Life / Our Mothers, Our Fathers on Polish TV? [19]

In a political correct world the German protagonists would have been either Nazis or passive, and the episodes in WW2 would have shown mass killings, war crimes, death and horror everywhere, traumatized soldiers etc.. A political correct movie also would have shown the expulsions from Eastern Germany or the mass rapes by the Red Army. Everything on Sunday prime time, where usually cheesy love stories between rich, beautiful people in romantic Ireland are shown. You expect a bit too much from a TV movie and from a producer who made gems like "Dresden", a TV movie about the love between a German nurse and a British(!) bomber pilot(!!) when the city gets leveled in the background.

And how self-critical are Polish TV productions btw.? How are the Jewish Poles in the Polish society depicted? Ever seen a movie about the systematic destruction of the German culture in the "Ziemie Odzyskane"?

Travel / Live cameras over Poland [21]


This was weak... ;)
Let me try it: this is the Western side of the Rynek, in German times called the "Sieben-Kurfuersten-Seite" (seven electors side). This part of the square was named after the yellow house on the left side, a Gothic building with a Baroque facade. The facade shows the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire and the (Austrian) emperor. This side of the square survived WW2 without major damages. After Breslau became Polish the Commies destroyed the facade to get rid of all German traces. After 1990 the facade was reconstructed. The modern building to the left was built in 1930 and was typical for the time, when several architects of the Bauhaus school planned to rebuilt the entire square. Behind the building is the so called salt market, in German times also called Polish market, because Polish traders sold the salt from Wieliczka there. The place was later renamed to "Bluecher Platz" after a big statue of the Prussian general by Christian Daniel Rauch. This very valuable statue was also destroyed by the Commies.

History / History of Poland in a pill - illustrated [37]

So, Poles in Prussia and Russia felt like Ukrainians before in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?

Travel / Just visited Poland - here is my random rant [154]


Give me a break! You are talking about the cultural heritage of the country. Do you know how cities without these buildings, but with "something modern and efficient" look? Look at the cities built after WW2, both in Western and Eastern Europe. Or the crap that was built since the 1990s. No "average tourist" wants to see this, and no one with a choice wants to live there. Strangely, if people have a choice, they always want to live in historical buildings (if upgraded to modern standards).

But I agree that especially the smaller towns often look horrible. There are several reasons for this:

1) Neither the people nor the communities in the smaller towns have money.

2) No organization and controls. The cultural heritage management in Poland is a mess. The monument protection service is underfunded, has no influence in public policy and cares mostly about churches, and not much else. And the communities don't have basic rules like land utilisation plans or building regulations. Everyone can do whatever he likes.

3) Poles don't have a sense for architecture. For many centuries Poland was a land of a small urban middle class and a big rural lower class, unlike countries like Italy or Germany, which had a big urban middle class already during the Renaissance era. Urban development has a much bigger importance in such societies, that's why they developed the regulations and sensitivity Poland lacks. Just have a look at this thread: skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=967926&page=356

Turrets, battlements, huge portal on tiny buildings, defense walls, ugly colors etc.. The only place where I've seen similar tacky buildings was in Romania, built by Gypsy barons.

4) No emotional connections to the cultural heritage in the so called "recovered territories".

History / How come Poles like Russians but not Germans? [216]


Only true for young women. In their late 30s/40s they turn into fat babushkas, and Western women begin to look *much* better.

History / How come Poles like Russians but not Germans? [216]


And Novgorod should be renamed to Holmgard. :D

UK, Ireland / UK Polonia protesting v German TV series [65]

I love the Polish victim mentality... :D
So, the Brits shouldn't see a German movie about German guilt because 1% of the movie allegedly depicts Poles wrong. How many of the Poles who protest now have actually seen the movie. I'm sure no one. Ridiculous.

News / How do Poles feel about the outcome of Germany's elections? [90]

Technically they are the the same, but with a complete population exchange the character of a city also changes completely. Traditions get lost, names get lost, stories get lost, connections get lost... Polish Gdańsk and German Danzig are something completely different.

News / How do Poles feel about the outcome of Germany's elections? [90]


Of course you can! The Commies did it. Erase all names and structures (like cemeteries) you don't like, add Polish eagles and names (of Poles who stayed for ONE night in the city for example) everywhere... et voilà. 600 years of German presence in cities like Gdańsk or Wrocław become a mere footnote of history. The only problem with this approach was that history museums had nothing to show anymore, that's why most of them closed.

News / How do Poles feel about the outcome of Germany's elections? [90]


Really? Which facts?

Love / Polish women: what do you think of Polish men? Physically unattractive? [180]


That's not a Polish phenomenon, women everywhere adapt better to changes.
And regarding the looks: like in most Slavic countries women are often quite glamorous, while men often look like hobos. Strange.

Love / Polish women: what do you think of Polish men? Physically unattractive? [180]

How did they spot them? Especially since there are almost no Poles in the city?

Love / Polish women: what do you think of Polish men? Physically unattractive? [180]


Oh cool, now we know that 90yo Poles are in great shape... :D

News / MORE ANTI-POLISH SENTIMENT IN GERMANY [280]


Looks like Anti-German sentiment is also still alive and well in Poland...

