Food / WHAT DID YOU EAT FOR POLISH EASTER TODAY? [45]

Przypiękne!

Pisanki i baranki są "szczyt" Wielkiej Nocy:-)

Beautiful!

The hand-painted Easter eggs and small paschal lambs are the high point of Easter:-)

Life / No Easter Bunnies in Poland? [7]

Easter may well be not as commercial, however many Catholic Poles have told me, that it may even be a holiday of more solemn significance:-)

Life / No Easter Bunnies in Poland? [7]

Whenever I've seen Polish Easter celebrated, i.e. in areas such as Greenpoint, Bklyn. or Maspeth, Queens, it's usually quite an elaborate affair with lots of yellow and green draped everywhere, plus the traditional stick-to-your-ribs repast on Easter Sunday:-)

.....but NO BUNNIES!!!!

Work / Has anyone had experience of teaching with Berlitz Poland? [20]

Berlitz-US used to hire exclusively native-born and educated teachers. Now, they'll even hire teachers with accents and questionable grammar!!

How the mighty have fallen:-)

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]

I remember once many years ago in London hearing two Poles conversing in English with heavy accents using typical Britishisms of the time: "Aj tink hi'ss doink bladdiy goot job!" or "Luk aht dawss tu snawggink.(Look at those two snogging = kissing) etc.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [853]

Merged: Juergen Roth - German journalist attempts to prove POLISH complicity in Smolensk tragedy 2010!

I was shocked to read in the Nowy Dziennik yesterday that a German journalist has claimed to have documentary proof that the plane crash over Smoleńsk was carried out by Poland??

Incredible, if true.A złoty for your thoughts:-)

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [853]

JollyRomek, as the assertion had always been maintained that it was either an accident, or, the Russians had something to do with it, to read that the pilot, a fellow Pole presumably, may have "pulled a Lubitz" on his fellow passengers (not to mention the Polish nation!!!) is pretty tough stuff. Starker Tobak, wouldn't you think so??

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [853]

You asserted the pilot MIGHT have made a landing error. Maybe so, and maybe not. Even Roth concedes we'll never know for certain:-)

A certain Barbara Stanisławczyk has recently written a book covering events from Katyń to Smoleńsk. I haven't read the book as of yet. I only read an interview with her in our local Polish-language daily!

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [853]

And you were also right there in the cockpit, I suppose:-LOL

Try again, JollyRomek!

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [853]

Yes, I thought so. How about you?:-)
LOL

Fact remains, aside from a black box, much of what went on is reliant on hearsay.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [853]

The well-known German journalist Juergen Roth might feel differently! He claims conspiracy.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [853]

Nevertheless, often times a certain investigative reporter is called names such as "crackpot" (Verrueckter) etc., when in fact they are only unmasking unpopular issues which the status quo would prefer to simply sweep under the rug.

Lots of folks said the same as you about Guido Knopp and we all know what nonsense that turned out to be.

N.B.
One man's crackpot's another man's soldier of truth:-)

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [853]

Simply that, like Roth, only for different reasons, Knopp too has heavily criticized for his popular treatments of the Third Reich.
Many also accused him of being less than truthful etc..

No, there's no connection whatsoever with the Smoleńsk tragedy, only an aside as apparently a fellow poster has taken issue with my mentioning Juergen Roth within the pervue of responsible journalism:-)

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [853]

True, jon. Many such fora unfortunately are (over-)populated by ignoramuses who give vent to their idiotic views, where at once time in pre-Internet days they might have screamed them from Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park etc.

Life / Concerns of a Swede who is about to go to Poland for work [53]

You intend eventually to learn the language, I take it? Swedish, English and German are all fine within the EU itself, however, they won't help you all that much in Poland:-)

On the other hand, the more ahistorical, culturally deficient etc. the world is fast becoming, I frankly don't believe anyone would notice the bleedin' difference if you spoke "good" English in Poland or not. "Adequate" would most likely do just fine.

I'm not discouraging you from your job search, quite the contrary. I'm only bringing to light some of my own thoughts (..for whatever they're worth).

Life / Concerns of a Swede who is about to go to Poland for work [53]

SwedishStudent,

I'm still unclear as to your intentions about learning Polish:-) Surely, you'll be able to find employment without, but with, it'll make ALL the difference, trust me!

In this way, I repeat, Poland is NOT like Sweden.

Incidentally, I'm fluent in Swedish and Polish, but even if I weren't I'd only go to another country without knowing the language purely for vacation purposes!

