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    May 2nd – National Flag Day in Poland

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    May 2nd - National Flag Day in Poland

    May 2nd is celebrated across Poland as National Flag Day. The day’s celebrations began in Warsaw on May 2nd with a ceremonial raising of the flag at the Royal Castle’s clock tower. The Polish President Andrzej Duda, accompanied by his wife Agata, made a speech at the ceremony.

    “It’s very symbolic that both the Day of the Polish Flag and Poles Abroad Day is celebrated on May 2nd. It is symbolic, because the flag itself has its own meaning from the historical point of view. Why does it look this way, why does it have these specific colors? Thanks to the Cracow ‘Chorągiew Krakowska’ Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, which banner – a white eagle on a red background – is most associated with the Polish tradition. This banner fluttered over the knights and led them into the battles to help them for centuries defend the Kingdom of Poland and then the Republic of Poland. The flag has the power to unite and build community. This is the tradition.” – said the Polish president.

    Visiting Jan Kochanowski in Czarnolas

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    redakcja
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    Visiting Jan Kochanowski in Czarnolas

    In almost all of his work, even in epigrams, we can see Kochanowski’s turn towards the renaissance humanism, especially in songs. Kochanowski was often referred to as the second Horace, who came up with the phrase “carpe diem”, “seize the day”. Kochanowski wrote about everything, in a way he opened himself up to the reader. There were no taboo subjects for him, if he was unhappy he wrote about that as well. He was a prime example of the renaissance humanism, he tried new things, new literary trends. He lived his life fully, but he also knew how to tell a joke and who to tell it to, whether he was talking to a simple or an educated person.

     

    Polish PM: EU membership has been good for Polish economy, as parties campaign

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    Polish PM: EU membership has been good for Polish economy
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    “Elections remind us not only of the rights but the responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy.” The words of Robert Kennedy which we do well to remember in an age when dissatisfaction with politicians leads to voter apathy and cynicism. And this, tends to make the position worse not better. The simple fact is that the only way to bring about change is through participation. In Poland, in the run up to the European parliamentary elections, the politicians are certainly trying to engage the voters.

    The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) held a convention in Poznań on Saturday at which party leader Jarosław Kaczyński said that EU membership was a “prerequisite of Polish patriotism” adding that “there is no two-speed EU, or two-quality Europe”. He also argued against the euro, saying that its adoption would “strike at the Polish economy and result in losses”. He made the point that despite this, the opposition still supported adoption of the euro. The prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said that “the European Parliament needed such a representation that would guarantee a Europe of nations”. 

     

    A regional convention of the opposition European Coalition was also held in Poznań, with speeches from the leaders of the parties participating in the Coalition: Civic Platform’s Grzegorz Schetyna, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz of the People’s Party, Katarzyna Lubnauer of Nowoczesna, Włodzimierz Czarzasty of the SLD, and the Green Party’s Małgorzata Tracz. Schetyna also announced that on May 18, a week before the elections, the Coalition will lead a march under the banner “Poland in Europe”, for all those who want “a free, European Poland”.

     

    All of which tends to support the view of EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker who said in an interview on Monday that Poland is unlikely to leave the European Union, even if PiS party wins re-election this year. In response to a question by the Polish daily, Rzeczpospolita on whether there will be a ‘Polexit’ after parliamentary elections in Poland in the autumn, Juncker said: “No.” “Poland is with us (the European Union) because we have common values.”

     

    The opposition has repeatedly warned that Law and Justice could eventually lead the country out of the EU, despite PiS’s statements to the contrary. Although the government has been in conflict with the European Commission over its reforms of the Polish court system, and the Commission’s launching of an unprecedented rule of law procedure under article 7 of the EU Treaty, and notwithstanding clashes with on environmental protection and migration, EU membership remains popular in Poland with no plans to leave. The government knows a good deal when it sees it.

     

    Thus, on Sunday, at a convention in Białystok, Morawiecki promised to seek to send more EU funds to the Podlasie region which he hoped would become “not only the geographic but also the economic centre of Europe”. Jarosław Kaczyński spoke of the Via Carpatia transport route linking ten countries from the Baltic to the Black Sea, saying that it would “change European geopolitics”. As the Prime minister said on Monday, EU subsidies have boosted Poland’s economic development: “We have benefitted greatly from EU membership in terms of the economy”.

