Americans of Polish descent. How many of us are on Polish forums?

You must be from Minnesota or Wisconsin as there are many people of each of those backgrounds in those states. It depends on which region of the States one lives of course, in general Poles mixed mostly with Irish and Italians, same religion was important when choosing a mate.

See your point Pati (using Brazilian nickname for you, pronounced PaCi when written in Polish - that's a compliment, my friend's beautiful little girl is named Patricia or Pati, her mom is Brazilian :)

However, it would be discrimination if the black cat got a cheaper interest on his cat house loan because that cat's grand-, grand-, grand-, grandfather was mistreated by the mean white dog.

Therefore the mean white dog's grand-, grand-, grand-, granddaughter must now pay higher interest rates, have better cat-highschool grades to be admitted to the same college, have better cat-school grades to be hired at many government cat jobs, etc., etc.

Revenge and reverse discrimination. Wrong then, wrong now. Note, I'm not saying there isn't a problem, nor am I saying that I know the solution, instead I'm saying that fighting discrimination with a different, more subtle form of discrimination is simply wrong.

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Yeah, it was your conversation with him, or rather his attacks on you that I was alluding to when I mistakenly replied to MediaWatch in post 58. Discussions are healthy, however when you see someone is blinded with hate, who sees fascism in everything he/she disagrees with, who uses simplistic punch lines to make a point just walk away, discussion is pointless after all and he/she is not worth your time. Just my grosz on the subject.

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No, actually I was born in Polska, raised in Sverige (Sweden) and have lived in the US for almost two decades.

I've lived in many different states, primarily in the South, but also East coast and Cali. Currently I call Oahu, HI my home.

My family lives in Sweden/Norway, that's where the confusion arose.

I Understand what your saying, but thats a whole different thread


Thank you :)


lol,, well, it wouldnt be fair, but we are talking about people with duplicate names
and lets face it, there are people who share the same name and are Black, white, hispanic
etc. common names like smith, and jones and even people with the names WHITE AND
BLACK as their last name are common so if they took the cencus, it was just to show
where the population was in terms of integration probably.

Anyways, I think a thread should be created about that with Polish Americans.
unless Pol3 already did.. I think he did.. lol

That's exactly what I did. A "healthy discussion", like you say, is impossible with him so why waste time.

I was always wondering how is Hawaii, are there any jobs over there? Do you like it better then the South?

now something on subject so i don't get booted.

HI Pat,

honestly i don't know what I'm. I was born in Poland, my first language was German. Grandpa thought me whenever my parents would drop me off there before work for a few hours a day. Eventually my patterns decided to "beat that stuff out of me" because German wasn't a popular language in those parts back then. Somehow later on they felt it was totally ok to apply for a German passports though. all of this seems like a distant dream or some persistent childhood nightmare.

The rest of my family is scattered all over the world since the WWII. Mixed, assimilated, not knowing wft happened or what to think about Poland. I'm realizing I don't miss them, either. I'm grateful for the simplicity...

My youngest sister still thinks that Poland is a state somewhere in the US. I don't think she is particularly interested in this subject so kudos to you on that Pat.

So I tried to trace my family tree on Ancestry.com and a few other sites like that. I found my roots somewhere in Austria on the 5th generation. Most of the Polish people down in Silesia, Pomerania and eastern Poland etc. were "mixed" anyway. A large number of people were implanted or assimilated for many various reasons, depending on what was going on at the time.

If you really would like to find out your true ethnicity then I would suggest you to run your genes via the IBM/Genographic project on National Geographic. I did it but I was kind of disappointed, in the end the Ancestry.com was right. They provided a few more additional details but overall I was hoping to be more related to ancient Greeks or something.

no punch line

Hawaii is wonderful but probably not for everyone. It's beautiful and peaceful but also too slow for some, and it's expensive. I am renting a house from a friend of mine and probably will move there permanently one day but don't take anything for granted. Heck, tomorrow I might meet the woman of my dreams and will be moving to Pszczyglądżuwiękłówszczew, Poland to be with her (ok, maybe I'm thinking about a different thread here ;)

To be honest, my move was probably a little premature. (hmm, aren't there pills for that? ;) I thought I'd gotten over my divorce, but I really haven't. It sucks to be in a new place by yourself without your old friends around you. So often I end up visiting my friends all over the US and stay with them days at a time. My working schedule is unique and it allows me to do that, yet the irony of it all is that so often the beautiful and not cheap place I'm renting is empty while I am hanging out with my friends in Saint Louis, MO, Atlanta, GA, Charlotte, NC, etc, etc. One month I didn't come home one single time, thought about renting it out but I have a no renters clause and will honor that. My friend doesn't ever rent out his house, I'm the first one ever so I'll keep my part of the bargain.

