BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Poland has managed to contain its recent outbreaks of bird flu and improved its general animal disease situation, the European Commission said on Wednesday.
Since early December, Polish authorities reported nine outbreaks of highly pathogenic strains of the disease in poultry and one in a shelter for wild birds, it said in a statement.
The last reported outbreak occurred more than two weeks ago in a laying hen flock in northern Poland, in the same area where the virus was discovered in early December.
"The standing committee (of national EU animal health experts) today reviewed the protection measures in Poland and noted that the disease situation has clearly improved and appears to be under control," the EU executive said.
In response to the outbreaks, Poland applied standard EU-approved protection measures to contain avian influenza in domestic poultry -- including the slaughter of all birds in the affected holdings and tightening movement restrictions.
One of the European Union's leading poultry producers, Poland exported 230,000 tonnes of poultry to EU markets in 2006.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Polish female dentist to open Nenagh clinic
Polish female dentist to open Nenagh clinic
Friday January 11 2008
By Peter GleesonA dentist of Polish and Canadian extraction (no pun intended) is about to open her own private clinic in Nenagh.
By Peter Gleeson
A dentist of Polish and Canadian extraction (no pun intended) is about to open her own private clinic in Nenagh.
Romana Czemko has spent almost three years working in the public sector in the children's dental clinic at Nenagh Hospital.
But now she is set to become the only female dentist with her own private practice in the town when she opens for business in Friar's Court on February 1.
Ms Czemko, a mother of two young children, told The Guardian that her ambition was always to eventually open her own practice. 'For me it is a way of broadening my horizons. I love the work I do with children but I think by moving into private practice I can get the most out of it,' she said.
Ms Czemko was born in Poland but later moved with her family to Ontario in Canada. Her mother now lives in Winnipeg were winter temperatures of minus 30 degrees are significantly different from the more temperate climes of her daughter's abode in Portroe.
Two years ago Ms Chemko bought a house in the rural setting of the townland of Curragh, situated in the hills above Portroe. She lives there with her husband, Maciej, who works with an investment company in Limerick, and her two daughters Nadia (3) and Hanna (1).
After training as a dentist in Poland and working in private practices in that county and Canada, she decided to move to Ireland with her family after Poland joined the EU. She ended up in Nenagh after securing a position as a locum in the dental clinic in the hospital. A vacancy subsequently came up and she was offered a full time job in the clinic.
Now practicing for a total of eight years, Ms Czemko is hopeful and excited about her venture into the private sector. 'At the moment there are long waiting periods to see a dentist in Nenagh so I hope to get some business,' she said.
Friday January 11 2008
By Peter GleesonA dentist of Polish and Canadian extraction (no pun intended) is about to open her own private clinic in Nenagh.
By Peter Gleeson
A dentist of Polish and Canadian extraction (no pun intended) is about to open her own private clinic in Nenagh.
Romana Czemko has spent almost three years working in the public sector in the children's dental clinic at Nenagh Hospital.
But now she is set to become the only female dentist with her own private practice in the town when she opens for business in Friar's Court on February 1.
Ms Czemko, a mother of two young children, told The Guardian that her ambition was always to eventually open her own practice. 'For me it is a way of broadening my horizons. I love the work I do with children but I think by moving into private practice I can get the most out of it,' she said.
Ms Czemko was born in Poland but later moved with her family to Ontario in Canada. Her mother now lives in Winnipeg were winter temperatures of minus 30 degrees are significantly different from the more temperate climes of her daughter's abode in Portroe.
Two years ago Ms Chemko bought a house in the rural setting of the townland of Curragh, situated in the hills above Portroe. She lives there with her husband, Maciej, who works with an investment company in Limerick, and her two daughters Nadia (3) and Hanna (1).
After training as a dentist in Poland and working in private practices in that county and Canada, she decided to move to Ireland with her family after Poland joined the EU. She ended up in Nenagh after securing a position as a locum in the dental clinic in the hospital. A vacancy subsequently came up and she was offered a full time job in the clinic.
Now practicing for a total of eight years, Ms Czemko is hopeful and excited about her venture into the private sector. 'At the moment there are long waiting periods to see a dentist in Nenagh so I hope to get some business,' she said.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Robert Dziekanski History
Robert Dziekanski History. WORTH TO SEE. Reportage1 part B
Robert Dziekanski History. WORTH TO SEE. Reportage2 part A
Robert Dziekanski History. WORTH TO SEE. Reportage2 part A
Polish Pilots of the World WarII
Polish Pilots of the World WarII
Invasion:
On September 1st., 1939, 1.8 million German troops invaded Poland on three fronts; East Prussia in the north, Germany in the west and Slovakia in the south. They had 2600 tanks against the Polish 180, and over 2000 aircraft against the Polish 420. Their "Blitzkrieg" tactics, coupled with their bombing of defenceless towns and refugees, had never been seen before and, at first, caught the Poles off-guard. By September 14th. Warsaw was surrounded. At this stage the poles reacted, holding off the Germans at Kutno and regrouping behind the Wisla (Vistula) and Bzura rivers. Although Britain and France declared war on September 3rd. the Poles received no help - yet it had been agreed that the Poles should fight a defensive campaign for only 2 weeks during which time the Allies could get their forces together and attack from the west.
There are many "myths" that surround the September Campaign; the fictional Polish cavalry charges against German tanks (actually reported by the Italian press and used as propaganda by the Germans), the alleged destruction of the Polish Air Force on the ground, or claims that Polish armour failed to achieve any success against the invaders. In reality, and despite the fact that Poland was only just beginning to modernise her armed forces and had been forced (by Britain and France) to delay mobilisation (which they claimed might be interpreted as aggressive behaviour) so that, at the time of invasion, only about one-third of her total potential manpower was mobilised, Polish forces ensured that the September campaign was no "walk-over". The Wehrmacht had so under-rated Polish anti-tank capabilities (the Polish-designed anti-tank gun was one of the best in the world at that time) that they had gone into action with white "balkankreuz", or crosses, prominently displayed in eight locations; these crosses made excellent aiming points for Polish gun-sights and forced the Germans to radically rethink their national insignia, initially overpainting them in yellow and then, for their later campaigns, adopting the modified "balkankreuz" similar to that used by the Luftwaffe. The recently-designed 7TP "czolg lekki", or light tank, the first in the world to be designed with a diesel engine, proved to be superior to German tanks of the same class (the PzKpfw I and II) inflicting serious damage to the German forces, limited only by the fact that they were not used in concentrated groups. They were absorbed by the Germans into their own Panzer divisions at the end of the campaign.
