Edelman – Last of the Bundists?

RIP Marek Edelman 1919-2009

Although the title of this piece is, in all probability, utterly misleading, it is not without reason I pin the moniker “Last of the Bundists” on the head of the departed Marek Edelman. There are several reasons. Firstly, he was most certainly the last of a dying breed. Marek Edelman passed away on the 2nd October 2009 at the age of 90. He was the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, fighting tooth and nail for Poland’s decimated Jewish population. He was a member of Solidarity and took part in the Round Table Talks which triggered the beginning of the end for communism in Europe. He received Poland’s Order of the White Eagle and France’s Legion of Honour for his wartime bravery and opposition activism.

Edelman Survived the Ghetto

Secondly, Marek Edelman was in every sense a true hero. Honoured in Poland, France and the US, and respected across Europe, this humble man decided to stay in Poland after the war and not, like so many Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, emigrate to the newly forming State of Israel, then still the British Mandate of Palestine. He had fought and witnessed most of his friends and family die at the hands of the Nazis. To have survived such atrocities and then take up and leave was not Edelman’s style. He had defended Warsaw so that Warsaw and its inhabitants would live on. He would not be leaving Poland’s capital.

Edelman & the Round Table Talks

It is odd then that Edelman, a Jew and the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, was never honoured by or afforded the same degree of respect in Israel that he was given in Europe and the US.  In trying to explain the “Last of the Bundists” sobriquet we should remmber that Marek Edelman belonged to the the Jewish Labour Party ‘Bund’ and was an outspoken anti-Zionist and a firm critic of Israel’s foreign policy in particular with regards to its middle-eastern neighbours. It was difficult for him, a socialist and supporter of Solidarity (and solidarity), to come to terms with what had become of the State of Israel. In this sense he really was the “Last of the Bundists”…

Marek Edelman 1919-2009, wartime hero, political activist and cardiologist will be sorely missed.

Adventures in Lemko Land

Discovering Lemko Land

Inspired by what I had read and researched for a recent post, I decided to grab my bike and head down south to deepest, darkest Lemko Land. I decided to pick a place (or places) that were close to water. My destinations were the villages of Łosie and Klimkówka (the latter being created after the old Klimkówka had been cleared and flooded to make way for a reservoir). Armed only with my 15-year-old bike and mobile phone (with which to take pictures) I decided to attack this lost part of Europe and discover what hidden treasures this multicultural mountain land had to offer.

Kwiatoń Cerkiew

On my very first full day in the Low Beskids, in the heartland of what was once the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, I decided to go in search of signs of the Greek Catholic culture which was once so rich in Poland. What remains of Greek Catholic (and indeed Orthodox) culture in Poland is a sprinkling of wooden cerkiews (churches) around south-eastern Poland. In Polish there is a distinction made between Roman Catholic kościół and Greek Catholic/Orthodox cerkiew. Also, Roman Catholics refer to their priest as ksiądz whereas Greek Catholics often refer to their priest as jegomość.

Leszczyny Cerkiew

I began my 60km biking marathon in search of Poland’s wooden (Lemko) Greek Catholic and Orthodox cerkiews starting with Łosie, followed by the picturesque Leszczyny, Kunkowa, Uście Górlickie, Kwiatoń (reckoned to be the most beautiful wooden cerkiew in Poland owing to its perfect proportions), Skwirtne, Gładyszów, Przysłup (high up on a hill) and Nowica (hidden in a forest). What struck me was that in many of these villages, the local cerkiew actually catered to three different parishes: Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Orthodox. A real religious melting pot.

Road-side Cyrillic

Certainly, evidence of this bubbling religious and cultural hotpot lies in the cerkiews dotted around the gorgeous landscape high upon the Beskid hilltops or in glades deep within the Beskid forests. But we can also see it in the numerous patriarchal (three-bar) crosses strewn across Lemko Land. These (Eastern Orthodox) stone crosses can be seen every few kilometres on all of the village roads in the Beskids. On closer inspection, the patriarchal crosses bear witness to the linguistic diversity of this region with inscriptions almost exclusively written in the Cyrillic script.

