Wojtek the Bear [paperback] (25 page)
Read Wojtek the Bear [paperback] Online
Authors: Aileen; Orr
In the camps, the Polish Resettlement Corps gave the ex-soldiers training in several trades, and – most importantly – taught them English. But the PRC camps gradually emptied over
the years and, as most of their ‘graduates’ were transferred south or emigrated to other countries, the total number of Poles in Scotland fell steeply. By the time of the census in
April 1951, Scottish residents registered as ‘born in Poland’ numbered only 10,603 – 9,113 men and 1,490 women. Five years before, the figure would have been over 50,000.
The 10,000 now became the core of Scotland’s hardworking, God-fearing Polish community through the decades that lay ahead. On the whole, they kept well clear of the
political squabbles which rent the London-based émigré government during the Cold War, and their main organisation was the League of Polish Combatants (SPK), in which General Anders
was the leading figure. A new ripple of refugees reached them in the 1980s, following martial law and the suppression of the free trade union Solidarity. Ten years later, after a free Poland
entered the European Union in 2004, the ripple became a tsunami of young Poles pouring into Scotland to find work and learn new ways to live.
But Wojtek was no longer there to greet them. So reluctantly handed over to the care of Edinburgh Zoo, this grand old bear had lived out his retiral in reasonable comfort. He
seems not to have been unhappy. But his old mates who visited him found that he was always nostalgic for an army cigarette, a slab of cake and the beloved sound of the Polish language. There had
been bad times in the war, but at least he had never for a moment been lonely. His Polish visitors knew what he meant.
List of Plates
The bear cub in Iraq.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Wojtek learned good manners early.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Always looking for food.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Wojtek playing in the Middle East.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
A childlike pose always worked.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Wrestling was his passion.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
He was adept at climbing but destroyed all trees.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Taking stock of his next willing victim!
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Pretend fighting and showing off.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Good manners meant good food.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Boarding the
MS Batory
in Alexandria, Egypt.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Wojtek in the FWD HAR-1 Truck.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Jim Little as postman in Moniaive.
The author’s grandfather leading a remembrance parade.
Three girls: Actress Elaine C Smith, Margo MacDonald MSP and Aileen Orr.
Maquette by Alan Beattie Herriot.
The bear cub in Iraq.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Wojtek learned good manners early.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Always looking for food.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Wojtek playing in the Middle East.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
A childlike pose always worked.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Wrestling was his passion.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
He was adept at climbing but destroyed all trees.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Taking stock of his next willing victim!
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
Pretend fighting and showing off.
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London
