History / Are Poles happy with the current Polish borders? [134]

Russians or not, a lot of the inhabitants of Kaliningrad want independence or real autonomy
kaliningrad-eu.blogspot.co.uk
witness the popularity of the "Konigsberg" numberplate

as well as the war damage, The Lithuanian SSR rejected the offer of the enclave because it would have made Lithuanians a minority in the Lithuanian SSR.

look at the Tensions in Latvia over Russian minority rights and imagine it tripled!

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

Portugese is damn difficult, supposedly as hard as Chinese.
I had my first conversation in Polish on thursday, then i floated back home on a cloud!
now i've found someone who's happy to talk to me in Polish the future looks bright for improving my skills

Polish just looks intimidating because of all those consonant clusters. the fact that in the past i'd attempted to learn Czech and Russian (but had no chance to use them in England so didn't keep learning) did give me a small head start

History / Question about interwar Poland [13]

they did have a lot of promising Industrial improvement plans that seemed like they'd have worked if the war hadn't happened.
Polskie Radio who were at that time operating the highest powered transmitter in Europe were poised to open Polskie Radio Wolyn from Luck on 424khz, sounds like a trivial thing

but it was part of the plan to develop Wolyn/Volhynia after centuries of neglect by the Russian Empire.
the signs were promising, another great "what if" in Polish History.

The leaders of the 2nd Rep. did do a good job considering what they inherited. as Norman Davies said " 4 worthless currencies and the administrators of 3 dead empires"

History / Question about interwar Poland [13]

i do find it amazing how hostile some Ukranians were to the 2nd republic, considering that the alternative was the Holodomor!

Love / Are Polish girls open to foreigners? [78]

well in the UK my female Polish Doctor (recent arrival) is married to a Pakistani Doctor, and in Crewe they seem to be getting on well enough with the other nationalities

before 89 it didn't really matter so i guess it could have been a culture shock, but they seem to have got used to it.

I went into a Polish barbers decked out in Red & White with an amazing huge Eagle out front ( i still get a lovely buzz out of seeing the Eagle everywhere in Crewe) and Polish calendars and ads on the wall, they employed 2 Arab barbers and a Slovak beautician and everything was Hunky Dory, it gave me a lot of hope for the future. Polonia UK seems as inclusive and Tolerant as one could wish for

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [554]

well to quote the cartoon in the xmas issue of Angora:
"w zyciu trzeba w cos wierzyc halino!"

I've always had positive feelings about Poland, blame my Dad..., and my mums kindly Polish employers. somehow it was there when i was growing up.

but i've got more serious lately, because i need a distraction from incurable chronic pain so it was either Poland or Heroin!

also its recently become possible to buy Polish newspapers here, so i realised that i'd never have a better chance to really throw myself into your wonderful culture

(this week its Wesola Lwowska falo!)

I'll be at the Katyn Memorial in Cannock 13/4/13 paying tribute in my own small way, I'm allergic to flowers so i took flower holders last time!

History / Churchill and Poland [120]


he said that in public a lot precisely BECAUSE he knew Stalin would break his promise, he wanted the world to see what Stalin was like

he also wanted to offer no excuse or provocation that Stalin could blame for breaking his promise

there was also the problem that after 1941 the UK Gov had to persuade the population here that the USSR was an Ally , and it would be hard to suddenly contradict that

also Churchills cabinet was a coalition featuring Pro- Soviet Labour politicians and he had to try to keep the cabinet unified

oddy the CIA & British intelligence funded the UPA after the war- yup the butchers of Volhynia received western money in 1945-47!

