European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 01, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse City Sheds its russian skin part of Warsaw s soviet leftovers the towering Palace of culture and science. 4 stripes Magazine december 7, 1994 by Michael Church London observer service you re in Warsaw but where Are you stroll Down the Royal Way past spacious buildings in Pri Stinely glowing Stone and you sense the spirit of the kingdom before its first dismemberment two centuries ago follow the gracefully landscaped contours of Lazienka Park and you might be in Jarie Austen s England look along the characterless downtown avenues or up at the wedding cake that is the Palace of culture and science dominating the Skyline from every Angle and you re in Russia. " " and you re there again on the windswept rim of the soccer stadium on the far Side of the River at 8 on a sunday morning and 10 degrees below Zero. For it is Here that poor russians come by the thousands with Bent backs and heavy burdens to sell for a pittance what they have made or scavenged or otherwise acquired to the relatively Richer poor of Poland. At first sight it seems like any other Street Market with Mounds of shoddy garments. But then you seethe difference. These Are not just people who Are turning their pockets out they Are part of a whole culture. Telescopic gunfights screwdrivers wooden dolls Kitchen knives and clothes pegs Are strewn Higgley � Pigg Ledy on the snowy ground. A Chrome plated communist party watch very important looking for $7.50. A full length Silver Fox fur coat for $450. Amber necklaces from the Baltic for 30,000 zlotys each but that s the equivalent of $1.50 Quick a fistful of zlotys i buy dollars says a rough cardboard notice in polish on a sweater stall. The russian mafia i am told is also Well entrenched. Huddled hordes an empty stadium and a wedding cake on a White horizon 50 years of history reduced to their essence like a still life painting. Why go to Warsaw history and More history past present and future. History in Frozen monuments heated arguments and in its unfolding for better or for worse of the world to come. In a Field the russian Market is the strangest snack bar i have Ever seen a de winged Airliner propped on Stone plinths with a string of coloured Light from nose to Tail. V having to make do and mend produces arresting it architecture. The former communist party Headquarters is now the Stock the foot of the wedding cake is Cri Coland fun fair while the basement plays Host to Queen s Casino. R week by week Warsaw is throwing off its russian Ness like a worn out skin. World War ii is everywhere in evidence. The ghetto is gone but the Point from which the jews embarked for Auschwitz is immortalized Ira Chaste Marble mausoleum. The spot where Warsaw s fighters went Down into the sewers for a last doomed stand As in Andrzej Wajda s harrowing film canal i now a massively imposing Complex of Bronze sculptures. The heroes Monument with its eternal flame is attended by Gravelly Goose stepping guards in eternal rotation their hourly stints reduced to half hour ones when the temperature sinks below minus-20. At 2 in the morning when the streets Are silent apart from the occasional big Limo sliding f ast these unblinking boys and their Brazier create a weird theatrical effect. And the old City More the instant City. What the germans reduced to rubble the poles painstakingly rebuilt As a perfect replica. It s hard to believe As you wander the crooked streets that you re not in an 18th is