     

    Saturday also saw a convention held by the new “Wiosna” (Spring) party lead by Robert Biedroń. Speaking in Wrocław, he likened Poland to “a grounded plane. After 15 years in the EU we should be steering this plane but instead we are scraping the ground and not taking advantage of the opportunity awarded by EU membership”. He declared that his party was “ready to take matters into its hands”.

     

    Be that as it may, an opinion poll by IBRIS for commercial radio RMF FM and daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna gives PiS 38,7 % of votes in the elections to the European Parliament, 33 % to the opposition European coalition, with ‘Spring’ third at 8.2 %. Some 49 per cent of respondents said that they intended to vote in the elections.

     

    The performance of the coalition in the European elections will be of particular interest. If it does well, the question will be whether the leaders of the opposition parties will be able, or willing, to continue some form of coalition into the parliamentary elections, for it seems that PiS will most likely win these, given the popularity of its policies with its core supporters, who do turn out to vote. The opposition parties will have to find something which appears to have eluded them so far if they are to change that.

    Jan Rostowski to Run for European Parliament…in England

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    redakcja
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    Jan Rostowski to Run for European Parliament…in England

    Jan Rostowski, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, is running for election to the European Parliament. He is standing for the Change UK party in the United Kingdom, a new party started by former members of the Labour Party and Conservative Party. He will be running as a candidate to represent London, and he could realistically be in with the chance of winning a seat.

    Change UK has had a rocky start. It was initially known as The Independent Group when MPs first defected from the Labour Party, but recently became ‘Change UK’ when it officially registered as a political party. While it has failed to overtake Labour in the polls, it has overtaken the Liberal Democrats as the main party in the UK campaigning to reverse the decision to leave the European Union.

    Speaking about Brexit, Rostowski recently told the Business Insider:

    “I have always, in my political life, felt it’s really critical that you try and take part in those fulcrum points in history…This is another one of those historical moments. It’s bad for Britain, and it could also be very bad for Europe.”

    The decision is bound to be met with controversy, as British people feel betrayed by the lack of action on the decision made in the 2016 referendum. While Rostowski campaigns to stop Brexit, Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party is topping the polls for the European elections, despite being formed just months ago.

    Unless Theresa May delivers some kind of Brexit deal soon, the political divide in Britain is bound to grow greater, more extreme, and more chaotic.

    With Central Communication Port LOT Polish Airlines will span the world

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    redakcja
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    With Central Communication Port LOT Polish Airlines will span the world
    PLL LOT

    Ever since the discussion of a new airport to replace the Warsaw Chopin Airport began in the 2000s, plans of establishing an infrastructure to serve as the central transportation hub has been long on the the country’s agenda. A concrete plan for the construction of said project was slowly being drafted and has rapidly picked up its pace since the rising to power of the Law and Justice party, approving the plan on November 2017.

    The aim of the of the government mega project seeks not only to replace the Chopin Airport with a brand new, up to date aircraft facility with the most current technologies, providing four runways ultimately, but also for said infrastructure to serve as a central hub for other forms of transportation such as trains, high speed railroads and buses. The project scheduled to be completed in 2027 will likely put the country on the global stage of transportation for travellers and business alike. With the airport alone boasting the capacity of 40 million passengers a year initially and projecting to hit an annual passenger load of 100 million eventually.

     

    The airport’s planned site is about 40 km west of Warsaw next to the village Stanisławów, which despite its rural character, provides well established extensive road infrastructure with several railway lines already running in the immediate vicinity or in short distances of the potential construction site. The strategic placement of the Central hub allows for the investment of a new railroad network system that reduces travel time from some of Poland’s largest cities to the hub to 2-2.5 hours and 15-20 minutes from central Warsaw. The government has already announced a plan to construct 1,300 km of new high speed rail lines at the estimated cost of 40 billion PLN, with the construction of the new rail lines undertaken by a new special purpose company, rather than the previously well known PKP PLK, which despite having experience in running over 18,000 km of rail lines and associated infrastructure, has only built 43 km of new rail lines since 1989. The legislation authorizing CCP contemplates the creation of special purpose companies for the exact purpose of installation of the new railways.

