Wołyń – film review

Rushed to the nearest cinema yesterday to watch Wołyń by Wojtek Smarzowski, the film which had premiered the day earlier. Mr Smarzowski can boast of track record of directing films which authentically, yet sorely lay bare the darkest side of the human nature. I have watched all his films, except Róża, and reviewed Drogówka and Pod Mocnym Aniołem on the blog.

A dose of historical knowledge is essential if you are to fully understand the film which depicts the run-up to and the very Volhynia carnage and unless somebody is familiar with the topic, a thorough catch-up before the trip to a cinema is highly recommended. Despite me doing the homework beforehand, I was kind of astounded to see the joy of Ukrainians who greeted Red Army soldiers in 1939 as liberators setting them free from Polish tormentors and two years later, disillusioned with the new occupier, gave a warm welcome to Nazi army.

The film is less coarse and naturalistic than most previous films by Mr Smarzowski, though sexist scenes of crude intercourses appear to be an indispensable common denominator of all his pieces. In Wołyń, illustration of ordinary life, including its darkest aspects, is skilfully balanced with depiction of historical background of the carnage. The background which reminds a genocide is never a spontaneous misdeed, hatred needs a fertile ground to grow wild.

Dosage of atrocity in the film is, must I say, quite moderate. The film is meant to leave its audience mentally black and blue and renders appositely how the massacre in today’s territories of Western Ukraine actually looked. After reading historians’ records of how cruel the genocide was, the picture of murders comes out mild.

Comparing methods Ukrainian nationalists made use of to kill Poles, I believe most victims of Gestapo and NKVD at least had enviably short deaths. Prisoners of Nazi concentration camps were closed in gas chambers and fell asleep, breathing in lethal gases (most online sources I found while writing the post describe gassing as painless). NKVD officers killed their victims with one shot in a head. Both totalitarian regimes during WW2 ran industries of mass murder meant to annihilate Poles, quickly and efficiently. Ukrainian nationalists, though the death toll of the genocide committed by them is several times lower than number of victims of Nazis or Stalin, wanted not just to eradicate Poles from their homeland, but also did it with inhuman atrocity.

The film is a vital step towards truth and I hope it brings closer the carnage to Poles, as the matter is less known than several other acts of violence against Poles during WW2. The Wolhynia slaughter has also not been the subject of broader debate for the sake of building good relationships with independent Ukraine (how could it be possible without facing the truth?).

Germany has apologised and atoned for its WW2 felonies.

Russia, as a heir of the Soviet Union, has not atoned for its WW2 sins and cruelty, yet in 1993 when Russia seemed to be a civilised country (I longer consider it so since March 2014) its president Mr Jelcyn apologised to Poles for Katyn and in November 2010 its parliament passed a resolution condemning Katyn massacre. Today these might appear as hollow gestures, yet some steps were undeniably made towards reconciliation.

In 2001 president Kwaśniewski on behalf of Poles apologised to Jews for Jedwabne massacre.

Ukrainian intellectuals and artists have apologised for the Volhynia carnage to Poles several times, but Ukraine’s governments still take efforts to sweep the topic under the carpet. Remember the visit of former president Komorowski in April 2015? Mr Komorowski delivered a speech in the house of parliament, while a few hours later deputies passed a resolution glorifying Ukrainian nationalists responsible for genocide on Poles. Soon after the Smolensk disaster, Katyń by Andrzej Wajda was broadcast in Russian TV. In today’s Russia it would be unimaginable, however I doubt in the foreseeable future Wołyń could be watched by masses in Ukrainian TV.

But a change of heart comes slow…

Taking note of my unchanged approach to Warsaw Uprising last week has motivated me to rediscover my pieces of writing from the early years of blogging. I have run PES for over seven years; despite several crises I have soldiered on, yet the period of most intense and inspiration-driven writing lasted for somewhat more than a year. Later on, since the summer of 2010 when I took up a full-time job, posts began to appear once a week and were far less often written on the spur of the moment. Over the first year of blogging I blurted out thoughts I most needed to share with the world, then I moved on and freshness went by… Now I genuinely miss those days when youngster’s zeal was filling me with energy and inspiration do the job I do not feel up to today.

The posts I’m revisiting today were written when I was 21 or 22 (vs. 28 today). One would claim I should have grown mature; should have undergone a process which involves reshaping one’s views on several matters. When I read my very first posts (from the first three or four months of blogging) I find them childish and clumsily written. After this formative period, my style seemed to have been brushed up on.

Time to find out how many times I have changed my mind. As I set off to take this journey, I safely bet my opinions have not evolved much.

The concept of shelving the public debt still sounds like a daydream. Deep down I agree with myself, yet the more rational parts of me reminds me the government to some extent functions like an enterprise for which there is an optimum level of debt below which borrowing is a cost-effective form of financing.

In 2009 media coverage was my once source of information on pathologies in retail banking in Poland. In 2016 it looks not more different. Today I could write more about the dark side of corporate banking, yet even though I am striving to withhold my identity I resist the temptation.

Five years after graduation, I hear from youngsters I know my university continues to be on decline. In international rankings SGH has been overtaken some time ago by Kozminski Academy, marking an imminent change in the higher education system in Poland where public universities have been superior to private poor and profit-oriented ones.

Returning to 2009 I can boast about being a critic of the bygone shape of pension system in Poland before Donald Tusk’s government decided to dismantle it. With hindsight, as the private-run pension fund business has been effectively pared down, I believe every word I wrote was justified and the two-stage (2011 and 2013/2014) crackdown on the pension funds was a move in the right direction.

My (modest) proposal of a flat-rate tax with a high allowance still sound appealing, yet I would slightly modify it by introducing a higher tax rate and a higher allowance and would add child allowances to it.

The purpose of that post was actually to mock at the late president Lech Kaczyński. In November 2009 no one thought in less than five months Mr Kaczyński would tragically die. Everyone thought his term would draw to a close in a year and he would be replaced by a candidate from PO entourage. Today when I observe conduct of Mr Duda I appreciate Lech Kaczyński was not that bad, particularly in comparison to the current “head of state”.

After the decease of general Jaruzelski in 2014 discussions on legitimacy and backdrop of declaring martial law in Poland in 1981 have somewhat faded. Still I argue the state of affairs in Poland was complicated at that time and I believe we will probably forever suffer from lack facts and documents helping historians fairly assess that decision.

My essay on dire effects of loose monetary policy was written after a year or so of pursuit of such policies by major central banks. From today’s perspective I still conceptually agree with my reasoning and could write the same again, yet I need to bear in mind ultra-loose monetary policies have been run for nearly eight years and unconventional tools have also been harnessed to keep economies afloat. Oddly enough, evils listed in paragraph (1) to (4) at the bottom of the post have not materialised or have materialised only to a marginal extent which should prompt me to rethink my approach.

In early 2010 I challenged the widespread theory the financial meltdown had been caused by greed, pointing out its major cause had been lack of fear. Today the theory still sounds alluring while I need to add another, definitely not mould-breaking, note. Economic actors will do whatever they are not prohibited from to pursue their goals. Therefore regulations and their proper enforcement are vital to prevent financial crises.

