森へ行きましょう

We have been influenced by many cultures and we have influenced many. Listen please to this Japanese song:

This is a Polish song, precisely it comes from Silesia. Its original title is "Szła dzieweczka do laseczka".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82bBMxNF9AE

Poland in 1928

I have a nice German atlas from the 1928 (Meyers Geographischer Handatlas), and I wanted to show you the map of Poland from that time:

I have also found an interesting link with some translations from Polish: http://polandsite.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=polishliteratureinenglish.

Józef Szafranek

I like the old books. My most precious one is "Gedanken und Erinnerungen" of Otto von Bismarck. I wanted to point out an interesting information.

In the middle you will find the text:

"Schaffranek wurde dort in den Landtag gewählt, der uns das Sprichwort von der Unmöglichkeit der Verbruederung der Deutschen und der Polen in polnischer Sprache als Parlamentsredner entgegenhielt."

Which means:

There was Schafranek elected to the Landtag there (in Silesia), who was holding as a parliament deputy in Polish language a speech that brotherhood between Germans and Poles was impossible".

My point is that this man, Józef Szafranek, a Catholic priest, was supposed to look after the Silesian interests rather than do anti-German provocations. In the Polish Wikipedia you will read he was opposing the germanization. Well, he chose an unusual way to oppose it. In my opinion he was asking for troubles. Most probably he did not care about the consequences for the Polish people, even worse, considered any bad consequences good, since politically it would strike the Germans if they persecute the Poles. And this really happened. I am sure his motivation was exactly the same as the Pope's one when declaring the infallibility dogma in the 1870. It was an anti-German provocation and it was so understood by Otto von Bismarck. This was the begin of Kulturkampf in Germany.

The doctor Spaniard

Jan Kochanowski was one of our greatest poets. He was writing both in Latin and in Polish. Below is my translation of one of his poems:

"The doctor Spaniard"

Our good doctor is going to sleep already

Does not even want to wait for the diner

„Let him go! W'll find him in the bed

And ourselves let us be joyful”

After the dinner – „Let's go to the Spaniard

Let's go, sure, but not without a jug

Let us in, our dear comrade doctor!”

Doctor did not let in, but the door did

„One cup wouldn't hurt, God bless you”

„Be it only one cup!” Says the doctor

From one it ended up with nine ones

And the doctor's brain is rocking

„It's difficult with these lords”

„I went to sleep sober, I will get up drunk!”

Here you can find the original. The doctor really existed, his name was Roysius and he was the court doctor of the king Sigismund II Augustus. You know - my favourite Polish king, the one who was in love with Barbara Radziwiłłówna. Kochanowski wrote also for example Jezda do Moskwy (A journey to Moscow), it is about the Russo-Polish war called Livonian Campaign. This was a good fight, we were attacked by Ivan the Terrible and we stroke back. Our king at that time was Stephen Batory. He was related with the crazy and cruel Elisabeth Batory, that you may have heard of (he was her uncle). But he was an excellent king. Being Catholic himself, he was tolerant in the religious matters.

There was another Russo-Polish war (1605-1618), which was a shame, since we attacked them. A stupid idea. As you might expect strongly supported by the Pope and Sigismund III Vasa:

A citation from the Wiki:
He viewed it as an excellent opportunity to expand the Commonwealth's territory and sphere of influence, with hopes that the eventual outcome of the war would Catholicize Orthodox Russia (in this he was strongly supported by the Pope) and enable him to defeat Sweden.

I do not like this guy (Sigismund III Vasa). I told you that already. The wars against Sweden and Russia were greatly motivated by the religion. Catholicism.

BTW. I have created a page on Facebook for this blog, it is http://www.facebook.com/PawelBiernackisBlog.

Les Adieux a la Patrie

"Farewell to the Homeland" - is a polonaise written by Michal Kleofas Oginski. Polonaise is a kind of old Polish dance, it is relatively slow ("chodzony" - walked).

Here are the notes for the initial piece (piano):

January Uprising

150 years ago, in the 1863 we did an uprising against the Imperial Russia, the so called January Uprising. Because I write about the Catholic Church I wanted to tell you about the last uprising partisan, Stanisław Brzóska. He was a priest and a commander. He was hunged for the participation in the Uprising. I respect his sacrifice, but I consider the Uprising a mistake. I prefer much more the Finnish way - to wait patiently and to have good relationships even with the occupants. Earlier we had an autonomy under the Tsar's rule, and after these uprisings we lost it all. I want to say an interesting thing - most peasants did not take a part in this uprising, because it was the Tsar who gave them freedom and land. Our noblemen were reluctunt to do it. I am a Polish peasant myself, and therefore I can understand the attitude.

Secondly I regret about the Uprising simply because I like Russia. It has jeopardized our relationships, unfortunately. Below you can see an Artur Grottger's painting: "The Battle" dedicated to the Uprising.

Jan Chryzostom Pasek

In his diaries Jan Chryzostom Pasek writes a funny anecdote. He was sent somewhere in Denmark (from Aarhusen) with an order to fetch money for the military. He went there and expected to have no language difficulties, since even peasants (he says) could speak Latin there. But he made a joke. They were asking him whether he could speak German, Italian, French, but he answered every question with a single word ("Gielt" - Germ. "money"). They knew he was Polish so they tried Latin, but he pretended not to understand. They were desperate and thought that he did not understand any language at all. Next day they brought him some food and a cup of coins. Once he saw it he said in Latin: "Iste est interpres meorum et vestorum desideriorum" ("These are the translators of my and your desires."). They were laughing and later always when they spoke about money they called them "interpres" (translators).