ITCHY FEET TRAVELS

Wroclaw, Poland

July 11, 2025

December of 1980 saw martial law being imposed in Poland with tanks and paramilitary units being deployed on the streets to curb dissidence. With it came censorship of all media and correspondence, wiretapping of phones in public booths and state institutions. Forbidden travel between cities without permits and intensified food shortages were soon to follow.

Orange Alternative was an underground anti-communist movement that began in Wroclaw offering citizens a peaceful means of protest. But with a difference; their opposition to an authoritarian regime used absurd and nonsensical elements. Painting dwarf graffiti atop anti-regime slogans on walls that the police covered up were a first. And thus was born the dwarf symbolism.

Papa Dwarf, standing on the tip of a finger was created in 2001 in commemoration of Orange Alternative. Today, the small figures of dwarfs, no more than 20 or 30 cms tall, are everywhere striking a wonderful whimsical note for this city. There are some four hundred of them and the tourist office even publishes a map, making it a game to find each one. I delight in the search but minus a map, as eager as the children as I wander the streets at random keeping my eyes peeled. Some wave an exuberant hello, some ponder, some lean against a wall.

Some dance, some ride a balloon motorbike while some others wear their hearts on their sleeves.

Some rush to put out fires while another snoozes outside the door to his cave. Nearby, yet another commemorates veterans.

Some are even in groups. A couple while away an afternoon singing and making music. Most photographed is likely another pair trying to move one of the stone balls lining a pedestrian street. Yet another gets a taking to. There is even an entire orchestra of gnomes!

The gnomes have caught on! Business owners find them a quaint way to advertise their business. The ballet or yoga studio or bank or bookshop are heralded by these little figures. As are the apothecary, the jeweler, the jazz club and the music shop. They are utterly delightful! I wear a broad grin as I discover each.

Nor are they all dwarfs or gnomes. Some are recognizable while others bear an explanatory plaque.

But my favorites? No prize for guessing which! They pore over a map or tap on a laptop and take photos of gnomes. Travelers!