My critical look at various investment theories could today be enhanced by the experience of recent years. Theory of macroeconomics has been reshaped by unprecedented phenomena witnessed in post-crisis years (negative interest years, ultra-loose monetary policies fuelling no substantial asset bubbles, scrapping the paradigm of risk-free securities, etc.)

While my financial well-being has incomparably improved since 2010 I still think interns should be remunerated for their work. My approach is shared by an increasing number of employers who erased unpaid internships from their job openings as part of incorporating CSR agendas.

The take on Poland between 1945 and 1989 appears well-balanced. I find assertions that one occupier was swapped for another in 1945 out of place. Keeping in mind Poland was dependent on Soviet Union, its political system was far from democracy and its economic order was ineffective, between 1945 and 1989 warfare was generally not conducted on the territory on Poland, buildings and factories were erected rather than torn down, an ordinary man, as long as they kept their mouth shut, had no reason to be afraid of their life and the number of victims of 44 years of oppressive system was lower than of 6 years of Nazi occupation.

In July 2010 I had a heated post-Smolensk argument with Toyah and his fellows being on the other side of the political divide line. Today we stand where we stood then, while the end-justifies-the-means remains a motto of PiS and their advocates. I have to also boast here about my impeccable anti-PiS credentials. Never, ever, since I have been seriously interested in politics, i.e. since early 2005, have I ever been enchanted by PiS. In 2005, when PO was bound to win the parliamentary election by a tiny two of three percentage points and create coalition with PiS, I was not fond of vision of this right-wing coalition taking charge of Poland. I became the PO electorate after the party put itself in opposition to PiS and its social agenda drifted left.

The picture of today’s career-minded youngsters painted in this post is a piece of utter rubbish, I confess. Most young people I know strike work-life balance well and have no problems with relationships with people although I still feel sorry so few Michał’s friends turned up at his wedding. Having more important things to do than celebrating important moments in friends’ lives with them is still a plague with my peers.

In this post I foresaw the history will be rewritten sooner or later. Just recall that sentence: On Tuesday “Gazeta Polska” published an interview with Jarosław Kaczyński in which he envisages Lech Wałęsa will soon be discredited and after his name is dragged through the mud Lech Kaczyński will become a symbol of Solidarity. This is taking place, proving how determined politician Jarosław Kaczyński is.

Today, even more than then, I find current affairs in my life more important than politics. There are moments I feel sick, yet I am growing indifferent. On Thursday I returned frazzled from a two-day business trip and did not even feel like learning what the sentence of the Constitutional Tribunal on the new law governing the institution is (content was predictable) and what implications of it would be.

Today I no longer would write rants on linguistic competencies. Despite using English every day at work and making use of all four skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening), my use of English has been narrowed down to professional topics. I wonder when my fluency in English was at its height, but I am nearly confident that moment is behind me. Keeping up excellent command of non-native language if you do not live in the country where that language is widely used is a challenge indeed.

Next post in two weeks at best, in three weeks at worst. My family from Jelenia Góra are visiting the capital so I will be looking after them next weekend, while after they go home I will need to take care of another acquaintance coming over to Warsaw. Take care!

History being rewritten

The Polish Internet has recently been flooded with humorous memes scoffing alleged accomplishments of Poland’s first back seat driver. The influx of mockery has been spurred by Mr Kaczynski and his servile henchmen (fellow politicians and reverent media) whose claims and deeds are aimed at changing roles of some people in Poland’s most recent history. Thus the official version of history, compiled by impious post-communist elites is set to be rewritten, to highlight roles of under-appreciated figures and to debase those whose merits have been undeservedly overrated.

Dear reader, feel ashamed not to be aware late president Lech Kaczyński was the deputy of Lech Wałęsa and actual leader of Solidarity movement.

Comment 1: beyond all doubt, Lech Kaczyński was one of the prominent figures in Solidarity since the inception of the movement, nevertheless no historian so far has dared to assert he had played the second fiddle in the movement.

Comment 2: beyond all doubt, Jarosław Kaczyński, despite holding no other function in the state than an ordinary lower-house deputy, is an actual leader of the group of people who formally exercise executive and legislative powers in Poland. The situation when a man actually takes decision but shuns responsibility for them is abnormal. I actually hope Mr Kaczyński takes over as prime minister.

Who is accountable for killing over forty Jews in Kielce and burning alive more than 300 Jews in a barn in Jedwabne? Minister of education in the PiS government lacked courage to admit those were Poles.

Comment 1: I would not put it down to Mrs Zalewska’s inadequate familiarity with Poland’s history.

Comment 2: A mature nation is capable of admitting to crimes its representatives committed, apologise for them and firmly condemn. Quibbling, as Mrs Zalewska did in the notorious TV interview, does not bring us closer to maturity in this respect.

You might think if Jarosław Kaczyński was not interned with the imposition of the martial law in December 1981, communist regime did not find him dangerous. Got it wrong my dear, the secret services planned to detain him, but accidentally did not do it, even though they had a chance to make up for it when Mr Kaczyński was shortly interrogated in the first days of the martial law…

Comment: You will not turn back time. On that frosty morning Jarosław woke up at ten a.m., went to church and in there found out something bad was going on. No bleak men knocked at his parents’ door to arrest him…

Who can take credit for bringing Poland into NATO? The omnipotent Leader and his crony Krzysztof Czabański! Any contribution of politicians such as Taduesz Mazowiecki, Bronisław Geremek, Aleksander Kwaśniewski? Who would care?

Comment: Wiadomości by TVP have become the most nefarious propaganda tube in Poland since 1989, beating by a long shot all previous SLD- or PO-affiliated circles of journalists and clearly biased coverage by TVN. From time to time I wrench my guts and watch Wiadomości. Selective choice of facts, failure to separate facts from comments and instructing audience what to think are now the distinguishing features of the main news programme, still financed from taxpayers’ purse.

And lastly, victims Smolensk crash is to be commemorated during each and every memorial of a historic event.

Comment 1: rationally, why mixing up fatalities of a tragic air crash with actual martyrs who died fighting for free Poland?

Comment 2: the decision to bring in Smolensk component into each and every occasion assisted by military forces is already making people laugh it off and in effect denigrates the remembrances of crash victims.

Having vented by anger at the above, I still underline rewriting the history is less detrimental than tampering with the economy (may the clearly debt-financed child allowance programme be enough) or with democratic institutions. The five hundred zlotys per child, a tangible proof how PiS kept their flagship promise, has lifted some people from penury, raised their living standards or simply bribed them off. Other voters could not care less, a few million genuinely believe PiS are mending Poland. Thus PiSites enjoy support reaching 40%, not because they have dismantled the constitutional tribunal, not because they are ruining public finances, but because they are the only party with agenda for Poland. No matter how strongly I disagree with the vision of Poland by PiS, I cannot deny the have what other parties lack.