On September 17th. Soviet forces invaded from the east. Warsaw surrendered 2 weeks later, the garrison on the Hel peninsula surrendered on October 2nd., and the Polesie Defence group, after fighting on two fronts against both German and Soviet forces, surrendered on October 5th. The Poles had held on for twice as long as had been expected and had done more damage to the Germans than the combined British and French forces were to do in 1940. The Germans lost 50,000 men, 697 planes and 993 tanks and armoured cars.
Thousands of soldiers and civilians managed to escape to France and Britain whilst many more went "underground" . A government-in-exile was formed with Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz as President and General Wladyslaw Sikorski as Prime Minister.
The Fourth Partition:
Under the German-Soviet pact Poland was divided; the Soviets took, and absorbed into the Soviet Union, the eastern half (Byelorussia and the West Ukraine), the Germans incorporated Pomerania, Posnania and Silesia into the Reich whilst the rest was designated as the General-Gouvernement (a colony ruled from Krakow by Hitler's friend, Hans Frank).
In the Soviet zone 1.5 million Poles (including women and children) were transported to labour camps in Siberia and other areas. Many thousands of captured Polish officers were shot at several secret forest sites; the first to be discovered being Katyn, near Smolensk.
The Germans declared their intention of eliminating the Polish race (a task to be completed by 1975) alongside the Jews. This process of elimination, the "Holocaust", was carried out systematically. All members of the "intelligentsia" were hunted down in order to destroy Polish culture and leadership (many were originally exterminated at Oswiencim - better known by its German name, Auschwitz). Secret universities and schools, a "Cultural Underground", were formed (the penalty for belonging to one was death). In the General-Gouvernement there were about 100,000 secondary school pupils and over 10,000 university students involved in secret education.
The Polish Jews were herded into Ghettos where they were slowly starved and cruelly offered hopes of survival but, in fact, ended up being shot or gassed. In the end they were transported, alongside non-Jewish Poles, Gypsies and Soviet POWs, to extermination camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka; at Auschwitz over 4 million were exterminated. 2000 concentration camps were built in Poland, which became the major site of the extermination programme, since this was where most of the intended victims lived.
Many non-Jewish Poles were either transported to Germany and used as slave labour or simply executed. In the cities the Germans would round-up and kill indiscriminately as a punishment for any underground or anti-German or pro-Jewish activity. In the countryside they kept prominent citizens as hostages who would be executed if necessary. Sometimes they liquidated whole villages; at least 300 villages were destroyed. Hans Frank said, "If I wanted to put up a poster for every seven Poles shot, the forests of Poland would not suffice to produce the paper for such posters."
Despite such horror the Poles refused to give in or cooperate (there were no Polish collaborators as in other occupied countries). The Polish Underground or AK (Armia Krajowa or Home Army) was the largest in Europe with 400,000 men. The Jewish resistance movement was set up separately because of the problem of being imprisoned within the ghettos. Both these organisations caused great damage to the Nazi military machine. Many non-Jewish Poles saved the lives of thousands of Jews despite the fact that the penalty, if caught, was death (in fact, Poland was the only occupied nation where aiding Jews was punishable by death).
Fighting on all Fronts:
The Polish Army, Navy and Air Force reorganised abroad and continued to fight the Germans. In fact they have the distinction of being the only nation to fight on every front in the War. In 1940 they fought in France, in the Norwegian campaign they earned a reputation for bravery at Narvik, and in Africa the Carpathian Brigade fought at Tobruk.
Polish Squadrons played an important role in the Battle of Britain, accounting for 12% of all German aircraft destroyed at the cost of 33 lives. By the end of the war they had flown a total of 86,527 sorties, lost 1669 men and shot down 500 German planes and 190 V1 rockets.
The Polish Navy, which had escaped intact, consisted of 60 vessels, including 2 cruisers, 9 destroyers and 5 submarines ( one of which was the famous "Orzel") which were involved in 665 actions at sea. The first German ship sunk in the war was sunk by Polish ships. The Navy also took part in the D-Day landings.
When the Soviet Union was attacked by Germany, in June 1941, Polish POWs were released from prison camps and set up an army headed by General Anders. Many civilians were taken under the protection of this army which was allowed to make its way to Persia (modern-day Iran) and then on to Egypt. This army, the Polish Second Corps, fought with distinction in Italy, their most notable victory being that at Monte Cassino, in May 1944, and which opened up the road to Rome for the Allies as a whole. One of the "heroes" of the Polish Second Corps was Wojtek, a brown bear adopted in Iran as their mascot; at Monte Cassino Wojtek actually helped in the fighting by carrying ammunition for the guns. He died, famous and well-loved, in Edinburgh Zoo in 1964, aged 22.
All the Polish forces took part in the Allied invasion of Europe and liberation of France, playing a particularly crucial role in the significant Battle of the Falaise Gap. The Polish Parachute Brigade took part in the disastrous Battle of Arnhem in Holland. In 1945, the Poles captured the German port of Wilhelmshaven.
In 1943 a division of Polish soldiers was formed in Russia under Soviet control and fought on the Eastern Front. They fought loyally alongside the Soviet troops, despite the suffering they had experienced in Soviet hands, and they distinguished themselves in breaking through the last German lines of defence, the "Pomeranian Rampart", in the fighting in Saxony and in the capture of Berlin.
The "Home Army", under the command of General Stefan Roweki (code-named "Grot"), and after his capture in 1943 (he was later murdered), by General Tadeusz Komorowski (code-named "Bor"), fought a very varied war; at times in open combat in brigade or division strength, at times involved in sabotage, often acting as execution squads eliminating German officials, and often fighting a psychological campaign against German military and civilians. It was a costly war since the Germans always took reprisals.
