Gdansk
This morning, as we sailed past the Gdansk shipyards where the Solidarity movement was born, we prepared to bid farewell to our distinguished Guest Lecturer, the former leader of Solidarity and past President of Poland, Lech Walesa. We were arriving in his home city on the anniversary of his signing the agreement between the Solidarity movement and the communist regime. Our final farewell was at his home, for he had generously invited us to visit him after our private concert in the nearby Oliwa cathedral. As we left for the ceremonies at the Solidarity monument, President Walesa left us the following message:
“Gdansk is a city of many historic references relevant both to European and world history. Just to focus ourselves on the recent century, we have to remember that it is here that World War II, which imposed the domination of communism in this region, started and it is here that the beginning to the end of communism was initiated. Thus it is here that the Poles began to make up for the error of Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt who divided the world in Yalta, introducing the division so impressively represented by the Berlin Wall. Today we arrived in Gdansk on this very important anniversary of the signing the 1980 August Agreement when we pay tribute to those who gave their lives in the struggle against the communist regime. Here, I hope that you may understand even better the urgent sense of responsibility I have for the shape of the world after the cold war. It was this that I tried hard to share with you while on board the M.S.Endeavour as your Guest Lecturer.” - Lech Walesa
This morning, as we sailed past the Gdansk shipyards where the Solidarity movement was born, we prepared to bid farewell to our distinguished Guest Lecturer, the former leader of Solidarity and past President of Poland, Lech Walesa. We were arriving in his home city on the anniversary of his signing the agreement between the Solidarity movement and the communist regime. Our final farewell was at his home, for he had generously invited us to visit him after our private concert in the nearby Oliwa cathedral. As we left for the ceremonies at the Solidarity monument, President Walesa left us the following message:
“Gdansk is a city of many historic references relevant both to European and world history. Just to focus ourselves on the recent century, we have to remember that it is here that World War II, which imposed the domination of communism in this region, started and it is here that the beginning to the end of communism was initiated. Thus it is here that the Poles began to make up for the error of Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt who divided the world in Yalta, introducing the division so impressively represented by the Berlin Wall. Today we arrived in Gdansk on this very important anniversary of the signing the 1980 August Agreement when we pay tribute to those who gave their lives in the struggle against the communist regime. Here, I hope that you may understand even better the urgent sense of responsibility I have for the shape of the world after the cold war. It was this that I tried hard to share with you while on board the M.S.Endeavour as your Guest Lecturer.” - Lech Walesa