Below, a derisive poem I could not resist to share, nimbly offending the better sort of Poles who vote for PiS…

BYŁ RAZ…

Był raz grafoman, wierszokleta,
Dziennikarzyna z bożej łaski.
Lecz się przedstawiał: wieszcz, poeta,
I ciągle czekał na oklaski.
Choć jego wierszy nikt nie czytał,
On niepowodzeń znał przyczynę!
Zmowa! Grubymi nićmi szyta!
Jeszcze - odgrażał się - wypłynę!

Podkreślał stale swe zasługi,
Że on jedyny pisze z sensem,
Sam się ogłosił raz i drugi,
Że niby polskim jest Brassensem.
Mając, jak twierdził, lekkie pióro,
Oceny podjął się z ochotą,
Co dobrą jest literaturą,
A szczerze mówiąc, był idiotą.

Był raz kabotyn, aktorzyna,
Przez całe życie grał ogony,
Lecz to nie moja – mówił – wina,
Że jestem wciąż niedoceniony.
Nikt do teatru nie chciał chodzić,
Oprócz lizusów i klakierów,
Lecz przekonywał: nic nie szkodzi,
To spisek bandy reżyserów.

Innych nazywał szmirusami,
Albo wyrażał się z przekąsem,
Kpił w żywe oczy, a czasami
Złośliwie mruczał coś pod wąsem.
Czy to był Hamlet czy Medea,
Do złej gry robił dobrą minę.
Chwalił się: zrobię dobry teatr!
Ale, niestety, był kretynem.

Był raz szarpidrut, muzykancik,
Blade pojęcie miał o jazzie.
O mistrzach mówił: dyletanci,
A sam rzępolił ile wlezie.
Choć jego grania nikt słuchał,
Grał w swym mniemaniu pierwsze skrzypce.
Czeka mnie – mówił - niezła fucha,
O władzy śniąc i złotej rybce.

Choć słoń nadepnął mu na ucho,
Wielkiego znawcy przyjął pozę,
Dziś z talentami – rzekł - jest krucho,
Tylko ja jestem wirtuozem.
Wmawiał, że jest muzycznym tuzem,
Choć był podrzędnym muzykantem,
Zapewniał: ja gram dobrą muzę!
A tylko zwykłym był palantem.

Był raz pacykarz, beztalencie,
Malował straszne bohomazy,
Lecz przekonany, że ma wzięcie,
Wystawiał wszędzie swe obrazy.
Nikt tych obrazów nie oglądał,
Świeciły pustką wernisaże,
Winę w kolejnych widział rządach,
Mówiąc: ja jeszcze wam pokażę!

Wszędzie miernoty i nieuki,
A ja? Świat jeszcze o tym nie wie,
Że to prawdziwe dzieła sztuki.
Reszta - gryzmoły i badziewie.
O innych mówić zwykł z pogardą,
Ja się – rzekł - znam na dobrej sztuce!
Swój kicz nazywał awangardą,
A był zwyczajnym, pardon, bucem.

Był raz polityk, nieudacznik,
Z rozdętym ego, z kompleksami.
Z nim osobnicy dość dziwaczni,
Nieudacznicy tacy sami.
Zebrał do kupy pacykarzy,
Niedocenionych wierszokletów,
Wziął dyletantów, dobrał łgarzy,
Wiedząc, że nie brak im tupetu.

Obiecał im: będziecie wielcy!
Sam przy tym się dowartościował.
Więc maszerują wierni strzelcy,
Historię pisać chcą od nowa.
A polityczna kusi scena,
Więc większość poszła jego tropem,
By ponoć z woli suwerena
Naprawiać Polskę, świat, Europę.

Dobrał frustratów, kabotynów,
Zawistnych, mściwych oszołomów.
Omamił, wezwał ich do czynu:
My nie poddamy się nikomu!
Dał szansę wszelkim grafomanom
I sam cytuje hasła wzniosłe,
To wszystko nazwał Dobrą Zmianą.
A jest zwyczajnym tylko posłem.

© MKWD (Muzyczny Kabaret Wojtka Dąbrowskiego)
Druk: tygodnik Passa, nr 26 (816), 30 czerwca 2016

Those interested in the alternative version of truth, seeking to free their minds, are advised to indulge in reading in Jarosław Kaczyński's autobiography. I am looking forward to borrowing this book, as I am not going to purchase it and support Mr Kaczynski financially nor contribute to higher popularity of the book measured by number of paperbacks sold. If I come by it, I promise to review it.

Secret files will set us free!

Secret files will open our eyes! Secret files coming to the light will make our lives better!

Prospects of government running out of money to procure bread are looming, so in order to keep the nation in high spirits, rulers need to put up circuses!

I haven’t got the faintest idea whether it was unfettered greed, desire to vindicate her late husband or plain crass stupidity that incited widow of general Kiszczak to contact IPN and let them know about documents stored by the general for several years. I am not fond of conspiracy theories so I am ruling out the story that Mrs Kiszczak had been manipulated and intimidated by secret services, although I cannot say such version does not hold water at all.

Since as it turned out the documents had been kept by Mr Kiszczak at home illegally, IPN investigators swiftly seized six cardboard boxes, one which included documents pertaining to Lech Wałęsa. For no apparent reason the remaining five boxes have gone to archives and will be carefully scrutinised by historians. But for some not necessarily apparent reason, files on Mr Wałęsa have been publicised almost instantaneously. Without expert analysis whether the documents had been counterfeited, the president of IPN (Mr Łukasz Kaminski, whose term expires this year) adjudicated, they were authentic, but not certainly true. A quick look-up in the Polish language dictionary tells us words autentyczny and prawdziwy are synonyms. Mr Kaminski probably meant the documents were genuine, but their content might not have been true, but who cares about details. The compilation of signatures speaks for itself…

Yes, whose cares. The whole agitation around Mr Wałęsa’s alleged collaboration with communist secret services will make few adults change their perception of the former president. For some he is a hero and will remain, for others he is a traitor and will remain. Debates on shameful past of Mr Wałęsa have lasted for many years and will continue even after his death.

For me, even if he signed a declaration to collaborate with the secret services, he remains an icon of Poland’s most recent history. Mr Wałęsa was a young, simple worker and reality of those times tough and anything but black and white. What matters more is that files bring no evidence of any link between Mr Wałęsa and the secret services after 1976 (some would argue, but no one will forbid them tale-telling). But what matters the most is how he prevaricates today over those events. Had Mr Wałęsa been a wiser man, he would have handled it much more sensibly, instead of dragging himself down. Making a clean breast of this anything, but glorious episode, would not damage his credentials.

The case is nevertheless not about Mr Wałęsa and his merits, it is about rewriting the history of Poland of the last fifty years, denigrate those who are now enemies of the dobra zmiana and replace them with different figures, particularly with another Lech. Once PiS and their henchmen paint a picture of abhorrent III RP being an awful child of PZPR, communist secret services and corrupt opposition leaders being in liaison with apparatchiks, they will earn a strong mandate to tear down the state built since 1989. The core driver is the revenge. Kaczynski brothers were ousted by Mr Wałęsa from his office in 1992 and tossed into political non-existence for several years. The same desire goes down to masses of ordinary people who have either not benefited from the transformation into market economy, or in some other way have had it uphill in life, are worse-off than their peers and blame the system for it.

