What do You know about Poland?

[PolishStevieFan]

Okay, maybe it won't be interesting topic for You, but I'd really like to know what is Your knowledge about my country-Poland. Have any of You been here? Do You have any friends or family here? Do you know anything about Polish history or culture?

[gretchen]

At the pharmaceutical company where I used to work in the in-house creative dept., my friend and co-worker was from Poland and she was/is a cool girl. She grew up on a beautiful farm in the mountains and said it is a very beautiful country. Wonderful people, land and cuisine.

[McTrouble]

Okay, maybe it won't be interesting topic for You, but I'd really like to know what is Your knowledge about my country-Poland. Have any of You been here? Do You have any friends or family here? Do you know anything about Polish history or culture?

My Dad was from Latvia - we knew a lot of people from there, as well as Lithuania, Estonia and Poland.

I have been to Riga (Latvia) and Tallin (Estonia) but not yet visited Poland - I hope to remedy that some day and visit your very historical and interesting country.

[Silver Springs]

My best friend Jasia is half Polish on her Mother's side. Her Mother's name is Danuta, though I can't for the life of me remember her maiden name.

[gfd1963]

My brother's wife's parents came to London from Poland in the 1960's. They live in a community in West London where there are quite a few Polish people. I have been in their presence on many occasions and am constantly blown away by the warmth and hospitality shown. (I've never eaten so much cake as when I'm there :)) I also been lucky enough to join in with the way they celebrate Christmas. My nieces are very aware of their Polish heritage, even attending Polish school on a Saturday morning and are fluent in the language. They have been to Poland on several occasions and I am told it is a beautiful country.

[PolishStevieFan]

My brother's wife's parents came to London from Poland in the 1960's. They live in a community in West London where there are quite a few Polish people. I have been in their presence on many occasions and am constantly blown away by the warmth and hospitality shown. (I've never eaten so much cake as when I'm there :)) I also been lucky enough to join in with the way they celebrate Christmas. My nieces are very aware of their Polish heritage, even attending Polish school on a Saturday morning and are fluent in the language. They have been to Poland on several occasions and I am told it is a beautiful country.

If you want to know, my mom bakes absolutely fantastic cakes , especially chocolate cakes :) Mniam, mniam (translation: yummy :))

[Betsy]

I know very little about Poland, except what I hear in the news.... Can you enlighten me on the things you find important/interesting about the country and its culture?

[Sleepless-Child]

Yay for the cultural input on The Ledge, from other countries than the US. I'm really interested in learning more about Poland.
I'm studying law in a college, and plenty of our teachers do conferences in Poland. Apparently there are still people learning french over there :rolleyes:.

Where exactly do you live in Poland? My knowledge of this country is kind of limited, i just know the "official" religion over there is Catholicism, right? And i remember it because of the holocaust, which is sad. Show us the bright side of Poland :D.

[PolishStevieFan]

I live in Wrocław (one of the bigger cities in Poland). It's a nice place, especially for people who like old towns with beautiful market place (one of the biggest in Europe), town hall, mediaeval churches and baroque tenements. If you ever plan to visit Poland I recommend you coming to Wrocław-it is often called "city of hundreds bridges"...Lots of places to see and feel this special climate.

What can I write about my country??? Well, yes most of us are Catholics (at least declarative:)). Our history is way too complicated to sum it up in just few words. I'll just write, that we've got our share of "ups" and "downs" (for the most of the time it's been the second). Our country was totally destroyed during World War II. For example my hometown was destroyed in 75%. Warsaw-our capital was destroyed almost in 95%. So you can imagine how much effort, time and dedication had to be put to restore our country. Sadly, after the World War II, thanks to so called-Jałta-agreement, we became part of communist USSR. According to my parents, it was truly an awful time, when one wasn't allowed to have anything to do with so-called western culture (including music, films and so on). Since 1990 we've been free :) Enough about history:)

What's next? Maybe music? Fryderyk Chopin...Master of piano! Eternal beauty closed in his compositions, recalling tragic moments of partition of Poland during XVIII century. And of course...lots of good rock and roll music (especially from the artists like Perfect or Tilt who openely contested communism during the 80's).
Film-Andrzej Wajda who got Oscar Award..., Roman Polański...
Famous Polish citizens: Lech Wałęsa (Nobel Peace Prize winner), Wisława Szymborska (Nobel Literature Prize winner), Mikołaj Kopernik, pope John Paul II...

Places to visit: Warsaw (it might seem ugly at first sight, but when you consider how much it was damaged during the last war, then you might think that it's almost a miracle, that it actually "IS"), Cracow (probably the most famous city in Poland with lots of sightseeings), Mazury (set of lakes, nominated to 7 wonders of nature or something like this :)), thousends of little towns and villages with lots of interesting buildings, landscapes and things like that...

Truly it's hard for me to write about my country. I don't know why. All I can say is that I love it, I feel safe here, I love people here, I love my culture, my language (even if it's tough taks for foreigners to learn it :)). I can't imagine living somewhere else. It's just my place on earth :)

[PolishStevieFan]

Oh and by the way, contrary to popular opinion we're not only thieves and physical workers :) And most of these Polish jokes are not funny (at least for me). It's not because of my lack of humour, but rather because they're not true. We're not stupid the way that these jokes try to make us be. Sometimes I hear, that Polish people seem to be sad and depressed...Yeah, at times (but who isn't...?) But to see how we can have fun I recommend you visiting Polish wedding :) or any other kind of party for that matter :) And on the other hand, to be more objective-we like immersing in the past, recalling our historical failures, defeats...which sometimes might be unbearable to some people. But having as troubled and tragic history as Poland, I think it might be forgiven.

[KarmaContestant]

Someday I plan to visit Poland. I've always been intrigued by the people and the history. I wanted to go a couple years back but had to put my plans on hold because my family was travelling to Italy and Croatia and I wanted to go with them, but could not afford to make both trips.

[JWS]

Okay, maybe it won't be interesting topic for You, but I'd really like to know what is Your knowledge about my country-Poland. Have any of You been here? Do You have any friends or family here? Do you know anything about Polish history or culture?

Yes. Katyn'. I have a terrific DVD film about the WW2 Russian massacre. (27,000 Polish officers systematically shot in 1940)

I wonder if young Poles even know about this horror anymore?

[PolishStevieFan]

Of course most of us remember what happened in Katyń. Since 1990 it's been official part of our history (during communism era we were not allowed to discuss this topic). On 10th April 2010 Polish president and many important persons from our government were killed in fatal airplane catastrophe. They were heading to Katyń to commemorate 60th anniversary of that massacre. Yes indeed we do remember.