Playing it safe in virtual Krakow

Transcription

The Krakow Post
NO. 13
WWW.KRAKOWPOST.COM
AUGUST 2-AUGUST 8, 2007 WEEKLY
Playing it safe in virtual Krakow
Krakow has become Poland’s first virtual city in the popular online game Second Life, where players can create a character who travels, works, bargains, even eats in virtual restaurants.
THIS WEEK
Germany opens job
market to Poles
Germany rethinks limits once
placed on employing citizens
of new EU member-states
2
Saving Krakowians
from Britons
Krakow is cracking down on
drunk tourists, and plans to print
flyers warning them of behavior
that will not be tolerated
7
Hard Rock catching
up to Krakow
The city’s growing popularity
brought in about 8 mln tourists
last year. Now Hard Rock Cafe
wants a piece of the action
9
Anna Biernat
STAFF JOURNALIST
Krakow has become Poland’s first virtual city in the popular online game Second
Life, where players can create a character
who travels, works, bargains and even eats
in virtual restaurants.
To start with, the city’s representation
– known as Second Krakow – will be limited to Rynek Glowny and adjoining streets.
Later it will be expanded to other areas.
All the elements of the architecture and
infrastructure are faithful copies of the original. There’s Rynek Glowny with Mariacki
Church, the Town Hall’s tower, Sukiennice
(Cloth Hall), Adam Mickiewicz’s Monument and the facades of apartment houses.
Even Rynek Glowny’s money box is
there – a one-meter-tall glass box where
visitors can donate money to the renovation
of the Old Town.
Zbigniew Woznowski of the Supremum
Group advertising agency came up with
Second Krakow.
Second Life allows virtual representations of cities around the world to become
part of its web site.
“Krakow is a special city and we want
to promote it through Second Life,” said
Woznowski, whose name in the game is
Zbysioo Borchowski. “I am happy that after a lot of hard work, we finally created
Second Krakow. I think it’s the best-quality
Second City in the whole of Second Life.”
Krakow is one of the first Second Life
cities in Europe. Others include Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin.
The Supremum Group plans to add the
Polish cities of Zakopane and Giewont in
October and Warsaw, Wroclaw, Gdansk,
Poznan and Katowice later.
“We want to build a stronger representation of our nation in the virtual world as
well as encourage foreigners to visit Krakow and Poland,” Woznowski said.
So far, visitors to virtual Krakow can
only walk through the market, go inside
empty buildings and buy the city’s famous
pretzels, or “obwarzanek,” with a made-up
currency known as a Linden dollar. The exchange rate for the Linden dollar is $1 per
270 Linden dollars.
Polish Second Life players have been
exchanging their views about Second Krakow on the Internet.
Most opinions have been positive but
many have complained that Second Krakow still has too few activities for Second
Life players.
Most of those posting comments say that
visually the city has been really well done.
But more detail – such as interiors – needs
to be added, they said.
Second Krakow visitors also say they
hope to find more attractions and activities
soon.
Woznowski said that will happen. In
fact, the Second Krakow team is continually developing and improving the site.
“Soon we will be able to ride a hackney
carriage, go shopping in Sukiennice, establish our own business and buy real estate,”
Woznowski said.
A flat on Rynek Glowny will cost a few
hundred zloty a month. The price of a stand
in Sukiennice has yet to be set.
Also in the future, Second Krakow players will be able to visit museums and go to
the theater or a movie or drink a beer in one
of the garden pubs around Rynek Glowny.
Second Krakow’s creators emphasize its
educational and informational value. Indeed, every famous spot on Rynek Glowny
is equipped with an online sign that tells a
bit about it.
But the virtual city will be a way to make
money, too. For example, the creators plan
to give virtual visitors a chance to drink
beer in one of the garden pubs around
Rynek Glowny. It’s not surprising then that
“we are presently conducting talks with
Polish breweries that would like to invest
in the virtual world,” Woznowski said.
Virtual visitors will also have a chance to
see places which normally are inaccessible
to tourists. One is likely to be the basement
under Rynek Glowny, which archaeologists
dug out during the platform’s renovation.
“Most probably we will be able to see
Rynek Glowny’s underground virtually
See ONLINE on Page 6
2
P O L A N D
The Krakow Post
R E G I O N A L
N E W S
Five European and African
smugglers arrested in Finland
Finnish customs arrested five European
and African citizens as they were trying to
smuggle fake brand watches and mobile
phone components destined for Spanish and
Polish markets, the Finnish authorities said
late last week.
According to the customs, it is extremely
rare that smugglers travel by plane and hide
the counterfeit merchandise in their luggage. The customs found 7,000 fake Rolex,
Cartier, IWC, Emporio Armani and Bulgari
watches hidden in their baggage.
There were also women among the suspects, who went on board in Guangzhou in
southern China, this month.
The smugglers are not risking any legal
consequences unless the manufacturers,
who were contacted by Finnish authorities,
decide to file a complaint for the caused
damages, Head of Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Customs Mika Pitkaeniemi told AFP.
(AFP)
AUGUST 2-AUGUST 8, 2007
Germany considers opening jobs
for Poles, Eastern Europeans
After EU enlargement, Germany set limitations on employing citizens of new EU member-states
until 2009. Now the country is thinking about loosening the restrictions
U.S. pays Czechs to destroy
Cold War missiles
The U.S., which hopes to extend its missile defense into the Czech Republic, will
help Prague destroy Soviet-made Cold War
missiles, Vice Defense Minister Martin
Bartak said late last week.
The Czech Republic, a former Communist state and Warsaw Pact member, has a
surplus of 1,359 Soviet-made mobile guided anti-aircraft missile systems and 658
mobile launch pads.
Washington will contribute $600,000
(435,000 euro) to efforts to destroy the
weapons, Bartak said.
The payment is part of U.S. efforts to
prevent the proliferation of anti-aircraft
missiles. Prague is progressively replacing
the Cold War missiles, now deemed obsolete, with the modern RBS-70 system produced by Sweden’s Saab company.
Saab is to deliver 16 anti-aircraft systems by the end of the year for 35 mln euro
($48 mln).
Washington wants the Czech Republic
to accept a radar station, which, together
with 10 interceptor missiles in neighboring Poland, would extend its anti-missile
shield into Central Europe. The shield is
to protect the U.S. and its allies against attack from a “rogue state” such as Iran. The
proposal has riled Russia and created rifts
within NATO.
Last week a poll found that 65 percent of
Czechs opposed the plan. (AFP)
Axa and BNP Paribas to buy
Ukrainian insurer
French insurance giants AXA and BNP
Paribas unit UkrSibbank have agreed jointly
to buy 99 percent of Ukraine’s sixth-biggest
damage insurer, Vesko.
The financial details of the transaction
were not revealed in a joint statement.
They said Axa and BNP Paribas will
make the acquisition through a joint venture,
Ukrainian Insurance Alliance. Combined
with UIA’s existing activity, the move will
give the French companies third place on the
Ukrainian market, with seven percent.
Vesko had 2006 sales of $28 mln (20.6
mln euro).(AFP)
Four killed, three injured in
Czech building collapse
At least four people were killed and three
others seriously injured late last week when
part of a disused steel factory collapsed in
the Czech Republic, rescue services said.
Several emergency teams using sniffer
dogs and backed up by a helicopter gathered
at the site at Kladno, northwest of Prague,
where up to a dozen people could be trapped
under the rubble, they said.
“The collapse occurred in a significant
section of the disused building, which had a
steel frame and a concrete roof,” said police
spokeswoman Jana Steinerova.
Kladno’s Mayor Dan Jiranek said police
had earlier expelled about 20 people from the
factory after they were found cutting up the
steel frame of the building, probably to sell it
off. But they returned during the night.
“It is a great misfortune but was also
enormously irresponsible of these people,”
he told reporters. Dozens of people, mainly
Romas, waited near the accident site to hear
if their relatives were among the dead, the
media reported. (AFP)
Germany had a special fear of new workers in 2004 because it had suffered from years of economic and unemployment problems
related to German reunification. In early 2006 it began shaking off its economic malaise, however, prompting companies to begin
hiring. It now has its lowest unemployment in 14 years – 8.8 percent.
Danuta Filipowicz
STAFF JOURNALIST
Germany is thinking about opening its
job market to professionals from Poland and
other new EU members soon.
The policy would apply only to skills that
Germany is having difficulty filling, however. The country plans a general opening of
its job market in 2009.
When Poland and other Eastern European
countries joined the EU in 2004, Germany
felt it would need five years to open its job
market. An immediate opening would lead
to a flood of workers from Eastern Europe,
cutting German workers’ wages, it feared.
In fact, the Germans could have delayed
a general opening until 2011 under EU rules
that gave older members a two-year extension if they could prove that an influx of
new workers would create problems for
their economies.
But Germany is having trouble filling
certain skilled positions, so it is considering
loosening its ban on new EU members’ citizens taking those jobs, Dziennik newspaper
reported.
When the EU expanded, the 15 older
members were worried about what an influx of Eastern European workers would do
Turk Uzel set to
take over iconic
Polish Ursus plant
agence france-presse
Turkish farm machinery company
Uzel is set to take over Poland’s iconic
Ursus tractor plant, the factory’s owners
announced early this week.
“Talks are in progress. They center
on establishing a new joint company in
which Uzel will be the majority partner,”
Roma Sarzynska, spokeswoman of the
state-owned Bumar industrial group, told
AFP.
Uzel, one of the world’s top 10 tractor
companies, has offered to invest 75 mln
zloty (20 mln euro, $27 mln) to upgrade
the plant over three years, Sarzynska
said.
“In our view, that’s a satisfactory investment,” he added.
Once a deal has been completed, Ursus expects to boost production capacity
to 10,000 tractors a year from the current
level of 2,000, she added.
Ursus, which lies just outside Warsaw,
was a Communist-era flagship and once
supplied half of all tractors used in Poland. At its peak in the 1970s it produced
around 80,000 tractors a year.
The factory later became a symbol
of workers rebellion against the regime,
after strikes in 1976 and the foundation
of the independent Solidarity trade union
in 1980.
Ursus fell on hard times after the collapse of the Communist system in 1989,
when Poland began the often painful
transition to a market economy.
After flirting with bankruptcy, it was
taken over by Bumar in 2001.
The factory has been given a new
lease on life since 2004 thanks to Poland’s membership in the EU, as Polish
farmers use the EU aid to upgrade their
operations by buying new tractors.
to their economies and their social-service
systems.
Only Great Britain, Ireland and Sweden
opened their job markets completely and
immediately.
Some of the other older members, such as
France, opened their job markets only partially – by work skill.
Still others, including Germany and Austria, decided to open their markets after a
transitional period.
News organizations in countries where
there was near-hysteria about Eastern Europeans flooding labor markets came up
with the “Polish plumber” caricature to
sound the alarm.
They contended that Polish plumbers
would flood across the border to take the
jobs of plumbers in older EU member countries at far lower wages. The Polish plumber
thus became a metaphor for all Eastern European workers who, alarmists said, threatened to undercut the wages of workers in
older EU countries.
Some of the countries that took the jobopenings-by-skills approach in 2004 have
greatly expanded the number of skills
that new EU members’ citizens can fill.
In France, for example, Eastern European
members’ citizens no longer need a work
permit for more than 60 fields in which there
is a need for workers.
Germany had a special fear of new workers in 2004 because it had suffered from
years of economic and unemployment problems related to German reunion.
In early 2006 it began shaking off its economic malaise, however – which prompted
its companies to begin hiring. It now has
its lowest unemployment in 14 years – 8.8
percent.
And it has a shortage of certain highly
skilled people. ‘’We especially need engineers, technicians, computer scientists and
specialists from the construction sector,’’
said Torben Leif Brodersen, chief of the
German Franchise Association.
The association and other employers
groups welcome the government’s proposal
to open some jobs to workers from new EU
members.
Achim Derecks, deputy director of the
DHK Federation of German Chambers of
Commerce, said it would be a good idea
to hire skilled Eastern Europeans now. If
Germany waits, he said, they may go elsewhere.
Employment research indicates that 24
percent of German companies are unable to
fill all of the job openings they have. The
loudest complaints are from the export and
services sectors. A chronic, continuing shortage of workers could hurt economic growth
over the long run, analysts say.
Some politicians are demanding that the
government introduce minimum wages for
the sectors that are to be opened to Eastern
Europeans. They are worried about employers paying the newcomers less, thus reducing the wages of all workers over time.
Poland authorities sell rest of
country’s top steel concern to
int’l giant Arcelor Mittal
Polish authorities announced late last
week that they were selling their remaining
one-quarter stake in the country’s biggest
steel concern, PHS, to the majority owner,
global giant Arcelor Mittal.
“The Polish Treasury and Arcelor Mittal have reached an agreement on the sale
price for the 25.2percent stake which
remains in state
hands. The unit price
has been set at 6.50
zloty (1.73 euro,
$2.39), or a total sum
of 436.4 mln zloty,”
the treasury said in a
statement.
The price “results from negotiations between the two parties over recent months,”
it said.
Earlier this year, the Polish Auditors’
Court had recommended that the treasury
review the terms of the 2004 sale of 70 percent of PHS to Arcelor Mittal.
