On both my previous visits to Poland, I have only been passing through for a couple of days. This time, I feel I have been here long enough to begin getting to know the country. I have been able to learn a few words of Polish and to master, to some extent, the vagaries of Polish pronunciation – rather important since many words look impossible to say to an English speaker – for example, szczyt (meaning top or summit). I have also had much more opportunity to talk to Poles and to learn more of their culture and fascinating history. It has also helped to be traveling with a friend rather than alone. This has enabled us to discuss what we are seeing, experiencing and feeling, and has also made openings available for locals to talk with us which would probably not have existed otherwise.
From Wroclaw, we traveled to Krakow, the ancient royal capital of Poland. This beautiful city was left undamaged after World War II and so retains its original character throughout the central old town. We were sitting watching the football on TV in an outside café together with another Englishman and Jan, a Norwegian who now lives in Krakow. I asked him why he had moved here – he looked at me slightly quizzically, then glanced round and we all started laughing. We were sitting basking in hot sunlight on the edge of Rynek Glowny, at two hundred metres square, reputedly the largest medieval town square in Europe. We were surrounded by beautiful old buildings, and passing by were a constant stream of beautiful people. And generally it is still considerably cheaper here than in Western Europe. It was perfectly obvious that the question was unnecessary!
Wawel Castle, south of the old square and situated on a majestic sweeping bend in the Vistula river, is a symbolic focal point for Poles as it was the royal seat for over 500 years until the capital was moved to Warsaw, and most Polish monarchs are buried in the cathedral within the castle complex. There is even a legend that Wawel is one of the seven places in the world where magic stones landed after being thrown by Lord Shiva, the Hindu god (the others are Delhi, Delphi, Jerusalem, Mecca, Rome and Velehrad).
Outside of Krakow, about one hour’s drive west, is a small town which is better known for more recent historic episodes. Oswiecim is infamous under its German name, Auschwitz. Here at KL Auschwitz 1 and the much larger camp of Birkenau just outside the town, around one quarter of the total of six million Jews, Gypsies and others of 27 nationalities were exterminated by the Nazis. It is difficult so soon after to describe the feelings aroused by a visit here – the numbers involved are impossible to fathom. The realities really begin to hit home when you walk into a room and are confronted with a huge mountain of human hair, or a massive pile of suitcases each painted on with the name and age of its owner. Some belonged to children no more than six years old.
I am now in Warsaw, the modern capital and largest city in Poland. The old town and royal palace were completely destroyed in the war, but the delightful old town square has been completely rebuilt and restored, and the Royal Palace has also been completely reconstructed as it was, using contributions from Poles in this country and around the world. This was a true labour of love and a powerful symbol for the rebuilding of a nation. As you walk around the beautiful state apartments and through rooms full of furnishings and paintings, it is incredible to think that this was a pile of rubble a few years ago. It is also a wonderful opportunity to see these sorts of rooms as they would originally have looked, without hundreds of years of wear and faded colours.
But for me, the most incredible thing about Poland is not something which can be seen. It is the simple fact that for a period of 123 years from 1795 to 1918, Poland did not exist as a country at all. It was carved up in stages by the Russian, German and Austrian empires. During this period and again during World War II, the Russians and Germans went to great lengths to try to eradicate Polish culture and language. But this is what I find so fascinating – although Poland didn’t exist as a country with borders, it did still exist as a nation in the collective and individual minds of the Polish people. It was kept alive through perpetuation of Polish culture and language and through underground nationalist movements. When the country was recreated at the end of World War I, its borders were different from before and then changed again in 1945. There were mass migrations of Poles to the regions previously part of Germany from parts relinquished to the Soviet Union, and generally the Polish population is now more homogenous than at any time in its past. Some Poles I talked to see this as a bad thing since there has until recently been less contact with foreigners and therefore less opportunities to share and understand neighbouring cultures.
As someone who comes from a country which has had borders mostly defined by its island geography and largely stable history over the last thousand years, I can only begin to try to comprehend the idea that a country or nation is defined more by its culture and language than by its land. I have tried asking some Poles whether their history of moving borders affects their sense of attachment to place, but I suppose that they have no way of comparing their sense of national identity with mine any more than vice versa.
Poland is changing fast. It has emerged from its past-war communist past and is making rapid progress economically, with its infrastructure and with its relationships and interactions with is immediate neighbours and countries farther afield. It has had centuries of history as a rope in a tug of war between larger, more powerful military empires to east and west. Now it is having to examine its sense of nationhood yet again as it considers whether to join the new economic and political empire of the European Union.
I am beginning to scratch the surface of this beautiful and interesting country. I will be back for more.
