IT WAS NATURAL FOR US – THE INHABITANTS AND THE AUTHORITIES – TO BE OPEN AND TO HELP
“Our city has rich multicultural traditions, everyone came here from somewhere. So when people started arriving here, fleeing the war in Ukraine, it was only natural for us – the inhabitants and the authorities – to be open and to help,” says Wojciech Koerber of Wrocław's Press Office.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Wrocław provided shelter to people fleeing the war, including many athletes. One of them was Maxim Neznayev – a 17-year-old weightlifter from near Donetsk.
“He joined the weightlifting section of Śląsk Wrocław, famous for its high level, and there he could continue training. This section is also coached by Mirosław Chlebosz, a bronze medallist at the European Championships, whose brother, Włodzimierz Chlebosz, currently the mayor of Czernica, is also a highly successful weightlifter and a participant in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. These people provided Maxim with clothes, training equipment and food suitable for a weightlifter at their own expense, and he enhanced our section.”
The city also provided shelter to a group of 67 young football players from Ukraine who found themselves in Wrocław when the war started.
“They had no way to return to their hometown of Kiev – the city was under Russian fire, and the rockets hit civilian buildings and entire housing estates. These kids lived in Topacz Castle.”
