Dearest sweethearts,
When I first laid a foot upon Polish land I did not know much except a bit of history related to the Second World War. Auschwitz and Birkenau always spring to mind when people would start talking about Poland – and that is not just me talking here. To my shame, I have to admit that I even thought Marie Curie to be French! (Of course due to her nameβ¦ I didn’t even connect that Sklodowska was also her name!). That is somewhat shameful to say it out loud, considering that she “brought home” 2 of the 17 Nobel Prizes that the Polish people won! There are so many interesting and fascinating things people just don’t know about Poland, so I thought I might share with you a couple of them:
- The squadron #303 from the Royal Air Forces of the Battle of Britain was Polish. They were the highest-scoring squadron from the Battle. But they were not the only Polish squadron – there were 16! They had their own unique way of flying and treated war without fear but rather with a deep love for their country. They knew the way they could help it was by destroying as many enemy planes as they could. They developed the technique by coming up close and personal and shooting at the enemy at a very close range, making sure if maximum destruction. For example, 303 Squadron (during the Battle of Britain) shot 110 Nazi German planes! The No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron was not just the highest scoring of Hurricane squadron, but also had the highest ratio of enemy aircraft destroyed relative to their own losses.
- At the end of the Second World War, over 115.000 Polish veterans settled in the UK permanently. This happened due to the fact that they could simply not come back home, as much as they would have wished. The Red Army came over the Nazi and one bad thing came over another… one occupation came after another… Poland had several cities (like Warsaw) wiped out from the face of the earth, living locations were low, the infrastructure was almost inexistent, Communist may have felt – for some – a helping hand, meant to bring order. Instead, it brought another type of terror. Heroes of the Second World War and the Underground Army were slaughtered and placed on trial.
- Nearly 35% of the 60 million Polish people live abroad. #DidYouKnow that Chicago is actually the 2nd biggest Polish city after Warsaw? The biggest exodus of Polish people came during and after the Second World War. Of course, many Jews migrated undercover but not only. They fled all over the world, but the most “inviting” countries were the UK and America. #didyouknow that the Polish Resettlement Act 1946 was the first-ever mass immigration legislation of the Parliament of the UK? Over 200.000 Polish troops on British soil were offered British citizenship. Of course in this way Britain gained the labor force in its own war-torn country, but still…
- The oldest known Old Polish sentence is “Daj, niech ja pomiele, a 16th odpoczywaj” – “Let me, I shall grind, and you take a rest”. It is part of the Book of Henrykow – a Latin chronicle of the Cistercian Abbey in Henrykowin Lower Silesia. Since the 9th of October 2015, the Book of Henrykow entered the list of UNESCO “Memory of the World”.
- #DidYouKnow there’s a statue in Poland that turns into Darth Vader when it snows? During a blizzard in Wejherowo it became obvious that the Dark Side indeed took over the statue Jakub Wejher, a 17thcentury nobleman and military leader, and brought to life it’s own Dark Lord… do you not think so?
BONUS FACT: 3 men in Trzebnica, Poland, spent 6 days building a 31 foot (that’s almost 9,5 meters!) Snowman with a barrel for a hat and a traffic cone for a nose. Why, you may ask… mmm… just because they were bored, nobody stopped them and they had fun π
Do you know any fun/interesting facts about Poland? Do share them in the comments sector below π I would love to hear from you!
Yours truly,
The Twisted Red LadyBug
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