Towards the end of the 18th century, Poland was divided up between Russia, Austria and Prussia. The part annexed by Austria was known as Galicia and it included Kraków. The Kazimierz Galicia Museum (www.galiciajewishmuseum.org), which takes its name from that region, was opened officially on June 27, 2004 and since then, has attracted great international attention. Few years ago Dick Cheney held a reception at the museum for U.S. Holocaust survivors. Elie Wiesel, a veteran campaigner on Holocaust issues, also attended.

The museum’s initial purpose was to exhibit photographs taken by the late Chris Schwarz over a ten-year period. At the time he was a professional and award-winning photographer, then he was the founder, owner and director of the museum. Having discovered a suitable building, it seemed natural to add a café and a bookshop. Then, Chris also decided to put on cultural events, a practice that has continued under the Museum’s new directorship since his death on July 29, 2007 of cancer: every month, there are concerts, lectures, dance workshops and lessons in Hebrew and Yiddish. The museum is at ul. Dajwór 18, and you can get there by walking towards the Old Synagogue on ul. Szeroka, then turning left down a short road and then turning right into ul. Dajwór. The museum is about 80 metres down the street on the left.

The main exhibit is the Traces of Memory permanent exhibition, which shows some of the photographs Chris took. It is divided into five sections: the ruins, the original culture, the horror of destruction, efforts to preserve traces of memory and the people involved. Some of the images are positive. One shows a small clump of trees in the middle of an area of cultivated land. The local people know that beneath the trees lies a Jewish cemetery; they respect the sanctity of the area. Another picture provokes both sadness and anger: it shows Jewish tombstones used to pave the entrance to a private dwelling.

For Chris the museum’s activities gave rise to a troubling, even tormenting, question: How can there be Jewish culture without Jews? If young Poles play Jewish music or learn Hebrew or Yiddish from a Polish teacher, is that Jewish culture? The harsh truth is that such things can never be more than a pale shadow of what existed before, but the alternative is to let the elements of culture preserved at the museum die and become forgotten in Kazimierz. The Jewish community is ageing and within ten to fifteen years there may be no genuine Jewish presence in Kraków. It can be argued that a pale shadow is better than total erasure. After all, as Henryk Halkowski – a surviving Kraków Jew – said, “(The) Jews are gone. One can only try to preserve, maintain and fix the memory of them – not only of their struggle and death (as in Warsaw and Auschwitz), but of their life, of the values that guided their yearnings, of the international life and their unique culture. (Kraków) was one of the places where that life was most rich, most beautiful, most varied, and the most evidence of it has survived here.”

Really great place to visit if you are interested in Jewish history. Anyone has been there recently?

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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Well, I just heard latest news about it…”Flowers, teddy bears and candles are piling up in a southern Polish park where a mother buried her child and then sparked a nationwide search by falsely claiming she had been kidnapped”.

The child’s 22-year-old mother Katarzyna Waśniewska was arrested Saturday after she confessed that the baby died when it slipped from her hands and hit its head.

On Jan. 24, Waśniewska claimed she was attacked in the street in the family’s hometown of Sosnowiec and the baby taken from her. A nationwide appeal (ogólnopolski apel) was made for clues (wskazówki) and witnesses (świadkowie), and the child’s family posted leaflets with Madzia’s picture around the neighborhood.

Police found the baby’s body on Saturday hidden under stones and leaves in the park in Sosnowiec.

The place has since been covered with hundreds of flowers, toys and candles. Such a sad story.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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More and more beer-drinkers around the world are developing a taste for Tyskie, which has contributed to the rapid export growth of the Tyskie brand, which is now considered Poland’s leading export beer brand. This is not only down to the large number of devoted Polish consumers who now live outside Poland remaining loyal to their favourite beer – they have also inspired their friends and colleagues to drink Tyskie. Each year, the list of countries where Tyskie is available gets longer and longer… starting with United States of America and Canada, through Holland, France, Iceland to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and China. More important still, Tyskie is constantly more often chosen by native Europeans – even without being recommended by Polish friends.

Taking a look at the numbers, since being introduced to the Irish market, Tyskie’s sales have increased by an astonishing 400%. In Ireland, Tyskie has a 73% share in total Polish beer brands purchased. This shows the scale of Tyskie’s appreciation outside of Poland.

Kompania Piwowarska is the largest brewer in Poland. Hundreds of years of experience in beer brewing, state-of-the-art technology and rigorous adherence to the World Class Manufacturing principles guarantee the highest quality beer. The company’s product portfolio includes Tyskie – Poland’s favourite beer, Żubr – the second largest Polish brand of beer, Lech, Dębowe Mocne, Pilsner Urquell, Redd’s, Dog in the Fog, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Miller Genuine Draft. Kompania Piwowarska was established in 1999 as a result of a merger of Tyskie Browary Książęce and Lech Browary Wielkopolski.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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More and more beer-drinkers around the world are developing a taste for Tyskie, which has contributed to the rapid export growth of the Tyskie brand, which is now considered Poland’s leading export beer brand. This is not only down to the large number of devoted Polish consumers who now live outside Poland remaining loyal to their favourite beer – they have also inspired their friends and colleagues to drink Tyskie. Each year, the list of countries where Tyskie is available gets longer and longer… starting with United States of America and Canada, through Holland, France, Iceland to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and China. More important still, Tyskie is constantly more often chosen by native Europeans – even without being recommended by Polish friends.

Taking a look at the numbers, since being introduced to the Irish market, Tyskie’s sales have increased by an astonishing 400%. In Ireland, Tyskie has a 73% share in total Polish beer brands purchased. This shows the scale of Tyskie’s appreciation outside of Poland.

