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Information Text: Krakow – Communism 1945-1956 - “Stakhanovites” – Nowa Huta heroes
Thousands of people came to the building site of Nowa Huta. They were trying to find their own place in post war Poland. Mostly, they were young, assertive people eager to build the new city with their own hands. The state was thirsty for success and wanted to build a city which would become a symbol of the new government. That is why the Nowa Huta authorities tried to attract ambitious people, and propaganda institutions disseminated the cult of heroes – pioneers – Stakhanovites (a worker honored and rewarded for exceptional diligence in increasing production. http://www.answers.com/Stakhanovites ).
Among Nowa Huta heroes, these three names should be mentioned: Tadeusz Ptaszycki, Piotr Ożański and Zygmunt Bobiński.
Tadeusz Ptaszycki – born in St. Petersburg in 1908, he came to Poland together with his family in 1920. He received his diploma in Architecture from the Warsaw Polytechnic. After the end of the Second World War, he was engaged in the execution of the General Plan of Reconstruction of Wrocław. At the beginning of 1949, the engineer Ptaszycki was moved to Kraków, and soon became the main urban designer of Nowa Huta. He was not only responsible for the city’s new plans, but also tried to modernize building methods on industrial scale. He introduced new technology, pipelined workflow, comprehensive methods facilitating documentation and execution of work.
Piotr Ożański – he came to the burgeoning city after his military service. He was assigned to the 51 ZMP Brigade. Its members lived in a tent city on the Vistula River. He quickly learnt bricklaying and became a foreman. In 1950, together with his brigade, they beat the record for the speed of building. In eight hours, they laid 18,900 bricks. His achievement was awarded with the “Stakhanovite” title, and in the 1st May Parade, he marched in the first row with a “802% norm” sign. Soon, under pressure from other brigades, he beat his own record, laying 33,000 bricks in eight hours.
Zygmunt Bobiński – he came to the Nowa Huta building site with a group of 800 members of a young men’s labour brigade from Wrocław during the first days of building. There was still grain growing in the fields. He led the famous 60th Brigade, from which numerous construction specialists came. He enjoyed respect from young people, whom he brought up in the spirit of socialism.
ZMP; Związek Młodzieży Polskiej – the Union of Polish Youth was a Polish communist youth organization established in 1948. It was subordinated to the Polish Workers' Party ideologically, politically and organizationally. Its main objective was political indoctrination of young people.