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@@black-skin-is-amazingcrt1637 bro, she aint "White" ! Second, our people CANNOT & WILL NOT receive Reparations under those terms ! We MUST proclaim our Nationality ! Ask me HOW !
@NYTN, American (Webster's 1828)🇺🇸 - a Native of America; originally applied to the ABORIGINALS, or COPPER-COLORED races, found here by the Europeans; but now applied to the descendants of Europeans, born in Americans.
Fascism always lacks internal logic but it's worth noting that Germans recognized how incredibly mixed is Europe. People have moved from one country to another for various reasons. Borders also have moved quite a lot. If anything this interbreeding was a source of the paranoia which lead to breeding programs. They wanted to breed the purest of the pure Aryans because germanic people weren't actually on the top of the hierarchy. They were considered too "mixed" Poland had a quite numerous German minority living in the country for hundrets of years as a result of multiple waves of immigrantion. Often the immigrantion was encouraged by Polish kings. Which means, if you believe German propaganda of that time, you could find "Aryans" among Polish population in need of "help" It's obviously stupid because "Aryan" is not an ethnic group. Blond hair can appear among Slavs just as it happens among germanic ethnic groups. It's just more wide spread among Germans. But then almost anything race related is stupid
Actually the Poles have on average either equal or slightly higher IQ then the Germans...last 30+ years proves how Poland is racing to the top with the GDP ...Germans HATE it! Few decades when Poles don't have to fight off the enemies to the West or to the East proves how industrial and clever people we are...
@@angelikaskoroszyn8495 Germans are literally the most mixed nation in Europe. Germans from west is genetically closer to French and from the east to Pole than those two Germans to eachother.
@@jindrichdolejs623 of course it doesn't. every word's meaning is based on context - you could say any word with an intonation of a swear word and it would be perceived as such (think quasi-swear words that kids sometimes use that are just regular words but you understand what they mean to convey). and, following that, any word can be an insult, given enough time to have cultural meaning attached. i'm a native polish person and there would be a world of difference if someone called me a "polack" in english even though the word derives originally from the polish language.
Generals Kościuszko and Pułaski - American revolutionary war heroes were also "Polacks". So when someone tells jokes about "Polacks", are those heroes excluded?
@drill_don684 It's not the same. "Polak" in Polish doesn't mean the same as "Polack" in English. As a Pole, I would translate "Polack" into Polish as "Polaczek" to show its derogatory and contemptuous meaning. "Rusek" in Polish is similar somewhat to "Polack", it's derogatory and not neutral as "Rosjanin" (Russian).
@@drill_don684 They sound very similar, but it's about the meaning attached to the word in the English language Same as "negro" being nothing more than the name of a color in Spanish, but a highly derogatory term in English
Polish people are some of the most intelligent people I've ever met. Any and all derogatory stereotypes was foisted upon them and other groups by the same group of powerful people who have the power of Hollywood, comic books, media, TV etc.
@@larpingastheduchyofburgund337 The book "Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939-1945" by the historian M.B.B. Biskupski will give you some answers. "During World War II, Hollywood studios supported the war effort by making patriotic movies designed to raise the nation's morale. They often portrayed the combatants in very simple terms: Americans and their allies were heroes, and everyone else was a villain. Norway, France, Czechoslovakia, and England were all good because they had been invaded or victimized by Nazi Germany. Poland, however, was represented in a negative light in numerous movies. In Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939-1945, M. B. B. Biskupski draws on a close study of prewar and wartime films such as To Be or Not to Be (1942), In Our Time (1944), and None Shall Escape (1944). He researched memoirs, letters, diaries, and memoranda written by screenwriters, directors, studio heads, and actors to explore the negative portrayal of Poland during World War II. Biskupski also examines the political climate that influenced Hollywood films." (Amazon)
My family was murdered by Nazis and Communists in ww2 because the considered Polish people a threat and classified them as interior. In America now My family is considered to have white privileges. The murder of my family the poverty we lived through and the constant polish jokes we had to endure means nothing. We are white we are privileged. I barely am getting by, how much do i have to give to be left alone.
let's not forget that most Poles are descendants of panchina peasants, i.e. slaves with whom the nobility did whatever they wanted and sold and bought entire villages with the people who lived there. These people worked for free, were mistreated and beaten by their masters. There are known stories where a peasant was beaten or even killed because he did not kneel or take off his hat when a nobleman was passing along the road. The peasant's attachment to the land, depriving him almost completely of the legal protection of the state, and the possibility of his life being managed by the nobility made peasants basically slaves, whose poverty was lamented even in other parts of Europe. Polish landowners actually claimed ius vitae et necis - the right of life and death over the peasants attached to their land. It is cruel slavery" - Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski thundered already in the 16th century - "that the master usurps the power over the life and death of his servant, sentence him to death or make him free." until 1768, the murder of a peasant by a lord went completely unpunished. A peasant's attachment to the land allowed one peasant's son a year to leave the village (one peasant per year received permission to destroy the village). When peasants escaped from the village without permission, a chase was organized for the fugitive, and if they were caught, they were hanged.
@tonieja8814 This is Bolshevik propaganda. If it were not for the Polish nobility, there would be no Polish nation and Polish state at all. The Winged Hussars consisted of Polish nobility.
@@polishgigachad7097 w takim wypadku wypada mi zaprosić Jaśnie Wielmożnego Szlachetnego Pana na biesiadę ku pamięci jego cesarskiej mości cesarza Józefa II. Impreza odbędzie się w Tarnowie 19 lutego roku pańskiego 1846 zapraszamy serdecznie. Z pozdrowieniami Jakub Szela
@@tonieja8814 this is a hyperbole. Almost every Polish person alive now should have some "blue blood" in them, since you know, that's how ancestry works. Peasants, while not being treated well, were not slaves. Slaves had it much much worse. Still, peasants had it shit too.
@@tonieja8814 this is delusion , really not knowledge but bias, of course some of Slavic were sold to Caliphate bu Jew and Viking traders, Slavs has more equal community than Romans or Germanic or Avars.. Panchina ? heh check DNA in China and try to find slavic genes..
“My instinctive sympathy for Poland was born under the influence of constant accusations against it; - and I can say - I formed my opinion about Poland based on its enemies. Namely, I have come to the certain conclusion that Poland's enemies are almost always enemies of generosity and courage. Whenever I happened to meet an individual with a slavish soul, practicing usury and the cult of terror, while getting stuck in the swamp of materialistic politics, I often discovered in this individual, in addition to the above-mentioned properties, a passionate hatred of Poland. I learned to judge it on the basis of these hateful judgments, and the method turned out to be reliable," wrote Chesterton, the great English writer and friend of Poland. Let this be a comment for all those who spit on Poles and Poland.
@@nytn Yes, this great Chesterton, visited Poland and was in love with Poland and Poles, he converted to Catholicism because he was looking for God. An extraordinary man and a great Briton.
@@tadasdovii8262 We cannot allow poor Ukrainians to be oppressed by Polish masters. All Ukrainian refugees must be expelled from Poland, back to Ukraine.
@@tadasdovii8262 how do you know ? Have you seen it? Did you ever review our side of this story? It’s his-story not ours. Who is writing his-story ? It’s always hi , the winner . Who won the second WW ? Soviets . Who killed thousands Polish officers in Katyn ? UFO , Germans or NKWD . Who killed poles in Wolyn ? Again UFO ? No that was ukrainiens nazis under command of BNDERA . And our story is that one night Nkwd killed some ukra people but the rumour was that poles did it . This was done in purpose to push ukrainiens against the poles .Before this incident happened they live together in one village with peace , their kids was attending to one school and playing together . Start to questioning “official “ his-tory before you judge other people, specifically if don’t speak their language and you can’t ask witnesses. And remember Nkwd wasn’t formed from Slavs , and we are always pushed by others to fight against brothers. Check hapologroup R1a and you will see that’s we are all brothers in DNA type .
I’m a second generation Polish-American. My grandparents immigrated from Krynica-Zdrój and Warsaw to escape WW2 and have told me stories about their immigration and discrimination they have faced. Currently trying to connect with my heritage and learning Polish :) Your videos have helped a lot, new subscriber
@@dominiquerola5652, Switzerland is out of reach, come on. But yeah, Krynica-Zdrój is still a very nice place, and actually the whole Sądecczyzna is beautiful. Lakes, mountains, rivers ❤️
Agree, I've been there twice. Great landscape and fine kitchen. Depsite some political disagreements Poland is still a very welcome, safe, developing country with fine society. Vision it, check it.
@@tsaicioFor your information, it is not a developing country any more. Since 2018 it is classified as a developed country and to be honest it is becoming more expensive than the rest of so-called developed countries.
Poland was assailed by the German Nazis and their European henchmen on 1st September 1939 thru their concocted Gleiwitz Incident scheme pretext (not like malicious people wilfully lie saying 1941) and also by the USSR on 17th September 1939, both armies having killed off 60 000 or so of the Polish military officers along with intelligentsia in the Soviet Katyn-Kharkiv-Mednoye-etc massacres and German A-B Aktion massacres. Besides, Poland holds the very 1st place in the Jewish Yad Vashem as the Righteous Among the Nations, nearly 7 000 Poles rewarded. German concentration camps of death had the German language for all kinds of communication in speech, radio, paperwork, etc, NEVER POLISH LANGUAGE!!! Stop learning false or falsified history from the mendacious movies of the Hellytrannywood!!!
Thank you for this video from the bottom of my heart. I am half Polish, half Lithuanian and since moving to US in 95 again and again I meet people who behave towards me dismissive, like I am somehow damaged just because I have an accent. I am getting weary of the attitude, jokes, interruptions while talking, utter disrespect. I came from a family with 4 generations of University educated people, I have 3 degrees and speak 5 languages btw. I am not offended (mostly) I am just amused and to be honest that attitude towards me, when they hear my accent, tells me more about them than about me. I grew to be numb to these things, but it takes a little bit of my energy that could be used way more productively. Again thank you for this video.
I'm 75% Polish and 25% Lithuanian. Recently I began learning about my Polish ancestry, traveling to Poland, learning to speak Polish, and I'm actually moving to Poland soon. I decided a while ago to stop identifying as white and I now identify as Slavic or Polish. Your video really answers so many questions about my childhood, the jokes, the teasing and why my family didn't talk about our heritage. After all my research about Poland I am now proud to say I'm Polish, even going so far as to reclaim my ancestral name of Zaleski. Thank you.❤
This is actually so bizzare, because polish people in Poland identify themselves as whites. It's the Americans that do not recognize us as whites. Fortunatelly we have our own country and history and can be whatever we want. Glad to hear that you will join us in Poland.
Man you are white, it is irrelevant that you do not identify yourself as such. We are a proud white nation and no one is going to give us some politically correct crap. You guys over there in the States are sickly obsessed with skin color. There is nothing wrong being white. There are around 46 nations in Europe with different culture and mentality. The definition of being white should be only, because of your skin color nothing else. We consider italians, greeks, spaniards sometimes even turks white.
You can personally identify as whatever you like but the random person you meet (of any race or ethnicity) is going to identify you as what you appear - white.
@@jeffmorse645 I don't do it for others. If someone asks me then I would tell them I'm Slavic. It's like having a dog, we know it's a dog but there are hundreds of breeds. There are many traits, characteristics, cultural identities around the world. Many people are of course a mix of many identities. I can still claim to be 100% Slavic and rather than try to hide my ethnicity I want to embrace it. It's more for myself but I've also started many conversations with people who are curious about it.
I'm Polish-American and I lived in Illinois for over 20 years. The worst place to live if someone is of Polish ancestry. Even the dumbest kids on the block tried to offend Poles with those jokes and what surprised me the most was that some of them believed that. I understood their derogatory statements and their intentions, but those crazy jokes could have been told about any other ethnic group. The most idiotic statement was "stupid Polack" which was usually uttered in moments of desperation when they had no other arguments. I usually laughed them in the face because all Polish people are proud when they say "Jestem Polakiem." There is even a Polish song about that: ruclips.net/video/SCMdt5oOLuw/видео.html The word "Polack" used by those mighty Americans derives from century-old derogatory statements used in Germany. However, trying to offend a Polish person with the word "Polak or Polack" is like saying to a US citizen you are an "American" or you "stupid American." I think most people would be more confused than offended. I have never hear that Poles could be perceived as people of color, but that could have been another American invention that did not work.
My friend Bartek is Polish. He is a virologist here in London. He's the most academically qualified person in my friend group. He's also one of the chillest dudes I know.
Now you might replace Polish with Ukrainian and Russian propaganda all again. I must say we don't care about the skin color, however we don't want to have much mixed ethnicity via mass import to make Poland worse. We have high influx of Ukrainians and I find many mix well into the culture and the ladies are one of the prettiest. There is also good public education which works well to make many people educated enough.
Yeah first of all I recommend someone (when german) to not laugh from poles because first thieves were germans 😂 Most of the time it's end of discussion
@@FirstnameSurname738 No. There can be half-Jew, half-Pole, but Jews =/= Poles. Many Jews were loyal citizens of Poland (and many were not), but this didn't make them Poles. Same with Germans and Ruthenians. They can became Poles, but after couple of generations. European countries are not USA.
The western massive post ww2 slunder of Poland and Poles had it's cynical reason, that is mostly unknown for most pepole. After all Poland was the first ally fighting the Nazis, immidietly betrayed by Britain and France that staged the "aid", French pretended to invade Germany and immidietly withdrawn, while Brits bombed the Germans with leaflets, they signed the pact and did not even bother to actualy stick to it, they just used Poland as time saver for themselves. Later assasinating Polish leadership whom were asking and demanding the answers to then unknown fate of 25000 Poles that were murdered by the Soviets, to secure Stalin's favour, once Hitler went east, but were very happy to have Poles fighting for France and later Britain, that ofcourse untill the war was over. When war ended, Brits banned Poles from the victory parade, and started treating Poles as unwanted element from than on, stolen evacuated Polish treasury as "payment for being housed in britain during the war" while they were there fighting to save the damn island, and finally they sold Poland to Stalin in Yalta. This stream of batrayals was the reason why Poland got slundered to the oblivion for years while being stuck behind the iron curtain, being unable to write their own ww2 history, or even the one before that, resist any narration or dissagree on any level with the victors, with Russian hegemon over it's head being happy to see it's new puppet being forgotten to the west, so they could exploit Poland as they see fit. Yeah it is as cynical and disqusting as it gets, this is the world we live in and that is the real politic of western powers, and looking at nowdays Izrael, i see not much have changed... And if pepole think Poles are to stoic, not smiling, sad looking, distanced, and hard to get open to strangers. Yeah, that is why we are like that, a bit less with each new generation, but ghosts of the past are not gone and evil from the east never died, it just reformed itself under new banner and new face of the same old murderous red star we might to have to fight again...
I am afraid "who cares" in the modern, western society about polish hard history. Personally I feel we are now about to be exploied by German govwrment via EU regulations to pay for German economical and geopolitical mistakes. Still much of Poles are opened, friendly, helpful, educated and with good manniers.
@@piotrkarp9562 The defence deal was not to teleport into Poland, French army was suposed to roll into Germany that was absolutely defencless at the time and Brits to bomb German cities and block their ports. The same was to be done by Poland in case of land invasion in case Germany attack France, which was on the table in Germany at the time before invasion of Poland.
As Polish, thank you for this video. I thought that this issue was entirely unnoticed by people of non-polish origin. It's even hard to explain it to them -they say, 'What are you talking about? You are white, you can't be discriminated. It requires a remarkable ability to think outside the box to notice that problem. Kudos to you! :)
No we know it very well, especially as Muslims, poles wannabe whites trying to get GERMONEY and American / British money, but no one should ask what the fuck the poles are doing here because obviously you are white now 😂
A native Polish here. During my anthropology studies at my university, we read a book called "The rise of the Unmeltable Ethnic" by Michael Novak. Written in the 1970, Novak criticized the idea of the melting pot, that the US in the 1970s still dealt with discrimination of non-WASP ethnics: Poles, Slovakians, Czechs, Hungarians, Italians etc. . As someone who was largely ignorant about history of race and identity in the US, it was an interesting read. For the same reason, your video is interesting as well.
By the 1970s...this is absolutely untrue. I knew lots of Polish Americans and Poles. They were all considered white, and the Polish Americans were seen as just American. Pollack jokes existed but were seen as lame or stupid in general.
@@erichamilton3373 I was interested in pop culture when I was younger and I am only 26. I still remember those jokes in US made TV series and on popular TV shows, so your argument that minimize the use of those jokes in US is wrong.
@@Huperdome I don't really mean to minimize the hurt someone would feel over thosd jokes, but they were seen as stupid jokes,.and besides those jokes, there was no anti Polish sentiment--that's California.
@@erichamilton3373 uhm, as an outsider, i will not minimize neither yours or Novak's perspective on this. Then, i give a possibility that i might have misrepresented or misunderstood what Novak had meant. As i understood the matter, Novak was a political scientist. He argued that white ethnics became a battled minority back then. The left wing back then labelled the representstives of white ethnics as bigotted fascists and ignored their needs as a community. Meanwhile, the right (particularly coming from the WASPs) started to offer them becoming white while ignoring how the WASPs previously tried to erase their white ethnics culture and discriminate them. Novak thought of this melting pot as being false. Instead, he argued that ethnics should embrace their identities and ally with other minorities. In a way, i found the last part to be somehow resembling the thought given in this video. What does even mean to be white anyway? Be free to consult the book content. There is an article for more history context to it. Donald Pienkos, The New Ethnicity Movement and Polish Americans,Polish American Studies, vol. 76, autumn 2019, pp 64-79.
As a Polish person, this is very interesting. I learned a LOT. My country is still struggling after what Germany and Russia did to us. Thankfully we're getting into somewhat better position as a nation and as people.
Americans were and sometimes still are racist that way. They were for the longest time the same with Irish. How can you be more pale/white than Irish i don't know - yet they still did not consider them white.
