(WELCOME TO POLAND)
Why can’t a polish name be simple to remember?
Do Poles choose their name just for the sake of making foreigners unable to pronounce it?
In early 80’s, Wojciech Jaruzelski the head of state of Poland, which will return to being a republic in 1989 only, is in big trouble.
(Wojciech Jaruselski, USSR puppet dictator had declared martial law in Poland)
A satellite country of the USSR, Poland is experiencing the aftermath of the election of Karol Wojtyla as Pope John-Paul II combined with the fast eroding support of communism in the country which has been for centuries one of the most devoutly Catholic nations.
Labour turmoil led to the formation of the independent trade union Solidarity (Solidarność) in September 1980, originally led by Lech Wałęsa. In fact, Solidarity became a broad anti-communist social movement ranging from people associated with the Roman Catholic Church, to members of the anti-socialist left.
(The Poles don't like to be told what to do... they can be a bit rebellious..seen here is Polish crew flying in the RAF . The distinctive Polish Airforce "flag" can be seen on the side of the airplane)
By the end of 1981, Solidarity had nine million members—a quarter of Poland's population and three times as many as the PUWP (1) Under Soviet pressure in October ,former Minister of Defence since 1968 and premier since February, Wojciech Jaruzelski replaced Secretary General Stanislas Kania who had been instructed by Moscow to set things straight in order to continue Polish support of USSR but was unable to abide by Moscow’s orders.
On December 13, 1981, Jaruzelski proclaimed martial law, suspended Solidarity, and temporarily imprisoned most of its leaders. This sudden crackdown on Solidarity was reportedly out of fear of Soviet intervention. The government then banned Solidarity on October 8, 1982. Martial law was formally lifted in July 1983, though many heightened controls on civil liberties and political life, as well as food rationing, remained in place through the mid-to-late-1980s.
Jaruzelski stepped down as prime minister in 1985 and became president (chairman of the Council of State).
(Welcome to Poland....in the midst of martial law)
(Ration cards/Food stamps : the government wanted to solve the issue by starving the people)
Between 1981 and 1983, when Poland was still a “people’s republic”, the Polish Catholic Church in Chicago, the second largest Polish town besides Warsaw, had managed to collect enough money to charter a Flying Tigers DC 8 carrying 18 Pallets of food and various first aid destined to the Polish Catholic Church in Poland. It must have been in the beginning of the year when we ferried the airplane from sunny Los Angeles to O’Hare airport for a night in a hotel before a departure the next day.
Newspapers worldwide were full of pictures taken in Poland by press correspondents showing T.34 Tanks, people queuing for food and demonstrators being arrested by the “Milicja Obywatelska”(2).
The Chicago fellows had been supported by a well-known American company from New-Jersey, founded in 1886 and specialized in pharmaceutical and hygiene! Following a fuel stop in Shannon, we got to Warsaw just a bit late. The information contained in the weather folder provided in Chicago to the Tiger crew was right: It is freezing cold. It is the first time I land in a communist country with Flying Tigers and of course there is some pride in opening the access door and the cargo door right after blocking in....
(This looks a bit like big F.27....but it is an AN 24, a Russian manufactured airplane. The USSR would flood all of its satellite countries with their aeronautical production , ANtonov, Tupolev and Illyushin flying machines)
WARSAW.OKECIE Airport (3)
The passenger side of the airport is full of AN 24 and TU 134 in the colours of Polish National Airline LOT. It looks like the entire LOT , Lotnicze Polskie fleet made of Russian only airplanes provided by “Big Brother Bear” (4), is grounded.
Social unrest in the country means that no airport team will be able to handle the cargo part of the 24 hours transit in Warsaw so after making a few arrangements, the content of our DC.8 is manually offloaded from the airplane directly into trucks chartered by the Polish church.
Catholic volunteers help until “position 18” is totally void. Fearing that government agencies may delay the operation, the “catholic team” had taken the “correct dispositions” (whatever this means, I do not know, or better, I forgot) so that the cargo would not be submitted to administrative and customs excessive control and as soon as the cargo manifest had been provided to the Church representative, instructions were passed around to ensure that the plane would be offloaded in less than two hours!
Anticipating possible administrative delays the next day, I make my way to the Civil Aviation office at the airport and file a manual flight plan, like we do everywhere in the word. The Civil Aviation personnel is happy to see an American carrier in Warsaw in this difficult period and give me a couple of tips on the city as well as about do’s and don’ts. A young civil servant, Ewa P. (5) finalizes the transport arrangements to the Intercontinental Hotel downtown and provide a description of the situation in Warsaw; although coal mining had long been a part of the industrial activities in Poland, coal is nowhere to be seen as the country is under the martial law (6). Food is scarce, civil servants are paid whenever there is money, a large part of the population is looking for ways to get “hard currencies” which will help making ends meet and foreigners are definitely welcome.
