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When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, 34-year-old Newsweek journalist Agnieszka Żądło felt jolted awake
unable to concentrate on anything outside the news about the war
Żądło cut her vacation short to travel to the country’s border with Ukraine
Przemyśl and Ustrzyki Dolne had reserved all housing rentals for refugees only
so she and other media workers were scrambling to find available
“[With the Ukraine refugee crisis there is] no censorship
The security and police were compassionate
helping carry the belongings of refugee women and children in their arms.”
Since the war broke out, more than 4 million Ukrainians have fled their country, nearly 2.5 million of whom have arrived in Poland. Journalists — local Ukrainian and foreign correspondents alike — have risked their lives to report on the refugee crisis and the many other aspects of Russia’s invasion
She didn’t want to frighten displaced people arriving in droves from the depths of Ukraine
there was already a curfew and no accommodation; the first night
I had no choice but to sleep on the cold train station floor,” said Żądło
unlike in other parts of Ukraine where cities are bombarded.”
She is close to tears when she recalls the images and conversations she had with refugee women and children just days earlier
her workplace covers the cost of regular psychotherapy
She thinks back on her most recent reporting trip
which included helping journalists from Taiwan enter Ukraine for their reporting
“I was to meet Taiwanese journalists and take them to Lviv
They came to Poland to cover the refugee crisis and wanted to enter Ukraine to write about the war
I thought this was an excuse not to go because I didn’t have the strength anymore
Especially when it comes to explaining the danger to her young son
“Whether I am in Polish Przemyśl or Ukrainian Lviv
it makes no difference to him; in his mind
I tell him that this is a critical moment in the history of the world and I need to be there
so I directed him to cook some pancakes and take them to the Warsaw Central train station
where there are many displaced Ukrainian kids who love sweets,” she said
“Polish journalists always try to help,” Żądło noted about what she witnessed at the border
so you deliver food and medicine from aid groups.”
The journalists from Taiwan asked her: “Why did the Poles rush to help so much?” Indeed
one reason is the fear that this war may also happen to us
Kamil Bałuk is a 34-year-old freelance journalist from Warsaw
The father of a 3-year-old daughter and a 9-month-old son
suddenly the book project he had been working on
and isn’t familiar with the history and issues of the two countries
Unlike many Poles who have taken in refugees under their roofs
he couldn’t assist as his apartment is small and his kids have some health issues
Bałuk had time on his hands, however, and a car with kids’ seats. He called a volunteer group, Zasoby
to take refugees arriving at the train station to their hosts’ apartments
“These women and children prefer female drivers; unfortunately
I show them a photo with my wife and children at the pool
Bałuk began to calm after his first two shifts
I don’t want to act like a journalist,” he said
He has witnessed the toll of the war up close through this volunteer work
I asked a mother and her teenage daughter where they came from
Every question would seem stupid,” he thought
and this woman suddenly said she didn’t believe she was in Warsaw
but the next second she put on the face of a strong
Agnieszka Burton is a Polish-Australian reporter and non-fiction writer
Subscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret DownHow A Fake Viral News Story Wrecked Three People’s LivesWhen Zdzislaw Mołodyński took photos of an accident in his home town, he could never have known how the British press would spin the story – or the damage it would cause. Read this piece in Polish here
Zdzislaw Mołodyński pictured at Lake Solina in May 2015
Ustrzyki Dolne is a small town in southeast Poland, close to the Ukrainian border. It and its population of around 10,000 are about as far out in the sticks as a town could be
Nestled among the rolling hills of Bieszczady County in the Dniester River basin
conservative both politically and socially
there are a few bars and shops and a little market square
the chair of a non-governmental action group
arrived on the afternoon of 22 December 2013
They could never have known that their lives and reputations were about to be chewed up and spat out by the British media
The Wochs had driven there from their home in a small village just outside the town called Brzegi Dolne
it has a large stretch of land out the back
the Wochs had recently opened a little business offering horse-drawn carriage rides for weddings and other special occasions
The idea was that they would dress as Santa and his helper and ride past the town’s Christmas market to give out sweets to the children
but it would give their business a bit of publicity
As they arrived in the town centre with their sleigh and costumes
they learned there had been a last-minute change to their route: They had been expecting to ride straight into the market square
but instead were to divert via a little one-way lane that cuts horizontally across the town’s main road
they asked someone to stop the traffic on the road so they could cross it more easily
As they began to head down the one-way road, some ice at the edge of the road made the sledge jump up and hit the horse that was pulling the cart in the back. The animal got scared
“The last thing I remember,” Iwona Woch tells BuzzFeed News as she sits in her living room
“is my husband telling me to cover my head.”
