Bear Poles in mind
BIGGAR Museum Trust has concentrated on more recent history for its latest exhibition — and organisers hope it will jog a few memories among the area's residents.
Opening this week, and running until October 26, the Polish Exhibition looks at the lives of the men stationed around the Clydesdale area during and after the war.
And it will feature one of the most unusual servicemen of all time — Wojtek the Soldier Bear, an Iranian brown bear who became a soldier in the Polish 2nd Army Corps.
"The Poles had a big impact on Biggar, and we have quite a lot of stuff in the museum here, so we had been thinking of doing an exhibition at some point," explained Suzanne Rigg, the museum supervisor.
But then they were offered the loan of a maquette, a small scale model of a planned statute, of Wojtek (or Voytek) the bear, for a few weeks.
There has been great interest in the role of animals in the armed forces, and Wojtek was so well known in Scotland that a fund has been set up to build a memorial to him near Hutton, in the Scottish Borders.
While some of the Poles made their way to Britain in 1939, others were taken to eastern labour camps when Germany and Russia invaded Poland that year.
They were released following an agreement in July 1941, and a great number made their way to western Europe through Persia and eventually North Africa.
It was in Persia (now Iran) that one group bought Wotjek, a three month old brown bear cub, whose mother had been killed by bear hunters, and who had been captured by a young boy.
Wojtek lived as a soldier and was officially enrolled in the Polish Army in 1944, to get round a British order that no animals should embark with the troops.
In Italy, at the Battle of Monte Cassino, when his comrades in the transport company were having to carry ammunition and food supplies to troops, Wojtek walked over, stretched out his paws and began to carry his share.
Wojtek arrived at the Winfield Camp in Berwickshire in October 1946 and, when the Polish army demobbed the following year, he went to Edinburgh Zoo, where he died in 1963.
"He was never actually in Biggar," said Suzanne, "But people remember visiting him at the zoo and speaking to him in Polish — so many of them learned Polish — and he would respond."
A Polish uniform and souvenirs left by the soldiers are among the exhibits, and there will also be a memory board where visitors can share their own recollections.
The Polish consul opens the exhibition in Moat Park this Thursday, September 18, and it will run until the end of Biggar Little Festival, opening from 11am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday, and 2pm to 4.30pm on Sundays.
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Sunday 05 February 2012
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