Bilingual Poland

Language is often seen as one of the chief factors that define a nation. Likewise, the Lemkos also have their own language: Rusyn. There are now decidedly fewer speakers of the Lemko dialect of Rusyn than before the war but the language is seeing somewhat of a revival with many villages taking a vote on whether they wish to introduce bilingual signs. Several villages have already decided to do so. With such a small number of Lemko inhabitants, this can only be undertaken with the goodwill of the Polish majority. Bielanka is such an example where the decision to introduce bilingual signs was passed with a one-vote majority.

Land of Legend

Łemkowszczyzna is not only a rich cultural, religious and linguistic mix but it is also a land full of stories, myths and legends. Every cerkiew on a hill, cross by the side of the road or wellspring has a story to tell – a reason for being there. Perhaps a demon was thwarted by a farmer, the Virgin Mary appeared to a young peasant girl or a spring burst out of the ground after an apparition had been seen wandering around the nearby field.  One thing is sure in Lemko Land: that cerkiew, that cross and that mountain spring is still there and can still be seen.

Lemko Land

Operation Wisła

History is all about ifs and buts and one particular region seems indicative of this statement. This region is Lemko Land, better known as Łemkowszczyzna or Lemkivshchyna. Sadly, the population of this region was decimated by Operation Wisła which forcibly repatriated and/or deported thousands of Lemkos changing the character of the region forever. It’s odd walking, cycling, driving around this beautiful area of Poland. Literally thousands of abandoned villages litter the landscape. Beautiful Byzantine rite or Orthodox churches stand either in disrepair or have been converted into Catholic churches. It’s not a surprise to come across a cross or tombstone sticking crookedly out of some bushes, in a field. Today’s Łemkowszczyzna reminds us of what could have been, what should have been.

Map of Lemko Land

Lemko Republics
Two interesting incidents highlight the distinctness of the Lemkos from their neighbouring Poles. The first followed the conclusion of the First World War. When it became apparent that the borders of a new Europe would soon be drawn up (later concluded by, amongst others, the Treaty of Versailles and the Polish Minority Treaty in 1919) the Lemkos, as well as their fellow Poles, realised that this is their chance for freedom, self-determination and independence. Lemko villages centred around Komańcza and Florynka formed two states. The Komańcza Republic was formed (in Komańcza) on the 4th November 1918 and lasted until the 23rd January 1919 when the Polish authorities put a brutal  end to it. The Rusyn National Republic of Lemkos was formed in Florynka and lasted from the 5th December 1918 till January 1921 when members of the ruling committee were arrested by the Polish government. However small these republics may have been, they demonstrated this minority’s need for self-determination

Tylawa Church Still Stands

Lemko Schisms
The second incident took place several years later, in 1926, although its origins lie deep in the past with the Union of Brest which was signed in 1596. This declaration saw thousands of Orthodox Christian worshippers in Ruthenia (including Lemko worshippers) reject the (Eastern) Patriach of Constantinople and accept the authority of the Patriach of Rome (i.e. the Pope). These so-called Uniate/Greek Catholic churches still exist today, even though the Lemkos have always been more pro-Orthodox and Russophile. These pro-Orthodox tendencies came to the surface in 1911 when Father Maksym Sandowicz (now an Orthodox saint) oversaw the conversion of the Greek Catholic inhabitants of Grab and Wyszowate (back) to Orthodoxy. Several years later, the Lemko worhsippers of Tylawa and Trzciana decided to convert to Orthodoxy on the 16th November 1926. This incident goes by the name of the Tylawa Schism.