     

    To summarize, the megaproject with the target date of 2027, the Central Communication Port will feature a new hub airport 40km from Warsaw, the reconfiguration and extension of Poland’s rail network with the Communication Port as its hub, extension of the nearby A2 motorway along with numerous ring roads, transfer of major operations from Warsaw’s existing Chopin Airport to the Central Communication Port, and eventually developing a new city neighboring the newly constructed infrastructure.

     

    Notwithstanding the use of the aforementioned special purpose company for the construction of the new railways, the major expansion has already gathered the backing of all necessary parties. The Steering Committee for the CCP Rail Component that approved the plan consists of, among others, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Plenipotentiary of the Government for CCP, the Minister of Investment and Development, the Minister for Enterprise and Technology, and the President of Polish State Railways (PKP).

     

    The concrete plans drafted by the Law and Justice Party government utilizes the funding from the EU designated for investment in rail transport, with initial components of the new rail network already included in the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility, going beyond the spokes that will connect to the Central Communication Port, to include lines such as Warsaw-Olsztyn or Warsaw-Lublin-Zamość-Hrebenne and Lviv, with the ultimate goal of connecting 120 cities and upwards 13 million inhabitants and to further ensure all residents are within 30 km of a train station. But such ambitious project will require a drastic restructure of Poland’s existing railroad system.

     

    The Government admits that the construction of such ambitious project might require more time than the original schedule, but is a trade-off they are willing to make in pursuit of more convenient transportation for not only the inhabitants across the country, but also the people across Europe, that will likely to be using the infrastructure.

     

    Project ambitious as such are not without its controversy. In a non-binding poll conducted on June 17th 2018, the residents of the district of Baranów, Grodzisk Mazowiecki County voted down the plan to build the new airport. With 47 percent voter turnout, 84 percent opposed the plan. Even though he referendum was not binding, the Deputy Infrastructure Minister, Mikołaj Wild, has said that the voice of the public would be taken under consideration.

     

    Opposition to the construction of the infrastructure expressed concerns in regards to the budget and practicality of said infrastructure, arguing that the excessive spending required by the central hub should not be a priority in placement of the governmental budget. Others argue that the radical reconstruction of a functioning railroad system might bring about the unnecessary disruption of local transportation followed by confusion that the new system will bring about. Some simply did not believe the Central Communication Port to be a necessity.

     

    One of the biggest projected beneficiaries of the construction of the Central Communication Port will be Poland’s flagship carrier, LOT Polish Airlines. The port will provide a crucial point for the carrier to operate, providing flight routes to all over the world, offering alternatives to transfer flight from other nearby countries, challenging other airlines as the central carrier of Eastern Europe. Due to the strategic location ,increased flight routes and easier accessibility, the national airline company are expecting an influx of passengers, potential capital and foreign investment. In the crucial Asia to Europe and the Middle East to Europe travel route that has long been a central point of interest, LOT will be able to provide multiple alternatives to the existing flight routes, making it an attractive option for travellers.

     

    Other beneficiaries included but are not limited to national transportation companies, local business that would benefit from the increased capital both domestic and abroad along with the workers and employees that depends on said business. And last but not least, the inhabitants of Poland and those across all of Europe, who would stand to gain from a more streamlined, efficient, convenient network of travel.

     

    Benjamin Lee

     

    EBRD to increase spending on green energy projects in Poland.

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    redakcja
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    EBRD to increase spending on green energy projects in Poland.
    Shutterstock

    The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development plans to increase its funding for Poland’s renewable energy this year, after the government shifted toward green energy, a senior EBRD official has said.

    Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), which has in the past seen renewable energy sources as unstable, had introduced laws on wind farms that have made many of them unprofitable. Poland, which generates most of its electricity from coal, had seen relatively few investments in renewable energy and, as a result, risked missing out on the European Union’s green energy targets by 2020.

     

    Last year PiS changed tack and in an attempt to bring Poland back on track to meet EU targets, it removed tax disincentives for wind farms and began a new subsidy system. “We plan to increase the financing of renewable energy projects this year … We are very happy with the change of the government’s stance toward the renewable sources,” Grzegorz Zielinski, EBRD’s regional director told Reuters.

