History /
The heroic jump of the 1st Polish Independent Paratrooper Brigade [81]
jonni: But hard evidence from those who were there would help. In the absence of that we can only speculate.
To the contrary, in my view it would be speculative to suggest they were treated the same and evidence from those who suggest otherwise would be required, as opposed to what you seem to suggest. I suppose the evidence in your favour would be the fact that HMG insisted with Germany that AK combatants be treated effectively as though British soldiers would be viz their POW status on threat of German prisoners losing such status, though arguably this was the exception rather than the rule. Katyn and its aftermath could be evidence to the contrary (ie if the Polish officers were British I'm sure HMG would have intervened more forcefully).
jonni: My point though is that those who raise the same points evey day were not there. Most are under 30.
Though somewhat trite, your point is taken, although this presupposes the notion that in order to have a say in something there must be proximity in space and time to the subject matter. How does one make the appropriate benchmark for validity of input? It's again one of those imponderable, metaphysical issues to which there's no right or wrong answer.
Think of it this way - imagine your child/family member/missus was involved in some sort of dispute/fight which in your subjective mind was not resolved satisfactorily and you still feel angered by what happened, even though your child/missus etc aren't too worried about it and wonder why you keep carrying on about it. It's an emotional reaction when someone dear to you is threatened or has been wronged. Posters in the camp to which you disagree with can be seen in that light - they weren't there, they don't know exactly what happened but they're angry because they feel the issue was unresolved and simply for the fact that it happened to someone they love(d). It's kind of a proxy form of guilt finding behaviour and because in the case of Poland and WW2 there will probably never be justice this will most likely continue.
jonni: My father who was a kid in the cellar when the bombs were falling around them night after night never talks about it - and probably has unresolved issues.
I'm sorry to hear your father had to live through that and for your sake I'm glad he didn't burden you with what he experienced. My dad spoke about his experiences because one day I questioned why he had so many little crater like scars on his shins. The answer was he and his friends were playing in the ruins when a German machine gun crew decided to open up on them, killing most of my dad's friends, with him copping a barrage of concrete shrapnel, thus the scars. He was there in Warsaw when the parachute drops occurred - you can imagine the excitement when this first happened then the despondency when it was realised that it wasn't Polish troops coming to help. His father had just died in the Rising, his uncle was still fighting on under the army who went to Britain, and the hope that Warsaw and Poland would be saved had just been squashed - a bitter pill to swallow.
jonni: And he doesn't, ever, talk about abstract geopolitical grievances and 'what ifs' like some of the twenty-something year old posters here, much less repeat them pointlessly from some Mid-West town, scoring political and nationalistic points out of other people's personal tragedies, while those here in Warsaw get on with life.
Does this then mean that anybody (including accredited historians) shouldn’t speak about Poland’s history unless they’ve lived it? Am I acceptable because I’m 30 something and live on the coast?
I suppose that when one has the luxury of a good life and time to spare, thoughts ineluctably turn to self scrutiny and delving into one's past. Those geo-political grievances are only abstract to those to whom they don't apply. From my perspective, they are relevant because the end result of geo-politics in post WW2 Poland led to the loss of a not insignificant family fortune, my father escaping Poland and me being born in Australia. Whether or not something is abstract is relative to every different person or school of thought. In your case it’s abstract but to me it’s not. I’m sure that you have interests or thoughts that I would probably find abstract or even downright boring – but I’m not going to quibble with you and say you shouldn’t talk about them because I don’t like it, or I think you should move on with your life and not dwell on them.
Harry: But why let facts get in the way of yet another of your little myths, eh Danny boy?
I wasn't aware that I was referring specifically to the 1st parachute brigade in that particular circumstance when making this comment, but you obviously know my arguments better than me. Perhaps try re-reading and you'll see what I meant.
Harry: BTW: not so long ago I posted a long list of all the threads where I owned you to the the extent that you had to slink away with your tail between your legs. Is there any chance that you can reply in any of those?
Ouch! Double ouch!!! That's pretty scathing H-dog and bravo for really giving me the what for (BTW: it was cute how you introduced that as a casual ‘by the way’ at the end of your post, suggesting an air of indifference, but I know you’ve been itching to bring it up again). I had a look at that 'list' and responded at the time but I see my post was dumped, probably seeing as you nefariously drew us both off topic in that thread. Be a good lad and see if you can hunt it down for me.
How do you reconcile owning me purely based on me not responding to every droll ad hom attack against me? I just think you’re a bit upset because I’ve already said that I’ve owned you in every debate we’ve had and you weren’t able to show any past discussion evidencing the contrary. Have a crack at concocting another exhaustive list and if there’s anything there that genuinely requires a response, then I’ll do so (and no, you simply reposting yourself saying that I should hold the coat of a Pakistani police man, whilst amusing, is not something genuinely requiring a response!). If you could do that say within the next couple of days and create a thread in the off topic section I’ll meet you there for our ‘show down’.
2nd BTW: don’t forget your asthma puffer Haz!
3rd BTW: were were weren’t
Harry: the the
a band from the 80’s, or have you been listening to Stutter Rap by Morris Minor and the Majors on your tape Walkman?