the accident would have been far more serious
But fortunately the sled struck the edge of a brick hut
she thought she saw someone taking pictures
(left) The edge of the building that the sledge hit
throwing Robert Woch and his wife onto to the cobbles
(right) The set of steps that the horse almost bolted down
Zdzislaw Mołodyński – a semiretired security guard – was walking around the Christmas fair in the town
Mołodyński had begun to take more and more pictures
and he felt that the beautiful town of which he was so proud was somewhat out of the loop when it came to getting coverage in the Polish media
he’d started uploading his pictures to a website run by TVN
one of Poland’s biggest commercial TV channels
He saw the horse bolt and the sled hit the corner of the building
He saw how close the incident came to being a tragedy
and started to take some pictures as the emergency services arrived
He uploaded them to the TVN site later that day
describing it as an “unfortunate accident”
he woke up as normal and went out to get the paper
angrily asking: “What the fuck do you think you’re playing at?” Mołodyński was baffled
It was only when he went home and opened his laptop that he realised that something very strange had happened
Loading up the website of the Daily Mail – the biggest English-language newspaper website in the world – he found it had published a story about the crash
They included one of Robert Woch lying face down on the ground in his Santa outfit and another of the emergency services taking Iwona away
Mołodyński left a comment under the story and on the Mail's Facebook page asking in broken English why his pictures had been used
He says that someone at the Mail deleted the comment from the Facebook page shortly after he posted it
But it was when he found a Polish translation of the story on a website called natemat.pl that he realised what the story actually said – and quite how much trouble he was in
Santa and his assistant come to grief after crashing into a wall during drunken sled ride through town.”
It described how “Father Christmas and his helper are facing drink driving charges after they careered round a Polish town in a sleigh and smashed into a brick wall”
and said the pair “lost control of their horse in a busy street in Ustrzykach Dolnych" (sic)
It went on to report that police were “looking at pressing charges against the pair”
who were “supposed to be greeting children anxious to prove how ‘nice’ they had been that year”
The first person quoted in the story was Mołodyński
The quote read: “It was quite extraordinary
They were supposed to have been an attraction at the local market and lots of people were taking their children there to go and see them
behaving like they had just come out of a nightclub or something.”
The pair had apparently been singing carols and waving at passers-by
which threw the horse into a panic," Mołodyński's quote continued
"It reared up and sent them smashing into the wall on the corner of the street
The next quote came from a woman called Magda Dudzinska
who said: "I’m not happy they had a crash or are in hospital
but I’m delighted we didn’t get to meet them
Who knows what they would have done in that state
They were clearly in no state to deal with children."
there was a quote from a police spokesperson called Dorota Głazowska
they were drunk while in charge of a vehicle on the road
BuzzFeed News meets Mołodyński at a lake a few miles out of town
where he regularly spends time fishing with friends
and begins to describe the impact the story had on him
“I was completely broken.” He knew how much damage such a story could do to people's reputations in such a quiet
But the thing he couldn’t understand was that none of it was true
Mołodyński hadn’t given any quotes to any reporters
“I apparently said that they looked like they’d left a nightclub,” he says
“But there’s no nightclub in Ustrzyki Dolne
And it said I could smell alcohol on their breath – but I have no sense of smell after I had a bad allergic reaction to nicotine medication.”