The court had said that the value of PHS
was “underestimated by around 2 bln zloty” at the time of its acquisition by Arcelor
Mittal.
The court had recommended specifically
that the treasury renegotiate the terms of a
call option that was part of the 2004 deal,
and which was meant to enable Arcelor
Mittal to acquire the rest of PHS for one
zloty per share, or a total of 67 mln zloty.
The court did
not, however, complain about Arcelor
Mittal winning the
tender to buy PHS,
saying that its offer
was the best on the
table at the time.
Key planks of
the 2004 deal included pledges by Arcelor
Mittal to invest 2.4 bln zloty in PHS up to
2009, to increase the Polish group’s capital
by 800 mln zloty, and buy back its debts
for around 1 bln zloty. PHS comprises the
four main steel mills in Poland – Huta Sendzimira, Huta Katowice, Huta Florian and
Huta Cedler – which between them account
for 70 percent of Polish steel production.
P O L A N D
The Krakow Post
3
Poland holds off resuming controversial roadworks
at center of environmental clash with Brussels
“Nothing will happen until the Polish
government gives official confirmation,”
Poland will hold off building a highway
she told AFP.
in a sensitive wetland zone pending a rul“Then we will need to analyze it to see if
ing by Europe’s top court on whether the there are sufficient guarantees to enable us
project breaches EU environmental rules,
to withdraw our legal action,” she added.
Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said
If the case goes ahead, there is no deadearly this week.
line for a ruling, said European Court
“We need to show restraint,” Kaczynski spokesman Chris Fretwell.
said in an interview with Polish public raThe EC fired a warning shot against
dio, a day after the European Commission
Warsaw at the European Court earlier this
stepped up the pressure by asking the Euroyear.
pean Court of Justice to impose an injuncPoland suspended initial work at the site
tion on construction in the Rospuda Valley
in March citing the bird-breeding season as
in northeast Poland.
the reason, rather than the legal clash.
Resuming work at this stage would have
Polish authorities had announced that
a “negative impact” on the wider highway
construction would resume this week.
project of which it is part, Kaczynski said.
Greenpeace, which is also deeply opThe Rospuda Valley
posed to the project, set
highway plan – which
up camp briefly at the
Many
locals
say
they
is just one section of the
construction site earlier
can no longer stand the
planned “Via Baltica”
this year.
project to improve links
Environmental activnoise, pollution and risk
between the Baltic states,
of fatal accidents caused ists pitched tents there
Poland and the rest of the
on Monday, but
by the 4,500 heavy goods again
EU – has set Warsaw on
decided to leave on
vehicles which rumble
a collision course with
Tuesday morning.
Brussels.
through every day.
The Rospuda project
The EC, the EU’s exhas been in the pipeecutive arm, describes
line for 15 years, well
the valley as a “unique wetland system” before Poland joined the EU in 2004, and
and says its animal and plant life must be
many residents of Augustow are exasperprotected.
ated over the delays.
But Polish officials have repeatedly dePoland’s current single-lane Route
nied that the 40-kilometer (25-mile) stretch Eight, the main highway to and from Lithuof road, which is also meant to ease the ania, cuts through the center of the town of
current burden of truck traffic through the 30,000 people.
nearby town of Augustow, would breach the
Many locals say they can no longer
environmental rules of the 27-nation EU.
stand the noise, pollution and risk of fatal
“We are going to win this case,” Kacaccidents caused by the 4,500 heavy goods
zynski said.
vehicles which rumble through every day.
“We are going to stop work now in order
On Monday, hundreds of angry residents
to resume it after we’ve won,” he added.
set up a blockade in the town, halting truck
Work will meanwhile continue on untraffic until the early hours of Tuesday and
contested parts of the Via Baltica, he said.
causing a huge tailback.
Poland hopes to get almost 481 mln euro
Polish authorities note that the highway
($657 mln) in EU funds for the Via Baltica,
project includes a pillared bridge across the
but the money could be in jeopardy if Warvalley, and say they have picked the leastsaw breaches EU environmental rules.
damaging option available.
EC environmental spokeswoman BarEnvironmental campaigners, however,
bara Helfferich said Brussels was waiting
charge that the planners failed to give
for Warsaw to put in writing its pledge to
proper consideration to an alternative route
freeze construction in the Rospuda Valley.
skirting the valley.
The EC, the EU’s executive arm, describes the valley as a “unique wetland system” and says its animal and plant life must be protected. But Polish officials have denied that the new stretch of road would breach the environmental rules of the 27-nation EU.
Polish Euro MP seeks removal of
name from CIA prisons report
Polish socialist EU MP Marek Siwiec has
brought court action in Poland demanding
Swiss Senator Dick Marty remove his name
from a report about secret CIA prisons in
Europe. Despite earlier attempts to end the
dispute in a “conciliatory” fashion Marty
has maintained his “untrue statements” in
his report as rappoorteur for the Council of
Europe on the rendition flights, Siwiec’s office said in a statement from Poland.
Siwiec’s attorney, Mariusz Paplaczyk,
lodged the summons at a court in Poznan,
Poland, early this week, demanding an apology from Marty and the removal of his name
from the secret prisons report.
Marty’s report said clandestine prisons
in northeast Poland and southeast Romania
were part of a “global spider’s web” of de-
Poland wants property issue
settled “once and for all”
Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said
late last week he wanted to settle the question of disputed German property seized
by Poland after World War II “once and for
all.” Around a third of Poland is made up of
former German territory after the 1945 Potsdam Treaty effectively moved the country
west by 200 kilometers (124 miles). Many
German families originally from the regions have sought to get their property back
through lawsuits, causing uncertainty and
resentment among Poles who have settled
there. “We must resist the destabilization
of Polish property law in the northern and
western regions,” Kaczynski told a news
conference, broadcast by the TVN24 news
channel. German Agnes Trawny won back
land and forests which had been taken over
by the Polish state in East Prussia on the
grounds that officials had failed to change
the property’s entry in the national register.
Such loopholes would now be closed, Kaczynski said, announcing an update of the national property register, and moves to transform lease agreements into deeds. Germany
does not back the lawsuits by its citizens
after the government dropped all territorial
claims in Poland in a 1990 treaty.
tentions and illegal prisoner transfers spun
by the U.S. and its allies after the September
11, 2001 attacks.
Marty accused Poland and Romania of
harboring the CIA detention centers between
2003 and 2005.
He said that Siwiec, then the Polish minister of defense, along with others including
former President Aleksander Kwasniewski,
had approved Poland’s role in the secret CIA
activities and detentions.
Siwiec remains willing to “reach an agreement with the defendant... to stop the violation of the good name of the (Euro) deputy,”
the MEP’s office said in a statement.
The European Commission has called on
EU countries accused of taking part in the
covert CIA program to conduct impartial
investigations “as quickly as possible” to
establish responsibility.
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P O L A N D
The Krakow Post
R E G I O N A L
N E W S
Ukrainian worker dies after
drinking session in Cyprus
A Ukrainian man died of heatstroke in
Cyprus after heavy drinking as temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius (104
degrees Fahrenheit), police said early this
week. Chmyr Bogdan, 46, was found dead
in his Nicosia apartment late last week during one of the hottest days of the year with
the mercury rising to 44 degrees Celsius.
“A preliminary investigation shows that
death was caused by heatstroke after the deceased drank a large volume of alcohol,” a
police spokesman told AFP.
The man, a construction worker, was initially found by his wife, a nurse, who then
called the police. According to press reports,
the Ukrainian had consumed three to four
bottles of vodka with friends in a room that
had no air conditioning or fans. In June, a
similar week-long heat wave claimed the
lives of three elderly people – bringing the
death toll so far this summer to four. Temperatures in the capital soar daily beyond
37 degrees Celsius while coastal areas are
slightly cooler but extremely humid.
The punishing dry spell is putting a heavy
strain on the island’s water reserves with
dams only at 19 percent of capacity.
More furnace-like temperatures have also
triggered record demand for electricity as
Cypriots try to stay cool in air conditioned
offices and homes. The meteorological service said the stifling heat was due to a hot
air mass coming in from the east which kept
the country’s temperatures high until early
Wednesday. (AFP)
Czechs charge prosecutor in
Communist-era trial
Czech legal authorities have launched
murder proceedings against one of the surviving prosecutors in the 57-year-old Communist show trial of national hero Milada
Horakova, the news agency CTK reported
early this week.
Proceedings against Ludmilla BrozovaPolednova, aged 85, were launched late
last week, the agency said, citing Prague
state prosecutors’ office spokesman, Martin Omelka.
Polednova was one of a team of Communist-era prosecutors who directed the
Stalinist-style show trial of Horakova, a
former World War II resistance hero and
Czechoslovak lawmaker, which resulted in
her conviction and execution in 1950.
Communist authorities, who seized
power in a coup at the start of 1948, charged
Horakova and a handful of accomplices
with plotting to overthrow the state.
Her courageous self-defense and refusal
to play the role plotted for her in the show
trial resulted in Horakova becoming one of
the main symbols of the anti-Communist
resistance. A Hollywood film is currently
being filmed about her life.
The prosecution will draw on long lost
radio and film archive material of the trial,
the agency said. Previous moves to punish
those responsible for staging the show trial
have not resulted in any convictions.
Horakova’s sentence was cancelled in
1968, but her name was not fully cleared
until 1990, soon after the fall of the former
Czechoslovak Communist regime. (AFP)
Storm halts environmentalist
triathlete’s trans-Baltic swim
Bad weather forced a Lithuanian triathlete to interrupt his attempt to swim 209 kilometers (130 miles) across the Baltic Sea to
draw attention to pollution, organizers said
late last week. With around 100 kilometers
to go, Vidmantas Urbonas boarded a support
yacht after spending three hours battling
stormy seas, his team said in a statement.
“It is expected that waves will reach 2.5
meters (eight feet) today and it is dangerous not only for the athlete but also for the
yachts accompanying him. Everything now
will depend on weather conditions,” it said.
Urbonas and his crew were due to sail to
Pavilosta in Latvia, where they would make
a final decision on whether to try to resume
the swim or call it off completely, the statement said. Urbonas, who was world triathlon champion in 1998, set out from Kalmar
in Sweden on July 22. He had been planning
to make the crossing in three stages – with
the longest stretch spanning 145 kilometers from the island of Gotland in Sweden
to Palanga, Lithuania – and was aiming to
make landfall on July 29. After facing bad
weather from the outset, Urbonas shifted his
planned landing to Pavilosta. (AFP)
Roma gangsters lure Poles into slavery in
Sweden via job ads in Polish newspapers
Poster promoting awareness of human trafficking.
Danuta Filipowicz
STAFF JOURNALIST
Roma gangs promise Poles jobs in Sweden, but when the Poles arrive, the gangs
force them to shoplift or burglarize apartments.
If a Pole balks at committing crimes, the
gangs beat or even torture him, according
to reporters Piotr Gluchowski and Marcin
Kowalski of Gazeta Wyborcza.
The Roma gangsters go after uneducated
Poles, luring some with job ads in Polish
newspapers or on the Internet. They entice
others by having Roma living in Poland
go to small-town bars and discos, mainly
in western Poland, to look for people who
want work.
They promise men construction work
and women housework or nanny jobs.
They say they will provide the Poles
with transportation to Sweden, an apartment and food – for free. And they tell them
they don’t need to speak Swedish.
“At the beginning everything looks
great,” said Jacek, a Pole in Sweden’s capital of Stockholm. “For a week or two, a
person is cleaning Roma places or building
their houses.”
But the Roma take away his passport on
the pretext that they need it to rent a flat for
him, Jacek said.
They put him in government-provided
public housing, then give him an advance
on his wages, which he is told he must repay with interest, Jacek said. Some Poles
are happy about the advance because they
can send some of it back to their families,
Jacek said.
The problem is the spiralling interest on
the “loan,” he said. The Roma tell the Pole
that the amount owed is increasing because
of the interest.
Then they tell him that he can pay off the
loan quicker if he goes with them to a store.
In the store, Jacek said, they suddenly tell
you: “Take it. Hide it in your pocket.’’
If you do, he said, then they begin training
you in all the tricks of being a criminal.
“They give you instructions in how to
disable alarms” and how to “case joints”
– look for ways to burglarize places – without being noticed, he said.
The Polish immigrant thinks that by engaging in crime, he will pay off the debt
he owes the Roma. But the Roma have
stacked the deck against him: He will never
pay off the loan because the high interest
rate means the debt gets larger and larger.
When a Pole does burglarize or steal, the
gangsters take more than 90 percent of the
loot, Jacek said.
And some of the gangs set quotas on the
number of crimes a Pole must commit each
day. In some cases, the quota is 30 thefts
a day, a Polish man who was forced into
crime told Swedish journalists.
If someone tries to stop engaging in
crime, gang members beat him, burn him
with cigarettes and break his fingers.
Gangsters watch when Poles steal and
burglarize. If police catch a Pole, the gangsters go with him to the police station to
make sure he doesn’t tell them about the
gang. Those who say too much about the
gang during a police interrogation disappear, Jacek said.
Thirty-four-year-old Pawel F. decided
one day that he had had enough of a gang
forcing him to commit crimes.
