Azul BuhoI bloody love a good #PolskiSklep, me. (And equivalents from other parts of the world too.)
Great read from #VittlesMagazine.
(Authors: Marta Zboralska and Kasia Tomasiewicz.)
https://www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/a-cultural-history-of-the-polski
#Sheffield having a #PolishCommunity confused me as a kid in the 1980s. Weren't they Russia's friends or summat? Our enemies? Why were they allowed to live here?
Then I learned that Poles fought the Nazis with us in WWII, and the #PeoplesRepublicOfSouthYorkshire had been taking Polish families in when they needed somewhere safe to live since then. Made me right proud, did that!
(And apparently Poles have lived in Sheffield much, much longer than that, even.)
🕵️old klezmers🎻@azulbuho I've never been to Sheffield, but I saw a fascinating lecture by a historian here in Vancouver a decade ago who studied Polish refugees in postwar/cold war UK. Wish I could remember the name of the writer. She was explaining how Polish refugees were generally happy to be sent to more remote areas and stay where they were long-term, even staying in the refugee housing they had been given long-term.
@azulbuho she was contrasting them with Ismaili refugees from East Africa who hated being sent to rural areas, as they were often connected to finance and big business stuff and had no idea or desire to make a living in a farming area. she said most of those relocated ASAP to London, Canada, etc