Archive for the ‘poland’ tag
The Republican Canada #
While Democrats can always threaten to flee to Canada in the event of an election loss, where can conservatives flee to?
Lech Walesa, Communist Collaborator? #
The Economist’s Europe.view column considers the recently reinfused question of whether Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity movement that brought an end to Communism in Poland, had ever collaborated with the Communist government.
Some believe that Mr Walesa’s seemingly erratic behaviour and poor choice of advisers as president from 1990-95 was the result of blackmail (he strongly denies this too). That goes straight to the most divisive question in modern Polish politics.
For a large chunk of Polish opinion, the “PRL”, as the Polish People’s Republic is known, was fundamentally illegitimate. Everything that happened—including much so-called “dissident” activity—was a sham and a fraud, orchestrated by Polish or Soviet secret police. Others see the PRL as a pragmatic response to Poland’s impossible position after 1945. Surely it was better to live as best as one could than to die senselessly in the forests or rot in jail.
Poland’s Anne Frank #
The dismissiveness of the title Time gave this excerpt (it’s the same one I used above) bothers me a bit. What Rutka Laskier, a Polish Jew who died at Auschwitz when she was only 14, wrote could certainly stand on its own merits. This juxtaposition struck me:
I am writing this as if nothing has happened. As if I were in an army experienced in cruelty. But I’m young, I’m 14, and I haven’t seen much in my life, and I’m already so indifferent. Now I am terrified when I see “uniforms.” I’m turning into an animal waiting to die …
Now to everyday matters: Janek came by this afternoon. We had to sit in the kitchen … I told him that I had given away all my photographs. He got very upset. We were joking around; we spoke about “Nica and the gang.” While we were talking he suddenly blurted out he’d like it very much if he could kiss me. I said “maybe” and continued the conversation. He was a bit confused; he thought I was Tusia or Hala Zelinger. I would have allowed [myself] to be kissed only by the person I loved, and I feel indifferent towards him.
(via brijit)