Two years have passed since the first publication of the album “Kamienica w lesie” (“For the love of the old. An Instagram journey through Szczecin.”). Soon it will be printed for the fourth time. A week after the album’s premiere, in December 2019, I saw for the first time the old space in the townhouse at number 19 Pocztowa (Post) Street in Szczecin. I was immediately taken with the Art Nouveau doors and pre-war flooring which I saw through the display window of the abandoned shop. I decided, with my husband Konrad, to bring this place back to life. This paid off from the first moment, when behind the plaster we discovered the old wall tiles. “Kamienica w lesie” was established – a café with books, a meeting place, which, like a lens focusing light, brought together everything I was looking for on the streets of Szczecin in one place.

We opened this space during the pandemic, with the feeling that it is needed. In order for it to exist, we had to sell our beloved flat on Świętego Wojciecha (Saint Adalbert) Street, but “Kamienica w lesie”, my idea of life, continues. At 19 Pocztowa Street beats my townhouse-loving heart, and our little house in the forest turned out to be a refuge during pandemic times. Thank you to everyone who picked up my book, “Kamienica w lesie” for themselves, who chose it as a present for their loved ones. In 2021 the album “Kamienica w lesie” was distinguished with the “Made in Szczecin” award. A month ago I released my next publication: “Dzieciństwo 1935-1949” [“Childhood 1935–1949”] featuring the memories of Christel Schubert, a pre-war res- ident of the townhouse in which I lived with my family. The whole thing is accompanied by my subjective, photographic story of the places mentioned by the author. The townhouses of Szczecin grow more beautiful day by day. I truly believe that more books about the remarkable, townhouse-filled place that is Szczecin, and about its residents, lie ahead of us... Because townhouses are also the history of the people who have lived in them.

I’ll see you at number 19 Pocztowa Street, in “Kamienica w lesie”.
Monika Szymanik