Day 20 - A walking tour of Dwarves and Communism

 Back in the 70's and 80's Poland was in a bad place economically. As always, Communism had failed. The exchange rate was so low that one US Dollar was the equivalent of a days wages, but the Communist Government held the populace by the neck.

A protest group called The Orange Alternative (Orange because although still socialists, they were not full blown Reds) came up with an interesting way to protest, without breaking the very strict anti-protest rules. They met up in the centre of Wroclaw dressed in comical costumes, and staying a sensible distance apart so as to avoid being called a group (shades of Covid, anyone?), they simply milled around without shouting slogans or raising banners. They simply used humour to get the point home. 

Anyone who didn't have a costume simply made a red conical hat, and the Orange Alternative selected this little fellow as their symbol.


This caught on and dwarves (we would call them gnomes) started appearing furtively in corners and slightly hidden away places, but slightly changed to a more recognisable form. They were made from bronze, and only a few inches high. Each one was different, and was depicted simply going about daily business.







A photo of a dwarf taking a photo of a dwarf.


Come the fall of Communism, businesses started to commission their own dwarves as advertising, and now there are over 500 of them around the city.

The second part of the tour, describing life under Communism, was less fun, but then I don't suppose there was much fun about. You could sum up the whole system as....grey.

This is the last full day in Poland, and this morning (Tuesday) we head off back to German for a few nights in Dresden. Poland has surprised us, and pleased us mightily. I recommend a visit some time, and Wroclaw would be a great place to start.

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