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14
WIZZ MAGAZINE
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2012
SNAPSHOTS
Events and news from Wizz Air destinations
WORDS: ANDY JAROSZ
GDANSK
WALESA AND THE SOLIDARITY
MOVEMENT OCTOBER
As the birthplace of the Solidarity
movement that helped bring down the
Iron Curtain, the city of Gdansk was rarely
out of the news in the 1980s. The release
later this year of the film
Walesa
,
starring
Robert Wieckiewicz as the eponymous
trade union activist, will again throw the
spotlight on the city’s role in a famous
chapter of world history. Those keen to
explore the Solidarity story and follow in
the footsteps of Lech Wa
ł
esa (pronounced
‘Lek Vowensa’, for you English speakers)
and can visit several fascinating sites.
At the Gdansk Shipyard, the BHP
Hall where Wa
ł
esa and his colleagues
negotiated with Communist authorities has
recently reopened as an exhibition space.
A set of black and white photos powerfully
evokes the struggle endured by the city’s
residents, within and beyond the shipyard
gates. Outside those gates is the 42m-high
Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers
of 1970. Its construction was one of the
first demands of the Solidarity union.
A wander through the seven themed
rooms of the Roads to Freedom exhibition
(Ecs.gda.pl/Exhibition) takes the visitor
from a mock-up 1970s shop with empty
shelves, through the period of martial law
and on to the end of the Cold War. The
admission ticket is a replica of a ration card
used by all Poles in the Communist era.
While you’re unlikely to catch a glimpse
of Lech Wa
ł
esa on the streets of Gdansk,
the plaque outside his office in the city’s
Green Gate is now a popular photo stop.
Solidarity walking tours are offered by
local English-speaking guide Margaret
Andrzejewska-Bancewicz. Go to facebook.
com/margaret.andrzejewskabancewicz. For
information on the movie, visit walesafilm.pl
BOOK EARLY