     

    Zielinski said that from 2012 to 2014, the EBRD’s financing of renewable energy projects had amounted to 250 million to 350 million euros a year, and the EBRD may now increase its total financing in Poland to around 650 million euros from 560 million last year.

     

    “We assume that this year we will return to these levels, since in the past three years this financing was practically nil,” Zielinski also said. He added that the EBRD now expects to back new onshore wind farms and photovoltaic projects this year and did not rule out cooperation with Poland’s four biggest and state-run energy groups.

     

    “We see the possibility of cooperation with them on renewables projects, especially on the offshore wind farms, due to their scale,” Zielinski said. “… At the moment, we are not talking about graduation, which is reducing the scale of activity in Poland. We focus on what else needs to be done,” Zielinski said.

    Śmigus-dyngus, the Polish holiday which broke Anderson Cooper

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    redakcja
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    Śmigus-dyngus

    Every Easter Monday, Poles engage in what must be one of the world’s largest water fights. The tradition started over a thousand years ago in pagan times before incorporating Christian elements in the medieval era.

    Traditionally, boys would throw water over girls as well as spank them with pussy willows in a tradition which probably originated in order to honor the Slavic goddesses of fertility. In recent times, it has become more of a nation-wide free-for-all waterfight. The tradition also lives on within the Polish-American community. A couple of years ago, the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper found out about the details of how Polish-Americans in Buffalo celebrate Dyngus Day. Let’s just say that he was overwelmed with emotions…

    Sri Lanka suicide bombings: more than 200 people killed

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    redakcja
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    Sri Lanka suicide bombings: more than 200 people killed
    Shutterstock

    The Easter Sunday bomb blasts at three churches and four hotels in Sri Lanka killed more than 200 people and wounded at least 450, police officials said, This was the first major attack on the Indian Ocean island since the end of a civil war 10 years ago. The government declared a curfew in Colombo and blocked access to social media and messaging sites, including Facebook and WhatsApp. It was unclear when the curfew would be lifted. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks.

    Seven people have been arrested and three policemen have been killed during a raid on a house in Columbo following a number of bomb attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka. The death toll from the attacks at three churches and four hotels has risen to more than 250 with over 400 injured. Addressing crowds in St. Peter’s square in Rome, gathered to hear his traditional Easter Sunday “Urbi et Orbi” greeting to Rome and to the world, the Pope condemned the attacks.

    Polish Easter Tradition – Pisanki

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    redakcja
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    Polish Easter Tradition - Pisanki
    Shutterstock

    Easter in Poland is all about the observation of Catholic rituals related to the resurrection of Christ, homemade decorations and food, and spending time at the table with family and loved ones. 

    One of the most popular elements of the Polish Easter festivities involves painting and decorating eggs (called pisanki). As a little girl, it used to be my favourite activity related to this period, a fondness that has stayed with me to this day. 

    On Easter Saturday, hard-boiled eggs are painted using special dyes, or traditionally – for a natural effect – red beets or onion skins. The eggs can be decorated in many creative ways, after which they are placed into a basket and – together with other traditional foods – are carried to the Church to be blessed. Afterwards, the family shares them at the table. 

    This Christian ritual using the egg for celebration at Easter dates back hundreds of years, while the egg itself has been a symbol of fertility and revival for thousands of years. Archeological materials indicate that the egg was revered for its magical, life-bestowing qualities by the Slavs long before the advent of Christianity. 

     

     

     

    Warsaw commemorates the 76th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

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    redakcja
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    Warsaw commemorates the 76th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

    The commemoration ceremony which took place in Warsaw on April 19th was the first such ceremony to take place following the death of the last Warsaw Ghetto Uprising veteran, Simcha Rotem, who passed away on the 22nd of December at the age of 94. 

    This year’s commemorations started with a quotation from Władysław Szlęga, a Polish poet and chronicler of life in the Ghetto. He died in the final days of the uprising.

    “You hear, German God, as Jews pray in the wild homes, holding a crowbar or a rod in their hands, we ask you God for a fight full of blood and a rapid death -Władysław Szlęga.

