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The działki (garden allotments) are a phenomenon typical for Poland. In other countries, it is very rare or completely unknown. After all, it is quite uncommon that people who are tired with working in the city and are looking for some rest are offered places to rest... right in the middle of the city.
The areas with the most działki in Warsaw can be found in Dolny Mokotów district on Gagarina Street, on Gwiaździsta Street in Bielany, on Racławicka Street in Ochota, and at several other areas scattered about the city. These are set up on fenced sectors of the city greenery divided into small (100 square meters maximum) private plots. There, people build garden sheds and benches, and grow flowers, fruit and vegetables. In communist times, most of the działki were allocated to certain professional groups, for example, teachers, railway workers or miners. Housing cooperatives also used to have their own działki that they granted or sold to their members. A działki was a symbol of high social status (even though there were some 1 million of them) and a guarantee of regular food supplies since buying certain food products at stores was often difficult.
The appearance of działki is most often associated with communist Poland, but the first workers' działki were created before World War II, when the Polish Socialist Party put forward an initiative to create "special workers' oases of peace."
Despite system changes and the appearance of dozens of new, often exotic varieties of vegetables and fruit in stores, the działki still remain popular. Some may find it difficult to believe that people can rest on a small plot of land next to the noisy city streets. Others may be surprised that the plots' owners hope to grow healthy food on the polluted city soil, with car fumes and acid rain all around. But the działki have become a permanent feature of the Polish cityscape-though perhaps quite exotic for visitors-and there is no reason why we should deny their owners satisfaction from self-grown radishes or roses.
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