Sirens will sound and all traffic will stop for a minute’s silence today to mark exactly 79 years since the Warsaw Uprising broke out on August 1, 1944.
Every year on this day, bells and sirens sound precisely at 17:00 in Warsaw and across Poland in commemoration of “W Hour,” the start of the Polish uprising against occupying Nazi German forces.
The bloody insurgency lasted 63 days before it was put down by the better-equipped and more numerous Nazi German forces. The heroic act of resistance saw the city of Warsaw razed to the ground and some 18,000 Polish fighters and 200,000 civilians killed.
Commemorative events will take place across Poland today, including a ceremonial laying of flowers at the Gloria Victis monument at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.
In Gdańsk, local and regional officials will pay homage to the heroes and victims of the Warsaw Uprising starting at 15:00 today in the square in front of the Museum of the Second World War.
More information on today’s events can be found here: https://radiogdansk.pl/wiadomosci/region/trojmiasto/2023/07/31/79-rocznica-wybuchu-powstania-warszawskiego-w-trojmiescie-w-godzine-w-zawyja-syreny/
Source: Radio Gdańsk, Radio Poland
Russia launched missile strikes across Ukraine last night, damaging a vocational school and injuring at least one person in the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
Russian attacks elsewhere in Ukraine reportedly killed at least one person and injured seven in the Donetsk region yesterday and caused damage to infrastructure in the villages of Nikopol and Marhanets in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Five people were also reportedly injured in the southern region of Kherson, where Ukrainska Pravda reported 68 strikes by Russia using mortars, artillery, MLRS, tanks, and UAVs, launching 358 projectiles.
Ukraine’s defense forces are continuing counteroffensive operations in the directions of Melitopol and Berdiansk in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and have gained a foothold on the achieved boundaries, according to officials in Kyiv.
Today is day 524 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Source: PAP, Radio Gdańsk, Polskie Radio
The summer holiday season has reached its halfway point, leaving both hospitality operators and tourists somewhat dissatisfied.\
Industry players lament the lack of guests, while tourists complain about the inability to afford more extensive vacations.
According to Tomasz Machała, CEO of accommodation service Nocowanie.pl, “high inflation has caught up with the wallets of Poles…the overall number of bookings compared to last year is down by 33 percent.” Guests are also choosing shorter trips to cope with rising costs, with the length of stay averaging 3.6 days based on previous bookings made for July and August.
Rates have stabilized after last year’s price surge, with the average cost per night in Sopot, one of the priciest vacation areas in Poland, coming in at 149 PLN per person, roughly 10 percent higher than last year. The current average price per person per night for the whole country, based on completed bookings, is PLN 114.
The outlook for August looks somewhat brighter than July, but this year promises to be a challenging one for the country’s tourism industry due to the rising costs of running a business coupled with lower interest in domestic tourism.
Source: Polskie Radio
The new visual design of the National Museum in Gdańsk has been praised by experts and was recently recognized with two industry accolades at the prestigious DNA Paris Design Awards.
Muzeum Narodowe’s complete visual makeover is the work of Gdańsk-based designers TOFU Studio, who took home Graphic Design of the Year and the best project in the Applied Graphic Design category at the design awards last week.
The DNA Paris Design Awards honor the work of international architects and designers who aim to improve people’s daily lives through practical, beautiful, and innovative design.
An awards ceremony will be held on October 23 in Paris.
The National Museum in Gdańsk is one of the oldest museums in Poland and boasts five branches in and around Trójmiasto, including the Gdańsk Photography Gallery located at the Green Gate near Długi Targ, as well as the Abbots’ Palace and Abbot’s Granary in Gdańsk Oliwa, which house the Departments of Modern Art and Ethnography.
More information on the museum and a look at the new visual aesthetic can be found on the museum’s website at: www.mng.gda.pl
Source: Polskie Radio, Muzeum Narodowe
Weather
Today will be mostly cloudy, with a good chance of rain showers throughout the day and a strong breeze coming from the south. Temperatures will be cooler than yesterday, with a daytime high of 19°C or 66°F, dropping to a low of 14°C or 57°F overnight. Warmer and sunnier weather is expected tomorrow, with a chance for rain returning again on Thursday.
Listen to the broadcast:
Elizabeth Peck
