Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

There are many German names in Poland. Most ethnic Germans were expelled, but some descendents of ethnic Germans who do genealogy have found they still have cousins in Poland carrying the ethnic German name. They have been some of the few who swore loyalty to Poland after WWII and were permitted to stay. They married Poles and the ethnic surname survived. Some have made it more Polish like Schultz being Szulc. Or Witzke being Wycke. However, BB....I believe the name Berlin is actually a Slavic name in origin. *ducks*

Genealogy / Polish looks? [1462]

The navy must mean a very dark blue.

My mother had robin's egg blue eyes and while I called my own blue, they were much darker. I've come to learn that my color is widespread throughout central and eastern Europe. They can look dark blue, aqua or grey depending what I am wearing.

History / The Celts in Poland. [71]

Very interesting information SeanBM. As you already know, I had the pleasure of a brief visit to the Dublin area of Ireland. Four days and much to explore. I wanted to go to Newgrange, but only made it to Dowth. Here are a few pictures from my trip:

Broken links removed

Wish I could have seen Newgrange, too....but I only stopped in Ireland a few days to visit friends that live in Dublin and were orginally from Gdańsk. Then it was on to Poland.

Well...I've made a mess above. I must have picked the wrong link at photobucket and when I went to edit, took too long as I was denied access. I should probably just post a link to the slide show. :-/

And if this works, you'll see Slane Hill, Dublin, and some shots of Poland, too.

Genealogy / Looking for grandfather and prior: Laskowski, Ostroleka Poland 1850+ / Witzke [12]

Hello gglbs,

Yes, you are correct. My father's maternal grandfather was Andreas Witzke. They lived in "Dobriner Land" which is located in Central Poland, in the Rypin-Lipno area. The furthest back I have on that line is 1790, and I am not sure where they came from before that. I am about to research it. I am going to see if I can find the death certificate which may name the place of origin. In general, I've heard that most were from either East or West Prussia and moved into Central Poland and then others into Ukraine.

My grandmother and her two sisters came first to Connecticut, and then later, Brooklyn, NY. She left two brothers and a sister in Poland.

I've come across a Richard Witzke, but not sure if this is the same one. There is another researcher, I believe her name is Gail. If you check ancestry.com you may find her by typing in Witzke.

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]

You're welcome Tykotski. If you do have a brother tested, let us know the results.

Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [451]

When I was a little kid, I had a set of encyclopedias that went into extensive detail about what different ethnicities looked like, and classified them. I know it is outdated due to genealogy and gene flow information, but it said that Poles as a rule were medium-fair, of medium stature, and mostly had light brown hair as adults.

I imagine that northern Poles would be more blonde as a result of gene mix from Scandanavian countries.

There is another thread which shows a chart of the blondness/blue eyes all over the world. The closer one lives to Scandanavian countries the more blond and blue-eyed people a country has.

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [512]

Three of my grandparents were born in Poland. The one that was born in America, was the baby of newly arrived Polish immigrants, and went to Polish school in Jersey City, NJ. She could read and write in Polish and my mother spoke Polish, but could not read it.

My aunt just gave me my grandmother's receipe for Chrusciki. :-)

Her parents were Josef Lewandowski and Elizbieta Bubacz from Poznan and Gneizno respectively.

Although all my grandparents have origins in Poland, I am about half Polish (some Kashubian), and half ethnic German/Dutch. I grew up eating a combination of Polish and German foods.

My father's mother, Emma Witzke, was born near Rypin, Poland and was born to a mixed Polish and German marriage. Her Dad was Andrzej Witzke and her Mom was Ludwika Laskowska. They spoke Low German (Platt) and Polish.

My father's Dad's family came from near Włocławek and have German-Kashubian origins from what was once West Prussia. Even after living in America, the US Census lists their native tongue and language spoken at home as Polish, but they also spoke Low German.

I love Poland. I've been there twice, once for three weeks, and other time for a week.
Met a Polish man in Gdańsk, and we were together for about three years and seriously considered marrying. We are friends to this day and he taught me a lot about Poland.

Travel / Poland wildlife and similar wild life where you live. [240]

Beautiful! I've always enjoyed seeing nature pictures of Poland. In addition to the beautiful landscapes and birds, I really liked the furry critters. Not sure what they are....fox pups? Otters? Hedgehogs?

When I was in Poland, I noticed that the squirrels are reddish and here in SC they are usually grey. We have smaller ones, too. Up north in NY they are about the same size.

