For The Love of Travel

First stop this morning to the Warsaw Uprising Museum, which provides a tribute to those Warsaw residents who fought and died for an independent Poland. It sets the scene for the uprising by detailing the German and Russian invasion of Poland in September 1939; the development of the Polish underground resistance; the treachery of allies in not coming to assist Poles in the 1944 uprising until too late and later, in the Yalta agreement ‘settlement’; the viciousness of the German occupation and the decimation of utilities and infrastructure in Warsaw as a last act by Hitler, on abandoning the city in 1945.  Finally the Soviet era of occupation until 1989.

Saw an amazing 3D aerial view sequence, a simulation of an imaginary flight of a British Liberator bomber over the city after the war in 1945. It reconstructs the trajectory that RAF bombers took when bringing supplies and arms to the insurgency. The film was developed after the project team took a helicopter flight over contemporary Warsaw to film base material. They filled it in with detail from some 2000 historic pictures, films and paintings to recreate Warsaw. The result is a computer simulation that shows collapsed bridges along the Vistula river, whole districts of roofless, burned-out houses and the Warsaw ghetto as a flat sea of rubble – over 85% of the city in ruins. No longer “the Paris of the East”. Before the war, some 1.3 million lived in Warsaw, just 1,000 amid the ruins in 1945.

Next to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews (POLIN). It presents 1000 years of Polish-Jewish co-existence, speaking of cooperation, rivalry and conflicts, autonomy, integration and assimilation.  It explores cultural stereotypes, xenophobia and nationalist prejudices.

An incredibly curated story from the Middle Ages; legends of arrival, settlement and development of culture – showing the social, religious and political diversity of Jews and highlighting dramatic events of the past. The story is told by artefacts, paintings, reconstructions and models, video projections and interactive installations – from the perspective of merchants, noblemen, kings, scholars, rabbis, housewives, politicians, revolutionaries. A beautiful replica of a 17thC, 15 metres high wooden synagogue in Gwodziec took my breath away at the centre of the exhibition.Polychromic decoration from the hexagonal space at the centre, with walls covered with painting from the floor to the ceiling. Decorations depicted religious scenes, animal imagery, plants, zodiac signs, Messianic symbols. 

I hadn’t appreciated the depth of the Lithuanian/Polish alliance, since 1300’s, even forming a confederation in 1567, sharing an elected king, foreign policy and single monetary system (and home to Europe’s largest Jewish community) . Their agreement was in response to the growing strength of and pressure for expansion from Russia and Sweden. This tapestry depicts the white eagle (emblem of Poland) and the knight on horseback (emblem of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), united by Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory.

This is a 1901 photo of some workers who boycotted a factory’s operation after 45 of their female colleagues had been sacked and replaced with Christian women. Calling a strike was seen as a radical action!

Mania Wilbuszewicz-Shochat (dark dress) was constantly asking herself “how can we achieve social justice”? Her stay in Palestine in 1904 convinced her to settle there, establishing the first kibbutz, a collective agricultural settlement based on socialist ideals.

I was interested to learn that Poland initially served as a haven for European jewry since the 1000’s because of its relative tolerance. However the history of pogroms (Jewish massacre) in Poland was the most confronting part of the exhibition for me – from the 1300’s on. Variously blamed for the Black Death; unfair competition in trade and crafts; declining economic conditions in different periods of history; associated with the Bolshevik revolution and Trotsky; and the Holocaust (85% of Polish jewry perished).

A day of sombre reflection…. on history of which I had little or no knowledge, remembering experiences and stories told by my parents as I walked through various exhibits in the 2 museums.

A beautiful day for a walk through Warsaw’s Old Town, the heart of which is the town market place, rich in restaurants, cafés and shops. Surrounding

streets feature medieval architecture.  The Old Town was established in the 13th century, growing up around the Royal castle. Until 1817 the most notable feature was the Town Hall built before 1429.  

In the early 1910’s the Old Town was a slum, with poor families in crowded subdivided tenements which had once been aristocrat’s palaces. Parts of it were bohemian, with painters and artists having their studios, while some streets were a red light district housing brothels.  During the invasion of Poland in 1939, the German Luftwaffe targeted the residential area and historic landmarks in a campaign of terror bombing.  After the Warsaw uprising in 1944, what had been left standing was systematically blown up by the German army. After the war, it was meticulously rebuilt, using as many as possible of the original bricks.

Arrived at my breezy studio apartment, went to pick up my Warsaw Pass (tourist discount card to all the attractions around) at the Palace of Culture and Science.  The skyscraper was apparently erected by Stalin  in the 1950’s as “a present to the people of Poland”.

Poland’s tallest building has 44 floors. On the 30th floor, at the height of 114 m, there is a delightful viewing terrace, with gratings installed between the parapet and roof. Poking your camera through the grate allows you to take clear images. Not so great (ha!), is the reason behind why the grate was installed –  the rate of suicide jumps. A beautiful 24 degrees, warm sunny day, clear blue skies – so lovely images around the urban area of Warsaw. Particularly the building called “the sail”, designed by Polish architect, Daniel Libeskind.

Leaving the palace, on a nearby building,  I first noticed an imposing statue but then the banner advertising Samuel Beckett’s play, “Szczesliwe Dni” – “Happy Days” (a monologue by a woman who is gradually being buried alive). I remember being fascinated for a short period of time as a Uni student, in the philosophy of existentialism (the absence of free will, the duty to face the fact that our lives are devoid of any purpose in a totally absurd and indifferent Universe). Read lots of Beckett, Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir. Very left bank Paris cafe scene.. and black turtlenecks! Had half an hour to kill before boarding a bus, so sat in nearby gardens and looked for my phone in my bag. Which was the time I noticed my purse was not in my bag. I couldn’t remember taking my purse out after paying at the counter. OMG! I walked back to the Palace, talked with guards, they phoned around to see if anyone had handed in a purse….after some very sweaty 10 mins on my part, one of the guards said “I may have some news for you”.  Was introduced to a grandmother with grand daughter in tow, who had found it on the 30th floor. Many thanks later, and handing over 20 polish zloty to the kid for an ice-cream or two, I was able to breathe properly again.

Much relieved, I just made the last “hop on, hop off bus tour” to soak up some sights. Some random images of a tribute to ballet, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier entrance to the beautiful Saski garden, a poster advertising an exhibit of WW2 Polish heroes. Exhausted, going home now!