Journal 73 – A new chance for Central and Eastern European courtiers

In my journal 68 I have written that Europe is going to its new days. It is true. A few years after the Bolsheviks revolution (1917), the Soviet Union was established (1922). Lenin died in 1924. After Lenin’s death, Joseph Stalin took power in the Soviet Union. He was a cruel dictaror, who ruled Russia for almost 3 decades until his death in 1953. Stalin’s successors were: Chruschev, Brezniew, Chernienko and Andropov. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev took power and after him was Boris Yeltsen. Only they both were leaders of the new generation.
Russia, as a communist country, existed from 1917 to 1991. Boris Yeltsen resolved this empire. It is true that the Soviet Union kept the hard arm many Central and Eastern European countries: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, DDR and Albania.
Only in 1990s, Communism collapsed as a result general offensive. This process began from Poland. Europe, this Old Continent, took a new breath. Mentioned above countries and the former Soviet republics began to build their new future. One of these countries is Poland. This transition period isn’t easy, but Poles believe in the better future and they don’t give up. It is great that after a few decades, Eastern and Central Europe joined to democratic Western civilization.

Journal 72 – Hiroshima’s tragedy the 52 anniversary

Today is August 6, 2007. All people in the world remember Hiroshima, this Japanese city on which the first atomic bomb used was dropped.
It was the summer time in the year 1945. The Second World War was over in Europe in May 9, 1945. In the Pacific Ocean WW II was still going; it Japanese didn’t surrender. In April 1945, President Delano Roosevelt passed away. Hurry Truman took power after Roosevelt’s death. The United States plane dropped a single atomic bomb on the center of the city. Three days later, the Allies dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. Japan surrendered to the Allied forces on September 2, 1945. The atomic bomb destroyed about 5 square miles of the city. About 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed by the bomb. Many people died later from the effects of radiation.
Hiroshima, which lies on islands formed by a river delta on the shore of the Inland Sea, was rebuilt after the war.

Journal 70 – The Century’s Decline by Wislawa Szymborska

In my previous journal I have written that the twentieth century experienced many cruel events. Right now, I would like to show you what the one of the most famous Polish poets thinks about that period. I am giving the voice to Wislawa Szymborska a winner the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996. The title this poem is The Century’s Decline. The poem was translated by Prof. Stanislaw Baranczak from Harvard University.

The Century’s Decline

Our twentieth century was going to improve on the others.
It will never prove it now,
now that its years are numbered,
its breath is short.

Too many things have happened
that weren’t supposed to happen,
and what was supposed to come about
has not.

Happiness and spring, among other things,
were supposed to be getting closer.

Fear was expected to leave the mountains and the valleys.
Truth was supposed to hit home
before a lie.

A couple of problems weren’t going
to come up anymore;
hunger, for example,
and war, and so forth.

There was going to be respect
for helpless people’s helplessness,
trust, that kind of stuff.

Anyone who planned to enjoy the world
is now face
with a hopeless task.

Stupidity isn’t funny.
Wisdom isn’t gay.

Hope
isn’t that young girl anymore,
et cetera, alas.

God was finally going to believe
in a man both good and strong,
but good and strong
are still two different men.

“How should we live?” someone asked me in a letter.
I had meant to ask him
the same question.

Again, and as ever,
as may be seen above,
the most pressing questions
are naive ones.

Journal 69 – The cruel twentieth century

The twentieth century was one of cruelest period in the human history. This century experienced two world wars: the First World War and the Second World War. World War I was lasted from 1914 to 1918, and World War II was lasted from 1939-1945.
The Second World War began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. During World War II, and after it’s, were killed several dozens millions people. It was estimated that the same number of people could have died because of governmental repressions against its own citizens. The Soviet Union is a good example in this cause.
Unfortunately, prognosis for XX century isn’t optimistic. Many present conflicts have a source in the previous century.

Journal 68 – Europe is going to the new days

In my previous journals I have written that life very accelerated in the last decades. I deem that an Old Continent is one of the most dynamic areas in these days. Europe is experiencing its renaissance. If we want to understand present processes in this continent, we have to go back to World War II. I will devote my next journal these problems.