The Intelligence Service of the Home Army captured and sent parts of the V1 to London for examination, providing information on German military movements (giving advanced warning of the German plan to invade Russia), and gave the RAF full information about Peenemunde, where the Germans were producing V2 rockets.
Betrayal:
The crime of Katyn was discovered in 1943 and created a rift in Polish-Soviet relations. From now on the Home Army was attacked by Soviet propaganda as collaborating with the Germans and being called on to rise against the Germans once the Red Army reached the outskirts of Warsaw.
Secretly, at Teheran, the British and Americans agreed to letting the Russians profit from their invasion of Poland in 1939 and allowing them to keep the lands that had been absorbed. The "accidental" death of General Sikorski at this time helped keep protests at a minimum.
When the Russians crossed into Poland the Home Army cooperated in the fight against the Germans and contributed greatly to the victories at Lwow, Wilno and Lublin only to find themselves surrounded and disarmed by their "comrades-in-arms" and deported to labour camps in Siberia.
On August 1, 1944, with the Russian forces on the right bank of the Vistula, the Home Army rose in Warsaw; the Warsaw Rising. Heroic street-fighting involving the whole population, using the sewers as lines of communication and escape, under heavy bombardment, lasted for 63 days. The city was completely destroyed. Not only did the Russians cease to advance but they also refused to allow Allied planes to land on Russian airfields after dropping supplies. After surrendering many civilians and soldiers were executed or sent to concentration camps to be exterminated and Warsaw was razed to the ground.
The defeat in Warsaw destroyed the political and military institutions of the Polish underground and left the way open for a Soviet take-over.
With the liberation of Lublin in July 1944 a Russian-sponsored Polish Committee for National Liberation (a Communist Government in all but name) had been set up and the British had put great pressure, mostly unsuccessful, on the Government-in-exile to accept this status quo. At Yalta, in February 1945, the Allies put Poland within the Russian zone of influence in a post-war Europe. To most Poles the meaning of these two events was perfectly clear; Poland had been betrayed. At one stage the Polish Army, still fighting in Italy and Germany, was prepared to withdraw from the front lines in protest; after all, they were supposed to be fighting for Polish liberation. It is a reflection on Polish honour that no such withdrawal took place since it could leave large gaps in the front lines and so was considered too dangerous for their Allied comrades-in-arms.
The war ended on May 8th, 1945.
The Cost:
The Poles are the people who really lost the war.
Over half a million fighting men and women, and 6 million civilians (or 22% of the total population) died. About 50% of these were Polish Christians and 50% were Polish Jews. Approximately 5,384,000, or 89.9% of Polish war losses (Jews and Gentiles) were the victims of prisons, death camps, raids, executions, annihilation of ghettos, epidemics, starvation, excessive work and ill treatment. So many Poles were sent to concentration camps that virtually every family had someone close to them who had been tortured or murdered there.
There were one million war orphans and over half a million invalids.
The country lost 38% of its national assets (Britain lost 0.8%, France lost 1.5%). Half the country was swallowed up by the Soviet Union including the two great cultural centres of Lwow and Wilno.
Many Poles could not return to the country for which they has fought because they belonged to the "wrong" political group or came from eastern Poland and had thus become Soviet citizens. Others were arrested, tortured and imprisoned by the Soviet authorities for belonging to the Home Army.
Although "victors" they were not allowed to partake in victory celebrations.
Through fighting "For Our Freedom and Yours" they had exchanged one master
Invasion:
On September 1st., 1939, 1.8 million German troops invaded Poland on three fronts; East Prussia in the north, Germany in the west and Slovakia in the south. They had 2600 tanks against the Polish 180, and over 2000 aircraft against the Polish 420. Their "Blitzkrieg" tactics, coupled with their bombing of defenceless towns and refugees, had never been seen before and, at first, caught the Poles off-guard. By September 14th. Warsaw was surrounded. At this stage the poles reacted, holding off the Germans at Kutno and regrouping behind the Wisla (Vistula) and Bzura rivers. Although Britain and France declared war on September 3rd. the Poles received no help - yet it had been agreed that the Poles should fight a defensive campaign for only 2 weeks during which time the Allies could get their forces together and attack from the west.
There are many "myths" that surround the September Campaign; the fictional Polish cavalry charges against German tanks (actually reported by the Italian press and used as propaganda by the Germans), the alleged destruction of the Polish Air Force on the ground, or claims that Polish armour failed to achieve any success against the invaders. In reality, and despite the fact that Poland was only just beginning to modernise her armed forces and had been forced (by Britain and France) to delay mobilisation (which they claimed might be interpreted as aggressive behaviour) so that, at the time of invasion, only about one-third of her total potential manpower was mobilised, Polish forces ensured that the September campaign was no "walk-over". The Wehrmacht had so under-rated Polish anti-tank capabilities (the Polish-designed anti-tank gun was one of the best in the world at that time) that they had gone into action with white "balkankreuz", or crosses, prominently displayed in eight locations; these crosses made excellent aiming points for Polish gun-sights and forced the Germans to radically rethink their national insignia, initially overpainting them in yellow and then, for their later campaigns, adopting the modified "balkankreuz" similar to that used by the Luftwaffe. The recently-designed 7TP "czolg lekki", or light tank, the first in the world to be designed with a diesel engine, proved to be superior to German tanks of the same class (the PzKpfw I and II) inflicting serious damage to the German forces, limited only by the fact that they were not used in concentrated groups. They were absorbed by the Germans into their own Panzer divisions at the end of the campaign.
On September 17th. Soviet forces invaded from the east. Warsaw surrendered 2 weeks later, the garrison on the Hel peninsula surrendered on October 2nd., and the Polesie Defence group, after fighting on two fronts against both German and Soviet forces, surrendered on October 5th. The Poles had held on for twice as long as had been expected and had done more damage to the Germans than the combined British and French forces were to do in 1940. The Germans lost 50,000 men, 697 planes and 993 tanks and armoured cars.
