Editor's Note: These are courtesy translations of local news provided by the U.S. Army Garrison Poland Public Affairs team for the benefit the military community stationed here. Views or opinions are not endorsed by USAG Poland or the U.S. Army.
Polish Championships in sport climbing in Toruń
Toruń Open Cup 2025, the national competition of the Polish Championships and the Polish Cup in sport climbing, will be held at the Arena Toruń.
Admission to the competition, which will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. April 2025, is free.
The competition is an opportunity to learn more about the discipline that, thanks to Aleksandra Mirosław and Aleksandra Kałucka, gained great popularity during the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. Let us recall that Aleksandra Mirosław won the gold medal there, and Aleksandra Kałucka – the bronze.
The best competitors from all over Poland will come to Toruń, in all age categories, including world champions. In total, the organizers expect about 150 competitors. During the 3-day event, the Toruń Open Cup will include:
- Polish Senior and Youth Time Trial Championships,
- Polish Cup for juniors, younger juniors and juniors on time,
- Polish Cup for juniors, younger juniors, juniors, seniors and youth in the lead.
The event is organized by the Toruń Mountaineering Club. The event is co-financed by the Municipality of Toruń.
I Love Toruń – Discover Toruń Anew
Discover Toruń from a completely different perspective by taking on the role of a tourist! On April 4-6 p.m., 2025, we invite you to the campaign "I Love Toruń - Discover Toruń Anew".
- The I Love Toruń campaign is the opening of the tourist season in Toruń. We are focusing on the residents of Toruń, whom we invite to visit all the attractions, both urban and commercial. The reports and studies we have read show that they rarely use the attractions of Toruń. With this campaign, we want to encourage them to get to know their city anew - said the deputy mayor of Toruń, Adam Szponka.
The "I love Toruń" campaign is a great opportunity to remind yourself of the rich history of the city, its unique atmosphere and unique museums, places filled with history that we miss every day. The partners of the campaign have prepared numerous attractions, discounts and accompanying events, thanks to which you will be able to discover Toruń anew. This is a great opportunity to feel the atmosphere of Toruń by participating in special events that may escape our attention on a daily basis.
- As part of the campaign, we focus on culture, entertainment, recreation and tourism. We also propose several events that will accompany the entire weekend from April 4 to 6 p.m., 2025. Each of the three days has some free attractions prepared for the residents of Toruń, such as thematic walks. Registration is required for some events, which we encourage - there are still places available - said Marcin Wiśniewski from the "Go Sport" Association.
Attractions within the campaign
Participants can take part in four free thematic walks, during which they will learn about the fascinating stories and secrets of Toruń with professional guides.
The walks will take place from Friday to Sunday:
- Friday, April 4, 2025, 6 p.m. - a walk in the footsteps of Toruń modernism (Regional Directorate of State Forests / Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Nicolaus Copernicus University / Clinic ul. Uniwersytecka / Collegium Minus, Nicolaus Copernicus University / Marshal's Office of the Nicolaus Copernicus University / Faculty of Physics, Nicolaus Copernicus University) - guide Paweł Bukowski (registration required),
- Saturday, April 5, 2025, 10 a.m. - "Toruń Fortress " walking tour (Toruń Fortress Museum) - guide Adam Kowalkowski (registration required),
- Saturday, April 5, 2025, 2 p.m. - rafting on the Vistula whips as part of a walk - we will feel the atmosphere of old times and see the city from the Vistula side, from this perspective it gains a completely new dimension (Flisak Monument / Gruba Maryna - District Museum / St. Johns' Cathedral) - guide Paweł Bukowski / Jakub Gołębiewski - Wolna Wisła (registration required),
- Sunday, April 6, 2025, 11 a.m. - street art walking tour - (Piecza Toruńska / Legends of the Old Town / Rafting through the depths of Toruń's history / Mural at Ciasna Street / Mural Memories of the Netherlands / Mural Passion - Plac Podominikański) - guide Andrzej Po Prostu / Justyna Kacprzak - Kapsula Foundation (registration required),
A unique dance event in the heart of Toruń's Old Town, in the courtyard of the Old Town Hall, will be Silent Disco. On Saturday, April 5, 2025, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., participants will listen to music through headphones and feel the extraordinary atmosphere of this place.
There will be something for lovers of theatre and history. The play about Toruń legends prepared by Teatr Miejsce will allow you to immerse yourself in the magical world of stories about Toruń legends and mysterious events from centuries ago, presented in a colourful and accessible way. The play will take place on Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 11 a.m.
But that's not the end of surprises! During the event, many places related to culture, tourism, entertainment and recreation have prepared special offers and discounts of up to 50% on tickets, passes, events . This is a great opportunity to visit museums, Toruń factories with your family on the first weekend in April, take part in numerous workshops and take advantage of places related to recreation in the city at a reduced price.
