Europe`s Best Equipped and Ultra-Modern Laboratory in the Former Largest Nazi Camp

All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. It was established by the Nazis in 1940, in the suburbs of Oświęcim, which, like other parts of Poland, was occupied by the Germans and annexed to the Third Reich during WWII. The name of the city was changed to Auschwitz, which became the name of the camp as well. Konzentrationslager Auschwitz. Over time it became the largest such Nazi camp.

            The first flashback                      

„It was real, thus the work of people, the work that can be researched…

Auschwitz must be understood as the historical past, must be

recognisable in the here and now, and it must not be

ignorantly detached from future perspectives.

Auschwitz does not lie only behind us…”

Günter Grass

recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature, best known for his first novel, „The Tin Drum”

It was summer 1991. Two years passed since Poland`s election of June 1989. I don`t remember what an exhibition it was except for the fact that it was held in Warsaw, my home town but I still have my American friend`s face in my mind and hear her voice asking me: “OMG! Did the Holocaust exist then? We are taught it was just the propaganda.” I got shocked with what she said and she was shocked with what she had just discovered. We were both shocked, each of us in our own way. I thought the extermination was out of indoctrination. And I have to mention that my friend is a very well-educated, intelligent and wise lady as she has always been.

Initially, Auschwitz was to be one more concentration camp of the type becoming the most infamous one in result

Auschwitz-Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz I and II. These camps are probably the most infamous camps of World War II. The complex was made up of three smaller sub-camps. One was a work camp. When the prisoner was too old or too sick to work, he was sent to the death camp. Once murdered, slain prisoners were sent to the final facility – a crematorium. Auschwitz had the capacity to murder 20,000 prisoners per day. It is estimated that at least 1.1 million people died there.

The second flashback

World Youth Days took place in Cracow on the last week of July. The Pope`s visit to Auschwitz was scheduled for Friday July 29th. My colleague and I were broadcast editors there. A day before TV transmission we were at the camp for fact checking. It was a nice sunny day. There were lots of visitors. Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum is not just another place of interest and you musn`t call it pleasant sightseeing, more the most important life lesson that everyone should learn but when I recall January 27th, 2010 I may call last July visit the pleasant one. I was the broadcast journalist of Polish and international transmission of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. And only one TV journalist there. I remember that I wore a few layers of clothes for cold weather. It was freezing and whatever direction you looked in the only one view you had was blocks. If I was asked to name a few nightmares I have experienced so far I would say my TV job at the camp on that January day was one of them. I was being there in freezing temperatures. It was grey around, the blocks stretched all the way to the horizon, I was on my own for three locations there and ceremony delayed for 40 minutes. Instead of a few minutes, we must have done 40-minutes talk on air before ceremony began. Being there was depressing and stressful but I felt I had the Angel. My grandfather from father side died there on the liberation day. He refused to sign the Deutsche Volksliste and got to the camp.

Six years later, on Thursday July 28th my colleague and I were standing between blocks in very pleasant temperature and listened to Memorial and Museum press officer who was telling us how prisoners were made ready for execution. I almost fainted. Blood was beating rapidly in my head and I was wondering which block my grandpa was staying in.

In years 1940 – 1945, Nazi Germany deported approximately one million three hundred thousand people from European countries occupied by the Third Reich: one million one hundred thousand Jews, up to one hundred fifty thousand Poles, twenty three thousand Roma (Gypsies), fifteen thousand Soviet prisoners of war and twenty thousand prisoners of other nationalities. Most of them died as a result of starvation, labor that exceeded their physical capacity, the terror that raged in the camp, executions, the inhuman living conditions, disease and epidemics, punishment, torture, and criminal medical experiments.

Many Nazi concentration camps were located in Poland, but to call them “Polish death camps” is a huge error made by press, media and many personalities. My colleague and I insisted to call the camp with full name during our last July transmission. When I read about or hear someone saying “Polish death camps” all I can do is to ask “Polish death camps? Excuse me?”. I am the journalist and I know how much responsible journalists and everyone saying in public should be.

Little Known Facts about Auschwitz

Auschwitz first prisoners were Poles because the direct reason for the establishment of the camp was the fact that mass arrests of them were increasing beyond the capacity of existing “local” prisons. These were people regarded as particularly dangerous: the elite of the Polish people, their political, civic, and spiritual leaders, members of the intelligentsia (inteligencja – a social class of people engaged in complex mental labor aimed at guiding or critiquing, or otherwise playing a leadership role in shaping a society’s culture and politics), cultural and scientific figures, and also members of the resistance movement, officers, and so on. The first transport of Poles reached KL Auschwitz from Tarnów prison on June 14th, 1940.