    On the streets of Warsaw, over 2,500 volunteers handed out paper daffodil flowers. This is the seventh edition of a campaign prepared by the Museum of the History of Polish Jews “Polin”. Besides the yellow paper flowers, the volunteers also shared facts and knowledge about World War II, the Ghetto and the heroes of the uprising of April 1943. The tradition with daffodils is associated with Marek Edelman, one of the last surviving commanders of the Ghetto Uprising who would receive daffodil flowers every year ahead of the anniversary of the uprising. The flowers were sent to him by an anonymous person and Edelman would place the flowers by the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw.

    The uprising in the ghetto was a direct consequence of the decision taken by German officials at the Wansee Conference in January 1942 to exterminate the Jewish population in all areas under German control. The Jewish population of Warsaw and surrounding areas had been crammed into small area of Warsaw with the start of October 1940. By the time the Wansee Conference took place, more than 400 000 Jews were struggling to survive in the area consisting of only 3.4 km2 (1.3 sq mi) but which nevertheless was Europe’s largest ghetto. 

    In the summer of 1942, the genocidal campaign which the Germans had dubbed “the final solution to the Jewish question” began being implemented in Warsaw. Between two Jewish holidays, Tisha B’Av on July 23rd and Yom Kippur on September 21st 1942, between 250 000 and 300 000 Jews from the ghetto were transported by the Germans to death camps. The Jews were loaded onto trains at the Umschlagplatz (German for collection point) just outside of the ghetto. From there, more than 250 000 Jews were taken to the Treblina extermination camp located in a forest around 80 kilometers north-east of Warsaw.

    By late September, the transportations to Treblinka from Warsaw stopped as the camp was used for a while to kill Jews from other areas such as the German protectorate in Moravia and Bohemia as well as the Bulgarian-occupied territories such in Macedonia, Thrace and Pirot. It had become apparent for the 50 000 Jews left in the Warsaw Ghetto that the previous transportations had been to death camps and that their own fate was sealed as well. After this realization, the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) was formed and quickly started building bunkers and stockpiling weapons in preparation for an uprising. A second group, the Jewish Military Union (ŻZW) also began preparing for an uprising. Both Jewish groups received training and weapons from the main Polish military underground organization named the Home Army. 

    However, relations between the Home Army and the Jewish Military Union were closer as the formation consisted of Polish-Jewish veterans who had fought in the Polish Army during the German invasion in 1939 and the group later united with right-wing nationalists of the Beitar organization which had been formed by the founder of the Revisionist Zionism movement, Ze’ev Jabotinsky. Meanwhile, the Jewish Combat Organization tilted toward socialism and had close relations with the Soviet Union, one the two states which invaded Poland in 1939. 

    Despite the political tensions, when the Germans decided to restart deportations to the death camps from the Warsaw Ghetto in April 1943, all groups fought shoulder to shoulder in the Ghetto Uprising. The Polish Home Army had some of its men join the Jewish resistence fighters inside the ghetto but mainly focused on attacking the Germans patrolling the ghetto walls. At one point, the Poles tried to blow up a part of the ghetto wall but were  unsuccessful. 

    After a couple of days of hard fighting, the uprising collapsed and the Germans spent the following weeks torching one area of the ghetto after another. Most of the around 10 000 civilian victims died either under collapsed buildings or suffocated in the basements from smoke inhalation. 

    The Ghetto Uprising came to an end on May 16th when the Germans blew up the Great Synagogue of Warsaw in what became  the last symbolical act of the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto. 

    The around Jewish 40 000 survivors of the uprising  were all sent to the Majdanek and Treblinka Death Camps. 

    Despite their superiority in number of troops and equipment, it took the Germans almost a month to gain full control of the ghetto. The bravery of the Ghetto insurgents greatly inspired the Poles who launched their own uprising in Warsaw a year later. The 63 days long Warsaw Uprising was finally defeated, with 20 000 Polish insurgents killed and another 200 000 civilian casualities.

    Many of the Jewish insurgents who survived the Ghetto Uprising also fought alongside the Poles in the Warsaw Uprising.

    Now, more than 70 years after the brutal events of the Second World War, the inhabitants of Warsaw put their heart and soul into commemorating the heroes and victims of the city’s two uprisings. 

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