Twenty-four out of twenty-five councillors attended the extraordinary session of Zabrze City Council. All those present voted in favour of selling Górnik Zabrze. However, the city will retain a “golden share”, which in practice means that the local authority will still have a representative on the club’s supervisory board. According to PAP, the terms of the agreement clearly state that the new owner will not be able to change the club’s name or crest, nor move it to another city.

The buyer will be LP Holding GmbH, owned by Lukas Podolski. The transaction is due to be finalised on Thursday 21 May at Górnik’s stadium. This will be the first private owner of the Zabrze club since TU Allianz Polska (2007–2011). In July 2011, the Zabrze local authority acquired a majority stake.

- I am pleased to report that the task has been completed. There were many sleepless nights. For nine months, we negotiated from scratch and went through hundreds of issues. Lukas Podolski and his team are professionals. We had to safeguard against all risks. This is a historic moment for Górnik and the city. We are convinced that privatisation was the only way out of the situation. Local government cannot be involved in running sporting activities at this level. We have reached a compromise,” said Mayor Kamil Żbikowski, as quoted by PAP.

The price that LP Holding GmbH will pay for the acquisition of an 86 per cent stake amounts to just under 4 million zlotys (~942,000 euros). Lukas Podolski’s company was the only entity willing to make the purchase. The privatisation agreement stipulates, among other things, that the new owner will inject approximately 12.5 million zlotys (~2,950,000 euros) into the club over three years, which helped to reduce the purchase price of the shares.

I recently posted translation of article wrote by journalist Irena Piotrowska in 1957 about life in Sweden. You liked it, so I decided to translate another article by this author.
The first one was here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sweden/comments/1t0rihu/i_found_articles_from_local_polish_regional/

\"To buy a car, or go to Capri?\". Photo: \"Stockholm, St Catherine’s Lift. Every day, it takes hundreds of visitors up to the 'Gondola' restaurant\"

"Our correspondent travels through Sweden (2)"

Stockholm by day presents a different face to that of the night. The city takes on a more mundane, grey hue. In older districts, such as Klara, the buildings are crammed together; they are all dark and mostly four-storey high. There are no decorations or balconies. The austere, unimaginative architecture suggests that its creators were hard-hearted people, even puritans. The streets are narrow, barely wide enough for two cars to pass.

Contacts with Europe have softened the Scandinavians’ tastes somewhat. Free-spirited, charming France, and Germany with its excessive ornamentation, have imposed a touch of their style upon them. Newer districts have widened their pavements and given the facades of the houses a more cheerful, pleasing appearance. Parks, green spaces and flower gardens have sprung up.

A city on the rocks

The modern suburbs have stretched the city’s horizon. They have spread far out onto the islands and islets, and deep into the mainland. They have expanded the cluster of grey tenement blocks, blurring the cityscape into a vast patch with a colourful outline. They have given it what Stockholm is now famous for all over the world - magnificent motorways and bridges, four-level carriageways at junctions, underground electric trains running through granite tunnels.

For one must know that the entire city is built upon rocks. Travelling by tram, one can observe, on almost every street, huge granite slabs, filling the gaps where houses have not yet had time to grow. Trees and flowers grow on these very rock fragments. Tunnels are bored directly through them. This means there is no need for supports, cementing the ceilings, etc.

It is early in the morning. The day’s work has only just begun. Offices are open from 8 am, shops from 9 am. From the top of the huge bridge, almost a tower, at the junction of Regeringatan and Kungsgatan, we gaze at the city panorama. The streets are already filled with streams of pedestrians, and cars glide by noisily.

We leave the heights of the bridge to attend to more down-to-earth matters. The grey monotony of the houses is broken by colourful advertisements and shop windows. A few dozen kronor in my purse allows me to harbour the illusion that some of these "wonders" displayed behind the glass might actually be within my reach. But where to go?

HOORAY FOR CLOTHES!

Jasio and Ali want to look at cameras and radios, whilst the two girls naturally have a penchant for "clothes". So we head to the PUB department store, where you can find both of these things. The multi-storey building houses everything from high heels to the latest car brands. In front of the stalls, in neat plastic baskets, there are jumpers, shoes, toys, cosmetics, bananas... Everyone has access to them; you can pick them up and have a look.

Should I buy this rust-coloured blazer? - Małgorzata is in a quandary. The jumper is nice, yet it seems a bit too big.

