In today’s Sunday Times supplement - The Sunday Times Magazine you can find a very interesting article about nowadays Poland. Journalist John Cornwell devoted his attention and time to describe in a detail the present political and social issues of my country. Indeed, I agree with most of his thesis. Poland under the rule of Kaczynski Terrible Twins and their junior parties colegues (like Giertych with his Hitler Jugend like - youth organisation MÒ?odziez Wszechpolska) is turning into Nazi = National Socialistic dangerous utopia. The anti - Vatican and anti basics of Catholicism, thus heretic priest Father Tadeusz Rydzyk and his Radio Maryja, TV Trwam and newspaper Nasz Dziennik is almost like Joseph Goebbels of Nazi Germany. Luckily his voice can gather only closed minded old people in number of 1 million or less (compared to 38 millions of the Polish population). The widely spread witch-hunt for the former communist party members among the politics, journalists and university lecturers is a part of fear and threat policy of our two head hydra. Meanwhile Kaczynski brothers don’t mind when some of the people from their surroundings were a communist party members, and at least one of them was a communist prosecutor during the Martial Law in Poland. It is clearly visible that Kaczynski brothers are trying to use the same people well experienced in taking part in totalitarian regimes. All those things are clear.
However, the article of John Cornwell is lacking of some very important points. First of all - I haven’t find the paragraph about the last elections. The last elections gathered the lowest rate of voters in the whole Polish democracy history. Moreover - John Cornwell was not willing to mention, that the one of the main slogans for Law and Justice Kaczynskis’ party in the last election was “coallition with Platforma Obywatelska” - a liberal centre - right party. Many people voted for Law and Justice thinking of voting for such coalition. Many of them were not bearing in their minds the possible coalition with far right nationalist party (with unclear links with Neonazists) - League of Polish families, that barely got a few seats in the Polish parliament. The same as for Self-defence party. Thus, many of Polish voters were taken in by Kaczynski brothers. Luckily after forthcoming elections the situation will change, since the election polls give the majority of the votes for Platforma Obywatelska.
The second thing that struck me was the typical political correctness ignorance hiding in some of the phrases and paragraphs of John Cornwell’s article. He mentioned Radio Maryja, but he didn’t mentioned that the only institution in charge of ending this anti-everything propaganda radio is Vatican. Despite of the accusations, Father Rydzyk still broadcasts the hate around Europe. Vatican could do something, but… it is all about the souls. It is just not profitable for Vatican to shoot down the radio, because it would mean of losing a great amount of souls (about 1 million).
John Cornwell is describing Polish anti-Semitism and racism. What is strange the Polish anti-Semitism is mostly limited to the stadiums, football supporters, Radio Maryja and Giertych’s Party (League of Polish families). Why? There is almost no Jews in Poland. Most of them were killed by…. yes.. Mr John Cornwell likes a Political correctness - by Nazis. Let me ask the question. What language and what nationality were the Nazis in major? It is very trendy to write Polish anti-Semitism, but is is completely forbidden to write German Nazis. Describing Polish anti-Semitism John Cornwell didn’t absorb his thoughts with some historical background - that Poland, before 2nd World War had the biggest Jewish community in Europe. Why? Because anti-Semitism in Poland was the relatively weak compared to the other countries of Europe. I presume John Cornwell never read about Jad Vashem institute and the medal of Just Among the Nations of the World and the great amount of Poles awarded. Moreover some of before 2nd World War strong Polish anti-Semitic activists were seriously involved in help Jews kept by Germans behind the ghetto walls.
So how does it look the Polish anti-Semitism now? As I wrote in the couple of entries below (the entry about my home city), my home city used to have one of the biggest Jewish communities in Europe, and nowadays it is facing the football anti-Semitic graffiti war between the supporters of two Polish premiership football clubs’ supporters. However, our right wing Mer/President of the city declared the war to them, starting the action called Coloured Tolerance which is widely supported by the citizens. To spray the anti-Semitic graffiti you don’t need the army of people, a dozen young hooligans it is enough to cover whole city with David Stars or anti-Semitic slogans.