History / Churchill and Poland [120]

as far as i've read, by the time Churchill arrived at any meetings Roosevelt & Uncle Joe had already arranged anything and Churchill was told to stop making trouble

Churchills "trouble making" couldn't be allowed to disrupt the plans for the UN that Roosevelt had arranged with that nice trustworth mr Stalin!

the 2 rising powers were in charge by '43 and the old declining power (and our Polish allies) was/were losing influence, Roosevelts hatred of British imperialism was such that he allowed himself to be deluded by Stalin

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

Check out Krist Novoselic's account of Cultural life in Communist Yugoslavia
Last Tango in Paris was considered peak time family viewing!
sos.wa.gov/legacyproject/oralhistories/KristNovoselic/pdf/complete.pdf

i was annoyed to See The Bundesarchiv have banned all East German tv clips from you tube, theres one cinema advert uploaded

News / Predictions about Poland for 2013 [85]

thanks for the link
i was thinking this thought last night, and then spotted it put into words in that interesting Guardian article:
"It is probably the closest to the central and eastern European cultural melting pot from between the wars. Let it stay that way."

we can build a new Lwow in England People!, (but with uglier buildings and more depressing weather!)

dragging my post back on to topic:
i'm keen to get your economic predictions for Poland, BBC Radio were praising the state of the Polish Economy. but Dziennik, Angora & FT are very concerned.

re: "Don't forget about Poland!" article

so i predict that Poland will allow Fracking, and the EC investigation into Gazproms pricing will free Poland of dependance on Russian Supplies.

Maybe Poland will become an exporter and can help Ukraine free itself from Gazprom?

History / BEATS OF FREEDOM - A HISTORY OF POLISH ROCK MUSIC [108]

thanks for the link
"the show was ended halfway when management of the house disconnected electricity" Brilliant! just like the pistols!

History / BEATS OF FREEDOM - A HISTORY OF POLISH ROCK MUSIC [108]

Merged: Punk Rock in the PRL & Music censorship in general

were Punk albums like the Sex Pistols Nevermind the bollocks, released in the PRL?
it wasn't pressed in Russia until 1993

History / Slovakia - Poland's neglected neighbour? [63]

yes that is interesting, this is one of the things i love about the Slavic Languages, when you learn one it helps with the others, if i ever had to go to Serbia or Bulgaria (for instance) i could probably manage to order food and be polite to people

when i wanted to talk to a Slovene radio ham online i used Czech without any problems.
when i was on Holiday in Tunisia in 96 i got talking to an Elderly German Lady who was a refugee from either Stettin or Wroclaw, i forget which. she spoke German & Polish, but no English

i knew a tiny bit of German, No Polish, but i still remembered most of my Czech back then, and she could understand Czech words and i could understand her Polish words so we talked in a mixture of German and Polish/Czech. i'm really glad i got to talk to her, that generation is mostly dead now and its a remote historical event. but having that conversation makes it a little less remote

the Dental assistant at my Dads dentist is Slovak but understand when my Dad speaks Czech to her

History / Lech Walesa - Happy Birthday! [21]

if i'd have seen it in time, i'd have posted, i hope he looks after himself better than Vaclav Havel did!

I wish we'd kept our Solidarnosc t shirts instead of wearing them until they fell to pieces.
in nov 1989 my Mum was working for an exiled Family of Polish aristocrats, on school holidays i would come with her and run around their big house. they were lovely people who used to spoil me at xmas.

the matriarch of the household was on the phone to poland keeping up with events, i wish i was older back then and able to appreciate what was happening, but i do remember the stories of their terrible war time experiences.

for all his faults he's a great man who changed history

is he really as unpopular as Maggie T is here? (i'm not an Anti-Maggie person, but its true she's hated)

heres a cartoon of him from the Imperial War Museum North

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Language / Foreigners speaking Polish - examples. [61]

sorry i can't find the webstream. but 963am (if you don't live near a Twoje Radio transmitter) or anywhere between 7200 & 7400 short wave in the evenings

Language / Foreigners speaking Polish - examples. [61]

you need to hear some of the Polish Language programmes on China Radio International!
i thought i'd discovered a new language!

i listened to their Czech service for 10 minutes once before i could figure out what language it was supposed to be!

it is a hard Language to learn compared to Czech, Portugese is almost as hard.
theres actually a lot of similar sounds in Portugese & Polish that i have trouble with

Genealogy / Common surnames in Poland NOT of Polish origin ? [87]

is Suhanik a Ukranian name?
it came up while i was doing the family tree, i'm on genes reunited if anyone wants to look me up

its the one exotic name in 4 boring centuries of Staffordshire ancestors!