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Polish Air Force postcard with Christmas message, 1942. Can anyone identify?

Article about: This postcard was posted in Glasgow, Scotland on 21 December 1942, with the message: Abyśmy następne Święta spędzali wśród swoich najbliższych i nam najdroższych - tego Ci życzy Ta

  1. #1
    Graff Archive
    ?

    Default Polish Air Force postcard with Christmas message, 1942. Can anyone identify?

    This postcard was posted in Glasgow, Scotland on 21 December 1942, with the message: Abyśmy następne Święta spędzali wśród swoich najbliższych i nam najdroższych - tego Ci życzy Tadek [Eng: That we may spend next Christmas among our nearest and dearest to us - this I wish for you Tadek] Glasgow, 20.XII.1942.

    The artwork is almost certainly by a Polish hand, and references the Polish Air Force.

    Has anyone come across a similar postcard, or can offer any information whatsoever - including who the artist was?

    There is an additional image of the reverse, and some info about the recipient at GRAFF ARCHIVE Historical Photographs and Documents
    Last edited by Graff Archive; 12-07-2020 at 10:21 PM.

  2. #2

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    Possibly inspired by the classic WW2 era Benda poster.

    Regards,
    Tony
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Polish Air Force postcard with Christmas message, 1942. Can anyone identify?  
    All thoughts and opinions expressed are those of my own and should not be mistaken for medical and/or legal advice.

    "Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne

  3. #3

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    Hello Ronald,

    "Just before Christmas 1942, Plutowny [Eng: Lance Sergeant] Tadeusz Rakoczy". There is a little mistake in the word "Plutowny" - It should be "Plutonowy".

    Regards
    Konrad

    PS

    Polish Air Force postcard with Christmas message, 1942. Can anyone identify?

    World War II. Propaganda Poster of the Polish Air Force, 1939. Oskar Schlinder Museum, Kraków, Poland

    On the poster inspired by the Polish hussars we can see the best 1939's Polish bomber PZL-37 Łoś and fighter PZL P-11.

    And on the postcard you posted it seems to me like British heavy fighter Bristol Beaufighter.

  4. #4
    Graff Archive
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    Tony,

    Absolutely! Of course, you are right. Thanks for the valuable contribution.

    Ronald

  5. #5
    Graff Archive
    ?

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    Konrad,

    Ah yes, it was a silly mistake. I have also altered the English translation of the message slightly, as I was not entirely happy with my early interpretation of "Abyśmy" in this context.

    Ronald

  6. #6

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    Ronald,

    "Abyśmy następne Święta spędzali ..." I would rather translate it like "May we spend next Christmas ...".

    Regards
    Konrad

  7. #7
    Graff Archive
    ?

    Default

    Konrad,

    Retaining the spirit, emotion, and nuance is never easy when translating from old Polish to English. Dictionary or computer translations of words are seldom completely satisfactory. The Christmas message "Abyśmy następne Święta spędzali wśród swoich najbliższych i nam najdroższych - tego Ci życzy Tadek" could be translated to modern colloquial English simply as "Tadek, I hope that we may spend next Christmas among our nearest and dearest" . . . or maybe "Tadek, my wish for you is that we spend next Christmas among our nearest and dearest". In the translation I settled for on the website, "That we may" rather than "May we" is important both from the grammatical and sense point of view.

    Ronald

  8. #8

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    Hello Ronald,

    I agree with you about the difficulty of translating except in this case it is not the old Polish language. The words "abyśmy/obyśmy" (aby/oby) is commonly used in contemporary Polish, such an example is making wishes for each other...

    So apart from interpretation, the wishes "Abyśmy/Obyśmy następne Święta spędzali ..." are directly as "May we spend next Christmas ...".

    As in the example: "Abyśmy/obyśmy się zawsze kochali" - "May we always love each other".

    Regards
    Konrad

  9. #9
    Graff Archive
    ?

    Default

    Konrad,

    Structural and lexical differences between Polish and English languages will always give rise to some degree of ambiguity when faced with the problem of ‘best’ translation . . . which is why MT (machine translation) systems, such as google, should never be solely relied on.

    The Polish language is particularly structurally ambiguous in comparison to English. Not only can words have more than one interpretation, phrases or sentences can have more than one structure. “Abyśmy” does not have a single word English equivalent. Depending on usage/context it could be interpreted as “may we” or “that we may”, or even “so that we may”.

    The message on the postcard is a statement (with some structural ambiguity), which, in my opinion, best translates into English, as: “That we may spend next Christmas... etc”.

    Ronald

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