Epifaniusz Drowniak

Lost Lemkos
This paints a mixed historical picture of the fortunes of the Lemkos in Poland: one of distinctness and failed self-determination. Estimates place the Lemko population at somewhere around 1.5 million (according to the BBC) spread across three countries: Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. Before the Second World War, approximately 150,000 declared Lemkos are thought to have lived in Poland. The 2002 census put this figure at a mere 5,863, although many believe this could be as high as 50,000. Even so, a shortfall of over 100,000 people is a sad, sad loss. Intolerance, prejudice and ignorance were ultimately the undoing of the Lemkos in Poland. Ever so slowly, however, we are witnessing a sluggish Lemko revival with festivals, museums and cultural events sprouting up around the Beskidy and Bieszczady. Someone who wonderfully mirrors the fortunes of the Lemkos is Epifaniusz Drowniak, a Lemko who lived alone and in extreme poverty for most of his life. He often goes by the name of Nikifor.

When East Becomes West

The Heart of Europe

Are we witnessing a gradual westward cultural shift in Europe? Are we facing a post-modern crisis where identities increasingly overlap and blur? Is the definition of Western Europe the same now as it was in 1945?

Mitteleuropa Revisited
An even trickier question is what (or where) is Central Europe? The geographical centre of Europe (not the European Union) is laid claim to by at least five towns, all of which lie in what is conventionally not thought of as Western Europe, but rather Eastern Europe. These towns are: Purnuškės, Lithuania; Polotsk, Belarus; Suchowola, Poland; Rakhiv, Ukraine; and Krahule, Slovakia. Interestingly, these places form an area partly overlapping Poland’s semi-mythical Kresy (more info here). If this is the case then our definitions of Central Europe need to be redefined. Central Europe is Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Slovakia, and perhaps also Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. To the west of this area, Western Europe begins: Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. However, as we are all aware, calling Serbia a part of Western Europe is odd. There is more to west and east than points on a compass.

Neither East Nor West

Europe Redefined
The chief problem with defining what is central, east and west is our notions of these terms and the connotations they all carry. Most people think of Western Europe as the UK, France, Germany, Benelux, Spain and Italy. But what about Greece? What of Finland? Most of the territory of Poland, all of the Czech Republic, and the afore-mentioned Serbia lie in Europe’s western half yet most Europeans would not call them ‘western’.

Culture Remade
Most recently, communism helped delimit Europe into two halves but with communism gone it can be argued that Europe has shifted west. Russians often claim Poles are westernised traitors to the Slav cause. Poles and Slovaks believe Czechs are no more than Germans speaking a Slavonic language. Perspective is key to our interpretation of east and west. We cannot deny the fact that ‘western’ culture (whatever that means) has permeated the new EU states. Popular urban culture is something familiar to people both in Warsaw and Walsall; you can get a Starbucks in Bucharest and Buckingham, a Big Mac in Bratislava and Bradford and a Burger King Whopper in Burgas and Burnley. The so-called ‘eastern’ countries have increasingly more in common with the ‘western’ ones to such an extent that any discussion of Eastern and Western Europe is little more than academic. So where is this mythical West?

Black Madonna

Faith & Family

Many thanks to my good pal Jim for giving me the heads up about this text. It’s a great piece about the life of the post-war Polonia, that is the Polish people who came to the United Kingdom after World War II (as part of the UK Polish Repatriation Act) as opposed to those Polish people who have come to the UK post-EU accession. I’m ‘posting’ the text in full (copyright The Guardian 2009):

As a child growing up in Derby in the 60s I spoke Polish beautifully, thanks to my grandmother. While my mother went out to work, my grandmother, who spoke no English, looked after me, teaching me to speak her native tongue. Babcia, as we called her, dressed in black with stout brown shoes, wore her grey hair in a bun, and carried a walking stick. She was the hub of our household – she could cook Polish delicacies, play Chopin on the piano and make paper storks. I adored her.

My father, Jerzy, had escaped from Poland after the Germans invaded, travelling on foot across Europe to England, where he became a pilot in the RAF. At the end of the war, he met my English mother at a dance organised by my maternal grandfather to help lonely young Polish pilots. In 1957, he arranged for my grandmother, Maria, who was living in a tiny flat in Warsaw in increasing distress under the privations of communism, to come to the UK.

