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Cathi Harris's avatar

Yes, definitely more about Poland, please.

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ursus arctos's avatar

You have made this railway-obsessed ear of Polish heritage incredibly happy this morning.

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BerlinCompanion: Kreuzberged's avatar

In that case, I am happy , too.

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ursus arctos's avatar

I don't know if the data exists, but I would expect that Poles have been one of Berlin's largest "expat" groups for much of the city's history.

And yet there isn't the influential and very visible cultural, social and political infrastructure that has been present in Paris since the 19th century (and even earlier).

I would think that class and religion are factors in that, but likely not the only ones.

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BerlinCompanion: Kreuzberged's avatar

I think your diagnosis is spot on. Even though Poles have been present here for ages, most of them were either poor or in trade. Berlin was not the dream destination for most of Polish intellectuals who, almost by default also spoke French.

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Damien Stewart's avatar

What a wonderful story, I'm restacking this one :-)

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BerlinCompanion: Kreuzberged's avatar

Thank you!

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Pablo Naboso's avatar

Yes! My grandma lived in one of the small towns between Krakow and Zakopane, and she told me of Luxtorpeda passing and stopping in the town every day until the 1939 war! The unique, futurist design of that train allowed it to go both directions, which was crucial on the ancient mountain track Krakow-Zakopane, where the train changes direction four times (Płaszów, Sucha, Chabówka, Zakopane), each time wasting 20 minutes to replace the locomotive from back to front. To the mountain dwellers, mostly illiterate, pasturing sheep and living off land, Luxtorpeda train passing daily with Warsaw nobility inside was an alien, futuristic reality!

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