Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

In the USA older Polish ladies are famous for wearing a scarf on their heads, called a babuska. Maybe there is a connection?
:-)

News / 10,000 ISRAELIS READY TO CLAIM FOR POLISH CITIZENSHIP AND POLISH LAND! [628]

I understood that all the "resettlements" after WWII were results of the Potsdam Treaty. So I like the idea of those countries sharing whatever compensation would be deemed fit.

I am descended from Poles and ethnic Germans who were born and lived in Poland.
Doing genealogy, I met a man who was about 14 yrs old when the war was ending. He and his parents were poor farmers and managed to buy a tiny farm over a period of many years. I know that some, maybe a lot of ethnic Germans cooperated with the Nazis, but many were loyal Polish citizens.

After generations of living in Poland and never having set foot in Germany, it was hard to move there and lose everything. Their language had stayed the same as hundreds of years ago, and they were not considered Germans in Germany by many. And they, as well as ethnic Polish citizens were all subject to capture by the Russians. It was a horrible time for all. Anyway, they left their farm in the winter with everything on their backs and witnessed frozen dead bodies, bridges being bombed.

In the eighties, this man visited Poland and found his family's old farm. It had been settled with Poles from the east. And he made friends, particularly with the teen that lived there. He was about the same age as this teen when he lived there. They were poor, too. He is fairly well-off now, having emmigrated to Canada from Germany. Every year he sends Christmas presents and birthday gifts for the children. He could have felt angry and wanted reparations, but he is just happy that he is o.k. and they are o.k. I wish more were like him.

And he says that living in Poland, Germany and Canada, when he hears a national anthem, the only one that moves his heart is the Polish anthem. Anyway, many ethnic Germans were like this and had nothing to do with starting the war. Just thought a story that had suffering, but ended well would be inspirational.

News / 10,000 ISRAELIS READY TO CLAIM FOR POLISH CITIZENSHIP AND POLISH LAND! [628]

Czesc Puzzler! Glad you liked the post. :-)

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

Yes, I believe it is a common American thing to call a Polish grandmother Babci.

Probably because after time, the descendents take the basic root word and add the kind of ending that makes sense to American ears. The way we make English words informal and cute. Like Bobby instead of Bob. Puppy instead of dog.

But what is forgotten is that kind of ending does not do the same thing in Polish. Michal is Michalek. Kot is kotek.

So it is an adaptation and corruption. But that is what I called mine, too. I never knew it would sound strange to someone from Poland. And then I found out when my Polish bf laughed at me calling myself Babci.

Love / DO POLISH MEN DATE OLDER WOMEN? [169]

Yes, people are curious about how other people live and what they think. You still do what you believe is best for you.

I had a serious relationship with a Polish man who was 28 years younger than myself. If you had told either of us before this that such would happen, we would have laughed.

But we met online and did not know our ages to begin with and enjoyed writing to each other.

I began to have feelings for him, and he for me but we both were quiet. Then one day, he told me. After eight months of writing, I went to Poland for three weeks and met his family. They thought it was nice their son met a lady from the USA, but they did not understand till later.

Amazingly, they came to like me and accept the situation. He got his visa and came to the USA for a year, and then went back to finish his MA. We were together almost three years, and it was a wonderful relationship for us both.

However, with such a big age difference, I felt we had the best of what we could have and that it was best to love him enough to set him free to be with a woman his age and have children. But we came close to marrying because we were just two people who loved. So, I hate the word boy/toy because he was never this to me. Nor was I a cougar. We are still close, he's married a great Polish young lady and it now makes me happy to see them happy.

No relationship regardless of ages comes with a guarantee. Some men leave same age women to marry younger. Some men who marry older women stay with them. It all depends on the people. I took a chance on love and believe in the old adage it is better to love than not at all.

Genealogy / Polish looks? [1462]

I am a second generation American, Polish/German ethnic mix. My German side all were born in Poland back to the 1700's. They were classified as Russian citizens. My true Polish ancesters were listed as being from German Poland, probably from Poznan area due to the name Bubacz. Anyway, I always wondered about my eyes and noticed my children and Aunt and Mom all had eyes that were almond, kind of slanting upwards on the bottom. One of the posters on the first page said that there tends to be regardless of coloring, heartshaped face, with almond-type eyes. I saw that on the first video clip.