On both my previous visits to Poland, I have only been passing through for a couple of days. This time, I feel I have been here long enough to begin getting to know the country. I have been able to learn a few words of Polish and to master, to some extent, the vagaries of Polish pronunciation – rather important since many words look impossible to say to an English speaker – for example, szczyt (meaning top or summit). I have also had much more opportunity to talk to Poles and to learn more of their culture and fascinating history. It has also helped to be traveling with a friend rather than alone. This has enabled us to discuss what we are seeing, experiencing and feeling, and has also made openings available for locals to talk with us which would probably not have existed otherwise.
From Wroclaw, we traveled to Krakow, the ancient royal capital of Poland. This beautiful city was left undamaged after World War II and so retains its original character throughout the central old town. We were sitting watching the football on TV in an outside café together with another Englishman and Jan, a Norwegian who now lives in Krakow. I asked him why he had moved here – he looked at me slightly quizzically, then glanced round and we all started laughing. We were sitting basking in hot sunlight on the edge of Rynek Glowny, at two hundred metres square, reputedly the largest medieval town square in Europe. We were surrounded by beautiful old buildings, and passing by were a constant stream of beautiful people. And generally it is still considerably cheaper here than in Western Europe. It was perfectly obvious that the question was unnecessary!
Wawel Castle, south of the old square and situated on a majestic sweeping bend in the Vistula river, is a symbolic focal point for Poles as it was the royal seat for over 500 years until the capital was moved to Warsaw, and most Polish monarchs are buried in the cathedral within the castle complex. There is even a legend that Wawel is one of the seven places in the world where magic stones landed after being thrown by Lord Shiva, the Hindu god (the others are Delhi, Delphi, Jerusalem, Mecca, Rome and Velehrad).
Outside of Krakow, about one hour’s drive west, is a small town which is better known for more recent historic episodes. Oswiecim is infamous under its German name, Auschwitz. Here at KL Auschwitz 1 and the much larger camp of Birkenau just outside the town, around one quarter of the total of six million Jews, Gypsies and others of 27 nationalities were exterminated by the Nazis. It is difficult so soon after to describe the feelings aroused by a visit here – the numbers involved are impossible to fathom. The realities really begin to hit home when you walk into a room and are confronted with a huge mountain of human hair, or a massive pile of suitcases each painted on with the name and age of its owner. Some belonged to children no more than six years old.
I am now in Warsaw, the modern capital and largest city in Poland. The old town and royal palace were completely destroyed in the war, but the delightful old town square has been completely rebuilt and restored, and the Royal Palace has also been completely reconstructed as it was, using contributions from Poles in this country and around the world. This was a true labour of love and a powerful symbol for the rebuilding of a nation. As you walk around the beautiful state apartments and through rooms full of furnishings and paintings, it is incredible to think that this was a pile of rubble a few years ago. It is also a wonderful opportunity to see these sorts of rooms as they would originally have looked, without hundreds of years of wear and faded colours.
But for me, the most incredible thing about Poland is not something which can be seen. It is the simple fact that for a period of 123 years from 1795 to 1918, Poland did not exist as a country at all. It was carved up in stages by the Russian, German and Austrian empires. During this period and again during World War II, the Russians and Germans went to great lengths to try to eradicate Polish culture and language. But this is what I find so fascinating – although Poland didn’t exist as a country with borders, it did still exist as a nation in the collective and individual minds of the Polish people. It was kept alive through perpetuation of Polish culture and language and through underground nationalist movements. When the country was recreated at the end of World War I, its borders were different from before and then changed again in 1945. There were mass migrations of Poles to the regions previously part of Germany from parts relinquished to the Soviet Union, and generally the Polish population is now more homogenous than at any time in its past. Some Poles I talked to see this as a bad thing since there has until recently been less contact with foreigners and therefore less opportunities to share and understand neighbouring cultures.
As someone who comes from a country which has had borders mostly defined by its island geography and largely stable history over the last thousand years, I can only begin to try to comprehend the idea that a country or nation is defined more by its culture and language than by its land. I have tried asking some Poles whether their history of moving borders affects their sense of attachment to place, but I suppose that they have no way of comparing their sense of national identity with mine any more than vice versa.
Poland is changing fast. It has emerged from its past-war communist past and is making rapid progress economically, with its infrastructure and with its relationships and interactions with is immediate neighbours and countries farther afield. It has had centuries of history as a rope in a tug of war between larger, more powerful military empires to east and west. Now it is having to examine its sense of nationhood yet again as it considers whether to join the new economic and political empire of the European Union.
I am beginning to scratch the surface of this beautiful and interesting country. I will be back for more.