It’s also hard to work out how a man who can’t speak English could have made a pun relying on rhyming “no” and “ho” – let alone when he’d just seen two people taken away in an ambulance
Dorota Głazowska-Krzywdzik (to give her full name)
But she certainly hadn’t said the words attributed to her
Dorota Głazowska-Krzywdzik at her desk in Ustrzyki Dolne
“I was off then but was informed by the duty officer
as it’s part of my job,” she told BuzzFeed News
They wanted to confirm that a horse had gone out of control – I merely confirmed that to be the case
They never asked me if the driver was sober.”
Głazowska-Krzywdzik showed BuzzFeed News a police report from the event
As part of standard procedure for such an incident
no one from the local area has ever heard of her
Dorota Głazowska-Krzywdzik outside the police station in Ustrzyki Dolne
The key to understanding what happened to Zdzislaw Mołodyński lies in three words on the Mail story that appeared on his pictures in the place of the watermark showing they belonged to him and TVN
Earlier this year, BuzzFeed News published an investigation showing how this news agency
harvests viral news stories from all over the world
often embellishing quotes or fabricating details in the service of making them more alluring or enticing reads
before selling them on to its eager customers in the English-language media
where they appear under its clients’ own bylines
(CEN refused to comment to BuzzFeed News for this story.)
As a result of the complaint, the Huffington Post removed its piece (although a video about the story remains live), as did the Mail, which published a brief correction
The Huffington Post told the PCC that it was CEN’s correspondent who had confirmed a “suspicion of drunk driving” with the police – though wherever this confirmation came from
it certainly didn’t come from the local force
If Mołodyński did indeed make the comments attributed to him
then he uploaded and deleted them with such speed that TVN did not see them
when BuzzFeed News contacted TVN it was told the station did not receive a request from CEN to use Mołodyński's pictures
A TVN spokesperson also said: "After the story that has been uploaded to [our website] by a user is checked and published as a news item
if Mr Mołodyński edited his story in the first two hours after he uploaded it to our system
but no respectable news agency would base their story on user-provided information without checking it first."
the Mail told the PCC that CEN had said that there was “clearly some suspicion” Woch was drunk because he had been subjected to a blood alcohol test following the accident
It did not say where this “suspicion” had come from
or mention that Woch was in fact breathalysed
It also said it had been told by CEN that the quotes attributed to Mołodyński came from the TVN website
A spokesman for the Mail told BuzzFeed News: "MailOnline received a PCC complaint about a 2013 article which was subsequently resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant." A spokesperson for the Mirror said: "This story was provided to us by a news agency and we had not received any complaint about it
However as soon as the information was brought to our attention we were happy to remove the article and clarify the issue in the corrections and clarifications section of our website."
is that no one in the Mail or Huffington Post newsroom
paid much attention to the story when it came across the wires
and a few amateurish pictures – just one of dozens if not hundreds of pieces that are pumped out by the viral news machine every day
What none of them realised – and what brought BuzzFeed News to this remote part of Poland – was the damage their throwaway story would cause
When Mołodyński read the Polish translation of the Mail’s “Drunk Santa” story
he posted the story to his Facebook page in order to show how he’d been misrepresented
But it only made things worse by drawing more attention to the story within the close-knit community
A friend swiftly asked him to take it down
He searched for the other eyewitness quoted in the piece
He found one person in the town with that surname; but
nor anyone else from her family had been at the Christmas fair”
Part of the problem for Mołodyński is that Poland has extremely strict media laws – it is mandatory for news organisations to obtain approval from those being quoted
The idea that quotes could be distorted – or fabricated – was therefore a difficult one for many of his neighbours to process
He wrote to TVN – “I begged them not to let me be hung out to dry” – but he got no response
When BuzzFeed News asks what impact the story has had on him
“Between the story’s publication and February the next year
I’d only been there for two or three hours when the abuse started: People called me a fucking wannabe reporter
I saw abuse appearing about me under the articles too
‘Down with pricks like Mołodyński,’ and so on.”