Thousands of soldiers and civilians managed to escape to France and Britain whilst many more went "underground" . A government-in-exile was formed with Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz as President and General Wladyslaw Sikorski as Prime Minister.
The Fourth Partition:
Under the German-Soviet pact Poland was divided; the Soviets took, and absorbed into the Soviet Union, the eastern half (Byelorussia and the West Ukraine), the Germans incorporated Pomerania, Posnania and Silesia into the Reich whilst the rest was designated as the General-Gouvernement (a colony ruled from Krakow by Hitler's friend, Hans Frank).
In the Soviet zone 1.5 million Poles (including women and children) were transported to labour camps in Siberia and other areas. Many thousands of captured Polish officers were shot at several secret forest sites; the first to be discovered being Katyn, near Smolensk.
The Germans declared their intention of eliminating the Polish race (a task to be completed by 1975) alongside the Jews. This process of elimination, the "Holocaust", was carried out systematically. All members of the "intelligentsia" were hunted down in order to destroy Polish culture and leadership (many were originally exterminated at Oswiencim - better known by its German name, Auschwitz). Secret universities and schools, a "Cultural Underground", were formed (the penalty for belonging to one was death). In the General-Gouvernement there were about 100,000 secondary school pupils and over 10,000 university students involved in secret education.
The Polish Jews were herded into Ghettos where they were slowly starved and cruelly offered hopes of survival but, in fact, ended up being shot or gassed. In the end they were transported, alongside non-Jewish Poles, Gypsies and Soviet POWs, to extermination camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka; at Auschwitz over 4 million were exterminated. 2000 concentration camps were built in Poland, which became the major site of the extermination programme, since this was where most of the intended victims lived.
Many non-Jewish Poles were either transported to Germany and used as slave labour or simply executed. In the cities the Germans would round-up and kill indiscriminately as a punishment for any underground or anti-German or pro-Jewish activity. In the countryside they kept prominent citizens as hostages who would be executed if necessary. Sometimes they liquidated whole villages; at least 300 villages were destroyed. Hans Frank said, "If I wanted to put up a poster for every seven Poles shot, the forests of Poland would not suffice to produce the paper for such posters."
Despite such horror the Poles refused to give in or cooperate (there were no Polish collaborators as in other occupied countries). The Polish Underground or AK (Armia Krajowa or Home Army) was the largest in Europe with 400,000 men. The Jewish resistance movement was set up separately because of the problem of being imprisoned within the ghettos. Both these organisations caused great damage to the Nazi military machine. Many non-Jewish Poles saved the lives of thousands of Jews despite the fact that the penalty, if caught, was death (in fact, Poland was the only occupied nation where aiding Jews was punishable by death).
Fighting on all Fronts:
The Polish Army, Navy and Air Force reorganised abroad and continued to fight the Germans. In fact they have the distinction of being the only nation to fight on every front in the War. In 1940 they fought in France, in the Norwegian campaign they earned a reputation for bravery at Narvik, and in Africa the Carpathian Brigade fought at Tobruk.
Polish Squadrons played an important role in the Battle of Britain, accounting for 12% of all German aircraft destroyed at the cost of 33 lives. By the end of the war they had flown a total of 86,527 sorties, lost 1669 men and shot down 500 German planes and 190 V1 rockets.
The Polish Navy, which had escaped intact, consisted of 60 vessels, including 2 cruisers, 9 destroyers and 5 submarines ( one of which was the famous "Orzel") which were involved in 665 actions at sea. The first German ship sunk in the war was sunk by Polish ships. The Navy also took part in the D-Day landings.
When the Soviet Union was attacked by Germany, in June 1941, Polish POWs were released from prison camps and set up an army headed by General Anders. Many civilians were taken under the protection of this army which was allowed to make its way to Persia (modern-day Iran) and then on to Egypt. This army, the Polish Second Corps, fought with distinction in Italy, their most notable victory being that at Monte Cassino, in May 1944, and which opened up the road to Rome for the Allies as a whole. One of the "heroes" of the Polish Second Corps was Wojtek, a brown bear adopted in Iran as their mascot; at Monte Cassino Wojtek actually helped in the fighting by carrying ammunition for the guns. He died, famous and well-loved, in Edinburgh Zoo in 1964, aged 22.
All the Polish forces took part in the Allied invasion of Europe and liberation of France, playing a particularly crucial role in the significant Battle of the Falaise Gap. The Polish Parachute Brigade took part in the disastrous Battle of Arnhem in Holland. In 1945, the Poles captured the German port of Wilhelmshaven.
In 1943 a division of Polish soldiers was formed in Russia under Soviet control and fought on the Eastern Front. They fought loyally alongside the Soviet troops, despite the suffering they had experienced in Soviet hands, and they distinguished themselves in breaking through the last German lines of defence, the "Pomeranian Rampart", in the fighting in Saxony and in the capture of Berlin.
The "Home Army", under the command of General Stefan Roweki (code-named "Grot"), and after his capture in 1943 (he was later murdered), by General Tadeusz Komorowski (code-named "Bor"), fought a very varied war; at times in open combat in brigade or division strength, at times involved in sabotage, often acting as execution squads eliminating German officials, and often fighting a psychological campaign against German military and civilians. It was a costly war since the Germans always took reprisals.
The Intelligence Service of the Home Army captured and sent parts of the V1 to London for examination, providing information on German military movements (giving advanced warning of the German plan to invade Russia), and gave the RAF full information about Peenemunde, where the Germans were producing V2 rockets.
Betrayal:
The crime of Katyn was discovered in 1943 and created a rift in Polish-Soviet relations. From now on the Home Army was attacked by Soviet propaganda as collaborating with the Germans and being called on to rise against the Germans once the Red Army reached the outskirts of Warsaw.
Secretly, at Teheran, the British and Americans agreed to letting the Russians profit from their invasion of Poland in 1939 and allowing them to keep the lands that had been absorbed. The "accidental" death of General Sikorski at this time helped keep protests at a minimum.
When the Russians crossed into Poland the Home Army cooperated in the fight against the Germans and contributed greatly to the victories at Lwow, Wilno and Lublin only to find themselves surrounded and disarmed by their "comrades-in-arms" and deported to labour camps in Siberia.