When gang members took him to a supermarket in the southern Swedish city of
Malmö, he went to a security guard and
then to police.
After giving his story to police, Pawel
asked if he could contact the Polish consular office. But he became so scared about
the gangsters retaliating against him that he
hung himself the following day while still
in police custody.
His death led to journalists delving into
the gangs. “We have discovered” a widespread criminal enterprise involving Polish
thieves, Joakim Palmkvist of the newspaper Sydsvenskan reported.
“In the city there are criminal groups
who take advantage of hundreds of people,
using them as slaves for crimes,’’ Malmö
Police Chief Henrik Malmkvist confirmed.
“We know about similar gangs in Stockholm and Göteborg (on the west coast of
Sweden).
“They take advantage of poor, uneducated people from Poland who have never
been abroad,” Malmkvist said. “They do
what the gangster tells them out of fear.”
It’s hard to ferret out who is actually in
the gangs, the chief said, although police do
know that there are five gang “families,”
each headed by a powerful “Godfather.”
One Pole who had been forced into
crime told Swedish journalists that Roma
crime families have lived in Sweden for 30
to 40 years.
“Many Poles who manage to escape
come to our consulate,” said Gerard Pokruszynski, the Polish consul in Malmö.
Some show evidence of severe beatings
and even torture, he said. He said the consulate has recorded hundreds of such situations. Immediately after Poland joined the
EU in 2004, “these incidents became more
frequent,” with several people coming to
the consulate weekly.
Swedish police and the national prosecutor’s office in north Poland have investigated the cases. Three Poles have been arrested, two of them Roma, on accusations
of trafficking in humans and forcing others
to engage in crimes. The prosecutor’s office said it has a list of 200 victims of the
Roma gangs. It will be interrogating them
as part of its investigation.
Read pg. 5 for further information on this
topic: “Polish women abused by Roma”
Poland makes plans for weekend prisons
LUK Agency
4
Although the program is called
“weekend jail,” inmates will be
able to serve two days a week
on any days approved by court.
Remaining time to spend living
in the community
the krakow post
Poland is going to allow non-violent
offenders to serve their time on weekends to alleviate jail overcrowding and to
keep families together, the Polish Press
Agency (PAP) has reported.
Noting that England and Wales already
have instituted such a program, the Ministry of Justice said Poland has 90,000
prisoners, but space for 75,000. The new
system will mean only 45,000 inmates in
jail at a time, the ministry said.
It will save the government money
because inmates will be paying for their
food while at home and will be costing
the jail system less in utility bills.
Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro
said weekend jail will apply only to those
who are deemed no risk to society, whose
original sentences were 12 months or less
and who have six months or less to go.
Although the program is called “weekend jail,” inmates will be able to serve
two days a week on any days a court approves. The rest of the time they will be
living in the community.
By allowing inmates to work or study
during the week, and help take care of
their children, the program will keep
non-violent offenders’ families together,
the ministry said.
England and Wales began trying a
weekend jail system on a limited basis in
2004. It has worked so well that soon all
courts of original jurisdiction will be allowed to use it.
Weekend jail helps eliminate such
tragic consequences of even short-term
confinement as loss of employment, loss
of accommodations and family disintegration. In addition to allowing a prisoner
to live in the community most of the time,
the new program will require the inmate
to pay the administrative costs related to
his sentencing and jailing.
The new program is in line with a UN
effort that encourages countries to find
ways other than confinement to punish
offenders, the ministry added. The UN
adopted the so-called Tokyo Rules on
December 14, 1990.
P O L A N D
The Krakow Post
5
Polish women abused by Roma
cc:sa:Andreas Ribbefjord
Old women made slaves in Roma houses, young women forced into prostitution
Riksdag building on Helgeandsholmen in Stockholm, Sweden.
Danuta Filipowicz
STAFF JOURNALIST
Roma gangs in Sweden have lured Polish
women there with promises of good jobs,
then forced the older ones into being slave
housekeepers and the younger ones into being prostitutes.
Maryla, who is 50, answered an ad in her
west-central Polish town seeking a housekeeper for a Polish family in Sweden, according to Gazeta Wyborcza. Maryla is not
her real name, nor are the other names in
this story real – an effort to protect them. But
their stories are real. The ad promised good
money, Maryla said.
“When I arrived, I learned that it was a
Polish-speaking but Roma family,” she said.
The first thing the family did, she said, was
take her passport and other documents.
A few days into her stay, she said, the
mistreatment started. “From the fourth day
of my stay I was beaten,” Maryla said. And
“they didn’t give me anything to eat.
fate, she testified about her Roma abductors.
“Even the children abused me,” she said. But later, scared, she changed her testimony.
“I don’t understand how they could teach
So the Roma are free today.
children to do such things.”
Ewelina told prosecutors gathering eviThey warned her that
dence against the Roma
she would never leave the Ewelina, a 20-year-old from a in Malmö, a town in south
place. But “I had a mobile city not far from Krakow, did Sweden, that a celebraphone,” she said. “I mantion of a friend’s birthday
not have so much luck. She
aged to type only ‘Help
in Poland started a tragic
was forced to work as a sex
me’ – and sent the mes- slave in Sweden. When police chain of events that led to
sage to my son.”
her going to Sweden.
finally learned of her fate,
She took her shoes
“I was at my friend’s,”
she testified about her Roma
from the front entrance
she said. “We were celabductors. But later, scared,
hallway to the bathroom,
ebrating his birthday. He
she changed her testimony.
telling the Roma she
had drunk too much. Then
needed to clean them. “I
someone knocked on the
put them on and ran,” she said.
window. It was Grzegorz C, nicknamed
A “nice woman” took her to a ferry, she “Babka.” He told Ewelina she should take
said. “It was kind of a small miracle.’’
a job in Sweden taking care of children in
Ewelina, a 20-year-old from a city not far
a Roma family. She said she didn’t have a
from Krakow, did not have so much luck. passport. Then Babka called “Czarny,” a
She was forced to work as a sex slave in
Roma boss, Ewelina said. She said she and
Sweden. When police finally learned of her her friend got into a car with Babka and
Czarny. During the ride, they pushed her
friend out of the car. Then the Roma taped
her mouth shut and covered her with a blanket, she said.
They took her to a town in southern Poland about 200 kilometers from Krakow.
Czarny took the passport from a Roma
woman, then doctored the photo so it would
look like Ewelina, she said.
“We traveled to the port and took the ferry to Sweden. On the ferry I learned that my
work would be sex. I wanted to go back, but
Czarny said it was impossible.” He told her
he would beat her unless she began doing
what he said. The Roma held her against her
will in a room. Czarny lined up men to have
sex with her. The men paid him, she said.
Her role was to “come across.” Czarny said
he would pay her for her “work” later.
He also told her she would have to “do
it” the whole day because he needed money.
She was too scared not to comply.
She testified that she was not given con-
LUK Agency
Polish and Slovak national Bryndza or “cheese paste”?
park systems aim to make
trails in Tatra and Pieniny
mountains accessible for
disabled people
traceptives to use during her ordeal.
“All the time Czarny was promising me
that I could go back to Poland and I would
get my money,’’ she testified. But instead he
took her to a hotel in Norway.
While men came to her room for sex,
Czarny and other Roma would go out to
shoplift in stores, she said.
Czarny then “sold” her to other Roma
men for 30,000 Swedish krona – less than
$4,500 – plus a car, she said. “These people
got an apartment for me, which I had to
clean,” she said. “Only they could unlock
the door. I tried but I was unable to. I was
living there and receiving clients,” she told
Gazeta Wyborcza.
One day a drunken customer became rowdy, and someone called police. When they
arrived, they learned Ewelina’s fate. They
asked her to testify against the Roma so the
prosecutors could send them to prison.
After she had given her story to prosecutors in Malmö, they sent Ewelina to Poland
to give her story to prosecutors there. Even
before Swedish authorities were able to arrest Czarny, however, Ewelina recanted her
testimony. She traveled 600 kilometers to
the Swedish Embassy in Warsaw to say that
she was recanting. The testimony had only
brought her and other people problems, she
said. When police officials asked if she had
been threatened into recanting, she said no.
One of those talking with her then asked the
reason she wanted to recant her testimony.
She didn’t answer.
“These people are totally intimidated,’’
Gerard Pokruszynski, Poland’s general
consul in Malmö, said of the Roma’s Polish
victims.
Malmö Police Chief Henrik Malmkvist
said Roma gang leaders cast a long shadow
in the Polish towns where the women are
from. “They know their parents” and other
relatives, Malmkist said. They can make life
unpleasant for not only the women, but also
those close to them.
Knowing this, the “women are terrified,”
Malmkvist said. Without Ewelina’s testimony, Swedish prosecutors had to drop their
case against Czarny for lack of evidence.
However, the Prosecutor’s Office in Oswiecim, 55 kilometers from Krakow, has
found other women whom Babka and Czarny abducted and forced into sex slavery.
They are gathering evidence now that
they hope will put them behind bars.
AGENCJA NIERUCHOMOŚCI
www.property-krakow.com
Alicja Natkaniec
Valley. The second will go from Tatrzanska
Jaworzyna to Jaworowa Valley. The one in
Pieniny National Park will go from CzerThe national park systems of Poland and wony Klasztor to Lesnica.
Slovakia are making trails in the Tatra and
The combined length of the four routes
Pieniny mountains wheelchair-accessible.
will be about 17 kilometers.
“The Tatras Without Barriers” project inPoland’s first wheelchair-accessible trail
volves adaptations of existing trails.
runs through Biala Woda Valley, a nature reSlovakia has already
serve in the Little Pieniny
prepared a wheelchair-acMountains. Stones and
A number of organizations
cessible trail and Poland’s
vegetation were cleared
regularly
update
information
first was opened last weekfrom it and the ground
about
trails,
tourist
routes,
hisend. The two countries are
was leveled.
torical
places
and
monuments
making the changes in the
The
2.4-kilometer
that
are
wheelchair-accessible.
Tatra and Pieniny national
route takes visitors along
And
they
publish
guidebooks
parks. Each route they
a picturesque mountain
dedicated to the disabled.
convert to wheelchair-acstream flowing through
cessibility will be marked
a limestone ravine. Four
with the international acfootbridges allow them to
cessibility symbol.
cross the river. Western European countries
Slovakia opened its first wheelchair-acare doing more for visitors with disabilities
cessible route July 2 in the High Tatras. It – an effort known as accessible tourism.
goes from the Stary Smokovec spa 4.2 kiA number of organizations regularly uplometers to the Rainerowa Chata mountain date information about trails, tourist routes,
hut, 1,295 meters high.
historical places and monuments that are
Slovakia is preparing two more acceswheelchair-accessible. And they publish
sible routes in the Tatras and one in the Piguidebooks dedicated to the disabled.
eninys. The first in the Tatras will lead from
Central European countries are just bethe border at Lysa Polana to Biala Woda ginning to get into accessible tourism.
staff journalist
NOCLEGI W APARTAMENTACH
the krakow post
Bryndza Podhalanska, a Polish cheese
made from sheep’s milk, has received a EU
trademark.
The European Commission decision
means that only registered producers from
southern Poland’s Tatrzanski and Nowy
Targ counties and selected villages from
neighboring Zywiec County are entitled to
use the Bryndza Podhalanska name.
The trademark guarantees the cheese’s
quality and that it is made in a traditional
production process with specified components. The trademarking had one unintended
effect. Some merchants, afraid of EU quality
controls, have started selling the real product under the name: “cheese paste.”
They think that by doing so they will
avoid the controls.
But, according to Andrzej Skupien, deputy head of Tatrzanski county, that is a misunderstanding.
Bryndza is the first Polish product to receive an EU trademark.
It joins a list of almost 800 regional delicacies from across the EU.
The trademark will help promote Polish
regional products and insure their quality,
marketing experts say.
A trademark is expected soon on Oscypek, another brand of Polish cheese.
Although a trademark application was
filed earlier than for Bryndza, the process
has taken longer because of a Slovak protest. Slovakia makes a cheese of cow’s milk
that has a name similar to Oscypek.
The sides have reached an agreement on
both issues so Brussels is expected to make
a decision soon.
www.aaakrakow.com
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6
P O L A N D
The Krakow Post
63 years since Warsaw Uprising
Justyna Krzywicka
STAFF JOURNALIST
August 1 marks the day of the Warsaw
Uprising in 1944. The Polish Home Army
(Armia Krajowa – AK) struggled to liberate Poland from Nazi German occupation
63 year ago on this day. This national insurrection dubbed Operation Tempest lasted for
63 days until October 2, the biggest partisan
uprising in World War II.
It saw 18,000 Polish soldiers killed, some
25,000 wounded and an estimated number between 120,000 to 200,000 of civilian
deaths. The civilian deaths were a result
of the mass murders carried out by the advancing German army. The Nazi troops lost
17,000 of its soldiers in the uprising and
9,000 were wounded.
In this urban open warfare almost 25 percent of Warsaw was destroyed amounting to
85 percent of the city being destroyed after
the Polish Home Army surrendered on October 2. The AK resistance planned the uprising in advance executing its commencement
just as the Soviet army was approaching
Warsaw. The aim of the insurrection wanted
to see Warsaw liberated before the Red Army
entered the city, so that the Soviet puppet
government could be challenged by reinstalling Polish authorities to power.
