German legal discrimination against Polish speakers

They are living in Germany, so first and foremost they should learn German. After that they can learn Polish, but they have to understand that they are living in Germany, not in Poland anymore. So in a way I can understand if Germany doesn't want the Poles to learn Polish first and after that maybe some German. You will get the same kinda situation as here in Ireland, where there are Poles living here for over 5 years and STILL not capable of speaking decent word of English. If this is due to too big a focus on Polish, then I say, no Polish. You're living somewhere else. Force them to learn the language of the country they're in. Their mother tongue can be spoken at home or with friends or sth.

during
their controlled meetings

His daughters are currently living with their mother (a German citizen) and the Jugendamt in Hamburg-Bergedorf has forbidden their father to speak Polish to his daughters during their controlled meetings.

What happened for him to require controlled meetings?

It's kind of hard to have a controlled meeting when you can't control it.

That's not the father's problem if Jugendamt in Hamburg doesn't have Polish
speaking workers or can't hire an interpreter.

lack of goodwill

I don't know that, but it's not so unusual to have controlled meetings with kids.
For example, if the mother is still bearing grudge against Pomorski after their
split up - all she had to do was to report that she has suspicions that the father
might try to kidnap the kids and the meetings would have to be controlled by
the jugendamt clerk.

Jugendamt in Hamburg DOES employ workers who speak Polish
so it's not a question of availability of Polish speaking worker or hiring
an interpreter. It's a question of discrimination and lack of goodwill.

And what would a Polish court do about a Welshman who insisted on speaking Welsh to his kids during supervised visits?

It is about Wojciech Pomorski - a German language teacher from Hamburg.
His daughters are currently living with their mother (a German citizen) and the Jugendamt
in Hamburg-Bergedorf has forbidden their father to speak Polish to his daughters during
their controlled meetings.

If the mother (present during the visit) spoke Welsh too (just as Pomorski's wife
speaks Polish and is present during the visits) - I don't see why it should be a problem
at all.

Maybe the mother deems it traumatic for her daughters to hear Polish again? Maybe he mistreated them severely and does the speaking of Polish remind them of this?

You appear to have entirely missed the point of supervised visits: it is so they can be supervised by an uninvolved profession who is completely neutral and who can make objective recommendations to the court as to future custody rights.

I notice that you have nothing to say about me not being able to submit my tax returns in English in Poland despite the tax office employing workers who speak English. I assume that you consider this 'discrimination and lack of good will' (to use your phrase, it is not one which I would use for this state of affairs) to be entirely acceptable.

If that was the point then I guess the jugendamt should simply send one of
their Polish speaking workers to supervise the visits.

Oh, come on - where do you see the analogy between filling out a tax return form in Polish and depriving man's kids of part of their heritage?

Pure speculation

Unless there are credible accusations (that can be made public and/or verified) there is _no_ reason for the state to be monitoring visits with his own children. Period.

And the state has no business decreeing what language parents can speak to their own children in. Period.

And the tax office should have my forms processed by one of their English speaking workers and only have those workers write to me (in English).

Why can't Poles just deal with the fact that they get what they give?

The state needs to protect those that can not protect themselves: in this case that is the children. Until Daddy can prove that he is fit to have unsupervised visits, he speaks to them in the language that the court appointed supervisor understands or he doesn't speak at all.

compare the rights of German minority in Poland and Polish minority in Germany, or Lithuanian minority in Poland and Poles in Lithuania who can't even have their names spelt in Polish).

If the state feels the need to intrude on parent/child conversations, then it's the state's responsibility to find translators to help them in their snooping.

Lithuanians who hold Polish passports can not give their children Lithuanian names (unless that name is on the list approved by the Polish government).

Możliwe jest nadawanie imion pochodzących z języków obcych o ile nie mają odpowiednika w języku polskim. Nie jest możliwe jednak stosowanie zagranicznej pisowni, np. Max lub Karl.

Gdy rodzicami są cudzoziemcy mogą nadać dziecku również imię w formie występującej w ich języku ojczystym, nawet jeśli ma ono polski odpowiednik.

Art. 7.
1. Osoby należące do mniejszości mają prawo do używania i pisowni swoich imion
i nazwisk zgodnie z zasadami pisowni języka mniejszości, w szczególności do
rejestracji w aktach stanu cywilnego i dokumentach tożsamości.

the only limitation that Polish law puts on foreign names is that they
cannot be given to a child who is born Polish if that name has Polish equivalent
(like Karl - Karol, John - Jan etc. etc.)

However, if parents are foreigners - they CAN give their kid a name from their
native language (even if there is a Polish equivalent).

In other words, foreign names can not be used.

You are completely wrong there.

Gdy rodzicami są cudzoziemcy mogą nadać dziecku również imię w formie
występującej w ich języku ojczystym, nawet jeśli ma ono polski odpowiednik.

Podstawa prawna:

1. Ustawa z dnia 29 września 1986 r. - prawo o aktach stanu cywilnego (tekst jednolity: Dz.U. z 2004 r. Nr 161, poz. 1688).
2. Ustawa z dnia 25 lutego 1964 r. - Kodeks rodzinny i opiekuńczy (Dz.U. Nr 9, poz. 59 z późn. zm.).
3. Ustawa z dnia 19 czerwca 1960 r. - Kodeks postępowania administracyjnego (tekst jednolity: Dz. U. 2000 r. Nr 98 poz. 1071)

And the state has no business decreeing what language parents can speak to their own children in. Period.

Polish children of Polish parents.

...and depriving man's kids of part of their heritage

I still think everybody should be free to pick a name for his children as long as it's an existing, person's name.

Joop is areal name

Would you like to be told what language you must speak