Is Poland more anti-Semitic than other countries of Europe? I don’t think so. What about the Germany Nazi marches to commemorate the death of Rudolph Hess - Hitler’s successor? What about the burning of the Synagogues couple of years ago in the Western Europe? The same about racism. I found many British and Irish people very racist. The only difference is the amount of Black community in those countries. Britain and Ireland, as well as other countries like France, can not be accused of racism (or even more racist than Poland), because of the massive Black community. But yet again John Cornwell is missing the point. It is quite clear - the Black community in Poland is so small due to the couple of reasons. 1. Poland never has had a colonies. 2. Poland never has been a really rich country, so there was never massive emigration - except the Jews that were fleeing from Nazi Germany (which is of course not mentioned in the article). The only Black, or Arabic community in Poland is the former students of the African or Arabic countries that stayed in Poland after finishing university, and yet again - since Poland wasn’t a rich country it wasn’t so big.
So… It is just a way to catch the reader describing Poland as a country more anti-Semitic and racist than the others in Europe, which is completely not true, and in my opinion it is not professional.
As for the 2nd World War. I really can not accept the intended ignorance of some British journalists. I am the young, I have German friends, and I don’t find Germany to be enemy of Poland anymore. Moreover I am trying to underscore the massive German influences in Polish culture and development, and I am against any attempts to wipe it out or to blur it. However, history is a history, and I see no point to blur it in the way done by John Cornwell. Nazis were in the majority Germans and Austrians. It was Germans who flatted the Warsaw, it was Germans who decide to built death camps (finally UNESCO accepted the form - German Nazi Death Camps) and it was Germans who destroyed half of the Europe during 2nd World War. OK, some of them were Nazis, but I won’t call all of the German soldiers of Wehrmaht to be a Nazis. It is just ridiculous political correctness. One thing should be clear. I don’t blame the young Germans for the 2nd World War, for the genocide and it is not the point to draw it from the drawer of history during the talks of Polish and German government. Thus I don’t agree with the way the Polish foreign minister Fotyga deals with Germany. But I will never agree with blurring the history in the name of political correctness.
There is also another misunderstanding in the article of John Cornwell. It is the attitude to the communist era. Let me explain. Poland during communist era, at least in the nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties wasn’t a work camp behind the bars or barbed wire fence or the land of plenty. We were living our lives, watching television, American films in the cinemas, suffering the lack of products in the shops bu the culture of that time was our culture, in some parts similar to the west. There is nothing wrong and funny in some people’s nostalgia for old things. It actually doesn’t matter those things are from communist era.
And mr John Cornwell. Smalec (not Szmalec) is not a communist era traditional bread spread, it is just a part of traditional Polish cuisine , much older than the communistic utopia by Marks and Engels. Szmalec is a slang word for money.
african anti semitism arabic britain coloured tolerance cornwell david stars england football fotygasmalec france german german nazis ghetto giertych goebbels ireland Irish press review jews john cornwell journaist kaczynski law and justice massive emmigration nasz dziennik pis platforma obywatelska poland polish anti semitism political corectness racism radio maryja roman gertych rydzyk stadiums stereotypes sunday times synagogues szmalec tolerance tv trwam unesco vatican warsaw wehrmaht ww2
Tonight I am coming back to Ireland after 2 weeks in Poland. This time I went to Poland for kind of rest, and my lungs treatment but it was very busy time - as usual.
Day after my arriving in my home city - Ò???dÒ? (Woodch) - I devoted Friday afternoon to nice girl - an Irish Examiner journalist. She came to Ò???dÒ? on purpose of writing the article about the factories that moved from Ireland to Poland recently, trying to answer the question, will the newly opened factories and increasing number of vacancies keep Poles in Poland, or rather it won’t? There is a couple of them - Dell, Indesit, Gillette, and Procter and Gamble (they have shut down factory in Nenagh and just have opened new one in Aleksandr??w Ò???dzki - satellite town of Ò???dÒ?).
Unfortunately, heads of the factories weren’t willing to talk with her, and she had appointments only with city authorities. Our local authorities presented her a false, too far overoptimistic picture of my town - which is still 2nd biggest city in Poland.
Piotrkowska Street
Piotrkowska Street
Liberty Square, former protestant church today is a catholic one.