Life / Concerns of a Swede who is about to go to Poland for work [53]

@
Swedish student, apologies for pressing the point again, but a year's an awfully long time to fiddle around trying to get by in English. OK, you do as you see fit. In your shoes though, I'd be frustrated as could be:-) Maybe a few days in blissful ignorance, after that, I'd go nuts!!

Life / Concerns of a Swede who is about to go to Poland for work [53]

Thanks as always, Ziemowit!

@
Swedish student, your high-minded aims merely reinforce, to me anyway, your obviously callow youth:-) Not wishing to appear even "more" condescending than I already have undoubtedly, a country truly CANNOT be effectively appreciated without at least a basic working knowledge of her mother tongue. The big question remains, whether you are simply going to work in Poland 'for the experience', to stand out like some sort of curiosity, or to really make a serious contribution to whereever it is you'll be working.

Again, even before I went to Sweden, I made sure my basic language skills were in place. Othewise, I'd have been just one more young, bothersome American lad out for some free Swedish tailLOL

Gość123456, Sweden has long since been a mecca (no pun intended with the present "Islamization" of Stockholm's Old TownLOL) for foreigners, particularly American draft dodgers in the '60's, not merely for her high standard of living, but her (perceived!!) open attitudes towards, among other things, SEX:-)))

Where poor ol' Ingmar Bergman found only uptight Lutheran piety, outsiders saw mostly blue movies, e.g. "I am curious yellow" etc..., as well as those hot, international model-types like Gunnila Knutsson doing Noxema commercials on American TV.....

While the Swedish "system" has many reasons to be touted, Poland's universities ain't nothin' to sneeze at either! Kraków, Warszawa and Lublin have world-renowned faculty (pity I can't think of any at the moment) and Poland too has many research scientists as well.

I've found most Poles more intellectually curious than many Swedes I've met. The latter have grown up since 1945 with such a silver spoon in the mouths, that they don't even notice its tarnish over the past several decades. They had it too comfy for their own good; the Poles on the other hand under Communism, had to prove hardship.

Please keep to the topic.

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [656]

Most Poles whom I've met in general have oval-shaped faces, albeit eye color isn't always uniform. Normally, I can pretty much point out Poles I see on the streets of Forest Hills, and usually nail it each time (even before they say anything)-:)

Russian faces tend to be less sculptured and finely chiseled. Then too, there's considerable Germanic in the Polish make-up, therefore, "pure" Slavic they're definitely not. Sure, one can draw certain parallels between, say, the face of the late Pope John Paul and Jarek Kaczyński etc..., yet looking at Władimir Putin, I'd NEVER take him for a Pole if I'd never seen him prior!

I DO though often confuse Poles for certain Ukrainians.

Poles, furthermore, unlike Czechs, Croats or other Western and Southern Slavs, can sometimes have almost an Asiatic cast to their features, i.e. the high cheekbones etc. Moreover, there has been detected even a distant Celtic admixture, also defining a homogeneity to the Polish physiognymy:-)

Life / Concerns of a Swede who is about to go to Poland for work [53]

....nor atypically for your generation, I can assure you:-)

As a non-Polish speaker though, I'd suggest working, say, at a consulary branch of the Swedish Embassy in Warsaw, whereby you'd be using both your English as well as your Swedish on a daily basis. Here, indeed there might be both little call or necessity for you to speak Polish. For such, there are scores of interpreters eager to perfect THEIR language skills too.

You might also attempt the university route, although without at least a reading knowledge of the language, you could easily find your best efforts stymied!

History / Was the holocaust by Germans in Poland the worse genocide in history? [210]

What with the present hundredth "anniversary" commemorations of the Turkish massacre of the Armenian community, kindly remember the disturbing threat by Hitler himself when warned that his plans for the Jewish genocide would not be possible:

"Who remembers Armenia"? was said to be his glib reply to those critics within his own ranks.

In fact, the Schoah is generally considered by both Jewish as well as German gentile historians to be a watershed event, unique in its barbarity throughout the annals of recorded man. "Unique" is a dangerous word to use. ALL individual as well as collective suffering is always unique to those who've experienced it. The Nazi Holocaust however had the sole distinction of being the most methodically documented, carried out with nearly the complete support of the German population and with EVERY means necessary by the Nazi government apparatus to expedite the focused killing of a single ethnic group within the Reich as efficiently as possible with no economic expense spared.

