Polish Language Blog

What are the most popular things you can find in a classroom (klasa)?

They may be slightly different nowadays than 30 years ago, but most of them stayed the same.

Most of the classrooms have map (mapa) on the wall, and blackboard (tablica). Students (in Europe a lot of people use word “pupils”) – studenci, uczniowie - sit by the desks (ławka, biurko) and a lot of them use computers (komputery).

In their backpacks (plecaki, singular: plecak) they would usually have exercise books (zeszyty, singular: zeszyt), books (książki, singular: książka), drawing books (bloki rysunkowe, singular: blok rysunkowy).

During classes (lekcje, singular:lekcja) they will use pen (długopis), pencil (ołówek), pencil sharpener (temperówka), eraser (gumka), ruler (linijka), glue (klej), markers (flamastry), crayons (kredki), paints (farby), paintbrush (pędzel).

Teacher uses chalk (kreda) to write on the chalkboard and  wet sponge (gąbka) to erase it.

Did I miss something? Of course, I forgot about people cleaning classrooms. In Poland this person is called woźna (female) or woźny (male).

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

Polish authorities have reopened an investigation into World War II crimes committed at Auschwitz (Oświęcim) and its satellite camps that was closed in the 1980s because of the country’s isolation behind the Iron Curtain.

One aim of the new probe (badanie, śledztwo) is to track down any living Nazi perpetrators, according to an announcement Thursday by the Institute of National Remembrance, a state body that investigates Nazi and communist-era crimes.

Nazi Germany opened Auschwitz in 1940, months after it invaded and occupied Poland. Over the next five years of war, German and Austrian Nazis murdered up to 1.5 million people there at the expanded Auschwitz-Birkenau camp complex, most of them Jews from across Europe, but also Poles, Roma, gays and others.

The investigation was opened by a branch of the remembrance institute in Kraków, which is located near Auschwitz. Germany also operated other death camps across Poland – like Chełmno, Treblinka and Bełżec – and it was not immediately clear if new investigations into them are also planned.

A leading international Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff, praised Poland’s reopening of the investigation. He said it “could have tremendous implications” in paving the way for new prosecutions thanks to the precedent set by the conviction of Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk in Germany earlier this year.

Demjanjuk was convicted of 28,060 counts of accessory to murder. It was the first time Germany convicted someone as a Nazi camp guard based on the theory that if he worked there, he was part of the extermination process, even without direct proof of any specific killings.

That has opened the door to many more possible prosecutions, and German authorities have since reopened hundreds of dormant investigations of Nazi death camp guards – men who are now so old that time is running out for prosecutors.

Zuroff said that should the Polish investigation track down any German perpetrators, he would expect them – like Demjanjuk – to be tried in a German court since Berlin requests extradition in such cases.

“I welcome any investigation that could lead to convictions,” Zuroff, the main Nazi hunter for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told The Associated Press.

However, he also noted that Poland is the country with the most ongoing investigations into Nazi crimes, but that these almost never result in prosecutions.

Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance “excels in opening up investigations. They don’t excel in prosecuting Nazi war criminals,” Zuroff said.

Poland originally launched investigations into crimes at Auschwitz in the 1960s and 1970s, but closed them in the 1980s without any indictments being made. Poland had difficulty questioning witnesses and perpetrators living abroad because it was cut off behind the Iron Curtain.

The Institute for National Remembrance said it has already begun questioning witnesses as part of the revived investigation. It said the probe is aimed in part at “finding and, if needed, detaining the perpetrators.”

The last time Poland prosecuted anyone for Nazi crimes was in 2001, when a Pole, Henryk Mania, was sentenced to eight years in prison for taking parts in acts of genocide at the death camp of Chełmno.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

Counting to 10 can be a lot of fun if you use rhymes or songs. One of my favorites rhymes is the one about 10 snowmen…and because winter is almost here, it is perfect for this time of the year as well. I will try to translate it as well.

„Dziesięć bałwanków”

Dziesięć bałwanków
było w jednym lesie,
ni mniej, ni więcej,
tylko właśnie 10.

Jeden się drapał
do dziupli na drzewie
i tak się zdrapał,
że zostało 9.

Dziewięć bałwanków
stało na polanie,
dokładnie dziewięć,
bałwan przy bałwanie.

Lecz jeden poczuł,
że go kręci w nosie.
Jak zaczął kichać,
to zostało 8.

Osiem bałwanków
stało w dalszym ciągu,
lecz jeden bał się
mrozu i przeciągów.

Więc włożył kożuch
i okrył się pledem.
Jak go odkryli,
to już było 7.

Z siedmiu bałwanków
jeden zaraz orzekł,
że się poślizgać
warto na jeziorze.

Lecz ledwie zdążył
na jezioro wleźć,
wpadł w taki poślizg,
że zostało 6.

Tych sześć bałwanków
stałoby do teraz,
lecz jeden bałwan
zaczął się rozbierać.

Chciał się ochłodzić,
miał na kąpiel chęć -
jak się rozebrał,
to zostało 5.

Z pięciu bałwanków
jeden zaraz ubył,
bo go ciekawość
przywiodła do zguby.

Nie wiedział po co
są kaloryfery -
jak się dowiedział,
to zostały 4.

Cztery bałwany
stały w dwuszeregu,
lecz jeden zaczął
tupać na kolegów.

Tupał i tupał,
bo był strasznie zły,
i tak się stupał,
że zostały 3.

Te trzy bałwanki
długo nie postały,
bo jeden bałwan
znał świetne kawały.

Z własnych dowcipów
śmiał się: – Cha! Cha! Cha!
i pękł ze śmiechu,
i zostały 2.

A jak została
tych bałwanków dwójka,
to się zaczęła
między nimi bójka…

Dziesięć bałwanków
było na polanie.
Ile zostało?
Oto jest pytanie!

Ten snowmen were in one forest, not more, not  less, but exactly 10

One was climbing to a hollow in a tree, and he climbed so hard that that it was only 9 left

Nine snowmen was in a clearing, exactly nine, snowman by snowman

But one felt that his nose is itching, as he began to sneeze, there was only 8 left

Eight snowmen has continued standing, but one was afraid of cold and drafts

So he put a sheepskin on and  covered himself with a blanket

Once hew as uncovered, there was only 7 left

Of the seven snowmen one said that it would be worth to go sliding on the lake

But he barely had time to climb on the lake, he fell into a skid and there was only 6 left

These six snowmen would stand until now, but one started taking his clothes off

He wanted to cool off and wanted to bathe, once he took his clothes off, there was only 5 left

Of the five snowmen one disappeared, because his curiosity brought him to destruction

He did not know what heaters are for, once he found out, there was only 4 left

Four snowmen stood in 2 rows, but one started stamping on his colleagues

He stamped and stamped because he was really upset, and he was stomping so hard that there was only 3 left

These three snowmen did not stand for too long, because one of them knew some great jokes

With his own jokes he laughed ha, ha, ha, and burst with laughter and there was only 2 left

And once there was only two left, then the fight between them started

Ten snowmen was in a clearing. How many there is left? That is a good question…

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)