In December 1970, amid a harsh winter and an even harsher economic situation, the ruling communist regime in Poland chose to drastically raise prices on basic foodstuffs. Just before the Christmas holidays, for example, the price of fish, a staple of the traditional Christmas Eve meal, rose nearly 20%. Frustrated citizens took to the streets to protest, demanding the repeal of the price-hikes. Things took an especially dramatic turn in the northern regions near the Baltic shore — later, the...

The book The Word (the ABC of the Young Creator) is rooted in the author's childhood. He wanted to have a creative Primary and since he did not have one as a child he decided to write such a work for the younger generations to come. In the former USSR true creative freedom was not encouraged and freedom of thought was a threat to the Soviet system. The author's courage is admirable: he discovered in the famous area of Latin letters (Moldova used the Cyrillic alphabet for its Romanian language...