News / Poland and Germany should unite, says Lech Walesa [72]


Your grandparents were free to move into a completely furnished German house. They could also have looted a German castle in Silesia or East Prussia for example.

News / Poland and Germany should unite, says Lech Walesa [72]


This "Drang nach Osten" is one of the great Polish myths. The Teutonic Knights were invited by Poles, because they couldn't conquer the land themselves. The settlers in Pomerania and Silesia were invited by the local dukes, who Germanized their lands by choice.

News / Poland and Germany should unite, says Lech Walesa [72]


All Germans who received Nobel prices since 1901: 104
Germans who received Nobel prices since 1945: ~50

Hmm...


Well, at least you get proper Döners and Pizza there...

Food / Is Domino's Pizza popular in Poland? [18]


No Italian community -> no good pizza.

History / Future of Kaliningrad Oblast - is it possible to annex by Poland or will it become an independent country? [137]

Kaliningrad oblast was


Maybe you should read one or two history books...

Topic: the area is even more run down than the former German territories in Poland. I think Germany couldn't care less.

History / Slavic vs Germanic thinking.... and the philosophical differences [251]

This thread is hillarious...
So, Germany isn't a civilized culture and became a part of the West only after 1945. I wonder in what environment people like Bach, Beethoven, Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Leibniz, Duerer, Kepler, Gauss, Nietzsche, Hegel, Gutenberg, Marx, Benz, Planck, Luther, Weber, Humboldt, Wagner, Brecht or Schopenhauer could develop. And how Western civilization would look without them.

History / Slavic vs Germanic thinking.... and the philosophical differences [251]


Yeah, right. Western music without leitmotif (or the hymn of Europe), Western philosophy without the categorical imperative and Marxism, Western sociology without the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, mathematics without Gauss, Western history without Protestantism.

Some of you are seriously deluded.

BTW: what exactly did Poland contribute to the Western civilization if these people don't count? Was Poland ever a civilized culture or just a peasants society?

History / Slavic vs Germanic thinking.... and the philosophical differences [251]


Huh? I'm not German. And isn't this thread about feeling superior to Germans???

Food / Cheese in Poland is too bland [37]


Haha, I was just waiting for this... someone from England complaining about local cheeses, and the first cheese he comes up with is Cheddar. LOL! :D


Ever tried Cabrales or Fourme d'Ambert? Gruyère, Munster or Taleggio? Harzer, Casar or Tilsit? Europe is full of great cheeses, and I can't say that England stands out, neither in quality nor quantity.

Food / Cheese in Poland is too bland [37]


Try Fourme d'Ambert. A bit more salty and creamy, and with a more refined taste than Gorgonzola, but just as mild. Or Saint Agur, which is easier to get.

History / Poland must get back Lwow, Wilno and Brest back [318]


No, almost all cities to the left of the Odra survived WW2 without damages. Nysa, Legnica, Kłodzko or Jelenia Gora were destroyed in the 60s and 70s. Even Wrocław was further destroyed after the war before parts of the city were reconstructed.

Thankfully Ukrainians cared much better for Polish cities.


And medieval Poland took Silesia from Bohemia. Who's clever now?

History / Poland must get back Lwow, Wilno and Brest back [318]


Hmm, lets see: in German Silesia we had Slavic and German place names, Germans, Poles, Czechs and Jews, and Catholic + Protestant churches and Jewish synagogues. Now we have Polish names, Polish people and Catholic churches. The rest fled,was expelled, destroyed, leveled. Looks like Polish nationalism was way more effective than German Nazism in Silesia.

History / Poland must get back Lwow, Wilno and Brest back [318]


Poles have to live with the result of Polish nationalism, not Germans. They just can't find the graves of their families anymore.
Interesting how people always defend the action of the Polish Commies in the "recovered territories", who acted just like the Taliban a few decades later.

History / Poland must get back Lwow, Wilno and Brest back [318]


OK: of the ~150 listed castles and palaces 23 are in good shape (restored and used), 60 are in ruins, the rest is in various states of decay.

News / Germany returns WW2 loot to Poland [14]

Hardly, since his father mostly collected German and French expressionists, and the collection was known to art historians.

News / Germany returns WW2 loot to Poland [14]


The same actually happened in Poland, and the issue is unresolved too. Until the early 50s trains full of artworks from the former German territories were sent to Inner Poland to fill the museums and churches there. The National Museum in Warsaw for instance houses the biggest collection of medieval Silesian art (which is mostly not shown), while Silesias museums are almost empty (which was no problem during the Socialist era). But there are requests mostly from Wrocław now to return these artworks, but Warsaw refuses and sees them as war reparations. Ironically then the same people, this was striking during the Kaczyński era, forget these artworks from Silesia, Pomerania and East Prussia and refuse to give the Berlinka or other collection back to Germany, citing the heavy cultural losses of Poland and the lack of reparations by Germany... while at the same time demanding the return of Polish works of art from Russia.

Basically, it's all a big mess.