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The Butcher Shop, Warsaw
In the 1980s average citizens of East European countries faced many challenges, including daily difficulties created from ongoing and severe shortages of consumer goods. Buying such necessities as food, clothing, and hygiene products was a recurring obstacle to average consumers. Store shelves were frequently empty, and the state distributed ration cards, especially for meat products, in an….
Photographs from the Papal Visit of 1987
From June 8-14, 1987, Pope John Paul II made his third "pilgrimage" to his homeland (he had already visited in 1979 and 1983). As on the first two occasions, life in Poland seemed to stop during his visit, as nearly the entire country (at least, so it seemed) participated in this historic moment. These photographs were taken a week before he arrived, and the buildings were far from any of the….
Photographs of the St. Stanisław Kostka church in Warsaw
Father Jerzy Popiełuszko was one of the most vocal priests involved in the Solidarity movement in the early 1980s. Even after the declaration of martial law in 1981, Father Popiełuszko remained an outspoken opponent of the Communist regime, and his church in the Warsaw suburb of Żoliborz became a gathering point for those who wanted to hear anticommunist sermons. The monthly "Masses for the….