The most Poles, of course, live here in Poland and then the most Polish people that you can find on Earth after here is in Chicago at 3 million.
First in the 17th century, Mustache 1, so the Poles called him - The King, fought off the Turks and kept them from claiming Poland.
In 1791 there was the first ever constitution signed in Europe and then four yrs later there was no more Poland. They were attacked and their country was taken from them. This is old history so I will stay with the newer stuff for most people except David N. who loves History and probably knows more than I.
The troubles of Poland have never ended it seems and we can go back, for us normal people, not you David N. until 1920 in Aug when Mustache 2, so the Poles call him, stopped the Russians from claiming Poland again. Still today, L. Walenska, who was the president of Poland for a while but is now, the Leader of Solidarity, still fights for the freedom of Poland.
85 % of people are Catholic, 7% Russian Orthodox. Today , as is normal for the two of us as we travel, a very strange occurrence has been noted that the head of the Russian Orthodox church, in his first official visit since the war, came, and so there was a flurry of police presence and special escort of cars as they paraded, or sped, through the city.
The Poland flag is white and red but the Warsaw flag is white and yellow and so all of their busses are white and yellow.
The biggest problem of course happens around the 2nd world war. 80% of the people of Warsaw died during this time and most, sadly, were Jews. It's very hard to keep track of how many or whom were killed but it didn't seem to matter. In 1940, the Soviets gathered and killed all pre war planners, Jewish or not, and killed them using bullets from the Germans' guns so that it would look like the Germans had done it.
Such a convoluted story and hard to put right. In the end, or so these Polish people believe " In the beginning" - the town, after 85% of it had been destroyed and flattened, had been rebuilt by the Polish people who volunteered and took 11 years to rebuild what the German Nazi and Russians had destroyed. No money exchanged hands- all volunteer, and the town that we had visited previously, Posnan , gave all their old and extra bricks to help rebuild the buildings so that they would be more original.
You know how I had said that the two goats were the sign of stubbornness for the Polish people to carry on in the stupidity and difficulties of life? Well, the Poles have a new sign. It's the nouveau art piece of a palm tree in a center square that grows (not really because it is fake )and continues to thrive throughout the winter even though a palm tree shouldn't be able to survive in the winter. It sprung up one night here in the city and started everyone talking. They figure it's more of a will to survive thing than the stubborn goats and so now it's what they have chosen as their symbol of thriving and surviving Poland.