Initially the inmates also included a small group of Jews and some Germans; the latter generally performed supervisory roles in the camp. In subsequent years prisoners of other nationalities were also sent there. From 1942 the vast majority of those sent to Auschwitz were Jews and they also accounted for the largest number of its victims. Other very large groups of inmates and victims included the Poles, the Roma and Soviet prisoners of war.

Auschwitz was to be one more concentration camp of the type that the Nazis had been setting up since the early 1930s. It functioned in this role throughout its existence, even when, beginning in 1942, it also became the largest of the death camps.

The third flashback

Last July my colleague and I were walking past a little square where newly arrived prisoners were greeted at the camp by Lagerführer SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritzsch: ‘You have arrived not at a sanatorium but at a German concentration camp in which the only way out is through the chimney. If someone doesn’t like this, he may at once go to the wires. If there are any Jews in this transport, they have no right to live longer than two weeks. If there are any priests, they may live for a month, the rest only three months.’

I noticed dead silence at the camp, a kind of which you can hear in graveyard. In spite of the fact there were many visitors. But even people whispering couldn`t break that. It seemed as if the time stopped there. Forever.

The landscape unfavourable for escapees

The area adjacent to the Auschwitz camp was flat, without many forests and additionally, there were streams supplying water to numerous breeding ponds. All these conditions made it more difficult for prisoners to escape. But it was located nearly 70 km from the Slovakian border and over 70 km from the border with the then Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Probably the proximity of borders influenced the decision to escape made by Czech prisoners, Czech Roma or Slovakian Jews.

In contrast to the Polish territories incorporated into the Reich, occupational authorities left there some elements of the Polish State structures. Thus, the system of controlling the Polish society was a little less strict than in the Reich. That is why numerous Polish prisoners, while deciding to escape the camp, hoped to find an effective refuge in this area. Reaching the General Government or Beskidy Mountains was facilitated by the attitude of a great number of Poles residing near Auschwitz. In spite of the threat of losing their lives and freedom, they helped the escapees they met by providing shelter, giving directions and accompanying while crossing the border. Some of them organized the escapes themselves or helped in their coordination.

There cannot be a God if Auschwitz exists

“When an SS men were bored, they would take off a prisoner’s cap and throw it away. They would then order the prisoner to fetch it. As the prisoner was running, the officer would shoot them. Then they would claim the prisoner was trying to escape and get three days off for foiling it.”

Kazimierz Piechowski`s interview for The Guardian

Kazimierz Piechowski was one of prisoners who escaped Auschwitz and survived.

He was 19 when the war broke out. He belonged to the scout movement which was seen by invaders as a symbol of nationalism and a potential source of resistance. When the Nazis started shooting the scouts Kazimierz Piechowski knew he would have been another one to be killed and tried to flee across the Hungarian border and was caught at the crossing. After eight months in various prisons he was sent to Auschwitz.

For some time, Piechowski was set to work carrying corpses after executions which were being done between blocks 10 and 11 where the death wall was placed. SS men would line prisoners up and shoot them in the back of the head. At the end there would be a pile of naked corpses and Kazimierz Piechowski along with another man would throw them on to carts, to transport them to the crematorium. “Sometimes it was 20 a day, sometimes it was a hundred, sometimes it was more. Men, women and children” – he told The Guardian`s journalist.

However he had never planned to flee until his friend`s name appeared on a death list. It was Eugeniusz Bendera, a gifted Ukrainian mechanic who worked in the camp’s garage. He had been told by those who had access to his documents that he was going to be murdered. It was when the germ of escape formed.

Kazimierz Piechowski and his mates were being held in the main camp, Auschwitz I, where the fences were covered in electrified barbed wire and there were guards every few metres. The escapees would have to make it through the infamous Arbeit macht frei gate (the legend meant “Work sets you free”).

They had no way out, they must have broken out from the camp, otherwise Eugeniusz Bandera would have been killed. Their act was very brave, even became the story of documentary movie and the song “Kommander`s Car” by Katy Carr. The mechanic had picked the Steyr 220 – the fastest car in Auschwitz, there for the sole use of the commandant. “It had to be fast, because he had to be able to get to Berlin in a few hours. We took it because if we were chased we had to be able to get away” – Kazimierz Piechowski said.

