--- Zbigniew Bob Styrna <styrna@...> wrote:

After the WWII ended in 1945, the rest of the free
world like France, Spain,
England, Denmark, etc, and even the villains of the
war like west Germany
and Italy, prospered, while Poland was locked up in
hell for generations.
How do the Polish people and their children get over
that ?

End quote

We get over it by accepting that Poland was caught
between two large neighbors who used it to beat up on
each other. An accident of geography.

Some of us seem to have gotten over it and moved on
with our lives more easily than others.

One interesting example of this is my SIL's aunt by
marriage whom I recently met for the first time in
Toronto.

She was deported to Siberia at age 12 and suffered the
usual privations before ending up in the Polish
community in India.

I had a lengthy conversation with her about her
experiences and was amazed that she had no bitterness.

She is a history buff and understands the conditions
in central Europe over the centuries.

She is an interesting contrast to my SIL's mother who
despises Russians and Ukrainians to this day.

I must admit that I'm quite fascinated by the angst of
some members of this discussion group, in particular
that of those who were born outside of Poland.

Czesc,
Leszek
Edmonton Alberta Kanada



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Dear Lech,
Perhaps our way of "getting over it" is by having a magnificent forum like the KS group to discuss, vent and explore issues that bother us.
Rich Widerynski

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I agree with you.

Not only did our parents suffer at first hand not just phisically but mentally too, but I feel and have learned from others that we as the next generation id fel the repercusions of this as we were growing up. we did not understand or know why, our parents did not know either . It would be interesting to find out how many of us have had or needed some form of therapy or experienced some psychological issue. For myself and few here in Bradford there was pressure on us to do well, to be doctors or barristers to 'nie przyniesc wstydu rodzinie, prafii i Polsce!? What about ourselves? The burden of carying the whole of Polands reputation on a childs shoulders! Musisz pokazac, milcz i pracuj ciezko bo moze tez Tobie czeka Sybir! In fact at Polska szkola if you misbehaved the dunce's corner was Sybir!! I kid you not.
It is thanks to this group i have learned about my father, his life, his reasons for behaving as he did and now I am so happy that I am so fortunate that I can have time with him with this new understanding. He will be 85 on Wednesday GOd willing and I do feel sad that his life has not been a bed of roses, but talking to him he has fulfilled hisn dream. He has his own house, warmth food a plenty and his family around who have succeeded in the educational and work front even not as doctors or barristers! He has seen his grandchildren marry and is able to 'play' with his threee great grandsons. Hitler was corect the Sybiracy are a hardened lot phisically but they are soft and emotional inside.as readding the poems will testify.

Bye 4 now Hela.

From: Eve5J@...
Reply-To: Kresy-Siberia@...
To: Kresy-Siberia@...
Subject: [Kresy-Siberia] Re: Getting over it
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 10:05:18 EST

I feel that we children of deportees are much more citizens of the world than
the average person. How many people have come to this group angry at what
was done and stated this? When the children find out the truth, this is
understandable. Also functioning in life and pushing the past to the back of one's
mind--I just do not agree that there are no issues at all. Everyone has or had
issues whether admitted or not. The fact of Poland's geography has nothing
to do with it.

Eve Jesionka Jankowicz
USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"One who does not respect and appreciate his past is not worthy
of the present and does not have a right to a future."

Jozef Pilsudski,
20 February 1920
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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--- Eve5J@... wrote:

The fact of

Poland's geography has nothing
to do with it.

Poland's location is critical to its history.
Location between competing superpowers during the past
several hundred years has had major effects on Poland
and Poles, including moi.

Do believe that it's purely coincidental that Norway,
for example, never suffered the same fate over the
centuries?

Czesc,
Leszek

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I must say that I rather agree with Lech on this subject. I do not
for a moment deny that our parents or families who suffered in Siberia
and elsewhere may have psychological, if not physical, scars, but I
too am surprised by some of the posts.
I grew up in England and then Canada, having to go to Polish school on
Saturdays for a while (thankfully short) but never once did my parents
tell me I should do well not to shame Poland, the church or the
family. I cannot remember any such comment, ever.
Perhaps the different attitudes of the parents are what make the
children react in such different ways?

Barbara Davoust
Toulouse, France



--- In Kresy-Siberia@..., "Helena Danielczuk"
<helena52@m...> wrote:

I agree with you.

Not only did our parents suffer at first hand not just phisically but
mentally too, but I feel and have learned from others that we as the

next

generation id fel the repercusions of this as we were growing up.

we did

not understand or know why, our parents did not know either . It

would be

interesting to find out how many of us have had or needed some form of
therapy or experienced some psychological issue. For myself and few

here in

Bradford there was pressure on us to do well, to be doctors or

barristers to

'nie przyniesc wstydu rodzinie, prafii i Polsce!? What about

ourselves?

The burden of carying the whole of Polands reputation on a childs

shoulders!

Musisz pokazac, milcz i pracuj ciezko bo moze tez Tobie czeka

Sybir! In

fact at Polska szkola if you misbehaved the dunce's corner was

Sybir!! I

kid you not.

I read somewhere that the higher the percentage of a country's borders that
is an open ocean/sea (vs. land locked) the better the prosperity of that
nation (given everything else, like government type, climate, etc. is
equal)


(I guessed at these % by looking at a map)
Examples Of Nations that have high % ocean/sea shorelines/borders
----------------------------------------------------------------
Australia 100%
England 100%
Japan 100%
Hong Kong 100% (part of China now)
Singapore 100%
Italy 90%
USA 80%
Canada 80%
France 75%
Russia 50%
Chile 50%
China 30%


Low % of borders (land locked)
================================
Poland post WWII 15%
Poland pre WII 1%
Bolivia 0%
Paraguay 0%



So in a addition to Poland being surrounded by two large aggressive super
powers , it's seashore borders for trade/communication/navy are very small.

Zbyszek