Posts under History

Polish Patriotic Songs

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Nov
11
2009

November 11. Święto Niepodległości. Independence Day. I wrote about it last year, if I remember correctly.

So, this year, let’s celebrate it a little bit differently - with a song (and dance, but that’s optional).

I have to say that I’m very undereducated when it comes to pieśni patriotyczne (patriotic songs). I remember something my grandma used to sing about ułani and their horses. And something about rozmaryn (rosemary). And of course, I was taught to sing “Rota“, which during the Partition was something of an unofficial Polish national song.

So, I thought it would be nice to share some of these songs with you. If you want, I can even dig out the lyrics and translate them. Or you can simply listen to the songs and enjoy them as they are.

Let’s start with the ułani song, which I think was one of my favorites when I was little. Even though I had no clue what an uhlan was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpBhBxazKmg

And here’s “Rota” (The Oath). The lyrics were written by a famous Polish author - Maria Konopnicka and the song was once proposed as the official Polish national anthem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lRLzNsn_0g

And this is, in my opinion at least, probably the best Polish patriotic song ever. “O mój rozmarynie” (I’ve seen this one translated into English as “Death Will Kiss Me, But Not You”, even though the Polish title is something like “Oh, My Rosemary” - talking about an herb here, of course). Anyway, in this song a guy is singing that he will go to his girlfriend and ask if she loves him. If she says no, he will become an uhlan and go to war, where he will die, and hence the English words - “death will kiss me, but not you.” This is an original recording from the 30s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah9×7t22U-Y

 
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Druga Wojna Światowa - World War 2

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Sep
2
2009

Yesterday Poland observed the 70th anniversary of the start of WW2. I wasn’t going to write about it initially, but then I realized it would look very stupid and almost un-Polish if I didn’t mention it at all. Yet on the other hand, talking about WW2 makes me a bit uncomfortable. Why? I feel this is something that should stay in history books, and rehashing every year what had happened is kind of pointless.

Yet on the other hand (this would be my third hand, or a prosthetic arm maybe), remembering what had happened is very important. And so I’m torn. I don’t want to talk about WW2, but I feel it’s my responsibility to do so anyway.

WW2 is a fact that cannot be changed (even though some would like to try), but it’s a fact whose details even after all these years are being disputed. And no, I’m talking here about Holocaust deniers, but about the Polish and Russian versions and interpretations of the events from 70 years ago.

This story has been re-written so many times and on so many occasions, that by now I don’t even want to attempt to guess what is REALLY true. And I’m not sure that at this point many Poles actually care. It seems to me that we, as a nation, have moved on and it’s only our politicians that still insist on talking about it while fuming with righteous anger.

Remembering the past is important, but learning from it even more so, because that’s how the past influences our future. And it seems to me that way too many Polish politicians are so stuck in the past that they totally miss the “future” bit of this equation. It’s been our national disease since the times of Mieszko. To the powers that be our nation’s past (whether glorious or not) has always been more important than what’s ahead, and needless to say, this attitude has done nothing to help us win friends and influence (foreign) people. And from what I’m reading in Gazeta Wyborcza, it sounds like Mr. Tusk agrees with me. He said, “On the other hand, becoming preoccupied with the past isn’t good either.” Unfortunately, this is what I see happening in our country right now.

See? This is precisely why I should never write about politics and Polish foreign policy on this blog.

So here are some somber words to learn:

  • druga wojna światowa – WW2
  • druga – second. Since “wojna” is a feminine noun, instead of “drugi”, we have “druga” which is the feminine version of this ordinal number.

In Polish wars don’t merely start but explode. We say that “wojna wybuchła” – literally – a war exploded, just like a bomb would. and hence we would have:

  • wybuch drugiej wojny światowej - the start of WW2
 
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June 4th, 1989 in Poland

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jun
3
2009

Tomorrow is the glorious 4th of June, and that’s all we’ve been hearing about recently. Personally, I’m tired of it already, and it’s not even the 4th yet.

Why tomorrow is so important, I hear you ask? It’s the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism. I understand it’s an important anniversary, but really, what the media is doing it’s total overkill. I’m really surprised that the day hasn’t been declared a public holiday yet. Or do we have to wait with that until the 25th anniversary, huh?

We all know (at least those of us in Poland, because other former communist bloc countries may have different ideas – just ask the Germans who watched the Berlin Wall coming down) that IT had begun in Poland. Supposedly on June 4th 1989. Though of course, that date means something very different if you happen to be in China. It’s ironic really, that the same date can be remembered for two so opposite events in two different countries.

But if you don’t know what’s so special about June 4th, 1989 in Poland, here’s the Cliffs Notes version of it: there were elections and Solidarność (Solidarity) won. It was the first of many anti-communist “revolutions” in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989.

I was actually in Poland that June, but was too young to vote and too busy planning my summer vacation to pay attention to what was going on in the world. We all knew that communism was going to fall sooner or later and it was just an elaborate show to allow the Party to retreat with dignity. And many people who could vote felt exactly the same way. The election turnout was surprisingly low – only about 63% in the first round and embarrassing 25% in the second.