Like other Polish families in the area, we spent our weekends in the vast Polish club that kept our community’s culture alive. My father helped to establish Dom Polski (Polish House) in the 1950s and it was known as the air force club because the founders were pilots. It provided a focus for all those old comrades and their history. I remember one woman at the club who had a concentration camp number tattooed on her arm, and another whose husband and daughter got off the train transporting them to Siberia to buy bread, only for the train to leave without them. She never saw them again. There were people who had been taken east through Russia as slave labour, others who were taken west to provide a workforce for German farms and factories.

The walls of the club were covered with black-and-white photos of Polish pilots, and a huge propeller from a Spitfire was fixed to one wall. On Saturday mornings my sisters and I would study Polish at the school it ran, and on Saturday nights, my parents would go dancing. On Sundays, we played tombola there over lunch.

But my love affair with Polish culture began to fade when I was five – the year Babcia died. We had been so close that when she was dying, her last words were to ask that I should be looked after. I couldn’t believe she was dead, and went from being confident and cocky to a very quiet child.

Without Babcia’s childcare, my mother had to give up her full-time job and take part-time work in a school across the road. I was placed in the reception class and, accustomed to being at home alone with Babcia, I hated it. I don’t remember making a conscious decision, but in shock I refused to speak Polish until I saw Babcia again.

My sisters and I continued to go to Polish school, but the language would not return. Despite the efforts of my father, even a family trip to Poland in 1965 could not bring it back. When six years later my father died too, at just 53, our Polish connection almost ceased to exist. I left Derby and went to university in London. I never spoke Polish, never ate Polish food nor visited Poland. My childhood was gone and almost forgotten.

Then in 2004, more than 30 years later, things changed again. A new wave of Polish immigrants had arrived and I began to hear the language of my childhood all around me – every time I got on a bus. I saw Polish news-papers in the capital and Polish food for sale in the shops. The language sounded so familiar yet somehow distant – as if it were something I tried to grab but was always out of reach.

In Derby, Dom Polski had closed down. The building was decaying and up for rent; the old soldiers and air force men were almost all dead, and the second and third generations too busy to worry about it. But my memory had been jogged. I began to write a novel about a fictional Polish family and, at the same time, decided to enrol at a Polish language school.

Each week I went through half-remembered phrases, getting bogged down in the intricate grammar and impossible inflections. When my book was published, it put me back in touch with schoolfriends who like me were second-generation Polish. And strangely, in my language classes, I still had my accent and I found words and phrases would sometimes come unbidden, long lost speech patterns making a sudden reappearance. I had found my childhood again.

Joanna Czechowska

Her book, The Black Madonna of Derby (or Goodbye Polsko) is published by Silkmill Press.

Poland – Land of Diversity?

Protect Us from Evil

Many, many years ago in a land of wild forests and lonely hills there lived a race of evil creatures called the Bies. These creatures looked like humans but were somewhat stockier, had horns and large black wings sprouting from their shoulders. They were, by all accounts, a thoroughly evil bunch and above all hated humankind. In order to make life harder for the farmers, rangers and simple folk living in this land, the Bies created the Czad, a mischievous little folk whose goal it was to pester, irritate and annoy humans. Everyday experience became story, story turned into legend and legend grew into fable. And the land of the Bies and Czad became known as the Bieszczady.

Lonely Mountains
After travelling to the Bieszczady in the south of Poland, I was once again struck by the diversity that was once part and parcel of Poland’s cultural makeup. Alas, much of this wonderful cultural diversity is no longer with us or is slowly eroding away so that in a few decades’ time we will have forgotten that such diversity once existed in this corner of Europe. The Bieszczady mountains and the surrounding area are a truly enchanting part of the world. Sparsely populated with the odd village springing up every now and again, you get the feeling that nature, not humankind, is king here.

Cultural Mix

Summit of Nations
The Bieszczady is an area with a unique history, a real cultural melting pot with Hungarian, Ukrainian, Boyko, Slovakian, Lemko, Romanian and Polish influences to be seen everywhere. A wonderful metaphor for this cultural confluence is Krzemieniec mountain – the point at which Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland converge. Travelling around the Polish part of the Bieszczady one notices odd words and phrases popping into the names of places, restaurants, companies and the suchlike. The Hungarian name of Krzemieniec, Kremenaros, seems to be quite a common linguistic tag, for example.

