As an aside – Bolesławiec residents ranked eighth nationwide in their generosity, collecting 180 million (old) złoty for this noble cause!
Everything suggests that I will end this statement pessimistically. My good opinion of us, of how good and generous we are, was shattered by D. Modelska’s article “The Original Agreement” (Wprost, January 1996). Among other things, it describes how we are perceived by other nations. I will quote one devastating sentence: “For Germans, Poles are neither lazy nor hardworking, nor are they trustworthy – they simply do not exist in a political, economic or cultural sense.”
How hurtful, how unfair. Although the recently deceased Russian poet Josif Brodsky, when asked what he liked about Poles, answered “Wsio,” this should not mislead us! Negative, unflattering and unpleasant opinions about us do exist. Someone thinks this way for some reason. We can shrug our shoulders and tell ourselves, “What do we care what others say and think about us?” And yet. Only we, through our work, knowledge and culture, can disprove the opinions unfavorable to us, opinions that turn into stereotypes, and stereotypes can “cling to a nation for many years.”