22nd day - July 30th: Meeting with the Bishop in Katowice

Early in the morning, I dropped the key to the community center in the mailbox and cycled past the panel buildings and through some industrial areas of Bytom. The destination for the day was Katowice, which was only 24km away. Just after the exit sign of Bytom, the next big city - Chorzow - began. After cycling for 8km, I reached Chorzow and was greeted by a huge sign of Katowice.

The bishop's seat of the Protestant Diocese of Katowice and the associated Resurrection Church are located in the Upper Silesian metropolis. Mr. Marian Niemiec is the head bishop, whom I wanted to visit and interview. The Resurrection Church is located in the city center, as it was the very first church built in the city in 1858, when Katowice was still more or less a village. I rang the office doorbell at around 10 o'clock. The secretary opened the door and informed me that the bishop was currently at the nursing home, but would be coming soon. She informed him of my visit. I waited patiently, and after 20 minutes, he arrived. The conversation was easy because the bishop spoke good German. The Resurrection Church (photo), as the bishop's church of the diocese, has about 750 members in the city. On average, 130-150 worshipers attend the church service, unless it is during summer vacation. Like in other congregations, there is child care, a church cafe, and corresponding offers during the school year. The bishop focuses on diaconal work. He founded the Evangelical Hospice and a lending station for rehabilitation equipment.

The biggest challenge currently is the Ukrainian refugee work. In a city with 302,000 inhabitants, there are 50,000 Ukrainian refugees. Unfortunately, the conversation with the bishop was brief because he had plans to attend a Formula 1 race in Hungary with a friend and had a meeting at 12 o'clock. Tomorrow, a retired colleague would represent him at the church service, and I could come as well. This was also my plan, as I wanted to spend a day in the city and had booked a hostel room in the city center because rain was forecasted for the rest of the day.

Of the numerous sights, I was only interested in the Museum of Upper Silesian Culture and History and the Guitar Museum. After a small snack and a quick stop at the tourist information center for a new cycling map, I cycled to the Silesian Museum. However, according to the location on the map, the museum was no longer there. So I cycled back to the tourist information center and learned that the museum had been completely rebuilt in a former mine. On the way, I passed a large children's charity event for Ukraine. There were many information stands from various aid organizations (photo), a stage program with music and dance, and hundreds of game booths that were used by many families and children (photo). I was very impressed by this attitude and commitment to the Ukrainian people in the city.

I continued cycling and passed a very modern office high-rise building (photo) and the largest, but ugly, residential block in the city (photo). Then the rain started and I arrived at the Silesian Museum, which is actually located underground in a pit, somewhat dry. I stayed at the museum for over three hours and explored the various permanent exhibitions on the historical and more recent history, culture, and art of this formerly historical German-Polish border region. The worker uprisings with the Solidarity trade union in the region in the 1980s were an interesting focus. Overall, the museum is well worth a visit, even though I missed a bit of daylight.

When I left the museum in the evening, it was already too late for the Guitar Museum, so I cycled back to the hostel in the pouring rain. Luckily, I had a fixed accommodation for the night. I got something to cook, worked on my text, watched the news, and then went to bed in my cubicle in the room.