Demise of Diversity
One of the greatest surprises here is the inordinately large number of abandoned villages, cemeteries and churches, or rather Ukrainian/Lemko/Boyko villages and orthodox churches. Due to the now infamous forced deportation of Ukrainians, Lemkos and Boykos from Poland as part of the ridiculously patriotically-named Operation Wisła, the cultural map of the Bieszczady has been changed forever becoming tainted with a pallid homogeneity that still hangs over the area like the kiss of death. The Bieszczady was once a thriving region of many faiths, languages and cultures. It is now one of the most sparsely populated and poorest regions of Poland. All in the name of purity and reserving Poland for the Poles.

Capital of Hope or Despair?

Expensive Dump?

As much as I dislike the methodologies put to use in most polls and surveys nowadays, one can’t help wondering if there’s any truth behind them at all. This is especially true of the latest survey which seeks to assess the quality of living in various cities throughout the world. I took a good look at the whole list and was horrified to learn that Warsaw is 85th out of a possible 215 (with Bahgdad being last). Our Eastern European neighbours also did poorly – Ljubljana came 78th, Bratislava was 88th whereas Zagreb was 103rd. What does this say about Eastern Europe? What does this say about Warsaw? Mercer, who conducted the survey, seems to think the living standards in Eastern Europe have gone up but this survey will do little to advertise our little corner of Europe.

Reasons to Despair
Mercer looks at 39 factors when they ranked the cities. These roughly form ten categories. Namely:

1. Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement)
2. Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services)
3. Socio-cultural environment (censorship, limitations on personal freedom)
4. Health and sanitation (medical services, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution)
5. Schools and education (standard and availability of international schools)
6. Public services and transport (electricity, water, public transport, traffic congestion)
7. Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure)
8. Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars)
9. Housing (housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services)
10. Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)

Points to Consider
It’s pretty easy to see what Warsaw is doing wrong and what the city authorities might do in the future to improve the living standards of its inhabitants. Most denizens of Warsaw will agree that points 4, 5, 6, 7 need to be addressed sooner than later. The number of hospitals and clinics of a high standard is far too low for a member of the European Union. Parents are having increasingly more problems with finding adequate kindergartens for their children in the capital. Much to the chagrin of Warsaw’s authorities, the metro is laughable. An underground with one line and a handful of stops is most certainly not sufficient for a city the size of Warsaw. Finally, Poland’s capital may seem to have a rich assortment of cultural events but these are miniscule compared with cities like Prague, Vienna or Berlin.

Things to Do
What is most important is the fact that Varsovians, Warsawites, call them what you will, can have a big say in how Warsaw will look in the future. Even though I’ve only lived in this city for a few years I’ve been visiting Warsaw since I was a child. This city is completely different to the one I remember as a young lad. First of all, there was nothing to do in Warsaw a few decades ago. The city was a mass of grey and dirty blocks of flats. Now, at least, a whole palette of different colours has splashed onto the cityscape; cinemas, restaurants and bars fill the streets and there are more smiling faces around. All it takes is for people to care. Communism meant that nobody gave a damn. Now, people want to put flowers in their balconies and keep the streets tidy. It may not be much, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Top Ten Cities
For those of you who are interested, the top ten cities in the world with regard to living standards are:

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Vancouver, Canada
5. Auckland, New Zealand
6. Dusseldorf, Germany
7. Munich, Germany
8. Frankfurt, Germany
9. Bern, Switzerland
10. Sydney, Australia

Note how many are in Europe!

