GOODBYE, KOCHANIE! - Krakow Post

krakow POST 

FREE 

October 2008 

Edition 48 

ISSN 1898-4762 

www.krakowpost.com 

Sorry CNN, 

Krakow’s Broke 

Krakow can’t afford CNN ad 

space 

John Walczak 

The city’s miserly promotional 

budget for this year, coupled with 

reckless spending, have left Krakow 

broke. Krakow is the only large 

Polish city that will not be advertising 

itself on CNN International to 

140 million viewers. 

In an article in the Polish daily 

Gazeta Wyborcza, it has been revealed 

that Krakow’s authorities 

resigned from a gigantic advertising 

campaign for a bargain price on 

CNN International. Krakow was to 

show itself in several hundred advertising 

spots on the international 

news channel for 900 thousand 

złotys. According to CNN employees 

an identical campaign on a TV 

station with fewer viewers would 

normally cost more. 

The weak dollar and the positive 

approach of CNN bosses to Poland 

led to budget prices being offered 

for the campaign, which has the 

potential of reaching 140 million 

viewers worldwide. CNN offered 

several hundred prime-time ad 

slots to the authorities of Krakow, 

Łódź, Gdańsk and Warsaw - only 

Krakow declined. 

What’s the reason behind the sudden 

offer to Polish cities? The commercials 

are to form a background 

to a weeklong series of CNN International 

programmes focusing on 

Poland under the banner “Eye on 

Poland: Country at the Crossroads.” 

The coverage starts on October 

6th and runs through to October 

12th. The station says it wants to 

focus on the colour and contrast 

of one of Europe’s fastest developing 

nations - from business and 

politics to pop culture. There will 

be numerous live broadcasts, and 

programmes will run daily, with 

each one devoted to a different 

sphere of life: business, the Euro 

2012 championships, as well as 

relations with Russia and the USA. 

Many interviews are also promised 

with, amongst others, Nobel Peace 

Prize winner and former President 

Lech Wałęsa and current President 

Lech Kaczyński. Talks with prominent 

politicians, political analysts 

and Central European commentators 

are also on the schedule. Short 

clips showcasing Polish cities will 

also be broadcast. Krakow, at least, 

will be amongst these. A CNN International 

film crew spent several 

days here in August, 

though unfortunately it >> 2 

was raining heavily at the 

Above: The future Krakow Congress Centre, designed by Krzysztof Ingarden, is the largest edifice to 

be commissioned for the city since the 1930s. See page 15 for more buildings on Krakow’s horizon. 

GOODBYE, KOCHANIE! 

UK “Recession” Hits Poles 

Robin Das 

Ma r i u s z 

Bart left 

his hometown 

near 

Wrocław in 2004, lured 

to the UK by the opportunities 

it offered and 

the buying power of one 

pound to seven złotys. 

This year he returned to 

Poland, disillusioned by 

the UK’s economic rot, a 

succession of shorter and 

shorter work “contracts” 

and the increased cost of 

living. 

The UK’s economic boom 

of the last decade has 

come to a shuddering halt. 

With a crash in house prices 

and inflationary costs 

in food, energy and other 

staples, people are tightening 

their belts. Poles 

in minimum wage jobs 

are among those feeling 

the pinch of a consumer 

spending clampdown, 

while others employed in 

construction are bearing 

the brunt of a collapse 

in new building projects. 

With reports of Poles suffering 

increased hardship, 

it seems the honeymoon 

is over for Polish emigration 

to Britain. 

Mariusz used to wait in 

west London to be picked 

up by building gangs for 

casual labouring work 

when he didn’t have 

anything more permanent, 

but during the past 

months even that source 

has dried up. He noted, “It 

definitely got a lot harder 

and things got a lot more 

expensive. It was harder 

to get casual work and 

without work it got lonely 

for me. When I had problems, 

there was no one 

who wanted to help.” 

Providence Row, a homeless 

charity in East London, 

says that since last 

year the proportion of 

people it sees from Eastern 

Europe has grown to 

a third. This year they began 

working with Barka, a 

charity which helps Poles 

who have fallen 

into hardship 

>> 2 

Polish builders are returning home / photo Adelina Krupski 

Krakow 

Engineer from Krakow firm 

kidnapped in Pakistan 

>> page 4 

Poland 

More reports surface on CIA 

prisons in Poland 

>> page 6 

Feature 

A guide to absentee voting 

in upcoming elections 

>> page 10, 11 

Property 

Where and how 

to buy 

>> page 13 

Sport 

Wisła cling on for Second 

Coming 

>> page 14 

Culture 

Discover Polish architecture 

>> page 15 

Citylife 

> by night 

Notes From the 

Underground 

/CL 2 

> reviews 

Drop In, Fork Out, 

Get Served 

/CL 3, 5 

> spotlight 

Unsound Festival 

previewed 

/CL 6 

> posted 

Concerts, exhibitions & 

parties 

/CL 7, 8, 9, 10

2 Krakow Post OCTOBER 2008 www.krakowpost.com 

News Krakow 

Letters 

To the editor 


Krakow Post OCTOBER 2008 3 


A Kingdom on Karmelicka 

Construction of a €55 million investment on Karmelicka Street finally underway 

Wojtek Galon 

Following a decade of bureaucratic 

The commencement of work at the 

same year, neighbouring prop- 

wedged incongruously amongst the 

wrangling, work on a €55 million 

site has been a complicated endea- 

erty owners stepped in and filed a 

historic Carmelite Church and solid 

multifunctional complex, which in- 

vour and the 

project has stalled 

case to the Provincial Administra- 

20th century buildings on Karmel- 

cludes a hotel, cinema and multi- 

several times over the last decade. 

tive court in Krakow, opposing the 

icka Street, the development is a 

level car park has finally begun in 

Court proceedings, protests from 

scheme and successfully bidding to 

further example of the modernisa- 

central Krakow. 

neighbours, delays in the issuing of 

annul the building permit. 

tion of the district just north of the 

a building permit and land owner- 

Planty. 

Running along the back of the Pro- 

ship changes have all combined to 

The legal drama grew as Portico 

vincial Public Library, in between 

hold up the development, initially 

lodged an appeal to the Supreme 

It will also complement plans to 

Karmelicka and Dolnych Młynow 

set for completion in December 

Administrative Court in Warsaw, 

develop a multimedia information 

streets, the project will occupy a 

2002. 

which then overturned the decision 

centre opposite the Provincial Pub- 

barren piece of land that was used 

of the Provincial Administrative 

lic Library on nearby Rajska Street, 

as a military training yard in the 

In 1998, the Krakow City Council 

Court, and once again paved the 

which will include a theatre, con- 

1990s. Years of corrosion on the 

sold the land to a private buyer for 

way for construction to begin. 

cert hall and seminar room for up 

gabled walls of the adjacent resi- 

48 million złoty, one of the largest 

to 400 people. 

dential buildings will finally be 

transactions in Poland at the time 

Thus, at the start of 2007, with full 

remedied. 

according to local daily Dziennik 

building rights secured, it seemed 

In recent years, a wave of modern 

Polski. 

the bureaucratic rollercoaster had 

shops, cafes and bars have also 

Included in the concept is a four- 

come to an end. Yet, seemingly tired 

sprouted in and around the Karmel- 

star Hilton Garden Inn with 190 

A year later, the land was sold off to 

of constant postponements, Portico 

icka area, making it one of the most 

rooms, an eight-screen cinema com- 

Warsaw-based company Portico Gal- 

decided to sell the full rights for 

crowded in the city and breathing 

plex and a car park for 500 vehicles, 

icja, which expanded the initial idea 

the land to Irish property developer 

new life into what is generally seen 

along with bars, restaurants and a 

of building a multi-level car park at 

Howard Holdings. 

as a walking path on route towards 

variety of leisure facilities. 

the site, and hired Krakow based ar- 

the Market Square. 

chitect Ronald Loegler to design a 

Now, the Cork-based company has 

A lane linking Karmelicka and 

multifaceted concept. 

used its Polish trademark Howard 

With archeological works at the 

Dolnych Młynow streets will also 

Property Polska to finally get con- 

multifunctional complex site now 

create a walking path through the 

However, due to complications in 

struction underway and begin de- 

finished, and a completion date 

centre of the complex, while the 

receiving a building permit for the 

veloping what will undoubtedly be 

set for mid-2010, it seems that lo- 

“sleeping” Kochanowskiego Street, 

site, Portico was forced to delay 

one of the most modern complexes 

cal residents will have to get used 

currently closed off by a wall along 

construction until mid-2003. 

in Krakow. 

to the emerging modern flavour of 

the land plot, will begin functioning 

this part of town. 

normally. 

With a building permit issued and 

While traditionalists have expressed 

work poised to start in June of the 

concern that the new site will be 

Balice Expansion Agreement Reached 

Thymn Chase 

Once again there is 

talk of expanding 

Krakow’s bustling 

Balice International 

Airport, affectionately referred 

to by bureaucrats as 

MPL. 

In early September an agreement 

was reached by the 

Małopolskie Regional Government, 

the City of Krakow 

and the local district council 

of Zabierzow to purchase a 

33-hectare piece of land on 

which to build the long envisioned 

new passenger terminal. 

According to the hard 

fought and long negotiated 

agreement, each of the three 

authorities will acquire an 

equal amount of money from 

the National Treasury for the 

specific purpose of purchasing 

the land. 

This is an interesting compromise 

considering that 

the negotiations have been 

dominated by LOT Polish Airlines, 

which owns the largest 

chunk of MPL with 85 percent 

of shares. The Małopolskie 

Regional Government holds 

close to 14 percent, the city of 

Krakow has about one percent, 

and the local district council 

of Zabierzow holds less than 

one percent of shares. Considering 

the share dispersion 

one can only assume that LOT 

has really good negotiators. 

As of September 29th, Balice 

International had already 

handled 2 million passengers 

in 2008 and a huge car park 

is currently being constructed. 

The Krakow airport currently 

offers 52 connections 

to 41 cities and is a port for 

23 airlines - 12 traditional airlines 

and 11 low-cost carriers. 

The new terminal that is to 

be built on the acquired land 

would service an additional 

nine million passengers per 

year. 

/ photo Anna Spysz 

>> 4



Krakow Company Pulls out of Pakistan 

Company leaves Pakistan after one of its workers is kidnapped 

Anna Spysz 

On Sunday, September 

28th, Piotr Stańczak 

was conducting a routine 

visit to oil plants 

in the Pakistani village of Pind 

Sultani, near Attock city, about 82 

km west of Islamabad. Together 

with his two Pakistani drivers and 

bodyguard, he was ambushed by 

gunmen, who killed the three 

Pakistanis and kidnapped Mr. 

Stańczak. All that was left at the 

scene was the engineer’s company 

car and the bodies of his 

Pakistani companions. 

The engineer was working for 

Krakow-based oil company 

Geofizyka Krakow Limited, a 

unit of the Polish gas monopoly 

Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i 

Gazownictwo S.A. (PGNiG). On 

September 30th, the company 

announced that it will be pulling 

out of Pakistan and bringing its 

18 workers home. The company 

states that the kidnapping constitutes 

a breach of its contract 

with local authorities. 

Leopold Sułkowski, the chairman 

of Geofizyka Krakow, told TVN 

Info, “Our contract was halted 

because I don’t think that any of 

 

 

our employees could continue to 

work in such conditions.” 

The kidnapping was condemned 

by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister 

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood 

Qureshi. Speaking from New 

York, where he was attending the 

UN General Assembly session, 

he also expressed condolences 

for the families of the three Pakistanis 

who were killed in the incident. 

Foreign Minister Qureshi also 

spoke to Polish Foreign Minister 

Radosław Sikorski by telephone, 

and assured him that the Pakistani 

government will be working 

to ensure the safe return of Mr. 

Stańczak to his family. Danuta 

Paszek, the engineer’s sister, has 

made a plea to the kidnappers for 

the safe return of her brother. 

While kidnappings for ransom 

are common in Pakistan, usually 

the victims are well-to-do 

Pakistanis, not foreigners. More 

often, foreigners are taken by 

militants such as the Taliban, 

who have taken Westerners in 

the past. This is the first case of 

a Polish worker being kidnapped, 

 

WANTED: 

but Taliban militants kidnapped 

two Chinese telecommunication 

engineers working for Zhongxing 

Telecommunication Equipment 

in August. The Chinese workers 

have not yet been released, as 

the militants are demanding the 

release of some of their own colleagues 

in exchange. 

The Polish firm hopes this will 

PROFESSIONAL SALES PEOPLE 

not be the case with Mr. Stańczak, 

and it is meeting with local police 

officials in the hopes of finding 

a solution. Polish authorities are 

also cooperating with Pakistani 

police, while Geofizyka Krakow 

has set up a crisis team. 

At the moment, no individual or 

group has claimed responsibility 

for the kidnappings. 

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Marketing Food, 

London Style 

Ewa Spohn 

On Thursday September 25th two 

markets came together at the 

Jewish Community Centre when 

George Nicholson, Trustee of 

London’s Borough Market, spoke 

about how a failing food market 

had been turned into one of London’s 

most popular tourist attractions 

and the UK’s centre for artisan 

food. The meeting was the 

first in a series organised by the 

Przyjazny Kazimierz Association 

to stimulate debate about how 

Plac Nowy, the last functioning 

food market in Kazimierz, could 

be developed. 

Mr. Nicholson took the packed audience 

through the series of small 

steps that make up the Borough 

Market story. It started in 1995 

with a cheese wholesaler renting 

one of the cold, damp buildings 

owned by the market, other 

wholesalers following, passersby 

asking if they could buy from 

the wholesalers, quarterly warehouse 

sales, a food festival that 

gave them the courage to start 

a monthly market and then the 

weekly market. This now draws 

30,000 people every weekend and 

supports numerous other businesses 

both in London and the 

countryside. 

For the other panel members, 

Konrad Myslik, a journalist, and 

Dr. Beiersdorf, an art historian 

and former City Conservation 

chief, the critical differences 

between Kazimierz and Borough 

were that Kazimierz is not experiencing 

a crisis of vitality, and also 

the difference in scale. A valuable 

lesson was that a well-run 

and focused market can become 

an important asset. 

Mr. Nicholson also met with managers 

of the Plac Nowy and Stary 

Kleparz markets and local councillors. 

The Association hopes to 

find a way to involve him as a 

judge in the recently announced 

architectural competition for the 

redevelopment of Plac Nowy. 

The next meeting in the series is 

scheduled for mid-December, featuring 

Carolyn Steel, architect, 

Cambridge University lecturer 

and author of Hungry City, a book 

about how cities’ need for food 

shapes urban design.



News Poland 

Debate 

Chemical Castration - Humane or Insane? 

In early September, Krzysztof B. was arrested in the village of Grodzisk, near Siemiatycze, after allegedly imprisoning and raping his now 21-year-old daughter, Alicja B., since 2002. 

The daughter was forced to give up her two sons, aged three and 22 months, for adoption, and it is believed that Krzysztof B. is also their father. Though there are some significant 

differences between the case of Krzysztof B. and Austrian Josef Fritzl, the former has nonetheless already been dubbed the “Polish Fritzl” by the media. In response, PM Donald Tusk 

has pushed for legislation to require mandatory chemical castration for incorrigible paedophiles – below, James Sinclair and Robert Szmigielski debate the merits and downsides, 

respectively, of mandatory castration. 

the media frenzy and public outrage surrounding the case of the 

“Polish Fritzl,” Donald Tusk has seized the opportunity to gain public 

support for his plans to make chemical castration a mandatory part of 

F:Amidst 

repeat-offender paedophiles’ sentences. 

Tusk’s use of the case to support his agenda muddies the waters: Krzysztof B. is 

neither a paedophile by Polish law (the legal age of consent is 15), nor by medical 

definition, which states that paedophilia is the recurrence of sexual urges towards 

children of prepubescent age (in most cases this means 13 or under). Krzysztof B.’s 

high profile crimes may lend sensationalist favour to Tusk’s cause but I shall not 

refer to them. 

In tackling the problem of paedophiles, we should not be led into a morally grounded 

witch hunt in which all paedophiles are labelled as “evil” and “subhuman,” but 

rather we must sensibly admit that these seriously ill people pose a very real threat 

to the lives of Poland’s children. By extension we must also weigh up the damage of 

paedophilic behaviour when determining what measures are reasonable in countering 

it. 

Father and mothers need no persuading, and those with any imagination need little 

more, to understand the absolutely ruinous effect a paedophile’s crimes can have 

on a young life. Rape is rightly considered one of the worst forms of torture, not 

just for the extreme physical pain it causes but for the lifelong psychological damage 

it inflicts. Victims typically feel extreme depression, humiliation, lack of self 

worth, are unable to enjoy healthy sexual relationships (often ruining their chances 

of happy marriage, or long-term relationships), not to mention the possibility of unwanted 

children or the passing on of life-affecting sexual diseases. Rape of a minor 

therefore can be considered akin to the torturing of a child, and the most abominable 

crime imaginable - whether you choose to blame the paedophile or not for his 

unnatural urges. Living with the physical and psychological scars of sexual abuse is 

a terrible burden for anyone to bear, let alone for a child whose young life should 

be full of only joy and promise. 

The solution? Well neither I, nor Donald Tusk, are suggesting we stamp down on 

every first time sex offender with obligatory chemical castration, but if a paedophile 

repeatedly offends and continues to destroy life after life, surely they sacrifice 

some of their human rights? Ultimately we have to make a choice about who we 

want to protect, our children or incurably ill sexual deviants. Chemical castration 

(which many paedophiles have chosen of their own volition) provides a humane way 

to deal with a group of people whose predatory behaviour consigns young children 

to a shattered half-life of misery and unfulfilment. It may not be politically correct 

to think about the victim for once, but when you balance countless children losing 

their chance of happiness versus a few paedophiles losing their sex drives, only 

someone with a very skewed sense of justice would argue against chemical castration. 

tragic and sickening events that occurred in Siemiatycze have quickened 

the pulses and angered us all, and understandably feelings are 

running high. Not the time for rash decisions, one would think. But, lo and 

A:The 

behold, up pops a sabre-rattling Donald Tusk, who, instead of calming the 

furore, foolhardily declares that Poland will be the only country in the civilised world to 

force chemical castration on convicted paedophiles and sexual offenders. 

