P for Poznań Old Market Square

 

Have you ever been to Poznań?

Another letter in "My Polish Alphabet" is "P" and it stands for Poznań Old Market Square.

 

Poznań is one of the oldest cities in Poland. I have visited it many times, but never cared much for the rest, meaning the more modern part of the city. 

The beginnings of Poznań date back to the 9th century, however, even much earlier settlements were discovered in that area (from 8,000 BC).

The old town was built in 1253, when Poznań was granted city rights. I love the atmosphere of the place. Every day at 12 noon, you can watch the two billy goats on the clock tower butting their heads. 

12 o'clock noon - the show starts

 

The place is totally different from the rest of Poznań (which is just like any other big city - loud and busy). The old market square has a totally different atmosphere. 

 

Apollo fountain

 

There are four fountains on the Market Square. The Apollo fountain (the basin part) is made of sandstone. The statue of Apollo is a bronze figure.

 

Sometimes, while visiting the place, you may have an unexpected encounter. See the reenactment group below, the old pranger column in the background.

 

In medieval ages, the pranger was a place of torture and humiliation - a person was stuck to it and "treated" by an executioner. The original pranger column has been stored in a local museum, the current one, topped with a statue of a torturer, is its modern replacement.

Besides the old city council building and the clock tower, the old town section also has a residential area, with its old houses and a network of streets.

The building at the end of the street, above, is the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Saints Mary Magdalene and Stanislaus of Szczepanów, commonly known as the Poznań Fara. It was built in the 17th century - very pretty and elaborate decorations inside.

If you are a fan of archeology, you can also visit a nearby museum.

If you get tired walking around, you can rest in one of the market square cafes, remember to try the original pastry of Poznań - St. Martin's croissants (rogale marcińskie). The croissants are big and sweet, I could not manage to eat one. 

St Martin's croissants

The tradition of making them dates back to the end of 19th century. About the 11th November, the parish priest of St. Martin's church asked the parish people to do something for the poor. One of the local pastry makers made three baking sheets of the sweet croissants and brought them to the church area. Every year, more and more bakers joined him and the tradition developed. 

 

These days you can buy St. Martin's pastry in Poznań all year round. The most is sold and eaten on 11 November, St Martin's day.

Credits: Photo of croissants: By Rzuwig - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64033312

F for Fiedler's Museum

 

Arkady Fiedler (1894/1985) was a Polish writer, traveler, and naturalist. During his life, the man took part in numerous expeditions to several countries on all continents. 

Some years ago, I happened to see the museum situated in Fiedler's family home in Puszczykowo (not far from Poznań, Poland), and I did enjoy watching all the exhibits there. The small items are on display in the house. Others, placed in the yard, are interesting reconstructions.

Some of the structures are:
a statue from Easter Island,
a monument to Crazy Horse, Lakota chief,
Sitting Bull statue,
and the Gate of the Sun (Lake Titicaca area, Bolivia).

The place is worth visiting, but probably not many people know about it.

Santa Maria - replica

Fiedler wrote 32 books. One of them, "303 Squadron" (about the WWII Battle of Britain fighting squadron), was on our school reading list. 

"The River of Singing Fish" ("Ryby Spiewają w Ukajali") about his trip to South America, bought by my sister, we had at home.

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"My Polish Alphabet" is related to things, places, and people that come to my mind when I think about Poland.

Grandpa Józef

Józef Czapczyński was born in Pabianice, nowadays Poland, to the family of Walenty Czapczyński and Stanisława Kozubska on 31 Jan. 1904. Józef's father was a worker, possibly a weaver. That area of Poland had been taken over by the Russian Empire (due to the third partition of Poland in 1795) so Józef and the family lived within the Russian Empire then.

Anyhow, the boy and his siblings (two older brothers Edmund and Władysław and at least one sister Walentyna) grew up in Pabianice which was an industrial town known of its textile factories.

The old weaving mill of Krusche and Ender's in Pabianice

When Józef was 14, WW1 ended and as a result of the peace treaty, the borders of Poland changed. Pabianice were in the territory of Poland again and they all could speak Polish freely again. Grandfather did not want to be a factory worker but an army man so he joined the military gendarmerie.

As his regiment stationed in the Toruń region, Józef met his future wife Miss Irena Dybowska (b. 12 Nov. 1912), the only daughter of Antoni Dybowski and Bronisława Manikowska.

The young couple married about 1932 in Toruń. Soon, Józef and Irena had three daughters. The family moved frequently depending on where grandpa and his military unit were transferred.  In 1938, they lived on the Hel Peninsula, in the place called Hel. Shortly before WW2, Irena and the daughters followed Józef and relocated to Gdynia.  They were not rich but wealthy enough to afford a maid. It all changed when the war started, though.

Józef and his family, Hel 1938

In September 1939, grandfather - a sergeant of the Polish Military Gendarmerie and other men of his regiment were captured by the Nazis. He was sent to Stalag XXA which had been created in Toruń. His prisoner number was 247. Sometime later, grandfather was no longer a POW, his status was changed to a laborer. Therefore, he was transported to a forced labor camp organized by Nazis in Szczecin. All Poland was occupied by the Nazis already. I do not know how long grandpa was in Szczecin.

I have come across a photograph published by someone online and I have no idea who the author of the picture is. Anyway, it supposedly portrays a group of men who were kept in the camp in Szczecin in 1941. Nevertheless, I showed the photo to my mom, and she said that the man circled in the picture resembled her father. However, she is not sure it was really him.

To compare, here is another picture taken at about the same time. The two faces look similar, but who knows.

Józef Dybowski, 1941 or 1942

According to the records of Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (National Memory Institute), from the camp in Szczecin, Józef was later sent to a forced labor camp in Germany. I do not know when and where exactly.

Grandfather came back home to Poland in 1946. He was weak and sick with TB. The communist authorities questioned him why he had come back so late, not in 1945 when the war ended. I have no idea what he told them, I can only guess, he returned when he could.

After the war, Józef, his wife and daughters moved to central Poland, to the city of Poznań where Józef's sister lived as well. Grandpa worked as a clerk with the city power station.

When I was little we sometimes visited him. I remember one time, grandma showed me a picture in which he was with his army unit men. Grandfather wanted me to point at him in that picture - I did not know which of the men was him. How could I tell that since each one of them looked the same - each one had a mustache and each one wore a uniform? Well, I recall grandpa Józef was not pleased with that at all. No, he did not shout. He just seemed displeased.

Józef suffered from results of a condition of the inner ear for years. He passed on 3 October 1980.

Update:

 I have found a copy of this document (e-kartoteka.net) that reads as follows: Józef Czapczyński, the son of Walenty and Stanisława nee Kozubski, office clerk, born on 31 January 1904 in Pabianice, Łask County. 26 June 1925, he moved from Pabianice to Poznań. In Pabianice, Józef lived with his sister Janina and her husband at 12 Ogrodowa Street.

 

The other Poznań registration card informs about the above-mentioned sister Janina, born on 31 May 1901 in Pabianice,  Łask County, and her husband Józef, office clerk, born on 9 March 1896 in Pabianice. The couple moved from Pabianice to Poznań in 1929. On 4 July 1929, they lived at 12 Łąkowa Street at the placed owned by the Maciejewski family.
 

Grandpa Józef had 4 more siblings, but I only met his sister Janina.
 

Sources:

• Instytut Pamięci  Narodowej
• Photo of the weaving mill in Pabianice: By Tszwagrzak - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8310941 
• e-kartoteka.net