Rate Poland (Life Quality / Culture and People / Food): 1-10! [232]


I was simply asking you what your ID means..... Wicket is a cricketing item.


The point is that you are judging a country by your own reference points.
To you the 'customer service' you get in Poland is important and a reflection of the attitudes of the people. Whereas in other countries serving staff are expected to be miserable and there its nothing to do with the general peoples attitudes. And of course ex-communist countries have a lousy concept of customer service, but you knew that before coming here, right?

I knew the food was poor before I came here, so imported every spice I could and taught myself how to cook all the nations food I like. I spend a lot of effort investigating good source of food material. But if you grew up in the US, you would naturally yearn for that sort of food and taste and not realize that the foods are generally over processed, the vegetables bland and the fish and meat chemically modified.

News / EU SITE PRESENTS ROSY POLAND (high level of a secondary education) [10]

The UNICEF report on childrens well being is indicative of how ridiculous surveys like this can be.

UK and USA come out badly on the overall wealth report, mainly because many children are below that countries average wage; of course when you look at the actual material wealth for UK/US and then its completely reversed. Having the population all equally poor is judged just as good as having them all equally rich, but having a population where the rich and poor are relatively(in absolute terms) rich is dismissed as 'bad'. That stupid.

Another issue, they use the number of books in a household to determine child well being. Books... you know those things they used to print the last century before computers replaced them

Another thing, having unemployed parents is market as a negative. So the UK scores badly, because having children while unemployed is in reality (in the UK) a better financial state to be in than having a job (plus staying at home while looking after your children is surely better than abandoning them ??). The fact is unemployment can be a comfortable life of baby making rather than abject poverty in some countries.

Health and safety has other issues; in some countries like the UK, parents refuse to immunize their children because the diseases are considered so rare that the vaccination is perceived as more dangerous. Child infant mortality in the UK is so bad because 50% or births are by recent immigrants from much poorer nations with a lower level of health.

News / EU SITE PRESENTS ROSY POLAND (high level of a secondary education) [10]

No, if the government gives you a house and an income that exceeds what you can earn by working then of course unemployment is a better option.

There a a very large number of people in the UK who swear by this concept. To much anger from working parents of course.

At present, the more children you have them more the government gives you, although the new government is promising to limit a families income from benefits to £25K per year (which not taxable of course). Average wage is £27k. A single unemployed person gets about £70 per week plus their rent.

Life / How do the Polish feel about air pollution in their cities? [35]

The air quality in Krakow is terrible, I avoid leaving the apartment. It regularly exceeds the EU safety limits, but as has been said the biggest danger is people burning rubbish and plastic (releasing cyanide etc). The small quantity of plastic burn is significantly more dangerous than the coal burning.

Poor air quality reduced lifespan, there is no question about that. One thing that has shocked me is the number of people with health problems, there is cancer everywhere it would seem. Maybe its just who I'm hanging about with (nurses).

The long term solution is the cheap gas that Poland will start producing. The EU will start enforcing the clean air laws and Poland will have to tax coal more heavily and subsidize the switch to gas fire heating.

Gas is so convenient compared to coal but coal is cheaper. I did a comparison, 1tonne of coal, produces 6666Khwr, which would cost 1250 zloty (£264) in the UK using gas (I'm uncertain about Polish gas prices). Last year I paid 700zloty for 1 tonne of coal, someone claimed they paid 1000 this year; if so the difference isn't too big.

Food / Origin of the pierogi [118]

You are simply assuming that. Europe had a quite sophisticated culture eight thousand years ago, we just don't know about it because it wasn't written down.

History / 1939-1945 British war medal awarded to Polish Soldiers.Waiting to be delivered!! [32]

No, but wife might be able to help. Where are you suggesting?

I suspect he went toward Lwow, "Got on his horse and went to fight the Russian" is all I know.

History / August Agbala - Nigerian soldier in Warsaw Uprising [23]


The third was a communist, Indian MP for Battersea. Very popular he was.

Law / Polish import taxes/fees - sending gift for a friend in Poland [8]

Normally the person receiving it pays any additional taxes.

Language / How similar is the Italian accent to the Polish accent (when speaking English)? [34]

I sometimes think Poles are speaking Italian, obviously its not just me..

Life / Has anyone in Poland that you know been affected by H1N1? (swine flu) [44]


You must be the lucky 95% who havn't caught it yet.

Unless you have some sort of resistance (i.e you are over 60) you will probably get Swine flu over the next few years. Its nothing to worry about unless you are over weight, pregnant, have an existing illness or are young, although it can make even healthy people very ill for months.


