Genealogy / Osolek, Russia (Poland) or damn you transcribers! [15]

nazwiska-polskie.pl/Parys

according to the site above there arę 14 people named Parys in Ostrowek but it's hard to say which Ostrowek it is ...

Also we arę not sure it is really Parys and Ostrówek ...

Genealogy / Osolek, Russia (Poland) or damn you transcribers! [15]

By and large, jon and Dominic are right. We have very little information.
You may also contact the diocese of Siedlce to check the birth records and so on but I don't know if you can do it online and how it would go with the information you have.

Law / After divorce my Polish wife can use my sir name? [8]

The question is whether she wants to keep your name.

Work / Business ideas for Poland [63]

10kg for 28.50?

Life / Where can I buy a second-hand bicycle in Warsaw or Lodz? [10]

Check allegro

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]

@Firefly
If you are employed you don't need to pay dobrowolne ubezpieczenie zdrowotne. Part of your wages covers health insurance. Also if you are registered in urząd pracy as unemployed your health insurance is covered.

I don't know how old you and your partner are so I don't know if you can register there.

If your partner used to work in Poland, contact ZUS to help you find the documents. They should do it. Depending on how long she worked, she may be entitled to a state pension. Even if it's really small, she will be entitled to free healthcare (assuming she is old enough to get a pension).

Dobrowolne ubezpieczenie zdrowotne is an option only to people who don't or can't work/ don't want to or can't register as unemployed in urząd pracy or work on the so-called umowa o dzieło (junk job contract that doesn't cover your health insurance).

Btw, if you pay taxes in Poland you get most of the money back in your zwrot podatku the following year.

Genealogy / Osolek, Russia (Poland) or damn you transcribers! [15]

piasa.org/archivesinpoland/siedlce.html

Try mailing them for suggestions.

Work / Business ideas for Poland [63]

Sure it doesn't. A great bargain :)

As for business opportunities, I'd focus on things you have experience in. So don't open a restaurant if you have never worked in one. Also, think about the location. If there are already two gyms in the area, don't open a third one.

How about franchising?

Law / Last will in Poland - (can a stranger inherit everything?) [40]

I'm not sure but I think that if the deceased had children and there was no last will, they get part of the inheritance.

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]

pl.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/social-security/totalization-agreement/

I don't know if you're from the US but if you are, the link might be helpful. If you are from another country, contact the Polish embassy in your country or your country's embassy in Poland.

I think they should have most detailed information concerning your problem.

Language / Polish diminuitive names [11]

It's Bronia.

:)

Work / Polish employer suggests I have my own company in UK [21]

I guess the potential employer just doesn't want to give you a proper job contract and wants you to be self-employed.
The costs of being self-employed in Poland are much higher. You need to pay around 1100 zl per month to ZUS regardless of how much you earn plus tax. I'm not sure how much it is in the UK but I hear it's less than 100 zł per month - you would have to check it yourself.

Also, tax free allowance in Poland is about 3000 zł while in the UK it's about 11000 pounds, I think ...

Language / Polish diminuitive names [11]

Bronku is the vocative form of Bronek (short from Bronisław not Bronisława).

So you can use 'Bronku' if you want to suggest to Bronisława that she looks slightly masculine or unintentionally insult Bronisława because you took advice from someone who doesn't know Polish.

Work / Polish employer suggests I have my own company in UK [21]

The costs of being self employed in Poland are really high. Some people try to avoid it by registering their businesses abroad. I have personally heard of countries like the UK, Slovakia or even Malta. That is probably the reason why you were advised something like that.

However, if it's your first business (being self employed), you get a 'discount' for your monthly ZUS payments - about 500 instead of 1100. But I'm not sure if that applies to foreigners, too.

Keep in mind, you may need to get someone to do the accounting if you can't do it yourself.

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]

@Firefly
Can you give us some information concerning yourselves so that we could actually help you?
Have you and your partner reached the retirement age in Poland?
If you haven't, do you intend to work in Poland?
What country do you live in? Perhaps there is some sort of agreement between Poland and your country that entitles you to free medical care in Poland.

Genealogy / Need help finding a place in Suwalki region (from Russian times) [14]

familysearch.org/wiki/en/Poland_Archives_and_Libraries

The link above gives you information about how to look for data in Poland.
Bujauskas sounds Lithuanian. He may have been born in Poland, though.
If he was Roman Catholic, you may try to contact the diocese in Ełk
kuria@diecezja.elk.pl

Off-Topic / Result of Danish Elections may be favorable to Poland [45]

How many Danish citizens were killed for helping Jews?
How many were sent to concentration camps?
How many were tortured?