Oddly enough, a short reminder for those who have not noticed where the divide line lies. It does not matter where you were before 1989. It only matters where you are now. The example of Mr Piotrowicz, a rising star of PiS who before 1989 was an ardent communist prosecutor (therefore fits well the ruling party) proves it best.

Also, the files taken over by IPN are likely to be used selectively, when opportune moments arise. The so-called historians could assume the whole content of secret service files are home truth, as rascals serving the principals from Moscow were beyond all doubt truthful and honest functionaries. If so, all their archives should be disclosed to the public. But they will not. They will be used selectively and wait patiently their turn for a moment when their content can hurt the most.

And scarily, the same people who talk so much about przemysł pogardy (the industry of contempt / disdain), whenever any of their supporters dares to criticise PiS, they set in motion the mud-slinging machine against them. This happened to professor Jadwiga Staniszkis recently. For years she would never hide her preference for PiS, but once she passed an unfavourable judgement on recent moves of the party, believers of the prezes put dragged her name through the mire. So voter beware!

Good God, under starry skies we are lost

11 September 2001, New York, Washington, Pennsylvania

11 March 2004, Madrid

7 July 2005, London

And a peaceful decade thereafter? Is my memory that short or had there been no spectacular terrorist attack in Europe since then until last Friday? Until I went to bed on Friday around half past nine p.m., no news from the radio turned on had reached me. The tidings I woke up to yesterday were at first more horrible than when the whole picture of the massacre sank in.

In terms of scale and atrocity of the attacks in Paris compare to acts of violence committed in Madrid and London, but one difference deserves to be noted. In Paris victims were folks who sought entertainment, while in Madrid and in London the fatalities and the wounded were public transport passengers. As I attempt to put the attacks into psychological perspective, I wonder whether who terrorist target to kill, instils more or less fear into the society. Commuting to work or school or moving around the city is one of down-to-earth, repetitive everyday activities one cannot avoid. Going to a concert hall or sitting about outside cafeteria is what one associates with pleasure, breaking away from and forgetting for a moment about the daily grind. Would you suffer more if you realised you could be murdered by terrorist on your way to work or when you go out to relax?

When it comes to pure politics, the attacks will quite likely stoke up anti-migrant sentiments across Europe and send support for xenophobic right-wing lunatics on the rise. Those urging to close borders and stem the uncontrolled flow of migrants will not necessarily become more audible, but more will listen to them. A cool-headed analyst would remind you the 9/11, Madrid and London attacks were carried out well in advance of wave of migrants at the gates of Europe. Countries becoming targets of terrorists have one thing in common – they have got involved into the war against terrorism.

A noteworthy question which naturally comes up in such circumstances is how to crack down on ISIS, the vengeful and vindictive enemy. The simplest solution which comes to mind is dropping a nuclear bomb on the territories of Iraq and Syria controlled by ISIS. Simple solutions, however, tend to be silly and do more harm than good. The example above has two primary drawbacks: firstly, nuclear bombing would involve deaths of thousands of innocent civilians (not yet killed or driven out by the ISIS soldiers from their homes), secondly it would trigger brutal retaliation, conceivably even a doomsday. ISIS is not confined to territories it controls but has its envoys spread far and wide across the world and ready to hit no matter how high the price to pay would be. The most reasonable way to combat ISIS would be, in my opinion, to cut them off money they rely on to come by. Let’s face it. ISIS lacks natural resources it could sell, it also does not produce anything, it can only destroy, but in order to get hold of the weapons and keep control over its territory it needs financial resources from the outside. The only question is who their sponsors are and what their reasons behind supporting ISIS are.

Is it (yet another) the end of the world as we know it? After a much more dazzling 9/11 attacks the world looks broadly the same as before them. The main observable difference are the meticulous security controls on the airports, for many passengers being a pain in the arse and oddly enough not abided by in many less civilised airports, as evidenced by the recent tragedy in Egipt.

The world needs to face several challenges with terrorisms coming to the fore as one of the core perils to the Western civilisation in the 21st century. We need to live with it and carry on, otherwise terrorists will win the most important war, the psychological one. I remember well how may parents were scared in March 2004 (it was during my first school year of commutes to Warsaw), when trains exploded in Madrid and many feared that trains of Warsaw underground could also be attacked, since Poland had sent its army to Iraq and Afghanistan… There’s no other way than coming to terms with a risk of being killed by a terrorist, which is anyway probably lower than the chance of being killed in a traffic accident.

Dedicated a few hours of the weekend to the New Employer, with nothing in return. More reflections on this next week…

Great people depart, ordinary people depart

The sudden departure of professor Władysław Bartoszewski is not just a loss of an outstanding witness of twentieth century’s atrocious history and meritorious advocate of dialogue and forgiveness in international relations. It is, as many claim, another milestone towards the end of a certain era. The last representatives of WW2 survivors generation are slowly passing away, the same will happen soon to the last imprisoned in Stalinist times, in decades veterans of Solidarity will also grow less numerous. This is, inevitably, history in the making.

Media, not only Polish, are full of memoirs and obituaries of Mr Bartoszewski, since the professor was recognised and appreciated well beyond borders of Poland. For me Mr Bartoszewski symbolised the power of individualism and was awe-inspiring example of brilliant intellectual strength despite grand old age. As for the former, Mr Bartoszewski excelled at striking a balance between speaking out what he thought and not hurting anyone. As for the latter, he proved keeping up intellectual activity can help preserve mental fitness of a man in his 60s. Despite being 93, until his last days he was involved in public issues. He made his last appearance mere five days before the decease and was due to make another one tomorrow.

His lifeline, long and broad, was cut unexpectedly. In a TV interview given on his 80^th birthday, he confessed he feared a day when he would be still physically alive, yet not understanding what was going on around. As he wished, this day has never come, senility has never taken over him. Maybe thus he met his destination, he lived on the run and passed away on the run, so may we remember him that way.

The departure of aunt Krysia, my maternal’s grandmother’s cousin and my mother’s godmother also struck as a bolt from the blue. Aunt was 85, yet despite that age still mentally and physically fit. I last saw her on 14 March, the day after her name-day and in the eve of my grandma’s death. I thought when my grandma was at her age she was also so full of energy. Even on the day she passed away nothing presage the oncoming tragedy. Just like Mr Bartoszewski a few days later, she fainted in her flat, was taken to a hospital where she died.

Not my immediate relative, yet a loss. Aunt Krysia and her sister Anna Sabina (who died in 2005) gave my maternal grandmother and her sister shelter when they were driven out from Warsaw by Germans after Warsaw Uprising. For my mother aunt was the last person who spent a lot of time with her mother with who she could recollect her mother. As a child, I used to spend around a month each summer in aunt Krysia and her sister’s flat in Piaseczno. They looked after my cousins and me when our mothers had to go to work.