For many years after the uprising, when
the Communist government was in power,
insurgents were monitored, controlled and
often imprisoned.
Former soldier and now Professor of His-
tory Wladyslaw Bartoszewski who took part
in the uprising told Radio Trojka that the
struggle was “worth it.”
Despite the AK’s ultimate surrender the
uprising was “the biggest sacrifice we could
have ever imagined, and it is vital to value
such sacrifice.”
All of Poland marked this historical
event with a minute of silence at 17:00 on
August 1.
The Uprising Memorial in Warsaw near
the Parliament was a place of tribute and quiet reflection. The Warsaw Cemetery where
most of the insurgents and civilians are buried was also visited by the public and Polish
officials. Cities such as Wroclaw stopped
running all public transport on the hour at
17:00 to mark this historical moment.
Armed youth during the Warsaw Uprising.
Online gaming: Virtually playing it safe in Krakow
From ONLINE on Page 1
long before it is made accessible to the
public in reality,” Woznowski said.
Woznowski is also talking with the
city about using Second Krakow as a promotional vehicle. Two ideas are to create
tourist-information stands in the virtual
city and having Second Krakow link to
the city’s web site. In addition, “we want
all the events that will be taking place on
Rynek Glowny in reality to be transmitted
live into the virtual Second Krakow,” said
city spokesman Marcin Helbin.
“Second Life is a kind of a bridge between a virtual world and reality,” he said.
“I believe that virtual visiting of Second
Krakow will encourage game users to
come here in reality.”
Will the city administration have a virtual representative? “We don’t count it out
but so far our representative will be the city
information guide,” Helbin said.
Although Second Life has more than 8
mln users worldwide and more than 20,000
in Poland, it’s just the beginning of virtual
cities, Woznowski said.
“Second Life has great potential,” he
said, because it incorporates a number of
popular Internet features – such as chat, online games and identity change.”
He said he thinks that in the future “for
many people Second Life will be their primary source of information about what is
happening in the world.”
Second Life has at least one drawback
in some people’s minds. Because it is a reflection of reality, it can feature all kinds of
human activity in a city, including sex.
It is often reported that about 30 percent
of the virtual commercial activity in Second Life is sexual.
How much sex will there be in the virtual representation of Krakow, which in reality has become a popular stag party spot?
Woznowski said the virtual city will have
less hanky-panky than the reality. To insure
law and order and propriety, Second Krakow will have a city police force.
“The negative aspects of the virtual
world must be controlled in a way similar
to the way they are controlled in reality,”
Helbin said.
However, around the real Krakow there
will be eight “islands” where people will be
able to run any kind of business, including
casinos and strip clubs.
Prisoners to be
employees in
desperate market
the krakow post
The current shortage in labor means private companies are looking to the prisons
for willing workers. Dziennik Polski has reported there are over 6,000 convicted felons
employed outside the prison walls in Poland
today. This number constitutes almost all inmates who are able to carry out employment
without a special convoy escort.
The first picking order for working prisoners are from the “light offences” pool,
inmates incarcerated for avoiding fee payments and alimony. These prisoners are
usually serving sentences from six months
to three years. Prison officers are reluctant
to offer job opportunities to those inmates
who are in prison on drug offence charges.
Private companies sign contractual
agreements with individual correctional
services facilities, which then function
as “recruiters” for the required positions.
Some companies such as Alecop in Wolow
have even erected production lines and
warehouses on prison grounds, leasing
land directly from the gaols. This form of
employment guarantees worker availability
and a cheap labor force.
The average earnings of an employed
prisoner is 468 zloty gross per month. After
paying off debts, alimony and social security insurance a prisoner is usually left with
88 zloty on hand. Prisoners with vocational
qualifications and trade certificates may
earn somewhat more.
Job descriptions include construction
work, assembling of electrical equipment
and textile tasks.
The Swedish furniture company Ikea
hires prisoners from Wolow to sew cushion covers and pillows. Krakow and Nowa
Huta prisons facilitate companies such as
Elpe Elektroprodukt, who hire workers for
5 zloty per hour to assemble heaters and
lighting equipment.
Andrzej Juszczyk, the vice president of
Chemobudowa, a construction company in
Krakow has nothing but praise for the prisoner workers the company hires from the
Nowa Huta Correctional Facility. He told
The Krakow Post “the prisoners work on
three building sites and we haven’t experienced any problems. Sure there are small
incidences here and there, but they have
been so minor that they are not even worth
mentioning. We are very happy with the arrangement.” This sentiment must ring true
around the prisoner labor market, as the
demand for such workers is growing. “We
the employers see this as an opportunity
for additional labor for us, but it is also a
re-assimilation process into the work force
for the prisoners,” adds Juszczyk. Chemobudowa has increased its inmate intake
quota from 15 prisoners from last year to
30 today.
Tel.: +48 (0) 12 424-3400
Fax: +48 (0) 12 424-3405
Email: [email protected]
Web site: www.hotel.com.pl
Hotel Copernicus
ul. Kanonicza 16
31-002 Krakow,
Poland
LUK Agency
HOTEL COPERNICUS
K R A K O W
The Krakow Post
7
Leaflets to defend Krakowians from Britons
The flyer mentions that Polish law prohibits the sale of alcohol to people who are already drunk, whether they are in a
pub, liquor store or other establishment, as well as loud behavior after 22:00 so people can sleep
LUK Agency
Danuta Filipowicz
drunkenness, the flyer will contain such
helpful information as the phone numbers
of consulates, places to obtain medical care
The Krakow City Council has begun
plus information about pickpockets and othcracking down on drunk, rowdy tourists ers who prey on tourists. The flyer warns
– and plans to publish flyers in English that
visitors to be especially careful in trams, a
warn them of behavior that will not be tolerfavorite haunt of pickpockets. The flyer also
ated. The flyers will also offer tourist inforinforms visitors not to drink in public places
mation plus tips on avoidsuch as streets and parks.
ing becoming victims of
And it mentions that
Some pubs in the city
those who prey on visitors.
Polish law prohibits the
center have already be- sale of alcohol to people
The crackdown follows
many complaints from
gun posting signs saying who are already drunk,
Krakow residents about
whether they are in a pub,
“no stag parties.” The
rowdy tourists, especially
liquor store or other estabidea is to try to prevent
from Britain.
lishment.
groups of young foreign
Part of the crackdown
The flyers also warn
men from “hanging out” that Polish law prohibits
will involve Krakow police and border guardsat a tavern all night, get- loud behavior after 22:00
men – Straz Graniczna
so people can sleep.
ting drunk and unruly.
– patrolling the city center
And the flyer points out
Krakow has become a
and the railway station evthat a violation of these
magnet for this kind of
ery Friday and Saturday
statutes can mean a fine of
evening. The officers are
up to 500 zloty.
hell-raising. Dozens of
trying both to curb rowdy
The crackdown is inweb sites advertise the
tourists and prevent them
spired by the Zero Tolercity as a place for wild
from getting into situaance program that Rudy
stag parties.
tions where their safety or
Guliani instituted when
property is jeopardized.
he was mayor of New
The law enforcement
York City. During the
officers are using a special map on their pafirst weekend of Krakow’s crackdown, potrols that shows them where drunken tourists
lice made 24 arrests. Seven received fines
have been especially troublesome.
that totaled 650 zloty.
“We will punish people for littering,
At one point the City of Krakow was
breaking the night-loudness ordinance or planning to prepare a separate flyer just for
immoral behavior,” a police spokesman
British tourists, who have caused the most
said.
trouble. The British Consulate decided to asThe flyers will be available in hotels, sume that responsibility.
tourist information points and probably
The city was glad the consulate stepped in
at Balice International Airport, Gazeta
because it didn’t want to single out visitors
Wyborcza reported.
from one country, said Izabela Helbin, head
Some pubs in the city center have already of the city’s marketing and promotion office.
begun posting signs saying “no stag parties.”
The city didn’t want “to make the problem
The idea is to try to prevent groups of young bigger than it really is,” she said. “Eight milforeign men from “hanging out” at a tavern lion tourists visit Krakow every year. Only a
all night, getting drunk and unruly. Krakow
small percentage” cause problems.
has become a magnet for this kind of hellCity spokesman Filip Szatanik said
raising. Dozens of web sites advertise the city officials want visitors “to have a good
city as a place for wild stag parties.
time.”
The content of the flyer has already been
The flyers were deemed a way of informcreated. It needs only to be approved and ing tourists that “Krakow is a historic city
translated into English, Gazeta Wyborcza
and it is necessary to stand on one’s dignity
said. In addition to warning tourists about and respect certain principles,” he said.
STAFF JOURNALIST
The crackdown is inspired by the Zero Tolerance program that Rudy Guliani instituted when he was mayor of New York City.
During the first weekend of Krakow’s crackdown, police made 24 arrests. Seven received fines that combined to total 650 zloty.
Nowa Huta inhabited for 8,500 years
Michal Wojtas
STAFF JOURNALIST
Remnants of a Neolithic settlement have
been discovered at a building site in the
northern part of Nowa Huta.
Archaeologists found pottery, flint tools,
several burrows and two graves and expect
to discover more artifacts in the area.
The excavations are being conducted on
a site near ul. Okulickiego, where a housing
estate is planned. Archaeological excavation
is a standard procedure wherever historical
finds are highly probable.
Izabela Mianowska, who is in charge of
the excavation, says it is hard to estimate the
value of the findings at this stage as only 30
percent of the site has been explored.
Mianowska says it also remains uncertain
where the Neolithic settlement borders are.
Artifacts from other cultures may also be
found there so clarifying the dig’s origins
may take a great deal of time.
Remnants of a Neolithic
settlement have been discovered on a building site in the
northern part of Nowa Huta.
Archaeologists found pottery,
flint tools, several burrows
and two graves.
Archeologists have to be patient until
further plots are bought by the building
developer. They usually have a very short
timeframe to find artifacts from the moment
they are permitted to dig. That’s why this is
called a “rescue excavation.”
Aside from artifacts from the Neolithic
settlement (from about 6500 BC), this site
also contains findings from the early Bronze
Age. It seems that humans have been settled
there without many interim breaks.
Nowa Huta, the easternmost district of
Krakow, has been a place of rich archaeological findings since its first building development started in the early 1950s. Since
then, more then 100 excavation sites have
been discovered there.
Frequent settlement was caused by the
area’s rich soil, which provided good living conditions for the Neolithic civilizations
already raising crops (wheat, barley, and
rye) and domesticated farm animals such as
cattle, pigs, goats and sheep.
Road providing access to southern
beltway is currently under construction
Grazyna Zawada
vent landslides. Another challenge is build-
STAFF JOURNALIST
A road is being built near Przegorzaly
Castle to reduce traffic on one that is dangerous because of curves and landslides.
The straighter stretch, on an incline between the Vistula River and Las Wolski
Hills, will be 1,350 meters long and 7 meters wide. In addition to eliminating curves,
the new stretch will include two other safety
features – traffic lights and a bicycle path.
The most difficult task facing the road
builder, Energopol Company, is using a special technique involving slaked lime to pre-
In addition to eliminating curves, the new
stretch will include
two other safety features – traffic lights
and a bicycle path.
ing it on a grade up to 7 meters higher than
the existing one.
“This road will definitely facilitate transportation between Krakow’s center and the
beltway,” said Tadeusz Trzmiel, head of Infrastructure Programs in the Mayor’s Office.
“In the future we plan to create a parking
place in this area for tourist buses so they
can be once and for all removed from the
city center.”
“There is also a plan for creating a ferry
on the Wisla River so tourists who get off
their buses in a parking area can use river
transportation to the Old Town – definitely
another tourist attraction,” said Janusz
Tajster, the City of Krakow’s director of
roads.
The estimated cost of the project, which
is to be finished in October, is 20 mln zloty.
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on local recipes.
Come to enjoy delicious
Jewish dishes.
Live klezmer music
every night at 20:00.
Open daily: 09:00-02:00
ul. Szeroka 2
+48 (12) 4291528
[email protected]
www.arka-noego.pl
8
K R A K O W
The Krakow Post
Is Krakow a bike-friendly city?
Indeed, special bike racks are a rare view in the center, not to mention in the suburbs. That’s the reason why so many bikes are often left locked to a tree or a pole.
Anna Biernat
Staff JOURNALIST
Riding a bike in Krakow is a bit like playing an extreme sport – unless, of course,
the cyclist is lucky enough to find a bicycle
path. But bicycle paths are few and far between in Krakow, which is why it’s quite a
stretch to call the city bike-friendly.
And although the number of cyclists in
Krakow is growing with each year, most
agree that riding a bike in the city can be
quite dangerous.
“Car drivers ignore us. They just don’t
see us,” says Michal, a 25-year-old cyclist
from Krakow.
“I’ve been riding a bike in Krakow for
over four years. A cyclist needs to be at least
twice as careful as a car driver,” he adds.
Today, there are a dozen or so bicycle
paths in Krakow, and several junctions that
join the paths together.
