[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Lost in Translation

[Ed Sonnenburg]

The Poles had a saying "what isn't nailed down is mine"

There was no love loss between the Germans and the Poles
but during hard times the ordinary people helped each other
with food and other things.  It seems the government decisions
caused more problems.  After my relatives escaped Volhynia
to Poland they were asked to become Polish citizens which included
becoming Catholic.   After refusing their work permits were taken
away and they were told to move about 100 km deeper into Poland.

After the war the allies gave the Poles 3 days to do whatever they wanted
to the Germans.  Many Germans were killed.   My grandfather was
taken away but his Polish worker put in good words for him so he
stayed alive.

After the war the Poles killed at least 5,000 Germans that were
wearing Polish uniforms.

A Polish lady told my grandmother after the war that the
the priests were saying from behind the pulpit that their
hope is to rid Poland of all Germans and that Poland
would then look like a clear glass of water.

Their attitudes sure changed though.   When my parents visited
Poland in the 1970s they heard people saying that they hope
that the Germans would come again and rid Poland of the communists.





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Claudia and Doug Kittel" <dougclau at cybertime.net>
To: "Robert Norenberg" <robertnorenberg at yahoo.ca>
Cc: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 9:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Lost in Translation


> Depending on how far back your ancestor lived, I can see how languages got
> mixed up.  Take the early 1900s for example.  It was really considered
> socially unacceptable in some circles for anyone to speak in any language
> but German.  These attitudes got perpetuated by their children, and
> eventually became a form of prejudice here in the United States.  I
remember
> the Pollock jokes of the 40s and 50s; they were derived from this very
type
> of hate.  They made the Polish out to be very unintelligent.  So if your
> ancestor's Pastor was writing something in Polish, and speaking German,
the
> possibility was that he was confusing facts as well.
>
> I am no history expert, but I teach English and took German in high
school,
> Spanish in college, and have a real distaste for ambiguity.
>
> Hope this is not difficult to understand; I get academic once in a while.
>
> Claud\ia
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Robert Norenberg" <robertnorenberg at yahoo.ca>
> To: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 10:30 PM
> Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Lost in Translation
>
>
> > O.K. So my ancestor spoke in german to his pastor and
> > then the pastor wrote the record in polish (but
> > probably spoke back to my ancestor in german.) This
> > may account for some of the odd little mix ups I have
> > seen in some of
> > these records. After all,the pastor was multi tasking! Robert
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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