A xenophobe`s guide to the Poles

My cultural portfolio of

People Character Key national characteristics • • • • • • • •

adaptable able to make the best of what is available devoted to style self-critical - they know themselves inside-out argumentative undisciplined, not follow-through mad romantics famed as magnificent fighters

Geopolitics is the chief architect of the polish character!

Map of Poland

Borders •

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There are 7 nations bordering on Poland: Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany. Add two more neighbors across the Baltic: Denmark and Sweden. That makes a total of 9 neighboring countries.

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Geography teachers are rumored to have a special salary supplement for the extra preparation they have in order to teach Poland's history of shifting borders at given times and which rivers are in and out.

Poland in Europe

Most famous people in Poland • • • • • •

Lech Walesa Marshal Poniatowski Frederic Chopin Pope John Paul II Czeslaw Milosz Nicolas Copernicus and the most famous of all Marie Sklodowska-Curie

Stamps of Poland •

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The history of a country can be found on its stamps. National icons, historical persons or events are commemorated on stamps. Virtually every stamp has a story to tell. The stamps of Poland have particularly interesting stories to tell.

Media TVP broadcasts two general TV channels (TVP 1 and TVP 2), a network of regional channels (TVP 3) and one international channel TVP Polonia. A new cultural channel TVP Kultura started in 2005 and a new sport channel TVP Sport was launched in 2006. TVP 3, TVP Polonia, TVP Kultura are available free across Europe, Poland has more than 5,000 press titles including national and regional dailies, weeklies, monthly agazines, and the

specialized press.

Quotes about the Poles ‘There are few virtues that the Poles do not posses and few mistakes they have ever avoided’

Winston Churchill ‘Not a nation, but an unsound state of mind’

Quentin Crisp

Polish Cuisine "Jedzcie, pijcie i popuszczajcie pasa"...

"Eat, drink and loosen your belt". Poles boast that their two basic products are bread and sausages. Bigos, Pierogi, Zrazy, gołąbki, kotlet schabowy Sernik, szarlotka, makowiec Vodka, the national drink, helps you to digest the food.

A good Polish cook can make gourmet soup from a rusty nail.

Polish products

Polish Traditions and Customs Smingus Dyngus on "Easter Monday“ is also called Wet Monday" On this holiday, it is a tradition to try and pour water on friends and family. It's thought that those who got thoroughly drenched were those who would be blessed with good fortune. They would be cleaned of all evil and illnesses.

Barbórka, St. Barbara Feast - Miner's Day December 4th One of the most celebrated days St. Barbara is a patron of coal miners.

Marzanna 20/21 March Drowning or burning of Marzanna is a traditional folk fest in Poland. To invite and welcome Spring – and at the same time to arrange proper farewell for Winter – the Slavs would celebrate ‘Drowning of Marzanna’ custom that survived till now.

Smingus Dyngus

Barbórka

Drowning Marzanna

Dances Góralski Krakowiak Kujawiak Mazur Oberek Polka Polonaise Zbójnicki

Polish Sportsmen & Women at Athens Olympic Games 2004 Polish Golden & Silver Medallists

Otylia Jedrzejczak, swimmer, She won 2 silver medals (100-m butterfly, and 400-m freestyle) and one gold medal in her big race with a wonderful finish - the 200-m butterfly. Robert Korzeniowski won Men's 50 km walk finishing in 3:38.46..

Poles also won a gold medal in rowing - Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz won Men's Lightweight Dbl Sculls.

Important places

Architecture

Monuments

Memorial to the Poles murdered in the Russian gulags.

Bolesaw I the Brave, first King of Poland

Sigismund III Vasa Column

UNESCO World Heritage sites of Poland Cultural Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945) (1979) Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork (1997) Centennial Hall in Wrocław (2006) Churches of Peace in Jawor and Świdnica (2001) Cracow's Historic Centre (1978) Historic Centre of Warsaw (1980) Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Architectural and Park Landscape Complex and Pilgrimage Park Medieval Town of Toruń (1997) Muskauer Park / Park Mużakowski (2004) Old City of Zamość (1992) Wieliczka Salt Mine (1978) Wooden Churches of Southern Little Poland (2003)

NEAR KRAKOW, WIELICZKA SALT MINES RELIGIOUS FIGURES CARVED OUT OF SALT, SAINT KINGA CHAPEL (1896)

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The Pianist a 2002 film is an adaptation of the autobiography of the Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman. The film is a co-production between Polish, French, German, and British film companies. The story had deep connections with director Roman Polanski because he escaped from the Krakow Ghetto as a child after the death of his mother. He ended up living in a Polish farmer's barn until the war's end. His father almost died in the camps, but they reunited after the end of World War II. The majority of the piano music heard at the film is Chopin’s music.

Krzysztof Kieslowski Zbigniew Preisner

SONG FOR THE UNIFICATION OF EUROPE I Corinthians 13 1.

Εαν ταις γλώσσαις των ανθρώπων λαλώ και των αγγέλων, Tho the languages of men I-speak, and of angels, αγάπην δε μη έχω, γέγονα χαλκός ηχων η κύμβαλον αλαλάζον. love not I have, noisy gong I-sound and cymbal clanging 2. και εαν έχω προφητείαν και ειδώ τα μυστήρια πάντα and tho I-have prophecy, and understand the mysteries all ώστε όρη μεθιστάναι, αγάπην δε μη έχω, ουδέν ειμί. so-as mountains move, love not I have, nothing I-am 4. Η αγάπη μακροθυμεί, χρηστεύεται the love suffers, behaves-with-decency, η αγάπη ου ζήλοι, ου περπερεύεται, ου φυσιούται, the love not jealous, not boastful, not full of pride 7. πάντα στέγει, πάντα πιστεύει, πάντα ελπίζει, πάντα υπομένει. all bears, all believes, all hopes, all endures 8. Η αγάπη ουδέποτε πίπτει. είτε δε προφητείαι, καταργηθήσονται. the love never ends. or though prophecies, deconsecrate είτε γλώσσαι, παύσονται. είτε γνώσις, καταργηθήσεται. or languages, cease. or knowledge, deconsecrate 13. νυνι δε μένει πίστις, ελπίς, αγάπη, τα τρία ταύτα. now then remain faith, hope, love, the three these μείζων δε τούτων η αγάπη. greatest of those the love (x3)

European Football Championship 2012 Poland/Ukraine

Polish EU presidency • •

On the 1st July 2011 Poland will assume the rotating six-month presidency of the European Council. Consisting of six arrow heads directed upwards (perhaps symbolic for growth / progress), the logo was designed by the Polish graphic artist Jerzy Janiszewski, who created the recognisable Solidarność/Solidarity logo which can be seen in the Polish flag flying leftwards above the red arrow.

Polish money

Frederic Chopin on Polish banknotes

Warsaw after the German destruction ‘The City of Ruins’

‘The City of Ruins’ An animated reconstruction produced by the Warsaw Rising Museum, which shows a bird’s eye view of Warsaw after the German destruction. The whole city, with all its circulating life, is a compelling symbol of the will of the Polish people. Today, the picturesque old town of Warsaw is a formidable reconstruction made by the Polish Communist government in the 50s of the last century, mainly based on paintings by the Venetian Bernardo Bellotto, Polish court painter since 1764, who drew it rather for the sake of aesthetics than urban fidelity.

‘The City of Ruins’