Desperately Longing for Something Original

Rafal Oblinski
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A white scarf was discretely added over an artist's depiction of a mermaid with an exposed breast on a poster advertising the 2006 Miss World contest, after officials in Warsaw's conservative administration deemed it too suggestive, the artist's agent said Wednesday.
CNews
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It was discretely added. What the mayor of Warsaw and his cohort altered there is substantially more important to the city than a poster by a local artist.
Warsaw's civic avatar is a mermaid, often depicted armed with sword and shield - naked, as mermaids are wont to be. She's a symbol of resistance and strength.

The people of Warsaw are proud of their symbol, which appears in many art forms, as the one on the left from the weekly magazine "Tygodnik Ilustrowany" in 1900. But however presented, the mermaid is always shown with sword in hand to indicate the fighting spirit of the citizens. Indeed, the people of Warsaw rebelled several times in the 19th.century against the Russian occupiers of the time.
In recent years, this spirit manifested itself in the continual struggle against the Nazis during World War II, culminating in the disastrous uprising of 1944 as a result of which the city was almost totally destroyed, and tens of thousands died. The maritime theme was also evident in the stylized PW symbol in the shape of an anchor that was scratched, painted, chalked on buildings, vehicles, signposts, throughout the five years of occupation.
The PW stood for Polska Walczaca, "Poland Fights."
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Among the lesser-known legends is the one written by Maria Krüger entitled "The Noble Griffin and the Beautiful Mermaid." According to the legend, the security of the medieval city of Warsaw was guarded by a manly and noble Griffin. When he once took a journey with the river boatmen to the Baltic, he met a beautiful Mermaid. They fell deeply in love and the Mermaid swam with them back to Warsaw. From then on, they both watched over the townspeople.
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The Little Upriser