First generation Pole in the UK

Hi i am a first generation pole in the UK, my farther came here and fought in the free polish army in the war, before the EU expanded to take in Poland there were about 250,000 poles and first, second generation poles in the UK. What i want to know is, with my work i come into contact with lots of polish workers, and they find it hard to under stand my background, are you taught about the polish free army at school and what they did for England in the war,

i have a polish name and my two sons have polish names, but do not speak polish,
but i always think of my self as polish.
jan

Yes...

I've noticed the same thing, it's almost as if they are aware of the deportations but thats about it and they don't really think about where all the people who were deported ended up.

I've also found that quite often Poles won't accept me as a Pole despite the fact that both my parents are Polish and my family history in the UK only goes back as far as Hull docks in October 1950. I sometimes jokingly refer to myself as a 'Plastic Polak' because that seems to be the opinion that people have.

I know that sounds terribly negative but it's not as bad as it sounds.

If thats the case JWB.....since you were born in the UK and bought up in the UK.... wouldn't it make more sense to see yourself as British?...at least being a Brit you've got more things to be proud off!!

Hehehe... aj, there’s something big on your shoulder. :)

More things? I think every nation has plenty of things to be proud of and to say one has more than another and is therefore better is in my opinion a tad jingoistic and distasteful.

You are right of course in that I am British in so much as that is what it says in my passport and I would say that I and all the other second and third generation Poles are a shining beacon of integration, but my ethnic origin will always be Slav and I think it would be pretty sad to lose touch with that.

You mean what britain did for poland in the 2nd world war, 1939 poland invaded - britain declares war on germany because poland is invaded.

we owe poland NOTHING poland owes us EVERYTHING. We saved them in ww2 and know they are thriving on the scraps we throw them as they beg at the eu table.

You ? That means USSR, doesn't it ?

Took you a long time to work that one out, noimmig. You're still wrong.


You have craps on your table? Is this a plural of crap or is it the gambling game as frequestly mentioned in the music Guys & Poles? I mean Guys & Dolls.

Yes including the ussr.


what do you mean I am wrong, did britain NOT declare war on germany when poland was conquered and crushed beneath goostepping nazis. Did britain not fight in ww2 because poland was invaded. ?

next you will be telling me that the second world war never actually happened

Why the hell didn't 'you' take 'your' Soviet Army back home after 'you' 'liberated' us ?

better under soviet occupation than nazi occupation. at least the russians didnt send you to concetration camps and genocide you.

Are you sure your British.....spelling and how exactly do you genocide someone...?

Don't put words into my mouth.

Britain did not save Poland. The allies nearly saved Poland, but you have noticed who one of the so-called allies were. Poles don't owe us anything for what happened way back in history. Poland, the country, deserves the EU funding it gets, which add up to far more than 'craps' [sic]. Begging? You are warped.


Not only do you have little understanding of the present, you also have little understanding of history.

Noimmi has a point here, Himmler was hellbent on the obliteration of all Poles and he held sway with Hitler. The average Nazi, as an efficient killing machine, had no remorse after killing a Pole. We owe a lot to America too, this is sth that PF members seem to overlook. America sustained heavy casualties but had immense firepower. Without their input, where would we be? Britain had so many successes but read ur history books again and u will find that America made a VERY telling contribution.

I'm sure he would also like to "noimmigration" all Poles.


He has 1/2 of a point here. Soviets were co-operating with the Germans during WW2 on the complete of the Polish nation.

The good thing about this thread coming back was what I found as I scrolled down the page.
Welcome to PF, Rowan Atkinson!

Stalin was good friends with Hitler in exterminating Poles during WW II. Beginning in '39 with massive deportations to Gulag's in Siberia and Kazakhstan, slaughtering thousands of Polish officers and intelligentsia, taking half of pre-war Polish territory and expelling its inhabitants... That shows your ignorance about war and post-war Polish history. You shouldn't give your voice in topics you haven't any clue about, son.

There was undoubted collaboration on this front. The Non-Aggression Pact between Russia and Germany delayed any hostility between them. Although I don't agree with a poster here that Stalin stayed true to all his promises, he generally stayed true to his word and Hitler was very relieved to hear that. However, Stalin wasn't gonna do all the donkey work. Osioł, enter the fray and complete my account please. It's ur moment.

You're: abbreviation of you are.

hehe, opens his pills and takes some of his own medicine:D:D:D

good spot

Mistakes like that go way back to the days of yore.

Glad you didn't take offence :-)


They sure do, but seem to happen more and more these days, but sadly by people who really don't know they've made a mistake.

To errr is human :)