Poland continued to fight throughout the War, in the West with an army of 249,000 men and with the Home Army in occupied Poland. The Poles first broke the German Enigma code, blazing a trail for Project Ultra. When Britain faced defeat in 1940, Churchill noted that nations that went down fighting rose again, while nations that meekly surrendered were often lost. Poland is living proof of that maxim. The struggle for Polish independence would be renewed with the election of John Paul II as Pope and the birth of Solidarity. Courage is a very important virtue in this Vale of Tears, a virtue the people of Poland have never lacked.
“The Polish broke the German Enigma code first.” That fact seems to have been left out in many articles. Also that the free Polish military based in England was the third largest fighting force in WWII.
An exhibit of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569 – 1795 ) at the Baltimore Walters Museum years ago was a real eye opener as to the advances made in science, medicine, music, art and war fighting during its existence. The languages used by multi ethic groups were Polish and Latin.
If God is with us, then who is against us.
My husband’s ancestry is Polish on his father’s side. I wish the exhibit would return to the US so that my husband, our adult sons and others could visit it.
Poland has been Catholic since 950 A.D. Copernicus, Chopin, Henry Sienkiewicz, author of Quo Vadis, King John Sobieski who saved Vienna from the Ottomans. Vienna’s 16 feet of embattlement was breached by the Turks. Sobieski climbed the mountain and destroyed the Ottomans. Sobieski saved Europe, but only through prayer and the Mass.
To this day if a person comes to Vienna with a Polish passport he is given a key to the city…everything free.
Helen Kowalska, (Sister Faustina), Karol Wojtyla, (Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa, and all the rest of the Polish people who know how to be free. Oopps forgot to mention Maria Sklodowska-Curie discoverer of uranium. A Pole broke Hitler’s enigma code. (and they sent all kinds of nonsense to Hitler) Thank you for that, lest we forget.
The good Polish Felician sisters of Lodi, N. J. taught me Aquinas in the second grade and how to pay my taxes in the sixth grade.
Clarification:
The walls of the city of Vienna were 16 feet thick and several stories high.
The Ottomans had breached the walls with cannonades when John Sobieski came to their rescue.
for Guy McClung:
The Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary are meditations on the Seven Sacraments:
The Baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan is the Sacrament of our Baptism
The Wedding Feast at Cana is the Sacrament of Matrimony.
The Proclamation of the Kingdom is the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the laying on of hands, Confirmation and the anointing of the sick, Extreme Unction.
The Transfiguration is the Sacrament of Penance; the repatriation of our original innocence and the glory of our soul as was seen in Christ, Moses and Elijah.
The Institution of the Holy Eucharist is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist before all ages.
Mary De Voe (Tyszkiewicz)
Good morning,
Mary, I am able to pronounce your last name (Tish-kev-ich). I love Polish surnames, the harder, the better.
Poles will not quit. Stubbornness is both a virtue and a weakness and Poles have it in limitless quantities. Poles hold a grudge too. In the days of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, a large part of Ukraine was in the PLC and constantly under attack by the Ottomans. Poland spent much treasure and blood fighting the Ottomans.
The Ukrainian nationalist movement that took hold in the 1940s was violent towards Poles. Wolyn (Volhynia) was a horrid place for Poles to be at that time. Ukrainians slaughtered Polish families…in response to the terrible idea to Apologize the Ukrainian who ended up in Poland after the Polish Soviet War.
Poland had the fourth largest fighting force on the Allied side in WWII.
When I come across secular conservative or religious talking points seeking to absolve Russia for its invasion of Ukraine (Christine Niles) because James Baker promised Gorbachev there would be no Eastward expansion of NATO…is infuriating. As if Baker had the authority to set NATO policy forever…..Russia’s neighbors don’t like Russia for lots of reasons.
Poland today is at a crossroads. The current PM, Donald Tusk, is a tool of the EU. Tusk’s party got 30% of the vote and he runs things due to a coalition. He wants to legalize abortion, take Catholic education out of the schools and has persecuted members of the opposition PiS party, like Biden and the Democrats. I pointed out earlier that the woke phenomenon has hit Poland, mostly among young women. Pray for Poland.
Djiekuje
Bog
Honor
Ojczyzna
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Penguins Fan:
Thank you for the update on Poland. My heart is breaking for Poland. My prayers for Poland.
You did get my maiden name pronounced correctly. Were you raised in Poland?
Mary, I was born near Pittsburgh, grew up near Cleveland, worked for six years in DC and returned to Western Pennsylvania in 1995. I have not yet been able to visit Poland. It is my hope that I have living relatives there, but I don’t know that for sure