More is expected from a head of government; at times like these, rational debate should 

be encouraged, not knee-jerk reactions that remind us of the incompetent (but endlessly 

entertaining) days of the Kaczyńskis. Unfortunately, Tusk’s decision smacks of an attempt 

to resurrect waning support. 

Chemical castration is nothing new; many countries administer the treatment, but 

only with the consent of the individual – to force it is a breach of one’s human right to 

procreate. Many will argue that upon violating the human rights of their victim, a sexual 

offender relinquishes their own, but as a modern society, long gone is the philosophy of 

“an eye for an eye” - which Gandhi famously declared, blinds us all. 

Let’s look at the facts: paedophilia is widely recognised by doctors and psychologists as 

a mental illness (like schizophrenia) and as such, the sufferer - who more often than not 

was themselves abused as a child - must be treated, not locked away and punished. They 

are not driven by sexual urges, but by mental imbalances, rendering the use of hormonal 

suppression by use of chemicals totally useless. As the American Civil Liberties Union 

argues, “mandatory chemical castration... fails to treat the psychological roots of sexually 

deviant behaviour,” a claim backed by sexologists across the globe. 

Also, according to sexology experts in Poland, only one in 10 of those convicted of sexually 

abusing children are paedophiles, while the rest are simply primitive individuals 

who are not ill, but depraved and demoralised, thus medical treatment is not required. 

Therefore, if not sick, they must be treated as criminals, meaning: once tried, convicted, 

and having served their sentence, they must be allowed to walk free. This is one of the 

fundamental principles of a civilised society, and there can be no exceptions – no matter 

how unpleasant the offence. Chemical castration, aside from its ineffectiveness, would be 

an additional punishment for an offender who already paid the price for his crimes. 

Furthermore, Tusk’s idea is formed on the presumption that the criminal will re-offend. 

This would give the state the means to punish somebody for a crime they have not yet 

committed, and would set a dangerous precedent. Suddenly the elaborately woven world 

of Minority Report, where people are arrested and punished for “thought-crime,” is not as 

outlandish as first thought. 

The state mustn’t be allowed to exploit the hysteria surrounding the disgusting actions 

of an individual by passing a law that has the potential to mutate into something more 

sinister. Just look at the U.S. and Great Britain, where civil liberties are slowly and discreetly 

being picked apart under the guise of “national security.” Do you want to live in a 

society where you are told what you think, and accused and punished for something that 

you may or may not do? I certainly don’t. 

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News Poland 

Poland: The 51st State? 

More reports surface on alleged CIA prisons in Poland 

Robert Szmigielski 

From Russia With Realism 

Russian foreign minister’s visit to Poland strengthens 

the need for a debate over Warsaw’s policy towards 

Russia 

Accusations that Polish land 

and airspace were used 

for the transportation and 

detention of terrorist suspects 

have been reignited recently 

by a series of articles published last 

month in Gazeta Wyborcza. 

The first article, printed in early September, 

reported that Prime Minister 

Donald Tusk received a personally 

addressed letter from former Deputy 

Prime Minister Roman Giertych - the 

contents are believed to include classified 

information linked to the disputed 

existence of CIA (Central Intelligence 

Agency) prisons in Poland. 

The letter - promptly handed over to 

the public prosecutor’s office - triggered 

the re-opening of the investigation 

into the accusations that have 

proved to be a thorn in the side of consecutive 

Polish administrations. 

The story first appeared nearly three 

years ago, when rumours that the CIA 

had held terror suspects in former Soviet 

European countries came to the 

surface. An article published by the 

Washington Post in November 2005 

claimed that the CIA set up illegal 

facilities as part of a “covert prison 

system” following the 9/11 attacks in 

New York. 

Although the paper refused to specify 

the countries implicated, it stated 

that in addition to Afghanistan, Thailand, 

and Guantánamo Bay, “several 

democracies in Eastern Europe” were 

involved in the CIA’s “unconventional 

war on terror.” 

Shortly following the article’s publication, 

the US-based Human Rights Watch 

publicly said that, based on flight 

records and other evidence, Poland 

and Romania were the unidentified 

European countries. Tom Malinowski, 

the organisation’s advocacy director, 

claimed that during September 2003, a 

Boeing 737 leased by the CIA to transport 

prisoners departed from Kabul 

and landed at Szymany Airport, northeastern 

Poland, before continuing its 

journey to Guantánamo Bay. 

The European Commission swiftly 

moved to quell the furore and dismissed 

the report, saying they had no 

suspicions that the CIA was running 

secret detention centres in Europe, 

adding that there was no reason to 

question the denials by Poland and Ro- 

/ cartoon Dominik Nawrocki 

mania. Later, however, after newspaper 

Europe – was located in Poland. 

and media outlets across Europe 

carried out their own investigations, 

the EU’s hand was forced and official 

inquiries were launched. 

He also reiterated the accusation 

made by Malinowski years earlier, that 

the secret base was close to Szymany 

Airport. According to McShane, a 

Three reports materialised - the Council 

of Europe and the European Parliament’s 

in 2006, and later, in 2007, the 

European Commission’s – all of which, 

based on circumstantial evidence and 

anonymous sources, confirmed suspicions 

that Poland colluded with the 

military intelligence training centre in 

Stare Kiejkuty was used to detain, interrogate, 

and torture high-profile terrorist 

suspects, most notably Khalid 

Shaikh Mohammed, the man widelyrecognised 

as the mastermind of the 

9/11 attacks. 

U.S. government. 

Furthermore, McShane said that Poland 

In September 2006, after many vehement 

denials by the Polish government 

- including rebukes by the 

then PM Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, 

who declared the accusations to be 

“groundless slander” - President Bush 

admitted that the CIA did hold terrorist 

was chosen primarily because its 

intelligence agency was keen to cooperate, 

and because it had no cultural 

or religious links to Islamic fundamentalists 

such as Al-Qaeda. “Poland is 

the 51st state,” McShane was allegedly 

told. “Americans have no idea.” 

suspects at foreign locations and 

defended their use, saying that secret 

Crucially, McShane says he gathered 

prisons, alternative interrogation information from “credible” high- 

methods and military tribunals were 

integral to keeping Americans safe. 

Once again, no specific countries were 

mentioned. 

During the following months, the 

storm surrounding the accusations of 

illegal prisons based on Polish soil - to 

the relief of the Polish government - 

seemed to be subsiding. But following 

a damning article written by New York 

ranking CIA officials – claims that have 

been rebuked by Polish officials and 

scrutinised by media outlets across 

the country. 

When asked by a journalist from Gazeta 

Wyborcza about the existence of the 

prisons following his acceptance of 

Giertych’s letter, Prime Minister Donald 

Tusk said, “I have nothing more to 

add.” 

Times journalist Scott McShane, the issue 

has re-surfaced. 

To this day, both former President 

Aleksander Kwaśniewski and his successor 

In the detailed report published in 

June, McShane claimed that the most Lech Kaczyński strongly deny 

any involvement in the scandal. 

important of the CIA’s “black sites” – a 

term used to describe Guantánamolike 

interrogation facilities based in 

Wojciech Michnik 

Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign 

Minster, arrived in 

Warsaw on September 10th 

to meet his counterpart 

Radosław Sikorski and Polish Prime 

Minister Donald Tusk. Despite the 

somewhat cold relations between 

the two neighbours of late - stemming 

mainly from Russian opposition 

to the Polish-American missile 

shield, the Russian-Georgian conflict 

and Poland’s role in supporting 

Ukraine and Georgia - both sides 

underlined strong economic and 

cultural ties during the meeting. 

As the official website of the Polish 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs 

us, the purpose of this working visit 

was to discuss bilateral relations, 

the situation surrounding the Georgian–Russian 

conflict and the prospects 

for EU–Russian relations. 

“We do not see Poland itself as a 

source of threats to the Russian Federation,” 

Minister Lavrov declared. 

He also added that, “[even though] 

we don’t agree on everything, we 

appreciate dialogue.” One of the issues 

that Moscow and Warsaw keep 

disagreeing on is the future location 

of elements of the U.S. missile 

defence system on Polish territory. 

And though Poland might not pose 

a direct risk to Russia, the defence 

shield, according to the Kremlin, 

constitutes a threat. Similarly dangerous 

from the Russian standpoint 

is the further expansion of NATO, 

which, as Lavrov put it, “harms European 

security.” This latter remark 

was countered by Mr. Sikorski’s reminder 

that NATO is an alliance of 

free states, each of which enters the 

organization of its own will. 

Another topic discussed by Polish 

and Russian officials was the current 

situation in the Caucasus. However, 

it is worth noting that if some 

strong words were exchanged, they 

must have been spoken behind 

closed doors. During the press 

conference afterwards, the war in 

Georgia was not the central subject, 

as if the Polish and Russian delegations 

had agreed that mutual bashing 

in the spotlight of TV cameras 

would not do much good for either 

side. This was met with criticism 

from some of the right wing media 

and commentators. Zdzisław 

Krasnodębski, in his opinion piece 

for Rzeczpospolita, compared the 

position of the Polish government 

towards Georgia to the one it had 

taken towards Tibet: in the beginning 

everyone seemed to be outraged 

by the events, but then we got 

used to the new situation. 

Regardless of the media hype surrounding 

Mr. Lavrov’s trip to Poland, 

this visit seemed mostly significant 

in terms of its symbolic meaning. 

Moscow’s goal was to show the rest 

of the world, and especially the 

European Union, that Russia is not 

such a bad force in international 

relations as the Georgian conflict 

might have indicated. According 

to Adam Eberhard, vice-director of 

the Center for Eastern Studies in 

Warsaw, Lavrov’s visit was aimed 

at improving Russia’s image in the 

European Union. From the Polish 

government’s perspective, the fact 

that Warsaw was the first EU capital 

visited by a high ranking Russian 

official since the outbreak of 

war in Georgia sent a much needed 

signal abroad: that Poland is the 

crucial player in relations between 

the European Union and Moscow. 

The possibility to play this role has 

long been on the wish list of Polish 

policy-makers. But in order to be 

listened to in Brussels (or Berlin and 

Paris for that matter), Poland’s attitude 

towards Russia must be moderate. 

In other words, were Warsaw 

ever to become a spokesman for EU 

eastern policy, it must not present 

the most hawkish approach towards 

the Kremlin. 

In an interview with Rzeczpospolita, 

Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Poland’s 

former minister of foreign affairs, 

said that Lavrov’s visit proved that 

Russia has started to treat Warsaw 

differently. The tone of talks has 

changed and is now similar to that 

used by the Kremlin during meetings 

with states such as Spain, Italy 

and France. This means, Rotfeld 

argues, that Russia has come to accept 

the fact that Poland is a fully 

independent nation, as well as an 

integral part of the West. Therefore, 

it is small wonder that Prime Minister 

Donald Tusk called Mr. Lavrov’s 

visit “a step in the right direction.” 

This appraisal seems to be 

right on the mark because 

it recalls an old rule of 

>> 8



News Poland 

Brzeziński and the Bear Part II 

Poland to Repay Subsidies 

Former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzeziński has been one of the most vocal, and oftquoted 

critics of Russia’s invasion of Georgia. Here, in the second of a three-part essay, Professor Patrick 

Vaughan reflects on the statesman’s lifelong engagement with the Soviet Union. 

Breziński acquitted himself 

with distinction at 

Harvard, and over the 

next few years established 

a reputation as a rising 

star in the relatively new field 

of “Sovietology.” In the course 

of 1955 he married a charming 

and beautiful Wellesley graduate 

named Emile “Muska” Benes, 

a scion of a distinguished Czech 

family. At the time, Brzeziński 

was working on a groundbreaking 

collaboration with Carl 

Friedrich examining the concept 

of “Totalitarianism” — offering 

the controversial thesis that the 

Nazi and Soviet systems that had 

divided Poland in the autumn of 

1939 were essentially similar. 

Brzeziński, recalling the photos 

of Gestapo and NKVD officers 

smiling together after smashing 

what Molotov called the “bastard 

child of Versailles,” it was 

not really a debatable point. 

But Brzeziński told his friends 

that he had no intention of 

becoming an absent-minded, 

pipe smoking “Mr. Chips.” He 

enjoyed teaching, but his academic 

work in the ensuing years 

was almost invariably based on 

the larger goal of influencing 

American policy in the Cold War 

struggle with Moscow — and by 

extension reversing the stain of 

Yalta and relieving the plight of 

the Soviet occupation over Eastern 

Europe. 

In the summer of 1953 the 23- 

year-old Brzeziński was on a 

trip through Europe when he 

stopped by the Munich headquarters 

of Radio Free Europe. 

He approached the secretary 

and, without an appointment, 

said he wished to speak with 

Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, the famous 

wartime resistance leader 

and head of the Polish desk of 

RFE. Nowak-Jeziorański, somewhat 

nonplussed by the audacity 

of his unannounced young 

visitor, was stunned when over 

lunch Brzeziński displayed an 

encyclopedic knowledge of the 

Polish underground resistance. 

After only two hours, he was 

assured that this young man 

would one day play a role in the 

liberation of Poland from the Soviet 

Union. 

Brzeziński was unimpressed 

with the bravado of John Foster 

Dulles’ promise to “liberate” 

Eastern Europe. After the Hungarian 

fiasco of 1956, Brzeziński 

outlined a more moderate plan 

he referred to as “peaceful engagement.” 

This entailed moving 

from a head-on rhetorical 

confrontation with Moscow, to a 

more active policy of “peaceful 

engagement.” This offered a far 

greater chance for success, and 

in the long run would be far better 

prepared to dilute the Iron 

Curtain and entice the captive 

populations with the political 

and economic attractions of the 

West. This approach was attractive 

to a young senator across 

town named John Kennedy, who 

employed the young Harvard 

scholar to write speeches for his 

1960 presidential campaign. 

That same year Brzeziński wrote 

his seminal Soviet Bloc: Unity 

and Conflict. This work provided 

an in-depth look at the communist 

regimes in the postwar 

era, but perhaps more importantly, 

signalled that “national 

communism” was spreading 

throughout the region — a force 

that may, Brzeziński thought, 

continue on to the Soviet Union 

itself. Brzeziński moved on to 

Columbia University where he 

continued to focus on the fragmenting 

nuances of the communist 

world. New York City proved 

an exciting venue for a career as 

a policy orientated academic. 

Brzeziński was now associating 

with the grand old figures in the 

foreign policy “establishment” 

and writing widely discussed 

articles for magazines such as 

Foreign Affairs. Brzeziński’s 

primary concern was that many 

American strategists and politicians 

had come to view a divided 

Europe as the natural state of 

international affairs. 

Brzeziński was shocked and 

saddened by Kennedy’s death 

in 1963. Within a few years, his 

work Alternative to Partition articulated 

a plan to bridge the 

gap in an artificially divided Europe. 

In 1966 Brzeziński moved 

into Lyndon Johnson’s State 

Department, where he was instrumental 

in promoting LBJ’s 

“bridge building” approach to 

Eastern Europe. Brzeziński, eager 

to motivate Johnson into 

giving a speech on the need to 

“engage” the Eastern European 

states, circulated a 

“white lie” that Robert >> 8 

Ewa Spohn 

Poland may have to repay up to 

150 million euro as a result of irregularities 

in the way that satellite 

imaging was used to establish 

areas eligible for EU farm subsidies 

between 2005-2006. 

The mistakes were discovered 

during routine audits that the EU 

regularly carries out on member 

countries, and Poland is not the 

only country where irregularities 

have been uncovered. An anonymous 

EU official has been quoted 

that in Poland’s case, there are no 

suspicions of corruption, just administrative 

errors. 

The exact amount that the Polish 

government may have to repay 

will be decided after the European 

Commission meets with 

Polish officials in December, but 

the maximum that a member 

state can be ordered to repay is 

50% of farm subsidies received, 

depending on how serious the 

problem is. The Polish agricultural 

minister, Marek Sawicki, has 

stated that he hopes the amount 

to be repaid will be less than 500 

million złoty, and that the mapping 

system is complete and the 

method of establishing the size 

and location of areas eligible for 

subsidies is now compliant with 

the EU’s requirements. 

However, whatever the amount, 

it will have to come out of next 

year’s national budget, not farmers’ 

pockets, as the government 

is committed to distributing the 

current package of EU funding. 

Since joining the EU on May 1st 

2004 until the end of 2007, the 

Polish Ministry of Finance reported 

83.3 million złoty in funding 

irregularities across the EU; 5.88 

million złoty of this involved agricultural 

subsidies. 

Poland is known for a lack of 

transparency on the subject of 

farm subsidies. According to 

a summary prepared by farmsubsidy.org, 

a UK and Denmarkbased 

non-profit organisation set 

up to promote transparency in 

the Common Agricultural Policy, 

Poland ranked 12th on the their 

transparency league table with a 

score of 27 percent, below Slovenia 

(2nd), Slovakia (4th), Estonia 

(5th), Czech Republic (8th) and 

Latvia (11th). This low score was 

due largely to the limited amount 

of data for 2006 that the Polish 

government published on the 

web in 2007, and the fact that 

they listed it alphabetically, making 

searching and comparison 

cumbersome. The fact that the 

data was released at all only came 

about as a result of a high profile 

campaign for transparency 

initiated by a freelance journalist 

when his official request for information 

was refused in 2005. 

Nevertheless, farmsubsidy.org’s 

analysis of the Polish data shows 

that in 2006, Poland contributed 

32 euro per citizen to the Common 

Agricultural Policy and spent 

56 euro per citizen. Of the total 

807 million euro distributed directly 

to farmers, 42 percent went 

to the top 10 percent of recipients 

and some 1,150 million euro 

was spent on rural development, 

second only to France, which received 

1,184 million euro. 

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News Poland 

Poland and Ukraine to Remain 

Euro 2012 Hosts 



Opinion 

Polish Army Goes Shopping 

Grażyna Zawada 

The Universal Spy 

by Nick Hodge 

Sixty million zlotys 

will be spent on 

new military equipment 

for the Polish 

army. According to Minister 

of Defense Bogdan 

Klich, this is the maximum 

sum Poland can afford at 

present. 

By the end of this year the 

Polish air force will get the 

last of the contracted 48 

F-16s, as well as two CASA 

cargo planes and five Hercules 

transport planes. The 

air force will be equipped 

with modern anti-missile 

systems and a new type of 

combat training airplane. 

