History /
What was it like in 1989+ in Poland when the Soviet house of cards fell? [237]
Delphi:
After 1971, the removal of the visa between Poland and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) has enabled a development of the cross-border area. In 1981, the GDR closes unilaterally the border which will be hermetic till the German reunification (1990).
"Something was ringing, I only was unsure in what church" ;-)
espaces-transfrontaliers.org/en/conurbations/terri_doc_ag_frankfurt_en.html
I have found some picture: Army Cabaret 1987
Army cabaret in the military training range, Masuria. Me in the center with AK-47, and issue glasses cause I broke mine and had no money to afford better ones ;-)
It was June 1987, 2 years before the fall of communism in Poland. My situation was -- as always with me -- quite untypical. Yes, I managed registering my diploma work at the University and went to the Reserve Cadet School (SPR) in Kraków on the very same day. Meaning delay in arrival to the unit, yet due to my luck, I was not punished. It's necessary to say I left pregnant wife at home -- there were no excuses not to join the Army. Luckily, nobody asked if I had graduated or not. I could only graduate in late Autumn the same year, on a leave in Warsaw.
The people at the school were a mix of chemical engineers, painters and graphics artists from the Academy of Fine Arts (Kraków), and therapists from another Cracow University (AWF?). May 2007 was the "unitary term" in Kraków, ending with military oath ceremony (I could meet my wife twice during that month, her coming to Cracow). June was field range training in Masuria, where I got the news about my daughter's birth. I had to wait another week until the unit returned to Cracow but in all honesty, I got far longer leave than expected for my patience.
Yes, just two years before the fall of communism, yet I can assure you nobody even dreamed that might ever happen. I was quite frustrated, feeling the time was invariably lost, attending obligatory political lectures explaining why the Nazi Germany covered under NATO disguise were danger to Poland, how the American airplanes would spread chemical weapon, and how to fight against American helicopters armed only with Kalashnikov assault rifles... Political officers nagged to join the Party, and later the Army was promising brilliant career including
a flat to live.
Only two years had passed and Free Poland occurred. The Kraków military academy was dissolved very soon...
This picture, just to infuriate some of my Honorable Disputants:
Adam Michnik Dec 1981
Do you recognize that guy? Adam Michnik was together with us, Warsaw Technical University students, at the strike of the Independent Students' Association (NZS) in December 1981, just couple of days before the martial law was announced. I fail seeing Kaczyński Brothers there, at that strike.
Hanging posters, December 1981
That's to complete the story of one cold December 1981 day-break, during which we've been yelled out by scared queue-waiters at the closed butcher's shop.
Seargeants leaving the Army, May 1988