That's because race is a made up thing. Black "race" is so genetically diverse it's stupid to put them all into one category. Poles are mixed on the genetic level. Slavs, Germans, Nordic people Jewish people, Tatars, and probably couple other ethnic groups I forgot about - they all mixed in Poland with each other
I'm american ukrainian and grew up in a polish neighborhood. They are some of the smartest hardworking ppl I've ever met. My granddaughter just got back from deployment in Poland. Said they were very friendly and helpful to her. Almost everyone spoke some English. The country was very clean. Puts are large cities to shame.
You say that polish people are some of the smartest? As a polish person, working with a lot of Ukrainians - I disagree. The Ukrainians are the most intelligent, humble and hardworking people I've ever met.
@@Ercan-cy3wewell, I don't think everyone is practicing making a scientific study in everyday life, so it's rather understandable that someone is making a statement based on their own experience (even if it's based on small group of people/subjects)
As a Pole, I am grateful that you have raised the issue of Polish Americans. I have always wondered why Poles are so underrepresented in American popular culture, even though they are an integral and vital part of American history. From the Polish perspective, the answer is simple - Poles are the loyal countrymen and they easily blend in with other nations once they migrate. The Polish identity is quite simple - we consider ourselves European and Polish. For centuries, Pollish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has been a fairly federal, multicultural and republican country. You could be Polish even if you were black or brown. Within the majority of Slavic culture, we had the strong representation of Slavic-Polish Catholics, Slavic-Polish-Orthodox, Slavic-Ukrainian-Orthodox, Jews and Muslim Tatars. So being Polish is more a question of national identity than skin color. And the most important thing is that historically there was no difference in skin color. You were loyal to the king - that was all that mattered!
Thank you for such a thoughtful addition to the conversation. I am not Polish (*I don’t think I am!) but they are truly one of the warmest and kindest people! Strangers go out of their way to talk or help. At least that has been my experience
Fun fact: A chunk of the Polish Legions that fought in Napoleon's Revolutionary Army that were sent to Saint Domingue (now Haiti) to help put down the slave rebellion deserted and went over to the rebel side. The surviving Poles were granted permanent citizenship after independence and their descendants still live in Haiti. The Polish Legions were led by General Wladislaw Jablonowski, a half black Polish aristocrat who had been a classmate of Napoleon at the French Military Academy. He died from yellow fever shortly after arriving in the colony.
wow man, a lot of wishful thinking on polish identity :) today's Poles are descendants of people who were slaves in their own country and it has nothing to do with loyalty to anyone. Mostly they did not have any national identity. Polish identity was developed and preserved by rich nobles, that own lands and people. Freedom to countrypeople was brought by invaders and partitioners of Poland - foreign countries (which seems to be the rule up to this days - eg UE vs polish gov)! Then nazis and russian communists killed educated Poles and polish communists took what left of noble's fortunes. And then the folks can finally start to develop. That's what Poles are and that's why they assimilate so quickly.
"You could be Polish even if you were black or brown" Are you out of your mind?.... Polish is a European Ethnicity.. You cannot be "a black polish" there is no such thing.. its an ethnicity not a passport and to say so is a deep insult to the history, culture and people of Poland.. Millions of Polish people have died fighting for Polish survival and independence.
Hi there, I'm German-Polish living in Germany. I've recently come across your channel and your videos are very interesting. It's super weird but also very mind-blowing to hear all this. This construct of being white or not white seems to be really American because most "ethnic" European groups in different European would never think about being white or not. Ever since I was little, I noticed that people in Germany have a negative attitude towards Poles but they would never "describe" them as not white. I think the same goes for many other countries here. We usually distinguish people by their nationality. It's interesting to hear that you said that Poles were perceived as "exotic".
That's because white Americans are the most uneducated and ignorant if all white people; it's unreal how uneducated white Americans are especially white men in America
@liluchiha1954 He had. And he actually considered Slavs as a different race than Germanic people. He even said that Roma people, Slavs, and Jews are "untermensch" so it means "subhuman".
We seem to forget that the KKK was not only against Blacks, but Catholics and Jews. I also remembered what it was like living during the time of "Polish Jokes" and I was also told that i had to grin and bear it. Also i remembered when a Prominent newspaper columnist used an ethnic slur in an interview when asked about Pope John Paul II, she was only given a suspension of couple of days
Ethnic slurs aside, the funniest numner is Poland is apparently 2137, which is the hour the pope died. Counterreaction to the amount of propaganda and praise we hear about him all the time (especially comparing to the silenced accusations against him), probably.
@@tymondabrowski12only edgy kids do it because teasing older religious people is funny for them. You need to understand the nature of humour in the country to properly understand it's nuances.
@@Teuwufel Not really. "Papieżaki" with is the type of memes that started 2137 started way back in early 2000 around time of his death. So average person laughing from that is in late 30's to early 20's age group
Polish people are peaceful, they don't engage in violance, gangs, killings of innocent people. Most are thought through religion, family values. From what it appears, Americans will turn any decent human being, to regret they were ever born. That in itself gives me a better understanding of why there's so much violance in USA.
Its not that simple. In the 90' Poland was shaking because of gangs and mafia's, many people died, drugs flooded streets, women were kidnapped and sold in german brothels. 44 years of communism took its part in destroying Polish dignity
That’s too much of a simplification. Demoralised Polish people can be violent and organise into gangs. I don’t think we Polish people are any special, frankly no race/ nation is in my opinion. The difference is economic and geopolitical circumstances in which we are born.
@@timfool these are Poles detached form their origainal tradition, faith and culture - i dont think they are Polish - we can call it demoralized, no culture like many other nations in us...
This is an interesting video. I was born in Poland and immigrated to the US in 2000 at the age of 8. This year I finished medical school and I’ll be starting residency in a month. Three months ago, one of my preceptor found out I was Polish and honored me with Polish joke that basically said Polish people were dumb. So much of this sentiment is still present in the US.
As a Pole living in London, I don’t care what people think about my background. I live up to my values, which were forged by hard work and experience I gained in the US, Poland and now in the UK. I combine the best of these three worlds and take full advantage of that. I am happy with who I am, what I have achieved and what I do. There is no single narrow-minded moron who can change that.
What are you saying? You are looking for a "...single narrow-minded moron who can change..." your life. Go to Polish personal adds section. You will find plenty. 😂
@@pawelzielinski1398 Don't be so dramatic. Take a joke. Have some sense of humor. Don't be like the government of Kazakstan when they saw Borat. They reacted like it was documentary. Don't be zakompleksiony Polak.
The best of three worlds? There is nothing from Poland except your arrogance, the money of British and America is the turning point , why didn't you have this success in Poland, stop thinking it was your polish identity who made it great for you, and not the opportunity given by the UK and American system.
I am so glad that you are doing this series. I had this debate about, basically, levels of white some years ago. Many "white" people refuse to believe there was ever such discrimination against ethnic groups that "eventually' were accepted as being white. I also remember, as a Black child, wondering why "white" kids would tell "dumb Polack" jokes. Sadly, it also made me feel a sense of relief that I wasn't the target of the jokes.
@@nytn People, I believe, are targeted bc human nature in our society says that you have to fit in and be better than. It's the nature of the bully basically. At the same time it displays shortcomings and inadequacies. But when one previously outsude group has become a part of the socially dominant group (basically a political vote) they feel a sense of belonging. They then target lesser groups in order to maintain the false sense of dominance. It's kind of how many white supremacists have lengthy criminal records. The last thing they feel they have that is honorable is the fact that they are "white". So, their sometimes horrendous backgrounds, to them, don't mean as much as them feeling that they are part of a greater cause. 1 May have murdered 100yo nun and her prized cockatoo but at the end of the day "I'm White!" JK but you know what I mean.
@@nytn people who feel powerless and taken advantage of often feel better if they think there is a group below them. They feel "at least I'm not at the bottom". And there is always somebody at the top encouraging that behavior. The elites can't afford for us to all get along. Then we might turn our ire on them! I often tell my grandchildren that people who pick on others have a low self-esteem. To an extent, they should be pitied because they must have a miserable life It is SO important to teach our children to value every human being and treat them with respect.
I am Polish (from the southern Poland), with some German blood because of the German settlers that were invited to populate the towns in mediaeval Poland, provided they had some skills to make a living. In my country 60% of the young people have a masters degree. During the IIWW Germans were adopting by force selected Polish children to improve German race (tens of thousands of them). Visiting USA in 1990 I've learned that the only people who can call themselves Americans are those that came on the Mayflower ship... what a big ship that must have been I thought :D.
Mojej prababci brat, też wyemigrował do Ameryki. Niestety potem kontakt się urwał, ponieważ prababcia nie potrafiła pisać i nie potrafiła czytać więc większość listów przychodziło do jej brata, który bardzo często sporo ją kłamał. O czy dowiedzieliśmy się znacznie później. W każdym bądź razie kontakt się urwał i prababcia do końca nie mogła się pogodzić z tym, że nie ma wiadomości od brata, który był jej ulubionym. Prababcia już nie żyje jej dzieci też, zostało pokolenie mojej mamy i moje i idziemy do przodu. Ale słuchając opowieści mojej mamy najstarszej siostry o perypetiach naszej rodziny zawsze się zastanawiam czy została jeszcze gałąź rodziny tego prastryja i jak im się wiedzie. A najbardziej chciałbym się tego dowiedzieć dla tej mojej cioci, która jest najstarsza z naszego rodu a ktora mimo zaawansowanego wieku tak dużo pamięta.
Thank you so much for this video! Poles faced centuries of violence, hate, and prejudice but it is rarely ever acknowledged. In fact, it is so often purposely swept under the carpet and made to look like some silly conspiracy theory that even many Poles are afraid to acknowledge the prejudice they had to face. What is sad is that many of the old sentiments still endure around the world, often because of our usual skin color making Poles an easy and safe target. A lot can be said about Poles that would otherwise be unacceptable if directed to other ethnic groups/nationalities.
I agree with you, this is how it looks like, when I discuss it with Westerners, all too often. Gaslighting, gaslighting and gaslighting, even though my parents say different things about my family's history!
Hold on are you saying Polish people are easy to distinguish among white people because of our unusual skin colour? I am Polish Canadian and I am white and most Polish people are.
@@underated17 No, what I am implying is that because the vast majority of us are white it makes us an easy target. Anyone attacking us doesn't have to worry about being accused of racism. Just look at how anti-immigrant parties in the UK acted. Most of the "troubles" such as terrorist attacks and violence were related to immigrants from muslim countries from the Middle East and North Africa. But the right-wing anti-immigrant parties did not dare, at least in the first few years, to attack this immigrant group because it was politically incorrect. So what did they do instead? They used Poles as scapegoats. That way they didn't have to fear being accused of racism (however idiotic this is, considering that Middle-Easterners are mostly white but whatever). Romanians often face the same problem. They are from Eastern Europe, which in itself is a stigma, but because they are white they don't enjoy the protection that other minorities enjoy thanks to the progressive left. In fact, because just like Poles, they came from mostly Christian and conservative societies, it is even more ok to hate on them.
Poles are the best sort of emigrants. They do not form criminal groups, they are not into administration positions. They are hard working people, not causing any problems. People who assimilate well into local society and on top of it, most of them are very attractive.
Poles never fully "assimilated"... into Germanic tribes, nor Slavic tribes, they are their own tribe.... that consist of many ethnic groups like mentioned before and many others : ruthinians (known as white russians), tatars (muslim brothers in arms then helped repel mongols and russians houndreds years later and that also faught ottomans), sarmatians (refugees from territory of iran), and many others like walhs , romanians (gypsies) and latin theres also balts, and ukrainians, swedes hungarians... and so on. Rome described those tribes as 1 of among "Vandals" whether its true we will never know cuz no historic sources have been found or whether it was 1 group or 1 of many. But yea every empire that tried to advance in poland was short lived. Whether it was ottomans, mongolians , russians or nazis... They all failed. If America or EU wants to be next in line cant stop ya but u will fall eventually.
As a southern man, I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize for the hardships and abuse my polish brothers and sisters had to face due to the ignorance and cruelty of my own group.
Very interesting. Norm McDonald admitted in interview he was Polish by origin, but they changed family name to Irish because of the discrimination they were facing. Polish names generally disappeared this way mostly , people changed them from Kowalski to Jones not to be attacked
I love the polish people. They have gorgeous men and women, and hard workers. I think the issue was , the early Americans were of British , protestant stock. A lot of it was anti-catholic sentiment.
My Ancestors were Polish in fact, they worked in the coal mines of WV. Poland itself has a very interesting and rich history. When Polish people immigrated here, they came from 3 different countries. Russia, Germany, and Austria. Poland didn't become a united country again until after ww1.
My grandmother was Sicilian but with a vague Greek-sounding surname. She was only able to get a secretarial job in NYC in the 1920s by saying she was French Canadian. If they knew she was southern Italian she would have never been hired. When she was interviewed they specifically asked what kind of surname she had.
Uh, interesting, considering French Canadians were also not seen as white at that point. I remember a story about the Klan trying to get rid of the French Canadian immigrants in New England. I guess it wasn't "as bad".
Back then, there was concern (by some Americans, particularly on the U.S. east coast) that all Sicilians had Mafia connections. Nowadays, it's Russian crime syndicates that scare Americans.
"white" along with "black" "brown" etc is a classism caste system of divide and conquer created by the British Empire. "White" "black" etc did not exist in history prior.
@@tymondabrowski12 I am pretty sure sweden has more blond haired and blue ayed children. Lot's of polish kids have blond hair that gets darher as they become teen and adults so it becomes basically brown Just a fun fact
@@tymondabrowski12, typical traits of Slavic nations are brown hair and dark eyes. Blue eyes and blond hair most probably come from Vikings/Swedish raids through Polish lands 😅
@@tymondabrowski12 Yea... actually 2/3 of Poles are brown-haired and brown-eyed, but indeed we "all" are blonde and light eyed when we are children (even I - a Pole - was a green-eyed blonde when I was 3yo, despite now I look like a typical Iranian)
I grew up in the 80s and Polak jokes were common. I always wondered why people considered Poles to be unintelligent and why it was so normal to use them as the butt of jokes. I vaguely remember one joke about Polish submarines having no windows, only screens. I just took it for granted because I didn’t personally know any Polish people, but i just thought it seemed odd that people would pick on one racial group for no discernible reason. But yeah it was openly done and common and it was considered fair game somehow and unlike jokes against Black people it was somehow considered un-racist to use them as the butt of the joke
I visited my friend in the USA (Tennessee) about 10 years ago. We went to a fast-food restaurant together. The young guy at the cash register asked me where I was from because he noticed a different accent. I said I was from Poland. That's when he started telling "Polish jokes" out loud. He said it with such pride and satisfaction. He really thought that telling such jokes was okay and that I would find it amusing. I was shocked.
@@ypabloo i’m sorry you had to deal with that most Americans don’t even leave their hometown, they have no idea about other cultures, except from what they see on TV or in movies, they also think America is the greatest country in the world, and it hasn’t had any claim to that in about 50 years
@@ypabloo Trzeba wtedy nagrać taką osobę i zgłosić do managera. To najbardziej amerykański sposób na radzenie sobie - aczkolwiek słabe jest to że wogole takie coś ma miejsce. Niestety walczenie o swoje nadal żywe...
Many Poles came to the USA to work manual labor jobs in the late 19th and early 20th century. There really wasn't a reason for the educated ones, usually from the nobility, to leave Europe. As such, the stereotype of being uneducated spread.
My mom’s parents are both immigrants from Poland. My grandpa came over at 4 years old so he was very much an American culturally. He couldn’t speak Polish very well but could understand it. My grandma came at 16, so she has the accent and is very culturally Polish. I think the fact that there wasn’t any effort to teach my mom or any of us grandkids the Polish language shows that there was unfortunately some shame back in those days about being Polish, so they wanted to raise their kids as strictly Americans 😢. I have since taught myself Polish, and it makes my grandma so happy when I speak to her in her language ❤️ I’m very proud of my heritage 🇵🇱
@@brockjohnson3550 …..all information about Poland are on Google….but I just want to say that…Poland never invaded other countries, Poland was ruined by Germans aggression, we survived and doing good, we survived from Russia communists influence, thanks to shipping yard demonstrations and creating Unit ,,Solidarnosc,, other countries in Europa started be free from Russia and Russia it self was divided, now Putin is doing he’s job with Ukrainian, So if somebody have bad opinion about Poland, polish people, for me this person is just ignorant, yes is irritating but you can discuss with ignorants because they don’t know nothing. On the end I just want reminds that big Astronomers Mikolaj Kopernik was Polish ….how is that???????🇵🇱
I'm second generation Polish American. Polish People are Slavic. Even some of the Polish Historian say that we are two people. Only is they name Egypt,Turkey and India as the possible places. Polish People speak on of the oldest European languages being Indo-European language. I grew up hearing my share of jokes about stupid Polish People. In the movie The Bridge to Far about the British campaign during WW2. Was to end the war. Polish General starring Gene Hackman warn that it will fail. He thoroughly dismiss by the British Senior officers. He was right. That Jamestown had Polish slaves. That in the American Revolution two Polish Generals were in service to General George Washington. If see the name on some things. It would be Puski my spelling might be off. In European History Poland has save Europe twice. First time in the 13 century against the Mongolians and in the 17 century against the Ottoman Empire. One of the classical music performer and writer was Polish. The first college in Europe was Poland in 800 AD. He is another thing. When Germany invaded Poland it cost them 30% of materials in combat. One of the highest amounts Germany lost in invaded European Country. This is some things I know about Poland History and Polish People.
There were no Polish slaves in Jamestown. Those men were free workers, essential for colony's economy. Moreover, they made first political strike i US history, as they were first prohibited from voting, as not being English, (although they played taxes). They went on strike, and after some time they were gained voting rights. And what are you talking about this "first college in 800 AD"?
Poland was at war with bolsheviks in years 1919-1921. Most important battle happened 13-25.08.1920 in towns and villages next to Warsaw. Poles fought soviets off and it saved Poland, which only 2 years earlier got it's independence back and whole Europe from comunist revolution brought by military. Sometimes this battle is called "miracle on the Vistula". It was one of the most important and groundbreaking battles in history.
