The memorial to the Solidarity movement in Gdansk isn’t pretty. Large lumps of concrete and steel shape the formidable memorial. The museum behind it is constructed of rusty steel representing the ship building industry and provides a fitting backdrop.
But then again it remembers shipyard workers who gave their lives to free Poland from Communism. The movement that started in the ship yards of Gdansk was a struggle of life and blood and ended with the collapse of communism as it was. The hard brutality is quite appropriate.
I found it quite moving. It speaks of hardship and struggle, brutality and victory. All through Poland we have found tributes to the events that started in Gdansk and spread throughout Eastern Europe.
My hope is that Poland will hold on to these events because it is clear that rampant capitalism wants to take the place of the old enemy.
Travels from Ur 