We shake our heads helplessly. Perhaps there is another size? The shop assistant comes to our rescue, and soon a whole range of blazers appears on the counter. The lady handing them to us looks more like a shopper than a sales assistant. An elegant dress, pumps, earrings, impeccably manicured hands, no work smock, and that smile.

Everyday politeness

This is by no means an isolated incident;^(1) this is how customer service looks in all shops. A sales assistant selling socks at a street stall wouldn’t have the slightest trouble with his attire if he were asked at that very moment to attend a minister’s reception. He would simply wash his hands, adjust his tie, smooth his hair and... he’d be ready.

I wanted to buy some shoes. Leather ones, comfortable with a low heel. The day before, I’d spotted a pair in one of the shops on Drottninggatan. As it turned out, however, buying a pair of shoes is a complicated business. The shop assistant, whom I asked for my dream shoes, brought me a whole lot of others similar in style to those, and in all sorts of colours to choose from.

What was I to do? I liked almost all of them. I spent half an hour trying them on. During that time, the tireless Swedish sales assistant kept slipping different shoes onto my feet. She brought over mirrors so I could get a better look at my foot in the slipper. She would run up the ladders in her stiletto heels to fetch even more boxes.

Peace of mind

- What’s that lying there? - Ali can’t believe his eyes. On the pavement, leaning slightly against the wall, lies a woman’s handbag. People walk past, no one even glances at it. A man has just kicked it with his foot. He picked it up. He dusted it off and placed it a little higher up on the window sill.

Scenes like this and similar ones are seen very often. The Swedes, though very meticulous, even pedantic, still lose a lot of things. On the streets, in squares, on trams, briefcases, scarves and toys lie scattered about. No one touches them. In the places where they were left, they wait for their owners.

One of our friends left her handbag on the metro. There was quite a lot of shouting and complaining about this. After all, the handbag contained a passport, documents and money. Our Swedish supervisor, Mr Gunnar Andersson, didn’t understand at first what we were on about. "Why are you shouting so much?" (Compared to Poles, Swedes are a quiet lot and speak in the same tone about everything). We explained that we were worried about the handbag. What’s more, we had no idea how to get it back.

Mr Andersson promised he would sort it out. And indeed, the next day the lost item was found. Apparently, it isn’t even a long process. All items left in the train go to a central storage facility, from where they can be easily collected.

Only cameras and cars attract "greater interest". These are goods that are very expensive compared to other items. Perhaps that is why the Swedes are willing to compromise their integrity when it comes to acquiring them quickly. Ambassador Koszucki recounted how, one fine Sunday, he lost his camera. He left it along with his other belongings in a small wood near the town. When he returned after a few minutes, the camera was gone, although the other items remained where he had left them.

Hot Cars

Car theft has a long history in Sweden. It is treated as a game, a form of gambling. It is mostly carried out by young boys. The stolen car is used for driving until it runs out of petrol. It is then abandoned, and another, “borrowed” car takes its place. Most of these cars are unfit for use afterwards. Swedes drive at breakneck speed; accidents and car fires are frequent.

Owning one’s own car is nowadays a desire one might call nationwide. At present, "only" one in five families in Sweden has a car. It is not uncommon for mum, dad and son to each own their own car.

Car prices are quite high compared to earnings. The average monthly wage is 1,000 kronor. This is what shop assistants and skilled workers earn. People with higher education - engineers, doctors - earn between 1,500 and 2,000 kronor. These figures are somewhat reduced once taxes have been deducted. These otherwise ungrateful levies have the advantage of levelling out the disparities in living standards between different strata of society. The higher the salary, the higher the tax. There is even the fact that large companies pay 80 per cent of their income in tax.

- One might say that it is not worth earning a lot. Apparently, however, it is worth it, since there are still companies with enormous turnover. Besides, a higher salary entitles one to various privileges. However, the standard of living is generally average. If we were to apply it to our own categories, we would have to say that things are more than just fine there.^(2)

I mentioned the price of cars. It ranges from 5,000 to 15,000 kroner, or perhaps a little more. Spending around 200 kroner on rent and 300 kroner a month on food, you have the rest left over for buying clothes and other things. From this amount, however, you can set aside a tidy sum. After a while, with the money saved, you can buy a scooter or a car, or go to Capri in the summer.

Irena Piotrowska

^(1) Polish people are not beating allegations with this article, when it comes to smiling as "unnatural expression".