The escapees drove to the main gate – passing SS men who saluted them and were greeting them with “Heil Hitler”. They were almost successful however the biggest test was still to come. Kazimierz Piechowski recalled that “There was still one problem: we did not know whether, when we came to the final barrier, we would need a pass. We just planned that I would play the role of an SS officer so well that the guards would believe me.”

Yet as they approached the barrier, the guard did not move. They were driving towards the final barrier, but it was closed. They continued their way, they were being closer and closer and nothing changed. Eugeniusz Bendera having white face with fear and sweat on his brow stopped the car and as Piechowski stared blankly ahead, not knowing what to do, he felt a blow on his shoulder. It was priest Józef Lempart, one of escapees. He whispered: “Kazik, do something”. Piechowski said this had been the most dramatic moment, he had started shouting. The SS guards obeyed and the car drove to freedom – allowing the men to become four of only 144 prisoners to successfully escape Auschwitz.

Although there were 144 prisoners who broke out from notorious Nazi camp and survived, every escape was followed by deadly consequences.

The fourth flashback

TV crew: vision, sound and light directors, camera-men, producers and editors went down to the death cell in the basement of Block No. 11. Next day we were to make international transmission of Pope Francis visit to the former German death camp Auschwitz.

It is where Father Kolbe died a martyr’s death and was later canonized. After being sentenced to death, Father Kolbe was placed by the Germans in the cell No. 18 situated in the underground of Block 11.

Prisoner #16670 gave life for a life

After the outbreak of World War II, Kolbe remained in the monastery, where he organized a temporary hospital. After the town was captured by the Germans, he was briefly arrested by them on September 19^th, 1939 but released on December 8^th. He declined to sign the Deutsche Volksliste, which would have given him rights similar to those of German citizens in exchange for recognizing his German ancestry. Upon his release he continued to work at his monastery, where he and other monks provided shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews whom he protected from German persecution in their friary in Niepokalanów. Kolbe also received consent to continue publishing religious works, though significantly reduced in scope. The monastery thus continued to act as a publishing house, issuing a number of anti-Nazi German publications. On February 17^th, 1941, the monastery was shut down by the German authorities. That day Kolbe and four others were arrested by the German Gestapo and imprisoned in the Warsaw Pawiak prison. On May 28^th, he was transferred to Auschwitz as prisoner #16670.

While acting as a priest, Kolbe was subjected to violent harassment, including beating and lashings, and once had to be smuggled to a prison hospital by friendly inmates. At the end of July 1941, three prisoners disappeared from the camp, prompting SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander, to pick 10 men to be starved to death in an underground bunker to deter further escape attempts. When one of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, “My wife! My children!”, Kolbe volunteered to take his place.

According to an eye witness, an assistant keeper at that time, in his prison cell, Kolbe led the prisoners in prayer to Our Lady. Each time the guards checked on him, he was standing or kneeling in the middle of the cell and looking calmly at those who entered. After two weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe remained alive. The guards wanted the bunker emptied, so they gave him a lethal injection of carbolic acid. Friar Kolbe is said to have raised his left arm and calmly waited for the deadly injection. His remains were cremated on August 15^th, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary.

On May 12^th, 1955, Kolbe was recognized as the Servant of God. Kolbe was declared venerable by Pope Paul VI on January 30^th, 1969, beatified as a Confessor of the Faith by the same Pope in 1971 and canonized as a saint by Pope John Paul II on October 10^th, 1982.

After his canonization, St. Maximilian Kolbe’s feast day was added to the General Roman Calendar. He is one of ten 20th-century martyrs who are depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey, London.

The fifth flashback

Friday, July 29th 2016, 5 am. We got to the camp much too early, four hours before broadcasting started. We were very tired, we had slept no longer than for 4 hours. I was occupying the ground next to the wires trying to sleep in a sitting position. My colleague woke me up suggesting to find a ladies` room. And off we went.

We found workshops building and we got told there was Europe`s Best Equipped and Ultra-Modern Laboratory. That news made me awake in less time than it takes to say “OMG!”. I thought I knew what I would write about my next text.

***

A few million tourists a year visit Museum and Memorial Auschwitz-Birkenau which is Polish most visited museum. Created in 1947 it has been the Archive and Collections as well as research, conservation and publishing center. This is a “must-see” place because there is no way to understand postwar Europe and the world without an in-depth confrontation between our idea of mankind and the remains of Auschwitz.

