Talk:Donald Tusk

Günter Grass and Donald Tusk relation

Can anybody can prove this statement (I've cut this because it's not confirmed)?: "Donald Tusk is distantly related to German Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass, who made his home city famous through his Danzig trilogy."

Some clarification

As much as I respect Mr. Donald Tusk very much this bio goes thru some facts in a very unclear way on his grandfather case. Some proven facts: - Mr. Josef Tusk served in Wehrmaht and during the presidential campaign D. Tusk stated that it was not true which was unfortunately a lie, - Many of former Polish citizens who were forced "into" german citizenship were called to join German forces, many of those rejected to do so and were sent to concentration camp and/or were killed; Josef Tusk joined the force but only after spending some hard time in a camp From the political point of view simple truth - confirmation on that fact by D. Tusk and some explanation that his grandfather did that to save not only himself but also the family would be a great deal for both D. Tusk as a presidential candidate as well as for many Polish citizens who were forced to join Wehrmaht (applies mostly to Silesia and Pomerania). That small lie did a bad job of explaining the complicated history and situation of Polish citizens in occupied Poland. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.93.143.8 (talk) 21:32, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Grandfather Józef Tusk war history

Deutsche Dienststelle ( Berlin ) - http://ww6.tvp.pl/include/docs/2005/10/14/Deutsche_Dienststelle.gif has also UK PoW form Number A771664 concerning Josef (his forename in german ) Tusk - http://ww6.tvp.pl/include/docs/2005/10/14/Brytyjskiej_armii.gif - with note "24.11.44 to Polish Forces", but Northolt ( London ) Archives - http://veterans-uk.info/service_records/non_uk.html - has no record of Józef Tusk serving in POlish Forces under british command - letter to me dated 18.04.2006. His history is still not clear - see - http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyskusja:Józef_Tusk Josef Tusk served in training InfErsBat 328, renamed in September 1944 to combat Reserve-Grenadier-Bataillon 328. This bataillon has fought in Battle of Huertgenwald against US 9 ID - http://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=18621 and http://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=18811. He disappeared 12.10.1944 from Wehrmacht records 18.12.2007 ahojda@poczta.onet.pl —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.111.218.134 (talk) 10:29, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Tusk is not a Socialist

Who wrote that Donald Tusk is a socialist? He is a leading politician of the Liberals in Poland, the founder of the liberal-conservative party Platforma Obywatelska and former member of liberal youth organisations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.186.247.94 (talk) 01:51, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Grandfather

(IsraelNN.com) Visiting Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he did not know his grandfather was Jewish...

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/144687 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Krzyzowiec (talk • contribs) 20:33, 9 April 2008 (UTC) Is is a mistake - see http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/972224.html , see also informations concerning source of this mistake - http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80277,5108128.html and http://www.dziennik.pl/wydarzenia/article152254/Czy_dziadek_Tuska_byl_Zydem_.html

                                                           11.04.08   ahojda

Tusk's grandfather - Józef Tusk was a Polish/Kashubian railway worker in the Free City of Danzig. He was the citizen of the Free City and from Sep 1st, 1939, when the Germans anexed Danzig - he automatically became a German citizen. As a Pole he was arrested and sent to the concentration camp. Being unfit to work, he was released in 1941. In 1944 when the Germans were desperate for conscirpts they started enlisting by force even those German citizens, who were not of German descent. And so, Józef Tusk was forced to Wehrmacht, but after about 3 months he deserted and joined the Allied Forces in the West. --Barry Kent (talk) 09:03, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Out of date

Why has noone updated this article properly? Donald Tusk has been the Prime Minister of Poland for almost a year. Is it perhaps that the Kaczists don't want to accept the election result? Colonel Mustard (talk) 00:59, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Colonel Mustard please leave your personal opinion about Kaczists to yourself. Instead of asking, update it yourself. Tymek (talk) 21:57, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

"right wing" better than "liberal"

"liberal" means left wing for Americans and so I suggest the introduction describe Tusk as "right wing" instead. There is no confusion about what that would mean. Any comments?Bdell555 (talk) 22:29, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree. Changed. --Barry Kent (talk) 23:01, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

I disagree. "Right-wing" is too broad and blurs particularly important Polish distinctions: LPR and PiS are "right-wing", too. Americans need to realize that "liberal" means something completely different in Europe. --Thorsten1 (talk) 21:55, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

I agree that "right-wing" blurs important differences but "liberal" is also not exactly the right word. I associate this term rather with parties promoting personal freedoms like the right for abortion or homosexual marriages. In this sense, SLD is liberal. However, I see we are now linking to right-libertarianism. :) --Botev (talk) 22:31, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with the term right-libertarianism, but from what the article tells me, it's way more radical than Tusk and the PO really are. There's a confusing lot of things we might link to instead - Liberal conservatism or Conservative liberalism. However, the PO is a pretty middle-of-the-road conservative/centrist party much like the German CDU, the Swedish Moderate Party or the French UDF. Apart from rather vaguely defined conservative values, these parties also advocate free-market policies, which is what people in most European countries (where abortion and homosexual marriages are not as hotly disputed as they are in Poland) associate with the word "liberal". Centre-right would be another possible attribute. --Thorsten1 (talk) 19:00, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

I think centre-right would be fine. --Botev (talk) 18:36, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Done, --Thorsten1 (talk) 13:31, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Rare accent?

I just now heard Tusk non-dubbed and I noticed that he pronounced the "r" uvular like e.g. in Northern France. Never heard Polish with that sound before, is it a common accent in Gdansk? Tiktak (talk) 18:11, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Nah, it's probably because of his grandfather used to be in the Wehrmacht... ;) --Thorsten1 (talk) 21:51, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

This realization of the /r/-phoneme is indeed considered incorrect in Polish. --Botev (talk) 22:51, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

If I recall correctly, Gronkiewicz-Waltz also "suffers" from this speech defect. Must be a PO thing... ;) --Thorsten1 (talk) 19:01, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Her (mis)pronunciation of [r] is entirely different and rather, pardon the double-entendre, common. Tusk indeed does speak with a peculiar accent, affecting a few consonants, and eeirly resembling Donald Duck's voice. PrinceGloria (talk) 21:31, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

He does have noticeable lisp, too, but Donald Duck? Come on. I guess this impression is due to an interference with the name. (It's funny enough, though, to have the Kaczor vs. Donald situation. :) --Thorsten1 (talk) 13:35, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Gaelic name

How does a Pole come to get an Irish or Scottish Gaelic name, of all things? -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 12:21, 13 April 2010 (UTC) Well, he's ethnically German, not Polish. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.6.68.64 (talk) 16:02, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

rather Mazurian than German