This situation of course delays my attempts of getting to know more local people, to meet new friends in Hawaii but that's ok, I'll take the time I need to take.

To answer your questions, I love it but wish I could move each and everyone of my friends to Hawaii. :) I love the Hawaian culture, the locals and the laid back way of life. I dislike the, what I call, Californian attitude many people over there seem to have (lots of Calis live there), simply put some are selfish and exhibit the Paris Hilton syndrome of "I'm so much better than you are" - most of those people are Haoles (pronounced howlees) or "white mainlanders", often arrogant.

Ideally, I'd populate the islands with the Polynesian Hawaiians and all the Southerners I could get a hold of. Noticed I said Southerners and not red necks - a big difference. Yes, I love the South, I like their simplicity combined with their curiosity, the lack of sarcasm in their daily lives, their positive outlook on life, unconditional love for the country and yes, their faith. Obviously I'm generalizing and am being very simplistic here but sometimes it helps when making a point.

The job market is tough from what I've heard but I haven't been looking so I'm not totally sure. If I were to summarize it, Hawaii is awesome but can be lonely if you aren't ready to meet the local crowd. At the same token it's easy to make friends there so one day I'll be fine; I guess I'm still at the stage of hanging on to memories and my longterm friends. Not sure any of this makes sense but that's it in a nutshell.


True, my mom's grandfather (my "pradziadek matkowy"?? not sure what the term is) was born in Breslau area (Today's Wrocław). My mom said he was always pointing out that he was not a Pole, nor a German but a Ślązak. Not sure about the spelling here either.


Nah, seems like everyone is related to the Chosen One nowadays and I'm not sure I could take on that kind of responsibility. :)

Punch line intended ;)

Obama related to Pitt, Clinton to Jolie
msnbc.msn.com/id/23797072

Is Pszczyglądżuwiękłówszczew a real place? :O .. Oh my, its going to take time for me to learn the Polish language..

My great-grandparents were born in Poland I found out yesterday from looking at Ellis Island records. Also, my other great-grandparents come from Belarus, which was either part of Poland or Russia during that time period, it's hard for me to know. However, I am Jewish. I guess some would not think of me as being Polish. Although, I think it would be nice to be thought of as a Pole, since I don't really belong to any one place. It seems many of my ancestors lived in Poland or around it for 100s, if not over 1000 years.

Yes, it's in the Swiętomazurkarpackowskolódzkodolnośloskie Voivodship.

...well, no not really, just shows you how I like to waste the few braincells I have sometimes. :)

PS. I'm still learning, or rather re-learning myself so welcome to the club.


Well, you're an American first and foremost. If your relatives came from Poland, then yes, you absolutely have Polish heritage; Polish of Jewish faith to be more exact. Your relatives were Poles of Jewish faith, just like you're now an American of Jewish faith.

There have been periods in Poland's history that were marked by waves of anti-Semitism but that applied to many nations in the region and often was an elaborate scheme used by the occupying powers to turn the occupied population's resentment toward something other than the occupying power. The Tsarist police for example but later also the communist NKVD/KGB excelled at creating hate amongst the worker bees. Sad but an effective technique to keep the masses preoccupied.

You're right, it's absolutely possible that your relatives lived in Poland for 100s of years. Jews were an important part of Poland from the early days of country's existence. For example, coins minted during Mieszko III reign had Latin but also Hebraic markings on them.

Here's a section from Wikipedia:

"...From the founding of the Kingdom of Poland in 1025 through to the early years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth created in 1569, Poland was one of the most tolerant countries in Europe.[2] Known as paradisus Iudaeorum (Latin for Jewish paradise) it became a unique shelter for persecuted and expelled European Jewish communities and a home to the world's largest Jewish community..."