Off-Topic / Result of Danish Elections may be favorable to Poland [45]

He seems quite friendly when it comes to Germans.
He just hates Poles.
Any idea why he is a regular here? Just to give vent to his hate or frustration?

Genealogy / Looking for Information on Saint Stanislaus Parish [9]

tarnowskiekoscioly.net/index.php/koscioly/414-smegorzow-kosciol-sw-stanislawa

You can see some photos in the link.
However, according to the information there the church was built between 1958-1966.
There might have been an older church there before but I haven't found any information about it online.

Off-Topic / Result of Danish Elections may be favorable to Poland [45]

Lyzko - the Oracle of Wisdom and clairvoyant who 'knows' how Poles felt about Jews during WW2 even though his family had left Poland before the war and he wasn't born yet.

Is that a fact, too?
It's psychological projection and blame shifting. He keeps accusing Poles of anti-semitism but in fact it is him who is prejudiced against Poles. It makes him feel better if he justifies his hatred this way.

He won't answer any questions.
He will be back with similar acccusations soon.

Back on topic please

Law / Am I eligible for the Polish citizenship? (married for 3 years, lived in Poland for 2 years) [12]

If your passport is so much higher in rank than the Polish passport, then why do if even bother?

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]

Actually, they do check if you have health insurance.
Several years ago I wanted to see a specialist and was told that I didn't have health insurance. It turned out later that my new employer had failed to notice the NFZ about employing me and my health insurance card got invalid.

Law / Am I eligible for the Polish citizenship? (married for 3 years, lived in Poland for 2 years) [12]

@jon357
I was just being sarcastic. He obviously wants to get it.

History / Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto? [582]

Yet another example he is more compassionate towards Germans than to Poles.
A history teacher? It is horrible to think he spread his 'knowledge' about WW2 to others - full of prejudice and lacking information.

History / Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto? [582]

@dolnoslask
I know. That's how I feel as well. And to think that he preaches his 'facts' to others is just terrifying.
Is it my impression that he has just found out about the destruction of Warsaw? And what does he compare it, too? German cities. As much as you feel sorry for civilians there, it was a bloody consequence of what Nazis had done to numerous European cities, towns and villages. A great number of them in Poland. Where's sympathy for their civilians?

On the other hand, somebody taught him that, too. That basically posts a question about the level of history classes in the US. Is it just him or is it common?

History / Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto? [582]

As for Jewish involvement in Stalinist atrocities, it is a taboo. Even Solzhenitsyn was criticised and ostracised for mentioning it in one of his books.

Or postwar Poland and Jewish Stalinist persecutors like Romkowski, Brystiger, Wolinska or Rozycki and many more. Should we reverse Lyzko's argument and say that communists chose Jews to persecute Poles because of their anti-polonism? They would torture and sentence to death people like Pilecki. The man who had volunteered into Auschwitz to gather intelligence was tortured by a Jew... He and other victims of the Stalinist regime were thrown into mass graves and many still remain unidentified. And their oppressors were never punished.

But I'm not going to make such generalisations about a whole nation based on certain individuals.
Why were there so many Jews in Poland before the war? Because ethnic Poles and Polish Jews could live happily together. There were good Poles and bad Poles, good Jews and bad Jews. Also the German, Russian or Ukrainian minorities. All had to face Nazis. Many were killed. Many fought bravely against the occupant. Shamefully, some helped Nazis - some of them were ethnic Germans, Poles, Ukrainians and yes - Jews too.

Travel / Why do you visit Poland? [222]

As for Szlak Orlich Gniazd, the Ogrodzieniec Castle is just amazing. Not much to see in the village but the ruins make up for everything.

The castle seems to rise from the rocks on which it was built. It's open to tourists.
I think they sometimes organise these medieval fairs (similarly to other castles on the trail).

Travel / Why do you visit Poland? [222]

I used to visit it a lot when I was in my teens. I really loved to wander around. We spent several summers nearby. But that was years ago. Surely before Wajda filmed 'Zemsta' there and uncle Google says the film was made in 2002.

Even then it did have a parking lot, some cafes or bars. There were souvenir shops in some of the chambers.

History / Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto? [582]

Recently I have read a book by an American Jewish author. She had come to Poland to trace her family's history. Among other things the book also focuses on Jewish misconceptions concerning Poles and Polish misconceptions concerning Jews. Unfortunately, there are people on both sides who choose to see the other side only through painful stereotypes.

Take Kazimierz in Kraków - some think it is a Jewish Disneyland. They don't see it as a way of preserving the history of Polish Jews but as a way of making money on tourists. So even if Poles are interested in the history of Polish Jews, it is wrong to some.

History / Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto? [582]

@delphiandomine
He is interested in Poland to some extent, but he still knows very little about the country or its people (although he claims otherwise).