On June 4, 2014, Bolesławiec residents marked the 25th anniversary of Poland’s first partially free elections. The ceremony, organized at the “Forum” cinema, was attended by opposition activists from Bolesławiec, people directly involved in organizing the 1989 elections in Bolesławiec, and students from lower-secondary schools in the city.
The guests listened to two lectures. Jagna Kofta, a collaborator of the History Meeting House in Warsaw and the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk, presented the invited guests with an overview of everyday life during the Polish People’s Republic. Prof. dr hab. Grzegorz Strauchold of the University of Wrocław presented the activities of Bolesławiec opposition activists in a nationwide context.
Next, Deputy Mayor Kornel Filipowicz thanked the residents of Bolesławiec who had participated in building a free Poland: Bogdan Czyżewski, Antonina Zenona Dutkowska, Jan Filipek, Rev. Józef Gołębiowski, Jan Kisiliczyk, Eugeniusz Kowalski, Franciszek Kozdra, Ryszard Łoś, Zygmunt Maczkowiak, Danuta and Czesław Maślicki, Wiesław Ogrodnik, Jan Prystupa, Zbigniew Razik, Alicja Wdowińska, Beata Skorupa (née Winiarska), and Lucjan Złotkowski. Danuta Maślicka read a poem she had written especially for the occasion. Short speeches were also delivered by Jan Filipek, a representative of NSZZ “Solidarity” (the Bolesławiec Local Office of the Jelenia Góra Region Board of NSZZ “Solidarity”), and Jan Kisiliczyk, a Bolesławiec resident who was elected to the Sejm in Poland’s first parliamentary elections in the free Poland of 1989.
The second part of the celebrations featured a competition testing lower-secondary school students’ knowledge of the Polish People’s Republic and Poland’s first free elections. Some questions concerned people and events connected with Bolesławiec. The competition was contested by three-person teams from four municipal and two private lower-secondary schools. The jury, comprising Jan Filipek (NSZZ “Solidarity”), Prof. dr hab. Grzegorz Strauchold (University of Wrocław), and Dr Andrzej Olejniczak (Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec), awarded three distinctions and three prizes. First place went to the team from Municipal Lower-Secondary School No. 2, consisting of Karolina Mielnik, Bartosz Baranowski, and Artur Skalny, which achieved the maximum score; second place went to the team from the Second Private Lower-Secondary School, consisting of Małgorzata Narecka, Beata Borysiuk, and Gabriela Szpila; while third prize went to the team from Municipal Lower-Secondary School No. 1, consisting of Bartosz Bernacki, Kamil Biegała, and Marcin Polański.
The winners of the First Jacek Kaczmarski Song Review also performed on stage: Aleksandra Zarzycka, who won third place, and Marta Werens and Julia Gołębiowska, whom the jury awarded joint first places. The competition auditions, held under the honorary patronage of Bolesławiec Mayor Piotr Roman, took place on June 2 at the “Orzeł” Cultural Integration Centre. The review jury consisted of Wojciech Szajwaj (musician, guitarist, member of Sumptuastic), Dariusz Uściński (guitarist), Aleksander Samostrokov (choirmaster, State Music School of the First Degree in Bolesławiec), and Małgorzata Niewęgłowska (piano teacher, State Music School of the First Degree in Bolesławiec).
(commissioned information: Bolesławiec City Hall)