Liberty Square, former town hall, today it is a Archaeology Museum
Liberty Square, statue of Tadeusz KoÒ?ciuszko, one of the biggest Polish heroes. (check wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%C5%9Bciuszko)
Ò???dÒ? is one of the youngest towns in Poland. In the beginning of 19th century, there were only about 500 citizens, but at the end of the same century, there was couple of hundred thousands. Short history of the town is very interested especially due to its industrial and multinational character. Modern city was founded mostly by Jewish and German factory owners, who built their industrial properties on the road to Piotrk??w. This former road, is a main and most representative street of Ò???dÒ?, and it is well known both in Poland, Germany and Russia.
In the 19th century, Poland was divided between 3 powers - Russia, Germany, and Austria. Ò???dÒ?, was on the very west part of the Russian empire, and was the biggest textile industry centre in the Central Europe. The city was a crucible of many cultures and nations - Poles (mostly workers, but also teachers, doctors, architects), Germans (factory owners, traders, engineers, teachers, printers), Jews (mostly traders, factory owners, and many of poor people occupying a poor part of the town - BaÒ?uty) and Russians (the smallest element - mostly traders). All those nations used to coexist in a relative peace. There is an interesting fact - many German citizens of the town, changed their sens of ethnicity, and in the beginning of 20th century many of them claimed to be Polish. Anyway… there was a great conception that overwhelmed ethnicity - a conception of a local citizen - Lodzermensch - which means (in German) a man from Ò???dÒ?. All nations were co-operating together. The first local newspaper - Lodzer Anzeiger - was bilingual (German and Polish). The 2nd local newspaper - Lodzer Zeitung - was only German, but was printed till the begining of the 2nd World War, when Germans changed the name of the town to Litzmannstadt, and the newspaper became official Nazi propaganda.
Johan Petersilge - German printer is buried on the Old cemetery.
Pomorska Street - One of the palaces of factory owners families. Building is falling into ruin, in a couple of years there won’t be anything to save. It is CITY CENTRE…
Revolution 1910 Street, great house with the remains of trade signs in Russian and Polish. Signs are about 100 years old.
All nations were helping each other, e.g. during erecting catholic cathedral founds were donated both by catholic, protestant, jewish and russian orthodox population and factory owners. The same thing was quite common during erecting temples of other religions.
Though, after 1st World War, and reborn of a state of Poland, many of Germans (who still claimed to be German) had left the town, the beginning of the suicide is the beginning of the 2nd World War when Poland was invaded from both sides by Germany and Russia (ok… they say Soviet Union) and betrayed by its allies - France and England.
Revolution 1910 Street, City centre - old house not renovated since times prior 2nd World War. You can see old sign in Yidish (or Hebrew). There was a Jewish asylum/hospital for poor Jews.
Germans took the town, and big part of its local population became devoted nazis. They incorporated west part of Poland into 3d German Reich, and they changed the name of the town (Lodz - was commonly known in Germany) to Litzmannstadt (after general Litzmann who died near Lodz, during one of the battles of 1st World War). Poles became slaves and 2nd category folk. Jews, were closed behind the barbed wire fence of 2nd biggest in Poland gettho. Germans placed it in the traditionally Jewish and the oldest part of the town - BaÒ?uty (the place where I live). Gettho in Ò???dÒ? with its enormous Jewish population was one of the biggest textil industries working for German army. Ò???dÒ? hasn’t been destroyed during the war, so gettho survived in its almost unchanged form till today. Despite of the profits and benefits of the Gettho, Germans were conducting a policy of systematically extermination of Jewish population. In the begging they rely on natural factors as diseases and famine that spread throughout that overcrowded district of the town, but later they started to kill them in a industrial way. Jews from Ò???dÒ? were systematically sent via Radegast Station (old siding changed into gettho station) to CheÒ?mno on Ner river, where Germans built a temporary death camp on purpose of extermination Jews from Lodz.
Radegast Station (Bahnhof).
Radegast Station, originall German freight car used to transport people to death and concentration camps
They were killed in a mobile gas chambers - specially prepared vans with a chambers supplied by exhaust fumes. Later Germans built a regular gas chambers and crematories. Gettho and its Jews survived till late 1944 when almost all of them were sent to Auschwitz. Germans left about 1000 Jews on purpose of tidy up emptied ghetto. They intended to execute those 1000 in the Jewish cemetery (which is the biggest in Europe), they even dug massgraves for them, but the town was taken by Russian Red Army. Germans made something other before Russians came. There was an old factory changed to the criminal prison, a small concentration camp for Poles. On the day when Russian tanks appeared on the east outskirts of the town, there were couple of hundred prisoners. Germans set the fire, and all of them burned alive (survived only 2 or 3 of them). Today the ruin of the factory is a war monument.