@@karolinakuc4783 Similar language? Why I had to "study" Russian in school for so many years and can barely say something? I would say that Slovaks have the most similar to Polish language. I met few Slovaks and we had absolutely no problems with understanding each other.
When Ford opened the first Ford T 1/4 factory, the entire new team of the best mechanics in the region were Poles. And that was only because WASPs created a glass ceiling. Catholics could not advance to the middle class. As a Pole, I believe that we are wronged as an ethnic and religious group. These stereotypes are still alive today.
I'm Polish (I live in Poland) and I never thought that someone might thinkt I'm not white 😅 like what, I thought that's a skin tone thing, now I'm learning it's a culture thing? Never would think people would treat me different because I'm Polish...
First generation polish American, this video was great insight to see what my parents went through when they immigrated here. My dad tells me stories about having the qualifications for city jobs, only to be turned down once they heard his accent and found out he is polish. This was in 90’s, and some of that still lingers today.
Interesting fact about Poles that after Polish Legion refuse to follow orders and crush Haitian revolution and instead helped people of Haiti gain their independence the Jean-Jacques Dessalines first emperor of Haiti granted Poles classification of Noir(Blacks)
I have a friend (former NY work colleague) who had a Polish-American dad and Italian-American mom. She said her paternal grandmother told her and her sister that they were mixed!
@@YourFav_Anastasia01 half italian half polish is quite common in swindon england ,stems from the second world war and the fighting at Monte Casino !!!!!
My grandmother is Polka, the first generation born in America. Her parents were ashamed of their ethnicity and refused to pass along the cultural and linguistic markers. The only thing she could say in Polish was that ahe didn't speak it. She always pushed education and it's importance upon me, i think this video helped me understand a little better as to why. Thank you for caring about immigrant cultures beyond skin tone.
@@mirabela1344 Nie mieli wyjscia? My ex husband is Polish-American and he never denied where he is from, quite the opposite! Our all neighbors knew we were 100% Polish! I am raising my daughter teaching her Polish history, especially during the WW2 since Americans know the world "history" or European history from CNN or NBC news that is getting more distorted the more time goes by. I always tell her that she is Polish American and she should never ever be ashamed of who she is. I don't want to judge your grandmother or grandparents but I can tell you that I lived in Germany for over 16 years and I heard many Polish jokes and "funny" stories told about us, but I never wasted energy on that because my friends, who were also Germans, were people who knew their history too well and deep down they felt ashamed that their Nazi ancestors were capable of committing such atrocities against Polish nation. As a Polish person, I have nothing to be ashamed of, quite the opposite.
@@Craphithefan I understand what are you saying. You're ex-husband is noble man and very proud Polish-American. I have to say that every situation is different. Some Polish in America had to choose between feeding their kids or keeping their last name. Because of the prejudice they couldn't find a job. Also many polish people before WWII didn't associated themselves as polish but as people of once region of Poland. I recommend you to read book "Chłopi" or watch the movie (2023) version of it. It's difficult topic to discuss, it requires a lot of empathy and emotional intelligence. But I think that we should not judge them, they went to America to have a better life. Living in occupied Poland was difficult. I mean there wasn't Poland for 123 years on the map.
Historically, Armenian people were very grateful to Polish people, time of Ottoman occupation of Armenia, Polish king send his Army to fight against Ottoman occupation Armenia. I have lots of respect for Polish people, because of that
Hey:) im actualy from Poland, but iv been in many countries all over the world, including USA. I must say that i found recipe for this kind of thinking. Its not only education. It striked me particularly when iv been in US. I was expecting to meet people with wide horizon of thinking - people who know a lot about the world. To my surorise i found that huge chunk of americans necer beeen abroad. They never seen beauty of other countries, culture of other nations. When you traveling , you starting to het more humble. You starting to seee what is wrong with your country, what you as a nation can change, where your weakneses are in comparison to other. Today if you would visit Poland, it would be a day when you say "polaks joke" last time. I might be call bias, but i see and know reaction foreigners on our culture, cities , nature. I hosted people from UK, US , Ukraine, Spain, Turky, - and reaction is always the same - " Im not expected that" . Because in minds of thos people still exist ingrained stereotypes , but they dont hold long in confrontation with what they see. In nineties polish people was having a complexes in comparison with the west. Things like " pollocks jokes " was really ticking us . Today? we really dont care. We are safest country in europe and allmost safest in the world. Economic growth 30 years straight, we are only only below china score , we have most educated society in europe. Pollocks jokes do not withstand a reality anymore. There is no more west complex. I started to seee reverse tendency - more and more westeners visiting poland asking me how they can move to poland. So thats my receip for people For those who lite to tell jokes about others - Travel more, see something else before you will say - we are the best, this way you will find som humility inside of you. For those who are object of jokes - Be amazing person - show those people that they are so wrong. Like Poland did, like polish people did. Sory for this elaborate :) i waned to write much lesss. Below link for those who still use this jokes about poles. ruclips.net/video/YCelkqmkxMs/видео.html ruclips.net/video/muIofzuBcGg/видео.html
Nie musisz nigdzie jechać by mieć szerokie horyzonty myślowe. Znam wielu Polaków, którzy zwiedzili X państw a są takimi tradogłowymi rasistami że szkoda słów. Wyjazd nigdy nie zagwarantuje ci szerokich horyzontów. Bo jeśli masz zamknięty umysł na innych, to nawet 100 podróży do 100 krajów tego nie zmieni. Amerykanie i nie tylko oni nie muszą nigdzie jeździć by być ciekawym świata. To nabywa się w domu. Amerykanie są zbyt leniwi by choćby spróbować dowiedzieć się o innych krajach i kulturach. O czym my tu mówimy, Amerykanie nie są ciekawi nawet własnego państwa. I są zbyt leniwi i zbyt aroganccy, bo całe ich otoczenie mówi im że USA jest numer jeden i cały świat chce tam zamieszkać. A to nie jest prawda
And that, my friend, is the main source of our struggle. Jewish people won by being victims, people of African decescent won by being victims, LGBTQ people won by being victims, Muslim people are winning, more and more, by being victims. We, the Polish are too white to be victims, and at the same time, too non-white to be the "enlightened elite". Dignity and integrity wins nothing for communities nowadays, only shameless PRIDE to flaunt their victimhood.
No, Polish people consider themselves one of the biggest victims of history, especially WW2 - maybe Holocaust is considered in Poland similar level of oppression, but Poles suffered most - at least in their own view.
Thank you for very informative video! I’m polish living in USA for over 30 years. Always wondered how this hatred for polish people started here in this country. Initially I thought that this is something which was just brought from Europe, mostly from Germany. As our polish/german history is full of wars and conflicts which seems to have no end. But you managed to show much larger point of view on this phenomenon. I want to thank you for that!! I still encounter people calling me “polak”with this very specific tone of voice which shows that they think that I’m inferior to them. But generally I think that people’s consciousness is evolving which shows that we are moving in the right direction.
Ironically, the hot spots to visit in Europe nowadays are Poland, Lithuania, the Baltics, Croatia, Slovania and Hungary. Cities like Ljubljana, Krakow, Riga and Zagreb are thriving. Plus you won't have to deal with crowds of tourusts you often see im places like Rome or Paris. And don't forget Poland gave us composers such as Chopin, Padarewski and Scharwenka. Authors such as Henryk Sienkiewicz.
So funny that people hate eastern europe when so many things were invented by eastern europeans and so many famous people are eastern European. Nikola Tesla. Copernicus. Marie Curie. Skype was invented by an Estonian. One of the google founders was Sergey Brin, a Russian man. Gennady Tartakovsky, of Dexter's Lab and Samuria Jack fame? Russian. Drew Barrymore? Hungarian-American. Ruth Handler creator of Barbie? Polish. Melissa Joan Hart from sabrina the teenage witch? Hungarian-American. So many famous popstars are of Albanian descent. Rita Ora. Dua Lipa. Bebe Rexha. Ava Max. I don't like him but Prince Phillip? Greek. And we still oppressed and shit on Eastern Europeans?
@@finland4ever55A few famous figures doesn’t really get rid of the very real poverty still there after Communism and the fact that Slavic women look like models while the men look like real world orcs.
@@finland4ever55well, again "American ignorance" comes first. Not "Eastern", but in case of Kopernik, Maria Skłodowska - Curie and Chopin, "Central Europeans". Hungarians are also consider "Central Europeans". In case of Tesla, "Southern European", just like Albanians
I always wished Polish people were more represented in the US, UK and Canada etc. Thanks for covering this subject. My parents told me Poles were extremely discriminated against by all the nations invading Poland. E.g. many Germans, Russians, even Ukrainians that are facing Russian invasion now! Frankly, when I talk to westerners about Polish history, all they fricking do to me is gaslighting, gaslighting and calling me a conspiratard. This is why I'm extremely depressed!!!
polish ukrainian relations are much more complex then theit relations with the oter two. germans and russians were basically terrorizing everything that lies between them throughout history
I hope you are no longer depressed! I am an American, whose father's parents came to the US from Poland in 1900-ish time ( I am starting to research more, now that I am retired). I will travel to Poland, I'm learning Polish now, and I want to find the graves of my great-grandparents to place flowers there, since my grandparents were never able to return to do so. One thing I have learned is to not be concerned about ignorant people, they are their own misery. I wish all good things to you! Poland is getting stronger and stronger every year!
You know I was trying to explain this to so many people in my life - white privilege is actually an extremely narrow term because it mostly includes well educated rich western European White people. Those are the ones that were privileged and only hate experiencing reverse racism now. All other people , other "Whites" have experienced some level of racism and unfairness to them throughout history and for many it was on extreme levels. You cannot assume someone don't know your struggles if you don't know their family history. And again another thing that is personally extremely unfair to Poles is the attitude Israel has towards them. They hate Poles almost as much as they did hate Nazis and consider Polish Nazi collaborators who sold Jews by the minute. Why is it that way? Did it happen? Yes on occasion it did happen that a Pole disclosed information about a Jew , but consider that only in Poland the punishment for withholding that information or worse hiding Jews was a death sentence on you and your ENTIRE FAMILY. Even so there are many stories where Poles actually made all the efforts to help Jews escape , especially children. Most of Polish Jews and stories sadly perished in the Holocaust and those who build Israel where actually mostly Russian and German Immigrants with their own agenda towards Poles. Those are the people with the audacity to say Polish death Camps because they were located in Poland and young Jews come here with all the hatred in their hearts to see where the violence hapend. But why not consider the Poles and Polish lands were used , by almost all parts of the conflict. It is just sad. And on top of that you have to explain your "polish face" or "polish attitude" which is being cautious and smiling where there is an actual good reason for it. Generational trauma is a powerful thing but for Poles it mostly means being sceptical , cautious and just working hard whether for Jews it actually turned them into the oppressor out of fear. It is sad that so many times history repeats itself.
I shed a tear at 1 of these quotes because I know my great-grandma felt that way. I never met her so I can't speak for her, but I could feel that that was what she went through, being a 1st generation American with Polish parents. In Chicago they had a good sized Polish community, but that doesn't mean that life was good and may even hint at the sectioning of the city into different ethnic groupings.
Putting a suffix before American does not make you worse or better than those that don't. Being a Polish American reveals your root, tells a story of where you are from it tells who you are. Never be ashamed of where you came from, share your journey!
This is really interesting and strange. I grew up in France where my French mother and Grandmother would often speak about Poles in the most glowing terms, how they are so intelligent and musical they were as well as easily they were able to learn new languages. I do know my mom was a big fan of Chopin (a famous Polish composer), but it’s strange how in France there was apparently such positive sentiment towards Poles. When we moved to upstate New York in the U.S. in the early 1970s (when I was in my early teens) I remember often hearing Polak jokes (there were also a lot of jokes about “Irishmen”) but not even making the connection that a Polak was a Pole! Now as an adult, I’m married to Swede whose mother is Polish, and it is amazing to hear the stories of what her own mother had endured under the Nazis (including being forced to work as an unpaid “AuPair” in Germany.
To answer your question, during partition of Poland and even earlier, high societies of Poland tended to send their sons and daughters to study in the west of Poland - mostly France, Italia, Holland and Belgium where many of the best universities of Europe were placed. We had this period of time during partition of Poland called "the great emigration" in XIX century, that fruited in great persponalities like Chopin, Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Marie Curie-Słodowska. Also when we lost our independence some of the best tactitians moved to America and thus you can hear about Piłsudski or Kościuszko.
France got very elegant Poles, especially after 1831 and in XX. Artists, poets, Chopin, and aristocrats like prince Czartoryski and others. Of course no aristocrats headed for USA in 19th century or earlier. Young noble officer Kosciusko being about the highest on the social ladder. And he reached USA escaping hunt for his life. Of course turned out to be a good citizen and soon general. Then he returned to Poland! His considerable wealth in USA gave in the will executed by his closest friend T. Jefferson himself to...200 hundred black slaves to rebuy their freedom, educate and so on. Great man.
Other examples of "wrong kind" of whites would be the Catholic Irish, Italians, Germans and Spaniards, Orthodox Greeks and Slavs. Even today, in the US the terms "Latino" and "Hispanic" are used abusively and wrongly with racial connotations, when neither describes a single specific race, just one of the many European cultures.
I love your channel and the way you are opening up a dialogue for everyone. It's really so beautiful that we are different and that variety is what makes us stronger, more balanced when we respect it, integrate it and enjoy it
Currently, the people of Poland are leading by example by how they have welcomed Ukrainian refugees. They understand what it is like to be attacked or other-ized by hostile government or group. 🇵🇱
They have welcomed Ukrainians but they don't want Muslim refugees. Ukrainians are to be considered the same as EU citizens in all EU countries so have had a lot of benefits. This is an EU directive. Poles, Hungarians etc do not want African and Muslim refugees however.
@@jackieblue1267 If you refer to the thousands of young men who flew to Minsk, Belarus, in 2021, who purchased tourist visas for Belarus, who once in Belarus purchased common tourist items such as bolt cutters, shovels, axes and went to the Polish Border with no visas for Poland, many "losing" their identification along the way, and then began attacking the Polish Border Guards (causing fatal injuries to one of the Guards) and trying to break down the border fences, you are correct. They were not welcome. Poles did not view them as refugees, but as violent invaders. Many of these charming men finally flew back to their home countries, while others retreated to Minsk, claiming they were assured they would get another opportunity in a few months (during the Russian invasion of Ukraine?) One of these men mentioned he had not flown directly to Minsk, but had flown to Moscow first, for training. What sort of training could that have been? Poles can identify innocent refugees (95% of the Ukrainians were women carrying small children or helping elderly relatives) fleeing Putin's bombs, and Poles opened their arms, hearts and homes to help them. Poles can also identify agressive, violent invaders who claim to be refugees, but these men at the Belaurs/Polish border were 95% young men who had left their wives, children and mothers in the place which they claimed was too dangerous for themselves to remain. You apparently are unable to recognize the difference. Luka-Putin was hoping the Poles wouldn't recognize the difference, but, the Poles did and Luka-Putin failed.
I fell into a rabbit hole bc of this video. As a Pole, I was a little upset no polish people were seen in Oppenheimer movie, given how many Polish scientists took part in it. As it turns out on the oficial site of US departament of energy out of all the polish scientists, only Józef Rotblat is present (of course his name is translated to Joseph, because as it turns out having non english sounding name is forbidden) Stanisław Ulam, Stanisław Mrozowski, Emil Konopinski aren't present not only on goverment pages but also on english wikipedia about the manhattan project. Polish scientists took massive part in changing the world we see today. From Maria Skłodowska-Curie (her Polish surname isn't mentioned outside of poland, even though she insisted on calling her with Polish surname), People responsible for cracking the enigma code, Stefan Banach, one of the most important mathematician of the 20th century, Jan Czochralski who invented method we made semiconductor wafers now and many more. It's really sad so many of them worked in the US and the stereotype still stands, Also kind of Ironic how most people in American Science projects like Manhattan were in fact immigrants, people seen as inferior/less inteligent by the US population. Again, it's not only a Polish thing, nor a thing of the past. During a research for this comment i discovered many people called american scientis who werent born nor raised in the US (like e.g. Paul G. Comba, Italian man, born in Italian family, an "Italian-American scientist"), as it turns out, your nationality dosen't matter, if you made your work in the US, you are listed as american scientist. If you made it this far, i encourage you to compare wikipedia articles on famous people of your native country with english speaking ones and see how they differ, it's interesting
Ah to be fair when someone left its country and settled in another and was accepted by its society it is safe to assume that person to be American. Sadly often we aren't shown full story like in case of French movies and books depicting life of Marie Curie Skłodowska and ommiting the fact that the very fact that she broke a marriage (to be happy with her beloved man) was out of sudden called by French newspapers a foreigner
@Jan-r1p your ancestral lineage is from where are your parents are from and where your great grandparents are from no, I don’t speak this native languages but it’s in my DNA
I think it's important that ppl embrace and be proud of thier bloodline, culture , and heritage. Me I'm Chicano 🇺🇲🇲🇽 Mexican -American and proud of it . I'm equally both.
I'm a Canadian and born during the last months of WW2 living on our prairies and as I got older there was a very large influx of both Polish and Ukrainian people to this part of Canada and took them no time at all to fit right in. My mother, God rest her soul, was English and was a typical English style cook and it was only when a Ukrainian neighbour taught her to cook that we really ate like kings! God bless 'em all!
I agree with you. It it is divisive and even racist to make someone's color of skin their main identity, especially in the world so diverse that nearly no one belongs to just one ethnic group. I am Polish and I was really sad that my daughter was made to feel bad because of color of her skin due to being taught that white people are "privilaged" and " racist" just because of the colour of their skin.😢
I've met few Americans during my travels and sadly they still treat Polish people lot worse. You could sense that. And also I've heard some really hurtful words so maybe something change but not as much as we would think.
As a Hungarian, best friend of Poland, I recently actually had to google the stereotype of the Polish joke, because I didn't know. Dumb? Have they heard of Marie Sklodowska Curie or Copernicus?