Additionally, partners of the campaign, including popular city cafés, gingerbread shops and workshops organising thematic workshops to mark the opening of the tourist season, have prepared special price discounts for participants.
Watch Docs Festival 2025 in Toruń
This year's edition of the Watch Docs film festival will take place from 7 to 10 April at the Artus Court.
Watch Docs is a film festival dedicated to building social awareness. The name of the initiative comes from the English terms "watchdogs" (institutions that watch the government) and "watch docs" (watching documentaries). Every year, under the supervision of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, screenings, workshops and meetings with people working in non-governmental organizations are held in many cities in Poland.
In 2025 in Toruń the festival will be held at the Artus Court from Monday, April 7 to Thursday, April 10.
Admission to the entire event is free.
Watch Docs Festival Program:
April 7 (Monday)
- 6 p.m. – Sebastian Płocharski “Pre-mortem portraits of inhabitants of the Russian-Ukrainian war” – opening of the photography exhibition and meeting with the author
- 7 p.m. – “From Where to Where”, directed by Maciej Hamela, Poland/France/Ukraine 2023, Polish-English subtitles, 84 minutes (audio description and audio subtitles available in the free Kino Dostępna app)
- 8;30 p.m. – “Where Russia Ends”, directed by Oleksiy Radynski, Ukraine 2024, Polish-English subtitles, 25 minutes
April 8 (Tuesday)
- 6 p.m. – “The Deceived”, dir. Dorothy Allen-Pickard, UK 2023, film in English with Polish subtitles, 18 minutes
- 6:30 p.m.– “Adidas. You Can Do More”, directed by Keil Orion Troisi, Igor Vamos, USA 2024, Polish-English subtitles, 21 minutes
- 7 p.m. – Fashion for change: how can business and consumers create a sustainable future? - panel discussion with the participation of Marta Karwacka, Dorota Nijaka-Bujnarowska and Artur Kaniecki, hosted by Mariusz Godlejewski
- 8 p.m. – “Intercepted”, directed by Oksana Karpovych, Canada/France/Ukraine 2024, Polish-English subtitles, 95 minutes
April 9 (Wednesday)
- 6 p.m. – “That Feeling”, directed by Alex Baczyński-Jenkins, Poland 2024, Polish-English subtitles, 76 minutes
- 7:15 p.m. – Towards equality. Reimagined otherness – meeting with Dr. Michał Bomastyk
- 8 p.m. – “Antidote”, directed by James Jones, UK 2024, Polish-English subtitles, 89 minutes
April 10 (Thursday)
- 6 p.m. – “A Year in the Life of a Country”, directed by Tomasz Wolski, Poland 2024, English subtitles, 85 minutes (audio description and audio subtitles available in the free Kino Dostępna application) and a lecture entitled Rock from the Life of a Country – Toruń Counterculture During Martial Law - Maurycy Męczekalski
- 8 p.m. – Rafał Kołacki – concert referring to the sound installation Sumud
- 8:30 p.m. – “The Palestine That Never Was”, directed by Yvann Yagchi, Switzerland 2024, Polish-English subtitles, 71 minutes
Accompanying events:
- Sebastian Płocharski's exhibition "Pre-mortem portraits of inhabitants of the Russian-Ukrainian war"
- sound installation Sumud by Rafał Kołacki, reproducing the atmosphere of the anti-war demonstration that took place in the streets of Berlin on January 11, 2025. The work is not only a record of the event, but also an experience that allows the listener to find themselves in the very center of the protest. Using immersive sound technology, the artist recreates the actual distribution of sounds. The installation includes the voices of demonstrating Palestinians and people from Berlin showing solidarity with the victims of the conflict, as well as megaphones, drums and police signals.
Haunted Bolesławiec. Do you know these places?
Which places in Bolesławiec, seemingly ordinary, do our bodies react to with goose bumps, hair on the back of our heads, or tingling in the back of our necks? There are quite a few of them. And each of them is connected by a difficult past and a terrible history.
A woman burned alive, considered a witch, residents of a hospital for the mentally ill buried in unmarked graves, former cemeteries turned into parks, a burned girl, or prisoners tortured to death by the Nazis - these are all stories from our city that every paranormal researcher would like to check.
We have selected a few such places in Bolesławiec where the ghosts of the past can still make their presence felt, but perhaps you know more of them.
The embankment under the bypass near Staroszkolna Street is a place indicated as part of the area of the German concentration camp AL Bunzlau I. A place whose history consists of human tragedies, shocking deaths, inhumane treatment of prisoners, especially those who ended their lives here. The people of Bolesław indicate the embankment as the most unusual place, but if someone wanted to know the exact location of the camp, it can be done based on American aerial photos from December 1944 , which came to Bolesławiec from the National Archives Records Administration thanks to Monika Rutyna, head of the Spatial Information System Department of the City Office.