On August 1, 1944, with the Russian forces on the right bank of the Vistula, the Home Army rose in Warsaw; the Warsaw Rising. Heroic street-fighting involving the whole population, using the sewers as lines of communication and escape, under heavy bombardment, lasted for 63 days. The city was completely destroyed. Not only did the Russians cease to advance but they also refused to allow Allied planes to land on Russian airfields after dropping supplies. After surrendering many civilians and soldiers were executed or sent to concentration camps to be exterminated and Warsaw was razed to the ground.
The defeat in Warsaw destroyed the political and military institutions of the Polish underground and left the way open for a Soviet take-over.
With the liberation of Lublin in July 1944 a Russian-sponsored Polish Committee for National Liberation (a Communist Government in all but name) had been set up and the British had put great pressure, mostly unsuccessful, on the Government-in-exile to accept this status quo. At Yalta, in February 1945, the Allies put Poland within the Russian zone of influence in a post-war Europe. To most Poles the meaning of these two events was perfectly clear; Poland had been betrayed. At one stage the Polish Army, still fighting in Italy and Germany, was prepared to withdraw from the front lines in protest; after all, they were supposed to be fighting for Polish liberation. It is a reflection on Polish honour that no such withdrawal took place since it could leave large gaps in the front lines and so was considered too dangerous for their Allied comrades-in-arms.
The war ended on May 8th, 1945.
The Cost:
The Poles are the people who really lost the war.
Over half a million fighting men and women, and 6 million civilians (or 22% of the total population) died. About 50% of these were Polish Christians and 50% were Polish Jews. Approximately 5,384,000, or 89.9% of Polish war losses (Jews and Gentiles) were the victims of prisons, death camps, raids, executions, annihilation of ghettos, epidemics, starvation, excessive work and ill treatment. So many Poles were sent to concentration camps that virtually every family had someone close to them who had been tortured or murdered there.
There were one million war orphans and over half a million invalids.
The country lost 38% of its national assets (Britain lost 0.8%, France lost 1.5%). Half the country was swallowed up by the Soviet Union including the two great cultural centres of Lwow and Wilno.
Many Poles could not return to the country for which they has fought because they belonged to the "wrong" political group or came from eastern Poland and had thus become Soviet citizens. Others were arrested, tortured and imprisoned by the Soviet authorities for belonging to the Home Army.
Although "victors" they were not allowed to partake in victory celebrations.
Through fighting "For Our Freedom and Yours" they had exchanged one master
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Poland demands answers from Canada on immigrant death
Poland demands answers from Canada on immigrant death
Agence France-Presse
Like from the movie "Terminal" The Terminal, Terminal, The : Catherine Zeta Jones, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg
But this time the Polish Man Mr. Robert Dziekanski was killed by Airport security in
VANCOUVER Canada।
He had valid permanent visa and valid passport. We has waited 20 years to see his mother in Canada. His dream was to open small business with his mother.
Robert Dziekanski was from the small beautiful town in south western Poland mountains Pieszyce
VANCOUVER, Canada--The death of a Polish emigre after police stunned him with a taser at an airport here has sparked a diplomatic incident, with Poland demanding full details of the subsequent investigation.
"I had been waiting for seven years for him. I had been saving for seven years."
I had been waiting for seven years for him. I had been saving for seven years."
She fell silent for a moment, her eyes falling on his picture in front of her at the news conference in Vancouver's Polish Hall.
"Now I lost my son. I loved him so much," she said.
The Polish government issued a diplomatic note asking "Canadian authorities to provide us promptly with full and transparent results of the investigation of this tragic accident," Maciej Krych, Poland's consul general in this western Canadian city, told AFP.
Robert Dziekanski, 40, died on October 14 after a brief struggle with security guards and police, who were called after he started throwing things and screaming in the airport's arrival zone.
A preliminary coroner's report Friday showed there were no drugs or alcohol in Dziekanski's body, said the lawyer for Zofia Cisowski, the dead man's mother.
Dziekanski, a construction worker, had flown from Frankfurt to live with his mother in Canada. He spoke only Polish, had never travelled before and was "scared" and "stressed" by the journey, said the lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj.
Dziekanski waited for his mother in the airport's luggage area, but she was not allowed to enter the secure zone and could not find anyone to tell her if her son had arrived, said Kosteckyj. After several hours, she left.
A few feet away from her, on the other side of the security zone wall, Dziekanski waited for 10 hours, said the lawyer.
"It's unbelievable you have a guy sitting in what is supposed to be a secure area for 10 hours ... without immigration or airport authorities at least asking the guy or finding out what the problem is," he said.
When Dziekanski finally emerged into the public arrivals area, there was no one to meet him and it had been 25 hours since he left home, said Kosteckyj.
"He was not a sophisticated traveller... He was a fellow simply lost in an English-speaking world unable to communicate."
Police statements on October 14 said "he was sweating profusely, behaving irrationally, throwing chairs, tipping his luggage cart over, pounding on glass windows ... and screaming in what sounded like an eastern European language."
Documents obtained by CTV news showed that within two minutes after police arrived, they used a stun gun on Dziekanski. Ambulance attendants arrived 12 minutes later and were not able to revive him.
"Our Polish community [is] in a state of shock," said Krych.
A public inquest will be carried out, Jeff Dolan, the province's assistant deputy chief coroner, told AFP.
The death has fueled controversy about taser stun guns, which have been linked to other deaths in the country, including one in the same week as Dziekanski's.
SW. Pamieci Dziekanski pochodzil z miejscowosci Pieszyce w Polsce.
Dzieje Pieszyc są równie skomplikowane jak historia Śląska. Na przestrzeni wieków osada wchodziła w skład różnych państw, zamieszkiwana była przez różne narody. Prawdopodobnie powstała w XIII wieku, tak jak większość pobliskich miejscowości w wyniku tak zwanej kolonizacji na prawie niemieckim. Przypuszczenia te potwierdzają najstarsze historyczne źródła mówiące o Pieszycach. Pierwsza pisana wzmianka o naszej miejscowości pochodzi z 1258 roku – dokładnie 13 lutego, biskup wrocławski Tomasz I, na prośbę księcia wrocławskiego Henryka III, patrona kościoła Św. Jerzego w Dzierżoniowie oraz Ottona z Willina, z kolei patrona kaplicy w Pieszycach, wydaje dokument rozdzielający obie świątynie.