They're not dumb, I think their IQ will eventually be the highest in Europe. They're already up there and not declining like others. Polish people are hardworkers that filled blue-collar jobs and elites decided to label them dumb. I think Polish people are just filled what needed to be filled. They do well across the board.
I am 100% Polish and live in Poland 😂 (ok, there is a 1/4 German in me) and I stumbled upon this video. I am finding it funny on one hand and stunning on the other. How wonderful it must have been to have the confidence of an Anglo-Saxon / German American to think of oneself as better than everyone else ahahaha. Americans have all these categorisations for people and races, I was already thinking it was strange they consider Latinos as not white. But Slavic people? How pale do you want your white? I do not believe as it is stated in the video that the Polish immigrants "did not consider themselves either white or black", what is more likely is that they did not care about these people's strange concepts, or in getting involved in their stupid fights. I am quite sure they knew what they were. But also I doubt they considered themselves better than anyone else for being white. LIke the Poles in Haiti. People were leaving the old continent to find themselves in these weird and violent conditions in America (gangs?). Wasn't that worse than Europe?. I wonder how many of them stayed because they did not have the means to go back.
I was in school in the 70’s and remember those jokes being told. I don’t know why Polish people were considered so bad. The Polish kids and the Black kids were kind of in similar position of “who not to like” but they got more of a pass because they could at least be considered White.
This means a lot my friend, with all these identity politics I have had some black friends say some extremely insensitive things to me regarding this topic. I have always identified that I could kind of hide in plain sight when I walked outside. By the one question, could a man named Vladimir Globochenkov be elected President in 2024, kind of lays to rest the idea that as my friend once told me, you are just another white guy walking around and that the Holocaust wasn't about race. It seems there may be no end to society trying to pit black Americans and Polish Americans against one another, but it won't work on me my friend! Blessings to you!
@@roksana1736 haha, Ukrainian actually. Okay you think Slawomir Brzychowski might be more likely elected President? Or how about Miroslaw Podbodowski. Or my Uncle's name if you like, Caszmir Juszczak, hahaha. I can see you laughing as you read those names and thinking about the improbability of such people being elected mayor of a city let alone President of the United States.
I worked with a man of middle eastern ancestry who had been an assistant to the U S military. He was a naturalized citizen. When asked what his background was, he always replied that he was an American. Until he became acquainted with someone he did not provide further information. I think that is wise and appropriate.
Third generation Lebanese American and I understand this story. I had a highly educated coworker go nuts when she found out I was "not white"(her definition) and was not wearing a hijab. She claimed I was trying to pass myself off as white. I was just trying to work.
@@tiredoftrolls2629 Wow! The only solution is to educate these people. You are just being the American that you are! But the racism comes from both sides. I am White, married to a Hispanic man for 45 years. When I was first married, not many Whites and Hispanics were inter-married. So a Hispanic coworker assumed I was a fair-skinned Hispanic because of my last name. She told me one day "you know White people don't love their children like we do". She had a White ex-sister-in-law who had left her son with his father and run off with an ex-boyfriend. So she associated that behavior with ALL White people. It is so important to judge people on their own character and not paint a whole group based on the behavior of some people who happen to have the same ethnicity or skin color! I wish that many Blacks in this country who hate Whites would remember that some White people fought and died to free their ancestors from slavery. And I wish that many Whites in this country would realize that not all Blacks are rioting and torching cities. Some of them have fought and died in our military protecting our freedoms!
I'm a a polish person from poland and american use of "black" and "white" is so confusing. In (most of or even all of ) Europe it's just a term for skin color, which is visible just as hair or eyes color.
The American flag stands for all "Legal" Americans. No matter your race, creed, sex, politics, or sexuality. If you hyphenate your race. That's on you.
Its coming from the Gov. Look at the forms asking your race on them. The word other is listed on the last line. So..... they can always give a good reason for an explanation. Its still an obvious racist.
@@jaxsazerac4904we dont want the hyphenation. It comes from government as its on all official forms you have to fill in ...... AND ..... it comes from the WHITE majority who STILL hyphenates all non-whites though some of us have been here for generations , while they automatically just refer as "American" any white (looking) immigrant from anywhere in Europe, even if they just got off the boat.
not true about jokes. It was the agreed policy of Prussians, Austrians and Moscovites regarding refugees from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after 1864, distributed throughout America (USA and Canada) - documented!!,. The bandits and thieves of these 3 empires (Prison of Nations - Austria, Thief - Prussia, Cemetery of Nations - Moscovia) even in America persecuted their victims. Hollywood has also contributed to its numerous productions - you also know why
My grandparents came to the states after allied troops freed them from camps in Poland. It was a real struggle for them to get established with McCarthyism etc in the 50s. Growing up in the 70s, everytime someone learned I was Polish they told me a Polish joke. I was confounded by the jokester 's stupidity ... wth? Polish people are wonderful and have amazing history and I have always been proud of my heritage... especially when surrounded by idiots!
As a European and a Pole, I am completely unable to understand your (American) view of race. On the one hand, you say that race shouldn't matter, but on the other, your entire culture revolves around the color of your skin and the place of origin of your ancestors. I feel like this applies to liberals and conservatives alike. You keep dividing people into perpetrators and victims according to arbitrary categories, taking away yours individual identity. Such a philosophy can only lead you to the eternal conflict that is already taking place in your society.
I lived in Chicago suburbs many years ago. My neighbor had Polish last name. She told me her husband was Pole, he died a few years before I moved to that house. She took care of her grandchildren and she brought them very often to my house because children were with similar ages and we had big backyard with swimming pool. After 7 years or so I found out she understood Polish. One day her grandchild was crying a lot because he hurt himself. She told him to stop to cry. " Before the wedding everything will heal". I never heard it in English before and told her it is Polish saying. She then admitted she was taught Polish by her grandma. She was so shame she was Polish she didn't want to be recognized her as a Pole . It was in the 90s.
Nice American story. In 2000 I walked in downtown Detroit. The Americans tought I wanted to commit suicide or I am extremly brave. America is a great country and its culture! needs to be exported.
Thank you for your fine talk on the Polish American experience. I have a doctorate on American and Eastern European history, with a special concentration on Polish history. I salute you for your work and dedication. B
Thank you so much for addressing this important topic ! Thank You i lived temporarily in germany with my family and we were discriminated , schools on purpose pushed us to schools for kids that were meant to be in blue collar work ( they did not want to educate us as kids ). Luckily i worked hard in US to attain my degree 🎉and in High School (US)the guidance counselor told me “ people like you do not go to College” . In Europe I experienced a lot of discrimination it’s truly sad. I never told this to anyone because I just thought of it as a norm 😢. I truly appreciate You brought this sad issue to the surface, my experience taught me to truly understand people of color in US.
I was born in Katowice and immigrated to America when I was young. I felt all while growing up the very dichotomy imbedded into America's culture: I was poor, but excluded from the black/latino communities because I was white. I was similarly excluded from white suburban communities because I wasn't the *right* white, or *enough* white. As a child, it was difficult to understand why I didn't fit. Later on, discovering my neurodivergency, made me realize there was never going to be a place for people like me. We were poor, we were starving, we were *homeless.* Every community failed us but our fellow Poles. I couldn't blame my mother and family for their conservative xenophobia when we grew up with a war on our border or in our country every goddamn generation. We had no one but our fellow immigrants and countrymen that lived here, even all the way in the early 90's. It's hard to be polish. It's one of the hardest parts of my identity I'm still coming to terms with.
You went in depth with this one and you were spot on in so many aspects, especially with Nazis and Soviets portraying Polish ppl as dumb and inferior. Thank you for bringing up interesting piece of history. Greetings from Poland
Poland and Polish people were used and attacked many times. Poland was not a free country really the last 200 years. And still Poles survived and as soon as they could put their noses over the water surface they thrived. Imagine yourself building a house of lego, and when you have almost completed it a large boy comes by and breaks it. When it happens many times then it is even difficult to gather and manifest any enthusiasm to do it again, to improve it and to embelish it. And life is not only building this house. I think Americans should visit Poland now and see who the Poles are, how they live and check out their intelligence and education today. Now after they had a moment to develop and learn things that they always wanted to learn. It is quite nice now in Poland, it is safe, trains are better as transportation than cars, they run often and are not expensive, if you are 70 years old you can travel in Warsaw for free, a lot of redaction of prices everywhere if you are retired, nobody is living on the street, school and university are free and so is medical care. Well, compare this with what is going on in the US, and the only wars you had were the wars that you produced yourself. Poles were never dumb just very, very, very poor...And Russians, Germans, Austrian and Polish aristocracy wre holding Poles down so they could make a maximal profit of them. Hopefully the Ukrainian war never comes to Poland. Hopefully Russians stop the madness. And hopefully the Europeans wake up and reorganize broken Europe. And hopefully the immigrants realize what they have received and appreciate it.
@@marktwain5266 a fucking person that doesnt believe in ur comically stupid sense of race, we dont have time for ur american bullshit, the problem u have is no identity so dont measure everyone with ur tape
From what I've heard pollack jokes date way back to the XIX century. After the Napoleonic wars of Europe, Poland and Lithuania were finally partitioned and subjugated by Austria, Russia and Prusia (II German Reich shortly after) and both nations' fate was sealed. Many Polish people emigrated to the US, as did the Germans, the latter being not only larger in numbers, but also wealthier - Poles very often had their entire wealth seized by the oppressors for being 'anarchists' and 'rebels'. Germans on the other hand often had support of businesses from their newly imperial homeland. Germans at the time used to say to Poles: "We build factories, you build churches" to emphasise their Germanic industriousness and Polish/Slavic backwardness. Also, at the end of the XVIII century there were some Poles, who became notable political figures in the US - most namely Pułaski and Kościuszko. So this was the way for the Germans to mitigate potential future Polish influence in the US administration: both by advantage in wealth and by spreading derogatory stereotypes.
even though im of german descent i can say that the germans are a nasty bunch n(if you dont believe me there is WW2 to consider) but the germans were probably right about the churches, it looks like the catholic church likes backward subjects, you see it even if you look at southern germany the most advanced nations are the protestant onees, eeven today
As a Polish person all I will say here is read about person Tadeusz Kosciusko. In Point West military academy all USA officers studying there are admiring that Polish person for what he did for USA. Highest mountain in Australia is called after his name. Just go look it up. 😋🇵🇱🇵🇱👍
My mother was born in and grew up in Canada. My grandparents were Slavs who came from Eastern Europe. When she was a child, she was often called "Bohunk." Growing up in Chicago, many of my best friends were Polish-Americans and I was acutely aware of the anti-Slavic racism that pervaded America even in the 1980s. Never forget!
Thank you for making this video. I am first generation Canadian, my mother is Polish. We do not identify as "White". We will accept European but we identify as Slavic. We are Ethnic Slavs. Thank you from Canada 🇨🇦
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*You're a wonderful white woman (w/a dash of Blk admixture like 8 million other white Americans)! Another great video sis!* 👍👍
@@black-skin-is-amazingcrt1637 bro, she aint "White" !
Second, our people CANNOT & WILL NOT receive Reparations under those terms !
We MUST proclaim our Nationality ! Ask me HOW !
@NYTN,
American (Webster's 1828)🇺🇸 - a Native of America; originally applied to the ABORIGINALS, or COPPER-COLORED races, found here by the Europeans; but now applied to the descendants of Europeans, born in Americans.
@nytn I love your channel. This is a subject that is really close to my heart ❤️
@@black-skin-is-amazingcrt1637 That's right!
The Germans thought Poles were inferior, but at the same time they kidnapped about 200,000 Polish children to rise up as Germans. Logic 😅
Fascism always lacks internal logic but it's worth noting that Germans recognized how incredibly mixed is Europe. People have moved from one country to another for various reasons. Borders also have moved quite a lot. If anything this interbreeding was a source of the paranoia which lead to breeding programs. They wanted to breed the purest of the pure Aryans because germanic people weren't actually on the top of the hierarchy. They were considered too "mixed"
Poland had a quite numerous German minority living in the country for hundrets of years as a result of multiple waves of immigrantion. Often the immigrantion was encouraged by Polish kings. Which means, if you believe German propaganda of that time, you could find "Aryans" among Polish population in need of "help"
It's obviously stupid because "Aryan" is not an ethnic group. Blond hair can appear among Slavs just as it happens among germanic ethnic groups. It's just more wide spread among Germans. But then almost anything race related is stupid
Actually the Poles have on average either equal or slightly higher IQ then the Germans...last 30+ years proves how Poland is racing to the top with the GDP ...Germans HATE it! Few decades when Poles don't have to fight off the enemies to the West or to the East proves how industrial and clever people we are...
@@angelikaskoroszyn8495 Germans are literally the most mixed nation in Europe. Germans from west is genetically closer to French and from the east to Pole than those two Germans to eachother.
@@angelikaskoroszyn8495 its so mixed that quite often you can tell in big city where people are from. so not that mixed
If you do the research they identified aryan gene and its found mostly in Poles.
the fact that "Polak" which literally means "Pole" in Polish was turned into an insult is so disgusting
I'd say the fact that it means "Pole" in polish is that this word is without any power to be insulting...
@@jindrichdolejs623 of course it doesn't. every word's meaning is based on context - you could say any word with an intonation of a swear word and it would be perceived as such (think quasi-swear words that kids sometimes use that are just regular words but you understand what they mean to convey). and, following that, any word can be an insult, given enough time to have cultural meaning attached. i'm a native polish person and there would be a world of difference if someone called me a "polack" in english even though the word derives originally from the polish language.
I have a big problem with our media. It does not allow derogatory terms for black, Jews and other groups but has no problem with insults to poles.
@@jindrichdolejs623We do the same thing here in Poland when we say "ruski" towards russians.
@@b005t3r once again keeping in mind context, because "ruski" does not always mean Russian, that's why pierogi ruskie does not mean "Russian pierogi"
Generals Kościuszko and Pułaski - American revolutionary war heroes were also "Polacks". So when someone tells jokes about "Polacks", are those heroes excluded?
That's similar to how in the Renaissance, some historians would falsely claim that Copernicus was a German or an Italian rather than Polish.
@@JamieBar It's Kopernik. Probably easier to prove he's Polish when using his actual name.
why is Polack derogatory?? it literally means polish in polish language
@drill_don684 It's not the same. "Polak" in Polish doesn't mean the same as "Polack" in English. As a Pole, I would translate "Polack" into Polish as "Polaczek" to show its derogatory and contemptuous meaning. "Rusek" in Polish is similar somewhat to "Polack", it's derogatory and not neutral as "Rosjanin" (Russian).
@@drill_don684 They sound very similar, but it's about the meaning attached to the word in the English language
Same as "negro" being nothing more than the name of a color in Spanish, but a highly derogatory term in English
Polish people are some of the most intelligent people I've ever met. Any and all derogatory stereotypes was foisted upon them and other groups by the same group of powerful people who have the power of Hollywood, comic books, media, TV etc.
And who would that be?
Bankers !
@@larpingastheduchyofburgund337 Eskimos 😂
What makes polish people specifically, intelligent?
@@larpingastheduchyofburgund337 The book "Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939-1945"
by the historian M.B.B. Biskupski will give you some answers. "During World War II, Hollywood studios supported the war effort by making patriotic movies designed to raise the nation's morale. They often portrayed the combatants in very simple terms: Americans and their allies were heroes, and everyone else was a villain. Norway, France, Czechoslovakia, and England were all good because they had been invaded or victimized by Nazi Germany. Poland, however, was represented in a negative light in numerous movies. In Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939-1945, M. B. B. Biskupski draws on a close study of prewar and wartime films such as To Be or Not to Be (1942), In Our Time (1944), and None Shall Escape (1944). He researched memoirs, letters, diaries, and memoranda written by screenwriters, directors, studio heads, and actors to explore the negative portrayal of Poland during World War II. Biskupski also examines the political climate that influenced Hollywood films." (Amazon)
My family was murdered by Nazis and Communists in ww2 because the considered Polish people a threat and classified them as interior. In America now My family is considered to have white privileges. The murder of my family the poverty we lived through and the constant polish jokes we had to endure means nothing. We are white we are privileged. I barely am getting by, how much do i have to give to be left alone.
let's not forget that most Poles are descendants of panchina peasants, i.e. slaves with whom the nobility did whatever they wanted and sold and bought entire villages with the people who lived there. These people worked for free, were mistreated and beaten by their masters. There are known stories where a peasant was beaten or even killed because he did not kneel or take off his hat when a nobleman was passing along the road. The peasant's attachment to the land, depriving him almost completely of the legal protection of the state, and the possibility of his life being managed by the nobility made peasants basically slaves, whose poverty was lamented even in other parts of Europe. Polish landowners actually claimed ius vitae et necis - the right of life and death over the peasants attached to their land. It is cruel slavery" - Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski thundered already in the 16th century - "that the master usurps the power over the life and death of his servant, sentence him to death or make him free." until 1768, the murder of a peasant by a lord went completely unpunished. A peasant's attachment to the land allowed one peasant's son a year to leave the village (one peasant per year received permission to destroy the village). When peasants escaped from the village without permission, a chase was organized for the fugitive, and if they were caught, they were hanged.
@tonieja8814 This is Bolshevik propaganda. If it were not for the Polish nobility, there would be no Polish nation and Polish state at all. The Winged Hussars consisted of Polish nobility.
@@polishgigachad7097 w takim wypadku wypada mi zaprosić Jaśnie Wielmożnego Szlachetnego Pana na biesiadę ku pamięci jego cesarskiej mości cesarza Józefa II. Impreza odbędzie się w Tarnowie 19 lutego roku pańskiego 1846 zapraszamy serdecznie. Z pozdrowieniami Jakub Szela
@@tonieja8814 this is a hyperbole. Almost every Polish person alive now should have some "blue blood" in them, since you know, that's how ancestry works. Peasants, while not being treated well, were not slaves. Slaves had it much much worse. Still, peasants had it shit too.