City authorities plan to create more, long
bike paths leading to the districts situated
further from the center.
So far, Krakow has bike paths that make
it easy for cyclists to reach the Krowodrza,
Nowa Huta, Kurdwanow and Ruczaj districts. There is also a beautiful path along
the Vistula River that starts in Niepolomice
and ends in Tyniec.
Of course recreational paths are a great.
But what if we decide to treat a bike as a
regular means of transport, instead of driving a car? In Western European cities, bicycle paths are laid to decrease the number
of accidents and are generally situated on
streets where cars are allowed to drive over
30 kilometers per hour.
In Krakow, though, most bike paths were
created for leisure rides, which makes it impossible to get to most places by using the
paths alone, especially in the city center.
Cyclists in Krakow are forced to ride
on the sidewalks and narrow, overcrowded
streets. When riding their bikes on the
streets, cyclists need to consider the danger
of approaching vehicles.
Drivers seldom notice cyclists and tram
rails are a serious threat to bikes with narrow
wheels. Traffic jams are also a big problem.
And when riding bikes on overcrowded
sidewalks, many pedestrians respond with
hostility.
Despite the inconvenience, some cyclists
feel comfortable riding their bikes in the
city.
“Apart from the city center, where streets
are narrow, Krakow is a bike-friendly city,”
says Anna Dabrowska, who rides a bike with
her 2-year-old daughter in the back seat. “I
think that the real problem is the lack of special stands where bikes can be parked.”
Indeed, special bike racks are a rare view
in the center, not to mention in the suburbs.
This is the main reason why so many
bikes are left locked to a tree or a pole.
“If there are no stands, I have to look for
an alternative,” says Michal while tying his
bike to a fence outside of a pub on Rynek
Glowny. The lack of bike-racks is also why
so many bicycles are stolen. During the biking season at least one person per week reports a bike theft to police in Krakow.
Despite the shortcomings, every year
more and more cyclists are on the streets of
Krakow. Bike rental companies also aren’t
complaining.
“Most of our clients are foreigners,” says
a worker at the Rent-A-Bike store on ul.
sw. Anny. When asked about which paths
he recommends to clients, he replied: “The
most popular route is the path along the Vistula River to Tyniec. We also recommend
the area around Kopiec Kosciuszki.”
Foreigners have mixed opinions about
riding bikes in Krakow compared to their
home cities.
“It’s fun, although dangerous when you
ride in streets together with cars,” say former Erasmus students who rented bikes and
went to Zakrzowek Lake. “Also, the bikes
weren’t very good,” they added, although
conceding that riding a bike in Krakow is a
good alternative to public transport.
Bicycle routes both in and outside Krakow
the krakow post
Krakow is full of picturesque bike routes, but
there are a few that deserve particular attention:
1. Vistula River Embankment Path
This bike path begins in Tyniec, a historic
village and today a Krakow borough, famous
for its Benedictine abbey founded by King Kazimierz in 1044 CE. It leads through the center
of Krakow, by Wawel Castle and runs further
to Niepolomice, passing through Nowa Huta.
2. Rudawa River Route
This is a typical recreational route. It is recommended to start the ride in Salwator or by
the Juvenia Sports Club field at Blonia. After
riding down to the river’s embankment, you
should follow the path that leads about 5 kilometers straight ahead. Pass two bridges on the
way, the last rail bridge is at the end of the path.
The best way to come back is the same path
unless you want to ride along the streets.
3. Osiedle Widok-Dolina Kluczwody-Wierzchowie-Krakow Route
This path leads through the Widok housing development, Pasternik, Brzezie, Ujazd,
Kluczwody Valley (Dolina Kluczwody), Wierzchowie, Murownia and Pradnik Korzkiewski.
The route is 36 kilometers long. Ride out from
Osiedle Widok and then through villages: Pasternik, Brzezie and Ujazd to reach the Kluczwody Valley, worth seeing in all of its length.
In the village of Wierzchowie there is a mineral spring from Kluczwoda. A steep path near
the spring leads to Grota Mamutowa (Mammoth’s Cave). After visiting the cave, ride up
the valley. After about 0.5 kilometers you will
reach the biggest cave in the Krakow Uplands,
Grota Wierzchowska Gorna, situated on your
right. Going further up the valley you will pass
a row of rocks. Ride further east along a dirt
road. After reaching the main road E22, ride
it, on the way passing such villages as: Murownia, Bialy Kosciol, Wielka Wies. Turn left
at the crossroad in Szyce and ride along a steep
road to reach Pradnik Korzkiewski. Making
your way towards Korzkwia, Januszowice and
Zielonki, you will return to Krakow.
4. Szklarki Valley Route
This path is about 15 kilometers long and
leads through the most interesting parts of the
Wyzyna Krakowsko-Czestochowska (Krakow-Czestochowa Uplands). The path starts
in Zabierzow near Krakow. If you don’t want
to ride a bike to Zabierzow, you can easily
get there by train (15 kilometers). First, ride
along the Rudawa River. Then, riding along
a road you will pass Bolechowice and reach
the exit of Bolechowicka Valley. Turn left and
ride through Karniowice. The path leads to the
north through fields and forests and reaches
the red bike trail. Ride down to the upper part
of Bedkowska Valley. Ride through it to reach
the village of Jerzmanowice. Approaching the
road, you will see the blue bike trail. This is
the end of the green trail as well. The road provides a comfortable return trip. Turn left and
through Szklary and Dubie ride to Rudawa
(the train station). From here you can either
ride 20 kilometers more to Krakow, or take a
direct train to the city.
A young group of local cyclists poses for The Krakow Post.
K R A K O W
The Krakow Post
9
Alert: Calling all blood donors
Every summer brings a major crisis for Polish blood banks. This year has been more troublesome due to the excessive heat
The country’s demand for blood increases by 8.5 percent each year. More than 1.5
mln transfusions were made last year.
Vacationers are making use of the hot
The shortage of blood was partially
and sunny weather, spending the summer caused by a major slump in donors at the
on the seacoast or in the country. Unforend of the 1980s. Many privileges for dotunately, this leaves the cities void of life. nors (such as free vitamins, public transEspecially the blood bank, which has been portation tickets and tax concessions) have
left with insufficient amounts of blood for been liquidated. Many private companies
their patients.
aren’t willing to give employees a free, fulThe demand is high and many potential ly paid vacation day for blood donation.
donors have left the cities for the holiday.
According to the Polish Red Cross, an
About 70 percent of donors are between institution organizing blood donation since
18 and 30 years old. Many people in this 1935, average donations per 1,000 inhabage group have left Poland to work abroad
itants in Poland are 25, while in the West
for the summer or longer.
the average is between 40 and 60. Many of
Newspaper headlines report delays of these counties subsidize blood donations.
serious surgeries due to a lack of indispensActions are being taken to tackle the
able blood. Even the most
disproportion between
common blood types, A
bloods donated versus its
Newspaper
headlines
positive and O positive,
heavy demand.
are running low while the report delays of serious
This summer, posters
most rare, O negative, is
in Poland’s major cities
surgeries
because
of
a
used only to save lives and
are promoting donation
lack of indispensable with the motto, “Be a Sufor pregnant women.
Last week, Dr. Janusz
blood. Even the most perhero, Donate Blood!”
Skalski, chief of the Carwith pictures of ordinary
common blood types, people as heroes saving
diology Ward at the Children’s Hospital in Kra- A positive and O posi- lives.
kow-Prokocim, donated
main problem is
tive, are running low theThe
half a liter of blood and
lack of sufficient dothen spent six hours perwhile the most rare, O nors to maintain adequate
forming heart surgery on
reserves.
negative, is used only blood
three-week-old Bartek.
The infrastructure alto save lives and for
The baby feels fine, but
ready meets the average
the blood reserves aren’t
level in the EU, or may
pregnant
women.
growing.
even be slightly higher.
Dr. Skalski describes the
In Poland, blood can
situation as “tragic.” During the year, more be donated at 300 points.
than 50 donors visit the Krakow Regional
Mobile donation centers also tour the
Blood Donation Center on ul. Rzeznicza country, especially during the summer.
every day. In the summer, there are no more
Many non-governmental organizations
than 30 donors. The same is true in other such as trade unions, scouts and student
regions of Poland.
unions cooperate with the PRC and blood
Statistics say that a liter of blood is in debanks. Though donors aren’t paid for their
mand every minute in Poland (1,500 liters blood, the process still generates costs.
per day.) At most, half of the needed supply
As Renata Kawka from the Polish Red
is accumulated in blood banks in the counCross says, one liter of blood (two basic
try’s larger cities. Major car accidents push donation units), costs 30 zloty in marketing
the hospital staff to their limits.
and the financial assistance from the MinisHospitals are having to call tens of meditry of Health is still not enough.
cal institutions before they can find several
One encouragement for blood donation
units of a specific blood group.
may be a change in the tax law introduced
According to the Warsaw Institute of in February.
Hematology, an institution that coordinates
Donors will be able to subtract 130 zloty
blood banks across Poland, blood donor from their income tax for each basic donanumbers rose from 499,000 to 525,000 in tion. While it’s not much, if combined with
2006. They donated about 450,000 liters of awareness, the move may coax many more
the life-giving liquid.
to help.
LUK Agency
Michal Wojtas
STAFF JOURNALIST
About 70 percent of donors are between 18 and 30 years old. Many people in this age group have left Poland to work abroad.
Hard Rock Cafe heading to Krakow next year
Alicja Natkaniec
long tradition and army of fans.
The first restaurant was founded
in London in 1971 by Isaak Tigrett
Dziennik Polski recently an- and Peter Morton.
nounced next year’s opening of Hard
Currently, there are over 143 Hard
Rock Cafe in Krakow.
Rock Cafes in 36 countries, with
The first Polish
several more in the
Hard Rock Cafe
works.
The city’s growing
began operating in
The restaurant
Warsaw in Februpopularity brought in is famous for colary 2007 in one of
lecting souvenirs
about 8 mln tourists
the capital city’s
of prominent mulast year. Hard Rock
largest shopping
sicians from all
Cafe looks to cash in over the world.
centers – Zlote
on the trend.
Tarasy.
Autographed
The restaurant,
guitars,
outfits
close to 900 square
from world tours
meters and situated on two levels, at- and rare photographs are often
tracts crowds of foreign tourists and mounted on the cafe’s walls.
Warsaw’s residents.
Today, the Hard Rock Cafe posKrakow’s growing popularity sesses the world’s largest collection
brought in roughly 8 mln tourists last of famous music memorabilia.
year, which encouraged the company
A great part of the restaurant’s
to cash in on the trend.
success can be attributed to the incluKrakow’s Hard Rock Cafe, which
sion of its own brand-merchandise
will be located on Rynek Glowny, like shirts, hats, jackets, glassware,
will hold its grand opening over the shot glasses, pins and more.
next winter holiday season.
In Krakow and Warsaw, visitors
The total investment will amount will find authentic rock-music memto 3 mln euro. A third Polish Hard
orabilia from Poland’s leading musiRock Cafe may open in Wroclaw.
cians and rock’s most prolific stars.
The Hard Rock Cafe is not just a
Krakow’s rich culture and variety
casual dining restaurant chain serv- of cultural events makes it an aping American cuisine. It’s remarkable propriate place for the famous Hard
because of its special atmosphere, Rock Cafe’s next venture.
staff journalist
Picture of the big guitar at Hard Rock Las Vegas.
10
K A T O W I C E
The Krakow Post
Zabrze officials working hard to get two Silesian coal
mines on prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List
Alicja Natkaniec
sTAFF JOURNALIST
Zabrze officials are trying to get
two Silesian coal mines on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. It’s not as
preposterous as it seems.
The area’s industrial landmarks,
including factories, mines, mine-shaft
towers and mountainous slag heaps
looming over unique miners’ housing complexes, have been attracting
international tourists.
The locations that Zabrze officials
are trying to get on UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage List are the
Krolowa Luiza (Queen Luiza) OpenAir Mine and the Guido mine, both of
which are now mining museums.
Slawomir Ratajski, general secretary of UNESCO’s Polish Committee,
recently visited the mines with an eye
toward recommending that UNESCO
name them Historical Monuments,
Gazeta Wyborcza reported.
A site must obtain monument status before it can be put on the World
Heritage List.
The Krolowa Luiza mine is on
the Industrial Monuments Route that
Silesian officials dreamed up to promote tourism.
One of the oldest Prussian coal
mines in Upper Silesia, it has buildings dating to 1791.
There are two parts to the museum.
One is a ground-level machinery park
where visitors may participate in demonstrations of old mining equipment.
The second part of the museum is
a 1.5 kilometer-long route 35 meters
below ground where visitors can see
19th- and 20th-Century excavations.
The most valuable historical artifact
on the tour is a steam-powered trac-
The locations that Zabrze
officials are trying to get
on UNESCO’s prestigious
World Heritage List are
the Krolowa Luiza (Queen
Luiza) Open-Air Mine and
the Guido mine.
tion machine that the Prinz Rudolf
foundry in Dülmen produced in 1915.
Visitors can get a good view of the
city from the 25-meter-high shaft
tower platform.
The Guido mine was operational
from 1855 to 1982. In June of this
year, 25 years after it closed, the mine
was converted into a museum and
opened to visitors.
