Yesterday Nat and I went to see the Radio Tower in Gliwice. This is the place where WW2 essentially started. Hitler arranged for a staged attack on the radio tower in Gliwice, using Germans dressed in Polish uniforms (Gliwice was called Gleiwitz and was part of Germany then). The "Polish" soldiers stormed the radio station and started to transmit a message saying "Gliwice is now in Polish hands". Hitler used this as an excuse to invade Poland, saying that Germany was acting only in defense.
Unfortunately we weren't able to go into the museum at the radio tower because we didn't realise that it is closed on Mondays (as are many other museums), but we were able to walk around the outside of the tower and get a good view of it. The tower is constructed out of wood, and held together with brass bolts, so there is not a single smidgin of steel in the structure. I don't know why this is a good thing, except that the tower is now the tallest man-made wooden structure in the world. It wasn't the tallest when it was built because many other radio towers were constructed of wood, but many of these were replaced when it was discovered that metal towers don't rot and also transmit a better signal. Radiostacja Gliwice became the tallest wooden structure when a similar tower in Germany (perhaps Leipzig) was demolished because of woodrot and replaced with a metal tower.
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