“I still can’t think about it and remain calm,” he says
Then things got even worse: he learned that the Wochs were planning to sue the people responsible for defaming them
He sent them the original information he’d given TVN
Both of them sustained knee injuries in the crash
and remained in hospital for a few days after the accident
Mr and Mrs Woch in their home near Ustrzyki Dolne
She received a few calls from the media while she was in hospital
and we wanted to calm the story down," she says
"You don’t want this kind of advertisement.”
the Wochs received a text message telling them to look at Mołodyński’s Facebook page
There was a link on it to the Polish translation of the Mail article
“One of our mutual friends asked him to pull it down,” says Iwona
The Wochs knew how harmful such a depiction of them would be
“People even knew about it as far away as Rzeszów,” says Iwona
and immediately went to the police with all the information
The police advised them that it would have to be pursued by the district prosecutor's office
Robert and Iwona Woch with the sledge involved in the accident
They weren’t sure a prosecutor would deal with such a petty case – but they pointed out that the story harmed the image of Poles in general
along with the reputation of the police (because the spokesperson’s words had been misquoted) as well as the Wochs themselves
the case was adjudged not to be in the public interest
leaving the only option for the Wochs to seek redress in the civil courts
Thus far, they’ve not chosen to do so – but to this day, they bear a grudge against Mołodyński: "He only contacted us after we said in an interview with a local journalist called Martyna Sokołowska that we were considering suing him,” says Robert Woch
The pair are also annoyed he brought the story to local attention by posting it on his Facebook page – though they accept that a number of people had already found out about it via relatives in London
The Wochs have undoubtedly suffered – not only physical injuries but
financial losses due to the damage to their reputation
They were even thinking of shutting their business down
because they’d taken out credit in order to run it
“There were a whole bunch of rumours circulating online after the accident because of the story,” says Robert
“Things like one of the horses having rabies
We’re the only company offering horse rides in the area
but if anything happens this time it’ll be
He adds: “Life is slowly getting back on track
you can’t let people spread lies about you.” Iwona says that she’s still being asked about what really happened
Robert says: “You can’t really judge the damage it’s done over time
as it’s a new business – but it’s definitely slowed things down."
says she has escaped any criticism within the local community
But she remains stunned by the way the true events were distorted
“I could see the Polish tabloids might try to do something like this,” she says
they’d frame it as a question – ‘Was this Santa drunk?’”
it is Mołodyński who arguably found himself in the worst situation
The Wochs might have had their reputations damaged further afield
but they still had the support of the local community
He was not so lucky: As the Wochs told BuzzFeed News
"even though we never took any action against him
we heard from several friends that people almost lynched him"
Nobody wanted to believe his claim that he never said the words attributed to him
“I would not want to go through that torment again.”
Przeczytaj ten artykuł po polsku
Read our original piece on Central European News here
Apr 28, 2020 | COVID-19, Society
Polish parishes are facing mounting financial woes amid the coronavirus lockdown
such as offerings during mass and donations from church events
Poland’s 10,000 parishes have been hit particularly hard by the loss of a key source of funding
attendance at church services is limited to one person per 15 square metres of space
it was a maximum of five people at any religious service
The church itself has also encouraged parishioners to stay at home
“The offertory is the key source of livelihood for every parish,” a country parish priest from Warka told Rzeczpospolita
“The offerings are used to pay all the parish bills and wages
For six Sundays we have been preaching to empty benches
and so there are no offerings coming in.”
