Mieczysław Stanclik’s collection of poems The White City. Poems from Beskidy [Białe miasto. Wiersze beskidzkie] can be treated as a guidebook depicting the history of Bielsko-Biała; the poet proves it in the opening poem Introduction to the City [Wstęp do miasta] which starts the journey through the history of the region. Other poets from Bielsko – Stanisław Gola, Juliusz Wątroba or Kazimierz Węgrzyn – confirm that the small Silesian city combines various landscapes, histories and cultures: German, Polish and Jewish. They create a two-sided image of the city: mountainous (natural) and civilized (futuristic) in which the nature is continuously challenged by civilization. The poets from Bielsko-Biała present different views – from admiration and affirmation of the city’s beauty to disapproval, the feeling of being lost and inability to adapt to ever-changing reality. All these reflections and thoughts compose a unique “poetic photograph” of “little Vienna” which was once perceived as one of the most beautiful cities of Southern Poland.
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