23.
The Changing World Scene
As your days
So shall
Your strength be.
Deuteronomy 33-25
As we made plans to visit our relatives in
Europe, the Gulf conflict over Iraq's occupation of
Kuwait erupted on the 15th January 1991. This cast some
gloom over our proposed travel plans. Fortunately, the
action Desert Storm' in the Middle East did not last
long, and we were able to proceed with our travel
arrangements. This conflict In the Arab world was
preceded by the holding of International hostages by
Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein. Some of these hostages
were travelers en route to New Zealand, caught up In this
war of nerves and intimidation. The human suffering and
the horrific pollution of the environment which followed
that conflict, reminded us once more of the futility of
war and the dangers associated with power-hungry
dictators, determined to expand their sphere of influence
by conquest of another country.
Fortunately, other historical events in Europe were
unfolding In a non-violent and almost unbelievable
manner. We were delighted with the demolition of the
Berlin Wall, built in 1961, and the fall of Communism in
Eastern Europe, as each country in turn overthrew this
government and ideology after over 50 years of
suppression of individual freedom and economic
mismanagement. The dreaded NKVD and its successor KGB
still remained in the USSR, but most of Eastern Europe
was finally free to introduce democracy according to the
will of their people.
Mikhail Gorbachev had paved the way for these extensive
changes through his policies of' Glasnost (openness) and
'Perestroika' (reforms). Under his courageous, innovative
leadership in the USSR, 50 years of Cold War in the
post-World War II era, finally came to an end. With these
staggering changes, the fear of a nuclear confrontation
between the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, has at
last receded. Sadly, Kazimierz Sabbat, the President of
the Polish Government-in-Exile in London, died in July
1989, before the fall of Communism in Poland. He had been
certain that the USSR empire would crumble, like all
great empires of the past. His successor, Ryszard
Kaczorowski, formally recognised the democratically
elected President of Poland, Lech Walesa, the former
leader of 'Solidarity' and the winner of the Nobel Prize
for Peace. On 22nd December 1990 President Ryszard
Kaczorowskl also returned to Poland all official
documents, insignia and official seals of the pre-war
Polish Government. At the end of 1991 the London-based
Polish Government-in-Exile, having fulfilled its
function, ceased to exist.
It was against this background of dramatic International
events that we made our trip to Europe in 1991. We
resolved not to visit Eastern Europe this time, realising
that the process of democratisation, though In progress
there, was still Incomplete. It seemed unwise to visit
Poland at a time of great internal turmoil with many
unresolved problems.
We decided to travel to Japan first, to visit our
Japanese friends whom we had met In Bratislava during our
tour of that Czechoslovakian city five years earlier. Our
friends had since contacted us during their New Zealand
holiday and visited our home, so we were keen to renew
our friendship with them and to learn something about the
interesting, ancient Japanese culture. Our Japanese hosts
suggested a special programme of activities for us during
our week in Japan. We visited Chiba City, Tokyo,
Yokohama, Hakone, Kamakura and Narita City, in that short
time. We took part In the Japanese tea ceremony, which
symbolises the equality of all human beings partaking of
this ancient ritual. Numerous visits to Buddhist temples
and Shinto shrines featured on our agenda. We also
enjoyed the mineral baths at Hakone and Kamakura. We
sampled a variety of traditional Japanese dishes, eating
with chopsticks. We ate snails, shellfish, raw and smoked
fish, rice, noodles, seaweed consommé, frequently
dipping tiny morsels of food in various sauces, as we
sampled small portions of attractively displayed food.
This unique presentation of food is an art In Japan. One
of our memorable experiences was a visit to a sushi bar
for lunch, where we sat in a circle around a revolving
conveyor belt, on which all the food was displayed, while
the chefs prepared these special dishes in the centre of
the bar. Several plates contained a couple of
oblong-shaped snacks, ringed by dried seaweed and filled
with rice, salad and fish combinations. Cool drinks,
small puddings and fresh fruit were also circulating, to
add a greater selection for prospective customers.
The open air museum at Hakone contained numerous
sculptures by European and Japanese artists, including a
large collection of Henry Moore. There was also a special
Picasso pavilion. Many school children were visiting the
museum with their teachers. Two girls addressed us In
English. Everywhere in Japan we were greeted with
courtesy and polite bows as was the Japanese custom. Our
friends were very hospitable during our few days In their
home. We tried to learn about Japanese home life by
experiencing their lifestyle. We slept on the floor, and
appreciated a soak ma deep hot bath taken after a
refreshing body wash. We exchanged gifts and learned to
appreciate the Japanese custom of wearing different
slippers in various rooms of the house. In Japan kimonos
and slippers are provided for the guests' comfort in all
hotels. We felt greatly enriched by all these experiences
and grateful to our friends for the many interesting
impressions they had exposed us to. We departed for
Amsterdam via Moscow, traveling with Japan Airlines.