In SC the insects are much larger, and the animals smaller. :-/

History / Kashubians are nation in Poland? [123]

As far as I know, they do consider themselves to be Poles and part of the larger nation, but they also like to speak their language and remember their regional customs.

History / Kashubians are nation in Poland? [123]

Yes, they are a West Slavic ethnic group. They speak their own language which is closely related to Polish. They at one time were losing their identity, but are in touch with their folkroots, dress and crafts now.

If you go to Gdańsk, you can buy many things made by Kashubians.

Since Prussia occupied these areas before WWII, some Kashubians in the western part of the area, were assimilated with the Germans in the area, began speaking Low German, and became Lutheran. They were expelled after WWII.

Those in the eastern areas, remained Catholic and identified with the Slavic world, still speak their own language, and still live in Pomerelia.

I am Polish on my mother's side, but on my father's side, I have Kashubian roots. I only learned of this recently. I thought they were all Germanic on his side. So, their history is especially interesting to me.

Travel / A Night or Day In GDANSK....how to spend the time?.. [9]

O.K. :-)

If I remember correctly, it is about a 10 minute walk from that area to the bus and train area.

Travel / A Night or Day In GDANSK....how to spend the time?.. [9]

There is a full directory of pubs and clubs, and map links connected with this site. Here's one that sounded good, but then again, I did not go there.

gdansk-life.com/drink/pubs_cafes_details/190-Szksypcze_Rock_Inn_Pub

Travel / A Night or Day In GDANSK....how to spend the time?.. [9]

Have a good trip, Wildrover. When I stayed in Gdańsk, I found the airport like most to be close to the city centre, but not a place where there was much to do.

There are lots of places in Gdańsk to have a good time, and there is public transportation to the airport.

This link is for getting from the city centre to the airport.

zkm.pl/eng/indexht.php?index=14

Genealogy / Poland Genealogy Resources [130]

Looks like the post above yours might help you. There are two web sites listed that do research in Poland.

Life / Should Poles be Polish? [44]

I took the question to be asking if a Pole should be called by the term Polish. Rather than saying someone is a Pole, it is more normal for me to say that someone is Polish.

Is this what you are asking? Or one of the other variety of questions postulated above?

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

Hi Calicoe,

Awwww....that is so cool you were thinking about me! Anything I can help you with, I'll be happy to do.

Getting ready though to go on a trip, and I am having to work up till the trip, so my time might be cramped till I get back. (Procrastinated doing my taxes...I'd rather do genealogy!)

I am going to visit NYC with my boyfriend (who is a southern self-proclaimed redneck, should be fun). We will go to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and eat at The King's Feast. It is supposed to be one of the best Polish restaurants in NY.

My grandparents settled in Greenpoint when they were newly arrived in America, and it is neat to see the tradition continue.

Talk to you later!

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

I have those grey eyes, too. Never heard they were Baltic, before. I did a quick search and found that indeed this is so. Grey eyes are most common in Russia, Finland and the Baltic states.

Life / How far apart do Poles stand when they talk? [46]

I found an interesting article about personal space perceptions between cultures.

It is kind of funny to read although mainly about American and Russian misperceptions about each other due to cultural conditioning about how far away people stand, and other things such as voice volume and facial expressions. Towards the end of the article, it sums up the differences between Russians, Americans, and Northern Europeans:





friends-partners.org/partners/spbweb/lifestyl/122/how.html

Language / Nice Polish words to say to a girl [147]

You're good at English phonetics for Polish! It must look very weird to native speakers though!

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]

From what I know, Tykotski, for the above mentioned test, you would need to have one of your brothers take it. It is a Y DNA test.

As females we have no Y DNA to test. There are some tests that can look at general DNA inherited from both parents. This one is different and relates to the paternal line. Y DNA is specific to men. As females we have MtDNA which is passed down virtually unchanged from mother-to-mother. Sons receive it, and can be tested to see their maternal lineage, but they cannot pass their mother's MtDNA on to their own children. Any children they have would inherit their own Mom's MtDNA.

So, your best bet to take that Y DNA test would be to get a brother to volunteer. It is not necessary to test the person in the family who looks the most Mongolian.

Life / How Safe Are the Polish Cities? [179]

I went by myself to Gdańsk in October and I walked all over the city. Especially the old town. When dusk came, I headed back to where I was staying. Had absolutely no problems. Never felt unsafe.

