The Student Room Group

God save the Poles

I am frankly sick of hearing morons bemoaning the Poles coming to live here. It is an insult not just to them but to us that some of our people should equate Polish immigrants with criminals and scroungers given their gilded history in the services of this country.

The Polish airmen were infinitely more experienced than our boys when they came over following Poland's annexation during WW2. Around 2,000 allied aircraft were active in the Battle of Britain, and despite only making up 145 men, it is estimated that Poles alone brought down 20% of all Luftwaffe. 303 squadron had more kills than any other allied squadron in the battle - 126. It is not beyond reason to say that without the Poles we would have lost the Battle of Britain and consequently the whole of World War Two. It is laughable to suggest that without them victory would have been easily secured.

These people have as much right to live here as the Gurkhas. They were as fierce and as skilled as they and every single member of that country that wishes to come here to live is entitled to do so by moral right. They have earned it immemorial. They deserve a serious monument in London and they certainly endowed their children with the right to come here. God save the Poles; perhaps the noblest and certainly the most underrated race in all of Europe.

(edited 8 years ago)

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thank you OP for reminding us of the valiant work of the Polish RAF men.

we should also remember the work of the Polish cryptanalysts who laid the groundwork for breaking the Enigma Codes.

http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/virtualbp/poles/poles.htm
Original post by Saturnine.
I am frankly sick of hearing morons bemoaning the Poles coming to live here. It is an insult not just to them but to us that some of our people should equate Polish immigrants with criminals and scroungers given their gilded history in the services of this country.

The Polish airmen were infinitely more experienced than our boys when they came over following Poland's annexation during WW2. 2,322 aircrafts were active in the Battle of Britain, and despite only making up 145 men, it is estimated that Poles alone brought down 20% of all Luftwaffe. 303 squadron had more kills than any other allied squadron in the battle - 126. It is not beyond reason to say that without the Poles we would have lost the Battle of Britain and consequently the whole of World War Two. It is laughable to suggest that without them victory would have been easily secured.

These people have as much right to live here as the Gurkhas. They were as fierce and as skilled as they and every single member of that country that wishes to come here to live is entitled to do so by moral right. They have earned it immemorial. For too long we have overlooked their part. They deserve a serious monument in London celebrating their national contribution. God save the Poles; perhaps the noblest and certainly the most underrated race in all of Europe.



Where on earth have you dug these obscure figures from? :rofl:

You do realise Poland was useless in both WW1 AND WW2. Both Germany and Russia made sure of that.

By your logic we should persecute every German, because of Nazi Ancestry. Or how about we continue to oppress Africans because of slaves.

We DO NOT let history dicatate foreign policy as much for this reason, and actually Britain saved Polands ass multiple times; as did America. We owe nothing to them.

Edit: On second thoughts, of course we owe something to the polish. But immigration simply isn't the way to thank them.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by TheOpinion
Where on earth have you dug these obscure figures from? :rofl:


Which figures do you wish to see sources for?

You do realise Poland was useless in both WW1 AND WW2. Both Germany and Russia made sure of that.


As demonstrated above, this is nonsense. I don't know about WW1, but the Poles were vital to our victory in WW2.

By your logic we should persecute every German, because of Nazi Ancestry. Or how about we continue to oppress Africans because of slaves.


I disagree. There is a difference between recognising a people for the positive contributions of its forebears and punishing one for the errors of its forbears. The former is justified, the latter is not.

We DO NOT let history dicatate foreign policy as much for this reason, and actually Britain saved Polands ass multiple times; as did America. We owe nothing to them.


When did we? During WW2? We were acting out of self-preservation, as were they. But without them the fight would have been much harder and very plausibly could have been lost. We owe them much, and they us.

Edit: On second thoughts, of course we owe something to the polish. But immigration simply isn't the way to thank them.


Make your mind up. The Poles have a birthright to come to our nation. Obviously if the whole of Poland was coming over this would not be workable. But that is not what is happening. Additionally, the Poles are extremely important to our economy. The only people who complain about the Poles living here in the current context are racists and xenophobes who feel threatened by the substantial presence of another race in their lands.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Saturnine.


