4 ms·

It's a touchy subject in Poland, it's generally not accepted that anyone other than the Poles deserves any recognition and any mention of the actual state of hi

by fwr 14y ago

It's a touchy subject in Poland, it's generally not accepted that anyone other than the Poles deserves any recognition and any mention of the actual state of history gets you shifty looks. So while the world is starting giving credit to Rejewski's team, the broad audience here is just now discovering that it wasn't solely their work.

majke 14y ago
> It's a touchy subject in Poland, it's generally not accepted that anyone other than the Poles deserves any recognition Hmm... Think of it differently: - Poland regained independence because president Wilson [1] (hurray for USA) - Poland was expecting British and French help early in the second world war (boo to UK / France) - Poland was left under Stalin's influence after the war (boo for UK / USA) Now mainstream media rarely mentions polish contribution [2] [3] [4] to war efforts. Allow us to complain. We like to complain. And yes, we would like to be recognized, and complaining is pretty much the only thing we can do about it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#The_Fourteen_Points https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#The_Fourteen_Po... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._303_Polish_Fighter_Squadron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._303_Polish_Fighter_Squadro... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/II_Corps_(Poland) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/II_Corps_(Poland) [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Polish_Armoured_Division https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Polish_Armoured_Division Update 1: Added final sentence. Update 2: Also relevant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Total_deaths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Total_... (especially the rightmost column)
- wglb 14y ago
  And there was this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino where my (ex) Father-in-Law was part of. They returned to the site in celebration for many years.
  - NickPollard 14y ago
    And of course the most famous participant of the battle, Wojtek the Brown bear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(soldier_bear) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(soldier_bear) I actually found a beer named after the bear the other day - I didn't get a chance to drink any though!

by fwr 14y ago

majke 14y ago

> It's a touchy subject in Poland, it's generally not accepted that anyone other than the Poles deserves any recognition Hmm... Think of it differently: - Poland regained independence because president Wilson [1] (hurray for USA) - Poland was expecting British and French help early in the second world war (boo to UK / France) - Poland was left under Stalin's influence after the war (boo for UK / USA) Now mainstream media rarely mentions polish contribution [2] [3] [4] to war efforts. Allow us to complain. We like to complain. And yes, we would like to be recognized, and complaining is pretty much the only thing we can do about it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#The_Fourteen_Points https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#The_Fourteen_Po... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._303_Polish_Fighter_Squadron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._303_Polish_Fighter_Squadro... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/II_Corps_(Poland) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/II_Corps_(Poland) [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Polish_Armoured_Division https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Polish_Armoured_Division Update 1: Added final sentence. Update 2: Also relevant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Total_deaths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Total_... (especially the rightmost column)

wglb 14y ago
And there was this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino where my (ex) Father-in-Law was part of. They returned to the site in celebration for many years.
- NickPollard 14y ago
  And of course the most famous participant of the battle, Wojtek the Brown bear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(soldier_bear) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(soldier_bear) I actually found a beer named after the bear the other day - I didn't get a chance to drink any though!