I attached a picture of me that is from a few years ago, and I think it shows what I mean. So, all you experts, what do you think? :-)

• 
  Me
  

Genealogy / Polish looks? [1462]

Ebi, Ozzie Dan and Telefonitika! Giggling a bit! Wish I had the L O N G Polish legs of the females in the videos clips. I agree, that the rest of me is Germanic. As for the Bangles.....no. But I always wanted to be a singer in a band! Enjoyed looking at all the other pix posted by Summer. Lots of fun!

Genealogy / Polish looks? [1462]

On reflection, very accurate, Southern. My looks favor my Dad's side of the family for mouth and jaw, and they are the ones of German descent. My eyes and cheekbones favor my Mom's side of the family and they are Polish.

Just had my DNA matriarchal test done last month, so I will learn more of my Polish ancestry. I am pretty excited. -)

Love / DO POLISH MEN DATE OLDER WOMEN? [169]

Yes, Latina, that is it precisely. Love never hands out guarantees regardless of how close in age we are. Look for the person. If anyone is in an age gap relationship and needs support there is a great site called "Agless Love." It is not a place to find a younger or older partner, but support for those who need it and those who have been together awhile and can give it. The site is for OW/YM or OM/YW

Genealogy / Need help with family history/surnames: Netzel, Petke, Gruzlewski [24]

I answered on your other thread with a few hopefully useful tips. Generally, German names ending in "ke" show they are from Eastern Germany and had a lot contact with Poland. Many German names eventually became completely Polonized as various migrations of German settlers became absorbed. Lasko often became Laskowski. Names like Rode (red) became Cerwinski, etc. Might have my Polish spelling wrong. Your name probably is from a later migration, not fully Polonized. My ethnic German grandmother's name was Witzke. My father was ethnic German and my mother was Polish.

To Bratwrust Boy....Lipno is in what was once called Dobriner Land. There were mostly ethnic German settlements there until after WWII. They were free villages that were established in the 1700's. Nobles invited them there to drain the marshes and they were rewarded with land and the abililty to continue to worship as Lutherans and speak German. Their langauge was the low German spoken now around Bremen

Genealogy / Need help with family history/surnames: Netzel, Petke, Gruzlewski [24]

You're welcome! And thanks Bratwrust Boy for the great links for Dobriner Land. Good luck RP, on finding out more of your ancestor's history.

Genealogy / Need help with family history/surnames: Netzel, Petke, Gruzlewski [24]

In case anyone needs the address of the main Polish Archive, this is probably still current:

Naczelna Dyrekcja
Archiwó Państwowych
Dział Współpracy z Zagranicą
ul. Długa 6
00-950 Warszawa

And I think the local archive for Lipno would be either Toruń or Włocławek. I have their email addresses, but it would be good to write and ask whether to request them directly, or send it through the Warsaw main archive.

Toruń: aptorun@poczta.onet.pl

Włocławek: apwloclawek@poczta.onet.pl

Genealogy / Need help with family history/surnames: Netzel, Petke, Gruzlewski [24]

Oh, I am happy to hear that! And you will tell us???

Maybe this is not the right place, but I want to say that inspite of all the clamor on some of the threads about Germans vs. Poles, and who is more at fault or guilty of what, that most of the ethnic Germans that I know personally really loved Poland, and still do. Yes there were Germans who got ugly when Hitler came into power and took control of Poland. They were wrong and deserved to be kicked out. But hopefully everyone knows that there are good and bad people in every country and nationality.

I do feel that Poland got a bad shake in most things with two very powerful and agressive neighbors and that the allies did not do enough to help her. My heart bleeds for the country of my ancestors, but is also proud that despite all the tragedy, Poland exists. It is a miracle that being divided into German, Austrian and Russian for so many years, the peoples could come together as a country.

And while Poland after WWII became a very homogenized country, it is also a credit to her that at one time she was very multinational and lead the way to tolerance and acceptance. I wish that rather than everyone getting ugly about history, we could educate people about what happened, but also let wounds heal. The past cannot be changed, but maybe a few lessons learned.