I don’t like to write about politics, the stuff’s so mind boggingly boring, it fries the nerves endings in my brain. And because our nerve endings are precious, and this week is just filled with politics (the European parliament elections on Sunday), let’s talk about something else.

There’s going to be a huge concert in Gdańsk tomorrow. To celebrate this momentous 20th anniversary of Restoration of Independence and the Fall of Communism in Central Europe (and please tell me that this pompous title doesn’t reek of communism - I guess old habits die hard), the organizers (European Solidarity Center) invited a whole bunch of artists (Kylie, Scorpions, Kora, Lombard, Kombii and a few others) to perform at the It Began in Poland concert. But as my 18 year old friend very aptly noticed “Yeah, I suppose they invited those fossils because they were popular in ‘89, too.”

TVP (Polish TV) has a whole website dedicated to this 20th anniversary. It’s all in Polish, but even looking at the photos can be interesting. Those hairstyle! Yikes!

PS. And where’s David Hasselhoff singing “I’ve Been Looking for Freedom”, huh? Oh right, different anniversary, different country.

 
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Readers’ Questions - “bez” and “nie”

Posted by Anna Ikeda
May
4
2009

Yesterday was a public holiday in Poland to celebrate the Constitution of May 3rd, 1791 (Konstytucja Trzeciego Maja). And it made me realize that I didn’t really know all that much about this historical event. So off to google I went. And what did I learn? A whole bunch of really boring historical bits of which only this stuck in my head – that the the Constitution remained in effect for only a year before being overthrown. Hmmm… not a very good track record. When I told my husband, he asked, “And you guys celebrate THAT?” But he did say it was a curious coincidence that Japan also celebrates its Constitution Day on May 3rd.

But let’s move on to more exciting stuff. Warning, warning - grammar ahead!

One of our readers here (hi Bea!) sent an email with a somewhat confusing question:
You quoted “bez wizy” meaning “without a visa”.  This sentence doesn’t require “nie“?

No, it doesn’t require “nie”, because if you are saying that you are without something, that’s all you need to say. That’s how it works in English and luckily it’s almost exactly the same in Polish. I say “almost” because Polish nouns have cases.
So, we say:

  • bez wizy – without a visa, in this context also “no visa necessary”

Want more examples? No problem. Take a look:

  • bez pieniędzy – without money,

For example:
Przyszedł tutaj bez pieniędzy. – He showed here up without money.

  • bez namysłu – without thinking.

For example:
Bez namysłu dalam mu pieniądze. – Without thinking, I gave him money.

  • bez mleka – without milk

Kawę bez mleka proszę. – Coffee without milk, please.

  • bez męża – without (here we stick a possessive pronoun/adjective in English) husband

Przyjechałam do Polski bez męża. – I came to Poland without my husband.

And what can you tell me about the nouns that follow “bez”? Can you guess which case this is? Of course you can! And you don’t even need to guess, because I’m sure you know it already!
Dopełniacz (genitive) - we covered it a while back, remember? Just put “genitive” in the blog’s search box and you should get a list of previous posts on this case.

  • mąż (husband) – nominative, męża – genitive (sounds like accusative, but in this case it’s the genitive we want, trust me)
  • mleko (milk) – nominative, mleka – genitive
  • pieniądze (money, this is plural in Polish) – nominative, pieniędzy – genitive
  • wiza (visa) – nominative, wizy – genitive

See, it wasn’t all that difficult, now was it?

 
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Fifth Anniversary of Joining the EU

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Apr
30
2009

Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of the enlargement of the European Union. Yes, it’s been five years already since the day Poland joined “Europe”. This, and the swine flu seem to dominate the news today. But, frankly, people are more interested in the flu than in the anniversary. It’s amazing how quickly we learn to take such momentous events for granted.

I asked a few random people about how much their lives have changed since Poland became a member of the EU. Their answers certainly gave me food for thought. Younger kids (well, I call them kids, anyone younger than 30 is a kid to me, OK?) don’t seem to remember any other Poland than this European one. If you’re 20, five years is a very long time indeed. They are too busy planning their studies abroad to have time to ponder how quickly the fortunes of Poland had turned.

Then, there are those who kvetch that the EU is highly over-rated. That life was better in the olden days. As you can imagine, this is a somewhat older generation.

Personally, if someone had told me twenty years ago that one day a Polish passport would be a highly coveted commodity, I would have laughed myself silly. But this day is here now. And I’m definitely not laughing anymore.

Poland has been changing so fast that sometimes it’s hard to keep up. And it shows no signs of slowing down. The next step – adopting the euro. When it will happen, I don’t know. Do I think it’s a good idea to join the eurozone? I’m not so sure. But I am sure that we will adapt. If anything, the last ten and five years showed the amazing resilience and adaptability of our country.

Many in Poland complain that Poles are not very flexible and open to changes. I disagree. And anyone, who’s been looking at the country from the outside, can confirm my opinion. I see nothing but constant changes. Not always for the better, but that’s how we learn. We’ve been in the EU for only five years. During this time we had no choice but to achieve what took older members many more years. True, Poland is a work a progress and we still have a long way to go. But at least we are going and getting somewhere. So, happy fifth anniversary Poland!

Have a wonderful long weekend, enjoy the glorious weather, and I’ll see you back here on Monday.

 
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