Yesterday on the way to visit a member couple, Sharon and I stopped for a walk in a park near the beach in Gdańsk. You can see from the photo what the name of the park is. On our walk we passed a sculpture of President Reagan and Pope John Paul II. The sculpture is faithfully reproduced from a photo taken of them walking together in Miami, Florida in 1987. The freshly grown flowers are placed around the bottom of the sculpture.
My question was why is this kind of a big deal in Gdańsk? I researched this and found that during the critical days in the 1980’s when Poland was at a turning point in trying to break away from Communism, President Reagan and the Pope were instrumental in support. Much of the impetus for leaving Communism was centered in Gdańsk itself, especially at the shipyards.
Wikipedia: “The Berlin Wall Speech was delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987. The speech is commonly known by a key line from the middle part: ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!‘ Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had encircled West Berlin since 1961.
John Paul II has been credited with fighting against dictatorships for democracy and with helping to end communist rule in his native Poland and the rest of Europe.” When it looked like the Solidarity movement in Poland was finished, John Paul II visited Poland. This revitalized the Polish push for democracy.
Sometimes I pinch myself. I am living behind the former Iron Curtain! What a benefit freedom is!