Its design is yet unknown, 

as the army has launched a 

tender for it. 

As a part of the modernisation 

of the navy, Klich has 

confirmed the completion 

of a multipurpose corvette, 

i.e. a light ship – Gawron. 

The already existing missile 

boats will be equipped 

with water missiles, and 

waterfront corps with surface-water 

missiles. The 

navy will also get a new 

mine destroyer and a modern 

submarine. 

Patriot missiles 

Surface troops will continue 

testing a new type of armoured 

personnel carrier 

called the “Rosomak,” already 

used in Afghanistan. 

Poland hopes also for the 

United States to sell Patriot 

missiles at a discount, as 

the Americans prepare to 

begin work on a military 

base in Redzikow near the 

city of Slupsk in the north 

of Poland. The U.S. wants 

their soldiers and employees 

to receive tax relief in 

Poland, so a deal might be 

made. The Supplement of 

the Status of Forces Agreement 

(SOFA) would also 

include American soldiers 

not being called to account 

in front of a Polish court. 

According to the leader 

of the negotiation team, 

Vice-minister of Defense 

Stanisław Komorowski, 

finding common ground 

may take a few months. 

The military base in 

Redzików is to be a part 

of the American missile 

defence system. It will be 

Polish property, built and 

run by American troops. 

The second base, newly 

negotiated, would include 

a Patriot missile launcher. 

One of the conditions under 

which Poland agreed 

to host the missile defence 

base was that it would get 

help from the U.S. for its 

regular army needs. 

Over the past few weeks, Polish papers have been packed with revelations 

about one Professor Aleksander Wolszczan. Until recently, 

the professor was chiefly known for being the first man to pinpoint 

an extra-solar planet. However, a Soviet spectre has reared its head. 

The claim that a brilliant young astronomer collaborated with communist 

secret police during the seventies comes as no earth-shattering 

news. Revelations about alleged informants have become 

an almost monthly occurrence in the Polish media. High fliers in 

the arts and sciences are amongst the most regular players in this 

carnival of compromised souls: writer Ryszard Kapuściński was unmasked 

not long after he departed from this world, many more had 

to face the music in person (although few showed grave remorse). 

Time and time again it appears that a passport was the crucial factor. 

Today, when freedom of movement is largely taken as a given in 

Europe, it’s hard to comprehend the lure of this seemingly mundane 

document. But, if you speak to Poles of fifty and over, 99 percent will 

tell you that even as late as 1980, no one believed that communism 

would end (or at least not in their own lifetime). The system had 

already lasted 40 years - eight times as long as the Nazi Occupation - 

why shouldn’t it run for another 40? With this in mind, many decided 

that coming to some kind of arrangement with the regime was a must. 

You don’t have to be a militant anti-commie to concede that there 

were aspects of Soviet life that weren’t exactly jolly. Those who 

experienced it first-hand cite the frequent food shortages, the 

epic queues for mundane items like toothpaste, and not least, the 

tangible sense that towns and cities were rotting, owing to so little 

money being invested. Being fed constant disinformation was 

not exactly uplifting either. Thus, finding a way to transcend the 

grubby reality was no mean feat (although the Catholic faith played 

a huge part). However, for those born with academic or artistic 

gifts, the concept of a creative career offered a glimmer of hope. 

It’s accepted that becoming a full-blown professor was nigh on impossible 

if you weren’t arranged. Meanwhile, making it in the arts 

was a tricky business if you weren’t prepared to play communist 

ball. And invariably, just when you were beginning to make it in 

your chosen career, one of the “smutni panowie” (sad gentlemen) 

would appear. Yes, you could have your passport - you could take 

your film to Cannes, you could perform your concerto in Rome, 

you could do your teaching stint in London... But there was just 

one small proviso. Put simply, you had to keep them informed. 

It’s easy to grasp that for many ambitious young people, it was possible 

to convince yourself that you wouldn’t do anyone any harm. 

You could just waffle a bit. Not say anything important. Yet before 

long, people had several years of informing under their belts. 

In the case of Aleksander Wolszczan, not much has come to light about 

specific people that he might have harmed, and no one is insisting 

that he did cause direct harm to any of his peers. Indeed, Wolszczan 

claims that when Solidarity began, he deliberately refused to offer 

information on activists. The most memorable claim that anyone has 

made about the astronomer thus far is that when his son was born, 

he wrote a request to the Secret Police asking if he could have some 

more money for his services. Allegedly, the powers that be complied. 

At present, Wolszczan’s case doesn’t appear to teach us anything 

new about the psychology of the informer. And it should be mentioned 

that no respectable voices are baying for blood. The professor 

will not lose his honorary citizenship of Polish towns, and 

he will not be cold-shouldered in academic circles. Nevertheless, 

as each new star is “outed,” the bravery of those who refused 

to compromise shines through with ever greater radiance. 

Undeniably, the judgements of today’s generation are detached 

from the gritty realities of Soviet life. However, certain 

facts remain. It’s worth remembering that even if Wolszczan 

did not harm anyone through his dealings, the whole culture 

of informing did cause damage, in some cases it ruined lives. 

Scores of Poles were denied passports for refusing to play the 

informing game. Dozens had their careers capped. Solidarity 

activists - who had informers circling them in shoals – were arrested 

and incarcerated. Some were beaten up, some were killed. 

Thus it’s hardly surprising that there is some bitterness from those 

that were kept down by the old regime. Journalist Bronisław Wildstein, 

one of the key movers in the “lustracja” campaign (the movement 

to expose former collaborators), lost a close friend in the 

notorious “Pyas Case” (Stanisław Pyas, a student in Krakow, was allegedly 

murdered by the Secret Services in 1977). Likewise, Father 

Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, one of the “Solidarity priests,” was twice 

beaten up, and his friend, Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, was murdered. 

As Isakowicz-Zaleski recently discovered, several of the clergymen 

who had been informing on him rose to positions 

of great power in the Church. Thus it came as no surprise 

two years ago when voices within the Church vigorously opposed 

the priest’s plans to publish his book on collaboration. 

The question of whether former collaborators can hold positions of 

authority today is not as straightforward as it might seem. As mentioned, 

no serious voices are claiming that Professor Wolszczan has 

blood on his hands, or that he should be stripped of his credentials 

as a teacher of astronomy. However, logic suggests that each case is 

different. For example, the case of Stanisław Wielgus, the would-be 

Archbishop of Warsaw is complex. Here is a man who until recently 

held the power to stifle figures such as Father Isakowicz-Zaleski. 

Was it sensible that he - a long-time informer - should maintain one 

of the most hallowed jobs in the land? Many felt not, and Archbishop 

Wielgus was obliged to resign from his post in December 2006. 

These issues are already more than familiar to the Polish public, 

but to the West, they constitute a somewhat bewildering 

Pandora’s Box. Poland did manage to effect a bloodless revolution 

in 1989, and for this is should be proud. However, there 

were side effects. Poland did not start again from scratch. And 

whilst a witch hunt is not advisable, those historians struggling 

to reveal truths should not be halted in their tracks.

Special Report 

KRAK THE VOTE! 

The Krakow Post tells Americans and Canadians in Krakow how to vote but not how to vote. 

With reporting by Anna Bienkowska, Dana Dramowicz, and Anna Spysz. 

For anyone who’s been living under a rock for the past few months (or is just 

more interested in Continental politics), change is on the way in the White 

House - the American White House that is. The presidential elections 

are quickly approaching on November 4th. They happen every four 

years and each president can serve up to two terms. For current 

President George W. Bush this means that he’s moving out of 

the oval office and someone else is moving in. 

Am 

funds in 

to omit voting 

The way the 

fect Po 

ABSENTEE VOTING 

Perhaps this election has received so much coverage in international 

as well as national media because it is breaking 

ground on many levels. The Democratic candidate, Senator 

Barack Obama from Illinois, is of mixed African American 

and Caucasian heritage – a first. His vice-presidential running 

mate is Senator Joe Biden from Delaware. 

The Republican candidate is 72-year-old John McCain, senator 

from Arizona; if elected, he would be the oldest person to 

be elected president. His running mate is Governor Sarah Palin from 

Alaska. If the Republicans are elected she will be the first woman vicepresident 

in American history. 

Though both parties’ campaigns have been courting voters for months, and debates between 

the candidates have already begun, many Americans are still undecided when it comes to which 

candidate will get their vote come November. On this side of the Atlantic, the Krakow Post has 

hit the streets and asked ordinary Poles as well as American expatriates their opinions on taking 

part in the democratic process and what effect American politics will have on Poland. 

The general (presidential) elections in America are taking place on November 4th of this year. For all eligible voters, at first glance it would seem 

infinitely easier to buy a plane ticket and complete the registration and voting process in person. However, there are only a few steps to follow for 

eligible voters. 

The first requirement is completing a Federal Postcard Application; this form allows voter registration and requests an absentee ballot. The form then 

has to be returned to a local election office. 

The process complicates itself at this juncture because there are thousands of election offices in America and every state has different requirements. 

Other than the deadlines, they also vary so immensely that in some states you can register and request a ballot even by email or fax in relation to 

other states where you can only register or request a ballot via traditional snail mail. Some states will only accept a drivers’ license number as proof of 

citizenship, and in some other states all forms must be notarized (notarization can be done at a U.S. consulate or embassy). If the information is 

incomplete it will be rejected. If the process is started early enough the election office will contact the individual to correct the information. The suggested 

time for the entire process is 90 days. 

If an absentee ballot is received in time it can be completed and returned to the election office in the U.S. to be counted. In this straightforward process 

many things can and usually do go wrong, especially when transmitting things by mail. The delays in mail transmittal have largely contributed to disappointing 

results of eligible ballots counted in the last election. As a result it has been simplified by two factors. 

The first is if the voter does not receive an absentee ballot in time but an absentee ballot has been requested, the potential voter can complete a federal 

write-in absentee ballot. It is recommended by officials that the appropriate time to complete a FWAB is 30 days prior to the election. 

The other factor is that if an absentee ballot has been completed but there is doubt that it will arrive on time it can be sent through the Express Your 

Vote programme through FedEx. The company has joined to help American citizens cast their vote and send ballot shipments from Poland for $23.50, 

including the ability to track the shipment. A small price for taking part in the democratic process. 

In reality the only difficult part in registering to vote and requesting a ballot is finding out what the requirements are 

for each state. The non-partisan Overseas Vote Foundation and the Federal Voting Assistance Program have prodded 

simplification of the process along. Both have helpful websites, respectively overseasvotefoundation.org 

and fvap.gov, that provide deadlines, requirements, and election office addresses by state, as well as other 

helpful information. Additionally, the Overseas Vote Foundation has a help desk where emailed questions 

will be answered within approximately 24 hours. 

Even though the task of registering and voting may seem daunting for Americans abroad, the tools that 

are available should make voting an option even for the less politically motivated individual. 

For more information, and to register 

to vote if you are an American citizen living abroad, 

please visit 

www.overseasvotefoundation.org 

I am voting because for years the Republicans 

have been in office. Now we are actually in this 

mess because of Republicans. If the Democrats are in office there can 

be change. 

Poland is part of the EU so I don’t see how it would be affected. Polish politics 

are as bankrupt as American politics, and they have to fix their own 

problems. 

David Miller, owner of 

Massolit bookshop 

count in a 

entire world. I a 

USA. If I want to crit 

also vote - because that’s 

the news that electronic poll 

American democracy - if people 

they will stop voting. 

It’s hard to say exactly how a demo 

visa requirements would be lifted 

the anti-rocket shield program, b 

awkward (and potentially threa 

has already stated that if an 

they would have the rig 

Polish troops will d 

coalition tro 

thi

Yes of course I am 

voting in this election. I think if you don’t vote then you have no 

right to criticise the government. It is a civic duty to be a part of the process. Although sometimes 

erican politics make me wonder how out of date the process of the Electoral College is and how honest campaign 

America are. I would like to see clean and free elections on a presidential level but even if they are not it is irresponsible 

- it shows you don’t care and that is a problem. 

next elected president deals with the economy, the situation in Iraq, and foreign policy regarding Russia and Georgia will afland. 

The next president should also revisit visas for the Poles, especially since the situation in America is not that lenient 

towards illegal immigrants after September 11th, and since the economy is terrible there are a lot fewer people 

immigrating there to work. Maybe this government will realise Poles just want to go to 

America to sightsee. 

CANADA VOTES (TOO) 

I am voting because I want my voice to 

n election that will have a significant effect on the 

m also voting because it’s my obligation as a citizen of the 

ique the policies, politicians, and the government, then I should 

one of the most basic ways to affect change. However, I worry about 

ing machines are being rigged, because this could seriously undermine 

don’t think that their vote will count (or that it won’t be counted correctly) 

cratic win in the US would affect Poland, but there’s always the hope that the 

or changed. That is actually long overdue. Hopefully, if Obama wins he’ll stop 

ecause that entire project will only cause problems by putting Poland in an 

tening) position in the “new cold war” between Russia and the US. Russia 

y American missile fired from Polish soil would strike their country, then 

ht to attack Poland in return. Also, of course, if Obama wins fewer 

ie in the Middle East (McCain would most likely not withdraw 

ops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and Obama has said that 

s would be one of his top priorities). 

Jule Land, PhD student 

Anna Bienkowska, customer service rep. 

With all the fuss around 

the upcoming elections in the 

United States, it might be easy to miss 

the fact that its northern neighbour Canada will also be electing its newest 

federal government this month. Current Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called 

the general election one year earlier than expected on October 14th, presumably riding 

on his recent popularity in the polls in an effort to gain a majority in parliament. Harper, 

who is currently the head of a minority Conservative government, has stated his reason for 

calling a snap election as a deadlock in discussion in the House of Commons resulting 

in a “dysfunctional” parliament. 

How to vote: 

The Canadian prime minister is not chosen directly by voters such as the 

American president, but is rather the leader of the political party that gains 

the most seats in the House of Commons. Canadians vote for MPs (Members of 

Parliament) from their electoral district, or riding, to represent them in Ottawa. 

So while the elections in Canada may not seem to be the most exciting 

news item on the menu, it may in the end result in a new reputation for North 

America abroad. If Harper remains in power and Senator Obama wins the election 

in America, the world will certainly be confused with the United States as the 

liberal alternative to 

conservative Canada. 

Major party leaders: 

Stephen Harper - Conservative Party 

Stéphane Dion - Liberal Party 

Gilles Duceppe - Bloc Québécois 

Jack Layton - New Democratic Party 

Elizabeth May - Green Party 

If you’re a Canadian in Krakow, you can vote in the general election by mail using a special ballot. 

An application must be completed and sent by fax or snail mail to Elections Canada by 

October 7th and a special ballot will be mailed to your address in Poland. The ballot must 

be received in Ottawa by 6 pm on election day (October 14th). Requirements to vote 

include a photocopy of proof of identity and ordinary residence in Canada. 

For the most accurate information and to download an application 

to vote by mail visit Elections Canada online at 

www.elections.ca 

The Krakow Post sought 

out some locals to get 

their take on the U.S. 

elections. Poles replied to 

the following questions: 

1. Have you been following 

the American 

elections? 

2. Do you think the 

outcome will effect 

Poland? If yes, how? 

3. If you could vote in 

the U.S. elections, who 

would you pick? Why? 

1. Not too closely. 

2. Yes, we might get more involved in some international 

conflicts. 

3. Barack Obama. 

- Magda Wrzeszcz, student 

1. No, I don’t like politics and I try to avoid political 

news, especially when they don’t affect me. 

2. Many things that happen in the States affect Poland. 

The U.S. is a big player and a lot depends on them. 

3. I’d probably vote for Obama, because I prefer the 

Democrats. I also know that from the start, Obama was 

against the war in Iraq. But I can’t vote anyway! 

- Ola Sztąberska, marketing manager 

1. Yes, since the candidates were confirmed, rather intensively. 

2. Yes - above all economically - the state of the global 

economy and financial affairs are in many ways dependent 

upon the U.S. As well as politically - political stability 

in the U.S. could help Poland to strengthen its political 

ties with the U.S. as a European partner. However, 

ultimately this depends upon how the Polish diplomacy 

handles the matter. 

3. Obama, because even though he is more of a “designed 

candidate” than McCain, he is capable of bringing 

a lot more to American politics - above all a modern way 

of thinking and the concept of a liberal state. 

- Marek Kamiński, musician 

1. So-so. 

2. Sure, the results of the election will have a global 

impact, after all, the U.S. is the strongest, right? The 

world’s economy and many essential military actions are 

dependent on the U.S. 

3. Obama - he understands the economy and now the 

U.S. needs an expert desperately, as well as a change in 

social mentality. 

- Marta Firlet, marketing director 

1. Yes. 

2. No. 

3. For me, voting for McCain is more a vote against 

Obama. In my view, McCain would be the lesser of two 

evils. I have not been convinced by the campaign Obama 

has been running – in fact he seems even shallower, more 

of a populist and emptier than most politicians. He seems 

to be trying to sway people to his side with easily palpable 

slogans and rhetoric of “change” and “progress.” 

Such a campaign, if I were an American citizen, would 

seem offensive and a downright insult to my intelligence. 

Although McCain’s campaign isn’t by any measure much 

more cerebral, it does seem to use less cheap one-line 

sound bytes. The fact that so much of the media and 

celebrity world openly support Obama only furthers my 

disapproval of him; some bimbo Hollywood starlet or 

self-righteous “journalist” do not have adequate respect 

in my minds for me to listen to their opinions. When it 

comes to the issues, both candidates are pretty vague 

and unspecific. I really don’t think anything much will 

change in Iraq, Middle America, or with the current economic 

situation no matter who wins. The U.S. is run by 

institutions, not individuals. Although the president technically 

has a lot of executive powers, one would have to 

be pretty naïve to think he acts alone, without the support 

and direction of numerous interest groups – groups 

that don’t change with each administration. 

- Michał Długi, doctor with state health insurance company


Business 

Quattro Business Park to Rise in Krakow 

Adelina Krupski 

Krakow-based developer 

Grupa Buma 

recently commenced 

construction of one 

of its largest projects, Quattro 

Business Park. Over the next 

four years, this impressive 

building site located on Gen. 

Bora Komorowskiego Avenue 

will be developed into a modern 

office complex consisting 

of four 14-storey buildings, 

totaling 48,000 square metres 

of class-A office space. 