Photos: my son Michał Stanisławski

The text was published at http://www.communications-unlimited.nl/europes-best-equipped-and-ultra-modern-laboratory-in-the-former-largest-nazi-camp/

Gift of the Soviet people to the Polish nation

The text was published at http://www.communications-unlimited.nl/gift-of-the-soviet-people-to-the-polish-nation/

The tallest building in Poland, the eighth tallest building in the European Union and in a Top-20 in Europe. There has been no more foreground building constructed in Poland after 1945 than the Palace of Culture and Science – or to give it its full title: “the Palace of Culture and Science in the name of Joseph Stalin”. And none more divisive and controversial, either.

They should have sold it and said they would ship it over for free

When I told my English friend I was going to write a text about the Palace of Culture and Science, he asked me if I was talking about „a monstrously hideous landmark in the centre of Warsaw”. It is very tasteless on a Soviet Communist way – he said. I am surprised people who suffered under communism don`t want it torn down – he added. I told him an American billionaire wanted to buy the Palace a while ago and move it to the States, unfortunately Poland disagreed but my friend was unconvinced and replied: They should have sold it and said they would ship it over for free!!!

As the city’s most visible landmark, the building was controversial from its inception. Many Poles initially hated the building because they considered it to be a symbol of Soviet domination, and at least some of that negative feeling persist today. Some have also argued that, regardless of their political connotations, the building destroyed the aesthetic balance of the old city and imposed dissonance with other buildings. This contrast has been lessened somewhat over the years with the construction of several skyscrapers in the vicinity. Despite the controversies, the Palace became an internationally recognized symbol of Warsaw.

The Palace was meant to fascinate the public but instead became the subject of several jokes and sarcastic observations. The French actor Gerard Philipe while visiting Warsaw called the Palace „small but tasteful”. There was a running joke about the most beautiful place in Warsaw and the answer was „the 30th floor of the Palace of Culture and Science since there was a viewing tarrace and standing there you could see anything but the Palace”.

The nicknames full of hate and contempt

Varsovians still commonly use nicknames to refer to the Palace, notably Pekin (“Beijing”, because of its abbreviated name PKiN), Pajac (pronunciated as „payatz”, “clown”, a word that sounds close to „pałac”). Other less common names include Stalin’s syringe, the Elephant in Lacy Underwear, or even the Russian Wedding Cake. The building has been most hated by Warsaw inhabitants since it was a gift from the loathed Soviet Union to the people of Poland.

The Legends about the Palace of Culture and Science

There are many legends about what is hidden beneath the building: fallout shelter, railway platform, pathways to Warsaw Central Station (opened 20 years later) and the House of the Party, the seat of The Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR being the Communist party which governed the People’s Republic of Poland from 1948 to 1989). The PKiN information desk informed me last weeked there was not fallout shelter under the building however I remember one of my student mates mentioned shooting session made there nearly 30 years ago.

The other legend says a Polish Communist leader, NKVD agent, and a hard-line Stalinist who became President of Poland Bolesław Bierut held talks with the leader of the Soviet Union Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin which led to accepting the Palace of Culture and Science as a new building in Warsaw city`s centre. Poland was offered a rapid transit or a palace and its preference was for the latter. Maybe that`s why Warsaw was waiting for the former for several dozen years,

Gift of the Soviet people to the Polish nation

The Palace of Culture and Science has been built in a mixture of then-compulsory Socialist realism with elements of Polish historicism. It stands for everything Poland tried to reject after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the swift crumbling of the Soviet Union, and better than any other building it epitomises the 44 years of the People’s Polish Republic.

Construction started in 1952 and lasted until 1955. The Palace was a cornerstone of the Warsaw to come, planned together with a majestic Parade Square. During construction it was still surrounded by post-war ruins, with people living in tenements cut in half by bomb craters, survivors of Warsaw’s razing by the Nazis in 1944.

The palace was a “gift of the Soviet people to the Polish nation”, offered by Joseph Stalin himself. The architect was Lew Rudniew. The tower was constructed, using Soviet plans, almost entirely by 3,500 workers from the Soviet Union, of whom 16 died in accidents during the construction. One of the legends, more horrible than the others, said the corpses were buried into foundations of rising palace. In fact those 16 labours were inhumed in the orthodox cementary.

It may have been Stalinist madness to build such an ostentatious palace while the rest of the city barely existed. But one can also imagine this new building bringing hope and inspiration to a city being transformed, not just physically but socially. Thousands of people came from across the devastated country to help rebuild the capital.

