Warsaw

Tuesday I saw Warsaw. Not all of it, but I saw all sides of it. There’s buildings that look like they survived the Second World War just yesterday. There are a lot of buildings, mostly apartment buildings, that were quite obviously built under the soviets in the 50’s and 60’s, after the city was completely destroyed in the war. Then there are several modern high-rises and a few more in the process, and one high-rise palace that was a “gift” from Stalin in ’56. There’s (still) a movement of people who want to see the building knocked down.

They’re still bitter towards Russia about the oppressive soviet rule and lack of progress during that time. Many Poles at the same time are also bitter towards the Germans (though it sounds like all the reasons come from East Germany). They’re bitter that the Germans complain about how destroyed their country was after WWII when Poland was in ruins just the same, and the Germans started it all in the first place. It sounds like they’re also bitter that there’s been more progress in eastern Germany than in Poland since the fall of the Soviet Union, because eastern Germany has the advantage of a reunited Germany, in which the East still gets aid from the West (which is a whole other topic among [west] Germans), who as West Germany rebounded miraculously due to received aid from the U.S. and other western nations. This brings the bitterness full circle back to Russia, who refused to accept U.S./Western aid for the East Bloc countries when offered in the Marshall Plan.

…anyway, in my experience, the Poles are very nice, polite, courteous people with a fairly high standard of manners. (Though supposedly in the service industry they’re not so polite, but I don’t speak polish, so I wouldn’t know).

The touristy Warsaw (Old Town) is pretty. It was also completely destroyed in WWII (in Poland, what wasn’t?) but it was reconstructed almost perfectly. It still has a decent chuck of its old city wall. I don’t really know much more about it. But I have pictures.

The last one is a monument to the Polish resistance against the Nazis in the Second World War. There was a system of tunnels (or maybe they just used the sewer, I don’t know, but I should probably look it up) which they used to get from one side of the city to the other, to continue the fight.

Like I said at the beginning, the wars are still fresh in the minds of many in Poland.