Designed by the APA 

Kuryłowicz & Associates architectural 

studio, the 150 

million euro project will also 

comprise a 200-person conference 

centre, restaurants, 

medical clinics, and other 

small service shops. Additionally, 

the complex will include 

parking facilities allowing for 

up to 1,100 cars. 

As the largest office project 

currently under construction 

in southern Poland, Quattro 

Business Park is to be built in 

four stages. While the first of 

the four buildings is scheduled 

for completion in December 

2009, the second building 

and multi-level car park are 

planned to follow in October 

2010. The remaining two 

buildings are expected to be 

finished in 2011 and 2012. 

The whole investment was 

spread over four years with an 

eye to managing investment 

risk, explains Grupa Buma 

representative Piotr Michalski. 

“Due to the unpredictable economic 

situation, it is unknown 

whether Krakow will need so 

much space,” states Michalski. 

“However, splitting the 

investment into stages allows 

it to be accelerated or delayed 

as necessary.” 

Professor Stefan Kuryłowicz, 

architect from Warsaw and 

designer of the development, 

states the idea behind the architectural 

character of the 

complex was “an object directed 

towards a new kind of person 

who travels and is open to 

the world; such people will be 

deciding the future of Poland; 

a place where young people 

and progressive firms will feel 

at home.” 

“This development is a confirmation 

of the repeatedly-proven 

thesis that, second to Warsaw, 

Krakow is the place for 

construction,” states Deputy 

Mayor of Krakow Kazimierz 

Bujakowski. “The undertaking 

of such an investment, which 

commits itself to a strategy 

of development for the city, 

is strategically essential. It 

establishes the conditions 

for those firms who have invested 

here and are operating 

to expand.” During his speech 

at the opening conference on 

Sept. 4, Bujakowski focused 

on the changes Krakow has undergone 

over the last decade 

or so, specifically its growth 

from an industrial city to one 

that is service orientated. 

According to Bujakowski, 

“Krakow has become a centre 

for services: a centre for 

IT as well as accounting and 

business services. One of the 

crucial restrictions that determines 

further investment by 

firms is restricted availability 

of commercial office space.” 

Bujakowski maintains that of 

the 240,000 square metres of 

office space Krakow acquired 

between 2005 and 2007, 95 

photo / Adelina Krupski 

A model of the business park was presented at the press conference 

percent is in use, a fact that 

justifies the immense scale of 

the Quattro Business Park enterprise. 

ings. 

Since its establishment in 

1991, Grupa Buma has completed 

several office investments 

in Krakow, such as 

Buma Square Business Park, 

Rondo Business Park and the 

ONYX office complex. The 

group has also built over 

1,700 apartments and 270 

single-family homes. More 

than 50 firms in Krakow rent 

space in buildings developed 

by Grupa Buma. 

& 

The plans and architectural 

renderings for the new office 

complex are certainly striking, 

effectively transmitting 

the concept of a contemporary 

design. Moreover, for employing 

an environmentally 

friendly approach, a façade of 

glass and tiles allows for natural 

light to enter, cutting the 

energy demand of the build- 

& 


Apartments 

Stay in Style 

www.krakow-apartments.com 

info@krakow-apartments.com 

phone +48 12 4214865 

mobile +48 514973785 

www.krakow-apartments.com



Property Post 

Krakow Property 

Why buy in Krakow? 

For the bright buccaneers 

who swept into 

Cracow in 1989, picking 

themselves up a 

nice flat or two in the process, 

well, let’s just say that they’ve 

got a pretty fine investment 

on their hands. The prices for 

real estate were so low then 

that a Western pizza chain 

was able to set up shop in a 

magnificent palace at the foot 

of the Royal Castle. 

Thankfully, Krakow has not 

been mongrelized by such 

scenarios. And whilst a fleet 

of Western hotels has sailed 

into town, the best are Polishowned, 

as is evidenced by the 

marvellous palace renovations 

of the Likus chain. 

However, although prices 

have gone up dramatically in 

the last ten years, the rates are 

still more than tempting for 

investors. And if you’ve fallen 

in love with the city, you don’t 

have to be a millionaire to purchase 

a property here. 

For big investors, there’s no 

doubt that owning a flamboyant 

fin-de-siecle palace could 

be a highly congenial state of 

affairs, just like in the good 

old days. And indeed, although 

there is no law yet for 

the restitution of property to 

Poles themselves, a good deal 

of the aristocracy have reclaimed 

their pre-war palaces. 

But having lost pretty much 

everything else after the war, 

they tend to live in a small 

apartment at the top, leasing 

out the rest of the property. 

Nevertheless, the new-old 

owners are often happy to sell 

a flat within their property. At 

this stage, prices are naturally 

at their highest within the 

centre of the Old Town. 

However, these are not necessarily 

always the best flats in 

town. A quarter of a mile beyond 

the Planty is a second 

ring-road, and between the 

two are some fine residential 

districts, generally built in the 

nineteenth century in a gracious 

eclectic style. They’re 

usually a little tattier than 

within the Old Town centre, 

but prices are markedly 

cheaper. 

More complicated for investors 

are the properties that 

still have not been reclaimed, 

or those that are in the process 

of reclamation. The Kazimierz 

district is amongst the 

most colourful and popular in 

Krakow, but it carries a tragic 

legacy. 

Jewish properties were spread 

across the whole of Krakow 

sixty-five years ago, but the 

biggest concentration was in 

Kazimierz, as well as on the 

grand streets connecting the 

district with the Old Town, 

such as ul. Sarego, ul. Sebastiana 

and ul. Starowiślna. Professional 

advice is paramount 

if you are interested in buying 

property in these localities. 

The law on purchasing a property 

in Poland states that citizens 

of EU countries, as well 

as Icelanders, Norwegians and 

Liechtensteiners, get the fast 

photo / Mateusz Majewski 

track on buying property in 

Poland, although if you’re after 

farmland or forest, things 

are a little more complicated. 

However, as far as urban 

property goes, applicants 

shouldn’t encounter too many 

problems, whether you’re a 

citizen of one the aforementioned 

countries or not. The 

latter groups have to apply for 

a special permit from the Ministry 

of Internal Affairs, but 

this is generally forthcoming, 

provided you’re not a notorious 

criminal. 

Current Property Offers 

krakow 

Got a property for rent or sale? 

ul. Bajeczna (DĄBIE) 

65 sq m, 2-bedroom apartment, 

5th floor, new building, lift, 

parking space 

Price – 500 000 PLN 

For more details email: 

krakow@leachandlang.com 

ul. Krowoderska (OLD TOWN) 

52 sq m, 3-room apartment 

3rd floor, fully equipped and furnished 



krakow@tnip.pl 

ul. Warszawska (ANGEL CITY) 

48 sq m, 1 bedroom apartment, 

2nd floor, balcony, garage. 

Developer standard 



karolina@property-krakow.com 

Advertise it HERE in our dedicated 

property section! For more details contact: 


tel: +48 (0)12 429 1699 

ul. Godlewskiego (BRONOWICE) 

33 sq m, studio apartment, 

groundfloor floor, new building, 

parking space 



krakow@leachandlang.com 

ul. Kordeckiego (KAZIMIERZ) 

63 sq m, 3-room apartment 

3rd floor, newly renovated 



krakow@tnip.pl 

ul. Cybulskiego 2 (OLD TOWN) 


Ground floor with access to the garden 

Furnished and equipped to high standard 



karolina@property-krakow.com 

ul. Krakusa / Rękawki 


2nd floor unfurnished 



info@kph.com.pl 

ul. Filarecka 

55 sq m, 1-bedroom apartment 

ground floor, unfurnished 



info@kph.com.pl


Sporting Post 

Hope Still for Wisła 

SPORT IN BRIEF 

Daniël van Hoven 

Wisła cling on for Second Coming 

Cycling - Voigt Wins Tour of 

Poland 

Wojtek Galon 

There were no surprises at White 

Hart Lane on August 19th when 

Polish champions Wisła Krakow 

lost to favourites Tottenham 

Hotspur in the first round of the 

UEFA Cup. 

Wisła can hold their heads high 

though after a determined performance 

gave them a realistic 

chance of progressing into the 

next round, with the teams due to 

meet again for the second leg in 

Krakow on October 2nd. 

Having grabbed a crucial away 

goal in the 2-1 defeat, and putting 

up a respectable showing against 

a north London club that’s not 

short of cash (Spurs invested 

around £70 million on new players 

this summer), Wisła needs 

only a 1-0 victory in the return 

leg to progress into the group 

stages. 

The visitors got off to a strong 

start, maintaining most of the 

early possession and applying 

pressure on the Spurs defence. 

However, they were restricted to 

ambitious long range shots, all 

of which failed to trouble Spurs 

goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes. 

It didn’t take Spurs long to find 

their feet, as strong midfield play 

by Jenas and Zokora saw them 

counter Wisła’s positive start and 

begin creating chances. 

In the 23rd minute, Jonathan 

Woodgate met a David Bentley 

corner with a firm header that 

was well handled by Wisła keeper 

Mariusz Pawełek. 

Pawełek was called into action 

again in the 30th minute, bravely 

coming off his line to deny Darren 

Bent, following some scratchy 

Wisła defending. 

It was never going to be long before 

Tottenham converted their 

chances into actual goals though, 

and in the 33rd minute the lightning 

fast Aaron Lennon ran at 

the Wisła defence from the left, 

squaring the ball to David Bentley, 

who opened the scoring with 

a swift left foot strike that gave 

Pawełek no chance. 

Tottenham vs. Wisła / Photo by Ian Walton (Getty Images) 

It was the England midfielder’s 

first goal for his new club since 

his £15 million move from the 

Blackburn Rovers in July. 

The ecstatic home crowd hadn’t 

finished celebrating when Wisła 

delivered what could be a telling 

counter-punch a minute later. 

Following some excellent work by 

Rafał Boguski and a gentle layoff 

by Paweł Brożek, Czech playmaker 

Tomáš Jirsák produced a cool 

finish to draw proceedings level 

and send the 3,000 plus Wisła 

Wisła’s disciplined play continued 

to frustrate their opponents, yet 

the Poles were not without their 

luck after a Darren Bent goal was 

disallowed for an offside decision 

that was dubious at best. 

Bent found relief in the 73rd 

minute though, neatly nodding 

in substitute Fraizer Campbell’s 

cross and putting Tottenham 

ahead once again after some 

loose marking in the penalty box 

by the Krakow defence. 

kow, a point that didn’t go unnoticed 

by the Krakow side’s coach, 

Maciej Skorża. “We are waiting 

with optimism for the rematch 

in Krakow,” Skorża said after the 

game. 

The two-leg tie is now delicately 

poised for what should be a scintillating 

return match in Krakow. 

Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Bentley 

33, Bent 73) – Wisła Krakow 1 

(Jirsák 34) 

supporters at the stadium into With their tails in the air, Tottenham 

Tottenham Hotspur: Gomes, 

raptures. 

Wisła proceeded to take advantage 

of the defensive fragility that has 

seen Tottenham sitting bottom 

of the English Premier League 

table so far this season, and Wisła 

midfielder Mauro Cantoro tested 

Gomes once more before the end 

sought to extend their lead, 

twice coming close through efforts 

from Bale and King, with the 

latter spoiling a good chance to 

secure the home side’s first win 

of the season in all competitions. 

Although starved of chances in 

the second half, Wisła almost 

Gunter (O’Hara 57), Woodgate, 

King, Bale, Bentley, Jenas, Zokora, 

Lennon (Campbell 57), Giovani 

(Assou-Ekotto 70), Bent 

Goals: Bentley 33, Bent 73 

Yellow Card: O’Hara 

of the first half, although his 20 drew level with four minutes to Wisła Krakow: Pawełek, Singlar, 

metre drive was comfortably handled 

play when substitute Andrzej 

Baszczyński, Cleber, Diaz, 

by the Brazilian keeper. Niedzielan rushed through on Boguski (Małecki 73), Can- 

goal, only to be denied by a lastditch 

toro, Sobolewski, Zieńczuk, 

Spurs came out strongly in the 

second half, seeking to recapture 

their authority by harassing Wisła 

at every opportunity, and Pawełek 

was again called into action when 

tackle from Woodgate. 

Despite the loss, Wisła’s brave 

performance against a superior 

Tottenham outfit puts them in 

Jirsák (Łobodziński 61), Brożek 

(Niedzielan 79) 

Goals: Jirsák 34 

he tipped over a fierce 15 metre good stead to pull off an upset Yellow Card: Sobolewski, 

strike by Bentley. 

when the sides meet again in Kra- 

Małecki 

German Jens Voigt won the sevenday 

Tour of Poland which ended in 

Krakow on the 20th September. 

Dane Lars Bak was second overall, 

one minute 22 seconds behind, 

whilst Italy’s Franco Pellizotti 

came in third at 1:24. Australia’s 

Allan Davis was fourth at 1:27. 

CSC rider Voigt, 37, won stage six 

to Zakopane on Friday with a lone 

attack and defended his lead with 

the help of his teammates during 

the rain-soaked final stage. 

German Robert Forster of the 

Gerolsteiner team won the 153- 

kilometre final stage from Rabka 

to Krakow, beating Alberto Curtolo 

of Italy and Yauheni Hutarovich 

of Belarus in a sprint finish. 

The Tour of Poland is Voigt’s 86th 

victory in his 14-year professional 

career. This year, Voigt won the 

Criterium International stage race 

for the fourth time and a Giro 

d’Italia stage. 

Formula 1 - Debut in Singapore 

Results in Alonso Win 

On Sunday 28th September, Fernando 

Alonso of the Formula 1 

team, ING Renault, won the first 

ever Singapore Grand Prix. In a 

race which saw regular neutralising 

interruptions by the safety 

car, the Spanish Formula 1 world 

champion of 2005 and 2006 kept 

his cool and notched up his first 

victory of the season, coming in 

ahead of German Nico Rosberg 

and Brit Lewis Hamilton. While on 

the podium, Hamilton enlarged his 

lead over his direct competitors. 

Neither Ferrari’s Felipe Massa or 

defending champion Kimi Raikkonen 

were able to score, likewise 

Polish star Robert Kubica. 

Kubica was cut off by Hamilton 

during the start, which threw the 

Pole back. A pit stop during a safety 

car situation resulted in a 10 second 

penalty, leaving the number 

three in this season’s standings, 

in eleventh place at the finish of 

what was the first ever Grand Prix 

held in the dark. McLaren’s Lewis 

Hamilton now leads the overall 

standings with 84 points, in front 

of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa with 77 

and Robert Kubica of BMW with 

64. There are three races to go in 

the 2008 F1 world championship, 

which will be held in Japan, China 

and Brazil.



Culture 

The Future Face of Krakow 

Nick Hodge looks at new buildings on the Krakow horizon 

CULTURE IN BRIEF 

Car Keys to Another 

Dimension 

The family of the late writer 

Stanisław Lem have sold his canary-coloured 

car in a bid to raise 

money for charity. 

Lem, often cited as the greatest 

science fiction author of his 

generation (although he himself 

was loathe to be pigeon-holed), 

is best known for works such as 

Solaris and The Cyberiad. 

The car – a 1981 Mercedes saloon 

– fetched a hefty 50,211 złoty and 

was bought by Geko-Kart, a firm 

that makes cardboard boxes. The 

money will go to the children’s 

charity Mam Marzenie (“I have a 

dream”). 

Lem originally bought the car in 

West Berlin shortly after martial 

law was declared. He later used 

the automobile to smuggle banned 

literature into Poland, along with 

prized household amenities such 

as loo-roll. As of yet it is unconfirmed 

whether there is a secret 

button that transports passengers 

to a parallel world. 

Above: The winning design in the competition for a new sports and entertainment hall. Architect: Piotr Łabowicz 

Hip design magazine Wallpaper 

turned its attention 

to Poland in its September 

issue. Whilst enthusing 

about the country as a dynamic place 

for new development, the monthly 

was less effusive about home-grown 

architects. “Local talent is sparse,” 

the magazine postulated, “and until 

recently, known more for its technical 

capabilities than its creativity.” 

The author of the article went on to wax 

lyrical about a number of international 

architects building in Poland, including 

uber-trendy figures such as Daniel Libeskind 

and Zaha Hadid. In the accompanying 

list of “seven architects reshaping 

the country,” only one Pole slipped onto 

the roster (at the very bottom), in this 

case Wojciech Obtulowicz, creator of 

the Warsaw Uprising Museum. 

Wallpaper was a little more forthcoming 

on its website, where two Poles 

were allowed to speak up for their 

peers. However, all in all, the Poles 

were rather pushed to the periphery. 

Singled out as especially beyond the 

pale were those architects who came 

Although it’s heartening that magazines 

(and architects such as Libeskind, 

who himself has Polish roots) 

are showing an interest in the Polish 

scene, the Krakow Post feels that Wallpaper’s 

overview sold the Poles short. 

Bearing this in mind, we thought it 

only sporting to publish some of our 

own picks of new projects in Poland. 

These buildings, chosen solely from 

within Krakow, are naturally just the 

tip of the iceberg (further afield, we 

might mention APA Kuryłowicz Assoc., 

Bulanda & Mucha, KWK Promes, 

to name but a few). Yet in spite of 

the small context, we believe that 

the Krakow designs signal that the 

home-grown scene is in rude health. 

Not least, they reveal that architects 

from both the mature and the younger 

generations are setting the standards. 

Tastes are sure to vary, but Krakow – 

so long billed as a treasure trove of 

historic architecture – will soon boast 

a parade of modern marvels of which 

it should be rightfully proud. 

All projects were featured in the exhibition 

“Krakow 2012,” organised 

by SARP (The Association of Archi- 

Above: Register Office Building by Michał Szymanowski Studio 5 

Tricks at the Oscars 

The Polish Film Institute has 

selected its candidate for the 

2009 Academy Awards. Sztuczki 

(Tricks) tells the tale of Stefek, 

a young boy who tries to track 

down his absent father. However, 

as it turns out, Stefek’s efforts to 

reunite his family – by a series of 

tricks – land him with much more 

than he’d bargained for. 

Sztuczki is the second feature 

film by Andrzej Jakimowski, who 

won earlier acclaim with Zmruz 

Oczy (Squint Your Eyes - 2002). 