(Polish flight attendants, modern days...)
Most of the people hate the political regime they have been living under since the end of World War II and a large part of the young population dreams of emigrating to America or Australia.
My last trip to Poland goes back to the late 60’s, when the family crossed Europe from Paris, through Germany and Czechoslovakia to reach Warsaw and Krakow, the birthplace town of my father. We had crossed the iron curtain, driven on specific roads for " foreigners only", used special gas coupons to fill up the tank, and felt very uncomfortable overall.
At the Intercontinental Hotel, in the space between the main entrance and the registration desk, right and left, ladies of the night are lining up even if they remain discreet. Twenty? Twenty-five, may be even more, I realise that the hall if full of them, waiting for foreigners from the “west” carrying hard currency.
It is too cold to go outside for dinner so the crew will eat together in the Hotel restaurant. As we start looking at the “foreigner’s” menu (7) the Maître D’, a fairly senior gentleman, bends over towards me and says: “We accept all the currencies, but if you pay in US dollars, we can get you caviar, French wine, and other goodies for your bedrooms”
(Check the size of these hats...!)
(Queing up for food in Warsaw during the martial law)
I know for sure that we ate caviar and drank French wine but as far as “goodies” are concerned, I do not remember any of them reaching my bedroom door…. it is such a long time ago.!
As I am ready to go to bed, my phone rings. The reception desk asks me to come down as someone is waiting for me in the hall.
Ewa P is indeed there, in her uniform and invites me for a drink at her place. How could I not go! Transport is a bit of a problem. There are no cabs and social unrest has severely disturbed the public transport network. But Ewa has guts and she explains that we can in fact “hijack” any empty bus and that for a few dollars, the driver will take us any place we want to go! The bus is quickly found and the deal is sealed with a twenty dollar note!
The bus will drop us in front of Ewa’s house in the Mokotow’s district. The central heating does not work! Outside temperature is around -13°C. The Slivovitz will help getting a feeling of “inside heat” but when I get back to the hotel timely enough for crew alert and breakfast, I cannot even stand the noise of the white hotel china being moved around the coffee maker. Slivovitz can indeed do that to you !
(Russian made taks in Warsaw during the martial law. Just a few years away from the death of USSR and the return of Poland to being a democracy))
The cab ride back to the airport is torture and it feels like my head will explode before I have a chance to reach the DC8 cockpit and get some of that” 100% oxygen” for a few minutes.
Ewa P. has done her homework: the flight is clear to go. Along with the weather folder, she has inserted a message from Tiger’s headquarter in LA asking me if I was available for a trip to Chad to deliver tents and survival equipment in that African country devastated by civil war.
Of course, my answer is yes!
The catering provided by LOT's kitchen is mostly based on fish, Polish herring marinated, and black rye bread.From Warsaw to Frankfurt, a couple of hours away, this will certainly be enough food.
The front door is locked, the chute is armed and I seat as usual on the observer station, just behind the captain. With and empty airplane and just a few pallets on board, V1 and Vr are quickly reached and shortly after take-off I can see Warsaw and the Vistula river as the DC8 makes a large left turn.
(Warsaw, in the thirties)
I do not know it yet but when Poland will become true republic (1989) and after the iron curtain will be nothing but memories, I will return to Poland looking for information about my grand-father Moses, wiped out for the surface of the earth, sometimes in 1942.
© 2017 Sylvain Ubersfeld for Commercial Air Transport
(1) Polish United Workers Party : Former Communist Party of Poland when the country was a “ satellite” of USSR (2) Militia Obywatelska : so called Citizen’s militia operated by the Polish government (3) Okecie Airport: now called CHOPIN (Lotinisko-Chopina) by the name of Polish composer Frederic CHOPIN (4) Wherever USSR had satellite countries under control (including Cuba) it was customary to introduce Russian made airplanes manufactured by two major soviet corporations : ANTONOV and TUPOLEV. With the end of the communist regime in Poland, LOT’s fleet was totally replaced by “western” airplanes and more specifically by Boeing models. (5) Ewa P. was a civil servant working at Polish Civil Aviation. She only wanted one thing: to leave Poland and emigrate to Australia. She will manage to leave Poland ( and I won't say how) and will stay with my parents in Paris for a year or so before finally getting her immigrant’s visa to Australia (6) Martial law in Poland had a huge impact on the country’s economy and shops were void of any food or consumable items of any kind. (7) Like often in former communist countries, foreigners could pay using foreign currencies (Francs, Dollars, Marks, Sterling pounds, Swiss Francs and even Yen!..) which would allow for a “ better” treatment and better “ opportunities” Whatever was not available if paying in local Polish currency (Zloty) would suddenly appear on the table if the payment was announced in Us currency.