a story lives forever
Register
Sign in
Form submission failed!

Stay signed in

Recover your password?
Register
Form submission failed!

Web of Stories Ltd would like to keep you informed about our products and services.

Please tick here if you would like us to keep you informed about our products and services.

I have read and accepted the Terms & Conditions.

Please note: Your email and any private information provided at registration will not be passed on to other individuals or organisations without your specific approval.

Video URL

You must be registered to use this feature. Sign in or register.

NEXT STORY

The beginnings of KOR

RELATED STORIES

The first workers to be saved - letter to Berlinguer
Jacek Kuroń Social activist
Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

Before I left to join the army with a feeling of helplessness because I'd be off joining the army shortly while this court case was hanging over me - it was terrible. I wrote an open letter to Berlinguer. That was a terrible row, to Berlinguer or me. A terrible row, but I insisted. I would normally have given in if I'd been staying behind because maybe someone else ought to have written it, maybe Pieńkowski, perhaps not to Berlinguer? But in that situation, I was leaving and this was the last thing I was able to do and I had no guarantee that anyone would do anything, I always had this feeling when there was something that needed doing that I should do it, which wasn't always right but sometimes it was very. I decide then to write to Berlinguer because they were at logger heads with the Christian Democrats prior to the elections. If Berlinguer wouldn't catch the ball I was passing to him then the Christian Democrats would and they'd put it in the back of the net. 'I turn to you as the leader of the worker's party in your country, as to a human being who proclaims the socialist programme with a human face. I turn to you asking for the protection of Polish workers who are being tortured, beaten, imprisoned, starved, insulted by the press, radio and television.' And I went on like this to describe the whole matter, I described the trial and everything that happened, all the events. There were only a few minutes left and I couldn't do this... normally, we used to do these numbers along with sending information to the West, very complicated. But there was no time for messing about, I invited journalists to my home and gave them this letter. I was scared witless because it was the first time I was doing something like this. On top of that, the correspondent from Ansa turned up at the last moment and we gave it to him separately with Maryna translating it for him and so we gave it to him - and it went. Just as well because it turned out that none of the other journalists released this and only the journalist from Ansa did, while I went off to join the army.

On the first Sunday, Grażyna came to visit me and said, 'Let me tell you what you've done.' Whichever radio station you listen to, everyone's talking about the same thing. Of course, things had happened as they were supposed to have happened. The Christian Democrats and the communists and all the other political groups throughout the world - this letter began to fight, and less than a week later I saw in... in Polityka a letter, Gierek had turned to the courts requested that their sentences be relaxed and so they were released staright away. And I had the feeling, the only time in my life that I had this feeling, that I had directly, materially released people from prison - seven of them, who'd had the severest possible sentences.

Przed odjazdem do wojska, w takim poczuciu bezradności, że za chwilę pojadę do wojska, a ten proces wisiał nade mną, straszny. Napisałem list do Berlinguera otwarty. To była straszna awantura, czy w ogóle, czy do Berlinguera, czy ja. Straszna awantura, ale ja się uparłem. Na pewno bym ustąpił, normalnie, gdybym zostawał, no bo może by kto inny powinien to napisać, może Pieńkowski, może nie do Berlinguera? Ale była to taka sytuacja, że ja wyjeżdżałem i to było ostatnie, co mogłem zrobić i nie miałem żadnej gwarancji, że ktoś tu coś zrobi, takie ja miałem zawsze poczucie, że mam właśnie jak jest coś do zrobienia, to zrób to, co nie zawsze było słuszne, ale czasem bardzo. Otóż wymyśliłem wtedy, że do Berlinguera, bo oni byli w takim ostrym zwarciu z Chadecją – przedwyborczym. I jeśli Berlinguer nie złapie mojej piłki, to złapie mu ją Chadecja i wrzuci do bramki. No i napisałem list: "Zwracam się do Pana jako do przywódcy partii robotniczego w swoim kraju, jako do człowieka, który głosi program socjalizmu z ludzką twarzą w obronie. Zwracam się o obronę polskich robotników torturowanych, bitych, więzionych, głodzonych, lżonych w prasie, radiu i telewizji". I tak tam dalej opisywałem sprawę, opisywałem proces i wszystko co się zdarzyło, wydarzenia. To już były minuty także już nie było czego... normalnie myśmy te sztuki robili straszne z wysyłaniem na Zachód, strasznie skomplikowane. A tu nie było co robić żartów, ja zaprosiłem do siebie dziennikarzy, dałem im ten list. Rzeczywiście portki miałem pełne strachu. Bo po raz pierwszy takie numery się robiło. W dodatku jeszcze w ostatniej chwili później przybiegł ten korespondent Ansy i osobno mu to tam daliśmy, przetłumaczyła mu to Maryna, to żeśmy mu dali – poleciało. Na szczęście, bo okazało się, że wszyscy inni dziennikarze tego nie puścili i puścił ten z Ansy, a ja pojechałem do wojska. W pierwszą niedzielę przyjechała do mnie Grażyna i mówi: "Opowiem ci co narozrabiałeś. Gdzie się otworzy radio, to wszędzie, wszyscy na ten sam temat". Ooczywiście, stało się tak jak miało się stać. I Chadecja, i komuniści, i wszystkie ugrupowania i na całym świecie ten list zaczął walczyć i w jakiś niecały tydzień potem zobaczyłem w... w Polityce list, Gierek zwrócił się do sądu, żeby im złagodzić i tego i ich puszczono od razu. I miałem takie poczucie – jedyny raz w życiu, takie miałem poczucie, że po prostu bezpośrednio, materialnie wypuściłem ludzi z więzienia – siedmiu, którym groziły najwyższe możliwe wyroki.

The late Polish activist, Jacek Kuroń (1934-2004), had an influential but turbulent political career, helping transform the political landscape of Poland. He was expelled from the communist party, arrested and incarcerated. He was also instrumental in setting up the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR) and later became a Minister of Labour and Social Policy.

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki Marcel Łoziński

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Film director Marcel Łoziński was born in Paris in 1940. He graduated from the Film Directing Department of the National School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź in 1971. In 1994, he was nominated for an American Academy Award and a European Film Academy Award for the documentary, 89 mm from Europe. Since 1995, he has been a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science awarding Oscars. He lectured at the FEMIS film school and the School of Polish Culture of Warsaw University. He ran documentary film workshops in Marseilles. Marcel Łoziński currently lectures at Andrzej Wajda’s Master School for Film Directors. He also runs the Dragon Forum, a European documentary film workshop.

Tags: Christian Democrats, Ansa, Polityka, Enrico Berlinguer, Edward Gierek

Duration: 2 minutes, 53 seconds

Date story recorded: 1987

Date story went live: 12 June 2008