His latest movie has already 

scooped awards at Venice, Tokyo, 

San Paulo and here on home 

soil at Gdynia, where it won the 

Golden Lion. 

In 2008, Andrzej Wajda’s dramatic 

film Katyń was the Polish 

selection for the Oscar but it 

failed to bring home the gold, 

losing out to Austrian entry The 

Counterfeiters. 

of age prior to the collapse of the Iron 

tects of the Republic of Poland). With 

Curtain. In contrast, young bucks who 

many thanks to SARP (Krakow), Mr. 

had studied abroad were cited as the 

bright hope for Polish architecture. 

Konrad Glos and Dr. Marta Urbańska 

for their kind assistance. 

Above: An apartment house by Mariusz Twardowski and co.


Culture 

nnn 

Culture 

Lanckorona Frozen in Time 

Unique 19th century wooden architecture, delightful craftwork and above all peace and quiet – the hillside village of Lanckorona is of the 

Małopolska region’s cultural gems. 


Driving about forty minutes southwest from Krakow 

will take you back in time. Lanckorona is a village located 

500 metres above sea level, on a forested hill 

at the foot of medieval castle ruins, and to get there 

you need to take the one and only minibus line from Krakow, 

or simply jump in a car. Until 1934 the place was technically 

a city, and it has kept an urban layout, with a unique, sloping 

market square and streets branching in four directions. 

The market square looks like a miniature wooden city, with 

a mosaic of very old and sometimes comically small timber 

houses, still inhabited to this day. In one of the streets you 

can find an old bakery famous for its delicious bread and pastries 

made in an original, ceiling-high furnace. What’s great is 

you can knock at the door at any time and the bread will be 

there for you. 

Due to an extraordinary stillness and “nothing to do” atmosphere, 

Lanckorona is a mecca for artists, who come there to 

rest and look for inspiration, as well as Cracovians coming to 

enjoy a weekend rest. Fortunately, the village has not turned 

into a tourist-cramped wooden Disneyland. Lanckorona may 

disappoint those searching for sensational discoveries and 

thrills, but it opens up for people who humbly approach new 

destinations and want to take in a place just as it is. 

“This is a place in which you cannot do anything by force; 

here you can improve what already exists by bringing it out to 

light and dusting off its natural beauty,” says Zofia Oszacka, 

the borough leader of Lanckorona district. Oszacka has done 

much for the region: during the past six years of her governance, 

Lanckorona has won numerous awards for the best local 

government in Małopolska area and for the best use of EU 

grants. 

Lanckorona today / photo Grażyna Zawada 

At first glance Lanckorona is a forgotten old village where 

nothing happens – but that’s all up to the visitor. It’s a potentially 

magical place, a background for romantic walks, long 

chats in a charming pavement cafe, learning handicraft or taking 

part in Lanckorona’s festivals – like the Angels in Town 

Festival, where children dress up as angels and distribute 

Christmas greetings and best wishes among the townspeople. 

There is also Romantic Lanckorona, a festival for lovers, and 

the Midsummer’s Eve Fair to mention a few. 

Today, due to the enormous commitment of the borough leaders, 

the whole district - composed of five villages in total - is 

flourishing with investments. New anti-slide road reinforcements, 

pavements, and a revamped sewage system are now 

being developed, making the place visibly modernised. With a 

cash injection from the EU, local Lanckorona associations have 

started small businesses such as a souvenir shop, a cafe and a 

tour service company to help promote their beloved home and 

facilitate a stay in Lanckorona for future newcomers. 

Read more about Lanckorona at www.lanckorona.pl



Culture 

PHOTO OF THE MONTH 

THEME: AUTUMNAL 

REEL LIFE 

Rok 1612 (The Year 1612) 

An Epic of Sorts 

Twelve months ago there were rumblings in the press that Russia was about to 

unleash a virulently anti-Polish film. The project, commissioned by the Kremlin, 

was to zoom in on the Polish-Muscovite War, a bloody conflict that culminated in 

Polish invaders being expelled from Moscow in the autumn of 1612. This war may 

seem like rather a long time ago now, but in 2005 the expulsion date was declared 

a new Russian national holiday. Polish heartthrob Michał Żebrowski was promptly 

branded a traitor for taking a part in the movie, and now, twelve months on, the 

end result is playing across Poland. Was it worth all the fuss? In a word, no. Nevertheless, 

director Vladimir Khotinenko deserves credit for creating one of the most 

spectacularly silly films of recent times, replete with unicorns, talking fish and a 

hermit styled on Gandalf the Wizard. Rok 1612 starts promisingly enough with the 

Polish forces arrayed across a valley on the edge of Muscovy. An insolent serf has 

his tongue cut out, and the stage is set for a gritty historical drama in the style of 

La Reine Margot. But pretty soon the unicorns pop up (it’s as if the screenwriter 

sat down to write a slice of history then accidentally got side-tracked by Tolkien 

and his tricks). Into the melée steps runaway peasant Andrei (played by Russian 

Johnny Depp look-alike Pyotr Kislov), who quickly learns how to take on an invading 

army single-handed. Everything is shot with great gusto, and costumes and 

settings are wonderful, but ultimately, Rok 1612 is unlikely to win any prizes for 

profundity. Still, viewers with a sense of humour may love this film. 

In Russian with Polish subtitles. 

Nick Hodge 

SHELF IMPROVEMENT 

Hammer and Tickle by Ben Lewis 

Laughter Behind the Closed Curtain 

October’s Photo of the Month was taken by Marcin Jędrysiak, www.marcinjedrysiak.com 

From October 2008, the Krakow Post together with the Academy of Photography begins its 

year-long photography contest. 

Each month, the Krakow Post will choose one picture from amongst those sent in by readers to 

appear as the “Photo of the Month.” The winner will receive a free consultation with a lecturer 

from the Academy of Photography. In October 2009, a Grand Prix winner will be chosen from 

amongst the previous 12 winners, who will receive a brand-new Nikon digital SLR camera, as 

well as a free course from the Academy in either English or Polish. 

The goal of the contest is to entice all of Krakow’s residents – English-speaking as well – to use 

photography as a means of artistic expression. The additional chance to receive professional 

advice will no doubt be useful in further photographic experimentation. 

Language 

Please send all entries for November’s “Photo of the Month” to 

ola.sztaberska@krakowpost.com by October 24th. All submitted 

photographs must be taken in Krakow. The theme is open. 

Q: What stage comes between socialism and communism? 

A: Alcoholism. 

Q: Why, despite all the shortages, was the toilet paper in East Germany always 2-ply? 

A: Because they had to send a copy of everything they did to Moscow. 

There are plenty more rib-ticklers in Ben Lewis’ new book, which styles itself 

“ a history of Communism told through Communist Jokes.” And if you’ve ever 

felt lost for words during a pub chat about the Soviet Bloc, here is a bottomless 

source of anecdotes to make you seem like the brightest button at the bar. That 

said, the obvious danger in penning a book about Soviet jokes is in trivialising 

what was often no laughing matter. But the author doesn’t attempt to airbrush 

the bitter realities. As Lewis reminds us, there were times when making a quip 

was enough to send the joker to a forced labour camp (as it was, even the gulags 

had their own brand of black humour). The author is genuinely fired up by his 

subject, and he travels far and wide in his quest for illicit humour. Along the way 

there are surreal encounters with Lech Wałęsa (who’s not in a joking mood) as 

well as Jerzy Urban, notorious communist propaganda maestro. Lewis doesn’t 

do justice to Pope John Paul II’s role in defeating communism, but all in all this 

is a refreshing roam through the realities of Soviet life. The best jokes beam out 

at us with their explosive, often heartbreaking grasp of the truth. 

Nick Hodge 

Trips off the Tongue 


Q: Can you please explain the 

uses of different forms of numbers, 

and generally when each 

type should be used? 

A: Collective numerals refer to a 

plural form of a mixed sex group 

(men and women together), and 

young creatures (children, calves, 

puppies), as well as nouns coming 

only in pairs (“pluralia tantum”), 

Is Polish really that difficult? Or is that just a myth, an over-used excuse touted by lazy language students? 

Let’s find out… Krakow Post introduces a series of brief lessons, which should prove useful when learning this beautiful 

language, as prepared by a native Polish linguist and teacher. 

e.g. “nożyczki” (scissors), “spodnie” 

(trousers) or “drzwi” (door) 

(that’s why sometimes Poles say 

“the doors are open” when meaning 

one door). 

Collectives inflect like singular 

neutral nouns and are easily 

recognized: the first two end 

in “-oje” and the rest ends with 

“-oro.” e.g. “widzę czwor-o 

dzieci” (I see four kids). Because 

this is accusative, the ending is 

the same as with a neutral noun, 

e.g. “okn-o” (window). Collective 

nouns are sometimes brushed off 

by less educated Poles due to their 

unusual structure, i.e. adding “g” 

(or “gi”) in the instrumental to 

the original root of the numeral: 

“nie ma czworg-a szczeniąt” 

(the four puppies are not here), 

“plotkuję o dwojg-u ludziach” (I 

am gossiping about two people). 

In the previous example, the first 

is genitive and the second is dative. 

You must also check if the 

endings of numerals are the same 

as in singular neutral nouns, e.g. 

“jajko” (egg). 

Confused by Polish grammar? 

Send your query 

to editor@krakowpost. 

com, and our Polish 

linguist may answer your 

question in the next 

edition of “Trips off the 

Tongue!”


Culture 

nnn 

Culture 

Music 

The Post interviews Unsound founder Mat Schulz 

Live Review: 

Kraftwerk : Craft at Work 

Thymn Chase 

Krakow Post: Where/when did you 

get the idea for Unsound, and how did 

you get other people interested in the 

idea so you could pull it off? 

Mat Schulz: The idea started in 2003, 

when there were really not many festivals 

presenting this kind of music in 

Poland. We saw a gap, and tried to fill 

it. Although electronic, experimental 

and club music have always been 

important in relation to the program, 

Unsound has always aimed to be diverse. 

From the very beginning, Unsound 

was also about trying to connect 

East and West Europe, via music, 

sound cultures and related visual arts. 

This idea remains. 

KP: How is the list of performers decided 

each year? 

MS: We listen to a lot of new music, 

and read everything from magazines 

like The Wire to blogs, searching for 

the latest tendencies in music. Then 

we try to make interesting connections 

between different genres. This 

means that we can put, for example, 

club music in the same program as 

work that could be described as postclassical. 

We also try to be as rigorous 

as possible with the programme, so 

that while it contains some unexpected 

elements and combinations it still 

makes sense, according to its various 

parts, and overall. We take risks, selecting 

artists that may not be so well 

known here in Poland, which I hope 

makes our festival unique. 

KP: Who are you looking forward to 

seeing the most at this year’s edition? 

MS: Unsound this year has really 

grown, due to some strong financial 

support from the Krakow council. This 

means that there are so many great 

artists that it’s hard to pick one act. 

I’m really looking forward to the Warhol 

Series, showcasing early Warhol 

films with live music. We’ve wanted 

to invite Max Richter for a long time, 

and his show on the same night as 

Hauschka’s group should be wonderful, 

a combination of electronic and 

classical music. I think that Colleen, 

Pan•American and Ben Frost, all playing 

in St. Catherine’s church, will be 

extremely memorable as much for the 

beautiful venue as the sounds. The 

dubstep night should be great, as this 

genre should really be heard in a club, 

with a sub bass system that you can 

feel physically, not only in your ears. 

The Necks are an amazing band from 

Australia. I could keep going, but if I 

do so I will probably recommend the 

entire program. 

KP: Any surprises in store for this 

year? 

MS: Unsound is all about trying to 

surprise, but if I have to select some 

particular acts, then I could start with 

Fuck Buttons. They’ve got a strong 

following in other countries, but not 

so much yet in Poland. They play 

a mix of noise, tribal rhythms and 

beats. I also think that Ben Frost may 

cause a bit of a sensation. I saw his 

show in Montreal at MUTEK festival, 

and it completely knocked me out. It 

was a mix of intricate, ambient electronics 

and often heavily distorted 

guitar. Considering this concert will 

take place in a gothic church, the impact 

should be even more powerful. 

If you’re not familiar with the more 

cutting edge forms of club music, 

then you should also head to Manggha 

on October 24th for Bruno Pronsato, 

Thomas Melchior, The Sight Below and 

others. This is really a world-class line 

up that may make you rethink preconceptions 

you have about club music. It 

would draw a huge crowd in Berlin or 

London, for example. 

KP: How does the Krakow edition differ 

from other cities, such as Lviv? 

MS: Well, we haven’t done that much 

in Lviv yet. The main Unsound city 

outside Krakow is in Minsk, Belarus. 

It’s a place that is extremely isolated, 

and as a result audiences are so 

Skream / photo Shaun Bloodworth 

wildly enthusiastic that it is incredibly 

inspiring. Most of the artists dealing 

with this kind of music don’t expect 

to be swamped by fans requesting 

autographs on scraps of paper, but 

that’s what happens there. In September 

this year Unsound conducted a 

week of workshops and collaborative 

projects in Minsk, bringing together 

Belarus and Western European musicians. 

The results will be released on 

a free online CD to be released by the 

~scape record label in Berlin. 

KP: I’ve heard rumours of a New York 

edition – is Unsound planning to expand 

globally? 

MS: The New York edition will take 

place in 2009 and will entail an expanded 

version of the Warhol and music 

programme, which will also feature 

at Unsound this year. The project 

is supported by both the Krakow 

and New York Goethe Institutes. The 

screening of Warhol’s Empire will take 

place in both Krakow and New York, 

an 8-hour film that will have a live 

soundtrack played by the Berlin band 

Groupshow. It’s a free event in Krakow 

at Unsound, on the 18th of October, in 

the Galicia Jewish Museum. 

KP: Have any Polish artists really impressed 

at Unsound? 

MS: I’m a big fan of Jacek Sienkiewicz, 

who I think is Poland’s best producer 

of minimal club music, and definitely 

has his own voice. He’ll also play this 

year, on the 24th in Manggha. I love 

Mitch & Mitch, especially live. The 

Complainer is always good fun. The VJ 

team Pussy Crew is also great. There’s 

a lot of excellent Polish music. This 

year, I’m really looking forward to 

seeing Małe Instrumenty perform on 

the 21st; they usually use toys and 

gadgets to create their music, but this 

time will also play on huge self-made 

instruments. It should be a lot of fun. 

For more, visit >> 


Robotic men / photo Duncan Rhodes 

The big event this rather damp September was the 6th Annual 

Sacrum Profanum Festival. The profile of this fairly 

new but groundbreaking festival is markedly different 

from most other such events that exist in Krakow. Sacrum 

Profanum pushes the boundaries and presents concerts 

of contemporary and modern “classical music” as well 

as groundbreaking pop and even electronic music from 

the 20th and 21st centuries. While this year’s festival 

certainly had numerous concerts of note (Stockhausen in 

the Schindler Factory was fairly life-changing), I will cut 

to the chase and get right to the legendary men-machines 

themselves - Kraftwerk! 

Kraftwerk’s sold-out, three-night stand at the Arcelor Mittal 

Steelworks in Nowa Huta was as historic as it was epic. 

One of the truly amazing things about this mysterious 

band is that they appeal to so many seemingly disparate 

generations of fans. While riding the courtesy bus from 

the gates of the Huta to the depths of the factory (of 

course they couldn’t have chosen a normal venue), it was 

fascinating and almost beautiful to see ageing rockers 

standing next to conservative 50-somethings in suits who 

were in turn standing next to a couple of high schoolers 

making out who were leaning on a 30-something 

journalist who was deep in discussion with a babcia in 

her seventies about what kind of music she was about 

to hear. Few bands in the world can boast that kind of 

demographic... 

And the music? Let me begin by saying that the progressive 

historical irony of a German band singing in Polish in 

a Soviet-built iron works was enough alone to send shivers 

down my spine. The fact that the band was Kraftwerk 

turned those shivers into electronic shockwaves that 

rumbled through my lower intestines from the plethora 

of precision crafted synthesized beats and visual treats. 

They performed a blinding and stunning 2 hour set which 

included most of their global hits spanning their almost 

40 year career. The quartet was as stoic as ever, and each 

member dutifully manned their computer battle station - 

respectively pointing, clicking, twisting and playing their 

aging hearts out. 

As boring as it may seem to watch ageing German men 

ostensibly play solitaire for two hours, there was something 

enticing and intriguing about their stage candour 

- almost a game to try and figure out who was making 

what bleeps and which blurps when. The visual graphics 

were of course much more of the spectacle then the band 

themselves and they did not disappoint. The sound in the 

factory was truly amazing and the entire building rattled 

whenever they engaged the turbo uber bass. They treated 

the throbbing crowd (and seated audience) to two encores 

- the first of which was performed by their robot lookalike 

buddies (although the resemblance is a bit strained 

since two of the members are no longer with the group 

and the other two have aged severely since the robots 

were completed in the early 70s), and the second encore 

was performed by them but in their neon striped spandex 

matrix suits. 

I can honestly say the experience was once in a lifetime 

and there is no question that Kraftwerk have left their 

mark on Krakow for a long time to come.