So you are happy to let them be filthy for most of the time? cleaning them everyday would be hygienic, anyone who touched that stuff in the following month could get infected..

News / Polish twins have different fathers [67]

Its estimated that 10% of children are not fathered by by the man who believes they are the father.

One in Ten.

Thats not bad luck, its systematic cheating by women. If you have a child get it tested soon after birth and kick the bastard out before you get too attached.

You can also attempt to sue the woman for the cost of bringing up the bastard.

Life / Has anyone in Poland that you know been affected by H1N1? (swine flu) [44]


Ok, misquote me to justify your stupid reply. Its an internet tradition.

I said 95% of people have not had swine flu. They will either get swine flu and find out if its fatal .

Or they will get a vaccine shot and not get swine flu or suffer reduced symptoms. Severe swine flu can kill you straight off or vastly reduce your life span if you survive with damage lungs.


Your choice. You will also want to skip other vaccines for you and your family.

News / Poland's atheist loonies have had their 5 minutes [239]


Finger licking good.

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]


I move to Poland just over from the UK. I found it painless to be honest, even though I can't speak Polish.

I have my own internet business so I work from home and earn $7,500 and that is not just a lot of money, its a massive income.

You should be very able to live on $4000 per month, its fours time a Polish average wage.

Many things in Poland are much cheaper than the UK. However, somethings like clothes are cheaper in the UK. I simply fly back and do shopping there for the stuff that is not available in Poland. You would probably do best to ship as much from the US as you can. There is a lot of things that you may miss from the US, especially food. You can get steak and good fish, but its very rare in Poland, you have to goto specialist suppliers and its very expensive. I taught myself how to cook my own food that would be difficult to get in Poland. I bought a breadmaking machine to give me the best pizza's, learnt how to make India, Mexican and Thai food and sourced/shipped over the specialist ingredients from the UK.

Again, Poland is not a jail; you can travel to other European countries and buy food/goods there. The internet makes everything much easier as well. Skype and other services give me a US phone number with unlimited US calls for instance.

Petrol prices in europe are high of course, but you should not need to do much if any driving. Getting a LPG (propane) powered car will help - its half the price of gasoline. Propane is 12.5 PLN per US gallon, which is just over $4.

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]


Where on earth do you live? $8400 usd per year in property taxes. Thats outrageous, ten times what I pay in London for instance.

Law / GBP to PLN: Best way to get good exchange rate? [22]


Not true. I got pulled flying UK to Poland with just under £10k, they told me I had to declare anything over 5000 euro.
A bit of a surprise to me, but they were adamant. I got questioned and searched. However, a bank statement and ATM withdrawal slips satisfied them that it was legal.

The Kantor I use only takes 0.3%, for any amount, so I can't image you could get a better deal. I take the money in £1000 lots - I took £10k once and it came up short £130 when they counted it. They ripped me off.

Life / The rising costs of food and fuel in Poland and the effects on disposable income/economy [177]


Is water cheaper than petrol in Poland? Not by much, surely. Milk is probably the same price.

Life / The rising costs of food and fuel in Poland and the effects on disposable income/economy [177]


Its not really an issue as you don't have to drive very far to get everything you need. In fact you don't need to drive at all in most cities. In the US, you need cheap petrol and most of the money goes to the petrol companies. Europeans prefer the money to go in taxes and stop the Oil giants and ME countries taking the profit.

Petrol in the UK is cheaper than the USA, the difference is entirely tax, the oil companies make very little profit.

Personally i live in Krakow and don't have a car. Every week I take a Taxi, 11-13zl. So the petrol price is irrelevant.

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]


Its coming, have no fear.

Life / Winter in Poland? [161]

A wool cap and a half decent coat is all I bother with. -5C isn't much to worry about.

Thermals? I'd wait until its -15C or colder before considering them. When I go skiing I wear thermal long johns and a thermal top with a wind proof jacket, no further clothes and its good for 15minute lift journeys with alpine winds and -15c temps up the mountain.

Krakow doesn't get much wind, I was shocked when I can back to London as the wind made it feel far worse.

Work / is 2500zl a fair enough wage for on average 50 hours a week (Poland)? [22]

I'd say its a very fair rate. Polish speaking with specialist mining equipment qualifications and my brother-in-law earns far less.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [380]


Maybe in a couple of years from now. Personally I would not fly on a 787 until its been in service for several years. Too many risking engineering design decisions for my liking.

All the complaints about LOT are due to the long delivery delays on the 787, they should have been in service three years ago.

Real Estate / Poland real estate transaction prices higher than at the beginning of 2010 [28]


Lots of pubs in Battersea were giving a free pint of Guinness on St Patrick's day. It does happen.