Historyczna nazwa Pieszyc – w materiałach źródłowych Peterswald (tłumacz. Piotrowy las) wskazuje na kolonizacyjną genezę. Być może osada powstała w miejscu wykarczowania lasu. W pierwszej połowie XIV stulecia Pieszyce były już dużą wsią. Jak podają dokumenty posiadały między innymi murowany dwór, kościół, folwark oraz liczne młyny, nie wspominając o gospodarstwach chłopskich.
Na początku XVIII wieku dobra pieszyckie nabył w całości za cenę 141 tys. talarów Bernhard von Mohrenthal. Za jego rządów w Pieszycach nastąpił szybki rozwój tkactwa. Nic też dziwnego, że w XIX wiek Pieszyce wkraczają w erę przemysłową, jako silny ośrodek tkactwa. Lokalne statystyki mówią, że w 1828 r. wieś posiadała 560 przędzalników oraz 280 tkaczy. Pierwsze fabryki tekstylne pojawiły się w następnym stuleciu. To właśnie w Pieszycach rozpoczęło się powstanie tkaczy śląskich z 1844 r. rozsławiony przez Gerharda Hauptmanna. Patrząc na Pieszyce z tamtych lat trzeba zaznaczyć, że była to dość nietypowa wieś. Obok ponad stu gospodarstw chłopskich funkcjonowało czternaście fabryk włókienniczych.
Po zakończeniu II Wojny Światowej miasto, tak jak i cały Dolny Śląsk zostało przyłączone do państwa polskiego। 29 października 1945 roku wprowadzono polską nazwę naszego miasta – Piotrolesie. W lipcu 1947 roku Piotrolesie stało się już na stałe Pieszycami, które 22 lipca 1962 roku otrzymały prawa miejskie.
Pieszyce ist sehr malerisch am Fuße des Eulengebirges gelegen. Das Eulengebirge ist landschaftliches ein sehr schönes und abwechslungsreiches Wandergebiet. Vom touristischen Standpunkt gesehen gibt es hier eine große Anzahl von Wander- und Radwege. Eulengebirge ist auch das idealste Skigelände. Es gibt ausgebaute Ski- und Rodelbahnen sowie Skilifts - das sind natürlich nicht alle Gründe, warum man unsere Gemeinde besuchen sollte.
Wir laden herzlich ein.
Geschichte
Die Geschichte der Stadt Pieszyce ist genauso kompliziert wie die Geschichte von Schleßien und weißt gewisse Verwirrungen auf. Mehr
Heutiges Tag
Die Gemeinde Pieszyce liegt am Fuße des Eulengebirges, das erdgeschichtlich der älteste Teil der Sudeten ist. Mehr
Kultur
Obwohl es kein Gemeindekulturzentrum gibt, ist das kulturelle Leben der Stadt sehr reich und vielseitig. Mehr
Veranstaltunfen
Jedes Jahr finden in der Gemeinde Pieszyce viele Veranstaltungen von überregionalem Charakter statt. Mehr
Turystik
Die Gemeinde gehört zu den attraktivsten touristischen Gebieten des Kreises Dzierżoniów. Mehr
Wir laden herzlich ein.
Geschichte
Die Geschichte der Stadt Pieszyce ist genauso kompliziert wie die Geschichte von Schleßien und weißt gewisse Verwirrungen auf. Mehr
Heutiges Tag
Die Gemeinde Pieszyce liegt am Fuße des Eulengebirges, das erdgeschichtlich der älteste Teil der Sudeten ist. Mehr
Kultur
Obwohl es kein Gemeindekulturzentrum gibt, ist das kulturelle Leben der Stadt sehr reich und vielseitig. Mehr
Veranstaltunfen
Jedes Jahr finden in der Gemeinde Pieszyce viele Veranstaltungen von überregionalem Charakter statt. Mehr
Turystik
Die Gemeinde gehört zu den attraktivsten touristischen Gebieten des Kreises Dzierżoniów. Mehr
The Funeral
Mike from Calgary shares
Robert's public funeral would be in Kamloops on Saturday at 11 am. I looked up the funeral home to send flowers and their details are below.
Kamloops Funeral Home
kfhome@telus.net
Their address is
285 Fortune Drive
Kamloops BC V2B 2H7
The news article also said that there is a fund set up at a Kamloops bank to help Zofia take her sons ashes back to Poland.
Sheri from Kamloops informs us
The Kamloops Daily News states there is a fund set up at Valley First Credit Union at 100-180 Seymour Street, Kamloops, BC, account #74666. It is called the Zofia Victim's Fund.
Thank you Sheri.
The bank can be reached at Phone: 250-374-4924 if you need any further detail.
Posted by Justice for Robert D. at 3:25 PM 3 comments
Labels: funeral, Robert Dziekanski
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
A Call for Justice: A Letter to the MP
The people to contact are your MP, the minister for Transport Canada - Lawrence Cannon and the minister for Public Safety - Stockwell Day . Their addresses are as below.
The Honourable Lawrence Cannon
Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
Tower C - 330 Sparks St.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1A 0N5
Phone: 613-991-0700
Fax: 613-995-0327
email: mintc@tc.gc.ca
The Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: 613.995.1702
Fax: 613.995.1154
Email: day.s@parl.gc.ca
Please send an email to them today. Feel free to use the following email or adapt from it.
Dear Minister ____,
On October 14, Mr Robert Dziekanski, a first time visitor to Canada was killed at the airport. The cause of death is attributed to two taser shots fired at close proximity by RCMP officers present at the scene. From video footage of the event it is evident that Mr Dziekanski was no threat to either himself or to anyone else. On the other hand he seemed to be suffering a severe anxiety attack on account of his confinement at the airport for ten hours after passing through customs. In stead of offering medical attention or negotiating with Mr Dziekanski, the officers seemed to behave in a fashion that can only be called trigger-happy. Furthermore, these officers also attempted to cover up their incompetence by lying about the sequence of events leading up to Mr Dziekanski's death. The events have only been brought to light because of video footage of the event captured by a bystander.
