The first of Poland’s Heavenly Hundred

It was during the terms of Adamowicz that Gdansk became one of the richest Polish cities. His serving became a vivid example of how to take care of historical heritage, develop tourist attractiveness of the city and at the same time attract enormous investments in the economy. He showed how an industrial center and port could take care of culture and make the city’s name become famous in all of Europe through it.

Europe was not an empty word or a purely geographical fact for Pawel Adamowicz. In this sense, the importance of this politician can hardly be overestimated, since all his work was aimed at letting Gdansk have more Europe and letting Europe have more Gdansk. He tried to turn his hometown onto the map of a great Europe, tear it out of all the ‘Iron Curtains’ and the post-communist provinces, having the glory of this rich port resonate throughout the continent again.

Born in Gdansk, Pawel Adamowicz also became a product of the genius loci of this city taking over its character and free-thinking. In his political activity, he was building Gdansk as porto franco, i.e., a port that welcomes everyone and is open to the world, peoples and cultures, where there is no room for hatred and humiliation and where diversity becomes a synonym for shared wealth. From this perspective, the achievements of Pawel Adamowicz went far beyond Gdansk and Poland. He was one of the adherents of the idea of a united Europe, whose Christian sympathy prompted him to open the doors to the city for refugees who were in mortal danger. His sense of solidarity in the battle for freedom motivated him to support the Kyiv EuroMaidan, and later the Ukrainian minority that was threatened in Poland. He was in opposition to the Polish authorities, who scoffed at democracy, divided citizens into better and worse and were ready to trade united Europe for the self-built national cage.

Adamowicz fought for humanistic and liberal values, tried to help the needy and become an example for others. That is why he spent his day off – the day of the attack – working as a volunteer for a charity event on the street. When the fireworks announced the successful completion of the event, the logo of which was a great heart, a killer attacked Adamowicz. He aimed at the mayor’s heart but hit the heart of the Polish democracy.

This tragic death is just a symbol of what has been happening in Poland in the last few years and like in the laws of theatrical art: if you have a pistol hanging on the wall, then it will fire once. The language of hatred that has been flooding the country for several years with the full support of the Polish authorities has finally spilled over. Initiated by Kaczynski and Co, the policy of division on right and wrong citizens, patriots and traitors, the Poles and others, began to give its results. First, in the threats online, then in the attacks on representatives of national minorities and people speaking foreign languages in public transport and on the streets, and the day before yesterday it progressed into the stab to the heart of a decent and honest person. The mental illness of the attacker is only a good metaphor of what an aggressive madness Polish society is driven to.

Unfortunately, this is still not the end. Released from the bottle, Jinn is only beginning his danse macabre. Despite the utterly barbaric killing of a man with an excellent reputation, an avalanche of joyful comments appears under the news about his death, like ‘this liberal’ and ‘traitor’, ‘he deserved it’.

Pawel Adamowicz became the first of Poland’s Heavenly Hundred. An innocent victim who died for Poland and Europe, for Poland in Europe, for the Poles as Europeans. He was killed by the atmosphere of baseness and hatred. It killed him but did not win simply because it is impossible to defeat the Heavenly Hundred. We, Ukrainians, know it very well.

Andriy Lyubka