I’ve not gotten confused over dates; this article is not meant to
comemmorate the day of the US independence from the British crown.
Although...
Looking back over the nine years of entries that this blog comprises
of, I realize I’ve never written a Happy Independence Day entry in
honor of America’s celebration.
Perhaps that is because,
historically – my
history, not America’s,
I was typically on the road in the summer months and not given to
contemplation of the origins of the country known as the United
States of America.
Or, perhaps I unconsciously stand
with those who call it ‘Treason
Day’
because those British colonists declared independence from their
government.
But then, if I disdain America’s
founding fathers and mothers for rising up against the injustice of
being taxed in absentia and subjected to punishing rule, then I
should equally disdain the actions of the French 3rd
Estate for storming the Bastille and catapulting France into a civic
revolution.
The long and the short of the story is that, sometimes, revolution is
necessary.
The taking of lands without
consent of the occupants, on the other hand, is not laudable and even
more dismaying is the
lack of their acknowledgement
in modern day ‘birth of the nation’ celebrations – but that’s
another story.
Now, I tip my hat to the United States of America for the celebration
that millions of citizens and those who are citizens-in-waiting
enjoy, and turn my focus to my immediate surroundings.
June 27th
marked my nine-month anniversary in Szczecin. As yet, I do not have
official permission to reside here; I am still only conditionally
approved.
Fortunately, that stamp in my passport that permits my legal
residence does not have an expiration date!
Outside of that miserable time,
post-arm
break,
when I felt that every pavestone and cobblestone was a trip hazard;
when I jealously watched those who sauntered carelessly along city
sidewalks, presumably unaware of the danger beneath their very
feet...
Outside of that time, I have walked and/or ridden just about every
street in this city. Quite a few of them are named after remarkable
citizens.
I think we all know the name
Sikorsky – the family of military helicopters. That dynasty was
founded by the Russian immigrant to the U.S., Igor Sikorsky.
As a lad of only 20, prior to the
1st
World War, he engaged in an underground movement to liberate Poland
from Russia. When war broke out, he fought with distinction in the
hastily established Polish League – what passed for their army at
the time.
He went on to complete a brilliant military career which had
detracted from his efforts of unifying Poland as a sovereign state in
its own right.
During the 2nd
World War, he became Poland’s first Prime Minister in Exile and the
commander-in-chief of the Polish armed forces.
Likewise for Gabriel
Narutowicz,
the first official president of Poland who was murdered a mere five
days after taking office. He not only has an avenue but also a tram
stop to honor him.
And the list goes on:
-
Augustyn Kordiecki, a prior of the Pauline monastery who protected priceless religious art
-
Jozef Bem, a man whose vast and varied talents saw him succeed on the battlefield as well as in academia
-
Tadeusz Kosciuszko, supreme national commander of the Polish armed forces during the insurrection that bears his name; later a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
-
Thomas Jefferson himself opined that this man was ‘the purest son of freedom he’d come to know.
-
-
Kazimierz Pulaski, leading military commander for the Bar Confederation; later a general in the Confederate Army
-
He is noted, among other accomplishments, for saving the life of George Washington.
-
I guess now
we know why there are so many places named Pulaski in the States; 6
of them, to be exact.
And so, as I
stroll/ride through this tiny town nearly on the German border, I am
slowly discovering, through street names, the people and places of
Poland.
‘Places’
because there are streets here that are named after geographical
locations, too.
Such commemorations are not uncommon; every country I have been in
identifies their roadways in that manner.
Some even use
dates: in Berlin, there is a wide boulevard named Platz der 4. Juli –
July 4th Plaza.
It just so
happened that, during the Cold War, American army troops were
stationed at McNair Barracks, which were adjacent to July 4th Plaza.
American troops used that space as their parade grounds.
What
I didn’t get, couldn’t understand and couldn’t figure out no
matter who I asked was: why is there a street named 5th
of July in Szczecin?
I confess that,
at first, I did not know that street name was an actual date.
The
Polish language having no fewer than 8 grammatical cases means that,
in just about any sentence, any given word could change form
completely, in some cases so that it bears absolutely no resemblance
to the base form of the word.
A fine example
of such – from my limited lexicon of Polish words and basic
knowledge of only 3 of the 8 cases, is the word for dog: pies (pronounced
p-yes).
Using the
accusative case, ‘dog’ turns into ‘psa’ and in the
instrumental – a case that has no equivalent in English, it becomes
‘psem’…
And there are
still 5 more cases to learn – who knows how many more changes there
will be to dogs by the time I learn them all!
I
hope you can see why I could not immediately interpret 5 Lipca, the
name of the street, as 5th of July; Lipca
is a far cry from Lipiec,
the base form of the word.
Dang cases!
It
was only on the tram, on my way to class on the first Tuesday of the
month of July that I connected the two words, and then only because
every
public conveyance here bears screens that show route maps, date and
time and, of course, advertisement.
Once
I understood that 5 Lipca was actually a date, I stopped wondering
what it was supposed to commemorate 5 of and set about trying to find
what was so important about that date.
As I was to
spend the next hour and a half with a native of Szczecin – my
teacher, I asked her what was so important about it. She thought I
meant July 4th but, after dissuading her, she confessed to not
knowing and vowed to look it up.
Back
home after lessons, with my trusty computer at hand, I too did some
looking and, after a bit of poking around, found the answer.
Already
formulating this entry in my head, I decided to challenge my Polish
friends at our Meetup, scheduled for the evening of July 4th.
Mercifully,
our
group has grown
from it just being Jerzy and I; how great it was to see Tomasz and
Sylwia again! Besides those 3, we had a newcomer, Pawel, a shy young
man who hopes to improve his English so he can change jobs.
None of them
knew why this city had a street named 5th of July.
I did not gloat
or rub their faces in the fact that I knew of a portion of their
history better than they did; in fact, I did not even let on that I
knew anything about it other than it identified a street.
I was too busy
being dismayed that such an important event is not more renowned.
Just think: were it not for that event, everyone here would be
speaking German!
Surely, such a
defining moment in history should be taught in schools, celebrated
and publicized?
I’ve ridden
and walked up and down 5 Lipca Street several times and I have yet to
see even a commemorative plaque. Nor is it listed as noteworthy in
the tour books or websites I’ve skimmed.
And, even
though I know only a handful of people here, none of them knew the
significance of that date… and Sylwia is a school teacher!
I suppose that
the people in Szczecin, embroiled in their daily affairs, have no
time to spare for deep reflection of their recent history.
Life happens in
the states, too and, amidst the tantalizing smell of grilling meat
and the exotic displays of fireworks, few would spare a thought to
the fact that, in order to declare independence from an oppressive
government, the land the colonists occupied had to first be taken
from native inhabitants.
But then, as
I rush to meet Luiza for dinner, at the tram stop: an announcement of
Szczecin’s 74th birthday party, to be held this weekend…
Looks like I’m
wrong in thinking that Szczecin being reinstated to Poland has been overlooked.