Extra Post 

Companies & 

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Commerce 

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Polska 

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Buma Square 

Office Building 

ul. Wadowicka 6 

Energoprojekt- 

Krakow SA 

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Euromarket Office 

Center 

ul. Jasnogórska 1 

IBM BTO 

ul. Armii Krajowej 18 

International Paper 

Polska 

ul. Lubicz 23 

Krakow Tech Park 

Lubicz Office 

Building 

ul. Lubicz 23 

Symposium Cracoviense 

ul. Krupnicza 3 

Universities & 

Schools 

Accent Language 

School 

ul. Lea 123 

Bell Language 

School 

ul. Michałowskiego 4 

British International 

School of 


ul. Smolensk 25 

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School 

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ul. św. Tomasza 1 

Maly Rynek 

Language School 

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ul. Bracka 1a/1 

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of Krakow 

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School 

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ul. Bronowicka 37 

1. International 

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AGH 

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Arka Noego 

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Art Club Cieplarnia 

ul. Bracka 15 

Bagel Mama 

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Balaton 

ul. Grodzka 37 

Baraka 

pl. Nowy 7 

Baroque 

ul. św. Jana 16 

Bohemia 

ul. Gołębia 2 

Boogie Cafe 

ul. Szpitalna 9 

Boom Bar Rush Klub 


Budda Bar 


Bull Pub 

ul. Mikołajska 2 

Bunkier Sztuki 

Pl. Szczepański 3 

Cafe Camelot 

ul. Tomasza 17 

Cafe Golebia 3 


Cafe Manekin 


Cafe Philo 


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ul. Grodzka 2 

Coffeina Internet 

Cafe 

Rynek Główny 23/3 

Camera Cafe 

ul. Wiślna 5 

Casa della Pizza 

Mały Rynek 2 

Cherubino 


CK Browar Pub 

ul. Podwale 6/7 

Club Clu 

ul. Szeroka 10 

Club Pod Jaszczurami 


Corleone 

ul. Poselska 19 

Cul-de-Sac 

ul. Na Grodku 4 

Cyrano de Bergerac 

ul. Slawkowska 26 

Czekolada 

ul. Bracka 4 

Del Papa Ristorante 


Dom Podroznika 

ul. Koletek 7 

Drink Bar “Vis a Vis” 


Dynia 


Edo Sushi Bar 

ul. Bożego Ciała 3 

Faust Klub 


Galeria Kazimierz 

ul. Podgórska 34 

Globetroter 

pl. Szczepański 7/15 

Grill 15/16 


Herbaciarnia 


Il Calzone 

ul. Starowiślna 15a 

Inter Book 

ul. Karmelicka 27/1 

Ipanema 


Irish Arms Pub 


Irish Mbassy 


Karczma 

“Podworko Maryny” 


Klub Internetowy 

Planet 


Lemonday 

pl. Na Groblach 22 

Le Scandale 

pl. Nowy 9 

Les Couleurs 

ul. Estery 10 

Lulu living 

ul.Dajwór 10 B 

M Club 

ul. Tomasza 11a 

Massolit Books & 

Cafe 

ul. Felicjanek 4/2 

Mechanoff 

ul. Estery 8 

Metropolitan 

ul. Sławkowska 3 

Miyako Sushi 


Mleczarnia 

ul. Meiselsa 20 

Moliere Cafe 

ul. Szewska 4 

Nandu Internet Cafe 

ul. Wiślna 6 

Nic Nowego 

ul. Krzyża 15 

Nikita Bar 


Nowa Prowincja 

ul. Bracka 3 

Nowy Kuzyn 

Mały Rynek 4 

Paparazzi Bar 

ul. Mikołajska 

Piano Rouge 


Pod Aniolami 


Pod Sloncem 


Property Krakow 

ul. Cybulskiego 2 

Prowincja 

ul. Bracka 3/5 

Punkt 


Re 

ul. Krzyża 4 

Red Rubin 


Restauracja Hawelka 


Restauracja Pod 

Krzyzykiem 


Ristorante Da Pietro 


Rooster 


Ross Amores Cafe 


Sakana 

ul. Sławkowska 5-7 

Showtime 


Siesta Cafe 


Someplace Else 

ul. Powisle 7 

Square Pub 


Srodziemie 

pl. Wszystkich Sw. 8 

Stalowie Magnolie 

ul. Sw. Jana 15 

Szabla i Szklanka 


Szara Kamienica 

Rynek Glowny 6 

Szara na Kazimierzu 


Tajemniczy Ogrod 

ul. Bratska 3/5 

Tesoro del Mar 

ul. Józefa 6 

TramBar 


Trattoria de Cesare 


Tribeca Coffee 


Trzy BIS 

ul. Krowoderska 70 

Trzy Papryczki 


Trzy Rybki Restaurant 

ul. Szczepańska 5 

Vesuvio 


Wedel Pijalnia 

Czekolady 


Wentzl Restaurant 


Wierzynek Restaurant 


Wisniowy Sad 


Wodka Bar 

ul. Mikołajska 

Youmiko Sushi 


Zblizenia 

pl. Nowy 8 

Hotels, Hostels & 

Guest Rooms 

Abella Guest Rooms 

ul. Długa 48 

Affinity Flats 

ul. Karmelicka 7 

Andel’s Hotel 

ul. Pawia 3 

Angel House 

ul. Blich 6 

Apple Pie Apartments 

ul. Wielopole 18 

ARS Hostel 

ul. Koletek 7 

Atlantis Hostel 

ul. Dietla 58 

Blue Bells Apartments 

ul. Starowiślna 22 

Campanile 


City Hostel 

ul. Krzyża 21 

Deco Hostel 

ul. Mazowiecka 3a 

Dizzy Daisy Hostels 

ul. Pędzichów 9 

Express Holiday Inn 

ul. Opolska 14 

Flamingo Hostel 

ul. Szewska 4 

Freedom Hostel 

ul. Pomorska 2 

Giraffe Hostel 

ul. Krowoderska 31 

Good Bye Lenin 

Hostel 

ul. B. Joselewicza 23 

Grand Hotel 

ul. Sławkowska 5/7 

Hostel Hocus Pocus 


Holiday Inn 

ul. Wielopole 4 

Hotel Amadeus 


Hotel Copernicus 

ul. Kanonicza 16 

Hotel Eden 

ul. Ciemna 15 

Hotel Floryan 


Hotel Grodek 

ul. Na Grodku 4 

Hotel Major 

ul. Gdyńska 6 

Hotel Pod Roza 


Hotel Pod 

Wawelem 

pl. na Groblach 22 

Hotel Rubenstein 


Hotel Senacki 


Hotel Stary 


Hotel Wentzl 


Hotel Wit Stwosz 


Hotel PTTK Wyspianski 

ul. Westerplatte 15 

Ibis Krakow Centrum 

ul. Syrokomli 2 

Momotown Hostel 

ul. Miodowa 28 

Nathan’s Villa Hostel 

ul. Agnieszki 1 

Novotel Krakow 

Bronowice 

al. Armii Krajowej 11 

Novotel Krakow 

Centrum 

ul. T. Kościuszki 5 

Orbis Cracovia 

al. F. Focha 1 

Orbis Francuski 

ul. Pijarska 13 

Radisson SAS 

ul. Straszewskiego 17 

Sheraton Hotel 

ul. Powiśle 7 

Tango House B&B 

ul. Szpitalna 4 

Tournet Guest Rooms 

ul. Miodowa 7 

Trzy Kafki 

al. Słowackiego 29 

Trzy Kafki Premium 

ul. Dolnych Młynów 9 

Zodiakus Hostel 

ul. Augustiańska 4 

Tutti Frutti Hostel 


Cultural Centres 

Bunkier Sztuki 

Pl. Szczepański 3 

Kijow Centre 

ul. Krasińskiego 34 

Kino Pod Baranami 


Princes Czartoryski 

Museum 

ul. Pijarska 8 

MARKET 

For sale: MacBook 2.4 GHz 

White MacBook 2.4GHz/160GB/2Gb 

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Please contact superherogrl01@hotmail. 

com for more info/price. 

For Sale: Books 

40 English books for sale.Biography, 

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an Union

Citylife 

Citylife 

krakow POST 

krakow POST 

> posted 

Concerts, exhibitions & 

parties 

/CL 7, 8, 9, 10 

> spotlight 

Unsound Festival 

previewed 

/CL 6 

> reviews 

Drop In, Fork Out, 

Get Served 

/CL 3, 5 

> by night 


Underground 

/CL 2 

Cracow-life.com 

Bruno Pronsato / photograph courtesy of unsound.pl 

un 

so 

d 

festival 

Amos Poe 

Cracow-life.com 

Andrew Pekler 

Autistic Daughters 

Banabila / Zenial 

Ben Frost 

Benga 

Boxcutter 

Bruno Pronsato 

bshosa (detroitZDRoJ) 

Colleen 

dOP 

Fuck Buttons 

Galoppierende Zuversicht 

Groupshow 

Hanno Leichtmann 

Hauschka 

Jacek Sienkiewicz Presents Recognition 

Jan Jelinek 

Jorge Haro 

Jørgen Knudsen 

Kaspar Koenig & Simon Berz 

Lillevan 

Mark Templeton 

Max Richter 

Małe Instrumenty 

Melchior Productions 

Michael Nyman 

Németh / Hess / Siewert 

Nôze 

nsi. 

Pan American 

Pinch 

Skream 

The Necks 

The Sight Below 

Tibor Holoda 

Xiu Xiu

y night 

Nightlife & Dining 

CL2 Krakow Post OCTOBER 2008 



Underground 

Conceived under the silvery light of a full moon party in Ko Pha Ngan, raised 

by lotus-eating hippies in Ibiza and suckled on the milk of Eric Morillo’s mixing 

nipple, Krakow Post proudly presents their nightlife correspondent… the 

smooth, and ever-so-slightly-slippery, Slinky. 

It seems there aren’t as many drunken 

perverts in Krakow as the average night 

out in Piękny Pies would suggest, given 

the lack of volunteers hammering on our 

editor’s inbox to take over my post. Or 

maybe there are, but they’re all scared 

of being chemically castrated by Donald 

Tusk…? I, however, safe in the sanctuary 

of England’s green and pleasant 

land, have no qualms about thrusting 

my column upon the good citizens of 

Krakow for one final explosive outing. 

Welcome to Notes From The London Underground… 

London. The big smoke. The city you can 

never tire of (allegedly). The most cosmopolitan 

and happening metropolis on the 

planet. It’s quite a shock to the system 

I can tell you. F@ck the language, food, 

television, ethnic diversity, pace of life, 

the customs and mannerisms... I’m talking 

of course about the women. Yes, this 

capital I call home has proved something 

of a reality check for this shrimp-sized 

Casanova, after enjoying the sort of female 

attention usually reserved for the 

charismatic, good-looking or filthy rich. 

These are clearly overrated qualities 

from a Polish female perspective. In fact, 

with the perspicacity of hindsight, I can 

see that whilst I spent most of the previous 

three years bemoaning Polish girls’ 

awful taste in men, I probably should 

have been thanking the Lord for his generous 

oversight. It’s only now when I 

consider those curious fellows who you 

see walking around on the Rynek, with 

their schoolboy haircuts, ill-fitting High 

Street clothes, and goofy mannerisms, 

standing next to a stunning brunette with 

cycki like watermelons and a dupeczka 

you could crack nuts with - dressed like 

she’s on her way to present Best Foreign 

Feature Film at the Oscars - that I can see 

a clear reflection of myself. I was not in 

fact the victim of Poland’s female population’s 

bad taste in mating partners; I 

was one of the main beneficiaries! 

As it transpires, when I landed at Gatwick, 

both a literal and metaphorical 

bump back to earth occurred. My mojo 

was miraculously sucked out of me, in 

much the same way that suntans disappear 

the moment you make it through 

passport control. In this city of twelve 

million people I walk around completely 

anonymous, ignored by a staggering six 

million women, my sexual presence reduced 

to parity with the paperboy and 

flabby middle-aged accountants. In fact 

the only reaction to my slinking along the 

streets of London has been the odd surreptitious 

glance from the pretty boys of 

Soho (I can’t tell you how grateful I was!). 

As for girls: cuties avoid eye contact on 

the elevators, shop attendants ignore my 

attempts to flirt with them, waitresses 

take my order without ado, barflies brush 

me off with their body language. A far 

cry from Poland! Whatever happened to 

every other passerby shooting me loaded 

flirtatious glances, to shop attendants 

who would coyly slip me love notes with 

their phone number, to waitresses who 

wanted to party with me at the end of 

their shift and to lost creatures of the 

night rubbing themselves up against me 

in the hope I would notice them? Nothing! 

Not one teenager has come up to me 

to tell me how cute I am, no fitties have 

pushed me into a public toilet for some 

tonsil tennis and not a single mysterious 

stranger has followed me all the way 

home for some pasta and petting. Ok, so 

it’s only been four days, but still. 

But enough of this depressing talk. Let 

me cast my mind back to those last autumnal 

weeks in Krakow (already taking 

on a warm and nostalgic glow in the romantic 

realms of my memory), and dutifully 

give you the rundown of September’s 

sexiest soirées…. Totally Twisted 

rounded off the summer season on the 

7th with another boat party, and, after 

I failed to get on board for the last edition, 

I was extra careful to arrive on time. 

I was more than a little cynical about the 

40 złoty ticket charge, especially as the 

boat aspect of the party was due to end 

at 11 pm, but it turned out to be money 

well spent and with three free drinks into 

the bargain the economist in me was suitably 

appeased. A warm breeze blowing 

off the Wisła cooled the up-for-it crowd 

as they stomped to some meaty electro 

sounds that regulars of Błędne Koło 

will be familiar with, whilst enormous 

queues to the toilets were circumvented 

by balancing on a very narrow ledge and 

splashing into the river. Easier for guys 

than girls, and possibly why one of my 

female friends (who shall remain nameless) 

ended up taking an ill-timed bath. 

The following weekend saw the back-toback 

openings of Circus and Bonton Club. 

They couldn’t be more different. Circus 

is a vast space just begging to be filled 

with students more concerned about getting 

their rocks off than their groove on, 

leaving me ruing my ill-timed departure. 

C’est la życie. Their launch party was 

low-key but suitably debauched, and it 

was I, surprisingly, who was left to look 

after my colleague’s drunk family friend 

when she overdosed on tatanka. Unfortunately, 

far from being allowed to take 

advantage of the situation, I practically 

had to fireman-lift her off the dancefloor 

after she collapsed the moment she attempted 

to stand up unaided. Once the 

over-lubricated lady had been packed off 

to bed, it was all over to Kitsch, where 

Supplied by mynight.pl, 

the top website for clubbing photos. 

by night photo of the month 

“Beauty and the Beats ” 

DJ Line @ Frantic 

predictably I made all the same drunken 

mistakes I make every week, followed in 

the morning by a lengthy spell of selfloathing. 

Chastened by the night before, 

Saturday was a sober affair at Bonton’s, 

which despite attracting all the right 

people failed to convince me that I will 

be missing much in London. 

Finally, on the 23rd, came the party we’d 

all been waiting for, for various reasons… 

Slinky’s farewell bash at Masada. 

Whether the manifold attendees were 

celebrating or mourning my departure 

is a question I didn’t dare ask, but the 

important thing is they made me look 

popular. No mean feat in the vast space 

of this hip new venue in Kazimierz. The 

enigmatic DJ Drift kicked off proceedings 

(just who is he?), whilst Mehow attracted 

the first feet onto the dancefloor, sizing 

up the tastes of a diverse crowd. Fluowankaz 

and Minimal Jan weren’t to be outdone, 

and the party reached full swing at 

way past midnight as various stragglers 

turned up to bolster the numbers. And 

so it just remains to say thanks to all involved 

in the organisation, thanks to all 

who came, thanks for the presents and a 

special thanks to Stu who lent me his deodorant 

(I was experiencing some decidedly 

unslinky perspiration issues). 

Until we meet again, may the spirit of 

Slinky be with you always…


Krakow Post OCTOBER 2008 CL3 

DROP IN 

GET SERVED 

For October’s Get Served, Krakow Post’s “Bar Person of the Month” jury searched high and 

low in the cold autumn rain for the next individual who’s leading the fight for top service. 

Metropolitan’s head barman, Paweł Okuniewicz, wowed our judges with his cheerful manner 

and wide knowledge of all things alcohol related. Whether it be a fine wine to go with 

your meal or a cocktail at the bar, this man delivers something special at this popular 

restaurant/bar. Michał Szatkowski posed the questions armed with the obligatory bottle 

of bubbly... 

Q: What do you do when you’re not working? 

A: I’ve got quite a few hobbies. I collect coins from the Ukraine, and travel there quite a 

bit. I also enjoy playing chess. 

Circus 

ul. Starowiślna 16 

Maybe it was because the school term hadn’t started yet, but the grand opening of the much-awaited 

Circus Klub was not the rocket up the city’s backside it could have been. Instead it was a raucous 

party of friends and cognoscenti who were dwarfed by the huge size of this former cinema 

and its enormous dancefloor - the biggest in Krakow. But despite this slow start, far from fearing 

for Circus’ future, it seems safe to predict big things ahead. Why? Because unlike 90 percent 

of new venues which open in Krakow, Circus actually offers the city’s party-goers something 

different to their existing options. Instead of another cramped cellar decked out with expensive 

baubles, Circus is a stripped-back affair which capitalises on its former incarnation as a 

movie theatre. The seats have been ripped out of the auditorium to create a vast space for 

drink-fuelled dancing and debauchery, a huge screen flashes gargantuan visuals as a backdrop 

to the pandemonium, whilst upstairs punters will find a second bar full of ceramic animals for 

that added cult factor. In short, Circus is the perfect place for students to spend their parents’ 

hard-earned cash on piwo and grope each other to the latest commercial cheese and retro hits. 

Not one for the sophisticated party-goer, but for once a club owner seems to have realised that 

the Mercedes-driving dance music-loving “elite” are far outnumbered by hormonally-charged 

academics. 

Duncan Rhodes 

DROP IN 

Bonton 

Plac Dominikański 4 

Q: Are you any good at chess? 

A: We have a chess board here, I’ll give you a game and show you! 

Q: What’s the best thing about your job? 

A: I get to experiment with new drinks, mixing different flavours. 

Q: What’s the worst thing about your job? 

A: I sometimes feel like a priest or lawyer because people come to the bar and I overhear 

some interesting stories, and I can’t tell anyone about them! 

Q: Have you ever had any famous clients here? 

A: Yeah, we’ve had quite a few here. Probably the most famous would be Andrzej Wajda, 

the Oscar-winning film director who made the film Katyń. 

Q: What’s your dream job? 

A: I’d like to work as a negotiator for big international companies. 

Q: What’s the best cure for a hang-over? 

A: A drink called the “Liza Minnelli.” It’s 2ml olive oil, 40ml tomato juice, an egg yolk and 

a shot of pepper vodka. It tastes disgusting but is a great cure! 

Q: What’s the best thing about Krakow in the autumn? 

A: We have the best nightclubs in Poland, and when all the students are back in the city 

the atmosphere in them is great! 

Q: What would you recommend I try here at Metropolitan? 

A: We have a great caesar salad here, and to drink I’d recommend the espresso martini, 

or the cucumber martini for something more unusual. 

