Doug Emhoff, the Second Gentleman of the US and husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris, toured Kraków over the weekend following a visit to Auschwitz for International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
While in Kraków, Emhoff toured the former Jewish district of Kazimierz, where he met with members of the local Jewish community. Earlier this month, the White House announced in a statement that Emhoff would travel to southern Poland and the German capital Berlin “to advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism around the world and support Holocaust remembrance.”
Emhoff also met with a group of Ukrainian refugees while in Kraków, telling them that the United States would continue to make every effort to support their country amid Russia’s invasion. He then thanked the Polish government and “all the people who opened their homes and hearts” to Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russian aggression.
Before heading to Berlin for the rest of his European trip, Emhoff toured the town of Gorlice, where his great-grandparents lived before emigrating to the United States more than a century ago.
Source: Radio Poland
Polish athletes had their best showing ever at the 16th annual Winter European Youth Olympics Festival (EYOF) this weekend, taking home 14 medals, including one gold, seven silver, and six bronze.
The Winter EYOF is a bi-annual international youth sports event where athletes aged 14 to 18 from 50 countries of the European Olympic Committee compete to show their skills.
This year’s competitive events included alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, short track, ski jumping, mountaineering, and snowboarding.
Notable winners included a silver for the mixed doubles ski jumping team of Natalia Słowik, Wiktor Szozda, Pola Bełtowska, and Klemens Joniak, and both gold and silver medals for Hanna Mazur in short-track speed skating.
Poland tied Sweden for fifth place overall in the total number of medals won, with first place in the medal table going to France 17 (7-6-4), followed by Italy 21 (6-8-7), and Switzerland 12 (6-3-3).
Source: Radio Poland, www.eyof2023.it/en
Two Gdańsk firefighters are being praised for using their first aid training to save a man’s life during a football match Saturday evening in Orunia.
Adrian Petryczko and Jakub Przanowski, members of the Gdańsk-Świbno Volunteer Fire Brigade, were playing with local football team KS Korona Cedry Małe against Bałtyk Sztutowo when a player from the opposing team collapsed on the pitch during the opening minutes of the match.
The two firefighters sprang into action, quickly assessing the victim’s condition and starting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Petryczko and Przanowski continued efforts to resuscitate the player, even using a defibrillator brought from a nearby swimming pool, until paramedics arrived.
The paramedics eventually revived the player using a defibrillator, but he remained unconscious and was taken immediately to a local hospital. As of Sunday night, the player was still in a coma but in stable condition, according to posts on the Facebook page of the Bałtyk Sztutowo football club.
Source: Radio Gdańsk
Thousands of Gdańsk residents participated in the finale of the 31st annual Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP) last night, raising close to PLN 1 mln, with counting still ongoing.
Some 1,000 volunteers were out on the streets of Gdańsk yesterday collecting donations, including the Mayor of Gdańsk, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, deputy marshal of the Senate Bogdan Borusewicz, and MP Piotr Adamowicz.
After 21:00, officials announced that a total of PLN 946,828 had been collected, with auctions and additional counting expected to increase that amount.
A total of PLN 113,871 was collected from auctions in Gdańsk, while the collection point at the European Solidarity Center brought in nearly PLN 446,890, and another 386,000 was collected at local bars. The highest amount collected in a single WOŚP donation can was PLN 7,413.46.
More information on the results of this year’s WOŚP campaign is available on the City of Gdańsk website.
Source: gdansk.pl
Weather
Today will be mostly cloudy and cold, with a chance for freezing rain and drizzle early in the day and a strong breeze coming from the west. Temperatures will be slightly warmer than yesterday, with lows of 1°C or 34°F and a high of 5°C, or 41°F during the day. Similar weather is expected for tomorrow, with an increasing chance of rain tomorrow afternoon and evening.
Elizabeth Peck
