09-14 Warsaw 1992

I was naturally curious about going to Warsaw, Poland, because it was where our grandfather Halter was born. And more importantly, it was at the extermination camp at Treblinka, that over 60 of our grandfather’s uncles, aunts and cousins were gassed during WW2.
After my grandfather’s mother had died when he was a boy, the father took him and his older brother to live in England. Lucky move.
Treblinka was in a forest area north-east of Warsaw, and it was the largest extermination camp next to Auschwitz. Something like 700,000 to 900,000 Jews were killed at that awful place.
It was the occasion of the 19th International Small Business Congress, and it was a joyful occasion to see a city that had been levelled during the war, rebuilding the beautiful old historic parts of the city brick by brick.
Lech Walesa was the President of Poland at the time and spoke at the Congress. I met him personally along with all the other members of the ISBC Steering Committee. He was the former union organizer that helped bring down the Communist Regime in 1989.
I loved Castle Square, or what they call Plac Zamkowy, and I can see in the photo where I bought a lot of crystal bowls to take home as gifts.
A member of the Polish organizing committee was very good to me and gave me a city tour, bought me an excellent meal and took me out to his factory which made medical devices. He also took with him his payroll, which was all in cash. He said he prospered under communism, but had to share his wealth with several communist officials.
A highlight of the visit was an evening spent in the Palace Kultury, which I assumed was Polish for culture. And in the photo you can actually see where a small group of us enjoyed a Frederick Chopin concert from one of Poland's famous concert pianists.
Arriving home, I was surprised to get a telephone call from someone in Washington, who represented an organization dedicated to helping Poland shift from a Communist form of government to a form of Liberal Democratic Capitalism.
Apparently, the day I had spent with the member of the Polish organizing committee, I had been followed. The man on the telephone, who I assumed to be CIA, was concerned that the gentleman who was so kind to me was a Communist collaborator. They wanted to know everything he had said to me. Phew.