It's our second visit to
Poland. The first time we were in this country was 43 years ago,
1971. We were much younger and we were highly interested how life
really was for the ordinary man behind the “Iron Curtain”, that
was there in all it's dark and threatening cold war status. We must
have been one of the very few tourists to travel to this country in
that era.
We had to prepare the journey very carefully. Visas were difficultly obtained and
expensive. You had to state beforehand how many days you intended to
stay in the country, as one was obliged to spend a minimum amount of
money per day and buy vouchers to that amount at the embassy before
you left.
We travelled in our little
red Renault 4 and there were the checks at the borders between West
and East Gemany at Helmstedt, into West Berlin at Drewitz, then again
out of West Berlin at Heinrich Heine Strasse and again out of the GDR
at Frankfurt an der Oder and into Poland at Slubice. Each time
mirrors under the car, unloading of luggage on to the street,
thorough examinations of the travel documents, all by frowning and
unfriendly border guards.
In Poland we experienced
that shops had little for sale. “Niema” is the word we remember,
“not present”, we don't have it. We saw houses in bad shape and
hardly any paint, many drunks in the streets (mostly in the
morning!). Food was hard to get, both of us lost 4 kilos of weight
during our 18 days stay. We also saw that some people had motor boats
on the Masurian lakes, military families. Most people had nothing. We
saw with our own eyes how the socialist utopia worked out in
practice.
During our current trip we
saw the workings of the EU co-operation. Differences between our
countries have faded and we are extremely happy to see that.
How good would it be if
all Europeans, many of whom are now so critical about the European
co-operation, would realize how the world was just some years ago and
how it has changed. If everyone would realize how it was, where we
come from, and what has been acheived in a lifetime. To be more
precise, in my very own lifetime
(born 1945). From killing each other by the millions in WW II to
sharing great freedom and peace with hundreds of millions in this
continent. It would only be wise to cherish this.
How right you are...!
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