On the professional front, a farewell to a 34-year-old talented manager working for one of the New Factory’s competitors. He died suddenly in a hotel during a business trip to one of Poland’s major cities. He was survived by a partner with who he had two small children. As it turns out, you will not know the date, nor the hour…

Hope we have run out of misery for a while and the blog will not resemble an obituary column at least in the coming months. Next week an overdue note on the imminent presidential election. What the campaign and candidates stand for is a crying shame, yet the issue is too serious to escape my notice.

Miasto 44 - film review

A long-belated post… I should have written it some four months ago, when I watched the film and took down my reflections worth sharing on the blog, but each week some more important stuff came into the foreground. Poor timing of many posts (i.e. commenting on many events with a delay of at least a few days) is in my view the biggest drawback of this blog. If I am to resolve to mend my ways, realistically it will not happen before 6 June 2015…

The first question about the film that naturally comes to mind concerns accuracy of depiction of the Warsaw Uprising. Virtually all films focusing on the theme of the uprising touched upon values associated with that historical event: patriotism, heroism, sacrifice, etc. All previous films played a part in shaping the “proper” picture of the Warsaw Uprising in minds of young people, while Miasto 44 is dissimilar to what audience have got used to. The picture is naturalistic and niftily illustrates what summer of 1944 in Warsaw was. It takes just a single word to describe it: a carnage.

The uprising is seen from a young generation’s perspective, hence instead of patriotism and sacrifices, the film dwells on ordinary lives of juvenile insurgents and things of central importance for people in their late teens. Thus the war intertwines with love (and sometimes making love), hatred, family lives, friendships and common human instincts, such as survival instinct. Moral dilemmas of characters are in the forefront, yet hardly ever they are shown in the broader context of the whole uprising or future of post-war Poland. Their choices relate to personal lives of specific persons, not their homeland. Personally, I favour such picture, ruthless and cruel, yet closer to the truth than fairy tales of women ceasing to menstruate during the uprising.

The cruelty and naturalism of the film were one of the reasons why film director, Jan Komasa, faced a barrage of accusations from insurgents. Youngsters definitely have to be taught what the Warsaw Uprising was really about and despite not being wholeheartedly enchanted by the film, I appreciate the director’s intention to shoot a film which would truthfully show wretchedness of those days. Some insurgents claim the brutality in the film tarnishes the memory of their valiant battle. Faced with such arguments, we must ask ourselves whether we want to rewrite the history. Making ten-year-old boys wear helmets, handing them dummy guns and telling them to run around and play the uprising is for me an actual slap on the face and a blatant distortion of the carnage, since wiping out Warsaw from the map of Europe and death of 200,000 people was nothing else but a gruesome carnage. I prefer repulsive sights of heaps of corpses and disfigured bodies of the alive to plain cult of brave insurgents.

The film selectively shows historical background of the uprising, however the selection of facts, adroitly highlighted between the lines, deserves commendation. It is underlined when the uprising broke out, Poles hoped it would last two or three days, before Soviet army came and cracked down on the Nazi occupier. Hopes for aid from Soviets was the main reason why most mutineers were unprepared and too often unarmed. On the other hand at the beginning of the film the viewer is told after five years of being humiliated and put down by Germans, lust for fight among inhabitants of Warsaw was too strong to be tempered. The march of Soviet army was by all characters treated with proper reserve. Advance of Red army gave hope for liberation from one occupier and relief from hardships of war, yet by no means Soviet were our friends. Tactic alliance in that situation was the lesser of two evils, but everyone knew Soviets did not give a damn about Warsaw… The film also reminds some soldiers from the Berling Army seeped to the left shore of Vistula and attempted to fight in the Warsaw uprising, yet given their inexperience in fighting in the city, they dropped like flies.

Special effects come in abundance in the film, most probably to appeal to younger audience. Nonetheless, I have found plenty of them gratuitous and detracting from authenticity of the picture. Some scenes in the film are totally out of place, with two taking the biscuit: one showing intercourse in the rhythm of techno music and the other of massive slaughter taking place when a slow-tempo ich liebe dich German ditty resounds in the background. I have found the former scene most misplaced in the film, not because I have something against sexual scenes, but because sight of two emaciated, unwashed for many days and wounded young people, who all of the sudden indulge in passionate intercourse which requires some fitness, simply does not fit the story. The scene was hailed controversial, since many uprising participants claimed nobody in that time thought about any closer relationships with representatives of the opposite sex, not to mention making love…

Miasto 44 inexorably prompts ponderings upon how human psyche can be affected by such traumatic event as the Warsaw Uprising. Each of the young people who spent almost two months in Warsaw Uprising witnessed scores of human deceases and tremendous suffering. Many times their survival instinct telling them to save their lives at expense of other people’s lives, conflicted with decency telling them to make sacrifices to rescue fellow men… Human psyche combats trauma by increasing resilience. Thus, in such extreme situations, in order to not to go insane, human beings naturally grow indifferent and insensitive to what they should be sensitive under normal circumstances… The question how humans cope with traumas of such kind is unlikely to be fully answered, since most people who lived through such slaughter unconsciously try to erase memories of distress. My maternal grandmother who spent almost the whole Warsaw Uprising hidden in a basement with her sister (their mother was killed in bombardment when she ventured above ground to come by some nutrition on 6 August 1944) and was driven away to Pruszkow by Germans, refused to talk about the uprising.

Despite not being a masterpiece, the film is worth spending two hours to watch it. You may be captivated by it or not, but it does a great job of giving testimony of one of the biggest humanitarian disasters in the history of mankind without resorting to disproportionate martyrdom. And finally, although during the last thirty minutes the depiction of carnage is grisly, the last scene, with special effects falling into place, makes up for all previous flaws of the film and renders without a glitch how the last days of the Warsaw Uprising looked like. As my grandparents confirm, the glow of burning capital was visible in late September 1944 even thirty kilometres away from the blaze.

1984 revisited

Early last week, I felt an irresistible temptation to reach out for a second time for the George Orwell’s book. I first and last read it on the spur of the moment in the summer of 2006 and just like with The Beautiful Mind, I remembered little from the first encounter with the work. For no apparent reason until the beginning of the last part, I was deluding myself that the book would have a happy ending, something totally unimaginable in the communist nightmare depicted in George Orwell’s last remarkable piece of writing.

While delving into the book and taking in its purport much better than when I was eighteen, I wondered what had inspired George Orwell to think up horrifyingly bleak picture of the future world. Was there any premise in 1947 or 1948, when the book was committed into paper, why the world order could develop into a gloomy picture of communist tyranny? Three years have elapsed since the end of WW2, half of the very war’s duration. Great Britain was drowning in penury, Europe was divided into two political spheres of influences, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, in each Western European countries communist parties were meaningful, although not main players in political arenas, ordinary people were fearing the onset of the third, much more cruel world war. Was the threat of communism spilling over Western swathes of Europe so conceivable?