The elevation in Bonina Park is mentioned so often by the Bolesławiec "ghostbusters" that it is worth considering the hypothesis that this is where the place of execution could have been: the gallows. In Bolesławiec, there were three gallows at different times. One of them stood in the market square. During the Thirty Years' War, a second one was built there. The third, massive brick structure was located southeast of the center near the Gallows Pond (the area of the elementary school on Bielska Street). The gallows was a special, mysterious and cursed place, and at the same time very important to the residents. It is possible that it was at this gallows that Catharina Effnert was burned alive in 1571, when she was tortured and confessed that she was a witch.
The woods on Piastów Street (near the Hospital for the Mentally and Nervously Ill) are considered the most paranormal place in Bolesławiec. And all because of the necropolis it hides. If ghost detectors were to squeak somewhere, it would definitely be the woods on Piastów Street. Before the war, it was a nicely maintained park, and later, from around 1860, it was in this area that deceased patients from the nearby hospital for the insane began to be buried. This necropolis was therefore beautifully situated, among young trees and bushes. Even today, you can come across gravestones in the woods on Piastów Street, on which the gravestone numbers have been preserved. During World War I, a field hospital was organized on the hospital grounds – wounded soldiers were treated there, and those who did not survive were also buried in the nearby hospital cemetery.
The park on Garncarska Street is a place that is said to be strange at times. Stories circulate around the city that workers in 1920s costumes or chatty women speaking German have been seen there. There was an old Protestant cemetery on Garncarska Street. From the 16th to the beginning of the 20th century, it was the main cemetery in Bolesławiec. It contained many valuable monuments that were devastated after the war. Even in the late 1970s, the neglected and overgrown cemetery attracted teenagers hungry for horror. They described the place in their memoirs as macabre. This is how they recalled their visits to the park: "(...) Human remains were strewn everywhere, literally everywhere, and most of the basement tombs were open. (...) In the corner of the cemetery there were more human bones arranged in neat piles. The following week I saw groups of workers and a large excavator in the cemetery. Under a gigantic oak tree, probably the largest in the cemetery, there was a modest grave with a porcelain photo of a young girl dressed in white. The deceased's name was Helga, and the dates of her life were engraved on the tombstone, from which it follows that she died at the age of 17."
The plot at the intersection of Wąska and Bolesław Kubik streets also has its paranormal atmosphere. The Jewish cemetery located there was completely destroyed in the 18th century, its location is known only from Wernher's plan from 1749. Later city plans from 1773 show "Gleich garten" in this place, a garden or park. In this place stood a synagogue - the property of the Jewish community located in this part of the city. Unfortunately, during Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938), the synagogue was set on fire, and the fire brigade did not extinguish it, but only made sure that the fire did not spread to neighboring buildings. It was never rebuilt.
The square on Bankowa Street with the monument to the 100th anniversary of Regaining Independence could be haunted by the ghost of a little girl who died in the flames. 8-year-old Bogusia was doused with burning liquid from a large candle during a ceremony in February 1961, which was burning next to the monument of gratitude to the Heroes of the Red Army that stood there at the time. The soldiers stood in even rows, the square was decorated with white-red and red flags with a hammer, sickle and star. The exceptional ceremony attracted many gawkers: older and younger residents of Bolesławiec. Among them was Bogusia, who was not yet eight years old. We do not know how the accident happened. The child on whom the vat of burning liquid tipped over fell to the ground. Shockingly, apparently none of the soldiers rushed to help the girl. It is possible that the soldiers did not see the child who either tipped the candle over on herself or was pushed onto it.
Spring Run between the Bridges in Boleslawiec
The Municipal Sports and Recreation Centre in Bolesławiec invites you to take part in the Spring Run between the Bridges and more, an event organised as part of the Four Seasons – Run with MOSiR Bolesławiec series.
The races will take place on the premises of OWR "Leśny Potok" and in its vicinity. We start at 10 am. on 5.04.2025 , the race office will be open at 9 a.m.. We invite fans of marching with poles to the Bolesławiec market square (near the USC), from where we will set off towards OWR "Leśny Potok".
Participants will enjoy great fun, a commemorative medal, pea soup, a prize draw, etc.
Program:
– 10 a.m. – Official opening of the event
– 10:10 a.m. – Dwarf run approx. 150 m
– 10:20 a.m. – Races for children and youth over long distances
Cat. I approx. 420 m
Cat. II approx. 850 m,
Cat. II approx. 1300 m
– 10:30 a.m.– Nordic Walking ( start at the market square) approx. 2500 m
– 11 a.m. – MAIN RACE approx. 6000 m
Participation in the race is free of charge.
Applications only on application forms – available at the Organizational Office: BPW ORKA in Bolesławiec or from the website http://www.mosir.boleslawiec.pl – should be sent by e-mail to the following address: zawody@mosir.boleslawiec.pl or submit in person to the Organizational Office (BPW "Orka") by April 4, 2025, 12:00 p.m.
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