^(2) Very interesting use of data! I don't know how real are the numbers mentioned for Sweden, but average Pole in 1957 wouldn't dream of a car. In 1957, in Poland there was around 40-50k cars and 180k trucks. Polish motorization effort happened mostly in 70s and 80s. Mentioning that 1/5th of Swedish families have cars would be mindblowing for the average reader who would be Kashubian villager. Similarly as mentioning summer trip to Italy. You can see this contrast in other news. Just in this issue number you could read that it took 3 years for Kielno Village Council to secure bus connection with Gdańsk (one trip to the city at 6am and one back 4pm).

I have two articles about Sweden left from the same newspaper. One is shorter, another one longer, so I'll probably cover them both in one post later in the week!

I like to go through old Polish magazines, newspapers etc. in digital libraries and I found these interesting articles about Sweden/Stockholm from 1957. You can check them all yourself here:

http://www.bibliotekacyfrowa.eu/dlibra/show-content/publication/61872/edition/56841/ (just add +1 in both numbers in the link to get access to other editions, theres five of them).

I decided to translate the first one to English. I may publish another ones in the future, if you find it interesting!

First one: \"On a familiar terms with King Gustav\"

Our correspondent travels through Sweden (1)

Stockholm is a city that, from the very first encounter, casts its spell, draws you into the whirlwind of street life, and stops you in your tracks at every turn, compelling you to gaze at historic building facades, elaborate advertisements, and shop windows, each more intriguing than the last.

In a city like this, you have to be happy. You have to smile and admire. You have to adapt to the lighthearted tone of people free from everyday worries, so as not to feel like a visitor from another planet. And that is difficult. I must admit that I’ve felt this firsthand more than once,

The train slowly approached the station, as if deliberately wanting to allow us to take a good look at the city, in a flood of neon and fluorescent lights. We stood spellbound by the richness of colors, by the ingenuity of the advertisements, which even several kilometers before the city inform you that the best goods can be found at IUB, and the most delicious dinner from several world cuisines can be eaten at the BERNS restaurant.

We came to our senses when the train stopped. Our hosts - a group of Swedes from the Swedish-Polish Friendship Society - were already waiting on the platform.

As a greeting, each of the girls received a red carnation. We greeted each other - they said “dzień dobry”, we said “goddag”! Apparently, our pronunciation and accent left much to be desired, just as their broken Polish did; suffice it to say, we dismissed this “international” encounter with a shared laugh.

HERRING WITH HONEY

That "supranational" language - the smile - broke the first ice. We felt the great warmth with which our hosts welcomed us from the very first moment. We had already experienced this three days earlier, when we arrived in Göteborg late in the evening. Those days spent exploring one of Sweden’s three largest ports helped us get a little more accustomed to this strange country, where people eat herring with honey and can speak to the king informally.

Speaking of the latter, that is a true story. It happened to Gustav V, the predecessor of the current king, Gustav Adolf VI. This king, famous for his athletic feats, while staying at one of his summer residences, came across a peasant from a nearby village during a walk. Swedish peasants have a deeply rooted sense of personal freedom and equality... even with the king. No wonder, then, that the peasant approached Gustav V, shook his hand in greeting, and said: “You, remember that you must look after the interests of the state. We are counting on you, and you know well that you must not let us down.” This was at a time when Sweden did not enjoy such prosperity as it does today.

THE KING WITHOUT POWER

The king - once all-powerful monarch - is now confined to a small, allotted garden of powers. He is the head of state, but in name only. In reality, Parliament has relieved him of the burden of ruling, leaving him room to maneuver in the realm of parliamentary oratory. And even that is not tiring, because it is limited to an inaugural address every few years. Beyond that, the king signs various documents and raises the heir to the throne.

It is not known, however, whether little Crown Prince Carl Gustav will ever be crowned. There is growing talk in Sweden of abolishing the monarchy in favor of a republic. After all, that is more modern and costs less. The king spends a lot of money on official duties. Recently, his “idle” tendencies have been curtailed. Parliament opposed the purchase of a new car for the king. Well, the King of Sweden cannot compare, for example, to the matchstick king Kroger, who can afford to import a whole series of new cars every season.

Our first evening in Stockholm brought us a slight disappointment. After dinner, we wanted to head out into the city right away, to see how people spend their time in the evening here. Our guides warned us that at this time of day, apart from empty streets and a few late passers-by, there’s nothing interesting. We didn’t believe them! “How can it be - in such a big city, famous for its modern venues and beautiful women, there’s no nightlife?”. We decided to check it out later - on one of the other evenings.

