click on to enlargeTHE SIPHON, WAL-MART AND POLISH ATTITUDE (March 2009)
One of the childhood pleasures for us kids living in the city was the idea of getting together with a couple of friends after school, going across the street, behind the St Kostka church (the same one in the Zoliborz district, where several years later, ft Popieluszko would preach) and chipping in 5 zl for a siphon of pear flavored soda water. The place was known as “U Dziada” translating to "Old Man's Place." On a hot day, it was a much better option than the saturator water at the nearby old Wilson Square, then named Parisian Commune Square (now back to Wilson Square again…). The difference was that the saturator had only one glass that you could pour soda water into and flavor it with fruit syrup. The unofficial name of that mixed drink was “gruzliczanka,” which translated to … “Tuberculosis water,” because pretty much everybody used it and you were expected to get sick and die. Although I had never heard of such case.
The siphon at “U Dziada” came with no glass although we did not need one, simple we squirted that pear water straight into our mouths (you actually needed a second person to do that) without our lips touching any part of the glass bottle and without wasting any water either. That was the whole idea.
Sitting on the curb, in the shade of the church building, drinking from the old fashioned siphon bottle, what a thrill…
After we finished, we got 2 zl 50gr deposit back, which meant that we just experienced one of life’s pleasures for only 2 zl 50 groszy. Some of the best things in life do come cheap…
Just around the corner, walking along the side of the long building at Krasinskiego Street would lead you to the shoe repair shop. On the way, you would pass the vegetable shop marked by the aroma of the sauerkraut and pickles in brine, usually scooped from the barrel by huge wooden claws. Across the street from the shoe repairman’s shop was a “mydlarnia” - soap, cleaning supplies, and cosmetics store. Fabric for my summer dresses came from a shop on the same street. And my whole life (except for the vacation in the countryside) and social crowd evolved around that Parisian Commune Square. The travel agency Orbis, book and record store, Delikatesy, where we bought “Dodoni” canned orange juice, and where kids from school sneaked out to buy kefir and baguettes. The school’s student shop, besides notebooks and pencils, offered some snacks and fresh glazed "paczki" for 2 zl.
Did I expect “U Dziada“ (the siphon filling station) to still be there on my trips to Warsaw over the years? Of course not! I don’t even expect the street name be the same.
Although, the church most likely will be dedicated to the same saint.
There were several movie theaters within walking distance. Repertoire: “Zorro” with French actor Alain Delon, “Headless Rider” (Russian), “In Desert and Wilderness,” the adaptation of the book by Henryk Sienkiewicz. My first movie ever, as I can recall, was “Flip & Flap in the Foreign Legion” in the US known as “Laurel & Hardy.”
As a child I was allowed, as were all my friends, to walk the area alone, my dog came along later on. The light colored fluffy animal, 20 cm above ground level that I could hardly consider a guard dog, anyway, although she barked vigorously at every man in uniform.
Us children were allowed to walk alone even though the wave of the “black Volga” scare spread. Rumor had it that someone was driving such (Russian made) car and was kidnapping children. The small Fiat wasn’t popular yet, and if you wanted to get the fear effect, a “black Volga“ sounds much better than “white Fiat 125P(fiats did not come in black.).
Under communism, small entrepreneurships were in business although they were hardly prosperous unless you owned greenhouses with several of them in the Warsaw suburbs.
Later on, some cashed in on growing … white mushrooms. Now some Poles make money raising … snails to be shipped to France where they become “escargots” and are served on French tables, I’m not kidding…
In the US, over the years, I found several articles about an intriguing (to Americans, not so to us, Polish immigrants) fact occurring in post-war Europe of Jews returning to Germany and the reasons behind it.
Those supposedly highly qualified columnists, well known authors, “experts” on all social and historical issues, all concluded the same, Jews returned (or moved) to Germany for two reasons:
1) Because that’s where their roots were (ancestors are buried, etc).
2) Germans were bad but others were even worse.
And of course, the alleged ever-present “anti-Semitism” in Eastern (and Central) Europe was so high that no Jews wanted to ever return there. Those who stayed behind were robbed and we all know the rest. There are many who stayed, thank God, did well and are still doing fine (to prove the idiots wrong), but that “revelation” would destroy the myth…
Those “experts” are missing one important fact, which is actually the main factor…
Now, ask me why we don’t shop at Wal-mart? That’s right, we are Wal-mart free! Since June 2004!
The answer is simple, because it reminds us of the communist era’s state operated stores. We had them, The Russians had them, and theirs was called GUM. It destroyed all family operated businesses in the area. Whatever wasn’t confiscated died a natural slow death with the remaining few were doing just ok. Nothing spectacular.
Corporate America reminds us of Communism in Poland so why would I support it then? When small businesses can’t compete with the “lowest” prices of big chain stores, the mechanism is the same.
You had to be blind not to see it coming. People wanted things cheap, they got them, but there was a catch… Are there any products made in the US left? Give me some, think, think... any? The things that people used to send to Poland all made in America were the pride of the recipient, always of the highest quality, are now are in non-existence. That was written in very fine print so we missed it…
We let the retailers fool us. We allowed ourselves to believe that more (of the cheap stuff) is better. And now we’ll pay a high price for it. We thought we were so smart...