Lovely Ladies

Viva Magazine has announced its Najpiękniejsi 2008 competition where readers have the chance to vote on the most beautiful men and women in Polish show business. I thought I’d take a peek and come up with my own Top Ten Polish women, partly based on the Viva Top 25 list but also based on my own tastes and those women that seem to be in the news, on TV and in the media a lot of the time. Here are the ten sexiest and most beautiful women in Polish showbiz (in no particular order):

Edyta Górniak, singer:

Edyta Górniak

Justyna Steczkowska, singer:

Justyna Steczkowska

Doda, singer:

Doda

Weronika Książkiewicz, actress:

Weronika Książkiewicz

Edyta Herbuś, dancer:

Edyta Herbuś

Marta Żmuda-Trzebiatowska, actress:

Marta Żmuda-Trzebiatowska

Kasia Sowińska, TV presenter:

Kasia Sowińska

Ania Przybylska, actress:

Anna Przybylska

Dorota Gardias-Skóra, weather girl:

Dorota Gardias

Natasza Urbańska, actress:

Natasza Urbańska

It’ll be interesting to see who wins the Viva poll but in the meantime, here’s our own:

Is Poland a Racist Country?

Poland's Eaglets

There’s been a great big hoo-hah in the press recently after Law and Justice (PiS) MP Artur Górski came out with ridiculous comments about Barack Obama’s win spelling the end of the civilisation of the white man. Poland’s other political parties (including ruling Civic Platiform) have called for strict action to be taken against Górski. What added fuel to the flames was PiS head Jarosław Kaczyński making a feeble attempt to defend Górski in the name of free speech.

From Fire to Blaze
Kaczyński overzealous yet absurd defence of Górski may have added fuel to the flames but his recent gaffe has sprayed high-octane petrol on the now raging blaze. PiS are considering reporting Minster of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski to the public prosecutor for telling a racist joke about Barack Obama, the only problem is that Jarosław Kaczyński was caught telling the very same joke, a story told to the press by Wojciech Olejniczak, former head of Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).

Is Rydzyk Typical?
This leads to the question, is Poland a racist country? A great number of Poland’s politicians have become embroiled in this mini-scandal, this scandalette of sorts, but is this a reflection of Polish society in general? Many claim that Polish people are anti-semitic. Yes, there are very public accounts of certain notables making anti-semitic comments, most notably Tadeusz Rydzyk and his Radio Maryja, but does this mirror your average Jan Kowalski?

Bubbling Ignorance
In a post some time ago, we looked at racism in football. But isn’t racism present in football all over Europe? Poland is no different to other EU states, which doesn’t make it a good thing but some would argue that the football culture in, for example, Spain is much more racist than Polish football could ever be. In my own humble opinion, I’d say that Polish people aren’t overtly racist, nor are they overtly anti-semitic, however, there is a great deal of underlying ignorance which often bubbles to the surface in the form of what may appear to be racism. Let’s just hope that Poland’s politicians can keep a lid on it.

Holy Day?

Burning Faith

The 1st November in Poland really is one of the most incredible holidays that I have ever witnessed. I’ve seen a few weird and wonderful festivals in a variety of countries but this one – All Saints – must surely be the most amazing and inspiring.

Polling the Poles
According to a TNS OBOP poll, 51% of Polish people believe that it is their duty to visit the graves of their departed friends and family on All Saints. 43% of those surveyed believe All Saints to be a tradition that should be respected.

Death Toll
On the other hand, the police have noted over 300 accidents over the weekend as Polish people zoom across the country from town to city and graveyard to cemetery. Approximately 1000 drivers were guilty of drink-driving, over 420 were injured and sadly, over 30 people were killed on the roads.

Boozy Holiday?
So is the 1st November, All Saints, a sombre day of recollection, introspection and nostalgia or simply another excuse for a booze-up? Walking around Powązki Cemetery last night I was struck by the amazing beauty, peace and good-natured feeling in the air. However, I couldn’t fail to notice the large number of boozy scamps wandering around the night streets of Warsaw making a nuisance of themselves.

Disappearing Holiday?
Nothing can take away the fact that All Saints, or Wszystkich Świętych as it is known here in Poland, is one of the most self-less and powerful traditions I have ever seen but I do wonder how long this will last. Halloween (which was never celebrated in Poland) has popped up and has begun to spread like wildfire. The 31st October was seen as a day of preparation before All Saints. Now it has become a kitsch fest. It’ll be interesting to see if Wszystkich Świetych will be able to survive the onslaught.