Around that time communism was still spreading and robustly competing capitalism. The Korean war about to break out in 1950, the communist party took over rule in China in 1949, Fidel Castro got hold of power in 1959, Stalin was still alive and mighty. At that time it could be said the peril of communism spreading far and wide was as serious as never before. Shortly after the warning George Orwell wanted to give to the world was published, the peril began to slowly wane. Stalin died in 1953, subsequently the totalitarian system in the Soviet Union and in the Soviet bloc countries set off to gradually thaw out. There was no possibility to break away from the fetters of the dreadful ideology, but its intensity was less callous. In the meantime in other parts of the world setting up communist regimes was in overdrive. The communism was to hold up well for a thousand years. For (above all) economic reasons it failed to stand the test of time much faster. In countries not being a part of Soviet bloc the system began to fall into pieces gradually. The Soviet bloc disintegrated in 1989, after a decade of progressing decomposition. These days the hard-core communist regime has its last bastion in North Korea and despite economic misery, the isolated country does not seem likely to break free.

George Orwell surely drew inspiration from the darkest side of Stalinist purge of 1930s, yet the cruel regime of Oceania outstripped the pre-WW2 Soviet Union. The abhorrent vision of totalitarian regime puts status of Poland when it was a part of the Soviet bloc in interesting perspective. Although Poland was not a free country, the oppressive system could have suppressed Poles much more. Władysław Pasikowski, director of Jack Strong, in his interview for Polityka weekly, attempting to weigh up whether Mr Kuklinski’s liaison with CIA was a treason, tackles the problem with a question, whether People’s Poland was an independent country or the 17th Soviet republic. Although we do not concur in assessment of Mr Kuklinski’s deeds, Mr Pasikowski very wisely points out Poland was neither a sovereign country, nor a part of the Soviet Union. It was somewhere in between. Between the white and the black there always is a wide area, with different shades of grey. In People’s Poland ordinary people, who led ordinary lives could feel they enjoyed some degree of freedom, while the statesmen and all the people active in top politics at that time were much closer to the Soviet Republic. Fortunately, in authoritarian Poland after 1956 individuals were given some autonomy and even if their lives were miserable, they at least could feel safe, provided they did not stick their neck out. From the perspective of Stalinist Russia, so much, from the perspective of today’s free Poland, so little…

On one of wintery evenings, being at the loose end, I indulged in watching Dziennik Telewizyjny, the main TV news broadcast in the state-controlled television. One of early January 1987 issues contained two long reports of Poland and United States struggling onslaught of winter. Footages from Poland showed snowploughs pushing away snowdrifts, trucks coming over with supplies of food to villages cut off from the rest of the world, news of heat supply being uninterrupted by winter, etc. In the meantime in the United States winter wreaked havoc to all the infrastructure – airplanes stranded, airports closed, drivers freezing in their cars on motorways, people falling over on slippery pavements and breaking limbs, cars skidding on icy roads. The message put over between the lines: look, winter brings the capitalist country to its knees, while we, despite adversities, are moving on! I was kind of impressed by the efforts of propaganda-engineers, at least their output was more clever than crass reports of “exceeded five-years plan of shoe-polish production”.

It took me two evenings to read the book from cover to cover. The next masterpiece of 20th century literature to swallow will be the Master and Margarita, to be revisited after over nine years.

A hero or a traitor?

Gripping, witty, superbly-shot and adroitly-played is “Jack Strong”, political thriller directed by Władysław Pasikowski, which went to the silver screen on 7 Febraury 2014 and within first few days was watched by over half a million cinema-visitors. In terms of form, despite not being the ultimate masterpiece, undoubtedly it could be ranked no lower than most praised Hollywood thrillers. When it comes to substance, opinions are divided, as the film is a biography of colonel Ryszard Kuklinski, one of the most controversial public figures in the history of post-war Poland.

Mr Kuklinski was one of the most prominent officers of the Polish People’s Army. His career developed swiftly since his conscription to army just after World War 2. After several subsequent promotions, he became one of the youngest executive officers in the commandership of the Poland’s military forces and earned himself impeccable credentials of an ardent commie with comrades from Warsaw Pact’s commandership. He participated in preparations for “fraternal aid” in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Since 1972 (or according to some sources since 1967/68 when he served in Vietnam as a member of ICC) he collaborated with CIA as a spy and delivered the U.S. intelligence thousands of pages of documents relating to Warsaw Pact’s and Poland’s defence systems and strategic plans, including plausible nuclear war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Along with his family he defected to the United States, evacuated by the American intelligence in November 1981.

The film is claimed to be “based on facts”. From the first scenes, when death sentence on Oleg Pienkowski is executed by throwing the spy into the furnace (in fact the was killed customarily, by being shot at the back of his head and the “burning alive” execution is admitted to have been a myth), to the last scenes in which one of Mr Kuklinski’s sons dies in a traffic accident, being pushed off the road by a huge truck (in fact he was run down several times by an SUV with no number plates in university campus), the film departs from facts or is very likely to include overt fiction. Who can reliably confirm Brzehnev, after a phone call from Jimmy Carter, instructs marshal Kulikov to desist from plans of invading Western Europe? At best in many moments the film is based on conjectures or one-person assertions, taken for granted without third-party verification.

As Adam Krzeminski rightly points out in the recent issue of Polityka, the film is intended to leave no room for doubts or moral reflections. Mr Kuklinski’s treason (objectively judging, no matter what you thought of communist Poland’s degree of its dependence on the Soviet Union, he breached the military oath, sworn in 1947, in which subjugation to the Soviet Union was not mentioned) is fully justified and is worshipped. Actually the purpose of the film is to glorify the controversial person of the colonel and although the film will not make those who think he is a traitor change their mind, but for those who know little about the most famous NATO’s spy in communist Poland, the one-sided film will help shape a positive opinion about Mr Kuklinski.

Those who accuse Mr Kuklinski of treason claim no matter how lame the Polish country was at that time, duty of loyalty was still owed to it. In the film, Mr Kuklinski (the entire plot is a retrospect to his interrogation by Polish prosecutors in Washington in 1997) in an interview excuses himself by saying all the documents he had passed on to Americans pertained to Warsaw Pact and not Poland, hence he betrayed the Warsaw Pact, not Poland. It only takes to watch the film until the end to find out this excuse was untrue – information on preparations to martial law in Poland were internal documents of Polish army and internal office, the very martial law was not a Warsaw Pact operation.

Apart from worlds-apart view’s on Mr Kuklinski’s collaboration with the CIA, there are plenty of understatements, myths and unanswered questions regarding the biography and doings of Mr Kuklinski. Some of them are listed below. Please note facts are separated from my private opinions and other people’s opinions and asked questions mean what they mean in plain English, no need to read between the lines, nor scratch beneath the surface.

1. If Mr Kuklinski knew in advance on the planned imposition of the martial law in Poland, why did not he, nor the US intelligence let the Solidarity movement know about it, to let the dissidents better prepare for the clampdown?

2. Mr Kuklinski was said to live beyond his means long before he began spying for CIA. He earned a lot in Vietnam, but declared to have spent it for a Western car. His wealth was suspicious for his fellow army officers of similar rank, whose financial status was incomparably lower. The unclear source of Mr Kuklinski’s wealth is also mentioned in the film. But how come no one in Polish army’s commandership bothered to look into colonel lavish lifestyle, when according to procedures all persons having access to confidential information should have been closely screened out?