Tourists, dressed in miners’ clothes
with lamps, take an elevator to a level
170 meters below the surface.
There they can see excavations,
mining equipment and stables, since
horses hauled coal out in carts.
A tour can be two, three or five kilometers long and takes two to three
hours.
Preparations are under way to be
able to take visitors to a level 320 meters below the surface.
The museum’s plans include creating an “art zone” space for cultural
events.
The World Heritage List contains
851 sites in 142 countries that are of
special importance to mankind.
Sixteen are in Poland, including
Old Town in Krakow, the AuschwitzBirkenau State Museum and the
Wieliczka Salt Mine.
Once on the World Heritage List,
sites can receive UNESCO funds for
development, promotion and preservation.
Silesian officials are trying to
change the reputation of the region as
a dirty, polluted mining and industrial
area while also trying to cash in on its
history.
Thanks to their efforts, Silesia has
become the region in Poland with the
biggest appeal to international investors.
And Silesian officials also have
succeeded in getting tourists interested in some of the area’s now-closed
mining and industrial complexes.
The Guido mine was operational from 1855 to 1982. In June of this year, 25 years after it closed, the mine
was converted into a museum and opened to visitors.
Tool and Chris Cornell headline
this year’s Metal Hammer Festival
Americans open playground
for children in Ruda Slaska
For Tool, the main star of the festival, this will be their fourth visit to Poland since their first performance in 2001.
Krzysztof Skonieczny
staff journalist
This year’s Katowice Metal Hammer Festival in Spodek Hall promises a feast for heavy
metal fans, bringing together artists from all
around the world and a range of genres.
The festival will take place on Sunday, August 12, and features performances by Tool,
Chris Cornell, Dir En Grey, and Polish groups
Coma and Delight.
For Tool, the main star of the festival, this
will be their fourth visit to Poland since their
first performance in 2001. The band, led by
charismatic vocalist Maynard James Keenan
nicknamed “King Crimson of the 21st Century,” has proven that its concerts are the best
acts in metal-rock. Despite the complexity
and technical difficulty of their pieces they
transmit unbelievable amounts of energy and
emotion to the crowd, making their shows an
unforgettable experience.
That being said, their most recent “10,000
Days” album release tour (2006) in Poland
induced conflicting opinions among spectators. Although more or less everyone agreed
that technically the sound and light show was
perfect, with scenes from Tool’s music videos
playing on large screens, some argued that the
concert lacked inventiveness and was simply
too short, lasting about 1.5 hours.
This year’s U.S. tour, however, showed that
the band is in great shape. The concerts seem
to include many more improvised and unexpected elements. As a first-time visitor to Po-
land, Chris Cornell is facing the overwhelming difficulty of pleasing everybody. Active
since forming the grunge group Soundgarden
in 1984, the artist has a lot of catching-up to
do with the Polish audience. The rigid time
discipline imposed by the one-day festival
schedule seems a vicious foe.
The artist doesn’t seem at all discouraged
by this; his playlist includes songs of his famous ex-groups, Soundgarden and Audioslave, his two solo albums – including last
May’s release “Carry On” featuring “You
Know My Name” (the theme song from the
latest James Bond movie “Casino Royale”)
– and songs by the somewhat forgotten band
Temple of the Dog. This was a single-record
release in 1991 between Cornell and musicians who later created Pearl Jam.
The collaboration commemorates the death
of their friend Andrew Wood, the vocalist for
Mother Love Bone. The Japanese band Dir En
Grey came to Europe in 2005 after a successful eight- year career in Japan.
Now associated with the metal genre, the
group has evolved through punk rock, pop
and progressive rock, finally combining them
into a truly exotic fusion.
Earlier this year the group has completed
their first U.S. headlining tour after earlier
performing alongside Korn. They were supported by Texas-born alternative rock band,
Fair to Midland (discovered by Serj Tankian
of System of a Down), during the Metal
Hammer Festival.
The international lineup is completed by
experimental American hardcore band, Bury
Your Dead. Poland will be represented by
only two groups – Coma and Delight. However, the lacking quantity is made up for by
the quality as both are the cream of the crop
when it comes to grunge Polish music. Coma
is probably the most important young alternative rock band in the country. Both of its albums, the 2004 “Pierwsze wyjscie z mroku”
(“First Exit from Dusk”) and the 2006 “Zaprzepaszczone sily wielkiej armii swietych
znakow” (“Forgiven Strengths of Great Holy
Signs’ Army”) have received acclaim from
fans as well as the industry, which granted
both the Fryderyk award.
The band Delight started out in 1997 in the
small town of Skawina (near Krakow). The
group’s career has recently shifted into high
gear after winning the competition for Best
Unsigned Gothic Art International during the
Wave Gothic Treffen Festival in Leipzig in
2005. The band signed a contract with Roadrunner Records, one of the most important
U.S. labels, which allowed Delight to publish
a world-class record Braking Ground in 2007.
Gates to Katowice’s Spodek Hall open at
15:00 and the Festival will begin at 16:00.
Tickets to the event, costing 145-400 zloty
are available via www.metalopolis.pl, www.
ticketonline.pl, or www.eventim.pl and in selected stores around Krakow.
Katowice is about 1.5 hours from Krakow
by train and even less by car. Spodek Hall is a
15-minute walk from the train station or can
also be reached using tramlines 11 and 13.
Joanna Zabierek
staff journalist
A chute, wooden ladders, swings and a
sand box – a whole new modern playground
was built in Ruda Slaska thanks to the efforts
of Americans from Alabama.
“Just look at this,” said Blake Rymer pointing at a set of old, destroyed swings in the
courtyard of a single mothers’ house.
Rymer came to Ruda Slaska last week with
a group of 18 Americans, which included students, engineers and computer scientists. The
Americans are Baptists from Huntsville, Alabama invited by Grzegorz Skrobarczyk, leader
of the Christian Foundation “The Youth with
Mission,” who lived in Huntsville for a year.
During his time there, he got to know the
Baptist community well enough to know that
if they meet an opportunity to help, they won’t
hesitate to act. He was right. After telling them
about the children’s situation, Huntsville’s
Baptists organized a collection in their church.
They managed to gather $2,500 and come to
Ruda Slaska.
All these people are volunteers. Last week
they taught the children English, how to play
American football and helped the kids build a
new playground. They were happy that they
could help and do something for the children
from the district. Finally, the kids from Ruda
Slaska have a real playground for the first
time. And it’s not over yet. At Friday’s opening ceremony, to which all of Ruda Slaska’s
children were invited, Rymer announced that
after returning to Alabama they will organize
another collection round. With the gathered
money, Rymer wants to build another playground for children who live in a hostel by
Halemba.
Brazilian restaurant
in the Old Town
ul. Sw. Tomasza 28
We invite you every
day from 12:00 p.m.
Reservations: Tel.: (0) 12 422-5323 www.ipanema.pl
A R T S
&
I D E A S
The Krakow Post
11
David Lynch goes Polish
Screenshot of Laura Dern as Nikki in David Lych’s film, “Inland Empire.”
Soren A. Gauger
STAFF JOURNALIST
A dozen or so films and a cult television
series into his career, and David Lynch’s
ongoing quest for the weird – a cosmos
made up of magical dwarves, circus freaks,
severed ears and tractors – has taken him to
Lodz, Poland. In “Inland Empire,” a mon-
ster of a film clocking in at just under three
hours, a Polish accent signifies an unstable,
chaotic element in the otherwise hyperstructured landscape of Hollywood, a Polish folk tale may or may not place a curse
on a pair of movie stars, and Lodz, home
of Poland’s most important film school and
cradle of such luminaries as Roman Polanski and Krzysztof Kieslowski, stars as the
Wild West from
Mexico to Thailand
Soren A. Gauger
gitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale.”
The next weekend’s (Aug. 10-12)
theme is “The Very Weird West,” featurThe Kino Pod Baranami “Wystrzaing Kurosawa’s 1954 classic “The Seven
lowe” [which translates as either “Shoot- Samurai,” the epic (160 minutes) tale of a
Out” or “Cool”] Summer Film Festival small band of samurai hired to help clean
is already half-over, having run through up a town from its invaders.
some films more (“The Good, the Bad and
Lots of action, dazzling cinematograthe Ugly,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sunphy guaranteed. A 2000 film called “The
dance Kid”) and less (“Midnight CowTears of the Black Tiger” (Thailand) is a
boy,” “Dead Man”)
horse of a different color,
affiliated with the
a kind of star-crossed lovLots of action, dazCowboy/Wild West
ers done in hyper-kitsch
zling
cinematography
genre. Last week also
technicolor as only the
guaranteed. A 2000
offered some Central
Thai know how. Will love
European forays into
film called “The Tears conquer all? And finally,
the pseudo-American
the weirdest of the lot
of the Black Tiger”
desert.
(and probably the whole
For next weekend (Thailand) is a horse of festival) is “El Topo” (The
(Aug. 3-5) we can look a different color, a kind Mole), a Mexican film
forward to the alwaysas “more of an
of star-crossed lovers described
compelling American
experience than a film,”
done in hyper-kitsch
director John Houston
about a nameless wanin one of his most fatechnicolor as only the derer who comes from the
mous moments, a film
desert with his gun to rid
Thai know how.
called “The Misfits,”
the world of evil, and by
featuring
Marilyn
the end of the film is deMonroe and a screenplay by Arthur Miller voting himself to helping the handicapped
(“Death of a Salesman”). The other two and the midgets...
films in this “Women of the Wild West”
The final weekend (Aug. 18) will feaweekend include a melodrama called “Cat ture only the American 1974 comedy
Ballou,” and a French film called “Les Pe“Blazing Saddles.” Has Mel Brooks’s hutroleuses,” about which the promotional mor survived into the 21st century more
materials (!) have this to say: “The only
or less intact? We here at the editorial ofattraction of this failure of a film is the fices are somewhat skeptical, but there’s
performances of its two great stars – Brionly one way to find out.
STAFF JOURNALIST
anti-Hollywood, a dark industrial landscape
where fairy-tale horse-drawn carriages trot
down streets sparkling with snowflakes.
As in “Mulholland Drive,” Lynch’s strategy here is to set up some narrative expectations in the first hour of the film, and then
dash them to pieces in the remaining two
hours as the storyline becomes a scattered
and erratic thing that operates more through
suggestion and association than linear
day in fact become tomorrow? The viewer
story-telling. But in “Inland Empire” this either makes a decision, or tries to juggle
fragmentation goes on for so long that even
these possibilities, this paradox, through
the most narrative-bound
the watching of the film.
viewers must eventually
But it is not so easy to
A
dozen
or
so
films
give in and start watching
think a paradox, and as
in a different way, a way
and a cult television the paradoxes multiply
that bears more similarity
pile up, the viewer
series into his career, and
to watching video art than
must eventually give up
and David Lynch’s and submit to a general
conventional cinema.
The storyline, in brief,
disorientation.
ongoing quest for
goes as follows. Our herThis is intensified, as
oine Nikki (Laura Dern) the weird – a cosmos I have said, in the latter
lives in an extravagant
half of the film, where
made up of magimanor, and is one day
instead of narrative concal dwarves, circus tinuity we have repetition
visited by a new neighbor
with a Polish accent, who
freaks, severed ears of images (a red lamp, a
tells her that she will get
monkey, men in rabbit
and tractors – has
a starring role in a new
suits, a screwdriver) and
film, and insinuates a bruirrational character develtaken him to
tal murder. Nikki does inopment (Nikki begins as
Lodz,
Poland.
deed get the part, in a roa sophisticate in a manor,
mance based on a cursed
later lives in a middlePolish legend, whose previous Hollywood
class home, and by the end curses like a
adaptation concluded with the mysterious
sailor, has a face covered in bruises, and
deaths of the two romantic leads. Nikki’s
coughs up blood in a back alleyway in the
jealous husband, also a Pole, might be
company of homeless people). The effect
homicidal, but in spite of this danger the
of this is to make the material reality of this
two romantic leads begin carrying their world a paper-thin layer, and to emphasize
amorous activities off-screen.
the fact that this is a film reality which can
As a plot-line this all sounds quite conshift about as it pleases, without botherventional, and in the first hour Lynch plays ing its head too much about continuity and
some fairly standard film-within-a-film natural laws.
tricks. But much of what happens in the
A certain segment of Inland Empire’s
first hour is also much more subtle. For inviewers will no doubt miss the presence
stance: when Nikki is visited by her lunatic
of a “this-happened-then-this-happenedPolish neighbor, a woman who lives in a
then...” narrative, and for them Lynch toss“brick house that cannot be seen from the
es in occasional reminders of the original
road” (shades of fairy-tale), the neighbor’s storyline, to create the impression that this
rant slides from awkward pleasantries to
delirious tale is somehow anchored. But
macabre prophecy to crackpot philosophy
when the camera is shown pulling away
on the nature of time (“today might just be
from Nikki in the last ten minutes of the
tomorrow”), concluding with the statement: film, indicating that what we have been
“For example, tomorrow you will be sitting
watching is again a film-within-a-film, this
on that couch...” Then the very next secresolves nothing. By then it is clear that
ond the woman is gone and Nikki is in fact there is nothing to be gained from sorting
sitting on the couch. And here the viewer out “film reality” from “film-within-film
makes a choice – has (a) the film jumped
reality,” and that the point of this Hollyforward in time, has (b) the film become
wood/Lodz tale is that film and reality are
the crazy woman’s prophecy, or has (c) toan indivisible experience.