“We now cover all expenses associated with the functioning of the parish from our savings
We will remain financially liquid for only the next three months
and I’m wondering what happens afterwards,” he added
Spring is usually high season for most Polish parishes, with several celebrations around Easter followed by a string of First Communions lined up in May. However, this year these have been muted
with priests delivering sermons to empty naves and some even walking the streets in lieu of their traditional Easter-time processions
In deeply Catholic Poland, society prepares for Easter in isolation
which usually see more people coming in the summer
are also worried that the pandemic could overshadow this year’s holiday season
Father Typrowicz runs a Catholic retreat in Ustrzyki Dolne
a town in Poland’s mountainous south
and uses the proceeds to finance his parish
“We always have more money in the summer
when people come to the mountains for holidays
we’re uncertain what will happen,” he told Rzeczpospolita
The government says that tourism will restart soon
but it definitely won’t reach the same scale as before the pandemic,” adds Typrowicz
The pandemic is also a financial headache for individual priests, many of whom make a livelihood from teaching religious lessons at schools. Others also receive donations for conducting weddings
All other workers involved with organising these church events
No slippers and lock up your dog: Polish church advises how to receive priest at home
Yet each parish’s finances are part of a larger ecclesiastical web of accounts
Part of each parish’s income is given to the curia
which uses the funds to finance its seminaries
Some bishops have exempted parishes from paying either some or all of such fees for the time of the lockdown
A share of each parish’s income also feeds into the coffers of the Episcopal Conference of Poland (KEP)
a central organ of the church composed of cardinals
The Catholic church initially refused to cancel masses early in the crisis
though it issued exemptions for the elderly
as well as holding more services so as to reduce the numbers attending each one
the government restricted attendance at religious ceremonies
Main image credits: WikimediaImages/Pixabay (under Pixabay License)
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland
News, Politics, Society
The proportion of Poles saying the US has a positive influence on the world has also fallen to its lowest recorded level
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Poland has recorded the strongest rise in consumer sentiment across the EU this year
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The stunt has also been criticised by Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland
as well as politicians from Poland’s main ruling party
Apr 30, 2025 | Defence, Hot news, News, Politics
That response will include “large Polish and NATO exercises in Poland”
Apr 29, 2025 | Business, Hot news, News, Society
Those employed in Poland work on average the third-longest hours in the European Union
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On November 22 at 11:00 in the building of Disctrict and the Municipal Public Library of prof
there was a ceremony of unveiling a memorial plaque for Chaim Eiss – a member of the Ładoś-group
The Warsaw Ghetto Museum was represented by its director Albert Stankowski
The President of the Institute of National Remembrance
and the Deputy Director of the Pilecki Institute
unveiled a commemorative plaque for Chaim Yisroel Eiss
which organized and produced illegal Latin American passports during the World War II
The documents issued to Jews significantly increased their chances of survival in the territories occupied by the German Reich
the year 2021 was declared the Year of the Ładoś Group
organized by the Institute of National Remembrance
the Pilecki Institute and the Municipality of Ustrzyki Dolne
in the building of the Dictrict and Municipal Library of prof
The event will be broadcast on the channel IPNtv
financed by the IPN Office for the Remembrance of Struggle and Martyrdom
was placed in the District and Municipal Library in Ustrzyki Dolne
which was built on the foundations of the synagogue
built in the first half of the 19th century
was completely destroyed by the Germans during the World War II
the synagogue building was used as a grain warehouse
a change in the interior and exterior appearance
it now houses the municipal public library
Chaim Yisroel Eiss (1876–1943) was born in Ustrzyki to an Orthodox Jewish family
meaning “life,” is symbolic – it was given to Eiss as the only child to survive
In 1900 he came to Switzerland to begin his studies
He was active in the Jewish community – he was one of the founders and leaders of the international political organization Agudat Israel
He used the contacts he had acquired during the World War II
to rescue Jews who had been sentenced to extermination by the Germans
Having established cooperation with diplomats of the Polish legation in Bern
he created a network for smuggling passports to the ghettos in occupied Poland
He co-financed the activities of the Ładoś Group
obtained letters with the names of Jews for whom documents and photographs were prepared for the issuance of passports
The Institute of National Remembrance and the Pilecki Institute combine their efforts in scientific research and dissemination of knowledge about the activities of the Ładoś Group
the Institute of National Remembrance produced the documentary film “Passports of Paraguay” directed by Robert Kaczmarek
which deals with the activities of the group of MP Aleksander Ładoś to save the Jews
The sequel to “Passports of Paraguay” is the documentary “Polmission
co-produced by the Institute of National Memory
It shows the plot of one of the largest and most mysterious actions to rescue Jews during the World War II
tells about the fate of the survivors thanks to the activities of Polish diplomacy and the Polish secret service in cooperation with international organizations
a plaque commemorating the Ładoś Group (Bern Group) was unveiled in Będzin
financed by the Branch for the Remembrance of Struggle and Martyrdom of the Institute of National Remembrance in Katowice
in collaboration with Jakub Kumoch and Jędrzej Uszyński
published “the Ladoś List” – a scientific study of a personal list of over 3,000 people of Jewish nationality to whom the Ładoś Group issued “life passports.” The first edition of the Ładoś-List helped to establish contact with families who previously held unlisted passports and to reach additional sources
which made it possible to update the data in the English edition of the book
published in 2020 under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress
Representatives of both institutes are involved in the activities of the International Committee of the Ładoś Group
which brings together the families of the members of the Ładoś Group
representatives of the survivors thanks to the “Passports of Life” and researchers from many countries
[source: Institute of National Remembrance.]
