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Once thc
·e
not insurmoun tablc
condition · a re met, living in Poland
on an Ame rican income is easy.
Food . highly
s ub~idi1.cJ
by the gov–
crnmcnt. runs only about
S30
to
$35
pe r perso n pcr month (but thc a \'er–
agc na ti' c Po le i> pcnd!> half of hi s
incomc on food). 1\ panment ser–
vices ra rel) amoun t to over
$ 10
a
rnont h: ut ili ti c!> . includ ing te le–
phonc. pcrhaps anothcr
$4.
Pu blic
transporta tion is very cheap. Tickets
to thc opera or !>ymphony concert
cos t only about onc do lla r each -
for thc bcst seats in the house. Med–
ica ! services. immed iatcly ava ila ble
to
th c "ncw" Polcs, are virtu ally
without co!>t.
About fi ve
t ime~
a yea r. our
fri cnd told us, he and a group of
other senio r citizens take a group
bus tour to sorne other European
co untry. \\'i th rnuch o f the travel
co~ t
borne by the Poli h govern–
rn ent. He was soon going to leave on
a two-week swing through We t
Gcrmany. Polcs. unlike Czechs and
Romanian ·. ca n freely travel out of
th c coun t ry. The only limi tation is
obtaini ng cnough forcign currency
bcforchand .
Combin in g a l l t hese mo ney –
s tre tching advantagcs with a tota l
lack of fca r of bcing muggcd on the
stree t ut ni ght or
ha~i ng
o'i;e·s a pa n–
ment broken in to. it is easy to see
why growin g numbers of Ame ricans
who wcrc born in Poland have cho–
:.en to rcturn to thcir na tive land.
Up From the Ashes
lf any city ha ever ri en from the
ashes of near tota l des truct ion. it is
Wa rsaw. PolanJ ' capita l we ll de–
se rve its Latin motto
·'Colllenwil
procel/ar ·· -
' 'Dcfies the stonns."
Wa rsa\\ was all but obliterated by
thc
oc~.:upy i ng
azi legions duri ng
World War
11.
culmina ting in the
crushing o f the Wa rsaw uprisin g in
1944.
Whcn Russ ian t roops ti nally
c ro~!>cd
thc Vb tula River (\.Vhere
th ey had pau ed to le t the depart ing
Gennan. conve nicntly wipe out
al/
re!> istancc) th cy found the city a
comple te sham bi es.
The Poli h phoenix the refore is a
ne\\ creation. Though Wa rsaw a a
!l ite has a long hi sto ry, the city as it
tands today i the result of thiny
yea r. or hard wo rk and unstin ti ng
silcrifl cc
by
it~
proud cit izcns.
32
Rccons truction gave th e city plan–
ners a splendid chance to ca rr) out a
mas te r pla n. A., a rc!>ult. maj or thor–
oughfares, though gc ncra lly fo llow–
ing the older road nctwo rk. have
be'én grca tl y widened ; pa rk a reas
" e re tripkd in :.izc: industrial zones
we re earmarked for outlying
a rea~ .
o ftcn scparatcJ from housing es–
tates by "'grccn bclt ." Mo t of the
indus try, furt hermore, has been lo–
ca tecl ' 'downwind" helping to al le–
via te air po ll ution.
Warsaw a uth o riti es , howeve r,
have been ve ry careful to preserve
ce nturi cs or Poli!>h traclition and his–
tory in thcir rcconstru ct ion effo rts.
Building in the city's old town
qua rt er, for cxample, have been
recons tructecl a
1
mos t brick-for-br ick
as they once appeared. Fort unately.
yo ung Warsaw archi tec ts stumbled
ac ros . omc of thc original building
plans. hu nd red of yea rs old.
At ni ght. roof-mounted . potlights
shine on thc facades of the build ings
lini ng the square in the heart of OId
Town. presenti ng on e of th e most
att ractive ur ba n la ndsca pes on the
cont incnt. Resta ura nts and win e cel–
la r~
in Old Town a re a grea t magnet
for both citi zen and vi itor ali ke.