I fear the incompetence of the RCMP officers stems from a systemic failure and request you to raise this matter in the parliament. Since this event also took place in an area secured by customs officers at a national airport I request an enquiry into the airport procedures in handling visitors to Canada.
The video footage of the event is publicly available. No conscientous Canadian can see that and not be appalled by the sequence of events. I trust you will share my concern and shame at having treated a fellow human in such a fashion. Canadians look to you to pursue this investigation to the fullest extent.
Yours very sincerely,
_________
In case you send in your mail to the MP's, please take a moment to register your vote in the sidebar. Let it not be said that Canadians condone this and do not speak as one on how they feel on this issue.
Alex Lech Bajan
CEO
RAQport Inc.
2004 North Monroe Street
Arlington Virginia 22207
Washington DC Area
USA
TEL: 703-528-0114
TEL2: 703-652-0993
FAX: 703-940-8300
sms: 703-485-6619
EMAIL: office@raqport.com
WEB SITE: http://raqport.com
Friday, October 26, 2007
Poland's top soldier can empathize with Canada over Afghanistan
Poland's top soldier can empathize with Canada over Afghanistan
Peter O'Neil, Europe Correspondent, CanWest News Service
WARSAW -- Gen. Franciszek Gagor, Poland's top soldier and perhaps NATO's after an upcoming vote to replace Canadian Ray Henault as chairman of the western alliance's military committee, can empathize with Canada's public relations challenge over Afghanistan.
"Well, it's a challenge for us also," Poland's chief of the general staff told CanWest News Service.
General Franciszek Gagor, Chief of Staff of Polish Army. August 15, 2007
Photograph by : REUTERS
Printer friendly
AAAAFont: Gagor, competing with generals from Spain and Italy to replace Henault in the Nov. 14 vote, would be the first officer from the old Soviet Union's Warsaw Pact alliance to become top soldier in the 26-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
He brings to the international table considerable peacekeeping experience in the Middle East and guarded optimism about the Afghanistan mission.
But Gagor cannot claim popular support in his own country for Poland's military role there. One poll this month by the Warsaw-based firm CBOS said 72 per cent of those surveyed were opposed to Poland's decision earlier this year to deploy 1,200 soldiers primarily in the dangerous southeast provinces of Ghazni and Patika. Poland also has elite forces working with Canadians in Kandahar.
Objections to the fighting are even stronger than in Canada, where public unease and election fever have caused the government to declare that Canada's current role in Kandahar, where there are more than 2,000 Canadian troops, won't continue past early 2009 without an endorsement from Parliament. Three of four Canadian parties, in a position to trigger an election after Tuesday's throne speech, currently oppose an extension.
Poland, despite its rich though often tragic military history facing brutal invasions by neighbours like Germany and Russia, is a "peaceful nation," according to TNS Global managing director Andrzej Olszewski, a Warsaw-based pollster.
"We have become good soldiers because we are usually defending ourselves. But people don't recognize war as something good and beneficial."
Poland's public mood is soured partly by Iraq, where the country has lost about 20 soldiers since 2003. One soldier has been killed so far in Afghanistan.
The public objections, however, don't appear likely to have an influence on Poland's role. Despite this country's own current election fever there is no organized peace movement, the issue doesn't get major media coverage and the conflict hasn't become a political football in Poland's Oct. 21 parliamentary elections.
One possible explanation is that Poland, with 38.5 million people in a country half the size of Alberta, has been anxious since breaking free of Moscow's dominance in 1989 to use Europe and the U.S. as buffers against Russia. There is therefore an elite consensus to go along with NATO and, like Canada, take on a challenging role in a high-risk region of Afghanistan.
"Everyone considers this issue so fundamental for our foreign policy that responsible political parties would not like to have it as part of the daily campaign," according to Andrej Szeptycki, director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs.
A second argument is that Poles, sensitive to the country's dominance by larger neighbours through most of its history, are reluctant to criticize an institution that reflects Polish independence.
"The uniform in the Polish mentality (became) something sacred ... after the trauma of the 19th century, when Poland vanished from the map of Europe," said Gagor, still wearing military fatigues after meeting troops earlier in the day.
Gagor said the West's military effort in Afghanistan has been generally successful this year, particularly because NATO forces disrupted a threatened spring Taliban offensive by launching pre-emptive attacks.
But he said western countries must do more to win Afghan hearts and minds by bringing better health care, education, and basic infrastructure to the country.
"I would say if the international community was more generous in supporting the people there, I think that would enhance significantly the progress and success of the operation."
Gagor beams with pride when asked about Poland's military history, captured in various works of art in military headquarters here that typically celebrates Poland's famous charging calvary in colourful, bloody battle scenes.
Poland's major military victories have been few in number but spectacular in scope. In Vienna in 1683 the army of Poland's King Jan III Sobieski helped Austria's Habsburg empire successfully put down Ottoman Turk invasion. And in 1920 near Warsaw, in the so-called Miracle on the Vistula, the Polish army outmanoeuvred and routed the Soviet Union's much larger Red Army.
Both are victories that Poles, now Europe's most devoutly Roman Catholic country, say potentially saved Christian Europe from domination by Muslim and then Communist domination.
Even in defeat the Polish army is romanticized. In 1939 the out-manned and out-gunned Poles held off the German blitzkrieg for more than a month, inflicting 60,000 casualties on the Nazi invaders and 11,500 on the Soviets, who joined the siege as a result of a Hitler-Stalin pact to divide and conquer Poland.
A senior British officer at the time sniffed to a Warsaw-based colleague, "Your Poles haven't put up much of a show, have they?" But historian Norman Davies has argued that the Poles ended up performing better than British and French ground troops did while being subsequently steamrolled when the blitzkrieg rolled westwards in 1940.