I am half Polish and half ethnic German from German colonists in Poland that were invited to be there at one time. It is sad to me they could not stay, but I understand.

I feel for all that Poland suffered and I love my heritage and I love Poland. I almost hyperventilated flying over the country for the first time and cannot wait to go back someday. I encourage you to embrace your family history, but love the land your ancestors chose to make their home, at one time.

Food / Polish honey liquor called something like "vitatass"? [37]

From the article posted by Dice.....I believe maybe this is what the orginal poster is looking for. "Csyer," a form of mead made of honey and apple. I was wondering what it was called, too. I got a gift and it was said to be the drink of the gods....but I forgot the name of it.

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

Merged:
I have a mixed heritage of Polish and ethnic Germans from before WWII. On my mother's side, her mother's parents are Polish from Gniezno. Her father's side is also from Poland, but were ethnic Germans. So she is half Polish, half ethnic German. They met in America after emigrating from Poland and had my Mom.

On my Dad's side, his mother appears to be half ethnic German and half Polish. But this marriage took place in the late 1800's. I am under the impression that mixed marriages were rare between Polish and Germans before WWII. My father's maternal grandfather was Witzke (ethnic German) and my father's maternal grandmother was Laskowska. I assume this to be Polish, but wonder if it was a case of Germans who had Polonized many years before. Any experts out there who know if Laskowski can be Polish and also German?

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

Thank you Bratwurst Boy. I also have found a map that is searchable for current-day frequencies of names in Poland and one for Germany.

moikrewni.pl/mapa/
verwandt.de/karten/

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

You're very welcome. I always learn a lot from your posts. :-)

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

Wład I believe was not saying you had to have 100% like you described Poles, but he did say that only a few fit the profile Harrisonmcmanus depicts as typical Pole.

What I wonder is, where does he get the idea that German/Scandanavians are so dark?

Somewhere on this board is a map of Europe showing the percentages of blonde/blue eye types and it is highest in Scandanavian countries and radiates out, possibly due to Vikings till you get to Spain and Italy with very few. There are dark Germans, of course. I've heard that some of the very dark descend from the Roman army times.

I do believe most Poles are fair, but more like dark blonde, medium brown and then there are those who are very blonde and very dark haired. All Poles.

Food / Healthy polish food? [98]

By the way, herring is very good for you! Lots of Omega 3's. The lady who just recently died after reaching 115 years of age, credited herring. :-)

Mushrooms are also good for you!

Life / Why there is always around a horrible smell of sweat in Poland [188]

I remember as a little girl, we took guests from England in for a convention in New York. My Mom was a clean nut, and they had only few shirts with them and it was summer. They did develop body odor. She went into their closets and washed all their things. They were grateful. But I doubt they knew that we felt they smelled badly.

And I have also had a Polish friend living here for many years, be asked to tell a newly arrived Polish lady that she might want to use some of this (deodorant)when they went shopping together. And she was fine after and nothing more was ever said.

My guess is that until recently, many Europeans were not brainwashed to believe that human beings smell bad. Americans grew up thinking if anything about us smelled, it had to be perfumed away. That's what all the commercials said. We equate clean with chemical fresh.

Fresh, sweat has pheromones in it, but more than a day, bateria get involved and then you have odor. I believe that it can be hotter in places that some settle than where they were from, too. And not be aware.

Just a few thoughts...

Love / Are Polish men romantic and caring or... "plain"? [85]

I had a Polish bf from Gdańsk for nearly three years, and he was very romantic.
And when I was sick, he cared for me, made tea, and was very attentive. We had lots of fun, too. He was very creative and always had me laughing.

He was a bit high maintenance in some ways, but we were very happy. It was one of the best relationships I ever experienced. We broke up due to the fact that he needed to go back to Poland and finish his studies for four years. LDR are very hard to maintain, and he was much younger than I. In the long run, I wanted him to have a normal life, and children. We had the best of what we could have at that time.

Love / Are Polish men romantic and caring or... "plain"? [85]

Hi Madzia22, you might indeed. It's a small world.