The architecture of the building is closely related to several similar skyscrapers built in the Soviet Union of the same era, most notably the Moscow State University. However, the main architect Lew Rudnev incorporated some Polish architectural details into the project by traveling around Poland and seeing the architecture. The monumental walls are headed with pieces of masonry copied from Renaissance houses and palaces of Kraków and Zamość. Rudnev’s grand idea for the palace was an eclectic mix of Russian baroque and gothic details on a steel-framed tower. To call Socialist realism eclectic is, of course, heresy – officially it was to be “socialist in content, national in form”.

The palace’s exterior was also extremely elaborate. It is surrounded by dozens of monumental sculptures in the classical style of Michelangelo’s ignudi, including astronomer and mathematician Copernicus, Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz, pioneering physicist Marie Curie, as well as idealised model workers – the most famous one holding a Ten Commandments-style book inscribed with the names of Marx, Engels and Lenin (Stalin’s name was carefully removed after 1956).

The Palace shocks equally from the interior with marble floors and endless staircases and corridors that dazzle with their weighty glass chandeliers and gilded finishings. Like the famous Moscow metro system, this was luxury for the masses. And that`s what differentiated the palace from its Muscovite cousins was its entirely public use – it was designed to hold several museums, theatres and sports venues.

The legendary gigs inside the gift of the Soviet people to the Polish nation

The Congress Hall (Sala Kongresowa) and Concert Hall (Sala Koncertowa) are without a doubt among the most important concert halls in Poland. The former is by far the bigger of the two: it can accommodate up to 2,880 persons, while the second holds only 550 people, but is now one of the best-equipped in the country in terms of modern technology.

Shortly after opening, the building hosted the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students. Many visiting dignitaries toured the Palace. The Congress Hall has seen numerous prestigious acts of guest artists over the years, such as Marlene Dietrich, Procol Harum, Bruce Springsteen, Cesaria Evora and Woody Allen with his band. It also hosted performances, such as a 1967 concert by the Rolling Stones, the first by a major western rock group behind the Iron Curtain. In 1985, it hosted the historic Leonard Cohen concert, surrounded by many political expectations, which were avoided by Cohen in his prolonged introductions during the three-hour show.

A tape recorder pressed on the belly

March 22nd, 1985. I will remember that day for ever. My mother and I were waiting outside The Congress Hall waiting for a concert. The legendary gig by Leonard Cohen. It was terribly crowded. The public was not allowed inside and militia watched over. I must say I was a reckless young lady. The crowd pressed forward. I brought a tape recorder with me. Who cared about copy rights in the People’s Polish Republic? Almost nobody. But I don`t remember if they allowed me to record the performance. It was so crowded I felt the tape recorder pressed on my belly. It was too much for me. I was 19, I had head full of high ideas, and I decided to tell militia I disliked everything happening there. My mother couldn`t prevent what happened next. I started arguing with militia men. I behaved like someone who came from the outer space and didn`t understand people always were treated worse than cattle rushed into fields. My mother tried to calm me down droning that I supposedly lost my mind again but my argument with militia had a very good result. They made a kind of aisle and let us go inside.

Where you can see anything but the Palace

We have got to the point – the joke I told you before. Which place is the most beautiful in Warsaw? The viewing terrace. Why? Because you can see anything but the Palace.

The big attraction for tourists and residents is the ‘trzydziestka’, a large terrace on the 30th floor of the Palace (at a height of 114 m), where you can admire the gorgeous panorama of Warsaw. On New Year’s Eve, 2000, the Palace of Culture and Science unveiled the second-largest clock in Europe. Its four discs are each 6 m in diameter, and it is highest clock tower in the world.

***

The Palace of Culture and Science was finished 10 years after the end of the WWII, which both destroyed and transformed Poland. What came after was the greatest challenge in the country’s history – to this day, people can’t decide whether it was a failure, or a success. My English friend whose words I was quoting said at the end of our talk: „It will hopefully be torn down one day and replaced with something more fitting”. But would demolishing the palace destroy any memory of communism, with Poland’s image emerging cleaner and more innocent as a result? Do memories work like that? Despite occasional threats of demolition – or privatisation – it is simply too big, too statuesque and too symbolic to get rid of in any organised manner.

No matter whether the Palace stands for ever or has an expiry date it is worth seeing because it is a perfect mix of the most hideous and the most gorgeous things you have ever seen.

Let me say it: See you there!