There’s something suspicious about the concept of a club/restaurant. Is it primarily a nightclub 

or is it more of a restaurant? Can one set of owners realistically expect me to believe they 

are both experts of gastronomy and of music and nightlife trends? Moreover, if I’m going for a 

romantic meal do I want a load of drunkards raising merry havoc downstairs? And if I’m going 

downstairs to get drunk and raise merry havoc do I want to deal with the disapproving look of 

prudish diners on my way to the dancefloor? Whether the owners of Bonton have the answers 

to these questions remains to be seen. They’ve created a good-looking, if not exactly unique, 

venue, and they certainly managed to attract a fashionable and decent-sized crowd to their 

opening party in September, inviting hip UK singer Dani Siciliano to get the party started. However, 

with Krakow’s clubbers desperate to experience anything different, pretty much any new 

place can be guaranteed a good opening night - so long as they remember to post the event on 

Mynight.pl and Last.fm. All-in-all an auspicious beginning, but, as with so many new venues, I 

sense a happy ending is far from guaranteed. 

Duncan Rhodes 

Paweł Okuniewicz, October’s bar person of the month 

www.restauracja-amadeus.pl

CL4 Krakow Post OCTOBER 2008 A D V E R T I S E M E N T S www.krakowpost.com 

r e s t a u r a n t 

delicious hungarian cuisine 

ul. Grodzka 37, Kraków 

tel./fax: (0) 12 422 04 69 

www.balaton.krakow.pl 

Restaurant with unique temperament and Cracow atmosphere ! 

You can eat your dinner in one of the antique carriages… 

Dishes prepared over a beech wood grill using old polish and Italian recipes. 

(To restauracja z włoskim temperamentem i krakowską atmosferą! 

Można tu zjeść kolację w jednej z karet, wśród uskrzydlonej łodzi 

rybackiej i góralskich sań. 

Kuchnia polska, włoskie pasty…i tiramisu!) 

“Cherubino” ul.św.Tomasza 15, Krakow, tel. 012/4294007, 

tel./fax. 012/4294147 

www.cherubino.pl 

Famous restaurant on the “King’s Road” from Wawel Castle to Main Square. 

Traditional old polish cuisine using old recipes and charred beech wood grill. 

(Restauracja z atmosferą średniowiecznego Krakowa, 

na „Drodze Królewskiej” z Wawelu do Rynku Głównego. 

Zapraszamy w kulinarną „podróż” do staropolskich smaków. 

Ogródek z fontanną na dziedzińcu.) 

Courtyard garden and medieval atmosphere. 

ul.Grodzka 35, Kraków, tel. 012/4213999, 

tel./fax. 012/4302113 

www.podaniolami.pl



FORK OUT 

Miód Malina 

ul. Grodzka 40, (0) 12 430 04 11 

Located on the Royal Route along Grodzka Street, Miód Malina was guaranteed plenty of attention 

from the start. But while many other establishments have struggled to regularly attract 

the stomachs of curious passers-by, Miód Malina has managed to become a true favourite of 

both visitors and locals. 

Krakow certainly has no shortage of rustic-looking restaurants serving traditional food, but the 

attempts are often clumsy and old-fashioned. Here in Miód Malina the atmosphere is warm, inviting, 

and at just the right level of elegance and sophistication. Contrasting the city-wide “CK 

Browar Conundrum” of serving delicious food/drink in gorgeous surroundings and then mysteriously 

pumping the space full of pop and techno, Miód Malina has really got it on the mark with 

a mix of European folk complementing the mood. 

On to the food; there is really very little to complain about and actually quite a lot to praise, 

with Miód Malina offering the ultimate accessible menu at prices that certainly won’t break 

the bank. Traditional Polish must-haves are served alongside Italian staples, meaning practically 

every picky eater can leave this place completely satisfied. Behind the bar is a woodburning 

oven, multi-tasking away at baking the perfect pizza crust or crisping up a plate of 

pierogi (no deep-frying here!). Other highlights include an incredible pasta with chicken, pear 

and almonds, a mouth-watering steak with cranberry sauce, horseradish, and oscypek (smoked 

sheep’s cheese), and delicious racuchy (apple pancakes) with caramel and vanilla sauce. Apart 

from the food, the service at Miód Malina is impeccable and the owners must be doing something 

right as after almost two years, I still see the same faces zipping around the place, and 

amazingly, still smiling. There’s something comforting knowing that these 20-somethings have 

decided to stay here in the Old Town of Krakow rather than escaping off to Dublin or London 

like their friends. 

The success of Miód Malina has garnered plenty of attention from guide books, so in the peak 

tourist season, expect this place to be packed full in the evenings. Even in the off season reservations 

are encouraged. The only downfall here is that with almost every diner around you a 

tourist speaking loudly in English and genuinely trying to pronounce difficult Polish words (bless 

‘em), things can get a little distracting. My suggestion is to come here for a late lunch or early 

dinner in the afternoon to experience Miód Malina at its calmest hour and still be able to enjoy 

the great views in daylight onto the cobblestoned streets of Grodzka and Poselska. A must-taste 

for picky Cracovian foodies and curious weekend visitors alike. 

Dana Dramowicz 

Milk&Co. 

Radisson SAS, Straszewskiego 17, (0) 12 618 88 88 

Nestled in one of the calmest corners of the Old Town, the Radisson SAS is just a few steps away 

from Wawel castle and right across the street from the Krakow Philharmonic. Among the dining options 

at the five star hotel is Milk&Co, an upscale yet informal restaurant serving traditional regional 

dishes from Krakow and Małopolska. In October and November, Milk&Co is trying something different 

by introducing some Asian flavors through their Taste Thai event. Chef Praphot Bunlua has brought 

Thailand’s tropical beaches to our hitherto damp and dreary autumn in the form of sticky jasmine 

rice, spicy curry, and crunchy stalks of lemongrass. Mirroring its national religion of Buddhism, the 

best Thai food displays a careful equilibrium with searing hot curries balanced with coconut milk and 

kaffir lime leaves. At Milk&Co you’ll be able to find Thailand’s most famous dishes including pad thai 

(Thai fried noodles), tom khaa gai (hot and sweet chicken soup with coconut milk), and kaeng kari 

kai (green curry chicken). In Thailand meals are unlikely to be served in courses, so the Milk&Co Thai 

Buffet is an authentic and casual approach to this varied cuisine. The buffet is served Thursdays to 

Saturdays from 6 to 11 pm and costs 120 złotys per person, which includes wine. An à la carte menu 

is also available. Opportunities to sample the flavours of Southeast Asia in Krakow are few and far 

between, so curious eaters are definitely encouraged to jump on this occasion! 

Polskie Jadło 

ul. Św. Tomasza 8, (0) 12 428 00 22 


As a top tourist destination for hardcore traditional Polish food, Polskie Jadło has been resting comfortably 

on its laurels for quite some time. Where else do you get a shock introduction into the oft 

uncomfortable world of Polish cuisine in the form of a complimentary smalec (dry rendered pork lard) 

starter? An affordable lunch menu manages to draw in locals as well for such yummy treats as spinach 

and bacon naleśniki (Polish crêpes) and placki ziemniaczane (potato pancakes or latkes) with sour 

cream. Let’s hope the recent downturn in Krakow’s tourism doesn’t dampen Polskie Jadło’s zest for 

the fatty and delicious. 


Summer restaurant-boat located in the bend of the Vistula River 

at the foot of the Wawel Castle. 

Sitting on its upper deck, you will recall long-forgotten charms of life 

on the Vistula River. 

(Letnia restauracja na statku na Wiśle u stóp Wawelu. 

Siedząc na górnym pokładzie odnajdą Państwo dawno zapomniane uroki życia 

nad Wisłą.) 

Galar “Pod Aniołami” Zakole Wisły, 

Bulwary Wiślana vis a vis Hotelu Sheraton, 

tel. 0691 44 04 03 

“…that honor goes to Cafe Camelot, which might just be 

my favorite cafe in the world 

(..go for apple pie)” David Streitfeld 

“The Washington Post Travel” 

Coffee house – gallery with the most romantic summer garden in Cracow. 

The magical atmosphere of that place and original interiors dating back 

to the XIII century. 

(Galeria – kawiarnia z wyjątkowym ogródkiem w Zaułku Niewiernego Tomasza. 

Jest miejscem spotkań niezwykłych ludzi, koncertów, kabaretów i recitali. 

W galerii na piętrze wydarzenia artystyczne i wystawy fotograficzne. 

W piątki kabaret „Loch Camelot”) 

On Fridays Loch Camelot Cabaret. 

Cafe Camelot” ul. św.Tomasza 17, Kraków, 

tel.012/4210123



spotlight 

u n s o u n d f e s t i v a l 

every day 18-25.10 

14:00 // 

Elektrownia Podgórska 

thurs. 23.10 

15:00 // 

Kino 18 

Fuck Buttons / photograph courtesy of unsound.pl 

6th Unsound Festival 

(17-25 October) 

On October 17th at 6 pm at the Podgórze Elektrownie 

(power station), something unusual will 

take place... strange sounds and images will fill 

the 19th century building as renowned film composer 

Michael Nyman kicks off The 6th Annual Unsound 

Festival. Unsound is one of the more unique 

and progressive music festivals that exist in Poland 

and Central Europe. Every autumn Unsound showcases 

cutting edge artists from all over the world 

that exist on the borders of different genres: classical, 

ambient, rock, clubbing and experimental. 

This year’s edition is their most ambitious yet, 

spanning seven days and nights and featuring such 

radically diverse artists as Max Richter, Skream, 

Benga, Ben Frost, Xiu Xiu, Pan American, Bruno 

Pronsato, the aforementioned Michael Nyman and 

even Fuck Buttons. 

This year’s festival pushes the boundaries not only 

musically and sonically but also expands spatially 

into new eclectic and atmospheric venues. Apart 

from the Podgórze Elektrownie, Unsound will 

host events and concerts in Gothic St. Catherine’s 

Church, Galicia Jewish Museum, Manggha Museum 

of Japanese Art & Technology and Kino Pod 

Baranami. 

There are many exciting events and curious concerts 

throughout the week, but perhaps the most 

intriguing event is an eight-hour marathon show 

performed by Jan Jelinek’s band Groupshow. The 

band will improvise to Andy Warhol’s film Empire, 

a static shot of the Empire State Building filmed 

in 1965. The performance will start promptly 

at 20:06, which was the exact time that Warhol 

began filming in New York. This particular performance 

is free and will take place in the Galicia 

Jewish Museum in Kazimierz. Empire is one of four 

Warhol films being screened and reinterpreted by 

musicians, audio artists and VJs throughout this 

year’s Unsound, including screenings at the Pod 

Baranami cinema. For a full listing of concerts and 

events and to buy tickets for the festival, log onto 

www.unsound.pl 

Thym Chase 

Michael Nyman’s SUBLIME 

from Monday 14:00 // 

Galeria F.A.I.T - installation 

Kaspar Koenig & Simon Berz 

sat. 18.10 

20:06 // Galicia Jewish 

Museum 

Warhol Series 1 - EMPIRE 

Hanno Leichtmann 

Groupshow 

Jan Jelinek 

Andrew Pekler 

sun. 19.10 

20:00 // 


Warhol Series 2 - BLOWJOB 

20:00 // 

Németh / Hess / Siewert 

St Katherine’s Church 

Images courtesy of Coke Live Music Festival 

mon. 20.10 

20:00 // 


Warhol Series 3 - KISS 

nsi. 

tues. 21.10 

10:00 // 

Kino 18 

Music Journalism Workshop 

16:00 // 

Kino 18 

Warhol Series 4 - Amos Poe’s 

Empire II 

20:00 // 

Manggha Japanese Museum 

Warhol Series 4 - Amos Poe’s 

Empire II 

weds. 22.10 

20:00 // 


SoundScapes 1 

20:00 Mark Templeton 

20:40 Autistic Daughters 

21:30 The Necks 

Workshop - Acoustic 

Instruments in Live Laptop 

Performance 

(Mark Templeton) 

20:00 // 


SoundScapes 2 (Fat Cat label) 

20:00 Hauschka 

21:10 Max Richter 

23:00 // 

Pauza Cellar Club 

SoundProof 1 - Circus Co. 

22:00 bshosa (detroitZDRoJ) 

23:30 dOP 

00:30 Nôze 

01:30 Tibor Holoda 

fri. 24.10 

SoundScapes 3 

- Impossibility of Silence 

20:00 Colleen 

20:50 Pan American 

21:40 Ben Frost 

22:00 // 


SoundProof 2 - FACTORY 

22:30 Jacek Sienkiewicz Presents 

Recognition ( ROOM 1 ) 

23:00 Jorge Haro ( ROOM 2 ) 

23:45 Banabila / Zenial ( ROOM 2 ) 

00:00 Melchior Productions 

( ROOM 1 ) 

00:15 The Sight Below ( ROOM 2 ) 

01:00 Bruno Pronsato ( ROOM 1 ) 

01:15 Jørgen Knudsen ( ROOM 2 ) 

02:30 Galoppierende Zuversicht 

( ROOM 1 ) 

sat. 25.10 

20:00 // 

Klub Studio 

Dissolving Borders & Dubstep 

Invasion 

20:00 Fuck Buttons 

21:00 Xiu Xiu 

22:30 Boxcutter 

23:30 Benga 

00:45 Skream 

02:00 Pinch

posted 

provided by Cracow-life.com 


The Month in Events 


SPECIAL EVENTS 

BAYIT HADASH: ENCOUNTERS 

WITH JEWISH CULTURE 

The Centre for Jewish Culture is celebrating 

its 15th birthday, and a rich programme 

of events will see in the Jewish New Year, 

which falls on September 29th. Throughout 

October and November, visitors can make the 

most of a series of exclusive lectures, literary 

debates, classical and Klezmer concerts, 

and much more. 

when - Throughout October 

where - Centre for Jewish Culture, 

ul. Meiseslsa 17 

FESTIVALS 

OFF CAMERA - 1ST INTERNATIONAL 

FESTIVAL OF INDEPENDENT CINEMA 

See “Silver Screening” insert for details. 

when - 1st until 5th October 

where - Various 

UNSOUND FESTIVAL 2008 

See spotlight, CL 6. 

when - 18th to 25th October 

where – Various 

ORGAN DAYS AT THE PHILHARMONIC 

A bankable fixture in Krakow’s autumn 

calendar, Organ Days has been piping away 

for over forty years now. This year, the 

Philharmonic is laying on a trio of performances, 

beginning on Thursday 23rd with a 

solo gig by Andrzej Białko. The following 

day, Jacek Kulig will play Puccini 

and Respighi, accompanied by tenor and 

bass. Wrapping things up on Saturday will be 

a tribute to celebrated composer Roman 

Maciejewski, whose Requiem provides the 

main feature. 

when - 23rd to 25th October 

where - Philharmonic Hall, ul. Zwierzyniecka 1 

ZADUSZKI JAZZ FESTIVAL 

Shake off those autumn blues with a dash of 

jubilant jazz. This stalwart of the rainy season 

is now in its 53rd year, echoing Krakow’s 

long-running romance with the genre. Local 

legends will be joined by a handful of special 

guests from abroad. 

when - 31st October to 3rd November 


Zofia Stryjeńska, Zólta spódnica (Yellow Dress), 1950. National Museum in Krakow 

EXHIBITIONS 

FIRST STEP... 

A hoard of contemporary classics can be 

explored at the National throughout autumn, 

including cuts from blonde bombshell Andy 

Warhol and his mischievous protégé David 

LaChapelle. With works from a dozen hot 

names in the contemporary canon, “First 

Step...” stands out as one of the most heavyweight 

shows of recent months. Krakow has 

hit the jackpot thanks to Rafael Jablonka, 

whose eponymous gallery in Cologne established 

him as a major international collector. 

There are hopes that this show is the “first 

step” in a more permanent relationship with 

Mr. Jablonka. 

when - Throughout October & November 

where - National Museum, Al. 3 Maja 1 

JEWISH ARTISTS IN KRAKOW 1873-1939 

The Old Synagogue provides an atmospheric 

backdrop to this exhibition. Polish Jewish 

writers have won international acclaim, but 

their painter peers have not been in the 

spotlight to the same degree. This exhibition 

showcases over a hundred and fifty works 

by Polish Jewish artists. Figures such as 

Zygmunt Menkes and Leopold Gottlieb 

are already highly appraised by Polish art 

historians, yet visitors can also enjoy works 

by lesser-known talents. 

when - Until 31st October 

where - Old Synagogue Museum, ul. Szeroka 24 

Mark Templeton, unsound festival 

coastlines to barren, snow-capped mountains, 

Ecuador is a country of wildly varied 

terrains. At this special exhibition, which 

comes under the patronage of the Ambassador 

to Poland Fernando Flores Macias, 

visitors can discover an evocative array of 

archaeological relics and handcrafted treasures. 

There are also films from the archives 

of Borys Malkin. Find the show at the 

A D V E R T I S E M E N T 

Tom Vernimmen. “In-Between Worlds. Photographs of Nowa Huta,” Galeria Zderzak 

ECUADOR - CULTURE ON THE EQUATOR 

From tropical forests and mangrove-riddled



museum’s subsidiary branch at the Esterka 

House. 

when - Until 31st January 2009 

where - Ethnographic Museum 

(Esterka Branch), ul. Krakowska 46 

NIHON 

Professional shutterbug Tomek Niewiadomski 

has been toing and froing from Japan 

for several years now, and this exhibition 

shows the fruits of those sojourns. Niewiadomski 

collaborated with Japanese fashion 

designer Yohji Yamamoto, but “Nihon” also 

draws on his more personal encounters with 

the people he met. 