But that very same evening, we found out just how right the Swedes were. Dinner went on for a long time. Naturally, there were speeches, toasts, and so on. As we left the restaurant, the clock on the tower of St. Clare’s Church struck 11. We had quite a long way to go from the hotel where we were to spend the night. The evening was exceptionally warm, so we decided to walk the entire route.

Alcohol equality

The streets are as bright as day. Huge neon signs glow. At the end of the road, a massive building blocks the crossing, its contours as if carved by red light. To get past it, we have to go down the stairs into the tunnel. Bright everywhere, quiet... Sometimes a car zooms by at lightning speed. No people in sight. Cafés, dance halls, and movie theaters are slowly closing.

Walking through the deserted streets, we marvel - how well-behaved these Swedes are. No shouting, no riots. Everything runs smoothly, like clockwork. It turns out, however, that there is a certain - but! We were just passing near one of the side streets off Kungsgatan when a swaying figure emerged from the darkness.

“Well! A familiar sight!” one of my friends remarked. "There’s no shortage of drunks here either!". Indeed, alcohol has many consumers in Sweden. One could even say very many. The question arises: Why has the scourge of drunkenness not been eradicated in a country where prohibition reigned for many years?

Besides, Sweden is, after all, a country with a high standard of living. There can be no problem of drinking out of poverty here. As it turns out, however, in both poverty and prosperity, alcohol enjoys equal popularity.

Polish liter bottles

To a large extent, our compatriots contribute to the drinking habits of our neighbors across the Baltic Sea. We had to blush with shame when, in the customs office in Trelleborg, after disembarking from the ferry that had carried us from the Jutland Peninsula to Swedish soil, we saw rows of one-liter bottles of spirits that the customs officer had taken out of the suitcases of Polish passengers. Just half an hour earlier, many of these people, in conversation on the ship, had assured us that they abhorred the smuggling of spirits, that they were traveling to Sweden only for family reasons or on a business trip.

Midnight is approaching. Stockholm is empty and quiet. People aren’t out having fun, and young hooligans aren’t roaming the streets in groups. A little bit earlier, you could encounter such “gangs” Most of them are groups of teenage girls. Tight jeans, colorful jackets, ponytails, lipstick, powder- nothing can hide the fact that the girls are barely 14 or 15 years old. Problems at home and school can’t fill their time. So they look for fun on the street. And unfortunately, they often find it… in prostitution.

THE CITY SLEEPS

The Child Welfare Commissions try to identify such youth. They exist in every city administration. The Commission’s night patrols round up wayward youth, sending them first to a doctor, then to a special institution. Although the number of such girls and boys is small, amounting to only 2 percent the total youth population, public concern is very high.

The so-called nightlife of the capital, which, as I have observed, is very lackluster, comes to a standstill at the stroke of midnight. All parties and dances come to an end. Perhaps some are still going on somewhere, but these are rare exceptions. Not a soul is to be seen on the street. Even the police have gone into hiding. Besides, there are so few of them, that even during the day it is hard to spot a police uniform.

After midnight, the whole city sleeps. If you happen to find yourself on the streets of Stockholm at this hour, remember that you’re allowed to talk only in a lowered voice.

Irena Piotrowska

There's also a short message from Doctor Harry Neumuller.

Taking advantage of the Polish journalists’ visit to Sweden, I would like to send warm greetings to the editorial staff and readers of "Kaszëbë". I hope that ties between our nations will continue to grow stronger. During my summer stay in Poland (Mr. Neumuller visited us after the war, while providing aid through the Swedish Red Cross - Ed.), I became convinced that Poles and Swedes have much in common and get along very well.

Stockholm, September 2, 1957

HARRY NEUMÜLLER

President of the Swedish-Polish Friendship Society

I found this short mention of him: "During the war, the Society did not cease its activities. It was led by Carl Albert Andersson, chairman of the Stockholm City Council. Its primary mission at that time was to provide humanitarian aid to Poland and Polish refugees. Food parcels and medicines were sent to Poland through the Red Cross. These activities continued after the war ended. In Sweden, exhibitions, concerts, and lectures were organized to raise funds for humanitarian causes. These funds supported, for example, the Swedish anti-tuberculosis children’s hospital in Otwock near Warsaw, where Dr. Harry Neumüller - who later served as the Society’s chairman - had worked for many years" - thank you very much!