@@tonieja8814 this is delusion , really not knowledge but bias, of course some of Slavic were sold to Caliphate bu Jew and Viking traders, Slavs has more equal community than Romans or Germanic or Avars.. Panchina ? heh check DNA in China and try to find slavic genes..
“My instinctive sympathy for Poland was born under the influence of constant accusations against it; - and I can say - I formed my opinion about Poland based on its enemies. Namely, I have come to the certain conclusion that Poland's enemies are almost always enemies of generosity and courage. Whenever I happened to meet an individual with a slavish soul, practicing usury and the cult of terror, while getting stuck in the swamp of materialistic politics, I often discovered in this individual, in addition to the above-mentioned properties, a passionate hatred of Poland. I learned to judge it on the basis of these hateful judgments, and the method turned out to be reliable," wrote Chesterton, the great English writer and friend of Poland. Let this be a comment for all those who spit on Poles and Poland.
Is that GK Chesterton? If so, a great man and writer. That reads like him to me
@@nytn Yes, this great Chesterton, visited Poland and was in love with Poland and Poles, he converted to Catholicism because he was looking for God. An extraordinary man and a great Briton.
Love you brother!
@@tadasdovii8262 We cannot allow poor Ukrainians to be oppressed by Polish masters. All Ukrainian refugees must be expelled from Poland, back to Ukraine.
@@tadasdovii8262 how do you know ? Have you seen it? Did you ever review our side of this story? It’s his-story not ours. Who is writing his-story ? It’s always hi , the winner . Who won the second WW ? Soviets . Who killed thousands Polish officers in Katyn ? UFO , Germans or NKWD . Who killed poles in Wolyn ? Again UFO ? No that was ukrainiens nazis under command of BNDERA . And our story is that one night Nkwd killed some ukra people but the rumour was that poles did it . This was done in purpose to push ukrainiens against the poles .Before this incident happened they live together in one village with peace , their kids was attending to one school and playing together . Start to questioning “official “ his-tory before you judge other people, specifically if don’t speak their language and you can’t ask witnesses. And remember Nkwd wasn’t formed from Slavs , and we are always pushed by others to fight against brothers. Check hapologroup R1a and you will see that’s we are all brothers in DNA type .
The irony of attacking the intelligence of Polish people is that they have historically contributed a ton to academics.
Wasn't a Polish guy first to convince everyone that earth goes around the sun, not the other way around?
Yes indeed@@whiteobama3032
@@whiteobama3032 indeed, Kopernik
@whiteobama3032 Nicolaus Copernicus as Latin Italians like to call him.
Repeating the nazi mottos is a CRIME !! This is what this women is doing !!
I’m a second generation Polish-American. My grandparents immigrated from Krynica-Zdrój and Warsaw to escape WW2 and have told me stories about their immigration and discrimination they have faced. Currently trying to connect with my heritage and learning Polish :) Your videos have helped a lot, new subscriber
Krynica-Zdrój is a beautiful town, it looks like Switzerland
@@dominiquerola5652, Switzerland is out of reach, come on. But yeah, Krynica-Zdrój is still a very nice place, and actually the whole Sądecczyzna is beautiful. Lakes, mountains, rivers ❤️
Agree, I've been there twice. Great landscape and fine kitchen. Depsite some political disagreements Poland is still a very welcome, safe, developing country with fine society. Vision it, check it.
@@tsaicioFor your information, it is not a developing country any more. Since 2018 it is classified as a developed country and to be honest it is becoming more expensive than the rest of so-called developed countries.
Poland was assailed by the German Nazis and their European henchmen on 1st September 1939 thru their concocted Gleiwitz Incident scheme pretext (not like malicious people wilfully lie saying 1941) and also by the USSR on 17th September 1939, both armies having killed off 60 000 or so of the Polish military officers along with intelligentsia in the Soviet Katyn-Kharkiv-Mednoye-etc massacres and German A-B Aktion massacres. Besides, Poland holds the very 1st place in the Jewish Yad Vashem as the Righteous Among the Nations, nearly 7 000 Poles rewarded. German concentration camps of death had the German language for all kinds of communication in speech, radio, paperwork, etc, NEVER POLISH LANGUAGE!!! Stop learning false or falsified history from the mendacious movies of the Hellytrannywood!!!
Thank you for this video from the bottom of my heart. I am half Polish, half Lithuanian and since moving to US in 95 again and again I meet people who behave towards me dismissive, like I am somehow damaged just because I have an accent. I am getting weary of the attitude, jokes, interruptions while talking, utter disrespect. I came from a family with 4 generations of University educated people, I have 3 degrees and speak 5 languages btw. I am not offended (mostly) I am just amused and to be honest that attitude towards me, when they hear my accent, tells me more about them than about me. I grew to be numb to these things, but it takes a little bit of my energy that could be used way more productively. Again thank you for this video.
in such a situation, I would ask if they can say anything in any foreign language without an accent
@@lgasiorowska I am tempted to ask that every time
@@doviart-fashiondesignersli5161 Welcome to the Colonies.
I'm 75% Polish and 25% Lithuanian. Recently I began learning about my Polish ancestry, traveling to Poland, learning to speak Polish, and I'm actually moving to Poland soon.
I decided a while ago to stop identifying as white and I now identify as Slavic or Polish. Your video really answers so many questions about my childhood, the jokes, the teasing and why my family didn't talk about our heritage.
After all my research about Poland I am now proud to say I'm Polish, even going so far as to reclaim my ancestral name of Zaleski. Thank you.❤
This is absolutely beautiful to read. I hope others feel the same!
This is actually so bizzare, because polish people in Poland identify themselves as whites. It's the Americans that do not recognize us as whites. Fortunatelly we have our own country and history and can be whatever we want. Glad to hear that you will join us in Poland.
Man you are white, it is irrelevant that you do not identify yourself as such. We are a proud white nation and no one is going to give us some politically correct crap. You guys over there in the States are sickly obsessed with skin color. There is nothing wrong being white. There are around 46 nations in Europe with different culture and mentality. The definition of being white should be only, because of your skin color nothing else. We consider italians, greeks, spaniards sometimes even turks white.
You can personally identify as whatever you like but the random person you meet (of any race or ethnicity) is going to identify you as what you appear - white.
@@jeffmorse645 I don't do it for others. If someone asks me then I would tell them I'm Slavic. It's like having a dog, we know it's a dog but there are hundreds of breeds. There are many traits, characteristics, cultural identities around the world. Many people are of course a mix of many identities. I can still claim to be 100% Slavic and rather than try to hide my ethnicity I want to embrace it. It's more for myself but I've also started many conversations with people who are curious about it.
Srdečné pozdravy Poliakom z poludňovej strany Beskýd. My Slováci si Vás vážime.
I wzajemnie!
brotherly greetings!
Super , również Was Pozdrawiam , przyjeciele zza gór
Dziękujemy , życzymy naszym sąsiadom i braciom Słowakom wszystkiego dobrego ! ❤❤❤
❤ Serdeczne Dzięki 😘😘🗽🗽💐🌹🕊️🕊️😍😍😁🌼
Polish mathematicians broke the Enigma code used by the Nazis which allowed the Allies to defeat them.
Germans, not Nazis
Only that nobody used the word Nazi at the time
What? Everyone said "Nazi" at that time, even the Nazis.
@@Palanibert quote one politician at the time,quote one soldier,one journalist,german,english,jewish,russian,polish,quote.
@@brandrunway The Nazis were Germans, the Germans were Nazis.
My time in Poland was quite refreshing.. it was heart-warming to meet those down to earth people after seeing all the vanity in western Europe
I'm Polish-American and I lived in Illinois for over 20 years. The worst place to live if someone is of Polish ancestry. Even the dumbest kids on the block tried to offend Poles with those jokes and what surprised me the most was that some of them believed that. I understood their derogatory statements and their intentions, but those crazy jokes could have been told about any other ethnic group. The most idiotic statement was "stupid Polack" which was usually uttered in moments of desperation when they had no other arguments. I usually laughed them in the face because all Polish people are proud when they say "Jestem Polakiem." There is even a Polish song about that: ruclips.net/video/SCMdt5oOLuw/видео.html The word "Polack" used by those mighty Americans derives from century-old derogatory statements used in Germany. However, trying to offend a Polish person with the word "Polak or Polack" is like saying to a US citizen you are an "American" or you "stupid American." I think most people would be more confused than offended. I have never hear that Poles could be perceived as people of color, but that could have been another American invention that did not work.
That's not American invention, that's "chosen" fascists invention. PERIOD!!!👹👹👹👹👹
My friend Bartek is Polish. He is a virologist here in London. He's the most academically qualified person in my friend group. He's also one of the chillest dudes I know.
Good name
Polish people have clear North European culture, they were never non-white. This video is american nonsense.
I know right @@bartoszpiacko9319
Now you might replace Polish with Ukrainian and Russian propaganda all again. I must say we don't care about the skin color, however we don't want to have much mixed ethnicity via mass import to make Poland worse. We have high influx of Ukrainians and I find many mix well into the culture and the ladies are one of the prettiest. There is also good public education which works well to make many people educated enough.
@@dreamdiction 💯👍
Every time you hear Polish joke, ask to repaid it and ask to replace word Polak with the word Jew. Watch the reaction.
😮
Yeah first of all I recommend someone (when german) to not laugh from poles because first thieves were germans 😂 Most of the time it's end of discussion
A lot of Jews were also Poles themselves
@@FirstnameSurname738 No. There can be half-Jew, half-Pole, but Jews =/= Poles. Many Jews were loyal citizens of Poland (and many were not), but this didn't make them Poles. Same with Germans and Ruthenians. They can became Poles, but after couple of generations. European countries are not USA.
@@FirstnameSurname738Yes! Many Poles are mixed . They have Jewish roots.❤
The western massive post ww2 slunder of Poland and Poles had it's cynical reason, that is mostly unknown for most pepole. After all Poland was the first ally fighting the Nazis, immidietly betrayed by Britain and France that staged the "aid", French pretended to invade Germany and immidietly withdrawn, while Brits bombed the Germans with leaflets, they signed the pact and did not even bother to actualy stick to it, they just used Poland as time saver for themselves.
Later assasinating Polish leadership whom were asking and demanding the answers to then unknown fate of 25000 Poles that were murdered by the Soviets, to secure Stalin's favour, once Hitler went east, but were very happy to have Poles fighting for France and later Britain, that ofcourse untill the war was over.
When war ended, Brits banned Poles from the victory parade, and started treating Poles as unwanted element from than on, stolen evacuated Polish treasury as "payment for being housed in britain during the war" while they were there fighting to save the damn island, and finally they sold Poland to Stalin in Yalta.
This stream of batrayals was the reason why Poland got slundered to the oblivion for years while being stuck behind the iron curtain, being unable to write their own ww2 history, or even the one before that, resist any narration or dissagree on any level with the victors, with Russian hegemon over it's head being happy to see it's new puppet being forgotten to the west, so they could exploit Poland as they see fit.
Yeah it is as cynical and disqusting as it gets, this is the world we live in and that is the real politic of western powers, and looking at nowdays Izrael, i see not much have changed... And if pepole think Poles are to stoic, not smiling, sad looking, distanced, and hard to get open to strangers. Yeah, that is why we are like that, a bit less with each new generation, but ghosts of the past are not gone and evil from the east never died, it just reformed itself under new banner and new face of the same old murderous red star we might to have to fight again...
I am afraid "who cares" in the modern, western society about polish hard history. Personally I feel we are now about to be exploied by German govwrment via EU regulations to pay for German economical and geopolitical mistakes.
Still much of Poles are opened, friendly, helpful, educated and with good manniers.
I think that in comparison to cold and reserved swedish people pol,ish are warm and open
True, but Brits didn't invent teleportation yet. It was probably hard to defend us, we fail in mere two weeks...
@@piotrkarp9562 The defence deal was not to teleport into Poland, French army was suposed to roll into Germany that was absolutely defencless at the time and Brits to bomb German cities and block their ports. The same was to be done by Poland in case of land invasion in case Germany attack France, which was on the table in Germany at the time before invasion of Poland.
W końcu jakaś prawda...dziękuję ❤
@ zawisza...
As Polish, thank you for this video. I thought that this issue was entirely unnoticed by people of non-polish origin. It's even hard to explain it to them -they say, 'What are you talking about? You are white, you can't be discriminated. It requires a remarkable ability to think outside the box to notice that problem. Kudos to you! :)
Go back to your coutry.
🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽
No we know it very well, especially as Muslims, poles wannabe whites trying to get GERMONEY and American / British money, but no one should ask what the fuck the poles are doing here because obviously you are white now 😂
I grew up in a Polish / Slavic neighborhood in an American major city. We all got along and it was great.
A native Polish here. During my anthropology studies at my university, we read a book called "The rise of the Unmeltable Ethnic" by Michael Novak. Written in the 1970, Novak criticized the idea of the melting pot, that the US in the 1970s still dealt with discrimination of non-WASP ethnics: Poles, Slovakians, Czechs, Hungarians, Italians etc. . As someone who was largely ignorant about history of race and identity in the US, it was an interesting read. For the same reason, your video is interesting as well.
she gave an answer to the wrong question.
By the 1970s...this is absolutely untrue. I knew lots of Polish Americans and Poles. They were all considered white, and the Polish Americans were seen as just American. Pollack jokes existed but were seen as lame or stupid in general.
@@erichamilton3373 I was interested in pop culture when I was younger and I am only 26. I still remember those jokes in US made TV series and on popular TV shows, so your argument that minimize the use of those jokes in US is wrong.
@@Huperdome
I don't really mean to minimize the hurt someone would feel over thosd jokes, but they were seen as stupid jokes,.and besides those jokes, there was no anti Polish sentiment--that's California.
@@erichamilton3373 uhm, as an outsider, i will not minimize neither yours or Novak's perspective on this. Then, i give a possibility that i might have misrepresented or misunderstood what Novak had meant. As i understood the matter, Novak was a political scientist. He argued that white ethnics became a battled minority back then. The left wing back then labelled the representstives of white ethnics as bigotted fascists and ignored their needs as a community. Meanwhile, the right (particularly coming from the WASPs) started to offer them becoming white while ignoring how the WASPs previously tried to erase their white ethnics culture and discriminate them. Novak thought of this melting pot as being false. Instead, he argued that ethnics should embrace their identities and ally with other minorities. In a way, i found the last part to be somehow resembling the thought given in this video. What does even mean to be white anyway?
Be free to consult the book content. There is an article for more history context to it. Donald Pienkos, The New Ethnicity Movement and Polish Americans,Polish American Studies, vol. 76, autumn 2019, pp 64-79.
As a Polish person, this is very interesting. I learned a LOT. My country is still struggling after what Germany and Russia did to us.
Thankfully we're getting into somewhat better position as a nation and as people.
And now Poland is a pawn to the European Union.. the calendar date has changed but the oppressive tactics have only shifted into a new form
After Germany and Russia tried to civilized us we were struggling but know we have PiS.
@@marktwain5266 civilized? We were civilized before Germans and Russians for sure.
This whole thing calling Polish people non-white looks so weird for the Europeans..
it was (and still is) for other nations as well like Italians or Irish
Americans were and sometimes still are racist that way. They were for the longest time the same with Irish. How can you be more pale/white than Irish i don't know - yet they still did not consider them white.
@user-tw2eo2kz8g you are probably right. And then there is Rachel Dolezal ;)
Why? We are colorless workers, which can opress cos ethincly we're white. We say nothing because we are too proud
That's because race is a made up thing. Black "race" is so genetically diverse it's stupid to put them all into one category. Poles are mixed on the genetic level. Slavs, Germans, Nordic people Jewish people, Tatars, and probably couple other ethnic groups I forgot about - they all mixed in Poland with each other
In my opinion we need more Polish Americans working as Teachers 📖 Reading and Math Classes God Bless Them.
Why? Aren't Americans dumb enough already? Do you really want get even dumber?
I'm american ukrainian and grew up in a polish neighborhood. They are some of the smartest hardworking ppl I've ever met. My granddaughter just got back from deployment in Poland. Said they were very friendly and helpful to her. Almost everyone spoke some English. The country was very clean. Puts are large cities to shame.
Happy to hear your granddaughter had a pleasant stay here! Love to Ukraine and the US!
You say that polish people are some of the smartest? As a polish person, working with a lot of Ukrainians - I disagree. The Ukrainians are the most intelligent, humble and hardworking people I've ever met.
Bla bla marketing by yourself doesn't represent reality.
@@Ercan-cy3wewell, I don't think everyone is practicing making a scientific study in everyday life, so it's rather understandable that someone is making a statement based on their own experience (even if it's based on small group of people/subjects)
@@youngelderto takie polackie. Życzę ci wyprowadzki NA Ukrainę 😍
As a Pole, I am grateful that you have raised the issue of Polish Americans. I have always wondered why Poles are so underrepresented in American popular culture, even though they are an integral and vital part of American history. From the Polish perspective, the answer is simple - Poles are the loyal countrymen and they easily blend in with other nations once they migrate.
The Polish identity is quite simple - we consider ourselves European and Polish. For centuries, Pollish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has been a fairly federal, multicultural and republican country. You could be Polish even if you were black or brown. Within the majority of Slavic culture, we had the strong representation of Slavic-Polish Catholics, Slavic-Polish-Orthodox, Slavic-Ukrainian-Orthodox, Jews and Muslim Tatars. So being Polish is more a question of national identity than skin color.
And the most important thing is that historically there was no difference in skin color. You were loyal to the king - that was all that mattered!
Thank you for such a thoughtful addition to the conversation. I am not Polish (*I don’t think I am!) but they are truly one of the warmest and kindest people! Strangers go out of their way to talk or help. At least that has been my experience
So are you saying that Polish-Americans have been invariably progressive on issues of race relations and civil rights?
Fun fact: A chunk of the Polish Legions that fought in Napoleon's Revolutionary Army that were sent to Saint Domingue (now Haiti) to help put down the slave rebellion deserted and went over to the rebel side. The surviving Poles were granted permanent citizenship after independence and their descendants still live in Haiti.
