The Perennial Question for the People Who Emigrate
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Chicago to meet my friends from Poland. We are all physicians, all surgeons. We were trained by one of the most prominent Polish professors of surgery, a very well-educated, renaissance man, speaking five or six languages. Prof. Nielubowicz was in turn trained in this country and thought the […]
Polish Migration and How to Compensate for Our Shortcomings
The history of Poland is known for massive waves of migration of her citizens. The phenomenon is easily attributed to our geographical location on the East-West political and trading routes and us being squeezed between the two, and sometimes three, four and even five, big and megalomaniac powers. During the time of relative political freedom […]
To Be Free, You Have to Be Able to Defend Yourself.
In two weeks it will be 70 years. Two, may be three generations ago. How many people still remember it? How many of them, who saw it with their own eyes, are still alive? And there were only a few not afflicted by these events. The Biblical scene of David fighting Goliath always fascinated […]
What’s new in Poland
Sovereignty is not given, it is taken. Kamal Ataturk Once again, Poland was stood up by her allies. Before WWll we had military agreements with the governments of Great Britain and France regarding common defense in case of military aggression on either country. We also had a nonaggression agreement with Russia. On September 1st, 1939, Poland […]
Polish Had the First European Modern Constitution in 1791
Those who don’t know the history are destined to repeat it. Edmund Burke History doesn’t repeat itself, but does rhyme. Mark Twain Nescire autem quid antequam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. Cicero The year was 1789 […]
The Fine Art of Improving History
The much despised political leaders of North Korea are in the news again. No.2 Jang Song Thaek was recently stripped of power by No.1 Kim Jong-un. Jang was Kim’s uncle and widely regarded as the younger leader’s mentor. The political move was dramatic and happened in a full view of the entire legislative assembly, when […]
…And Why Their Parents Don’t
In my previous post, I described scenarios in which young people are leaving the countries of their birth. Now is the time to contrast the older generation. During my stay in the United States, I was carefully watching the life of my parents in Poland. We sent letters as often as we could. In the […]
Why Young People are Leaving the Country of Their Parents
Italy: The Nation That crushes Its Young. (NYT, Oct 30, 2013) Italy Breaks Your Heart. (NYT, Oct 26, 2013) These two recent articles published in the New York Times captured my attention. They both comment on the exodus of Italian young people, particularly males, and their travel to France, England and for more lucky ones […]
Three Heroes Who Overthrew the Communism in Europe
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! Ronald Reagan (1987) This is how most people in this country see the fall of communism in Europe and the person who made it happened. Let me tell you another side of this story. In 1945, after victory over Hitler’s Germany and with the full approval of our allies, […]