young people with dreams of becoming punks had to contend with a harsh response from the Security Service
The early days of the rebellious band KSU were undoubtedly challenging
but their teenage defiance played a role in the changes that ultimately helped topple the rigid system
paving the way for a free and democratic Poland
The results of this struggle will be revealed in theaters this fall
Young actor Ignacy Liss portrays Eugeniusz Olejarczyk
The observation tower on Holiczka Hill (761 meters above sea level) in the Żuków Range near Ustrzyki Dolne is the newest attraction in the region
you can enjoy a wonderful view of the surroundings and the Bieszczady Mountains: Tarnica's Nest
The new observation tower on the Żuków Ridge was opened in July 2023
you have several different routes to choose from: longer and shorter
There are also plans to build additional paths
including those adapted for people with limited mobility
The road on the Żuków Ridge visible on maps is a closed forest road accessible only to forest services and bicycles
The shortest walking route to the tower leads from Ustianowa Górna
It will take about 1 hour to walk approximately 2 km of forest road
be prepared for some steep uphill sections through the forest:
If you don't feel like hiking through the forest
you can choose a longer but more comfortable
paved road along the ridge from the parking lot near the Ustianowa Dolna - Łobozew Dolny road
but the ascent is much gentler than from Ustianowa Górna
For the ambitious and those who enjoy longer
we have a suggestion to start from the Market Square in Ustrzyki Dolne and head straight to Holiczka
you have to walk approximately 10 km (over 500 meters of elevation gain)
After about 3.5 hours from leaving Ustrzyki Dolne
you will reach the tower from the southeast:
You can also reach Holiczka by taking the mentioned blue trail from Równia (5 km
290 meters of elevation gain) or from Daszówka (4.5 km
more paths leading to the tower will soon be created - if you discover them
the wonderful panorama visible from the upper viewing terrace in all four directions of the world
Until information boards are placed on the terrace
we will give you some hints about what you will see
you will see Ustrzyki Dolne and the surrounding hills of the Góry Słonne range
you will find the green ridges of the Sanocko-Turczańskie Mountains that surround Lake Solina and Lake Myczkowskie
you will see all the Bieszczady mountain ranges
You will recognize them by the deep saddle - the Goprowska Pass between Krzemień (on the left) and Tarnica (on the right)
followed by the long ridge of Wetlińska Polonyna
ending with the characteristic "triangular" Smerek
In the depression between Caryńska and Wetlińska
from the east: the ranges of Magura Stuposiańska
with the long ridge of Otryt in front of them
Further to the west: the range of Łopiennik and Durna
cannot climb the tower from the ridge road
...and near the ruins of the glider school - to the south
you will also see Tarnica and the mountain meadows
While visiting the observation tower on Holiczka
it is worth walking to the extensive panoramic meadow (about 10-15 minutes along the ridge road to the northwest of the tower)
...and an interesting history of the glider school that was located here in the 1930s:
The Military Glider School operated on the ridge of Mount Żuków from 1933 to 1939
we can only see the ruins of the glider airfield below the summit of Holicy
and there are several information boards that remind us of the incredible history of this place
You can find more towers with a view of the Bieszczady Mountains here:
The most beautiful views in the Bieszczady Mountains are
waiting for us on the mountain peaks and open meadows
sometimes it's worth looking at the picturesque ridges from a slightly different perspective that the observation towers give us
it is also worth stopping at the Uherce Mineralne railway station and going for a ride on a railbike:
Rail trolley rides are an unusual but very interesting attraction
we usually have the opportunity to pedal it like a bicycle
in Uherce Mineralne - an atmospheric railway station at the threshold of the Bieszczady Mountains