The Polish Legions were led by General Wladislaw Jablonowski, a half black Polish aristocrat who had been a classmate of Napoleon at the French Military Academy. He died from yellow fever shortly after arriving in the colony.
wow man, a lot of wishful thinking on polish identity :) today's Poles are descendants of people who were slaves in their own country and it has nothing to do with loyalty to anyone. Mostly they did not have any national identity. Polish identity was developed and preserved by rich nobles, that own lands and people. Freedom to countrypeople was brought by invaders and partitioners of Poland - foreign countries (which seems to be the rule up to this days - eg UE vs polish gov)! Then nazis and russian communists killed educated Poles and polish communists took what left of noble's fortunes. And then the folks can finally start to develop. That's what Poles are and that's why they assimilate so quickly.
"You could be Polish even if you were black or brown" Are you out of your mind?.... Polish is a European Ethnicity.. You cannot be "a black polish" there is no such thing.. its an ethnicity not a passport and to say so is a deep insult to the history, culture and people of Poland.. Millions of Polish people have died fighting for Polish survival and independence.
Hi there, I'm German-Polish living in Germany. I've recently come across your channel and your videos are very interesting. It's super weird but also very mind-blowing to hear all this. This construct of being white or not white seems to be really American because most "ethnic" European groups in different European would never think about being white or not. Ever since I was little, I noticed that people in Germany have a negative attitude towards Poles but they would never "describe" them as not white. I think the same goes for many other countries here. We usually distinguish people by their nationality. It's interesting to hear that you said that Poles were perceived as "exotic".
That's because white Americans are the most uneducated and ignorant if all white people; it's unreal how uneducated white Americans are especially white men in America
Same towards the French ...
You should research on the French Canadians in New England.
youve been sleeping on WWII lessons? pretty sure hitler had whole campaign going against slavs
@liluchiha1954 He had. And he actually considered Slavs as a different race than Germanic people. He even said that Roma people, Slavs, and Jews are "untermensch" so it means "subhuman".
We seem to forget that the KKK was not only against Blacks, but Catholics and Jews. I also remembered what it was like living during the time of "Polish Jokes" and I was also told that i had to grin and bear it. Also i remembered when a Prominent newspaper columnist used an ethnic slur in an interview when asked about Pope John Paul II, she was only given a suspension of couple of days
Ethnic slurs aside, the funniest numner is Poland is apparently 2137, which is the hour the pope died. Counterreaction to the amount of propaganda and praise we hear about him all the time (especially comparing to the silenced accusations against him), probably.
Yeah someone tried kill him because of some accusations ,have you heard about that 1981 , you are simply dumb and stupid
@@tymondabrowski12only edgy kids do it because teasing older religious people is funny for them.
You need to understand the nature of humour in the country to properly understand it's nuances.
@@Teuwufel Not really. "Papieżaki" with is the type of memes that started 2137 started way back in early 2000 around time of his death. So average person laughing from that is in late 30's to early 20's age group
@@Aliens420 there's a bunch of kids and teenagers making fun of this number nowadays too
Polish people are peaceful, they don't engage in violance, gangs, killings of innocent people. Most are thought through religion, family values. From what it appears, Americans will turn any decent human being, to regret they were ever born. That in itself gives me a better understanding of why there's so much violance in USA.
Its not that simple. In the 90' Poland was shaking because of gangs and mafia's, many people died, drugs flooded streets, women were kidnapped and sold in german brothels. 44 years of communism took its part in destroying Polish dignity
They join gangs in Chicago.
That’s too much of a simplification.
Demoralised Polish people can be violent and organise into gangs.
I don’t think we Polish people are any special, frankly no race/ nation is in my opinion. The difference is economic and geopolitical circumstances in which we are born.
@@jcwdenton kinda sounds like todays america xD
@@timfool these are Poles detached form their origainal tradition, faith and culture - i dont think they are Polish - we can call it demoralized, no culture like many other nations in us...
This is an interesting video. I was born in Poland and immigrated to the US in 2000 at the age of 8. This year I finished medical school and I’ll be starting residency in a month. Three months ago, one of my preceptor found out I was Polish and honored me with Polish joke that basically said Polish people were dumb. So much of this sentiment is still present in the US.
As a Pole living in London, I don’t care what people think about my background. I live up to my values, which were forged by hard work and experience I gained in the US, Poland and now in the UK. I combine the best of these three worlds and take full advantage of that. I am happy with who I am, what I have achieved and what I do. There is no single narrow-minded moron who can change that.
What are you saying? You are looking for a "...single narrow-minded moron who can change..." your life. Go to Polish personal adds section. You will find plenty. 😂
Tak jest! Dobrze powjedzialez😊😊😊
I agree. And I would defend anyone's right to tell a "Polish joke", even though it hurts to hear that sometimes.
@@pawelzielinski1398 Don't be so dramatic. Take a joke. Have some sense of humor. Don't be like the government of Kazakstan when they saw Borat. They reacted like it was documentary. Don't be zakompleksiony Polak.
The best of three worlds? There is nothing from Poland except your arrogance, the money of British and America is the turning point , why didn't you have this success in Poland, stop thinking it was your polish identity who made it great for you, and not the opportunity given by the UK and American system.
I am so glad that you are doing this series. I had this debate about, basically, levels of white some years ago. Many "white" people refuse to believe there was ever such discrimination against ethnic groups that "eventually' were accepted as being white. I also remember, as a Black child, wondering why "white" kids would tell "dumb Polack" jokes. Sadly, it also made me feel a sense of relief that I wasn't the target of the jokes.
Thank you for sharing this. None of us want to be the target and that’s human nature. But why is there always a target, I don’t know.
@@nytn People, I believe, are targeted bc human nature in our society says that you have to fit in and be better than. It's the nature of the bully basically. At the same time it displays shortcomings and inadequacies. But when one previously outsude group has become a part of the socially dominant group (basically a political vote) they feel a sense of belonging. They then target lesser groups in order to maintain the false sense of dominance. It's kind of how many white supremacists have lengthy criminal records. The last thing they feel they have that is honorable is the fact that they are "white". So, their sometimes horrendous backgrounds, to them, don't mean as much as them feeling that they are part of a greater cause. 1 May have murdered 100yo nun and her prized cockatoo but at the end of the day "I'm White!" JK but you know what I mean.
@@nytn people who feel powerless and taken advantage of often feel better if they think there is a group below them. They feel "at least I'm not at the bottom". And there is always somebody at the top encouraging that behavior. The elites can't afford for us to all get along. Then we might turn our ire on them! I often tell my grandchildren that people who pick on others have a low self-esteem. To an extent, they should be pitied because they must have a miserable life It is SO important to teach our children to value every human being and treat them with respect.
This makes a lot of sense to me. Good advice, too.
I debated an Italian who didn't know they were nworded in the past. This is very common.
I am Polish (from the southern Poland), with some German blood because of the German settlers that were invited to populate the towns in mediaeval Poland, provided they had some skills to make a living. In my country 60% of the young people have a masters degree. During the IIWW Germans were adopting by force selected Polish children to improve German race (tens of thousands of them).
Visiting USA in 1990 I've learned that the only people who can call themselves Americans are those that came on the Mayflower ship... what a big ship that must have been I thought :D.
Yes - if they were sufficiently "Aryan looking", and not Jewish, it was thought by the Nazis that they could be raised to be proper Germans.
My grandfather came to America from Poland and was one of the smartest man I ever met.
Wait was it that famous grandfather who locked his grandson in the attic and lost the key?
Mark Twain, u have a brain the size of your a hole!
same but my grandfather came from warsaw to australia
Mojej prababci brat, też wyemigrował do Ameryki. Niestety potem kontakt się urwał, ponieważ prababcia
nie potrafiła pisać i nie potrafiła czytać więc większość listów przychodziło do jej brata, który bardzo często sporo ją kłamał. O czy dowiedzieliśmy się znacznie później. W każdym bądź razie kontakt się urwał i prababcia do końca nie mogła się pogodzić z tym, że nie ma wiadomości od brata, który był jej ulubionym. Prababcia już nie żyje jej dzieci też, zostało pokolenie mojej mamy i moje i idziemy do przodu. Ale słuchając opowieści mojej mamy najstarszej siostry o perypetiach naszej rodziny zawsze się zastanawiam czy została jeszcze gałąź rodziny tego prastryja i jak im się wiedzie. A najbardziej chciałbym się tego dowiedzieć dla tej mojej cioci, która jest najstarsza z naszego rodu a ktora mimo zaawansowanego wieku tak dużo pamięta.
Thank you so much for this video! Poles faced centuries of violence, hate, and prejudice but it is rarely ever acknowledged. In fact, it is so often purposely swept under the carpet and made to look like some silly conspiracy theory that even many Poles are afraid to acknowledge the prejudice they had to face.
What is sad is that many of the old sentiments still endure around the world, often because of our usual skin color making Poles an easy and safe target. A lot can be said about Poles that would otherwise be unacceptable if directed to other ethnic groups/nationalities.
Absolutely!
I agree with you, this is how it looks like, when I discuss it with Westerners, all too often.
Gaslighting, gaslighting and gaslighting, even though my parents say different things about my family's history!
@@olganesterowicz2112 Our experiences are similar then.
Hold on are you saying Polish people are easy to distinguish among white people because of our unusual skin colour? I am Polish Canadian and I am white and most Polish people are.
@@underated17 No, what I am implying is that because the vast majority of us are white it makes us an easy target. Anyone attacking us doesn't have to worry about being accused of racism.
Just look at how anti-immigrant parties in the UK acted. Most of the "troubles" such as terrorist attacks and violence were related to immigrants from muslim countries from the Middle East and North Africa.
But the right-wing anti-immigrant parties did not dare, at least in the first few years, to attack this immigrant group because it was politically incorrect. So what did they do instead? They used Poles as scapegoats. That way they didn't have to fear being accused of racism (however idiotic this is, considering that Middle-Easterners are mostly white but whatever).
Romanians often face the same problem. They are from Eastern Europe, which in itself is a stigma, but because they are white they don't enjoy the protection that other minorities enjoy thanks to the progressive left. In fact, because just like Poles, they came from mostly Christian and conservative societies, it is even more ok to hate on them.
Poles are the best sort of emigrants. They do not form criminal groups, they are not into administration positions. They are hard working people, not causing any problems. People who assimilate well into local society and on top of it, most of them are very attractive.
Poles never fully "assimilated"... into Germanic tribes, nor Slavic tribes, they are their own tribe.... that consist of many ethnic groups like mentioned before and many others : ruthinians (known as white russians), tatars (muslim brothers in arms then helped repel mongols and russians houndreds years later and that also faught ottomans), sarmatians (refugees from territory of iran), and many others like walhs , romanians (gypsies) and latin theres also balts, and ukrainians, swedes hungarians... and so on.
Rome described those tribes as 1 of among "Vandals" whether its true we will never know cuz no historic sources have been found or whether it was 1 group or 1 of many. But yea every empire that tried to advance in poland was short lived. Whether it was ottomans, mongolians , russians or nazis... They all failed. If America or EU wants to be next in line cant stop ya but u will fall eventually.
well, I am Polish and I can assure you- UK had a lot of polish gangs lately
@@Warszawski_Modernizm BS. I have lived in the UK for 5 years - never have I heard about Polish gangs.
@@Warszawski_Modernizmwow, what a knowledge😂 how many do you know? 😅
Dziękuję za pozytywną opinie moich rodakow❤😊
I am from Poland and I see myself as Slavic, then European.
Ja też😊
So you are just Polish, that's all
I am Polish and i see myself as Slavic also. studying history i regret our country lies so close to western europians
I’m Slav and Goy and Arian and I proud of it 😂 and FTS propaganda about racism 😉 bite me 😊
ja na odwrót bo wstyd być w grupie słowian gdy w tej samej grupie jest Rosja i Ukraina...
As a southern man, I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize for the hardships and abuse my polish brothers and sisters had to face due to the ignorance and cruelty of my own group.
No need to be sorry in name of your ancestors. You are you, not them, and that's all that matters ;)
Very interesting. Norm McDonald admitted in interview he was Polish by origin, but they changed family name to Irish because of the discrimination they were facing.
Polish names generally disappeared this way mostly , people changed them from Kowalski to Jones not to be attacked
I saw him say that in an interview once!
We don't have that at all in France, all polish people kept their name with too few vowels and too much complex pronunciation
It was a good bit.
I love the polish people. They have gorgeous men and women, and hard workers. I think the issue was , the early Americans were of British , protestant stock. A lot of it was anti-catholic sentiment.
My Ancestors were Polish in fact, they worked in the coal mines of WV. Poland itself has a very interesting and rich history. When Polish people immigrated here, they came from 3 different countries. Russia, Germany, and Austria. Poland didn't become a united country again until after ww1.
forgotten one, Prussia, that’s were my ancestors immigrated from. They were polish though and were of kociewie culture and ethnicity
@@emmascrivener8109ruclips.net/video/GO5Lg7FQr1M/видео.html
Cejrowski z Kociewia
Wow Polish People been though some struggles.
1880 to the 1930 there were reasons ie "for bread"
@@sebm8511Yeah God Bless those service members in 🇺🇸 US Miltary whom help your ancestors and my ancestors in the Civil War and also World War 2 .
My grandmother was Sicilian but with a vague Greek-sounding surname. She was only able to get a secretarial job in NYC in the 1920s by saying she was French Canadian. If they knew she was southern Italian she would have never been hired. When she was interviewed they specifically asked what kind of surname she had.
Uh, interesting, considering French Canadians were also not seen as white at that point. I remember a story about the Klan trying to get rid of the French Canadian immigrants in New England.
I guess it wasn't "as bad".
Back then, there was concern (by some Americans, particularly on the U.S. east coast) that all Sicilians had Mafia connections. Nowadays, it's Russian crime syndicates that scare Americans.
@@yannickchayer1609Lol? The French were absolutely white.
@@yannickchayer1609 The Klan despised all Catholics and Jews, as well as Blacks and Asians.
@@Vorteksio3Not for WASPs
If polish people aren't white, who is?
😅😊😊😊
"white" along with "black" "brown" etc is a classism caste system of divide and conquer created by the British Empire. "White" "black" etc did not exist in history prior.
@@mularski6750po
I dont get it. Same question I ask..
A very good number of polish people look Southern European. I know a couple of them.
It's funny because the Polish are as white as it gets in terms of actual skin color.
White skin, blonde hair, blue or grey eyes... all the kids are light blonde and blue-eyed especially.
@@tymondabrowski12 I am pretty sure sweden has more blond haired and blue ayed children. Lot's of polish kids have blond hair that gets darher as they become teen and adults so it becomes basically brown Just a fun fact
@@charko4191 indeed, I was really bright blonde hair and blue ish eyes now more dark and more green eyes - german/slavic ancestors
@@tymondabrowski12, typical traits of Slavic nations are brown hair and dark eyes. Blue eyes and blond hair most probably come from Vikings/Swedish raids through Polish lands 😅
@@tymondabrowski12 Yea... actually 2/3 of Poles are brown-haired and brown-eyed, but indeed we "all" are blonde and light eyed when we are children (even I - a Pole - was a green-eyed blonde when I was 3yo, despite now I look like a typical Iranian)
I grew up in the 80s and Polak jokes were common. I always wondered why people considered Poles to be unintelligent and why it was so normal to use them as the butt of jokes. I vaguely remember one joke about Polish submarines having no windows, only screens. I just took it for granted because I didn’t personally know any Polish people, but i just thought it seemed odd that people would pick on one racial group for no discernible reason. But yeah it was openly done and common and it was considered fair game somehow and unlike jokes against Black people it was somehow considered un-racist to use them as the butt of the joke
I visited my friend in the USA (Tennessee) about 10 years ago. We went to a fast-food restaurant together. The young guy at the cash register asked me where I was from because he noticed a different accent. I said I was from Poland. That's when he started telling "Polish jokes" out loud. He said it with such pride and satisfaction. He really thought that telling such jokes was okay and that I would find it amusing. I was shocked.
@@ypabloo i’m sorry you had to deal with that most Americans don’t even leave their hometown, they have no idea about other cultures, except from what they see on TV or in movies, they also think America is the greatest country in the world, and it hasn’t had any claim to that in about 50 years
@@ypabloo Trzeba wtedy nagrać taką osobę i zgłosić do managera. To najbardziej amerykański sposób na radzenie sobie - aczkolwiek słabe jest to że wogole takie coś ma miejsce. Niestety walczenie o swoje nadal żywe...
Many Poles came to the USA to work manual labor jobs in the late 19th and early 20th century. There really wasn't a reason for the educated ones, usually from the nobility, to leave Europe. As such, the stereotype of being uneducated spread.
@schizoafekt your mother
My mom’s parents are both immigrants from Poland. My grandpa came over at 4 years old so he was very much an American culturally. He couldn’t speak Polish very well but could understand it. My grandma came at 16, so she has the accent and is very culturally Polish. I think the fact that there wasn’t any effort to teach my mom or any of us grandkids the Polish language shows that there was unfortunately some shame back in those days about being Polish, so they wanted to raise their kids as strictly Americans 😢. I have since taught myself Polish, and it makes my grandma so happy when I speak to her in her language ❤️ I’m very proud of my heritage 🇵🇱
🧡!
@@brockjohnson3550 …..all information about Poland are on Google….but I just want to say that…Poland never invaded other countries, Poland was ruined by Germans aggression, we survived and doing good, we survived from Russia communists influence, thanks to shipping yard demonstrations and creating Unit ,,Solidarnosc,, other countries in Europa started be free from Russia and Russia it self was divided, now Putin is doing he’s job with Ukrainian, So if somebody have bad opinion about Poland, polish people, for me this person is just ignorant, yes is irritating but you can discuss with ignorants because they don’t know nothing. On the end I just want reminds that big Astronomers Mikolaj Kopernik was Polish ….how is that???????🇵🇱
I'm second generation Polish American. Polish People are Slavic. Even some of the Polish Historian say that we are two people. Only is they name Egypt,Turkey and India as the possible places. Polish People speak on of the oldest European languages being Indo-European language. I grew up hearing my share of jokes about stupid Polish People. In the movie The Bridge to Far about the British campaign during WW2. Was to end the war. Polish General starring Gene Hackman warn that it will fail. He thoroughly dismiss by the British Senior officers. He was right. That Jamestown had Polish slaves. That in the American Revolution two Polish Generals were in service to General George Washington. If see the name on some things. It would be Puski my spelling might be off. In European History Poland has save Europe twice. First time in the 13 century against the Mongolians and in the 17 century against the Ottoman Empire. One of the classical music performer and writer was Polish. The first college in Europe was Poland in 800 AD. He is another thing. When Germany invaded Poland it cost them 30% of materials in combat. One of the highest amounts Germany lost in invaded European Country. This is some things I know about Poland History and Polish People.