For the sheer enormity of the crime, the Holocaust regrettable still stands alone!

History / Was the holocaust by Germans in Poland the worse genocide in history? [210]

Brunesis, you seem to have missed my point! Noone here is trying either to relativize or "grade" degrees of suffering and death.

The mass murders committed by Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot or Idi Amin, were essentially the wanton state-sponsored killings on a whim, whereas e.g. in Mao's case the slaughter of his own ethinic Chinese with whom he happened to disagree on purely idealogical grounds. Pol Pot slaughtered indiscriminantly and capriciously which was what made him so feared.

The German Holocaust was conversely based solely on BIO-idealogical hatred; Hitler honestly believed that the Jew belonged to a different species of humanity and was therefore dangerous as it somehow threatened to usurp the rightful place of the German "Volk" (translation: racially pure nation/state). The Jew therefore had to exponged from Germany's midst as he represented the so-to-speak greatest threat to humanity and that he was to boot an "enemy of the state", already a foregone conclusion long before the first gas chambers were even built!

If Jews in Stalinist Russia, Chinese in Mao's China or even fellow Cambodians under Pol Pot's regime did their level best to curry favor by groveling to their "superiors", they too could live, albeit in a permanently degraded state of being. No such choice was left the Jews under Hitler; extermination was to be total, complete with NO margin for error.

History / Was the holocaust by Germans in Poland the worse genocide in history? [210]

Fact remains, that while Oświęcim aka Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka etc. clearly rested on Polish soil, they were almost exlusively manned, operated and administrated by GERMANS, not Poles (as I stated once before)!

The blame therefore lies solely with Nazi Germany for carrying out as well as having the Holocaust carried out in occupied countries as well as in those territories squarely within the Nazi dragnet.

History / Was the holocaust by Germans in Poland the worse genocide in history? [210]

JollyRomek, although factually correct about the vast number of accomplices in such cases as that Demanjuk, a Ukrainian indeed, this was more the exception than the rule, at least in Germany itself. The watch guards in Belsen, Dachau, Orthruf etc. compared with the majority of extermination camps in Poland, were almost exclusively Germans.

To be sure, the orders in ALL cases were given by the German, NOT the Poles, Ukrainians, assorted Balts and so on!

History / Was the holocaust by Germans in Poland the worse genocide in history? [210]

Obviously, JollyRomek! On this I concur wholeheartedly, if merely from the perspective of historical accuracy!

The big issue after the War was whether crimes committed by Germans in "occupied" territory, i.e. NOW no longer technically German, could be ascribed to the present government of the that-time fledgling Federal Republic of Germany, i.e. (former) West Germany. This remains a question as fewer and fewer survivors from that period are still with us and actual first-hand memory of the period has already begun to fade, will the proverbial "statute of limitations" (Verjaehrungsfrist) run out and will therefore culpability too become a mere talking point.

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]

Frankly, I'd have said (as an American, mind you!) Southern California Anglo! Polish? Aehh, probably not. More German, even French, possible British, once again:-)

History / Was the holocaust by Germans in Poland the worse genocide in history? [210]

Noooo, not exactly! The statute of limitations according to your own Basic Law/ post-War Constitution is determined clearly by the government of the Federal Republic:-) Israel to this day continues fighting for the extradition (Auslieferung) of any number of "former" German Nazis, e.g. Alois Brunner, accused of war crimes. Merkel has said on more than one occasion, both to the Jewish Claims Conference International as well to her own parliament, that she does NOT intend to make this debate an issue in ther campaign any longer.

Apologies myself! Posted message before reading your latest reply. SorryLOL

A general addendum to this most engaging thread!

Over the past two decades, I've had the sad duty to attend a number of Yom Hashoah Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies, both in Israel and at the UN Headquarters in New York. German, Austrian, Hungarian and Russian consular representatives each came up to speak regarding their country's complicity if not direct involvement in the Shoah. Not ONE (1) time did a representative from Poland come up to speak. While I'm not speaking about before a specifically Polish venue, I wondered for a long time, why at the former venues, the Poles stood silently while others spoke.

And I still don't have an answer.

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]

Poland is a remarkably homogeneous society, much more than most other European countries. I too stood out during my first (and sadly, only) visit to Poland many years ago, probably even before you were bornLOL

There's a specific type of facial bone structure which is distinctly Polish.

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]

@Veles,

"to look Polish" = wyglądać jak Polak/Polka
:-)