Kompania Piwowarska is the largest brewer in Poland. Hundreds of years of experience in beer brewing, state-of-the-art technology and rigorous adherence to the World Class Manufacturing principles guarantee the highest quality beer. The company’s product portfolio includes Tyskie – Poland’s favourite beer, Żubr – the second largest Polish brand of beer, Lech, Dębowe Mocne, Pilsner Urquell, Redd’s, Dog in the Fog, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Miller Genuine Draft. Kompania Piwowarska was established in 1999 as a result of a merger of Tyskie Browary Książęce and Lech Browary Wielkopolski.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Supper  - that’s usually the order.

Many British business people are caught out by the Polish second breakfast tradition. They decline the first because it’s too early and are ‘faint with lack of nourishment’ by the second. It’s just the Polish way of doing things. After a light breakfast, called śniadanie, before leaving home for work in the early morning, Poles eat a second breakfast any time between 10 am and 1 pm, which replaces the British lunch, and then work straight through until they finish work.

In fact, most people stay at the office during the British lunch hour and are not in the habit of going out to buy something to eat; they bring whatever they fancy eating for ‘second breakfast’ from home. The lunch culture is spreading more widely now, because there are more representatives of foreign businesses, particularly in large cities, where business culture is changing and more people work with foreigners.

Lunch, in fact called “obiad”, is usually eaten at home with family any time between 4 pm and 5.30 pm, and the hours depend on how quickly one gets back home. Some non-Polish business people admit to being caught out by this. The answer, when you know it, is simple. Have a good breakfast and take a piece of fruit or a snack to keep you going. Poles have another meal after their lunch “obiad” meal, called “kolacja”, which means supper. It is a light meal, usually a small sandwich or snack with tea any time in the evening.

So, in fact, if you are invited to a restaurant for a meal it could be either “obiad”, a midday meal ( a substitute for a late lunch) or “kolacja”, supper in the evening , both of which will be very elaborate and rich, as Poles are known for their hospitality not only at their homes but also when inviting guests to restaurants.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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The 88-year-old poet had been afflicted with lung cancer. Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said on Twitter that her death was an “irreparable loss to Poland’s culture.”

When Szymborska was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1996, the committee cited her “for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality.”

Szymborska published her first book of poetry in 1952. Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. “I prefer the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems,” she once said.

In 1996, after the Nobel announcement, the Times’ Warsaw bureau chief, Dean E. Murphy, spoke to Szymborska — “a retiring woman with wispy gray hair who cherishes her solitude” — about her work. “The award came as a surprise to Szymborska, and most everyone else in Poland, not because she is considered unworthy, but because her poetry speaks mostly to universal themes rather than the parochial political subjects that have distinguished Eastern European verse since World War II,” he wrote.

“In her poems we could find brilliant advice which made the world easier to understand” – the presidential couple added.

Last year, President Bronisław Komorowski honoured Wisława Szymborska with Poland’s highest distinction, The Order of the White Eagle, in recognition of her contribution to her country’s culture.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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Thousands fans arrived on Sunday and were given the chance to see Polish pop acts including VooVoo i Haydamaky, Zakopower, Coma, T. Love and Lady Pank.

The 50,000-seat arena, which will also host a semifinal, was built on the site of the old 10th Anniversary Stadium, which had stood since 1955 and welcomed Pope John Paul II in 1983.

The opening of the new stadium — originally planned for last June — had been repeatedly put off because construction experts and firefighters were finding work incomplete or needing improvement, including faulty outside stairs.

Take a look at the November blog:

Foldable roof in National Stadium in Warsaw

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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One of the best known hits of Irena Jarocka was “Odpływają kawiarenki” (Sail Away Cafes).

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Today I will try to give you some examples of refusal in a different situations you may find yourself in Poland.

Shopping at the store, when you are approached by the sales representative asking if she/he can help you with anything, sometimes you just feel like just looking around and you do not help…What do you say then?

Nie, dziękuję – no, thank you

Narazie tylko się rozglądam – I’m just browsing right now

Dam pani/panu znać, jeśli będę potrzebować pomocy – I will let you (polite form pani(f)/panu (m)) know if I need help

Nie dziękuję, nie potrzebuję pomocy – No thank you, I do not need help

If you are purchasing something and sales person will ask you about additional insurance, you may use these phrases:

Nie, dziękuję, nie potrzebuję dodatkowego ubezpieczenia/gwarancji – No, thank you, I do not need additional insurance/warranty

Wezmę tylko podstawową gwarancję – I will take only basic warranty

While walking  in public, you may be approached by a person doing gallup poll (ankieta) for some company. You may not feel like talking to anyone, so you can just simply say:

Nie, dziękuję – no, thank you

Dziękuję, ale nie jestem zainteresowana (f)/zainteresowany (m) – Thank you, but I’m not interested

Well, there are a lot of homeless people everywhere in the world. Probably everywhere, while you walking ,you may see a person like this begging for money. In this case decision is yours. But if you want to refuse, just say:

Proszę zostawić mnie w spokoju – please leave me alone

Another situation is when you want to refuse someone who is trying to invite you on a date:

Dziękuję, ale nie jestem zainteresowana (f)/zainteresowany (m) – Thank you, I’m not interested

Jestem zajęta (f)/zajęty (m) – I’m taken

Mam chłopaka/dziewczynę – I have a boyfriend/girlfriend

Mój mąż nie byłby szczęśliwy z tego powodu - My husband would not be happy about it

Moja żona nie byłaby szczęśliwa z tego powodu – My wife would not be happy about it

…and hopefully they get it!

Click here to view the embedded video.

If there are other situations you may think of and I missed them, please let me know in comments below.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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