Polish Grotesque:
Cinema of Marek Koterski
Pawel Piejko
STAFF JOURNALIST
On Tuesday, August 7, a new initiative
opens at Kino Pod Baranami featuring the
Polish film “Ajlawiu,” directed by Marek
Koterski, with English subtitles. Now foreigners can learn about Poland by watching locally produced films.
Although this is not Marek Koterski’s
best work, Kino Pod Baranami chose “Ajlawiu” as an easy introduction to Polish
films for foreigners.
Some of Marek Koterski’s films can
even be called grotesque comedies,
though some get closer to artistic, auteur
cinema. Their specific quality may make
them less amusing for some viewers,
sometimes even appearing abusive.
Koterski is a controversial director
in Poland. His film “Porno” (“Porn”) is
known as the first erotic Polish film. In
“Dzien Swira” (“Day of the Wacko”) the
protagonist uses an extreme amount of
abusive language, despite being a Polish
language teacher. He once said, “I am not
a linguist. I use strong language to express
feelings or deep thoughts… I think some
abusive words have no equivalent in normal language.” He doesn’t omit excessive
sex scenes either, saying, “Some of my
friends say I might be slightly sexually
overactive.” That is what can be expected
from “Ajlawiu.”
The main character, Adas Miauczyn-
ski, is present in almost every film made
by Koterski, excluding “Porno.” He is the
main protagonist of “Ajlawiu,” as well.
Adas Miauczynski evolves slowly in
each film. In “Zycie Wewnetrzne” (“Inner
Life”) he hates his wife who he will later
divorce. She appears in other movies,
too. For example, in “Nic Smiesznego”
(“Nothing Funny”) she accidentally kills
Adas. His relationship with his son in
“Ajlawiu,” “Dzien Swira” and “Wszyscy
jestesmy Chrystusami” (“We’re All
Christs”), played by the director’s son
Michal Koterski, is empty and false. Adas
feels he failed as a father.
Generally Adas doesn’t feel successful
in anything. “Dzien swira” can be called a
rant of the painful everyday life of a Pole.
Poles generally like complaining about
their surroundings, but Adas Miauczynski represents all of Poland’s problems in
one, depressed, swearing character.
“Nic smiesznego” emphasizes on professional failure. Adas Miauczynski is an
unsuccessful filmmaker, but his sexual
problems don’t disappear.
Koterski’s cinema deals with the spiritual fall of a human being, revealed on
the surface through overdeveloped sexual needs. Adas in “Zycie wewnetrzne”
(“Life on the Surface”) always imagines
himself having sex with neighbors. Sex in
“Ajlawiu” sometimes appears as the most
important aspect of the pair’s emotional
life. “Porno” is an enormous collection of
all the protagonist’s lovers.
Adas changes as he gets older. In “Dzien
swira” he dreams of a perfect woman who
would accept all his little bizarre activities
and needs. He seems to be aware that such
a person does not exist, because he lives
in his own imaginary world.
Marek Koterski is one of the few Polish filmmakers to develop his own style.
His name is already quite well known,
giving him freedom to film what he really wants. Seeing “Ajlawiu” or his other
films is certainly worthwhile as they contain some real characteristics of a specific
Polish soul.
12
The Krakow Post
A R T S
&
I D E A S
Midnight accordian carnivalesques:
Interview with Scotia Gilroy, Canadian expat
English on the streets, so I guess things are
changing. I’ve even had shop assistants answer me in English a few times lately, after
hearing my accent, which is a very strange
experience for me. It didn’t use to be like
that at all.
Q: Why did you choose Krakow?
A: After deciding that we wanted to move
to Poland, we read about a few different cities in a guidebook trying to decide which
one sounded the most interesting. Krakow
sounded great. We read about all the different festivals that take place here. We also
read in the guidebook that every year, in
June, the mayor of Krakow symbolically
gives the keys of the city to all the students
and they have a festival called – Juvenalia! Krakow seemed to be an unbelievable
place, where people can be crazy, drink in
the street, and wear costumes for a whole
week and everybody accepts it, because it’s
a tradition. I know an 80-year-old Polish
woman who says she remembers Juvenalia
in the 1930s. She told me that Juvenalia was
so beautiful back then – the students played
classical music in the streets. Nowadays
everything has changed and become more
obnoxious and violent, but nobody says Juvenalia must stop – because it’s a tradition,
everybody accepts it.
Q: Was it harder for you to become a musician here than it would have been in Vancouver?
Scotia Gilroy left Vancouver seven years ago with the plan to become a musician. She came to Krakow to learn to play the accordion.
Anna Fratczak
editor-in-chief
She left Vancouver seven
years ago with the plan to
become a musician. She
came to Krakow to learn to
play the accordion. One day
in a smoky bar she heard an
Australian woman, Sonia
Maclean, playing her French
horn in a rock and roll band.
She felt that the sound of
Sonia’s horn was perfect to
go with her accordion and
the “dark, carnivalesque”
melodies she had recently
been composing. They soon
got together to jam. The
songs, which fall into two
main categories: experimental “reveries” (with loop
pedal), and “circus theme
songs,” came spilling out.
Two months ago they became a real trio when they
were joined by Rafal Kaczmarek, who drums in “Fox
Gang.” They’ve just finished
recording a demo CD and
plan to record a full-length
album soon. Two weeks ago,
The Midnight Reverie Trio
– together with other foreign
musicians – performed in a
music festival organized at
pl. Szczepanski for
Krakow’s 750th birthday.
Q: Altogether there are about 11 expat
bands. It seems we have a strong foreign
musician community in Krakow. Do you
feel yourself a part of it?
A: I enjoy being friends with other expat
bands. We play a lot of concerts together
and support what each of us is doing, and
benefit a lot from knowing each other. But
I think it’s important to be careful not to get
too closed off within an expat music community. We already feel that we’re somewhat outside of the scene, since our music
is really different from what the other expat
bands are doing. It’s a good scene – but I
feel our band could benefit a lot from stepping outside, interacting with the Polish and
European music scenes and generally having a dialogue with the society we’re living
in. My wish is to play for Polish audiences
as much as for “expat” ones. I don’t want to
stay in an enclave.
Q: Do you think an expat music enclave exists in Krakow? What does the expat music
enclave in Krakow look like?
A: Most of the expat bands in Krakow are
loud rock-n-roll bands, party bands – playing music to dance and have a good time,
too. Some of them have their own unique
sound, for example, New Century Classics, Fox Gang, and Molus and Zapala. But
still, most of the expat bands stay within
typical American styles of music. Our music stands apart to begin with because it is
strongly influenced by European musical
heritage, rather than American. The sound
of the accordion, alone, immediately gives
our music a European feel. And a lot of our
melodies are inspired by Polish folk tunes
and klezmer music. But most of all we think
of ourselves as a carnival band. It’s a kind of
circus music, what we create, inspired by the
old-time European carnival culture.
Q: Where do you play your concerts?
Where do the other foreigners perform?
A: Most of the gigs happen in bars. It seems
like the only type of venues that exist in
Krakow are these really smoky, dark, underground bars. A lot of groups have their
favorite places to play – such as B.Side,
Tytus i Koka. Fox Gang has a regular place
– Awaria. One of the members of Fox Gang
told me that their relationship with Awaria
is like the relationship the Beatles had to
“The Cavern” – it’s a grungy little place
where they play regularly and feel at home.
I’ve played in various Krakow bars, including Tytus i Koka, Kawiarnia Naukowa,
Pierwszy Lokal and Cafe Szafe. I always
agree to play, but I’m not always comfortable in this type of venue. Most of the bars
in Krakow are small and claustrophobic. I’m
a non-smoker, so after I play in a horribly
smoky bar, especially in winter when the
windows aren’t open, I feel pretty sick. In
Canada a band like ours probably wouldn’t
be performing so often in bars like that. In
Vancouver there are a lot of art spaces, created in old factories or abandoned houses.
Artists rent these places and create “art
spaces” – venues for concerts, exhibitions,
dance and theater performances, and parties.
This kind of space is where I wish I could be
playing music. There’s a much better atmosphere, one of the main reasons being that
all the people at the show have come there
solely to see the show. In bars it’s different.
Some people have come to see the show,
while others are there just to drink. I’m sure
in Krakow there are a lot of big abandoned
buildings that could be turned into interesting artistic venues. But you need a group of
musicians and artists who are interested in
getting together to rent it out. There are a lot
of these places in Berlin, but so far I haven’t
seen any in Krakow.
Q: You plan to record a CD soon. Has any
expat band already done it in Krakow?
A: I think a lot of them have put out CDs,
all self-released as far as I know. None of
the groups are on a label, though some of
them are probably looking for one. I would
like our band to eventually be signed to a
small, independent label which puts out
interesting, experimental music. For now
we’re happy being independent.
Q: Why did you come to Krakow?
A: I came here to learn to play the accordion. It was one of my big reasons. I became interested in Eastern and Central Europe while I was studying English literature
at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
The literature program at my university was
very Anglo-centric – only British, American, and Canadian literature. I became
more and more interested in Eastern Euro-
pean literature. By my last year of studies I
had decided to move to Eastern Europe to
teach English after I finished my degree.
Then, during my last year of studies I fell
in love with someone who had exactly the
same plan: to escape from the commercial,
consumerist, banal reality of Vancouver.
But we didn’t know exactly where. During
the last month of our studies we discovered
the Polish writer Bruno Schulz. When you
read the first page of “Cinnamon Shops”
you feel yourself hurtled into a completely
new world because of his incredibly unique
use of language. I was dazzled by Bruno
Schulz. It seemed to me that nobody else,
either before him or since, has written so
beautifully. It was this book that first got us
thinking about Poland. We became curious
about Polish literature, so we next bought
Czeslaw Milosz, “The Captive Mind,” then
books by Witkacy and Gombrowicz. We
thought Poland must be a very intelligent,
interesting country. My husband and I both
write. We felt Schulz was closer to us than
any English-language writer.
Q: What was your first impression of Poland? Were you disappointed? You first came
here eight years ago. Has anything changed?
A: When we first came it was an amazing
feeling to be in a new country where everything was so alien, unfamiliar. We didn’t
know beforehand what Polish society was
like; we didn’t know anything about the
way Polish people think. Our first impression was that Poland seemed to be very
old-fashioned, magical. We were surprised
at how religious Krakow was – a center of
Catholic culture where people come to train
to be priests, nuns and monks. In multicultural Vancouver, where there’s a constant
striving for equality between all religions
and cultures, a Catholic procession on the
street would be unheard of, so this was very
exotic for us. It was fairly easy to learn Polish, because from the beginning of my life
here it was total immersion. Some foreigners
I now know tell me that they get around by
speaking English all the time, and this really
surprises me. When I first came here eight
years ago I had the impression that it was
impossible to communicate with anyone in
English, even if I had tried to. It was Polish from the very start – all of my shopping,
interacting on the streets, making friends.
But these days I’m hearing more and more
A: For me it’s a lot harder here. In Vancouver there’s a really good experimental, independent music scene, more open-minded
than I’ve discovered here. For rock-n-roll
bands it’s probably easy to fit in here. But
on the other hand, in terms of folk music it’s
much better to be here. I wouldn’t be able to
hear any of it in Canada. I spent my first year
here looking for a good accordion, and when
I found one I bought it and began teaching
myself to play by ear. I just recorded every
accordion I heard on the streets for about
five years. I listened to these tapes at home
over and over again. The music that interested me the most was the music I heard played
by Romanian Roma. I wanted to play it. I
met a Romanian Roma named Ivan, probably the best accordionist in Krakow, and
I invited him to my home to teach me. He
told me that he had no idea how to teach,
so I asked him to just play for a few hours,
allowing me to record him, sometimes stopping to show me some special things he was
doing. Now I’m also starting to play the
mandolin. At the moment I’m very happy
here. For me it’s almost like magic when
you find other musicians with whom you
can work. Maybe I would have found interesting musicians to work with in Vancouver,
too, if I had stayed.... but it’s true that no
matter where you are born and raised it always feels easier to find good opportunities
if you uproot yourself and go to a different
place. There’s a new kind of courage that
comes to you. It’s kind of like putting on a
costume when you first move to a new country. You can create a new identity for yourself. I don’t know if I would have had the
courage to decide one day that I was tired
of teaching and that I was going to make
money playing my accordion dressed in a
flower costume, if I had stayed in Canada!
I think this is true for everybody but it takes
different forms. For me it’s to be an accordionist. British stag party guys can be someone new too. Maybe back in London they
have a very normal life, they work in an office. But when they come to Krakow for a
stag party, they can lie drunk in the street,
completely naked or wearing a dress. Could
they do this in London, where a lot of people
know them? You can be someone new when
you travel – it’s true for everyone. You can
find new energy, make a new career, create
a new identity.
