Dzien dobry ( Hallo)

Warsaw took me by surprise. In a very positive sense. I went there expecting grey houses and a lingering atmosphere of former communist state and found a busy and booming city full of energy and potentialities. The city took me with storm! Since my sister worked while I was there I had the whole days to myself exploring the city. I walked and walked and walked almost wearing down the soles of my new trainers. I strolled through the old town with its small alley ways, visited art museums, historical sites, and old Cemetery’s and enjoyed the large and beautiful parks. I even managed to cram in a jumble sale! On the whole the city was much greener than I expected my prejudice thinking it would be only grey and that all buildings would look like Stalinist hotels housing only western business men with a visa or the East German women’s team of discus-throwers on training camp. Of course there are a lot of bunker like Stalinist structures and equally dull buildings of a later era but with the arrival of a market economy in 1989 the face of Warsaw started changing rapidly. Newly constructed steel-and-glass towers and commercial posters of gigantic proportions have made Warsaw very much a town between old and new. And that is very fascinating!

On the evenings my sister and I did some serious catching up involving a lot of wine, good food and talking to the wee hours of the morning!

Old meets new! The Palace of Culture and Science surrounded by glass and steal buildings and commercial posters. The Palace was a "gift of friendship" from the Soviet union 1952. Poles often jokes that the viewing terrace is the best view of the city because it`s the only one that doesn`t inclued the Palace of Culture & Science itself.

The polish people live very close to their dramatic and tragic history in a way that is difficult for a Swede to understand. Sweden not being in a war since 1815 and with a population that largely tend taking freedom of speech and human rights for granted. Everywhere you go in Warsaw you are reminded of WW II and the five year long Nazi occupation. No other Polish city suffered such immense loss of life or such devastation in the war. The occupation triggered two acts of heroic armed resistance, both cruelly crushed. The first was the Ghetto uprising in 1943 when heavily outnumbered and largely unarmed Jewish civilians fought fiercely for over a month against overwhelming Nazi forces. The second was the Warsaw uprising of 1944 that hoped to liberate the capital and set up independent government before the arrival of the red army (which was already camped on the eastern bank of the Vistula river). The street fighting went on for 63 days but then the insurgents were forced to capitulate. For the next three months the Nazis methodically razed the city to ground. Only on the 17 of January did the Soviet forces cross the river to “liberate” Warsaw! About 85 % of the Warsaw buildings were destroyed and 800 000 people – more than half of the prewar population – perished.

The most valuable historic monuments, most notably the old town has been restored to their previous appearance based on original drawings and photographs.

The Royal Castle in 1945

The Royal Castle rebuilt

I also visited the Pawiak Prison Museum once used for incarcerating the enemies of the Russian tsar but during the WW II the Gestapo’s main prison facility. Around 100 000 prisoners passed through its gates of whom around 37 000 people were executed on site and 60 000 transported to the gas chambers. The visit left me deeply touched and very sad. During WW II and at the age of 14 my father spent two years in a prison camp in Siberia. When I visited the Prison Museum I was overwhelmed by the sudden knowledge of how much my father must have suffered and how little I know about those two years. Through my father, WW II have always been an important part of my history and has in parts made me the one I am when it comes to my views on politics and human rights. The visit made me want to dig out my old history books collecting dust on the attic and reread them. I also decided then and there that I am going to sit down for long talks with my father and “write down” some of our family history. Not only for me but for my daughters as well.

The Pawiak Prison Museum

I left Warsaw with a firm resolution to fly back real soon!

Da widzenia ( Good bye)

Jeanette


The language ? Nie razumiem – I don’t understand!. I studied Russian for a year in high school but I can’t say that it did me much good. Poprosze o dodatkowe lozko w pokoju - pronounce that if you can! It means can you put an extra bed in my room :-) So glad I stayed with my sister and not in a hotel!