Polish Tango: Adam Aston - Graj skrzypku graj, 1935

Adam Aston & Orkiestra Syrena Rekord - Graj skrzypku graj (Play Fiddler, Play) tango (W.Lidauer /Zdrojewski), Syrena-Electro 1935
(In You Tube this song is also sung by Adam Aston in Hebrew! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2t8dnlDv-s )

NOTE: In the slideshow are prewar photographs of my birth town Bydgoszcz (that slightly unspronounceable Polish name translates also as Bromberg). These days were having a very special anniversary in Poland: 70 years ago, on 23 August 1939 in Moscow the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact was signed. 7 days after that the Second World War started and Poland was attacked and torn apart by two agressors: two neighbours, both violating the non-aggression agreements, that had been signed with Poland in the 1930s and extended until 1942, and with no declaration of war given. The onset of it was a massacre of the small town of Wieluń, located on the Polish-German border in the Poznań region. During the airraid and bombing of the sleeping town, over a thousand of its inhabitants were killed in their beds. This massacre of the so-called civilised nation on the helpless little town, having completely no military installations or any strategic role, is often overlooked and the attack of the German ship Schlezwik-Holstein on the Polish military base Westerplatte (part of the Port Of Gdańsk) is erroneously considered as the moment when 2nd World War started.

At night of the 17 th of September, two weeks after the German invasion from the West, the Soviet troops crossed the Eastern border of Poland. Historical Polish towns: Lwow, Wilno, Grodno, Tarnopol, Stanisławów and dozens of others were occupied and their inhabitants mostly the military and the police, intelligentsia, land owners and officials, all with their families were either immediately executed, or first imprisomned and later executed for the anti-Soviet conspiracy. Many, in the animal cars, were sent in the middle of the winter, with only a handful of things they managed to grab in the moment of their arrest by NKWD, with children, pregnant women etc. - thousands kilometers deep into the Inhuman Land of Russia. As it is estimated today, ca 200 000 300 000 of them died.

Russia still denies its responsibility for those crimes and refuses to qualify 20 000 of the Katyń massacre victims (Polish officers who were captured by the Red Army after the Soviet aggression and few months later murdered in the Katyń forest by NKWD) as the victims of the genocide. Instead of this, President Putin during the 60th anniversary of Russias victory over nazi Germany, in May 2005 expressed his views during the interview he gave to the German TV ARD-ZDF. In his opinion, Pact Ribbentrop-Molotov between Germany and Russia was a legal act of defense from the Polish aggressive attitude towards Russia and both: Stalin and Hitler were fully entitled to do what they had done, in accordance with the Pacts agreements.

After Wieluń, Bydgoszcz was the next Polish town to be massacred by Germans in September 1939. So called by the Nazis the Bloody Sunday of Bromberg when as result of the streetfights between Poles and German civilian provocators, who opened fire to the Poles from the rooftops and church towers as soon as the Wehrmachts offensive on the city started - about 500 Germans lost their lives - served as the pretext to begin a first genocide in the modern history of Europe. Every tenth inhabitant of the town was selected on the base of the lists of the Polish intelligentsia, that - as it appeared later had been carefully completed by the Germans along before 1939 - and executed in the Old Town Square of Bydgoszcz, as well as in so called Death Valley in the suburbs.

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[dzheger]

I love the song in both languages. The orchestration here is beautiful, and Aston's voice is always glowing. Great photos and notes about the atrocities Bydgoszcz suffered. By the way, I have no problem pronouncing "Bydgoszcz" and it sounds better than "Bromberg" :)

[240252]

Hi D,

However - and symptomatic for both nations, who express their historical rights to the city - the unclear Polish ethymology of Bydgoszcz is "a place governed by Bidgost" (a mythical name of someone, who could have founded the town) while German "Bromberg" simply means a "blackberry hill".

[genia106]

My Dear Grzegorz,

Thank you for this poignant reminder of the unspeakable atrocities against the Poles. Thank you for the photos of your beloved Bydgoszcz and it's history during that terrible time. It looks so beautiful.

Thank you for this Fabulous emotional tango, it is PERFECT for your visual and it is absolutely SUBLIME and Aston is Magnificent. Dziekuje.

[240252]

Thanks Genia for your passionate comment. I uploaded as many as THREE movies to commemorate that Huuuge Anniversary in Polish modern history, and - well... - that must be enough. Until nex time!

[arniruna]

TAKK TAKK TAKK frá Íslandi

[zosia212]

Moje ukochane miasto - Bydgoszcz.

[Ola5713]

Nie masz pojęcia co poczułam oglądając to video,to nie jest do opisania,przez moment zupełnie inny czas, jakbym tam była.Cudownie uczucie mieć możliwość obejrzeć te wszystkie fotografie.Bardzo Ci jestem wdzięczna.Dzisiaj mój ulubiony. Pięknie dziękuję !

[historatia]

What wonderful German architecture Bromberg had then. Some of those same german masters were responsible for some of the nicer sections of downtown Desden. Thanks for the upload.

[Snopski88]

Dziękuję

[trippook]

@BrasidasMaximus kropla w morzu potrzeb ale to i tak dużo jak na sołtysa z Ludowic..

[BrasidasMaximus]

Bydzi rządzi! A teraz jak dokończą renowacje Wyspy Młyńskiej to będzie rządzi jeszcze bardziej!

[ghiacciomenta]

aching

[JavixAir]

Ja jestem z Bydgoszczy..

[radzio1278]

Piękna piosenka i dziękuję ci za wszystkie wspaniałe filmiki .

Pozdrawiam