Here's a good summary of the intertwined history of the Christian and the Jewish Poles.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Poland

As always, people on both sides like to focus on negatives sometimes yet I personally believe that the common history is something to be proud of. Warning - you'll probably find some very negative comments here from true anti-Semites but remember that you'll find them within each and every nationality.

Congrats to finding out you have Polish roots.

Tishmore

Jewish is an ethno-religious group, not just religious, more specifically his ancestors were Ashkenazi Jews.

Many people still identify "Jewish" as their religion, and, say, "Polish", "Hungarian" etc.. as their nationality-:)

so, what do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking? :)

if you can get that far back I am sure we all are.

Thanks for sharing.


well, I know my mothers side they did live in the same area for 200 years.
I havent persued it further due to my work schedule. but I do plan to pick back up and
continue getting records. least till the trail stops again.

I'm a translator and college professor (lecturer/instructor).

in the U.S.? or Poland?

how come you dont join the site?? you could offer up some help with genealogical
records :)

I just posted in Polish, that I work in New York-:)))

I seen that, you should join this site, get registered :))

I think that was a question to Skysoulmate - a misquotation here :)

good for you lyzko, strzyga is right i was asking skysoulmate

I already did register, some while ago in fact, but under Marek-:))))

Growing up I was really never told alot about where my ancestor's came from, and at a young age I really never cared. I always remembered people constantly messing up the pronunciation of my name. Of course always getting the typical, "you must be a polack". Never really knowing what "being a polack" really meant. When I had my son is when I wanted to know my roots, so I would be able to answer those questions when he got older. It's been a very fun and emotional quest, finding where my roots came from. I want my son to grow up being proud of his roots, and that is my goal. I will be going to Poland in July of 2011 to see where my grandparents came from and stay with some distant relatives I came in contact with through Polish Forums. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and stories.

Oops, sorry, missed your and strzyga's reply. I fly for a living. Part time national guard (weekend warrior) and full time major airline. I'd rather not discuss specifics as sometimes our online communication rules can get misconstrued. In a nutshell, most but not all of my trips are overseas. Great profession but tough for your loved ones. Incredible places you often visit ...alone. :|

That's a cool job but it can be stressful at times.

Have you heard about that guy who grabbed a few beers and inflated the emergency exit slide? lol


Thank you for your service! Veterans day around the corner.

Go on, answer one question for me.

What do you do when cruising? I've always imagined the cruise part of flights to be ridiculously boring for the pilots...

Very true but I have the best office view out there :)


oh yeah, he's a little bit of a hero to most crew members, he probably did what most of us think about doing ... at least once a month or so. lol


Thank you and ditto if I remember correctly
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It can be but there's actually lots of monitoring and crossing the oceans we have back up plotting procedures, etc. So it keeps us busy ...and awake. :)

Some people fly because it's their job, others because it's their job but also their passion. I'm in the latter category and I always find things that keep me occupied. I started flying as a kid, gliders and hang-gliders and those memories keep me excited about my job even today... However I won't deny some days are less exciting than I'd hope for. If I could keep my current job, meet the woman of my dreams AND be able to take her with me to show her what I see I'd be the happiest man on earth ;)

Not my video but this is how it started... It was love from first sight ;)

youtube.com/watch?v=KFy22AzNTNQ

i did that many moons ago... in a glider with no cockpit cover.

Was it an old Bergfalk glider? I did the same in Hawaii a few years back, awesome. Of course if open cockpit flying is your thing you must try trikes, an incredible experience. I've done it many times and one of these day I'll probably buy one of those things. :)

The Royal Air Force operated 92 T.21Bs (known as the Sedbergh T.X. Mk. 1) in its air cadet training program until the 1980s.

i went up (a few times) as a passenger back in the 70's.

I can admit , I was born in that godforsaken place. But then.. I someties cheer myself up, as I was born in California .... and SOME see this as Mexico.

i thought I had already posted on this thread, but i guess not.

I'm American with Polish roots, my mother is 100% Polish. i guess that's all the thread is asking.

My fathers side of the family is full blown Polish, and the immigrated around 1900...so the family is still fairly new to the country. My mothers side is a complete mix of French, Irish, English, and who knows what else. I'm quite proud of my Polish ancestry though, but I consider myself an American without a doubt.