We called this trip our 'farewell to Europe',
anticipating that it would be our last sentimental
journey to that continent. Holland was to be our base for
three months. Wim's brothers, sisters and their families
gave us an enthusiastic welcome once again. Among the
many memorable experiences were four birthday
celebrations of family members, a visit to the Royal
Delft Blue Porcelain factory in Delft, Wim's birthplace
and one of the oldest Dutch cities, whose Charter dates
to 1246. We also enjoyed boat trips along the canals, a
visit to an old windmill built in 1642, which is still
used occasionally for flour milling, and a fireworks
display at Scheveningen, viewed from Wim's brother's
apartment overlooking that famous beach resort. The
masterpiece of Dutch engineering is surely the Delta
Works complex, officially opened in 1986. This great
technological feat now protects a large stretch of the
Dutch coast. The merciless onslaught of the North Sea
gales and the consequent flooding of the low lying areas
of the western part of Holland is now no longer a threat.
The 10 kilometre-long dyke with a series of mobile gates
demonstrates the ingenuity of Dutch engineers, the master
fighters of the formidable forces of nature, protecting
and reclaiming their precious land, much of which lies
below sea level.
A four-day tour of Paris with Wim's brother Joop and his
wife Lia included visits to the Notre Dame Cathedral, the
Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Louvre Museum, Le
Pompidou Art Galleries and dinner at the Folies Bergère,
complete with the famous cabaret entertainment to follow.
Other memorable highlights included our visit to see my
cousin in Basle in Switzerland and a day's excursion to
Bruges, an ancient Belgian town reminiscent of Venice and
famous for its exquisite, delicate, handmade lace. We
thoroughly enjoyed exploring this enchanting city and
viewing the old city centre from the motor boat, which
wound its way through the canals. We admired and
photographed many ancient buildings lining these
waterways. A week's tour of Austria passed too quickly as
we attempted to sample something of that country's
culture of bygone days. 1991 saw the commemoration of the
life of the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This
genius, whose musical creations enchanted the world for
the 200 years since his death, was buried in a pauper's
grave. Like many great artists, his works were only
really appreciated after his death. Now Austria was
bursting with pride, capltalising on the fame of Mozart's
genius to promote tourism.
Our tour commenced in Munich and progressed through
Salzburg, Vienna, St. Wolfgang and Innsbruck, where we
attended a Tyrolean folk dancing and musical evening,
specially organised for tourists. Salzburg was Mozart's
birthplace. It is also famous for its picturesque scenery
and magnificent buildings such as the ancient Salzburg
cathedral, and the monastery where scenes for the film
'The Sound of Music', were photographed. Another ancient
Benedictine monastery of unbelievable splendour was at
Melk. This, along with several Baroque style churches,
clearly illustrated the great concentration of wealth of
the past in these ornate places of worship. This seemed
in conflict with Christ's philosophy of the spiritual
wealth and material poverty of a Christian. The great
Anglican cathedrals of England, formerly confiscated from
the Roman Catholic monastic orders dissolved by Henry
VIII, were further evidence of the immense wealth once
directed towards the construction of these glorious
buildings, now difficult to maintain in good repair.
These relics of the past are now great tourist
attractions. For Christians, they are historical places
of worship, but for many non-believers they are merely
architectural wonders, an art form of the past.
I was greatly saddened to hear that some old Christian
churches in Europe were being closed and demolished
because of a total lack of believers, while Muslim
mosques were being erected all over Europe. This seems a
historical paradox, since the crusaders fought for
Christendom against Islam. Now Turks and Moroccans
immigrate in great numbers to Europe as guest workers,
and the Islam religion is thriving. This reversal,
centuries later, is occurring without conflict. Europe is
rapidly becoming a multicultural continent with large
numbers of immigrants from Africa and Asia working and
living in many countries.
In Britain, we were glad to renew contact with my three
first cousins and their families. We talked about our
mutual relatives and their war experiences. Two of my
cousins, Hania and Marysia, were picked up by the Gestapo
in Nazi-occupied Poland, but managed to elude their
captors. Marysia took refuge in the Public Hospital in
Grodno, where my father had been the Medical
Superintendent before World War II. She related how she
had assisted the only available doctor to operate in the
hospital cellar, after the buildings were bombed.
