Shopping complex fire inflicts tragedy on Vietnamese community in Poland

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A weekend fire in a shopping center in Warsaw dealt tragedy to many members of Poland’s Vietnamese community. People lost entire livelihoods and say they don’t know how they will manage to make a living. The fire destroyed the Marywilska 44 shopping center, home to some 1,400 shops or services in an industrial area on Warsaw’s northern edge. Hundreds of the businesses there were run by people from Vietnam. People gathered there Wednesday described losing passports and other important documents in the flames in addition to huge sums of cash. An association of Vietnamese entrepreneurs described it as a “terrible tragedy” for the Vietnamese community in Poland. The community represents the largest non-European immigrant population in Poland.