Combined with its many cult ura l
amenit ie.,. Wa rsaw. in th c opinion
of many. i the mo t livable capital
in all of Eastern Curopc today.
Scars Still Remain
Wa rsaw's city fa th e rs have not
we pt away a ll cv iJ cnce o f th e
WorlJ Wa r ll nightmare. however.
Wa lking the stree ts and bou le–
va rds of the city one occasiona lly
come. acros. a pecul iar sight - a
secti on o r wa ll from an old bu ilding.
dcco rated wit h flowers and one or
two Poli sh nat iona l 11ags. On such a
site. onc is told,
rc~ id c n ts
of Warsaw
wcre ca priciously rounded up and
shot by azi troopers. usua ll y in
rcpr isa l for thc J ea th o f a German
!>o ldie r at the hand o f the Poli h
undergrou nd.
Memories
or
Wa rsav.:' once ex–
tcn sivc Jcw ish popul a ti on a re pre–
servcd in two kcy loca tions. (Very
few Jew now live in Poland. as op–
poseJ to thrcc million befa re the
wa r.) A stri ki ng monument stands
on thc ite
o(
the fo rmer Jewish
Ghetto in rnemory or those who
cha ll engcd the might
or
the azis in
the
1943
Ghet to upns111g. Nothi ng
else rema ins or thc onc
~q u a rc
mil e
' ' ull cd-i n compound into \\'hich th e
occup i cr~
had once compa cted
450.000
Jew~ .
Much of it is sti ll a
,·ucant , ra1ed arca.
On thc outski rts of the Ghetto
one ca n wa lk through the lowe r
]e, e l of the pri!>on whcre Jews were
fi rst hc ld awa iting transport to
Au chwi tz. A tree in front of the
prison bea rs thc names of many Po l–
i h-Jewish fami lics ca rri ed away
during the Holocaust.
The re is only onc oth er sca r whi ch
ma rs modern-day Warsaw. and tha t
onc da tes back n.ot to the wa r but lo
the early yea r of reconst ruction.
Th is "sca r'' i::. the much mal igned
·' Palace of Cu lt ure and Sciences' ' –
a mult i-storied. gingerbreadcd mon-
t ros ity of a bu ildi ng presented as a
gift to thc people of Wa rsaw by Jo–
se r Stal in in honor of the Red Army
tha t '"liberat ed" thc ci ty.
Th e ard1itccturc of the Pa lace of
Culture bcfit · Moscow (ind eed it re–
sembles Mo cow State University)
but is total ly out of cha racter with
Warsaw 's Wcs tcrn -s ty lc skyl ine.
Neve rt helc ·s because of its sheer
size. it domina tes the center oftown.
The rcsidcnts of
Wa r~aw
will tell
you th a t the bes t vicw of thc ir city is
from the top of the Palacc of Cul–
tu re beca usc that is thc only place
from ' ' hicli yo u ca nnot sce the Pa l–
ace o J' Cult urc.
Ame ricans may laugh at Pqli h
jokes. Thc Polcs. in turn . have the ir
" Rus ian j<lkcs.'' The Pa lace of Cul–
tu re i thc butt of nol a few or them.
One goe!> like this:
A Russ ian wa lking along Mar-
zalkow,<,ka Avcn ue on hi s fi r t visit
to Wa rsaw stops to aJ mire the Pa l–
ace of Culture. He enquires of a
Polc: "You peoplc of War aw must
grca tly apprcc ia tc thi s wonderful
gi
l't
!"rom our people." The Pole re–
piies sombc rl y:
··y
cs. wc mus t. ··
Potes and Catholics First
The apocrypha l unswcr given by the
Pole to thc. unin l'ormed Russian is
charac teristic of the entire Polish–
Sovie t rela tionship.
Having no ulternati ve by virtue of
gcogruphy and rccent history. the
Po tes give un!>werving loyal ty to
Moscow's desires and dictates in th e
field · of politics and foreign poli cy.
The-PLAIN TRUTH July 1976