Adam Marczyński, Konkretcollage 62 (Detail) 

when - From 6th September 

where - Pauza Gallery, ul. Floriańska 18/5 

OFF CAMERA 

1st International Festival of 

Independent Cinema 

JAN III SOBIESKI 

- PORTRAITS OF THE VIENNA VICTORS 

Chiming in with the 325th anniversary of 

the Relief of Vienna, the National is laying 

on its own modest tribute to the monarch 

who saved the day: Jan III Sobieski. The 

portly king - one of the most swashbuckling 

characters of his day - won the applause of 

all Christendom when he helped repulse the 

Turks from Vienna in 1683. This small yet 

charismatic show is being hosted in the exquisite 

Ciolek Palace at the foot of the Royal 

Castle. Fresh from renovation, and boasting 

a royal roster of Old Polish art, the museum 

is a splendid addition to the city’s cultural 

orbit. Catch the show before it closes on the 

12th. 

when - Until 12th October 

where - Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace, 

ul. Kanonicza 17 

IN BETWEEN WORLDS 

Belgian photographer Tom Vernimmen 

has been pottering around Nowa Huta for 

five years now. The fruits of his wanderings 

can be enjoyed at this memorable exhibition 

at Galeria Zderzak. Vernimmen brings 

to life a much maligned district, finding both 

charm and grit, as well as a liberal dash of 

the bizarre. 

when - Until 18th October 

where - Galeria Zderzak, ul. Floriańska 3 

TRACES OF MEMORY 

A wander around the once Jewish streets of 

Kazimierz would not be complete without a 

pause in the Galicia Museum. Founded by a 

bold British photographer who had roots in 

the region, the museum provides a vivid introduction 

to a 700 year legacy. Although the 

Holocaust looms over the exhibition, “Traces of 

Memory” is both a lament and a celebration, 

finishing on a surprisingly optimistic note. 


where - Galicia Jewish Museum, ul. Dajwór 18 

ADAM MARCZYŃSKI 

- BETWEEN METAPHOR & CERTAINTY 

Born exactly a century ago, Adam 

Marczyński was one of Krakow’s most potent 

artistic forces in the years following the 

war. This exhibition focuses on his abstract 

adventures between the years 1954 and 

1963. Besides paintings, there will be a large 

selection of prints and sketches on view. 

when - 2nd October until 4th January 2009 


ONE OR TWO OR CROWD 

Krakow’s newest art gallery kicks off its art 

attack with an exhibition by Kristof Kintera, 

the “enfant terrible of the Czech art scene.” 

He’ll be spewing red oil across the room in 

thick, gleaming dollops. Confused? Head over 

to ul. Mikołajska to investigate further... 

when - Until 21st October 

where - Dominik Art Projects, ul. Mikołajska 5/2 

SWEET MONDAY & OTHER STILL LIFES 

Photoholics and alcoholics can enjoy a double 

whammy at Pauza this October, beginning 

with Pawel Zak’s surreal and witty 

still lifes. The opening of the show is at 8 pm 

on Friday 10th. 

when - 11th until 31st October 

where - Pauza Gallery, ul. Floriańska 18/5 

THE PATH TO THE VATICAN 

Echoing the election of the Archbishop of 

Krakow to the throne of St. Peter exactly 30 

years ago, this exhibition explores the contacts 

between Poland’s former Royal Capital 

and the Vatican. 

when - From 11th October 

where - Krzysztofory Palace, Rynek Główny 35 

ZOFIA STRYJEŃSKA (1891-1976) 

Dubbed “The Princess of Polish Art” after her 

triumph at the 1925 International Exhibition 

in Paris, Stryjeńska is being celebrated 

this year in her first major retrospective 

to date. Although by no means the most 

talented or innovative of Poland’s pre-war 

avant-garde, her work perfectly captures 

the playful spirit of Polish Art Deco, with its 

joyful championing of folk motifs. This wideranging 

exhibition delves into many aspects 

Sobieski - at Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace 

It’s inspiring to see ambitious new 

festivals popping up at this time 

of year, and this one looks set to 

be a winner. Off Camera will be 

showcasing over 120 independent 

films from around the globe, with a 

select number battling it out for a 

grand prize of 100,000 Euros (not 

to mention a cartload of kudos). In 

tune with the independent accent, 

the festival will be championing 

the city’s art house and lone ranger 

cinemas. The organisers are brimming 

with bright ideas, with intriguing 

tangents such as the tripartite 

Glancing Back section, which shines 

spotlights on Andy Warhol, Michael 

Almereyda and the works of the 

American Film Theatre. Meanwhile, 

“Take it, all of you, and shoot it” 

offers a 3000 euro prize for the 

best miniature movie that’s shot 

on a mobile phone. Find out more 

from the festival’s official website. 

www.capellacracoviensis.pl 

when - 1st until 5th October 


when > 15th to 31st SEPTEMBER 

www.offcamera.com.pl 

silver screening 

Ballast (USA, 2008) directed by Lance Hammer 

Fri. 3rd Oct – KIJÓW 19:00 Ballast dir. Lance Hammer 

Fri. 3rd Oct – BUNKIER 22:30 Lonesome Cowboys dir. Paul Morrissey 

Sat. 4th Oct – POD BARANAMI 19:00 Travelling with Pets dir. Vera Storozheva 

Sat. 4th Oct – POD BARANAMI 22:30 Correction dir. Thanos Anastopoulos 

Sun. 5th Oct – ARS - REDUTA 16:00 Mister Lonely dir. Harmony Korrine 

Sun. 5th Oct – MIKRO 19:00 Rocking Horse Winner dir. Michael Almereyda 

FULL PROGRAMME AVAILABLE www.offcamera.pl



Travelling with Pets (Russia, 2007) directed by Wiera Storożewa at Off Camera Film Festival 

of Stryjeńska’s career. Besides paintings, 

there will be posters, book designs and stage 

sets (Stryjeńska even designed the famed 

Wedel Chocolate Shop in Warsaw). 

when - 24th October until 4th January 


IN THE SHADOWS OF THE 

IMAGINATION - ALFRED KUBIN 

The supreme ICC continues its tributes 

to Austrian masters, this time looking at 

Alfred Kubin, often dubbed “the Austrian 

Goya.” Ghouls, demons and strange apparitions 

haunt Kubin’s images, making him the 

perfect choice to illustrate works by Edgar 

Allen Poe, E.T.A Hoffmann and Dostoevsky. 

This show draws on the world’s 

largest collection of Kubin’s works, which are 

housed at Linz’s Landesmuseum. 

when - 28th October to 27th January 

where - International Cultural Centre, 


OPERA, THEATRE 

& DANCE 

GROTESKA: CHILDREN’S THEATRE & MORE 

Puss In Boots (Kot w Butach) will be bounding 

into Groteska this October. The premiere 

is pencilled in for Saturday 11th, and there 

will be plenty more performances throughout 

the month. The Groteska Puppet Theatre has 

won acclaim for its magical interpretations 

of the classics, offering first class family 

entertainment that’s full of fantasy. Also in 

the programme for October are Little Red 

Riding Hood (Czerwony Kapturek) and The 

Ugly Duckling (Brzydkie Kaczatko). 


where - Groteska, ul. Skarbowa 2 

FILM 

SALOME ON THE SILVER SCREEN 

Kino Kijów kicks off the new season with a 

live transmission of Salome direct from The 

Metropolitan Opera in New York. Strauss’s 

classic starts at 7 pm sharp Krakow time. 

when - 11th October 

where - Kino Kijów, al. Krasińskiego 34 

Truck. The screenings start at 7 pm. 


where - Kino Pod Baranami, Rynek Główny 27 

CINEMA IN FIVE FLAVOURS: 

2ND FESTIVAL OF VIETNAMESE FILM 

Kino Pod Baranami has a nifty proposal to 

help spice up the late autumn gloom. 

“Cinema in Five Flavours” brings you a tantalising 

taste of Vietnamese film, with prime 

pieces by the top directors on today’s scene. 

Six scintillating movies have been lined up 

to transport you to sweltering Southeast 

Asia, offering a golden opportunity to savour 

some fresh perspectives. Drop by to Kino Pod 

Baranami for more details. 

when - 21st to 26th October 

where - Kino Pod Baranami, Rynek Główny 27 

Sobieski - at Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace 

LIVE MUSIC 

4TH KRAKOW JAZZ AUTUMN 

Two of Krakow’s hippest hangouts - Alchemia 

and Klub Re - will be hosting this year’s Jazz 

Autumn. Jazz stars will be jetting in from as 

far afield as Mozambique, the U.S. and Japan 

for some subterranean jam sessions. Amongst 

the guests for October are Scandanavian outfit 

Atomic, the Charles Gayle Trio and 

the Kazutoki Umezu Kiki Band. 

when - Throughout October & November 


Cinema in Five Flavours, 


FUTURE SHORTS FESTIVAL 

Since starting in 2003, Future Shorts has 

become a bona fide phenomenon, casting 

its celluloid tentacles into dozens of cities 

around the world. On Friday 17th you 

can catch 11 short films back to back. The 

overarching theme of the October edition is 

ambition, and cinephiles can enjoy cuts from 

Swedish, British, Finnish, Canadian and German 

directors. Intriguing titles include Who 

I Am and What I Want and Alex and Her Arse

CL10 Krakow Post OCTOBER2008 


OPEN MIC NIGHT AT SZAFE 

The Open Mic Night is a monthly event at 

which performers can get on stage and share 

their music. All musicians of all levels and 

attitudes are welcome. Cafe Szafe (located 

one block from Massolit Books) provides the 

cozy stage, full PA system, and good beer, 

every first Sunday of the month. A good time 

is guaranteed, whether you come to play or 

just to listen. From 7 to 10 pm. 


where - Cafe Szafe, ul. Felicjanek 10 

CASPIAN 

Krakow’s new Face2Face club is starting off 

with an impressive line-up, featuring American 

instrumental rock band Caspian. Based 

in Beverly, Massachusetts, the band has been 

together since 2003, and has a full-length album 

under their belt titled “The Four Trees.” 

Supporting Caspian will be Krakow’s own 

international post-rock band New Century 

Classics. Expect a night of epic melodies, 

walls of sound and beautiful moments. 

when - 23rd October 

where - Face2Face, ul. Paulińska 28 

THE KLEZZMATES 

The Klezzmates kick back with a fresh 

mixture of jazz, folk, ethnic and Klezmer. 

Tickets are 20 złoty (12 złoty concessions). 

when - 23rd October 

where - Galicia Jewish Museum, ul. Dajwór 18 

NINJA TUNE 

PRESENTS: COLDCUT 

JOURNEYS BY VJ 

Ninja Tune is bringing yet another hot party 

to Krakow’s underground Pauza Club, with 

Coldcut - a musical duo consisting of Matt 

Black and Jonathan More from the UK. Supporting 

will be Mike Polarny & Hory 

(Pompon.net). Visuals will be masterfully 

handled by VJ Bankok & Mikee of Temporary 

Space Design. The party kicks 

off at 10 pm. For tickets, e-mail dominika@ 

pauza.pl. 


where - Pauza Club, ul. Floriańska 18 

“klezzmates” play live 

LADYTRON 

Ladytron - one of the biggest groups on 

the electronic music scene - will be hitting 

Krakow’s Studio student club, promoting 

their new album “Velocifero,” which includes 

collaborations with Alessandro Cortinim 

(Nine Inch Nails) and Vicarious Bliss 

(Justice, DJ Mehdi). Sometimes electropoppy, 

sometimes synth-heavy, Ladytron’s 

music will have the club’s dancefloor jumping 

and fans’ eardrums reverberating well after 

the concert. Tickets start at 65 złoty, and are 

available online or at the club’s ticket office. 


where - Studio, ul. Reymonta 17 

CULTURAL PARTNERS 

AUDREY & ANDY 

Granted, both bands’ names start with the 

letter “A”, both bands feature four girls singing 

and playing various instruments, and both 

band names are names themselves - but this 

is where the similarities between Audrey 

& Andy end. Audrey is a post-rock band 

from Sweden, playing melodies that vary 

from poppy to dark, often in the same song. 

Meanwhile, the indie pop of the Polish girls in 

Andy is far from original, though the fun they 

have on stage is pretty contagious. 

when - 31st October 

where - Lizard King, ul. Św. Tomasza 11a 

CLUB MUSIC 

MIDWEEK PARTIES 

Another month and another exciting round 

of Where2b parties. If you can’t wait for the 

weekend check out Mixer on Mondays at Prozak, 

Today on Tuesdays at Ministerstwo, Black 

Cherry on Wednesdays at Midgard and Sex 

on Wax on Thursdays at Cien Club. Hangover 

guaranteed! 


where - Various Clubs 

Been there? 

Done that? 

Got the t-shirt? 

The best bar, 

restaurant or hotel 

review wins a trip for 

2 back to the city. 

www.cracow-life.com 

ELSA KRAKOW NIGHT @ PROZAK 

Have your parents been pressuring you to 

study law, when all you want to do is party? 

Now’s your chance to snap up your very own 

legal body, as future lawyers gather up to 

get down at Prozak’s ELSA (European Law 

Students’ Association) Krakow night for law 

and administration students of Jagiellonian 

University and Krakow University College. 

You don’t have to be a student, however, to 

enjoy the tunes DJ Lux will be spinning - but 

it helps to act like one! 

when - 2nd October 

where - Prozak, pl. Dominikański 6



last page 

Stars & Puzzles 

ASTRO SELTZER 

SUDOKU 

LIBRA (Sep 23 - Oct 22) 

Unreliable people continue to be irritatingly unaware of how much trouble 

they’re causing. You’ve been biting your tongue and escaping into revenge 

fantasies; but, even that isn’t doing the trick. Play the waiting game and trust 

that by mid-month all will be back to what you’ve come to consider normal. 

Best bet for romance: an enthusiastically sensual Taurus or an unpredictable 

Aquarius will love arguing with you. 

To play: Complete the grid so that every 

row, column and every 3 x 3 box contains the 

digits 1 to 9. There is no guessing or maths 

involved, just use logic to solve. 

SCORPIO (Oct 23 - Nov 21) 

Lost in space without a map, 

you’ve been astoundingly 

distracted, aimless and illogical. 

That changes this month 

as some pro-active cosmic 

elements catapult you back 

into the real world. Your busy brain will be 

operating at fever pitch as you attack each 

and every aspect of your life with grit and 

determination. Best bet for romance: a sexually 

creative Gemini or a cool, calm and collected 

Libra will never take you too seriously. 

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 - Dec 20) 

If procrastination becomes 

too tempting, there’s no 

need to worry. Close friends 

are determined to see you 

succeed and will refuse to 

play along with any of your 

usual avoidance techniques. You may run, 

but you won’t be able to hide. Best bets 

for romance: sturdy Taurus will keep you 

grounded, while a goofy Aquarius will keep 

you chuckling. 

CAPRICORN (Dec 21 - Jan 19) 

Professionally speaking, 

you’ve been losing your grip, 

forgetting to repeat your 

“no one is to be trusted” 

mantra. It could be that 

you’re losing your touch, or 

perhaps you’re merely waiting for something 

that warrants your eagle-eyed attention. 

By mid-month, you’ll be planning a 

temporary sojourn in more exotic climes. 

Best bet for romance: a malleable Pisces 

will let run the ship, while an elegant Leo 

will treat you like royalty. 

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18) 

A bit of your sparkle has gone 

missing in action, adding a 

strange world-weary cast to 

your face. That is about to 

change - and the sooner the 

better. By the month’s end, 

you’ll be shattering people’s 

expectations and assumptions once again. 

Best bet for romance: a sentimental Pisces 

or a witty Gemini will prevent you from 

succumbing to the tyranny of predictability. 

Star-Signs drawn by Dominik Nawrocki 

PISCES (Feb 19 – March 19) 

Although you probably dress 

like a depressed missionary, 

your brain glows with ideas, 

visions and fantasies that 

are worth their weight in 

gold. This month, due to an 

interesting set of circumstances, 

you begin to understand just how 

valuable your insights and ideas are. Best 

bet for romance: an intense Scorpio will 

keep you on track, while a progressive 

Aquarius will help keep melancholy at bay. 

ARIES (Mar 20 - Apr 19) 

Your feverish brain won’t 

accomplish much until midmonth, 

when you suddenly 

develop a fresher perspective 

on life. Relationships have 

been particularly challenging, leaving you 

dazed and confused by impossible to meet 

demands. Ignore what you can’t fix and 

take a holiday in your own fantasy world. 

Best bet for romance: a quirky Virgo or an 

independent Aquarius will hold your interest. 

TAURUS (Apr 20 - May 20) 

Thrown off-guard by what 

you consider unwarranted 

criticism, you’ve been hiding 

out, nursing a few psychic 

wounds. The problem was 

(and still is!) that you aren’t 

always the best listener in the universe. 

Dust yourself off, take stock off all your 

wonderful qualities and try to pay closer 

attention to what’s going on around you. 

Best bet for romance: a half-mad Libra 

or an intense Scorpio will feed your ego 

while pushing your brain into full gear. 

GEMINI (May 21 - Jun 20) 

Blessed (or, cursed, depending 

on one’s world-view) with 

the capacity for detached 

passion, you’re a quietly 

contradictory piece of work. 

This month, your enviable 

creativity will be both noticed and 

rewarded. The only drawback is that you 

could be the target of jealousy; after all, 

most other people work harder than you 

and get nowhere in the process! Best bet 

for romance: a practical, but earthy Capricorn 

or distracted Libra will know when to 

give you space. 

CANCER (Jun 21 – Jul 22) 

Your hands-off philosophy hasn’t been 

working. Letting people toddle 

along at the own pace, 

you’ve discovered that too 

many people are lazy and 

unmotivated. Well enough of 

that: you’re about to unleash 

a brilliant plan that will put 

others back where they belong - at your 

feet doing your bidding. Best bet for romance: 

an easily-flattered Leo or a bouncy 

Sagittarius will let you rule the roost. 

LEO (Jul 23 - Aug 22) 

Love of detail and disdain for slip-shod 

work keeps you at least one 

step ahead of competitors. 

This month, however, a 

charmingly lazy type could 

pull the proverbial wool over 

your eyes in seconds flat. 

Why? You’re growing tired of running the 

show on your lonesome and are silently 

crying out for some ego-stroking. Best bet 

for romance: an emotional Cancer or a sly 

Pisces will know how to push all the right 

buttons. 

VIRGO (Aug 23 - Sep 22) 

Are you feeling stuck in a rut? Have you 

been dreaming about what it 

would be like to live someone 

else’s life? Uncharacteristically 

bored, you may be 

wondering if you’re actually 

depressed. The truth is that 

life has become too routine. 

That said, the only person who can shake 

things up is you! Best bet for romance: an 

energetic Aries or a devoted Taurus will 

take your well-meaning criticism in stride. 

Krakow Post’s astrology column is for entertainment 

purposes only, and the Post is not responsible 

for any consequences incurred as a result 

of this column. Written by Kerwin McLeister, 

sedibusincertis@yahoo.co.uk 

SUDOKU SOLUTIONS

GOODBYE, KOCHANIE! - Krakow Post

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