Did you by chance go to the Polytechnika in Gdańsk? He had extremely long, dark hair.

And that's all I'll say. :-)

Life / What is the reason for POLISH jokes ? [486]

I had always thought that since the early Polish immigrants were simple farm people, uneducated peasants, that Americans simply got the wrong impression.

They had little way of knowing that there were educated Poles, or that during WWII many of the educated Poles were killed.

Also, as the Wiki article stated, the immigrants often did manual labor. From the PF boards it seems that Polish immigrants still have this problem in the Bristish Isles, I keep hearing about toilet cleaners, etc.

However, whenever we get Polish students working for the summers in the USA, it is apparent that they are very intelligent and well-educated. It is almost laughable to hear many Americans who are not so well-informed or educated then turn around and call them dumb Polacks. My boyfriend at the time who went to a very advanced school in Poland did roofing work while here. And the roofers knew nothing about the world, philsophy, art, etc and it broke my heart for him to hear Polack jokes.

Life / What is the reason for POLISH jokes ? [486]

Nothing, unless that is ALL you hear. Or it is truly believed and not so much a joke. Laughing at yourself is cool when people are laughing with you, not at you.

What I was speaking about was the belief that Poles are actually dumb. That was what was happening on the roof by people who were not educated or particularly bright themselves. But hearing all the Polish jokes made them think my boyfriend was a joke.

But yes, in general I agree that we have to be less touchy and willing to laugh at ourselves and the banter in most cases is harmless.

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

My lineage is Schultz on my father's maternal side of my family. When they lived in Poland, the records list them as Szulc. They spoke platt (low German), and considered themselves ethnic Germans and were Lutherans.

My understanding of that name is that it came from something similar to a village mayor who collected lease-rents for the noble. The term comes from the Hollandry system of farming. Originally Dutch, but then came to be applied to all ethnic Germans who farmed in Poland. They were Lutheran. After WWII most were expelled to Germany, but there are members of the family still in Poland who are now completely Polonized and Catholic.

Same thing with my Edling line. I am in contact with a Catholic priest who has done his genealogy and knows that before WWII his family spoke low German and were Lutheran.

Same with a cousin of mine who has Leichnitz family in Poland who now use a spelling something like....Lejchmic. They all trace their lines back to ethnic Germans but consider themselves Polish. And they have married Poles since then. So ethnicity is very fluid. The genes and culturization are two different things.

Many ethnic Germans knew they were German, but considered themselves Polish in the same sense that I am half Polish and half German, but my citizenship is in the USA. They were Polish by nationality, but German by ethnicity.

This may have been the case with Copernik. In any case, I doubt there was such a strong sense of what country you were from back then. Nationalism is a fairly modern thing.

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

Hi Shopgirl, thanks...and yes...I am sure you're right about the "boys" continuing to wrestle over it. Had to chuckle a bit when BB responded to Prince that he looked forward to their next exchange as he does his next car accident. :-D

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

Awwww..... :-)

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

Hey look at this! They think they have identified the remains of Copernicus via DNA. I wish they'd release his Y-DNA results :-)

From Yahoo:

WARSAW, Poland – Researchers believe they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton they have found with that of hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books.

Jerzy Gassowski, an academic at an archaeology school in Poland, also says facial reconstruction of the skull his team found buried in a cathedral in Poland closely resembles existing portraits of Copernicus, whose theories identified the Sun, not the Earth, as the center of the universe.

Gassowski and Marie Allen, a Swedish DNA expert, told reporters about their findings in Warsaw on Thursday.

Allen said DNA from the bones and teeth matches that of hair found in a book the Polish astronomer owned. It is in a library at Sweden's Uppsala University.

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

It would be interesting to determine Copernicus' paternal DNA. The most prevalent Y Haplogroup for Poland and Germany is R1.

Polish males are likely to be R1a, whereas German males are likely to be R1b. There is overlap, however and so the arguments could continue. But whichever he was would certainly give a bit more amunition to the other side.

Remember though....BB did have a lot of facts, and he only wants Germans and Poles to share him.

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

I have no stake in it either way. I am half Polish and half German. Whatever the results, I am happy because I can claim him! muaauahahaha

:-D