There is one lingering myth of Polish calvary, with sabres drawn, charging futilely against the blazing guns of Nazi tanks during the 1939 invasion.
Historians have concluded that it is fiction, begun by Nazi propaganda and perpetuated by the Communist regime after the war to press the theme that the Polish military was foolishly brave and incapable of defending their country.
"Nobody's that crazy, to ride a horse against a tank," Gagor said.
"The truth is that Poles used horses as means of communication. When they got to the place of their destination they dismounted and kept fighting. That's it."
©CanWest News Service 2007
Polish Man killed by Police in Canada white waiting for his mother.
Polish Man killed by Police in Canada white waiting for his mother.
No drugs, alcohol found in man who died after taser attack
THE CANADIAN PRESS
October 26, 2007 at 4:01 PM EDT
VANCOUVER — Test results show a man who died after a confrontation with police at Vancouver airport had no drugs or alcohol in his system.
The family's lawyer Walter Kosteckyj says he isn't supervised that toxicology tests on the 40-year-old man were negative as he'd been on a plane and then in a secure area of the airport for 10 hours before he died.
Robert Dziekanski was shot by a stun gun by police after police say he emerged in a violent rage from the customs area on Oct. 14. He died minutes later.
A preliminary autopsy report showed there were no signs of trauma, disease or any other obvious cause of death.
Mr. Kostecki said the family is still awaiting the end of the police investigation before deciding whether to pursue legal action against the RCMP.
A spokesman for the federal overseer of RCMP activities says two inquires have been made to the complaints commission about the police's actions that night, but no formal complaints have been filed.
No drugs, alcohol found in man who died after Vancouver airport incident
54 minutes ago
VANCOUVER - Test results show a man who died after a confrontation with police at Vancouver airport had no drugs or alcohol in his system, the family's lawyer said Friday.
Robert Dziekanski died after being shot with a stun gun by police on Oct. 14.
"I actually didn't expect there to be anything different (about the results)," said Walter Kosteckyj.
"He had been in transit for so long, he had been a secure area for nine, 10 hours and those are areas where you don't have access to food or drink."
A preliminary autopsy report earlier showed there were no signs of trauma, disease or any other obvious cause of death.
Kosteckyj said the family is still awaiting the end of the police investigation before deciding whether to pursue legal action against the RCMP.
"There is no question there is fault here and that there's legal ramifications that flow from that fault," said Kosteckyj. "The question is who all is involved?"
Vancouver Airport Authority did not return repeated calls Friday for confirmation of a reported log that shows the RCMP were called in at 1:21 a.m. to deal with a "suspect" at the airport.
Witnesses reported Dziekanski emerged into the international arrivals hall that morning in rage, throwing a computer and brandishing a stapler.
He'd been languishing in the customs and immigration hall for hours before that for reasons which still remain unclear.
Moments after they arrived on the scene, RCMP officers used a Taser gun to subdue the 40-year-old, who had come to Canada from Poland to move in with his mother in Kamloops, B.C.
A national news program reported the log also shows a four-minute lag between the time the man lost consciousness and when B.C. Ambulance crews were called in at 1:36 a.m., despite the usual presence of staff paramedics at the airport to deal with medical emergencies.
Two inquires have been made to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP about police actions that night, said a spokesman for the commission, though no formal complaints have been filed.
But the commission is already involved in the case because of a new pilot project with British Columbia that allows them to monitor investigations into police actions that cause serious death or injury.
Dziekanski's case has attracted little media attention in Poland, and his mother said a news conference on Thursday that she still had not spoken to all their family members there and in the United States about what happened.
Though referred to as Robert by his mother and police, a Polish journalist said Dziekanski's Polish first name was Dariusz and that he lived in the town of Gliwice, where he'd moved when he was a teenager.
He was coming to Canada to move in with his mother and work in construction.
Two memorials for Dziekanski are planned - one in Poland, and one in Kamloops.
The family has set up a trust fund at Valley First Credit Union to help offset legal costs.
Pole dies at Vancouver airport after being arrested
Created: Wednesday, October 17. 2007
A Polish citizen was killed Tuesday with an electric stun gun at Vancouver airport, Canada.
Witnesses say that the tragedy was caused by the victim’s insufficient knowledge of English.
Not being able to communicate with the airport workers, the man lost his temper and security treated him as they would a serious criminal.
The man died when police tried to pacify the man when he was being handcuffed.
Airport authorities firmly maintain that the man was acting aggressively.
The man threw chairs, knocked over his own luggage trolley and dropped a computer on the floor. According to the police, the 40-year old Robert D. was yelling at the top of his voice and trying to smash windows.
Taser use needs reexamination
Posted 8 hours ago
The concept of the taser - a non-lethal weapon that law enforcement can use to subdue those who might harm themselves or others - is ideally suited to our society.
In Canada, where we do not even apply the death penalty to those found guilty in a court of law, it would be very strange indeed if we supported use of deadly force by police on mere suspects.
We do not, and police do not want to use deadly force. Therefore, the advent of the taser looked like the greatest thing since sliced bread, a weapon that would subdue, but not permanently harm, unruly suspects.
Unfortunately, the reality is 17 persons have died in Canada since 2003 after being tasered, including Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, 40, who died at Vancouver airport on Oct. 14, to the great grief of his mother, who had worked two jobs to be able to afford to bring him to Canada.
The great majority of Canadians would share Sofia Cisowski's sorrow at the death of her son, as well as a profound regret that Canada served the family so badly.
Surely, we reason, a man who doesn't speak English and loses control of his emotions after a very long and tiring journey from the other side of the world deserves a better welcome than being killed.
But it is equally obvious that the officers who used the taser on Mr. Dziekanski, did so with no intention of causing him permanent harm.
That is the very purpose of the taser.
Now, it has been suggested that Mr. Dziekanski was tasered too many times - officers admit to twice, one witness insists it was four times.
Local police services in Cobourg and Port Hope have been using tasers for the past two years, with no ill-effects reported.
"They are highly effective," Port Hope's Deputy Police Chief Garry Hull told the Cobourg Daily Star.
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