Day 334: Krakow, scenes of life
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
334 — Krakow, scenes of life
01-Jul-1972
(Sat.)
TRANSCRIPT
Krakow church
POLAND
Finally left the room (capitalists). Went
sightseeing.
Vietnam propaganda. Public display. Glorifies the
North Vietnamese as people (women, children) fighting
for their freedom. The pictures show them smiling as
they make weapons. Sick propaganda. Yesterday,
Heinrich said the North Vietnamese were the
aggressors.
Walked into the “real” Poland. The small streets. The
stores hardly have anything, compared to us. Price of
televisions is 8,000zl.
Sometimes watching the strassebahn is like watching a
Charlie Chaplin movie—they wobble along (sideways, up
and down).
Women’s “lib.” Women here do a lot, like driving the
strassebahns.
Russian soldiers around. People don’t seem to like
it.
Fed the pigeons in the square. Sat down, one flew
into my hand.
Met another very young adolescent Polish kid. Like
most adolescents, trying to play the part of grown
ups. I was forced into smoking his Egyptian cigarette
because he wanted me to have a good cigarette as
compared to a Polish one. He also wanted to be a
capitalist.
Went to a movie and thought it was going to be Polish
but it turned out to be French. Very dramatic. Very
drab. Matches the life. A few “shorts” also. One
public service announcement on syphilis (good idea).
Another, political news propaganda showing smiling
workers drinking the crap soda. Sort of a laugh
because everyone was smiling.
Late. Heard a band in a club. Not too bad. Didn’t
seem to be too many clubs around.
REFLECTIONS
Left
my room. I was
happy to leave my capitalist friends at the room I
was staying in. I suspect that I brought my luggage
to the train station.
Scenes of life. In Krakow,
I spend today trying to be like a normal person. Not
sightseeing.
• I am upset by the obvious propoganda portraying the
North Vietnamese as freedom fighters and the U.S. as
the villains. The communists were, after all, in
control and I suppose that I shouldn’t have been
surprised.
• The stores are empty, not having a lot of goods for
consumption. What we consider normal expense (TV) is
high for the people.
• People watching is always fun. As always, most
people are like everyone else. Normal. All everyone
wants is to work, prosper, and provide for the
family. Women take a prominent role doing all types
of jobs.
• Russian soldiers are always around. If you are in
the U.S., picture Chinese soldiers with weapons
patrolling everywhere you went. That’s what it would
feel like behind the iron curtain. No one likes to be
occupied.
• All young students have hopes, dreams, and
aspirations. That’s what most of this blog has been
about—my aspirations when I was a young 22-year old
student. The Polish students likely know that their
opportunities are fewer than in the west. Thus
latching on to material things that are unattainable
or more difficult to get (like Egyptian cigarettes)
gives them some sense of getting an upper hand on the
system. Ok, it’s too philosophical but the young need
freedom to find their paths and attain their goals
and dreams. The west has such opportunities,
communism never did. We won.
Krakow bazaar
Pigeons
in Krakow
Courtyard
John
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