There were no Polish slaves in Jamestown. Those men were free workers, essential for colony's economy. Moreover, they made first political strike i US history, as they were first prohibited from voting, as not being English, (although they played taxes). They went on strike, and after some time they were gained voting rights. And what are you talking about this "first college in 800 AD"?
Poland was at war with bolsheviks in years 1919-1921. Most important battle happened 13-25.08.1920 in towns and villages next to Warsaw. Poles fought soviets off and it saved Poland, which only 2 years earlier got it's independence back and whole Europe from comunist revolution brought by military. Sometimes this battle is called "miracle on the Vistula". It was one of the most important and groundbreaking battles in history.
Polish language is'nt that old and first college in Poland was created in 1364 by Kazimierz the Great
Absolutely similar situation with Belarus. Belarusians have tragic long history, high aducated, talented people and kind hearts
❤ from Poland
Belarusians have very simmilar language almost the same as Polish. Biologically wise our nations are twins.
Strongly agree with you!
Never met one, so I can't say, however, I believe there are/were borders for a reason.
@@karolinakuc4783 Similar language? Why I had to "study" Russian in school for so many years and can barely say something? I would say that Slovaks have the most similar to Polish language. I met few Slovaks and we had absolutely no problems with understanding each other.
When Ford opened the first Ford T 1/4 factory, the entire new team of the best mechanics in the region were Poles. And that was only because WASPs created a glass ceiling. Catholics could not advance to the middle class. As a Pole, I believe that we are wronged as an ethnic and religious group. These stereotypes are still alive today.
Ford apparently held them in high regard.
fantastic video!! greetings from Poland!
Im a Polish- American. third generation. Nice Video. My family came from Northern Poland near Gdansk
pewnie kqszubem jestes
I live in Gdańsk. The whole Pomerania is extremely beautiful
Greetings from Gdańsk - the most beautiful city in the world!
Greetings from Kaszuby
Visit Gdańsk, you'll love it.
I'm Polish (I live in Poland) and I never thought that someone might thinkt I'm not white 😅 like what, I thought that's a skin tone thing, now I'm learning it's a culture thing? Never would think people would treat me different because I'm Polish...
This is playground politics played by ignorant fools. Ignore them.
Still Not Anglo Saxon
@@arpanmandal7244 Says the piss-drinker, or as we know them, the pinnacle of White race. Gimme a break streetshitter.
First generation polish American, this video was great insight to see what my parents went through when they immigrated here. My dad tells me stories about having the qualifications for city jobs, only to be turned down once they heard his accent and found out he is polish. This was in 90’s, and some of that still lingers today.
Poland is one of the whitest countries and people's in the world, this prejudice is really strange to understand.
Noo we get some tan every good summer 😂 its just in winter we get white Jon Snow like 😎
Polish people need to protect themselves from idiots.
She is stupid and is talking about the Jewish population !!!
@@pozytywniezakrecony151 No, I get red 😢.
Well the Irish are even paler skinned and underwent the very same treatment and predjudice in the nineteenth century.
Interesting fact about Poles that after Polish Legion refuse to follow orders and crush Haitian revolution and instead helped people of Haiti gain their independence the Jean-Jacques Dessalines first emperor of Haiti granted Poles classification of Noir(Blacks)
it's true
@@zbigniewkisielinski9841 I am polish women ,dark blond and blue eys, very light wait skeen
@@esteranajdowska7589 ja mam piwne, jak sie opalę nad morzem to mogę za Haitańczyka robić
True❤
I'm 1/2 Polish and 1/2 Sicilian. I've enjoyed your work a few times.
Now subscribed. Thanks.
Awesome! Thank you! Let me know if you have any topic suggestions for the future
I have a friend (former NY work colleague) who had a Polish-American dad and Italian-American mom. She said her paternal grandmother told her and her sister that they were mixed!
@@dianebuxo4335 isnt that amazing! terms and perspectives change so much (and probably will keep changing...)
I am also Polish and a Sicilian! It’s a rare combo 🎉
@@YourFav_Anastasia01 half italian half polish is quite common in swindon england ,stems from the second world war and the fighting at Monte Casino !!!!!
My grandmother is Polka, the first generation born in America. Her parents were ashamed of their ethnicity and refused to pass along the cultural and linguistic markers. The only thing she could say in Polish was that ahe didn't speak it. She always pushed education and it's importance upon me, i think this video helped me understand a little better as to why. Thank you for caring about immigrant cultures beyond skin tone.
To nie było prawdziwi Polacy skoro wstydzili się polski.
@@Litwinus nie mieli innego wyjścia. Spróbuj wejść w ich buty
@@Litwinus Agree!
@@mirabela1344 Nie mieli wyjscia? My ex husband is Polish-American and he never denied where he is from, quite the opposite! Our all neighbors knew we were 100% Polish! I am raising my daughter teaching her Polish history, especially during the WW2 since Americans know the world "history" or European history from CNN or NBC news that is getting more distorted the more time goes by. I always tell her that she is Polish American and she should never ever be ashamed of who she is.
I don't want to judge your grandmother or grandparents but I can tell you that I lived in Germany for over 16 years and I heard many Polish jokes and "funny" stories told about us, but I never wasted energy on that because my friends, who were also Germans, were people who knew their history too well and deep down they felt ashamed that their Nazi ancestors were capable of committing such atrocities against Polish nation.
As a Polish person, I have nothing to be ashamed of, quite the opposite.
@@Craphithefan I understand what are you saying. You're ex-husband is noble man and very proud Polish-American.
I have to say that every situation is different. Some Polish in America had to choose between feeding their kids or keeping their last name. Because of the prejudice they couldn't find a job. Also many polish people before WWII didn't associated themselves as polish but as people of once region of Poland. I recommend you to read book "Chłopi" or watch the movie (2023) version of it.
It's difficult topic to discuss, it requires a lot of empathy and emotional intelligence. But I think that we should not judge them, they went to America to have a better life. Living in occupied Poland was difficult. I mean there wasn't Poland for 123 years on the map.
Historically, Armenian people were very grateful to Polish people, time of Ottoman occupation of Armenia, Polish king send his Army to fight against Ottoman occupation Armenia. I have lots of respect for Polish people, because of that
And they warned Polish people of threat of islamic economic migrants from Africa
Poles were the biggest servants of the turks lol
Hey:) im actualy from Poland, but iv been in many countries all over the world, including USA. I must say that i found recipe for this kind of thinking. Its not only education.
It striked me particularly when iv been in US. I was expecting to meet people with wide horizon of thinking - people who know a lot about the world. To my surorise i found that huge chunk of americans necer beeen abroad.
They never seen beauty of other countries, culture of other nations.
When you traveling , you starting to het more humble. You starting to seee what is wrong with your country, what you as a nation can change, where your weakneses are in comparison to other.
Today if you would visit Poland, it would be a day when you say "polaks joke" last time. I might be call bias, but i see and know reaction foreigners on our culture, cities , nature.
I hosted people from UK, US , Ukraine, Spain, Turky, - and reaction is always the same - " Im not expected that" .
Because in minds of thos people still exist ingrained stereotypes , but they dont hold long in confrontation with what they see.
In nineties polish people was having a complexes in comparison with the west. Things like " pollocks jokes " was really ticking us .
Today? we really dont care. We are safest country in europe and allmost safest in the world. Economic growth 30 years straight, we are only only below china score , we have most educated society in europe.
Pollocks jokes do not withstand a reality anymore.
There is no more west complex. I started to seee reverse tendency - more and more westeners visiting poland asking me how they can move to poland.
So thats my receip for people
For those who lite to tell jokes about others - Travel more, see something else before you will say - we are the best, this way you will find som humility inside of you.
For those who are object of jokes - Be amazing person - show those people that they are so wrong. Like Poland did, like polish people did.
Sory for this elaborate :) i waned to write much lesss. Below link for those who still use this jokes about poles.
ruclips.net/video/YCelkqmkxMs/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/muIofzuBcGg/видео.html
Nie musisz nigdzie jechać by mieć szerokie horyzonty myślowe. Znam wielu Polaków, którzy zwiedzili X państw a są takimi tradogłowymi rasistami że szkoda słów. Wyjazd nigdy nie zagwarantuje ci szerokich horyzontów. Bo jeśli masz zamknięty umysł na innych, to nawet 100 podróży do 100 krajów tego nie zmieni. Amerykanie i nie tylko oni nie muszą nigdzie jeździć by być ciekawym świata. To nabywa się w domu. Amerykanie są zbyt leniwi by choćby spróbować dowiedzieć się o innych krajach i kulturach. O czym my tu mówimy, Amerykanie nie są ciekawi nawet własnego państwa. I są zbyt leniwi i zbyt aroganccy, bo całe ich otoczenie mówi im że USA jest numer jeden i cały świat chce tam zamieszkać. A to nie jest prawda
Polish people never see themselves as victims. If you are looking for someone who has dignity, it's the Polish.
And that, my friend, is the main source of our struggle. Jewish people won by being victims, people of African decescent won by being victims, LGBTQ people won by being victims, Muslim people are winning, more and more, by being victims. We, the Polish are too white to be victims, and at the same time, too non-white to be the "enlightened elite". Dignity and integrity wins nothing for communities nowadays, only shameless PRIDE to flaunt their victimhood.
No, Polish people consider themselves one of the biggest victims of history, especially WW2 - maybe Holocaust is considered in Poland similar level of oppression, but Poles suffered most - at least in their own view.
@@wawrzynieckorzen78jews suffered, the polish endured, it’s a great difference
Thank you for very informative video!
I’m polish living in USA for over 30 years. Always wondered how this hatred for polish people started here in this country. Initially I thought that this is something which was just brought from Europe, mostly from Germany. As our polish/german history is full of wars and conflicts which seems to have no end.
But you managed to show much larger point of view on this phenomenon.
I want to thank you for that!!
I still encounter people calling me “polak”with this very specific tone of voice which shows that they think that I’m inferior to them.
But generally I think that people’s consciousness is evolving which shows that we are moving in the right direction.
Ironically, the hot spots to visit in Europe nowadays are Poland, Lithuania, the Baltics, Croatia, Slovania and Hungary. Cities like Ljubljana, Krakow, Riga and Zagreb are thriving. Plus you won't have to deal with crowds of tourusts you often see im places like Rome or Paris. And don't forget Poland gave us composers such as Chopin, Padarewski and Scharwenka. Authors such as Henryk Sienkiewicz.
Steve Wozniak (apple) GMC (Grabowsky) Patek & Philippe (expensive watches) I could go on, and on.
So funny that people hate eastern europe when so many things were invented by eastern europeans and so many famous people are eastern European.
Nikola Tesla. Copernicus. Marie Curie. Skype was invented by an Estonian. One of the google founders was Sergey Brin, a Russian man. Gennady Tartakovsky, of Dexter's Lab and Samuria Jack fame? Russian. Drew Barrymore? Hungarian-American. Ruth Handler creator of Barbie? Polish. Melissa Joan Hart from sabrina the teenage witch? Hungarian-American. So many famous popstars are of Albanian descent. Rita Ora. Dua Lipa. Bebe Rexha. Ava Max. I don't like him but Prince Phillip? Greek.
And we still oppressed and shit on Eastern Europeans?
@@finland4ever55blame that on Hitler and his white supremacist views which btw were equally espoused in the UK and the US since forever.
@@finland4ever55A few famous figures doesn’t really get rid of the very real poverty still there after Communism and the fact that Slavic women look like models while the men look like real world orcs.
@@finland4ever55well, again "American ignorance" comes first. Not "Eastern", but in case of Kopernik, Maria Skłodowska - Curie and Chopin, "Central Europeans". Hungarians are also consider "Central Europeans". In case of Tesla, "Southern European", just like Albanians
I always wished Polish people were more represented in the US, UK and Canada etc.
Thanks for covering this subject.
My parents told me Poles were extremely discriminated against by all the nations invading Poland.
E.g. many Germans, Russians, even Ukrainians that are facing Russian invasion now!
Frankly, when I talk to westerners about Polish history, all they fricking do to me is gaslighting, gaslighting and calling me a conspiratard.
This is why I'm extremely depressed!!!
English in the day, Polish in the home, German when the parents argued in front of the children
polish ukrainian relations are much more complex then theit relations with the oter two. germans and russians were basically terrorizing everything that lies between them throughout history
I hope you are no longer depressed! I am an American, whose father's parents came to the US from Poland in 1900-ish time ( I am starting to research more, now that I am retired). I will travel to Poland, I'm learning Polish now, and I want to find the graves of my great-grandparents to place flowers there, since my grandparents were never able to return to do so. One thing I have learned is to not be concerned about ignorant people, they are their own misery. I wish all good things to you! Poland is getting stronger and stronger every year!
You know I was trying to explain this to so many people in my life - white privilege is actually an extremely narrow term because it mostly includes well educated rich western European White people. Those are the ones that were privileged and only hate experiencing reverse racism now. All other people , other "Whites" have experienced some level of racism and unfairness to them throughout history and for many it was on extreme levels. You cannot assume someone don't know your struggles if you don't know their family history. And again another thing that is personally extremely unfair to Poles is the attitude Israel has towards them. They hate Poles almost as much as they did hate Nazis and consider Polish Nazi collaborators who sold Jews by the minute. Why is it that way? Did it happen? Yes on occasion it did happen that a Pole disclosed information about a Jew , but consider that only in Poland the punishment for withholding that information or worse hiding Jews was a death sentence on you and your ENTIRE FAMILY. Even so there are many stories where Poles actually made all the efforts to help Jews escape , especially children. Most of Polish Jews and stories sadly perished in the Holocaust and those who build Israel where actually mostly Russian and German Immigrants with their own agenda towards Poles. Those are the people with the audacity to say Polish death Camps because they were located in Poland and young Jews come here with all the hatred in their hearts to see where the violence hapend. But why not consider the Poles and Polish lands were used , by almost all parts of the conflict. It is just sad. And on top of that you have to explain your "polish face" or "polish attitude" which is being cautious and smiling where there is an actual good reason for it. Generational trauma is a powerful thing but for Poles it mostly means being sceptical , cautious and just working hard whether for Jews it actually turned them into the oppressor out of fear. It is sad that so many times history repeats itself.
@@bobeczek01 The Jews just want money from us. There is nothing to discuss here.
I shed a tear at 1 of these quotes because I know my great-grandma felt that way. I never met her so I can't speak for her, but I could feel that that was what she went through, being a 1st generation American with Polish parents. In Chicago they had a good sized Polish community, but that doesn't mean that life was good and may even hint at the sectioning of the city into different ethnic groupings.
I know the feeling!
Putting a suffix before American does not make you worse or better than those that don't. Being a Polish American reveals your root, tells a story of where you are from it tells who you are. Never be ashamed of where you came from, share your journey!
This is really interesting and strange. I grew up in France where my French mother and Grandmother would often speak about Poles in the most glowing terms, how they are so intelligent and musical they were as well as easily they were able to learn new languages. I do know my mom was a big fan of Chopin (a famous Polish composer), but it’s strange how in France there was apparently such positive sentiment towards Poles. When we moved to upstate New York in the U.S. in the early 1970s (when I was in my early teens) I remember often hearing Polak jokes (there were also a lot of jokes about “Irishmen”) but not even making the connection that a Polak was a Pole! Now as an adult, I’m married to Swede whose mother is Polish, and it is amazing to hear the stories of what her own mother had endured under the Nazis (including being forced to work as an unpaid “AuPair” in Germany.
To answer your question, during partition of Poland and even earlier, high societies of Poland tended to send their sons and daughters to study in the west of Poland - mostly France, Italia, Holland and Belgium where many of the best universities of Europe were placed. We had this period of time during partition of Poland called "the great emigration" in XIX century, that fruited in great persponalities like Chopin, Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Marie Curie-Słodowska. Also when we lost our independence some of the best tactitians moved to America and thus you can hear about Piłsudski or Kościuszko.
France got very elegant Poles, especially after 1831 and in XX. Artists, poets, Chopin, and aristocrats like prince Czartoryski and others. Of course no aristocrats headed for USA in 19th century or earlier. Young noble officer Kosciusko being about the highest on the social ladder. And he reached USA escaping hunt for his life. Of course turned out to be a good citizen and soon general. Then he returned to Poland! His considerable wealth in USA gave in the will executed by his closest friend T. Jefferson himself to...200 hundred black slaves to rebuy their freedom, educate and so on. Great man.
Other examples of "wrong kind" of whites would be the Catholic Irish, Italians, Germans and Spaniards, Orthodox Greeks and Slavs. Even today, in the US the terms "Latino" and "Hispanic" are used abusively and wrongly with racial connotations, when neither describes a single specific race, just one of the many European cultures.
I love your channel and the way you are opening up a dialogue for everyone. It's really so beautiful that we are different and that variety is what makes us stronger, more balanced when we respect it, integrate it and enjoy it
Angela, I’m so glad! I’m so thankful people like you are here for the dialogue
@@nytn 🙂
I'm from Poland we are great people. Thanks for this video.
Currently, the people of Poland are leading by example by how they have welcomed Ukrainian refugees. They understand what it is like to be attacked or other-ized by hostile government or group. 🇵🇱
They have turned against the Ukrainians now and not before time.
What is so wonderful is that the refugees were allowed to bring their pets with them!