Law / "FART" shop in Poland - WHAT DOES THIS SHOP SELL? [55]

So.....lucky man = fart man! :-D

Law / "FART" shop in Poland - WHAT DOES THIS SHOP SELL? [55]

hehehe....that was a topic that made my ex Polish bf and I laugh.
It means Lucky. :-)
No idea what they sell, though. Hey, if it's luck, I'll buy!

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]

Oh my Prince. Are you saying you wish to have Prussia between Germany and Poland again? LOL

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]

I'll settle with that! Two out of three ain't bad. :-)

By allegiance I meant that since the land where he was born, Royal Prussia was inhabited by a majority of Germans, but had recently come under the rulership of the Polish King he was a loyal citizen.

Yet, as you say...he was very involved with Prussian affairs. Fighting the Teutonic Knights, because of taxation.

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]

So it seems that the above article about Veleti says that the Wends absorbed the earlier German tribes in the Mecklenburg/Vorpommern area, and then years later, new Germans came in, and absorbed the Wends who were already mixed with some Germanic peoples. I am sure that further east there was a dash or two of ancient Baltic Prus, pagan tribes, who were assimilated with a sprinkle of Danish and Scottish. Ooops. Forgot the Dutch. Well, it seems the mix is still more Saxon than anything.

In all fairness to Prince, however, he has a point. Not so much with Copernicus as with the Mecklenburg/Vorommern area. The Wends broke into lots of groups and at some point, Kashubs were also classified as Wends.

In my genealogical studies, I ran across information written by an ethnic German pre-WWI that the ethnic Germans who moved into the Włocławek area were orignally from Pommern. More recent researchers use the exact same map and call those Germans Pommeranian, but the original researcher said they were Kashubs and because they wished to obscure their partly Slavic background, they favored the term Pommeranian rather than Kashubian. The eastern Kashubs are the same ethnic group but stayed Catholic, and identified with Poland (and still live in Poland). The western Kashubs were expelled because they believed themselves to be German and were Lutheran. But they are identical really. So, it just shows that your idenity is more than genetics, but a matter of culture and who you believe you are.

But, if I am correct, in Copernicus day, the peasants were not aware of identity the way we are today, and the upper classes such as Copernicus and his family viewd the noble classes as who they were. Polish nobles and Prussian nobles, hunted and fished together on their large manors. They had their alligances to each other i.e., Royal Prussia to the Polish King. Yet, it had little to do with what nationalty they were. Just who held the bigger fief above them and who they did fealty to.

So again, it appears Copernicus was Polish in allegiance, but German in culture and of mixed genetics. As in the beginning of the thread. Share him. He belongs to the world not one nationality.

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]

A website that has decided to share:

closermagazine.com/v1/cl6/feature.html

There are scholars of Latin, Greek and Hebrew who still can debate scriptural passages. There are all sorts of historical clues about Copernicus. We can have opinions, but if the experts are still debating...well no wonder we are, too!

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]

Apparently the modern spelling of the name is Kopernik. But there are a lot of them who have identified with Germany. So there are apparently Germans with the name and Poles with the name.

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]

P.S. To show how complicated it can be....after she was living in the United States of America, my German grandmother listed herself as a Polish speaker in one census, and in a different census she listed herself as a German speaker.

She actually was quite fluent in Polish, Low German, High German and knew some Yiddish.

Prince, just wondering what are bambers? Ethnically different people who identified with Poland?

I do know that that happened all the time. People living in a country and identifying heart and soul where they reside. Kasubians being a case in point. Same ethnicity and one half identified with Germany and were deported and the other half identified with Poland. Moreorless.

Well, one thing is for certain. It is neat to talk about. There are lots of things to learn. But, I doubt we solve it. This is one of those things that has been debated a long time.

Oops! Either I failed to read it or you edited to answer me. Thanks!

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]

And having been born in Poland for three hundred years, my ethnic Germans were loyal Polish citizens, too. But they were still ethnically German.

My Polish ancestors were citizens of Germany at the time they were born. And so they are listed as Germans when they came to America.

So, what country you are a citizen of proves little of what ethnic lines you have, but can reflect what country receives your loyalty.

From what I read, I honestly believe that Copernicus had a Polish father who married a German lady. So, he's really ethnically half and half, lived in Royal Prussia which was subject to Poland. I doubt he cared one way or another.

And the idea of sharing him really is best. :-)