Szczecin [antikvár]

Today the name Szczecin has for everyone one meaning only. It has never been so in the millenary historyof the city that was restored to Poland. The biggest port of the Baltic Sea, with its Adolf Warski shipyard,Szczecin of Today receives ships from all over the world.To a geographer our Pomeranian city is situated 52°26' latitude north and 14°31' longitude east.According to a statistician it is the second biggest city next to Warsaw, with an area of 500 sq.km. Onefourth of this area is covered with water and twice much with green areas. The number of inhabitants ofWestern Pomerania's capital exceeds 350,000 which gives it the seventh place in Poland.A historian is tempted to quote the Arabian traveller Ibrahim ibn Saud, who describes a big Slavic portcalled Sadzin or Sasin situated on the marshy left bank of the Odra River.An economist will certainly quote numbers and emphasize the international importance of the Odrawaterway to the Baltic. He will add that Szczecin is a natural trans-shipping base for goods exported by seafrom Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria. He will probably mention the role of its reconstructedshipyard, an important factor in building the economic potential of this country-Generally speaking - such is the present picture of Szczecin as seen by the specialists. It is neithersynthetic nor complete as it can be approached in various ways. One thing is certain: the city has fused toform a social and economic entity with the rest of the country as an integral and important element of itsorganization. However, it is not the only aspect of the city that has changed its character many times.All those who came here in 1945 remember till now the picture that nothing will ever blot out of theirmemory, the picture of smoldering ruins. Smoke enveloped the river. On the Chrobry Ramparts, brokenglass ground under the feet. A sea of bricks, half-burned beams, remains of window frames and doors,and ruins of ancient burghers' mansions covered the whole area of the Old Town.This was the Szczecin one had to learn by heart. One had to recognize the topography of paths beatenamong the ruins and houses which escaped destruction. People memorized that city more with theirhearts than with their minds. One required no mean imagination to discern among the ruins the futureorganization of a modern city intended to serve its inhabitants. But it was on April 30, 1945 that PiotrZaremba, the first Mayor of Szczecin, cabled: Today at 8 : 15 a.m. the Polish flag was hoisted up on thebuilding of the Office of the Polish Republic's Plenipotentiary in Szczecin".There are still people who live among us and who walk along the broad streets admiring the forcefulrestoration work and the rate of development, the people who once with eyes filled with tears of emotionread posters hung on the walls: Poles! Our efforts, our toil and hardships were not wasted. Yesterday, onJuly 6 the city was taken over by the Polish Republic. Szczecin is Polish!" It was Saturday, July 5,1945 Those people, former soldiers, insurgents of Warsaw barricades, repatriates from Volhynia and Vilniusregions, inhabitants of Poznan and villagers from the Kielce District, former emigrants returning to theircountry, forced labourers, prisoners of P.O.W. and concentrations camps, soldiers of the First and SecondPolish Armies and the Armed Forces in the West - had to fulfill a task cast for a whole generation.Sixty-five per cent of all buildings were ruined. Nine million cubic meters of bricks and rubble had to beremoved. The industry was destroyed in 89 per cent. The power station, water and gas-works were out oforder, the port and the reloading facilities completely ruined. A mass of wreckage, mines and bombscovered the bottom of the Odra.Nevertheless, it was as early as 1945 that new life blossomed on this fallow of bricks. The tram servicestarted in October. The first issue of the Polish newspaper Szczecin Daily" appeared about that time. Thepower station, water and gas-works and sewage system were in working order. The first New Year inSzczecin was celebrated by nearly 29,000 Poles.The oldest and most heroic image of Szczecin is slowly bloting out of our memory. The generation of