Photos by Michał Stanisławski 

One square and three significant buildings

The text was published at http://www.communications-unlimited.nl/one-square-and-three-significant-buildings/

A little square just at the heart of Warsaw. Usually Sunday market would need more space but here in small area there are three buildings significant for history of Poland: Zachęta Gallery built between 1898-1900, The Holy Trinity Lutheran Church completed in 1781, and one of Warsaw`s oldest high schools established as a parish Lutheran school in 1906. I happened to have graduated from Mikołaj Rej lycee. I am the abitur of that school emotionally bounded with Stanisław Małachowski Square. 

*** / The First Flashback

We were having the Physics lesson. Our school was called ‘’bloodbath” by students. That meant our teachers had high standards of educating and assessing our knowledge. They used to say that God deserved to have the best result („5” in old Polish system of assessments), their scholastic knowledge was for „4” and we hardly could have got „3” which was a little bit better than „2”, the worst credit. The Physics teacher was one of a few cool guys. He stood out of the crowd of very strict tutors. But what can I say if the school`s apophthegm was „PER ASPERA AD ASTRA” which means "through hardships to the stars"? I saw the writing any time I was entering the school. It was like an inscription on „tombstone” of my poor credits. I thought: „Oh, I am going through hardships but will I ever get to the stars?”. I doubted. It made me down to earth, not hoping to be better one day. Now the apophthegm was changed to „MACTE ANIMO – SIC ITUR AD ASTRA” which means „Young, cheer up! This is the way to the skies”. It could have sounded more optimistic, couldn`t it?

The works on the dome attracted our attention. The windows looked out on classical rotunda of Protestant Church. It was tall and majestic, and there were a few labourers working on the roof which was round.

Mr Professor, which laws of Physics are responsible for keeping workers on the dome and not allowing them to fall down? – colleague said.

The men on a circular roof were working without protection. It was reckless but also weird and thought-provoking. How come could they have been safe there?

There are laws of Physics and there is divine right. As far as this is concerned the latter was more appropriate – teacher said.

The Temple Dedicated To All Gods

The dome where labourers were working accounts for The Holy Trinity Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession (Kościół Świętej Trójcy), also known as Zug's Protestant Church (Zbór Zuga). It is a Classical rotunda based partly on the Roman Pantheon so temple was dedicated to all gods. The church was to have the shape of a rotunda covered with a dome with four lower annexes. In the last version the dome carried the light lantern with ionic columns surmounted with the cross.

The Lutheran church was the highest and at the same time one of the biggest buildings of the 18th century Warsaw. The diameter of the dome was 33.4 meters and the height was 58 meters. The huge dome with magnificent lantern tower still dominates the nearby buildings. It upholds the spirit of pure classicism. As the tallest building in Warsaw at that time it served as vantage point for the Polish Army during the Kościuszko Uprising.

***/The Second Flashback

I was standing on a chair next to the window. There were ZOMO vehicles parked in the courtyard. ZOMO (Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej) was Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia, paramilitary-police formations during the Communist Era, in the People's Republic of Poland. They usually were stationed near our building and used to suppress riots.

Down with ZOMO – I yelled.

I was young and reckless with head full of high ideas. I was not familiar with saying ”look before you leap”. I turned around climbing down to see a militia man standing on our class door step. He was staring at me. I had only one thought: they would take me into custody and my mother would be called. But luckily he stepped back and walked away.

Frédéric Chopin Gave Concerts There

For two centuries Warsaw Lutherans did not have the right to build their own church. The edict issued by the Mazovian prince Janusz in 1525 forbade any other public worship but Roman-Catholic. It was only in 1767-1768 that treaties and constitutional laws were passed at an extraordinary session of the Polish Parliament and equal rights to all denominations were conceded. In this situation, the foundation of the Lutheran church was possible. The king's banker, Piotr Tepper, made efforts to build the church and in 1777 he obtained the appropriate privilege from King Stanisław August Poniatowski. The king however reserved for himself the right of choosing the design of the building.

From three designs presented by an Italian-Polish architect Domenico Merlini, most famous for his Royal Baths Park in Warsaw, a Dresden-born architect Jan Christian Kamsetzer, known for Tyszkiewicz Palace, now a part of University of Warsaw and Szymon Bogumił Zug, one of the most versatile and prolific architects of his epoch the king chose the last one. Zug, unlike his competitors, was not connected with the royal court and at that time was famous as designer of many Warsaw tenement houses, palaces and modern landscape gardens. He also received commissions from Polish aristocrats in the provincial areas. The design of the Lutheran church was however his biggest and most important architectural realization highly estimated by his contemporaries. The final design was preceded by a few versions not far from each other.

