Our destination - communism, the blow of the red wind

Guest poster: Marcia Orlowski

Wednesday was hot, too hot to stay out in the sun. We sheltered ourselves in the shade of the trees and umbrellas at the street cafes in the main square. Few places have AC, not a fan to be seen. Our room has a fan and is in the shade most of the day, so it is tolorable even in the 90's.

My mission while in Poland is to find the best poppyseed roll in Krakow! Nick has decided to join me in this mission possible. After stopping into several cafes and bakeries, Dobja Polska Kuchinas, I came away empty handed today. Oh, no. A day without poppyseed roll. Now to find out if I can bring a suitcase full of the best one to London and then on to the US.

Early in the afternoon we asked the desk clerk here at Globtroter to help us set up a tour of the locations of east Krakow most involved in the communist control of Poland. This was wild, sad, and very moving tour for me, as we baby boomers saw many of the locations on the tour on the news on television.

At 4pm Michael of Nowa Huta Tours (translates New Steelworks) pulled up to our guesthouse in a red and white communist era van, the Polish made Nysa M-522. The Nysa groaned, belched, clanked, and kept us hot hot hot in the 90 degree weather as the windows behind the driver do not open. At times we cheered that the Nysa started up as we made what seemed like 25 stops along the 2.5 hr tour. Our driver has been speaking English for a year and was pretty good at describing what we were seeing and the history. He did have trouble understanding my questions in English. Michael is likely in his late 20s, has a young son and a daughter. He told us his wife has negative health effects they think from the Chernobyl nuclear facility explosion in Russia many years ago which sent plumes of gases over many parts of Europe. Michael grew up in Nowa Huta, lives in Nowa Huta, his father works in the steel mill, and his grandfather worked there as well. Suffice to say, Michael knew his history of Nowa Huta.



The history is that Soviet troops entered Cracow on Jan 18, 1945. Communist authorities suffered a defeat in the 1946 referendum in Krakow. They decided this was due to an imbalance in the society. So they decided to increase the working population of Cracow to have a better balance. Krakow has been a European center of students, learning, the arts, and a spiritual center for Poland. In the eastern sector of Krakow the soviets built the largest steel works in Europe in 1948 called Lenin steelworks. Coke for the steel mill was brought in from neighboring Silesia, the area where Grandpa Bugajski was born in 1892. In 1949 next to the steel works they created a new planned socialist model communist town named Nova Huta to house the people, engineers, and managers, and keep them under control and close to their work. Cheap concrete blocks dominate the apartment and office buildings.


I remember the fear we held in our bodies during the 50s as school children in West Frankfort. We would practice air raid drills. When the town air raid siren would blow the 3 nuns would line us up at the appointed moment and have us move swiftly in silence to the basement of the parochial school. Upon entering the basement they told us to take a chair and be ready to put our heads under the chair and pray for our lives. The communists could be there to take over our country and we had to be ready.

No churches were allowed until the 1970s after many years of residents struggling to have a church. Among these is the well known Ark of God, a modern style church in the shape of a very large ark. During martial law in the 1981-1983 Nowa Huta was the source of many riots which were depressed by the ZOMO stormtroopers which included 30,000 police, 70,000 soldiers, and 4000 tanks and armored vehicles. The steelworks is now operating under private ownership and has been renamed Sendzimir. The hospital in this poor area of steelworkers was built by charities from the USA.

We saw a travelling museum, From Opposition to Independence, about the years of struggle 1976-1989to end the communist rule. This included a film and numerous enlarged black and white photos of Lech Walesa, Pope John Paul II, activist priests, actors, authors, who played a large part in helping to give hope to the people of Poland under Russian rule. The union, Solidarity, was established in 1980 with Lech Walesa in the lead. The display of large format photos were in a broad circle in the middle of the display room as a symbol of the huge round table used for meetings over the years to bring the soviet era to a close. We saw many of these photos on the news in the 80s. The most moving photo was the one of Pope John Paul II with his head in his hands when he saw first hand what had become of his Poland. This was during one of his 2 return visits to Poland after becoming Pope. This presentation brought tears to my eyes with a huge sadness in my heart.

Another stop along the way was at a "spolem", a communist style milk bar, still in existence, subsidized by the city of Cracow for poor people to have a traditional Polish meal at a very low cost with a super low standard. Living in the Nowa Huta apartment buildings, which are privately owned now, is low cost living. There are many poor people in Poland after decades and centuries of war and rule by other countries. Their industries, agriculture, and social st­ructures are being redesigned and rebuilt as money and good leaders come to the front.

To offer you a sense of the centuries of history here in the buildings and stories, here is one of our last stops on the Nowa Huta tour. We stopped at the monastery called Bright Tomb, Jasna Mogila, established in 1225. It was named this becuase of its proximity to a prehistoric burial ground, said to be the burial place of Princess Wanda, daughter of the king who started the settlement called Cracow. The monument is a hill atop which you find a monument with an eagle to symbolize Princess Wanda's sacrifice for her country. The mound sits out in a field of wild flowers with a neighboring woods next to the Steeelmill. The monastery grounds and church is a beautiful place for contemplation. There is evidence of settlements in the Cracow area as early as 200,000 years ago.




Bottom line here is that the Poles we have met are proud to be Poles and are hungry to continue rebuilding their country. They are grateful for their freedoms and want others of their region to also have these freedoms.

Wish I knew how to speak Polish. Workers in the shops and restaurants know more than a few words of English so it is not easy to find out where you are, how to get to the next place, and so we have relied on those who understand more English and we are grateful for them. There are 2 Polish language schools within a block of our guest house. I'll have to check out an immersion course for sure.

Tomorrow we are off to see Castle Vavel which has the Zygmunt Chapel in honor of one of the 3 kings of Poland who were named Zygmunt. Those Zygmunt and Wanda names hold a lot of history here.