When it was designed by Poland's Communist rulers in 1949, Nowa Huta (literally New Foundry) was to be a model city of dedicated workers who took spiritual strength from their labors at the sprawling steelworks, and hence would need no church. But the devout peasants recruited from the countryside to man Nowa Huta's machines were not so easily weaned from their Catholic faith. Most simply got up an hour earlier on Sundays to make the long tram ride into Cracow for Mass. Finally, Party Boss Wladyslaw Gomulka bowed to pressure, announced that the 100,000 people of Nowa Huta could...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