Scotia Gilroy plays accordion in
The Midnight Reverie Trio.
www.myspace.com/themidnightreverietrio
She also does musical story-telling shows
for kids in English as
“Rosie the Accordion-Playing Rose.”
www.myspace.com/accordionrosie
A R T S
&
I D E A S
Close-kept secrets
of a wild Siberia
The Krakow Post
13
Ukrainian art
crossing borders:
Paintings of artist
Viktor Gadjuk for
sale at local exhibition
Ukrainian artist Viktor Gajduk (1926-1992).
Wojciech Zaluski
Staff JOURNALIST
On Friday, August 3, the W&L Gallery
opens a new exhibition presenting paintings
of the Ukrainian artist Viktor Gajduk (19261992) at 18:00.
The event starts the exhibition cycle
“Ukrainian Landscape” during which visitors will have a chance to see artists’ works
from between 1950 and 1970. Every ten
days a new artist’s work will be exhibited,
beginning with Viktor Gajduk, then Alexander Fiesiuk (1914-2001), Viktor Szwetz
(1934-1994) and Boris Yegorow (1934).
The artists focused on showing the
beauty of their motherland in the southern
regions of Ukraine. They used the national
tradition of Ukrainian landscape paintings,
which enabled them to express their personal feelings and attitudes more freely during
the Soviet era. Inspired by the work of Paul
Cezanne and Walenty Korowin, among oth-
ers, they introduced the style called “Soviet
impressionism.” The specific use of color
gives their work a vibrant lightness and the
effect of original perspective. Their work is
also an example of how “art can cross the
political borders,” reveals Walery Jemtsew,
president of the association “Art without
Borders” which owns the Gallery. “The
association has existed for 14 months. Its
members are artists, art historians and interested individuals from France, Ukraine
and Poland. The association promotes art
as a universal medium, the content of which
can be understood worldwide. Ukraine is a
dynamic and fast changing country and the
exhibition is a chance to see and learn more
about its culture as this is a country with
which Poland is organizing the Euro 2012
games. It is also another step in tightening
the relations between Ukraine and the EU.”
The exhibition can be seen starting at
18:00 on Friday, August 3, on ul. sw. Jana
30, at the W&L Gallery.
As befitting to every good book, whether a comic or a novel, “Alma” has a deeper meaning hidden beneath the main plot.
Anna Widlarz
staff journalist
It took Michal Galek and Mariusz Zabdyr several years to create the comic book
“Alma.”
And the result of their work is quite impressive: a rather thick black book with a
hard cover and content which (fortunately)
has nothing to do with light reading.
It’s October 16, 1925 – the time when a
team of enthusiastic scientists embarks for
Siberia. In this unwelcoming wilderness
they look for Alma, a cross between a man
and a cat – the alleged missing link. They
expect that the task they endeavor to accomplish will be tough and demanding but they
don’t take into account that not only Alma
has its secrets in Siberia…
Mariusz Zabdyr, illustrator of “Alma,”
and Michal Galek, the comic writer, were
both members of the no longer existing
“Krakowski Klub Komiksowy” (“The Krakow Comic Club”), which published the
first issue of “Alma” in March 2002. After
several issues appeared in print, the writers
started working on the full-length comic
book.
Although it is quite thick, it contains only
the very essence necessary to follow its plot
and make the book “unputdownable.” And,
as befitting to every good book, whether a
comic or a novel, it has a deeper meaning
hidden under the surface of the main plot.
To my mind, “Alma” raises the question of
the price of pursuing our dreams, and, above
all, whether it’s really worth paying. All
that’s left is to read it yourself and see what
“Alma” is about for you.
Surfaces of paper – Modern art in
Manggha Center of Japanese Art
Krzysztof Skonieczny
staff journalist
The Manggha Center of Japanese Art and
Technology offers anyone interested the opportunity to get acquainted with Polish modern art.
An exhibition entitled, “The Surface of
the Wind” by Jagoda Krajewska opens on
Friday, August 3, at 19:00. The artist will be
present at the show’s opening.
Krajewska, born in Lodz, studied at the
Academy of Fine Arts in her hometown between 1973 and 1978.
An exceptionally active artist, she is a
member of GROUP IXION and World Craft
Council Poland. Her works in the fields of
tapestry, paper-art, photography, painting
and computer-design have been exhibited
around the world, including in Mexico, Germany, Japan, the U.S. and Hungary.
“The Surface of the Wind” focuses on
paper art.
The exhibition title is also the title of one
of her works, in which she tries to give shape
to the elements with phonebook pages.
The piece is part of a larger venture to
present her artistic interpretations of other
elements – such as light, water or shadow
– by using solely yellow pages as material.
Krajewska’s artistic goal is to push the
boundaries of art until it will be able to ex-
press what was never in its space before and
see it in new perspectives.
Professor Ewa Latkowska believes that
Krajewska’s most important goal is, in the
artist’s own words, to “express something
that exists between a thought and a glance.”
The Manggha Center is on ul. Konopnickiej 26, right across Wisla from the Wawel
Castle. You can get there by tram – lines 1,
2, 6 (get off at stop “Most Debnicki”), or
lines 18, 19, 22 (stop “Rondo Grunwaldzkie”) – and by bus – lines 100, 103, 112, 114,
124, 124, 128, 162, 164, 173, 179, 184, 194,
439, 444 (stop “Rondo Grunwaldzkie). The
Center is open daily (except Mondays) from
10:00 to 20:00.
Gallery W&L
The only gallery
with genuine
Russian and
Ukrainian art
in Krakow.
Open Daily:
11-20
ul. sw. Jana 30
[email protected]
14
The Krakow Post
A L T E R N A T I V E
C O N S U M E R
Wielopole 15: Clubbing in Krakow
days, caters to the guys with a discount on
beer. Women’s Night is Saturday.
In addition to having regular promotions,
Kitsch organizes theme parties. One of the
most talked-about was Valentine’s Day,
when bartenders dressed as barmaids.
The club also organizes shows of drag
queens and kings, events that actually seem
to be more popular with straights than gays.
The club’s quirkiness makes it an international favorite. “There are people from all
around the world, from Belgium, Denmark
and even from the U.S.,” said manager Bartosz Trojnacki.
Admission is free, except on concert
nights. There is one dress-code no-no: People in tracksuits are not allowed in. The club
staff screens customers at the door to try to
weed out possible problems.
Lubu Dubu
Most in the Wielopole 15 crowd don’t come to party at the Paradox. They want something more exotic.
Mateusz Zuravik
staff journalist
At first glance Wielopole 15 looks like a
neglected apartment building.
But the three-story structure, squeezed
between a hairdresser’s shop on the left and
a second-hand shop on the right, is one of
the liveliest music venues in Krakow.
In fact, every floor from the basement to
the top boasts clubs.
On the ground floor, with its own entrance, is Paradox, which is different from
the other clubs because it is the kind of disco
you see all over Poland with flashing lights
and vivid colors on the walls.
Robert Mackiewicz, an economics student from Warsaw, says most of those in
the Wielopole 15 crowd don’t come to party
at the Paradox. They want something more
exotic.
The main entrance to the building welcomes you with peeling paint and a dirty
staircase. The walls are covered with posters
advertising special events at the most popular clubs, Kitsch, Lubu Dubu and Caryca.
When the clubs started, customers thought
they were different rooms of the same establishment. Some bought beer in one club and
tried to take it into another.
Over time, club-goers learned that each
venue had different décor, music and clientele.
Kitsch
Kitsch is one of the most famous clubs in
Krakow. The May 27 issue of The New York
Times cemented its reputation by calling it a
club worth visiting.
The name suggests unsophisticated music
and ambience – and some would say that’s
the case.
Many Krakow clubbers consider it a gay
club, but Kitsch didn’t start that way four
years ago and has a mix of customers today.
It began attracting gays in its early days because of its tolerance – and at one point most
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of its customers were gay.
But two years ago the club embarked on a
successful effort to broaden its base.
The second-floor club is dark but spacious – a result of two former apartments being combined. Walls and doors are covered
with peeling paint in pink and light blue, and
the furniture looks as if it had been bought at
a flea market, yet the interior is inviting.
Kitsch consists of several rooms, one
with a dance floor and others with tables and
chairs. Over-all, the establishment is cozy
and comfortable, but its restrooms should
be avoided.
The music fits the club’s name. It’s mostly vintage or new disco hits from the likes
of Michael Jackson, Madonna and Aqua that
attract people of all ages.
A recent show that the nearly 60-year-old
star Grazyna Lobaszewska put on at Kitsch
attracted a lot of young people.
There is a special promotion every day of
the week.
For example, Men’s Night, on Wednes-
Lubu Dubu, on Wielopole’s first floor,
is the building’s oldest club, founded five
years ago.
Manager Jaroslaw Daniel maintains that
anyone who comes to Krakow also comes to
Lubu Dubu. There’s a lot of truth to that.
Customers ranging from 18 to 40 – and
sometimes older – boogie to Polish and foreign disco tunes from the 1970s and 1980s.
The club wants its guests to get a feel for
the old days of communism.
To that end, it is crammed with posters
and artifacts from those days.
The club’s interior is bright in daytime
and dark at night because some windows are
not covered, as they are in other clubs in the
building.
Small tables look as if they were strewn
around the rooms by accident.
When the club was starting, the owners
saved money by buying second-hand furniture. Customers got used it.
Now items such as a 30-year-old counter
are key attractions.
Lubu Dubu’s service is excellent and the
staff kind. It’s a great place for those who
like to chat with bartenders. And it’s one of
the few Krakow clubs with air conditioning.
But the restrooms are dirty – a problem with
the whole building.
On the club’s concert nights you can hear
such top Polish bands as Coma or Kombajn
do Zbierania Kur po Wioskach.
On some holidays there are special events.
For example, on May 1, the old Communist
May Day, the club throws a party on a red
bus that tours the old worker’s enclave of
Nowa Huta. The idea is based on the famous
song from the 1950s, “Czerwony Autobus”
(Red Bus).
Besides music parties, Lubu Dubu used
to organize movie screenings. This year it
teamed up with the Alchemia Club to hold
an Alternative Culture Festival.
Classical Guitar Catering
Caryca
When people first heard the name Caryca,
some thought it was an escort service.
The word “caryca” in Polish means “empress,” and in the club’s windows you can
often see red lights.
It does have a different ambience than the
other clubs in the building, but not an escortservice ambience.
Caryca is on the first floor opposite Lubu
Dubu. When you enter, you must go through
two rooms before reaching the bar.
The club has a twilight cast to it, day or
night, that fits the reggae music that is one
of its mainstays.
Caryca has soft sofas and small tables.
None of the furniture matches.
The club is full of corridors. One leads to
the bar, another to the restroom, which is the
smallest of all those in the building.
The music is less commercial than that
in Kitsch and Lubu Dubu. In addition to
reggae, it includes electronic and drum and
bass. The club’s top concert band is Electro
Candy, a regular fixture.
Most of the crowd is young; many are
foreigners.
Caryca often holds reggae or electronic
parties. It co-organized with Kitsch this
year’s Eight Days of Culture festival.
In the club there are reminders of a Vlepka
(Sticker) Festival. One wall is covered with
small stickers made by artists themselves.
Management says the Sticker Festival is
an example of Caryca’s support for alternative art. As part of the festival fun, the club
showed funny vides from YouTube and
other Internet portals.
The club achieved notoriety as the location of a Playboy photo shoot several months
ago. If you are lucky, you can meet movers
and shavers there, like the editor of the Polish edition of Playboy, Marcin Meller.
Patrick Connors, a 34-year-old engineer
from Sheffield, England, likes Caryca because it combines the ambience of an old
inn with the newest trends in music.
“Anytime I come here to Krakow, I visit
this place,” he said. “I just love the drinks
and the music.”
Admission is free except for concert
nights.
A footnote
When the clubs opened four and five
years ago, neighbors complained about the
people going in and out. Now they’re used
to it.
The club managers say there is no rivalry
among the establishments.
Customers often jump from one club to
another. The clubs advertise together, and
when one runs out of beer, it borrows some
from another one.
Live
classical
guitar
for your
restaurant,
cafe, hotel.
Top quality.
Professional.
Tel.: 513 646 332
[email protected]
D I S T R I B U T I O N
The Krakow Post
15
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Rynek Glowny 29
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Przedmiescie 79
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Rynek Glowny 23
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ul. Poselska 18
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ul. Sw. Filipa 7
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ul. Opolska 14
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ul. Estery 10
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ul. Lubicz 23
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ul. Starowislna 82/4
M Club ul. Tomasza 11a
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ul. Stolarska 7
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ul. Felicjanek 4/2
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pl. Szczepanski 7/15
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ul. Slawkowska 3
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Rynek Glowny 1/3
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ul. Wislna 5
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ul. Mazowiecka 25
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ul. Slawkowska 26
Brussels Airlines
Budda Bar Rynek Glowny 6
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ul. Mikolajska 2
Buma Square
Office Building
ul. Wadowicka 6
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ul. Tomasza 17
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Rynek Glowny 7
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ul. Golebia 3
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ul. Lobzowska 4
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ul. Sw. Tomasza 25
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Playing it safe in virtual Krakow

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