At some point, “Wal-mart” became the magic solution to all our problems and needs. All my girlfriends always came up with the same answer “I’ll buy it at Wal-mart,” “Wal-mart has it,” “You can get it cheaper at Wal-mart,” as if they were on their payroll.
It had to stop. Whatever happened to Ames, Zaire, Fair, Caldor, Lechmere, or Bradlees?
Gone, replaced by … you guessed it. And when Wal-mart added the Super Food section, you didn’t need to shop anywhere else anymore. In Oxford, MA, it only took Wal-mart four days to come up with the idea of its own Food Store as an addition to the existing store after some supermarket chain decided to build its store nearby.
So now I’m back to the American “old days” way of shopping when the economy was build by immigrants and small businesses. I shop at my local hardware store operated by a local family, and I do not mind paying a little more, I’ll just buy less. They seem to be much more competent than anybody at Wal-mart ever was. And they know my name. And they smile and not just wear a smiley face on their pin. And we chat. Who would have thought that buying birdseeds, ant traps or even a plunger is a good conversation starter?
If in your area you still have some family operated business, support it as an endangered specie...
There are two options: 1) either those columnists, opinion makers, deep thought gurus do not understand the economic situation outside the US, especially in post-war Poland, or 2) they do understand well but also know that the average American reader does not… And the average reader trusts its media. They may not trust the media on political issues, but agree on others, as abstract as European history. Also if they knew the history of Jews in Poland (not the distorted version), they would know, for sure, that the main reason why Jews were there in masses (beside being kicked out from the West), invited by the Polish king, and what they maintained all those centuries was the ability to prosper as small vendors or big merchants, one of the country’s economic engines. Paradis Judeorum was “Jewish Paradise” nowhere else but in 17th century Poland. The Golden Age of Jewish history.
In 1945, having that ability taken away, replaced by the government-operated enterprise, not only crossed out Jewish but everyone else’s hope for good life in peace and prosperity.
Meanwhile over the wall, in Germany…Western not (!) Eastern that is… life was getting better and better, thanks to the Marshall Plan (that Poland was deprived of as Uncle Sam’s good intentions did not charm Uncle Joe), German capitalism went full steam ahead, sided with all the goodies of the free market.
And this is the country that stirred up the war and the one that lost it. And Poland was supposed to be the “winner.”
But understanding requires thinking and some American “experts” seem to be lacking in that concept (or logic). Why else would they call the Soviet brutal occupation and decades of Communist regime in Poland a “guardianship” as they do in the Smithsonian publishing called “Human-Origins, body, mind, culture, peoples…” filled with 500 pages of human studies?
It always starts with one stereotype, a myth and the rest follows but the finished product is more of an invention rather than a logical follow-up of arguments supported by facts.
Someone should have a scientific study of “American expertise.”
Being Jewish does not automatically make you an expert on the Holocaust. Many American Jews of the younger generation are influenced by Jewish and American authors who are openly prejudiced against Poles. Just as being American does not make you an expert on Polish history or specifically communism (as I said, many American “scholars” base their knowledge on repeated stereotypes) only because they claim Poles were lied to by their communist government. Sorry, I guess, over the decades we must have developed that extra sense of knowing when we are lied to.
I wish all Americans did too.
Capitalism in the West, besides giving people a chance to become rich, and live comfortably also had another major “advantage” - those with money could influence those without. The rich could influence others’ opinion by promoting their version of history, the winners write the history, and the winner with money can rewrite history over and over.
To say that the communist government discriminated against the Jews is plain ridiculous. The streets were named after Jewish heroes, monuments erected one by one, and many start up their political career in communist government (a fact that the US passes as a myth).
The notion that some Jews returned after 1989 because of the fall of the communist government that cost them a repression is also quite amusing. The so-called “revival of Jewish culture” in the US is presented as the changing of Polish attitudes toward Jews. Supposedly for what reason?
We all know that Poles are also returning, although, I guess this fact is not worth mentioning by the US media. Does it mean that the government somehow is more Polish friendly now as well? Did the sentiments toward them also change?
Or maybe they ALL return because the old system fell and now the new system welcomes investors because it is business friendly? Maybe it has nothing to do with the changing Polish attitude - it’s only in some columnist‘s head that some strange theories are being created.
Polish Jews are doing quite well except that the American media doesn’t want the American reader to know about it. Another day, another myth - why complicate things when everything can be so black and white?
The sociologists and historians, from this side of the globe will continue their thesis.
There were no Wall Streets in Eastern Europe - no rich clients to grab the money from.
People like Bernie Madoff could not have prospered in communism. Someone of even much lesser wealth wound attract unnecessary attention.
Unlike Americans, communists did not create Forbes’ Fortune 400 to brag about.
That’s why, the world’s famous sprinkler installer, the son of Jewish immigrants could only accomplish the world’s greatest scheme here in the US and not in his parents' native country, Poland.
Sadly for the US, from being the number one country of opportunity, it became the “mecca” for opportunists. I know, I know… I should be sorry for the victims who lost millions, but somehow I cannot force myself to be.
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