Surgical instruments had been disinfected with methylated
spirits in that emergency. Hania, Marysia and their
brother, Bolek Sulik, were successfully smuggled out of
Poland to Italy, with the assistance of Jewish friends,
who helped them to assume the identities of Jewish
children bound for Palestine just after the war. My
cousins then joined their father General Nikodem Sulik,
their mother Aniela and their eldest sister Zosia, who
were serving in the Polish armed forces in Italy at that
time. After the war the whole family settled in Britain.
Now their children and grandchildren are British by
birth. My cousins' father and mother are buried in
London. At the time of our visit in July 1991 we attended
a commemorative Mass for the late Kazimierz Sabbat,
Hania's husband, the former President of the Polish
Government-in-Exile, who had died suddenly in London two
years earlier.
The last three weeks in Holland with Wim's family passed
quickly. The parting, as usual, was difficult for such a
close and affectionate family. Our return flights with
Japan Airlines took us again through Moscow to Tokyo and
finally home to New Zealand. On landing in Auckland we
read the headline news in the Herald about the Communist
hard-liners' coup in the USSR. Mikhail Gorbachev and his
family were under house arrest and the whole political
situation in the Soviet Union was tense and very serious.
To us this news was most distressing. It seemed that
progress towards democracy in the USSR was once again
frustrated . We wondered how this would affect Eastern
Europe.
Fortunately, Boris Yeltsin reached the safety of the
Russian Parliament, where he claimed the popular support
of the Russian people. He was free to broadcast overseas
and to rally the assistance of the Soviet army, which
sided with the people, demanding the return of Mikhail
Gorbachev to resume his position as President of the
Soviet Union. With Gorbachev's release and imprisonment
of the Communist hard-liners who had precipitated that
coup, events moved swiftly. The Communist Party was
officially abolished and the KGB dismantled.
Finally, as 1991 moved to a close, in December the Soviet
Union itself disintegrated, giving birth to the
Commonwealth of Independent Republics, each an equal
sovereign state in its own right. Moscow is no longer the
capital of the Communist USSR, the Kremlin is empty and
the KGB files are revealing their carefully guarded
secrets. Millions of murders committed during Stalin's
reign of terror are no longer a mystery. The whereabouts
of the mass graves of 15,000 Polish officers captured by
the Soviets at the start of World War II and retained in
the Ukraine, have been revealed. The Russians have
finally admitted these crimes against humanity, revealing
the location of the mass graves in the Ukrainian forests.
These and countless other victims bear witness to
Stalin's extensive, ruthless purges, which were concealed
from the world for over 50 years. In the forests of
Katyn, Kharkov and Miednoje, monuments have been erected
to commemorate these victims of Communism. In Poland a
special monument recognises the sacrifice of Polish
officers, who tried to defend the eastern borders of
their native land from the advancing Soviet aggressors in
1939.
Mikhail Gorbachev failed to reform the Communist Party
from within and to retain the Presidency of the USSR,
which now no longer exists. He, however, earned himself
great praise from the Western world and a sure historical
recognition as the architect Perestroika and Glasnost,
which policies ended over 50 years of Cold War, paving
the way for democracy in the new Commonwealth of
Independent Russian Republics and the sovereign states of
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which had earlier gained
their freedom from Soviet domination.
Many problems remain on the world scene as the
Commonwealth of Independent Russian Republics and the
countries of Eastern Europe come to terms with their
internal strife, assuming democratic responsibilities,
mindful of human rights. Regrettably, the violent, armed
conflict in the disintegrating former Yugoslavia
continues. The economic reforms, poverty, pollution of
the environment and the control of atomic weapons of mass
destruction are some of the serious problems still facing
mankind.
As the world economic recession continues, New Zealand is
facing social and economic problems of great magnitude.
Unemployment is still rising with the restructuring of
the administration in the public sector. Education and
health services in New Zealand are no longer free and
living standards are still falling. Our population
contains an Increasing proportion of senior citizens,
which places a heavy burden on the diminishing tax
revenues of a smaller proportion of the working
population. Similarly, the number of unemployed, domestic
purposes beneficiaries and others Is escalating. The
increasing crime rate is also very evident and a matter
of great concern.
In the present, uncertain times, let us hope that
democratic, peaceful solutions may be found to these most
pressing human problems in this country and a greater
access gained for our exports to world markets, on which
our economy depends.
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