Singing For Independence - And Different Visions Of National Unity

Today it's not just 100 years ago that the First World War ended on the Western Front. (Please spare a thought for President Trump, who was traumatized by the fear that his beautiful golden hair might get wet in the rain.) Poland is also celebrating 100 years of independence. Don't forget that Monday will be an official holiday too; many shops will be closed. The celebrations show how much attention Poles from all classes and persuasions pay to their national history. And @breadcentric reminded me it's also St. Martin's Day.

In Kraków, the high point of the centennial festivities will be a sing-along in the main market square (Rynek Główny). It will start at 5 PM local time, and no less than 25 patriotic songs are on the program. Download the songbook here in PDF, which is illustrated with some historical images. A warm-up concert will start at 3 PM.

Liberation of Kraków on October 31, 1918. Photo by Adam Karaś.

More photos from Kraków in the early 20th century here.

Good news: the city announced that public transport is free today. Bad news: the reason is high air pollution (to get cars off the road); the public is warned to avoid being out of doors for long or being active outside.

You might be able to manage a short walk from Rynek Główny to Park Jordana, to the west of the city center, where the bronze busts of six 'fathers of independence' were revealed yesterday. It seems old-fashioned, but remember that Poles didn't get the chance to do this during the 19th century.

Fittingly, one of the speakers at the unveiling was mayor Jacek Majchrowski, a history professor who's an expert on the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939). He stressed the diversity of the founders who came together to achieve sovereignty despite political disagreements. Last Sunday, Majchrowski was re-elected as mayor for a five-year term, after being President of Kraków, as his official title is called, for 16 years already. Before the election, I wrote about the three main candidates - three colorful characters.

Kraków from the air in 1919. Unknown photographer.

The national government seems to have a different vision of national unity. In Warsaw, the president and prime minister quickly organized an Independence March, after a march planned by right-wing nationalists was banned by the mayor. Last year’s independence day parade included racist banners, fascist symbols and antisemitic chants. Conservative government supporters objected to the foreign media tarring the whole march with the same brush, but didn't feel called to censor their fellow patriots.

Yesterday, Law and Justice (PiS) party leader Jarosław Kaczyński unveiled a monument to the late President Lech Kaczyński, his twin brother who died in an air crash in Russia in 2010 - under suspicious circumstances, according to his supporters.

Meanwhile, European Council President Donald Tusk didn't exactly contribute to national unity by calling the conservative Law and Justice government 'bolsheviks' for attacking the independence of the judiciary and the media.

In order to share the centennial celebrations with the world, the national government launched a promotional video in English and Polish, starring actor and director Mel Gibson. No, he's not Polish, but everybody loves Mel Gibson, right? He's a good Catholic!

The clip is more about the 123 years of waiting for independence (72 years for the Free City of Cracow) than about the past 100 years, or the future. I guess it would be awkward to discuss during how many of these 100 years Poland really was independent.

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In the future, this account will focus on news headlines from all over the world, but we're starting by giving Steemfest visitors information about Kraków and Poland. This article was written by @edb. Please follow @newforyou to stay informed!