They have welcomed Ukrainians but they don't want Muslim refugees. Ukrainians are to be considered the same as EU citizens in all EU countries so have had a lot of benefits. This is an EU directive. Poles, Hungarians etc do not want African and Muslim refugees however.
@@jackieblue1267 If you refer to the thousands of young men who flew to Minsk, Belarus, in 2021, who purchased tourist visas for Belarus, who once in Belarus purchased common tourist items such as bolt cutters, shovels, axes and went to the Polish Border with no visas for Poland, many "losing" their identification along the way, and then began attacking the Polish Border Guards (causing fatal injuries to one of the Guards) and trying to break down the border fences, you are correct. They were not welcome. Poles did not view them as refugees, but as violent invaders.
Many of these charming men finally flew back to their home countries, while others retreated to Minsk, claiming they were assured they would get another opportunity in a few months (during the Russian invasion of Ukraine?) One of these men mentioned he had not flown directly to Minsk, but had flown to Moscow first, for training. What sort of training could that have been?
Poles can identify innocent refugees (95% of the Ukrainians were women carrying small children or helping elderly relatives) fleeing Putin's bombs, and Poles opened their arms, hearts and homes to help them. Poles can also identify agressive, violent invaders who claim to be refugees, but these men at the Belaurs/Polish border were 95% young men who had left their wives, children and mothers in the place which they claimed was too dangerous for themselves to remain. You apparently are unable to recognize the difference. Luka-Putin was hoping the Poles wouldn't recognize the difference, but, the Poles did and Luka-Putin failed.
@@jedrzejpodsmiechujek825 I never gave an opinion on whether they should have them. I just commented on what is happening.
I fell into a rabbit hole bc of this video.
As a Pole, I was a little upset no polish people were seen in Oppenheimer movie, given how many Polish scientists took part in it.
As it turns out on the oficial site of US departament of energy out of all the polish scientists, only Józef Rotblat is present (of course his name is translated to Joseph, because as it turns out having non english sounding name is forbidden)
Stanisław Ulam, Stanisław Mrozowski, Emil Konopinski aren't present not only on goverment pages but also on english wikipedia about the manhattan project.
Polish scientists took massive part in changing the world we see today. From Maria Skłodowska-Curie (her Polish surname isn't mentioned outside of poland, even though she insisted on calling her with Polish surname), People responsible for cracking the enigma code, Stefan Banach, one of the most important mathematician of the 20th century, Jan Czochralski who invented method we made semiconductor wafers now and many more.
It's really sad so many of them worked in the US and the stereotype still stands, Also kind of Ironic how most people in American Science projects like Manhattan were in fact immigrants, people seen as inferior/less inteligent by the US population.
Again, it's not only a Polish thing, nor a thing of the past. During a research for this comment i discovered many people called american scientis who werent born nor raised in the US (like e.g. Paul G. Comba, Italian man, born in Italian family, an "Italian-American scientist"), as it turns out, your nationality dosen't matter, if you made your work in the US, you are listed as american scientist.
If you made it this far, i encourage you to compare wikipedia articles on famous people of your native country with english speaking ones and see how they differ, it's interesting
Ah to be fair when someone left its country and settled in another and was accepted by its society it is safe to assume that person to be American. Sadly often we aren't shown full story like in case of French movies and books depicting life of Marie Curie Skłodowska and ommiting the fact that the very fact that she broke a marriage (to be happy with her beloved man) was out of sudden called by French newspapers a foreigner
I am German Polish scotch an Irish, and I value knowing my roots greatly thank you for this video as I am studying my Polish ancestry right now❤
Wonderful!
@Jan-r1p no I’m sorry I am German polish and scotch Irish. I know my roots.
@Jan-r1p your ancestral lineage is from where are your parents are from and where your great grandparents are from no, I don’t speak this native languages but it’s in my DNA
I think it's important that ppl embrace and be proud of thier bloodline, culture , and heritage. Me I'm Chicano 🇺🇲🇲🇽 Mexican -American and proud of it . I'm equally both.
depends on how much european you have in you, if you are mostly native to central America then you are just American American : P
Fun part is being mexican is already "American" it's just like saying I am American American 😂
American as in USA
I'm a Canadian and born during the last months of WW2 living on our prairies and as I got older there was a very large influx of both Polish and Ukrainian people to this part of Canada and took them no time at all to fit right in. My mother, God rest her soul, was English and was a typical English style cook and it was only when a Ukrainian neighbour taught her to cook that we really ate like kings! God bless 'em all!
Fit right in?
I agree with you. It it is divisive and even racist to make someone's color of skin their main identity, especially in the world so diverse that nearly no one belongs to just one ethnic group. I am Polish and I was really sad that my daughter was made to feel bad because of color of her skin due to being taught that white people are "privilaged" and " racist" just because of the colour of their skin.😢
I've met few Americans during my travels and sadly they still treat Polish people lot worse. You could sense that. And also I've heard some really hurtful words so maybe something change but not as much as we would think.
I see only Americans - native Americans, not other way around. Americans are immigrants , all of them.
Durnie zawsze się znajdą.
As a Hungarian, best friend of Poland, I recently actually had to google the stereotype of the Polish joke, because I didn't know. Dumb? Have they heard of Marie Sklodowska Curie or Copernicus?
They're not dumb, I think their IQ will eventually be the highest in Europe. They're already up there and not declining like others.
Polish people are hardworkers that filled blue-collar jobs and elites decided to label them dumb. I think Polish people are just filled what needed to be filled. They do well across the board.
I am 100% Polish and live in Poland 😂 (ok, there is a 1/4 German in me) and I stumbled upon this video. I am finding it funny on one hand and stunning on the other. How wonderful it must have been to have the confidence of an Anglo-Saxon / German American to think of oneself as better than everyone else ahahaha. Americans have all these categorisations for people and races, I was already thinking it was strange they consider Latinos as not white. But Slavic people? How pale do you want your white? I do not believe as it is stated in the video that the Polish immigrants "did not consider themselves either white or black", what is more likely is that they did not care about these people's strange concepts, or in getting involved in their stupid fights. I am quite sure they knew what they were. But also I doubt they considered themselves better than anyone else for being white. LIke the Poles in Haiti. People were leaving the old continent to find themselves in these weird and violent conditions in America (gangs?). Wasn't that worse than Europe?. I wonder how many of them stayed because they did not have the means to go back.
I was in school in the 70’s and remember those jokes being told. I don’t know why Polish people were considered so bad. The Polish kids and the Black kids were kind of in similar position of “who not to like” but they got more of a pass because they could at least be considered White.
I too remember that.
This means a lot my friend, with all these identity politics I have had some black friends say some extremely insensitive things to me regarding this topic. I have always identified that I could kind of hide in plain sight when I walked outside. By the one question, could a man named Vladimir Globochenkov be elected President in 2024, kind of lays to rest the idea that as my friend once told me, you are just another white guy walking around and that the Holocaust wasn't about race.
It seems there may be no end to society trying to pit black Americans and Polish Americans against one another, but it won't work on me my friend! Blessings to you!
@@davidbobalik4864 Vladimir Globochenkov is not a Polish name at all, though. Sounds Russian to me.
@@roksana1736 haha, Ukrainian actually. Okay you think Slawomir Brzychowski might be more likely elected President? Or how about Miroslaw Podbodowski. Or my Uncle's name if you like, Caszmir Juszczak, hahaha. I can see you laughing as you read those names and thinking about the improbability of such people being elected mayor of a city let alone President of the United States.
@@davidbobalik4864There is nothing impropable about it.
I worked with a man of middle eastern ancestry who had been an assistant to the U S military. He was a naturalized citizen. When asked what his background was, he always replied that he was an American. Until he became acquainted with someone he did not provide further information. I think that is wise and appropriate.
Wow this is such an interesting anecdote!
Third generation Lebanese American and I understand this story. I had a highly educated coworker go nuts when she found out I was "not white"(her definition) and was not wearing a hijab. She claimed I was trying to pass myself off as white. I was just trying to work.
@@tiredoftrolls2629 Wow! The only solution is to educate these people. You are just being the American that you are! But the racism comes from both sides. I am White, married to a Hispanic man for 45 years. When I was first married, not many Whites and Hispanics were inter-married. So a Hispanic coworker assumed I was a fair-skinned Hispanic because of my last name. She told me one day "you know White people don't love their children like we do". She had a White ex-sister-in-law who had left her son with his father and run off with an ex-boyfriend. So she associated that behavior with ALL White people. It is so important to judge people on their own character and not paint a whole group based on the behavior of some people who happen to have the same ethnicity or skin color! I wish that many Blacks in this country who hate Whites would remember that some White people fought and died to free their ancestors from slavery. And I wish that many Whites in this country would realize that not all Blacks are rioting and torching cities. Some of them have fought and died in our military protecting our freedoms!
This makes me so angry, it’s hard to even articulate. What the ….(also my uncle is Lebanese. Unrelated ☺️)
Oh my gosh, well we know what they say about when people assume….😳
I'm a a polish person from poland and american use of "black" and "white" is so confusing. In (most of or even all of ) Europe it's just a term for skin color, which is visible just as hair or eyes color.
You make a great point. These hyphenated “American” titles are definitely “othering” the people who live here in America. 💡
Thank you, Danielle. ❤
The American flag stands for all "Legal" Americans. No matter your race, creed, sex, politics, or sexuality. If you hyphenate your race. That's on you.
Its coming from the Gov. Look at the forms asking your race on them. The word other is listed on the last line. So..... they can always give a good reason for an explanation. Its still an obvious racist.
@@jaxsazerac4904we dont want the hyphenation. It comes from government as its on all official forms you have to fill in ...... AND ..... it comes from the WHITE majority who STILL hyphenates all non-whites though some of us have been here for generations , while they automatically just refer as "American" any white (looking) immigrant from anywhere in Europe, even if they just got off the boat.
people love to other themselves in ameirca
As a Pole I can say. We dont care what you guys think 😆 German ancestors made that jokes in USA and invented phrase "polack".
not true about jokes. It was the agreed policy of Prussians, Austrians and Moscovites regarding refugees from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after 1864, distributed throughout America (USA and Canada) - documented!!,. The bandits and thieves of these 3 empires (Prison of Nations - Austria, Thief - Prussia, Cemetery of Nations - Moscovia) even in America persecuted their victims. Hollywood has also contributed to its numerous productions - you also know why
My grandparents came to the states after allied troops freed them from camps in Poland. It was a real struggle for them to get established with McCarthyism etc in the 50s. Growing up in the 70s, everytime someone learned I was Polish they told me a Polish joke. I was confounded by the jokester 's stupidity ... wth?
Polish people are wonderful and have amazing history and I have always been proud of my heritage... especially when surrounded by idiots!
Polish history, culture, traditions, customs are wonderful and have amazing & we have always been proud of our heritage
As a European and a Pole, I am completely unable to understand your (American) view of race. On the one hand, you say that race shouldn't matter, but on the other, your entire culture revolves around the color of your skin and the place of origin of your ancestors. I feel like this applies to liberals and conservatives alike. You keep dividing people into perpetrators and victims according to arbitrary categories, taking away yours individual identity. Such a philosophy can only lead you to the eternal conflict that is already taking place in your society.
I agree it’s a thing we need to stop doing and is based on a pretty checkered history.
Would you tell a wife being abused by her husband she is playing a victim?
@@heyyourebeautiful3867 no and I don't know what that has to do with my statement.
@@heyyourebeautiful3867completely uncalled for.
@@heyyourebeautiful3867 Just because some women are abused by their husband's, we cannot claim that husbands are abusive.
I lived in Chicago suburbs many years ago. My neighbor had Polish last name. She told me her husband was Pole, he died a few years before I moved to that house. She took care of her grandchildren and she brought them very often to my house because children were with similar ages and we had big backyard with swimming pool. After 7 years or so I found out she understood Polish. One day her grandchild was crying a lot because he hurt himself. She told him to stop to cry. " Before the wedding everything will heal". I never heard it in English before and told her it is Polish saying. She then admitted she was taught Polish by her grandma. She was so shame she was Polish she didn't want to be recognized her as a Pole . It was in the 90s.
do wesela sie zagoi :)
Nice American story. In 2000 I walked in downtown Detroit. The Americans tought I wanted to commit suicide or I am extremly brave. America is a great country and its culture! needs to be exported.
SO SHAME,IM PRAUD TO BE POLISH,
Ukrainians saying the same way
@@andriyboyko5665 but without reason.
Thank you for your fine talk on the Polish American experience. I have a doctorate on American and Eastern European history, with a special concentration on Polish history. I salute you for your work and dedication. B
This was an enormous compliment. Thank you so very much for being here. I am learning in public!
As a 100% American/Polak, those I grew up with,were never offended by polish jokes. The people that tell them are not worth the time and energy.
Exactly! I would say that low-lives are everywhere and if you feel offended by that then I would say your self-esteem needs some lift.
Thank you so much for addressing this important topic ! Thank You i lived temporarily in germany with my family and we were discriminated , schools on purpose pushed us to schools for kids that were meant to be in blue collar work ( they did not want to educate us as kids ). Luckily i worked hard in US to attain my degree 🎉and in High School (US)the guidance counselor told me “ people like you do not go to College” . In Europe I experienced a lot of discrimination it’s truly sad. I never told this to anyone because I just thought of it as a norm 😢. I truly appreciate You brought this sad issue to the surface, my experience taught me to truly understand people of color in US.
My maternal grandmother (RIP) was an American of Polish descent.
Though separated by space and time, we are still kin. Bless you!
I was born in Katowice and immigrated to America when I was young. I felt all while growing up the very dichotomy imbedded into America's culture: I was poor, but excluded from the black/latino communities because I was white. I was similarly excluded from white suburban communities because I wasn't the *right* white, or *enough* white. As a child, it was difficult to understand why I didn't fit. Later on, discovering my neurodivergency, made me realize there was never going to be a place for people like me.
We were poor, we were starving, we were *homeless.* Every community failed us but our fellow Poles. I couldn't blame my mother and family for their conservative xenophobia when we grew up with a war on our border or in our country every goddamn generation. We had no one but our fellow immigrants and countrymen that lived here, even all the way in the early 90's.
It's hard to be polish. It's one of the hardest parts of my identity I'm still coming to terms with.
You went in depth with this one and you were spot on in so many aspects, especially with Nazis and Soviets portraying Polish ppl as dumb and inferior. Thank you for bringing up interesting piece of history. Greetings from Poland
Poland and Polish people were used and attacked many times. Poland was not a free country really the last 200 years. And still Poles survived and as soon as they could put their noses over the water surface they thrived. Imagine yourself building a house of lego, and when you have almost completed it a large boy comes by and breaks it. When it happens many times then it is even difficult to gather and manifest any enthusiasm to do it again, to improve it and to embelish it. And life is not only building this house. I think Americans should visit Poland now and see who the Poles are, how they live and check out their intelligence and education today. Now after they had a moment to develop and learn things that they always wanted to learn. It is quite nice now in Poland, it is safe, trains are better as transportation than cars, they run often and are not expensive, if you are 70 years old you can travel in Warsaw for free, a lot of redaction of prices everywhere if you are retired, nobody is living on the street, school and university are free and so is medical care. Well, compare this with what is going on in the US, and the only wars you had were the wars that you produced yourself. Poles were never dumb just very, very, very poor...And Russians, Germans, Austrian and Polish aristocracy wre holding Poles down so they could make a maximal profit of them. Hopefully the Ukrainian war never comes to Poland. Hopefully Russians stop the madness. And hopefully the Europeans wake up and reorganize broken Europe. And hopefully the immigrants realize what they have received and appreciate it.
Dziękuję za ciekawe informacje. Pozdrawiam
My husband is a polish immigrant and refuses to see himself as American white.
What does he see himself as? Purple Teletubbie?
@@marktwain5266 a slav
@@marktwain5266 a fucking person that doesnt believe in ur comically stupid sense of race, we dont have time for ur american bullshit, the problem u have is no identity so dont measure everyone with ur tape
@@marktwain5266rebel
@@MostlyCloudy But Slavs ARE WHITE
From what I've heard pollack jokes date way back to the XIX century.
After the Napoleonic wars of Europe, Poland and Lithuania were finally partitioned and subjugated by Austria, Russia and Prusia (II German Reich shortly after) and both nations' fate was sealed. Many Polish people emigrated to the US, as did the Germans, the latter being not only larger in numbers, but also wealthier - Poles very often had their entire wealth seized by the oppressors for being 'anarchists' and 'rebels'. Germans on the other hand often had support of businesses from their newly imperial homeland. Germans at the time used to say to Poles: "We build factories, you build churches" to emphasise their Germanic industriousness and Polish/Slavic backwardness. Also, at the end of the XVIII century there were some Poles, who became notable political figures in the US - most namely Pułaski and Kościuszko. So this was the way for the Germans to mitigate potential future Polish influence in the US administration: both by advantage in wealth and by spreading derogatory stereotypes.
even though im of german descent i can say that the germans are a nasty bunch n(if you dont believe me there is WW2 to consider) but the germans were probably right about the churches, it looks like the catholic church likes backward subjects, you see it even if you look at southern germany
the most advanced nations are the protestant onees, eeven today
As a Polish person all I will say here is read about person Tadeusz Kosciusko.
In Point West military academy all USA officers studying there are admiring that Polish person for what he did for USA.
Highest mountain in Australia is called after his name.
Just go look it up.
😋🇵🇱🇵🇱👍
I used to cross the Koscuisko bridge every day in NY!
My mother was born in and grew up in Canada. My grandparents were Slavs who came from Eastern Europe. When she was a child, she was often called "Bohunk." Growing up in Chicago, many of my best friends were Polish-Americans and I was acutely aware of the anti-Slavic racism that pervaded America even in the 1980s. Never forget!
Thank you for making this video. I am first generation Canadian, my mother is Polish. We do not identify as "White". We will accept European but we identify as Slavic. We are Ethnic Slavs. Thank you from Canada 🇨🇦
My Philadelphia PA neighborhood was/is Ukrainian, Lithuania and Polish. We didn't have any issues with anyone. It was a great place to grow up.