So… one of the local nations almost completely exterminated their neighbours.
To be honest… not all of the local Germans were bad and nazi. There is a great story of one of the German pastors who didn’t want to collaborate with their nazi compatriots, and who claimed “I am German, but here is Poland”. The most known tragic story concern family of one of the factory owners and founders of the town - Scheibler. They originally came from Saxony in Germany, but after more than 100 years family became local, and Polish. As many Poles with German origins, they were fighting in Polish army trying to defend their homeland. One of them was sent to the concentration camp.
Situation changed completely after so called “liberation” - taking the town by Russian Red Army. Germans were fleeing in panic. Many of them, decent people were forced to leave everything and to run for their lives. Poles took the bloody revenge over them. Remaining Germans were hunted and killed, sometimes they were saved by some Poles who, after 5 years of genocide, still saw humans in their former lords.
In a couple of days the 2nd nation of the town vanished completely. The era of Russian occupation and terror has started. Officially Poland was a free state, but Russian army was occupying the land, Russian communists were ruling Poland.
After the war Ò???dÒ? was a town without elite. Jewish elite was killed by Germans. Polish elite was killed by Germans and Russians (or at least sent to the gulags). Germans fled or were killed by Poles and Russians. In the town survived only Polish working class. Private property was forbidden and everything - especially great textile factories became a property of so called “people”.
For next 40 years Ò???dÒ? as a industrial town was in a kind o MATRIX - a virtual reality of communistic economical system. There were no challenge, no sensible planing, estimating aims, targets of production. Most of the production were sent to Russia. Communistic system wasn’t profitable, and was donated by the state. That kind of reality lasted 40 years, and crushed when all of the sources of funding dried. For more than 50 years Ò???dÒ? was avoided by any development according to the communist principle and idea of working class town, that can’t be rich, and nice looking. For over 50 years buildings were falling into ruin.
Pomorska Street, City Centre… see the surface of the road.
Nowomiejska Street, former part of Piotrkowska, and part of the old road to Piotrk??w. Strictly city centre
In 1989 we became free, and in one or two years, Matrix collapsed. The factories lost all of their markets, and were shut down. Instantly couple of hundred thousand workers (mostly women - seamstresses) lost their jobs.
Since early 90ties of 20th century Ò???dÒ? has been getting worse and worse, despite of some attempts of changes. City, that was forced to stay in one place for over 40 years, despite of the changing world economics, was like a sinking ship.
Streets aren’t efficient and too narrow comparing to the modern traffic. Traffic jams are common.
Today… workers in factories like Indesit, Gilette, Procter and Gamble earning about 400 euro/month. My wife is working as a secretary, human resources in a broker house, earning monthly from 250 to 400 Euro. There is dozens of thousands of people who earn about 150 - 180 euro / month. Our job centres can offer job with that salaries, or… something which is a modern slavery. Temporary work - training like - for 100 euro /month. Poland as a state is a monster of taxation, so having own business in Ò???dÒ? is really hard, especially facing ruling corruption. Population is decreasing, and every plane heading Dublin or Shannon is full of passengers.
Today our city authorities are proud of Piotrkowska street (main street), but when you turn to the street across, you will see dirty tenements falling into ruins, with poor people living in. Today our city authorities are proud of decreasing unemployment rate, but there is no point to be proud of massive emigration to Ireland and UK. In Ò???dÒ?, ambulance crews were killing patients using medications, and were selling just killed people to the funeral parlours. In Ò???dÒ?, police made a horrific discovery, in a home of a poor family. They discovered bodies of children kept in the barrels at home. Parents were alcoholics and also very poor.
My home town is dying and making the best of a bad job, or put on a brave face, won’t change it at all.
If you want to see a real life, a dirty poor districts, old gettho, etc. vist Ò???dÒ? - so called “Promised Land”…
austria baluty central europe chelmno city dell german germans ghetto gillette irish examiner jewish jews johan petersilge kosciuszko liberty square litzmannstadt Lodz lodzermensch lodzer anzeiger lodzer zeitung nenagh piotrkowska plac wolnosci poland procter and gamble radegast radegast station red army russia russians scheibler street tadeusz kosciuszko Uncategorized ww1 ww2
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