From: owner-basia-digest@smoe.org (basia-digest) To: basia-digest@smoe.org Subject: basia-digest V3 #199 Reply-To: basia@smoe.org Sender: owner-basia-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-basia-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "basia-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. basia-digest Wednesday, September 16 1998 Volume 03 : Number 199 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: THE COPERNICAN CHRONICLES: One invented Esperanto [Gorskiceap@aol.com] Re: THE COPERNICAN CHRONICLES: One invented Esperanto [Gorskiceap@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 23:39:36 EDT From: Gorskiceap@aol.com Subject: Re: THE COPERNICAN CHRONICLES: One invented Esperanto Let me start out by admitting that Poland has never been a perfect country. The way the nobles treated "their" peasants was not something we would condone in this century, and I know that there were cases of frightened Poles who were not too helpful to their Jewish neighbors, especially given that any resistors would immediately be tortured and/or killed. We forget the many heroes and heroines who did give their lives to help, under constant and real terror. (We also forget that the reason Poland had so many Jews to be massacred by the Cossacks and the Germans in the first place was that it was one of the only countries in Europe where Jews were welcomed after being kicked out of nearly every other land.) Be that as it may, Poland has a remarkable history of building up beautiful artwork treasuries, libraries, castles, museums, churches, etc., only to be destroyed and plundered again and again by its neighbors. You have to leave the country to see many of these treasures! (A familiar story, to you, Ashoke - - just think of the Persians and the Peacock Throne!) Its unfortunate position beween Germany and Russia (and at times Austria, Prussia, and Sweden), all incredibly warlike empires in their days, made it a battlefield for other people's armies. There were times when Poland was reduced to a fraction of itself, or not even on the map. In those times, her people were forbidden to speak Polish, teach it, write it, sing it, or even utter the word "Poland". The penalty could be death. In the part seized by Austria, for instance, the land was referred to as "Galicia". And yet earlier, Poland's King John Sobieski had saved Vienna from a seige by Kara Mustafa and a few hundred thousand Turks, just as their "sappers" were finishing up the underground tunnels where they were planting explosives to collapse the walls. Emperor Leopold had fled to Linz with his women. When he got back, he commissioned several statues to himself as the "savior of Vienna", and strictly forbade any to King John, so that eventually history would forget his cowardice as well as Sobieski's incredible feat. And you know what? It worked! Of course, much of European history was written by peole who were intent on destroying Poland forever, so what would you expect? The Nazis intended to destroy all Poles after they were finished with the Jews, and they made a pretty good start of it, killing millions and millions of Poles before the Soviets "liberated" Poland. Girls who were blonde and blue-eyed were kidnapped and sent to Germany, where they were raped repeatedly so that they could bear Aryan-looking babies to replenish the Germans who died. The others were just assaulted and forced into slavery, or killed. As for our old buds the Russians, well, nice liberation! They kicked it off by rounding up all the Polish Home Army's officers that were left, the brightest, strongest men who could help Poland build itself back up after the war, and shot every one of them in the Katyn Forest. They said the Nazis did it, but this turned out to be a lie. The Russians weren't the only ones to betray Poland, though. Roosevelt sold Poland out at Yalta, rewarding years of hardship, genocide and courage by turning the Poles over to one of their most violent and despised historical enemies. Granted, at first many Poles looked to the Soviets as allies to help them attain the workers' paradise that was promised. They did not realize until too late that these plans included killing many true patriots, plundering the land, and destroying Polish values. (One priest I knew when I was little had been kept in a pit in the earth for years.) And yet, through all this, the Polish people kept coming back. Music was one of the ways that they did this. Chopin is an excellent example. While exiled in Paris, he even had the Polish eagle engraved on his cufflinks to keep his Polish'ness visible to the French. Today, Basia does her part by incorporating Polish phrases and sentences into her music, even though it is designed to be marketed in to English-speakers, and by writing songs like "Copernicus", which add a lighthearted touch to her patriotism. This is one of the many reasons I love her so much. She portrays a beautiful image of the Polish people that counteracts some of the negative stereotypes. Ashoke, I hope you are not too sorry you asked! ~MG ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 23:43:44 EDT From: Gorskiceap@aol.com Subject: Re: THE COPERNICAN CHRONICLES: One invented Esperanto PS - Chopin's "military Etude" was partly a tribute to King John, and Chopin wanted it to be played at the coronation of the next Polish king after they got rid of the Russians. Unfortunately, this never happened! ------------------------------ End of basia-digest V3 #199 ***************************