[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] More on Germans in Poland

[Jerry Frank]

To all,

I think this discussion has strayed far off topic 
and is not relevant to our stated purpose.

Please end this thread now or bring it back in 
line with the original question posted.

Thank you.




Jerry Frank - List Administrator for [Ger-Poland-Volhynia]
GPVListAdmin at sggee.org
http://www.sggee.org/listserv.html






At 10:09 PM 20/04/2007, Ed Sonnenburg wrote:
>The experiences my ancestors had in Poland were from 1930 to 1947.
>In 1939 just before the war the Poles wanted my relatives to become Catholic
>and become Polish citizens.  Since they refused they lost their work permits
>and had to move deeper into Poland.
>
>As I was reading Guenther's response a story came to my mind;
>
>A man died and was standing at the Pearly Gates.  He saw that there were
>many large holes.  In each hole was a different nation.  Beside each hole
>was a guard except beside the German hole.  He asked why the Germans didn't
>have a guard.  It was explained that whenever someone tried to get out of
>the hole he would help his countrymen also get out of the hole, so that was
>why a guard was needed.  The Germans didn't need a guard because when a
>German tried to get out the others  just pulled him back into the dirt!
>
>--------------
>
>My grandfather had the opportunity to talk to a Russian officer during WW2
>and
>the officer told him that the Germans fought like demons but couldn't keep
>their
>mouths shut and gave away too many secrets.
>
>-------Original Message-------
>
>From: Günther Böhm
>Date: 20/04/2007 3:43:18 AM
>To: Volhynian Listserver
>Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] More on Germans in Poland
>
>Ed Sonnenburg schrieb:
>
> >Good suggestion to do a search but with all the experiences my GRs went
> >through in Poland a more appropriate search would be "Poland, the devil's
> >playground". Most of the older people I talk to get a bad taste in their
> >mouth and a scowl on their faces. A Polish proverb is "if it isn't nailed
> >down it is mine". In 1976 my parents visited Poland and talked to some
> >people. The Poles were still waiting for the Germans to come and get the
> >communists out of their country.
> >
>Good morning Ed,
>We should abstain from mixing up two completely different experiences:
>
>1. The expropriation and expelling of Germans from the present
>Poland, Russia and Czechoslovakia after WWII and
>2. A traditional German prejudice on Polish sincerity.
>
>Independently from being a prejudice, the second has NOTHING to do with
>The first. Shortly after WWII you could have called the Germans a
>'people of thieves'. Stolen were any kinds of crops from the fields,
>Coal and timber from the freighttrains, aliments from the allied
>Military canteens, whiskey and cigarettes from the PX shops, non-ferrous
>Metal from the railway tracks and factories, furniture from the ruins
>And so on. This action was commonly called 'organisieren'.
>
>The expropriation and expelling of Germans on the other hand was carried
>Out on the basis of allied treaties and none of the affected peoples -
>Neither the 'loosing' nor the 'winning' - was asked. But common
>Expropriation and expulsion wasn't invented by the allies. Hitler and
>The nazis were masters of it.
>
>Günther from Germany