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Looking at the emotion at the passing of Pope John Paul II, I would have liked to witness this moment in Poland, a country where the love for the pope was genuine and deeply rooted . I witnessed it from close when I cycled through Poland in the agitated summer of 1981 . I cycled all across the country, through villages and towns, camping most of the time . The country was in the middle of a struggle between Solidarnosc backed strikers, and the regime . Picture at left shows the Christ with his hand on his face, a common representation in Poland .
Warsaw had these big demonstrations by Solidarnosc to support the general strike . Lines of miliciamen were disposed where the crowd had gathered . Looks impressive, with the "milicja" trucks, but the mood was mostly quiet and peaceful on both sides . I shot quite a few pictures of the events . There was a feeling of excitement for something unusual going on here .
Warsaw was on "Strajk", on strike, and quite everything was on a standstill . The stunned population was looking at the Solidarnosc demonstrators, silently, concentrated, and visibly interested . They were sometimes in long discussions with the union members . There were visibly all kind of people in this crowd, intellectuals, workers, retirees, housewives . The unthinkable was happening right here in Warsaw , in front of them . What did they think would happen next ?
