When we first visited Poland back when it was still communist in the late 60's early 70's my father tried to tell them that the Russians were the ones that killed all those Poles at Katyn, they refused to believe it until later in the years, they were shocked and very much felt hatred to Russia for that.An interesting read is the battle of Westerplatte in the early days of the war..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Westerplatte

quote:

Originally posted by Captain Morgan:
We have a large Polish population here in Wallington, NJ. If you want good soup and kielbasa that's where you go. Most of them are very hard workers and a lot are business owners in the various trades.
Real nice people and very quick to offer up some alcohol even when you've just met.
From what I here that had a lot of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to help us out.

I used to live just across the Wallington town line, in East Rutherford. Had a friend from work who was part of that community. Good folks. Oh, and I fondly remember the Polish girls working at the Dunkin Donuts on Paterson Ave. That was nice.

I have some Polish ancestry of my own. Rock solid people. Some might call them stubborn, but that is terrible understatement.

'Polack' jokes may have gained some reaction because Polish immigrants to the US tended to be uneducated hardscrabble types, trying to escape the oppressed wreckage of what was once Poland. (My own Polish ancestors came from the part absorbed by Russia, fleeing oppression which Russia is always good for.)

The ruling class of Poland was shockingly incompetent, sometimes even treasonous. Poland had gone from being one of the most powerful states in Europe to literally being erased from the map - gone, eaten by greedy neighbors. So when you have uneducated immigrants from a group that managed to screw itself out of having its own country, dumb jokes get some play.

Of course as individuals Poles, like any other group, range from dumb as rocks to utterly brilliant.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GregY,

quote:

Originally posted by pbslinger:

quote:

Originally posted by ElKabong:
Read about the Jewish community in Poland before WWII, pretty much the best place to be Jewish in Europe.

My wife's last boss left there during the 60's as a political dissident, he's pretty conservative to say the least. There are a lot of freedom loving, anti-communist folks over there still yet.

My daughter visited Poland as part of an Israel pilgrimage. Her impression was that there are intact synagogues still standing, but no Jews left in Poland that use them.

I googled the formally Jewish town from which my grandfather fled as a boy. Current Jewish population 2. There's a plaque there with our family name and two Jew's, all the rest were killed or fled.

All 4 of my grandparents came from Poland around 1910 and worked hard, built large farms and prospered. 9 of their 10 children were business owners and entrepenuers and most of their children, myself and my cousins are or were business owners until retirement. No one in our family tree has ever accepted one penny of public assistence. All of us have proudly paid off all of our student loans.

I remember Jan III Sobieski, the King of Poland, who defeated the Turks at the siege of Vienna in 1683. Although he was in his 60s, he lead the cavalry charge of the Winged Hussars that broke the back of the Ottoman Turkish Army, in one of the largest cavalry charges in history. The Poles elected their Kings, quite enlightened weren't they?

My old man's grandparents emigrated here from Czechoslovakia right around the turn of the century. He and my sister went there about 30 years ago and traced back our lineage over several centuries. He loved that trip and always talked about going back but never did.

My hat is off to those who speak Czech. I spent my hs and college days playing in a polka band which played a lot at SPJST halls all over Texas. SPJST is a Czech fraternal society. I heard what the initials stand for, but dare not try to say it for fear of hurting myself.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
My hat is off to those who speak Czech. I spent my hs and college days playing in a polka band which played a lot at SPJST halls all over Texas. SPJST is a Czech fraternal society. I heard what the initials stand for, but dare not try to say it for fear of hurting myself.

SPJST halls = great memories! We pronounced it "Spijit" which of course is incorrect. When my dad passed we found he actually had an insurance policy with them even though he wasn't Czech.