3. For Soviet comrades, Poland was just a satellite country, an inferior republic. Moreover, the Soviet empire of evil and relationships between its chief functionaries were founded on anything, but trust. Bearing this in mind, is it conceivable that Mr Kuklinski, an officer from the most subversive country in the Warsaw pact, could have been granted access to most confidential documents of the Soviet army, or mostly to those related to Poland?

4. During the almost 10-year espionage, Mr Kuklinski was caught red-handed photographing secret documents (this scene is shown in the film), but he got away with it, the report on the dubious situation somehow vanished into the air. In 1981 (also underlined in the film) it was pretty clear there was an American spy in the commandership of the Polish army and all evidence tipped at Mr Kuklinski. At some moment it became clear for everyone he was a traitor and no one bothered to take steps detain him. Even after his defection no one’s head rolled. Lack of reaction among the Poland’s highest-ranked army officers appears daunting.

I deliberately refrain from asking explicitly whether Mr Kuklinski was a double agent, i.e. whether he also spied for Soviets. Given abundance of arguments supporting such hypothesis, coming also from right-wing oriented, or even IPN-affiliated historians, it should not be disregarded. More on such possibility in a series of articles from “Przegląd” weekly here (part 1, part 2, part 3). I do not mind the leftist orientation of the magazine; the articles are informative, often precisely cite sources of information, ascribe statements to specific persons, although I would prefer to see it with more precise footnotes and extensive bibliography at the end, so that a reader could double-check accuracy of ample information these excerpts convey.

Poland sometimes looms as a peculiar country. Is there any other nation in the world that would hail a foreign country’s spy a national hero, as the Polish parliament resolved last Friday? I would hazard a guess in all jurisdiction espionage is a serious crime, subject to severe punishment. In 1984 Mr Kuklinski was in absentia sentenced to death, upon regaining independence the sentence was converted into 25 years of imprisonment, then, in 1997 he was vindicated. Was not it enough?

The squabble between right-wing deputies and their left-wing opponents which took place on Friday in the parliament reflects one of divide lines in the Polish society, not only concerning the assessment of colonel Kuklinski’s deeds, but also the attitude towards what Poland was between 1945 and 1989. Some claim in that period Poland was a Soviet Republic, others argue this was a dependent, lame country, being a part of the Soviet bloc, but still it was Poland, with all implications, including duty of loyalty and respect to one’s country. Stance towards political status of Poland between 1945-1989 is thus a starting point for assessment of Mr Kuklinski’s deeds.

Mr Kuklinski was a hero, but not Poland’s hero. He was instrumental for NATO in gaining the edge over Warsaw Pact and reinforced NATO’s position in case of military conflict between the two blocs and enfeebled Poland by revealing plans of its defence systems.

For me it is clear, unlike many assert, he did not act to the benefit of Poland. During the cold war, United States, nor NATO were not Poland’s allies. Poland for NATO was a part of its biggest enemy, the Warsaw Pact. If a military conflict had come to a pass, Poland would have been only worse-off on account of Mr Kuklinski’s espionage, because NATO strategist would have been better able to prepare plans of attacking and destroying Poland. If his activity could have had contributed to freeing Poland up from the Soviet dominance, I would concede there would be room for debate, but no Western country would have lifted its little finger to liberate Poland from the Soviet empire.

Giving credence to the tall story presented in the film that once Soviet comrades were informed NATO had learnt of Soviet’s blueprints to combative warfare, they immediately got scared and abandoned their plans is naïve. Putting down to Mr Kuklinski changing the course of world’s history is out of place. One man is not capable of doing so, mostly a spy from a hostile military bloc, who for CIA surely was not an implicitly trusted collaborator (as a contact from the hostile bloc he must have been handled with reserve)… Forces driving events in international politics are more complex and have many architects

Nevertheless, if you have not watched Jack Strong yet, I recommend you do so, for the pleasure of watching a decent political thriller.

Pamiątkowe rupiecie - book review

Two paragraphs below are an adapted and abridged translation of the book’s blurb.

Wisława Szymborska was anything but delighted to have learnt Anna Bikont and Joanna Szczęsna were writing her biography. As she found personal confessions inappropriate, she avoided like a plague telling stories of her private life. Despite this, the authors managed to persuade the poet to meet, which resulted in unveiling several astounding stories and facts from the past of the Noble prize winner. During a series of meetings Szymborska amazingly and humorously commented on various stages of her life and work. The story is supplemented with memories of the poet’s friends and pieces of poetry interspersed throughout. 

The book is a first full-scale biography of the Noble prize winner, substantially complemented in comparison to the first edition, issued after the Noble prize was awarded. The authors added chapters covering eventful last fifteen years of the poet’s life. They investigated hitherto unknown details from her life and enhanced the content with first-published photographs. The portrait of Szymbowska grew in dignity and depth, yet has not lost any of its lightness. The poet’s death marked the end of some era in the history of Polish literature. While reading this fascinating biography, full of anecdotes and poems, descriptions of journeys and testimonies of friendships, we can taste the climate of Szymborska’s era…

 
Encouraging, isn’t it? Even if the translation (mine) is imperfect…

Had a chance to read this book during early May weekend, yet have hung back on review, on account of, as usually, being short of time.

As indicated by the blurb, the insight into the poet’s private life was extremely hard-gained and it makes the book even more valuable and attention-gripping. Whatever you could say about Wisława Szymbowska, she was anyone, but a celebrity. The last thing she needed was publicity and as much as she could she avoided public appearances, which usually made her feel uncomfortable. Compared to most contemporary public figures who feel at ease being in the limelight, she was a misfit. I somehow feel sympathy with her in this respect…

The poet’s natural modesty, as emphasised repeatedly in the book, was her outstanding feature. And when encountering the poet, when observing her behaviour, you could feel this was not a feigned modesty, not a mask worn to gain accolades. Her manners exuded naturalness, you could almost sense her attitude to life was genuine, no room for acting…

Just to mention a few moments from the poet’s life that seem to deserve most attention in the context of how Szymborska will go down in history and controversies arousing around her. She survived WW2, witnessed inhuman cruelty and then the land she was born became a part of the Soviet bloc. The war brutality and duplicity of Church observed in the childhood put her faith in God to a test. Out of religious teenage girl, she evolved into doubting and seeking woman. She could not claim to be an atheist, yet rather an agnostic. Such openly declared beliefs turned against her in 1996. When she was awarded the Noble prize, right-wing lunatics instantaneously raised outcry over her steering clear of Catholicism and some other facts from her life she would never conceal.

These inconvenient facts Szymborska would never hide was her was post-war fascination with communism. Just like many people she wholeheartedly believed the new system would bring equality and common happiness. She actually discerned inhumanity of communism, but in the period of being totally besotted, she, and many of her peers, took in all the justifications for the system’s cruelty. She was infamous for writing an elegy after Stalin’s death (you can find it in the book), or writing commendation of North-Korean soldiers fighting capitalist invaders. She lost her faith in communism after the system thawed out in the second half of 1950s and in the 1960s she threw away her party membership card. She would never withhold her immature fascination with communism and claimed this was genuine, not opportunistic. She brought herself several times to account for this, yet the time could not be turned back. This stage in her life and poetry should not be forgotten, yet definitely should be forgiven.

