Taki Taki

My love for that heroic country Poland

On victimhood, endurance and stoicism

A Palestinian boy inspects the damage from behind a shrapnel riddled piece of metal following an Israeli air strike Photo: AFP/Getty 
issue 26 July 2014

One event I regretted missing on my last visit to London was a party at the Polish Club, which has been refurbished and has a new Polish prince as its president and has good Poles and active members such as Ladies Belhaven and Hamilton, both friends of mine, keeping the home fires burning. I have often written about my love for Poland, a heroic country that has been betrayed by everyone throughout its history, but has always remained proud, refusing to play the victim, with 90 per cent of Poles belonging to the Catholic church in today’s greedy secular world. A Polish pope was the first to challenge the Soviets, and Lech Walesa led the charge. But what really gets me about the Poles is their refusal to evoke the betrayals they’ve endured each time they go on a public forum. Just look at their foreign minister, Radek Sikorski. Have any of you heard him begin his speeches by reminding the world that 7 million Poles perished during the second world war?

Hint, hint.

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