The history of our place
At the beginning of the 1960s there were 12 larger and smaller swimming pools in the Jelenia Góra district. They were clearly not the apple of the eye of the then authorities, because in 1971 only 4 were open. Przesieka had a swimming pool, to which even the inhabitants of Jelenia Góra came.
"Clean flowing water and relatively little crowds were the advantages of this place." However, since the late 1950s, the swimming pool needed renovation, for which there was still no money. In 1959, councillors wrote that "the lack of loans for the renovation of the swimming pool will lead to its destruction in the future."
For the Polish state's 1000th anniversary, a commitment was made to renovate the road to the swimming pool and carry out a major renovation of the facility. Unfortunately, in Nowiny from 1964, we read: "The water is thick with floating clumps of grass and other dirt. Shower basins are clogged and dirty.
The admission fee for adults was PLN 3. In the same year, two people from Przesieka applied for a job as an usher at the swimming pool. Although one of the ladies lived opposite the swimming pool, the job was given to a resident of Marczyce. A resident of Warsaw was hired as a rescuer.
Teresa Bondarewicz recalls: “I walked and bathed. I remember the water was terribly cold, but would that bother the kids? "I guess all the children from Przesieka went to the swimming pool."
But in June 1968, the press reported that the pool would not be open that season because it was dirty, and the cabins had not been repaired. The swimming pool required a thorough renovation, so the councillors obliged the commune authorities to apply to the provincial and district Committee for Physical Culture and Tourism for a subsidy, which was clearly not received sufficiently. Since the swimming pool was in short supply, the commune tried to transfer it to "Turystyka" or another company, including FWP in Karpacz. The latter did not take over the swimming pool but agreed to pay the lifeguard's salary. A few years later, Nowiny published an article advising that small swimming pools, including the swimming pool in Przesieka, be handed over to companies, with the hope that they would find money for renovation and maintenance.
In the early 1970s, the pool gained a new owner: Jeleniogórskie Zakłady Optyczne. The locker rooms were renovated, and the swimming pool was sealed. Nowiny encouraged the inhabitants of Jelenia Góra to also use this swimming pool, informing them that it was 4.5 km from the bus stop (so such a distance did not deter anyone in those days...). But the pool was in poor condition the following season: neither the edges nor the bottom had been renovated. Optical Works organized picnics for their employees at the swimming pool. A journalist who "visited" the swimming pool in Przesieka in 1974 had a very positive impression. He writes that over 100 colonists, and local vacationers and tourists were sunbathing in the "slightly cramped area." However, he was critical of the supply of the buffet, which only had lemonade to drink ("a slice of lemon floating in water"). Soon a Fiat arrived, and three beer transporters were taken out. The queue formed quickly. In 1979, we read again about the renovation and development of the swimming pool.
In 1982, the swimming pool area was named the Municipal Center of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the spatial development map. However, in 1986, a comprehensive renovation was still needed: concreting part of the basin, rebuilding the water drainage and supply devices, renovating the water supply and electrical installations, etc.
The entrepreneurship of the Sitka residents, despite the times being far from the free market, led to the creation of a private "beach". People walking along the Czerwień valley towards the swimming pool, enjoying bathing in a mountain stream, found a small meadow with a sign saying "Private" above it. You had to pay PLN 2 "per blanket" or PLN 1 per person to spread your blanket.
(Note based on materials from the State Archives in Jelenia Góra and Nowiny Jelenia Górskie)
Text taken from the website: https://przesiekahistoriapo1945.wordpress.com/category/basen-w-przesiece/