In the beginning of the 19th century the church was renowned of the music performances accompanying the service. Among the famous musicians, who gave concerts there was Frédéric Chopin. In April 1825 in the presence of tsar Alexander I of Russia, he played on the choralion (aeolimelodicon).

The Lutheran church was quickly taking root in the history of the city. Similarly its parishioners can be found on the most glorious pages of the history of the capital city. They showed their patriotism in Kościuszko Insurrection in 1794 and the uprisings for independence in 1831 and 1863.

The Holy Trinity Church fell into ruin when bombed and burnt by the Germans on September 16, 1939. It was rebuilt after the war. Inside, visitors are impressed by its double gallery encircling the interior. Because of its acoustic improvements and a splendid organ, the Warsaw Chamber Opera (Warszawska Opera Kameralna) regularly organizes concerts of classical music here.

***/The Third Flashback

It was dark and stirringly. The recital of Polish bard Jacek Kaczmarski was about to start. I loved his songs. I played them everyday, all the day long. I had an audio tape, illegal recording. After play backed so many times it turned nearly to ash.

My 16th birthday, March 5th 1982. I had invited school mates to my party several months earlier, on the beginning of school year 1981, before we knew our rights would be reduced even further. We didn`t have any idea the martial law would be introduced in our country; that ban on gathering would be imposed and the curfew introduced. We were going to have my party in our flat and my mother surprisingly agreed to it. Twenty something young people from the school which was on the regime black list. Gathering of three people was considered as illegal at the time. Once my friends and I met militia when we left cinema. There were three of us so we were taken into control because we formed a gathering.

We enjoyed my birthday a lot. We were loud, laughter could have been heard and Jan Kaczmarski`s music was being played. My friend Leszek picked the receiver and dialled his mother's number. The civilian phone lines were earlier disconnected, but at the time of my birthday they were routinely tapped and monitored by government agents. When Leszek placed the receiver to the speaker and music flew into the phone, call was disconnected and there was silence on line.

I was standing in dark corridor of Zachęta basement. I was waiting for Jan Kaczmarski recital with my mother and my step-father who introduced us to a young man. He gave us his name which escaped my attention. When this man left us I was told I was talking to Him, Jan Kaczmarski whose songs I knew by heart but whom I had never seen before. If I knew who he was I would have told him about my affection.

The first President of the Second Polish Republic was assassinated there

The second oldest building in Stanisław Małachowski Square is Zachęta, one of the oldest showrooms in Poland. The impressive edifice was built between 1898-1900 and designed by Polish architect and conservator Stefan Szyller. All the most outstanding Polish artists’ presented their works in Zachęta, including Wojciech Gerson, a leading Polish painter of the mid-19th century, Jan Matejko, known for paintings of notable historical, political and military events, Józef Chełmoński, famous for monumental paintings now at the Sukiennice National Art Gallery in Kraków, Stanisław Wyspiański, playwright, painter and poet, as well as interior and furniture designer, Józef Mehoffer, one of the leading artists of the Young Poland movement and one of the most revered Polish artists of his time and many others.

Zachęta „witnessed” many historical moments. Gabriel Narutowicz, the first president of Poland after regaining independence, was assassinated on December 16th, 1922, five days after taking office. He was fatally shot by Eligiusz Niewiadomski, an artist and art critic, while visiting an exhibition.

Zachęta is now the most prestigious and largest contemporary art gallery in Poland, with a valuable collection of post-war Polish art. Today, the Gallery exhibits the outstanding work of many artists such as Paul Cezanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Kasimir Malevich, Max Ernst, Jean Dubuffet, among others.

The Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts

The main goal of the Society, which was first established in 1860, was originally to promote and support Polish art and artists at a time when Poland did not exist as an independent state. Among the founders and members of the Society were the most prominent representatives of Warsaw’s social and cultural life, such as painters Wojciech Gerson, Julian Fałat, and Leon Wyczółkowski, writer Henryk Sienkiewicz, banker Leopold Kronenberg and philanthropist Feliks Sobański. The Society not only founded a national collection of art, but also made its mark by educating and inspiring new generations of art lovers. One of the most prominent achievements of the Society, made possible due to the hard work of its members and the generosity of donors, was the construction of the Society’s headquarters in 1900. Designed by Warsaw architect Stefan Szyller, to this day it is the seat of one of the most important Polish art institutions, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, which established itself as the natural successor to the Society and has continued its traditions.

The Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts was dissolved after World War II, but was re-established in 1991 by the Zachęta Gallery.

*** / The Fourth Flashback

You musn`t go to May 3rd demonstration – a history teacher said – We might be in trouble if you do.

There was silence. We were sitting in history faculty class and nobody spoke. Another Constitution Day considered by regime as illegal. We were not going to celebrate contemporary constitution. It was about the first Polish government act which remained in force for less than 19 months but became so significant. May 3rd was declared a holiday 2 days after it was officially adopted by Parliament.

The holiday was banned during the partitions of Poland but reinstated in April 1919 under the Second Polish Republic—the first holiday officially introduced in the newly independent country. It was again outlawed during World War II by both the Nazi and Soviet occupiers. It was celebrated in Polish cities in May 1945, although in a mostly spontaneous manner. The 1946 anti-communist demonstrations did not endear it to the Polish communists, and it competed for attention with the communist-endorsed May 1 Labor Day celebrations in the Polish People's Republic; this led to its "rebranding" as Democratic Party Day and removal from the list of national holidays by 1951. Until 1989, May 3rd was a frequent occasion for anti-government and anti-communist protests.

Each year my colleagues took part in illegal demonstrations. They operated in anti-communist underground. One of them Emil Barchański was likely to be murdered by Security Service (SB). And now history teacher was trying to avoid another tragedy and questioning at Mostowski Palace, Warsaw`s militia headquarters.

Like in previous years my colleagues took part in May 3rd demostration, too.

Września children strike

After the creation of the German Empire in 1871, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck set about uniting society morally and moulding a tolerably uniform German consciousness among the inhabitants of all the federated states that made up the Empire. The civil service and the education system intensified their activities when the “Kulturkampf” policy failed to deliver. A regulation designed to halt the further Polonisation of settlers from Bamberg had the Polish language removed from religious instruction and chanting in Rataje, outside Poznań, in 1882.

German was systematically introduced as the sole language of instruction in all other subjects as well. This soon led to widespread protests among pupils, the most famous of which were the events that took place in Września in 1901. The children refused to accept German textbooks, answered their teachers in Polish and even said their prayers in their native language. The pupils were punished with canings and after school detentions, which was standard practice in the educational system of the day. School pupils in many Polish cities Miłosław, Pleszew, Buk, Gostyń and Krobia soon joined in the strike. The German administration threatened that the students would not be allowed to finish school. Adults involved in the protests were put on trial for public disturbance, preventing the officials from carrying out their duties, trespassing, and similar crimes. 26 people were officially charged, and on  November 19th 1901 20 individuals were sentenced to imprisonment from several weeks to over two years. Polish activists formed two committees to support families whose members were imprisoned. The German administration soon disbanded the committees, and in turn charged the activists.

Despite the trial, the protests continued. Some parents moved their children to other schools; while the school officials constructed a barrack where protesting children were isolated. Use of Polish language was banned on the school grounds, and police were charged with enforcing student attendance. After amnesty for children was declared in 1903, the number of children who kept refusing to take the German religion lessons diminished. The last of the striking children gave up by the summer of 1904.

The protestant college at the bottom of my heart

In 1905 College of Ecclesiastical congregation of the Evangelical - Augsburg appointed at the request of Fr. Julian Machlejd, Preparatory Committee for the opening of the municipal school with Polish language of instruction. Patron of the school was Mikołaj Rej. In 1906, 200 students began the first year of study. Pupils took part in military independence organizations. During World War II, approx. 300 teachers, pupils and high school students got killed. In 1940. It began secret education. During the Warsaw Uprising part of the building was demolished. Classes were resumed on September 1, 1947. Since 1949 learning took place at the building of the school. The facility was nationalized in 1952.

***

The College of Ecclesiastical congregation of the Evangelical – Augsburg which happened to be my high school was the reason I told you about Stanisław Małachowski Square which is so small and that significant for Polish history. I hope I haven`t made you bored and you would like to visit Warsaw.

See you there!

Photos by Michał Stanisławski

The Holy Trinity Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession 

 Mikołaj Rej lycee

 

The basement where Polish bard Jacek Kaczmarski gave a recital.

My high school

 Zachęta Gallery

The venue where Gabriel Naurtowicz, the first president of Poland was shot in his first week of assuming office. 

Local clubs