There are many beautiful, important and orginal places in the World. They can be a magent to tourists, scenes of stormy incidents, literary back drops and an inspiration to artist. But few deserve to be called ‘magical’ as much as my local fatherland, Kashubia. The magic ofthe Kasubian region is in its scenery, quite exceptional in Europe; in its sprint, the ganius loci, created by the sea, by fortune, by its inhabitants; in its mistery and uniqueness. It is also in the antiquity and stability of its situation, its culture and its attitudes.

To vivitors to kashubio, the charm of the scenery and the tourist attractions are so obvious, that they eclipse other aspects of the region. Which is not surprising, because where else, in such a relativel small area, have nature and history placed so many wonders? We have kilometers of sand beaches with the Sopot spa, sheer cliffs, the Hel spit stretching for over thirty kilometers with beautiful fishing villages, and the sand dunes of Łeba like a piece of the Sahara transported to the Baltic coast. As if this were not enought, there are also hundreds of lakes, large ones like the Raduńskie or the Wdzydze, and very small ones concealed in the forest. And there are rivers, which in many places, like Radunia gorge, remind one of mountain streams.

It is not therefore surprising that a part of the Pojezierze region is called the ‘Kashubian Switzerland’. Near Kartuzy and Kościerzyna, where there are over four hundred lakes, there are also attractive uplands, dominated by the Wieżyca hill, with some ski lifts. In the south there are forests and mysterious marshes, and everywhere, there are rare plants and animals, ancient trees and uninhabited areas. This is why, in Kashub songs which are still sung on ever possible ocasion, there is so much about the sea, lakes and forests.

But Kashubia is not just wather, sadn and forests. Few people still remember that one of the most beautiful and most important Polish towns lies here. Yes, Gdansk is the capital of the region. Gunter Grass, the great German writer who values his Kashub roots, writes in ‘The Tin Drum’ about how valuable its Kashub setting has been to the history of Gdansk. It is worth remembering this when visiting the town situated on the banks of the Motława.

When the publishers of this beautiful album came to me with the proposal of writing an introduction, it occurred to me that it might be worth trying to write a few words which would not be a hackneyed commentary on beautiful scenery and pictures of historical monuments. Photographs speak for themselves, although they are no substitute for the orginal.

As nature gave Kashubia beauty, so history and the people making it, left az their heri-tage the secret of survival. Every self respecting tourist visiting this region should start his excursion at Odry in the south or in Wensiory in Central Kashubia. There he will find ancient traces of the history and culture of the aboringinal inhabitants – stone circles, which according to some still possess an energy which transmits strength and heals like the hands of a bio-energy healer. Scientists still do not know the origins of the Kashub culture. There are many theories about the origins of the name ‘Kaszuby’, and the place where the ashub culture and language originated is also not known, although most researchers point to western Pomerania. A dispute about the Kashub language has been going on for years. Some consider it a language, others a dialect. The Kashub elite have no dubts on this score, to them Kashubian is a language with its own grammar and spelling. Kashubian-Polish dictionaries and language text books have been written. There are primary and secondary schools which teach in Kashubian, and in 1987, for John Paul Il`s visit to Gdansk the ‘Weijmk ze Swiętech Pismion Nowego Testamentu’ or bible in Kashubian was published. As a resuly, Kashubian is incereasingly heard in churches.

The Kashubian language is special not just because it has maintained elements of old Slavic mixed with Polish and some German words. Anyone who has travelled from the Bory Tucholskie to Hel is sure to have noticed how the Kashubian vernacular differs, with almost eighty variations being recorded. There are many Kashubian ethnic groups. In Tadeusz Bolduan`s ‘Baedeker`he states “They vary in language cultural and social charakteristics, habits and customs. The north is clearly different, inhabited by the Rybnik (Reboce). The Hel peninsula and the nearby coastline is inhabited by the Belaki (Beloce) and the Dobrolaki (Dobroloce). South of Wejherowo one finds the Lesaki (Lesoce), near Kościerzyna the Korkacze (Korocze), in the Wdzydze region the Łyczaki (Łyczoce) and further on the Gochy, Zaboracy and Lasacy.”

Obstinacy is a characteristic of all Kashubs. Thanks to this they have succeeded in maintaining not only their language, but also their particular culture and customs. The whole of Poland heard about their protests against the new law forbidding the production and sale of snuff. An apparently minor matter quickly became a serious political problem, showing how carefully one must tread with the customs of ethnic and cultural minority groups. On that occasion the Kashubs showed that their proverbial obstinacy in holding on to their rights and habits is not dead.

This obstinacy was a condition of survival over the centuries, as history has not been gentle with this region. Gunter Grass wrote in ‘The Tin Drum’: “That is how it is with the Kashubs... they always catch it ... you can`t move the Kashubs anywhere, they always have to be hear and make themself available to be beaten, because we are not Polish anought and not German enought, because if someone is Kashub, it is insufficient for both Poles and Germans.” In our part of Europe, so heavily experienced in wars, invasions and migrations, the Kashubs are among the few who can say: we have always been here and have maintained our identity! Loyalty to one`s own principles, custorms and culture, as well as language, has enabled Kashubs to grow strong and deep roots and to survive historical storms.

Perhaps this is why in Kashubia no one scorns, as they do in other places, the regional culture. It has not been confined to outdoor museums or superseded by mass culture. It lives on, away from big cities, even experiencing a renaissance in recent years. Carvings and ceramies from Chmielno, famous Kashub poetry and music, horn snuff boxes and musical instruments, all this can be found in cottages, Gdansk collectors` homes and on market stalls.

Poor soils, sand and stony (it is often said that the Kashub soil grows stones) and work on the water have taught the natives hardiness and strict realism. Everyday hardships are accompanied here by faith, simple and deep at the same time. The imagination of the Kashubs was once peopled by ‘purteks’ (devils)’stolemams’ (giants) and a special role was played by ‘Smętek’, the sprint of this region, immortalised by Żeromski. Proof of the existence of these forces are erratic boulders almost each of which has its own legend. Nowadays the Kashubs are a mainstay of Catholicism, and their attachment to the Church has also beed a sing of their Polishness. Kashub religiousness has its material expression: countless roadside chapels, churches, including a real architectural jewel, the Cistercian church in the Kartuzy hills whit its famous coffin roof or the historical Wejherowo Calvary representation frequently visited by pilgrims from all parts of Kashubia. It is not surprising therefore that one of the kashub hymns ends with the words “We`re on God`s side”.

The Kashub culture survived over the centuries against all the odds. Being a borderland in the cultural, national, linguistic and religious sense and being strongly pressured by Germany and Protestantism, it nevertheless maintained its essence into the 20^th centurry. Later on, within the Polish Republic, it had to defend its ethnic identity from attacks by all those who considered all variety and differences within the national culthre were suspicious and superflous. The first tragedy occurred during the first months of the II Eorld War, when the nazis murdered thousands of Pomeranian intellectuals in Piaśnica. The Kashubs also had a hard time during the communist period, but again they succeeded in defending their identity, in contrast to the Mazurians or the Slowinces from the nerby Pobrzeże.

These experiences encourage one to hope that they will also defend their identity in this period of the ‘global village’, a period of progressive uniformity of culture and widespread homogeneity. Because the Kashubs are like the sea from which they have earned their livelihood over the ages – indestructible.