Make your mind up. The Poles have a birthright to come to our nation. Obviously if the whole of Poland was coming over this would not be workable. But that is not what is happening. Additionally, the Poles are extremely important to our economy. The only people who complain about the Poles living here in the current context are racists and xenophobes who feel threatened by the substantial presence of another race in their lands.


They have no birth right. That is completely illogical.

Poles are not a race, they are caucasian just like most Brits.

You need to do some research I think.
Reply 5
Stop living in the past. You're like those that use the crusades as justification for certain actions.
Reply 6
Original post by TheOpinion
They have no birth right. That is completely illogical.


We clearly disagree, but it would be more productive if you expressed your disagreement in an engagement with what I have said and my responses to you.

Poles are not a race, they are caucasian just like most Brits.

You need to do some research I think.


'Race' does not exclusively refer to ethnicity. It is perhaps an old-fashioned term but it can also refer to a separate people.
Reply 7
Original post by Hussm
Stop living in the past. You're like those that use the crusades as justification for certain actions.


I have no idea what you are trying to say to me.
The whole of ww2 was won because of the poles?
Do you realise how stupid you sound? Please gtfo
Not a healthy state of affairs when you have entire restaurants and cafes full of exclusively east european staff. If you walked in a premises anywhere else in the world and found the entire establishment full of people from manchester it would be widely considered unacceptable and unfair.
Reply 10
Original post by Mentally
The whole of ww2 was won because of the poles?
Do you realise how stupid you sound? Please gtfo


What I said was that it is not beyond reason that without the Poles we would have lost the Battle of Britain

It is undeniable that if we had lost the Battle of Britain we would have almost certainly lost WW2, or at least been subjugated for many years by the Nazis

Ergo, the Poles were an enormous asset to us and yes, very possibly won us the war.
Original post by CreepyVibez
Not a healthy state of affairs when you have entire restaurants and cafes full of exclusively east european staff. If you walked in a premises anywhere else in the world and found the entire establishment full of people from manchester it would be widely considered unacceptable and unfair.


Or a Britpop concert.

On a serious note, we should remember the contribution of Polish people in WW2 and also those who were killed by the Nazis.
We should let the Poles come in cause many are hard working citizens (and some of the birds are proper fit :sexface:)
Original post by TheOpinion
They have no birth right. That is completely illogical.

Poles are not a race, they are caucasian just like most Brits.

You need to do some research I think.


They're Slavic. Those without Germanic roots are generally more tanned than most Europeans.
Original post by frostyy
They're Slavic. Those without Germanic roots are generally more tanned than most Europeans.


Completely irrelevant, he made it out that the Polish nationality was a race.
polish immigrants today aren't soldiers of WII
*sad trombone*
Reply 16
Original post by TheOpinion
Completely irrelevant, he made it out that the Polish nationality was a race.


I have already responded to that semantic objection.

Original post by sleepysnooze
polish immigrants today aren't soldiers of WII
*sad trombone*


Excellent observation. But they are of the same nation, and there are some national contributions which are so immense as to deserve a continued act of relatively tiny gratitude by way of their descendants.
Original post by Saturnine.
I have already responded to that semantic objection.



Excellent observation. But they are of the same nation, and there are some national contributions which are so immense as to deserve a continued act of relatively tiny gratitude by way of their descendants.


that's kind of like saying that germans today ought to be demonised for being (the descendants of) nazis...it kind of goes both ways. should we bar the germans?
Reply 18
Original post by sleepysnooze
that's kind of like saying that germans today ought to be demonised for being (the descendants of) nazis...it kind of goes both ways. should we bar the germans?


I don't agree with that. By offering this show of support we are rewarding their descendants. This is because they performed acts of courage and honour for us in our hour of greatest need. This is right and benefits the current Poles and indirectly rewards the people who did these actions.

To punish the current Germans for the actions of their ancestors we would be penalising them for actions they had no part of out of spite and a futile sense of punitiveness.

That the current Poles did not fight in WW2 themselves is not the point.
Reply 19
Lol Op wants to talk about how Poles are so great, so posts stories about Polish from like 100 years ago. Well I've got a story too - about Polish immigration here today:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/5198199/Thousands-of-foreign-fugitives-on-the-run-in-the-UK.html

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