Poland 2024 Day 3

Posted by eurotrav on

Today was museum day. There are two museums that I had heard were must sees, the European Solidarity Museum and the Museum of the Second World War.

The Solidarity museum explains the history of the Gdańsk shipyard strike, which was the first successful strike in Poland, and the unsuccessful strikes that had preceded it. Then it explained how the results of the strike, eventually, helped lead to the fall of communism in Poland.

There were so many different stations throughout the exhibits I think it would probably take a full day to listen to and read them all. I got the gist of why the strike was important and what happened after but the details they showing how everything was connected felt innumerable.

Outside of the Solidarity museum.

One of the green spaces tucked into the museum.
Helmets representing the members of the strike.

Some of the original demands of the strikers.

The jacket, with bulletproof holes, of those of the shot strikers.

Riot police shields from the time of the strike.

There was a huge wall of resistor shapes. The little resistor became a symbol of resistance under martial law a few years after the strike.

My favorite exhibit. A “wedding dress” shipped to Poland. Made of screen printing material so that they could smuggle it into the country.

Poem detailing the feelings of those queuing for food during the period of rationing.

Memorial of the strikers outside the museum.

The museum does a great job of showing the steps that lead to Poland’s move from communism to democracy. I highly recommend a visit, even if it requires a lot of reading.

On my way to the next museum I managed to find a food court that seemed to cater to the apartments nearby.

Ended up getting Thai teriyaki beef.

One of the restaurants had weird seats.

The next museum I went to was the World War II museum. It was very different from any program I’ve ever seen on World War II in that it spent a lot more time talking about what an occupied nation and its people went through and less on the actual battles of the war.

The museum did not shy away from any topic and was very blunt on the German and Soviet invasion in 1939. It talks about the holocaust and the forced relocation and executions of many peoples in Eastern Europe. What really makes it stand out are the they use to bring their points home, from ration papers to the melted artifacts from Hiroshima. This is another museum that would probably take all day to go through fully and the most detailed museum I have ever been to on the subject of World War II.

Mock Poland street circa WWII.

Items that would have been found in an air raid shelter.

One of the box cars that was used to forcibly move people across Europe.

Tin tags to easily identify forced laborers.

An example of the destroyed cities of Europe.

I would, again, highly recommend this museum. Maybe do it on a different day than the Solidarity museum. Both in one day kind of makes for a depressing day.

I did do one final meal out tonight. I ended up at Bar Pod Ryba. The food was ok but it’s just so darn warm out that it was really pleasant to sit outside and read for a while.

Potato pancake with fried pork shoulder. The pancake was great but the filling was just ok. Oh and I really like the pickled carrot salad part.

I really hope this video works. Chimes of the historic town hall clock.

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