Pieces of Szymboska’s poems have been deftly interspersed throughout stories from her life. I must admit the match is in most cases perfect – facts from life are marvellously illustrated with poems, often created on the spur of the moment. Or maybe the stories have been selected and put into apposite order to fit messages hidden in the outstanding poetry?

For the ones who have not been very familiar with Szymborska’s work, the book offers an opportunity to delve into remarkable poetry. As soon as you read several short poem, you realise the Noble prize was undeniably well-deserved. Some of the poems are translated into foreign languages, including English. The translation I read (I can’t quote it now, the book was borrowed and I forgot to scan the relevant page) was noteworthy and deftly rendered the poem’s message, while retaining natural flow and rhythm.

Szymborska’s artwork exudes with unique combination of simplicity and complexity. Striking a balance between the two in any genre is a challenging task and attaining it with a huge dose of sensitivity seldom happens. This only proves the poet’s uncommon aptitude that should outlast next generation of Poles.

Expect the next posting in the second half of June – holidaying until 16 June again ;-)

A trip to Dolnośląskie

All the good things have to come to an end… Taking a long-awaited and well-deserved holiday break helped me recharge batteries and forget about most of everyday worries. All the plans, social and sight-seeing-related have been followed out, so with no regrets tomorrow I’m bound to submerge into corpo-world. However, before I brace myself for a head-on collision with the recently upsetting murky corporate reality, let’s share some uncanny pictures and thoughts from the days off…

The Sky Tower in Wroclove, to the right shot from the street level, on its south-west edge. The tallest building in Wrocław was under construction in late summer 2011 when I last visited the city. Construction works were finished in 2012. The edifice built by Mr Leszek Czarnecki, one of the richest Poles, comprises of shopping mall, offices and apartments and there have been ample controversies surrounding the building, its design and whether its fits the rest of Wrocław in terms of architecture.

You may like its design or not, but you can’t fail to discern it. It’s visible from all main roads running to Wrocław from the distance of some 50 kilometres and right away it should strike you that the structure stands out in terms of height – the second tallest building in Wrocław is two times smaller… Its shape – looks like a tube sliced aslant – is a distinguishing mark. Whatever the owner and architects wanted to achieve has been achieved – no matter whether the building’s design falls in with your taste, pretty nobody passes it by indifferently.

To the right – north-eastern entrance to the shopping mall. Lipstick on a big, as I called this peculiar composition – the sculpture “Profile of time” by Salvador Dali was put up outside the building in April 2012 and has sat there since then. To make it clear – I have nothing against placing the piece of craftwork there and find it one of more attention-deserving examples of contemporary art (bringing to mind the timeless picture by Salvador Dali), but who the hell has come up with the ridiculous idea to mar the sculpture with the advertising screen put up just next to it? Does this stand for due respect for art? Or is the craftwork meant to serve the consumerism?

Sky Tower overlooks Wrocław and the further from it you move, the more likely you are to discern the characteristic tube in the distance. To the right, a photo taken from the southern fringes of Wrocław, where Al. Wyścigowa (former national road no. 8) and Al. Karkonoska  (National road no. 5) converge and then run towards A4 motorway. Before motorway bypass of Wrocław was opened this was a place where all the southbound transit traffic would meet…

Between the afore- mentioned streets one can find a cemetery of Soviet Soldiers. Cannons and tanks have been giving a warm welcome to all visitors coming to Wrocław since late 1940s when the necropolis was laid. This is one of many similar places in Poland (including the cemetery in Warsaw by ul. Żwirki i Wigury) commemorating the Soviet soldiers who “sacrificed their lives to liberate Poland”. The inscription to the right literally says: “HERE REST THE SOVIET ARMY SOLDIERS, PARTICIPANTS OF WROCLAW BATTLES WHO HAVE LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR LIBERTY AND INDEPENDENCE OF NATIONS OF POLAND AND THE SOVIET UNION”. Unless you are a hard-line commie, you should at least bridle at this pack of lies. What liberty? What independence? Many lunatics would probably be in cloud nine, if only they could obliterate such places of commemoration and go unpunished. I in turn hold the view such places should be taken care of and stay unharmed to bear testimony for next generations, also to bear testimony of omnipresent lies on which the totalitarian system was founded. Besides, those soldiers who rest there, were also victims of communism, cogs in a machine who were meant to die in order to let the Soviet empire expand westwards… They, as all humans, deserve a place of peaceful rest…

Coming to down-to-earth issues:

The weather was clement until Wednesday afternoon when temperature unexpectedly plunged and fell to mere +5C on Thursday morning. Given that spring came later than usual this year, some northern slopes in Karkonosze were still covered with snow (to the right, view from Kowary).

And two shots from Jelenia Góra – to the right, a pebble from Jelenia Góra, encased in cobblestone in the market square. Long story why it’s been here, every why has a wherefore. If any of the readers bothers to tell the anecdote, I’d be more than grateful…

To the right, again Jelenia Góra – every city must have its focal point, but few have it marked so distinctly. Interestingly, this is an element of a Church property. I won’t dare to speculate whether this is just a coincidence, or if it proves dominance of one specific institution in the Polish secular state ;-)

The trip was eventually in some 70% sponsored by a carefree driver who rear-ended me in Jelenia Góra. The speed at which the rear of my car was hit was low (again, inattention and centimetres lacking to make it a near-miss) and I was lucky not to sustain any neck injury (cervical spine is very sensitive to such accidents) and the damage done to my car was negligible. Upon checking the exhaust system and boot door lock remained intact, the culprit and I agreed on a few hundred PLN compensation for visibly scratched paintwork on the rear bumper. The damage doesn’t diminished the car’s utility value and it earned me some dough…

A propos motoring. After the period of run-up to Euro 2012 when several kilometres of roads were being modernised and built and ordeal drivers had to go through, now we can enjoy much higher standard of expressways and motorways – the wait was worthwhile! This was the first time I drove the newly built almost 100-kilometre long section of S8 (I last was there in September 2012, a month before opening) between Mszczonów and Piotrków Trybunaski and for the first time drove without even having to downshift to 4th gear 102 kilometres from Kostomłoty (junction on A4 motorway west of Wrocław) to Syców, where S8 expressway ends and turns into National Road no. 8, full of big trucks, small towns and numerous speed cameras… The missing section between Piotrków and Syców is under construction, due to be opened in 2015. Fills with hope. Actually driving the decent roads is faster and safer, but not necessarily cheaper. Unless you hold your horses and move excruciatingly slowly (100 kmph in my car is the speed above which fuel consumption begins to soar, from 6 litres of petrol per 100 km when the car does 100 kmph, to 8 litres when speed rises to 130 kmph and some 10 litres if I reach 150 kmph), the journey will set you back more (even more if you go via toll motorways, not the case this time) – but at the end of the day, comfort has its price…