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

Studying at teacher training college

RELATED STORIES

Why they threw me out of the Party
Jacek Kuroń Social activist
Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

Wreszcie po trzech dniach wezwano mnie na rozmowę, nie było Wołczyka. Był towarzysz z KW i towarzysz z Zarządu Głównego ZMP, znowu żeśmy pomaglowali wszystkie sprawy. Ja się upierałem, a oni już nawet nie dyskutowali ze mną jaka jest prawda, tylko jakie są powody, że ja to zrobiłem. Bo jeszcze okazało się, że proponowałem... no tam po drodze jeszcze miała miejsce taka historia. Mianowicie miałem jakiegoś takiego współpracownika, ja tam tych współpracowników do tego wydziału propagandy szukałem i jakiegoś takiego chłopaka sobie wyszukałem, to właściwie już jest tego, ale się nie oprę, który bardzo mi się podobał, tak się wydawało, że bardzo sensowy, że umiał to wszystko robić, organizować i w ogóle, w ogóle. Jakiś parę dni po tym jak ten chłopak był u nas po raz pierwszy, przyszedł do mnie jeden z moich pracowników, mojego wydziału, i mówi: "Słuchaj, byłem" – mówi – "w wojewódzkim urzędzie bezpieczeństwa, gdzie mi powiedzieli, że ten facet jest amerykańskim szpiegiem, ale mam go wpuścić w to". I tu mi opowiedział jak ma go sprowokować, żeby tamten mu coś powiedział. I jak ten facet przyszedł, to ja go wziąłem na piwo i mu to opowiedziałem i on zniknął. I mnie właśnie potem wyciągnięto sprawę, że ja jakiegoś amerykańskiego szpiega chciałem zatrudnić. Najzabawniejsze jest to, że ja go potem spotkałem, po 1956 roku przy takiej okazji, że on jako delegat ministerstwa spraw wewnętrznych był przy Złotym Tygrysie, wiesz w wydawnictwach Złotego Tygrysa był przedstawicielem MSW, chyba już MSW, już nie pamiętam. W każdym bądź razie ewidentnie funkcjonariusz UB. Jego od tamtego czasu już w ogóle nie widziałem, ale nie wyjęto mi tej sprawy, że mu powiedziałem, to chcę powiedzieć, nie, nie wyjęto mi. Wyjęto mi, że jakiegoś agenta amerykańskiego chciałem zatrudnić i jedną córkę volksdeutscha, bo taka była robotnica na suwnicy, ona bardzo aktywnie działała w hotelu robotniczym na Ogrodowej, gdzie działy się straszne rzeczy – w ogóle te hotele robotnicze to coś przerażającego – i ona tak strasznie mocno działała na tym domu, żeby tam jakiś klimat zrobić, jakieś coś, i ja z nią współpracowałem i zapytałem ją, czy nie przyszłaby do aparatu? Ona powiedziała: tak, ale jest córką volksdeutscha z Łodzi. No to poprosiłem, żeby to napisała w ankiecie i zaniosłem to do Wołczyka. On powiedział: "Nie, zostaw to". Ale wtedy mi to wyjęto. Strasznie długo, mnóstwo mi tych zarzutów postawiono, ale w rezultacie na zebraniu partyjnym stanęło jedno, że jestem zarozumiały. I za to zarozumialstwo wyrzucono mnie z partii.

Finally, after three days, I was summoned for a talk, but Wołczyk wasn't there. There was one comrade from the KW and one from the ZMP Chief Committee. And we went through all of it again. I stuck to what I'd said while they didn't even go into what was true, but were only interested in my reasons for doing what I did. It turns out that I's suggested... anyway, there is one more story connected with all of this. I had one associate. I was looking for some people to help me in the department of propaganda. Finally, I found one guy who as I thought was very bright, the kind of a person who can do the impossible, organise everything and stuff. A couple of days after that guy came to our department for the first time, one of my associates came to me and said, 'Listen, I was in the district security services and they told me there that this guy is an American spy, but I have to let him in.' Then he told me how he was going to provoke him into telling him some secrets. So when that guy came I took him for a beer and told him what I had found out and he disappeared. And later I was reproached for it, that I wanted to employ an American spy. The funniest thing is that some time after that I met him, it was in '56. He was a delegate of the Ministry of the Interior working for the Golden Tiger, you know, the publishing house Golden Tiger and he was a representative of the Ministry of the Interior, I think it was the Ministry but it could have been of the district, I'm not sure. Anyway, he clearly worked for the secret police. I haven't seen him since. But I wasn't reproached for telling him what I had been told in secret, I want to make it clear, I wasn't reproached for that. I was reproached for employing an American spy, and the daughter of a volksdeutsch. She was actively working in a workers' hotel at Ogrodowa Street. There were terrible things happening there. In general those workers' hotels were really appalling. She was working very hard there trying to create a better atmosphere or something. So we were associates and I asked her one day if she would like to join the ruling committee. She said she would but that she's the daughter of a volksdeutsch's from Łódź. I asked her to write this down in a questionnaire and I took it to Wołczyk. He said, 'No, leave it.' But I was reproached for it then anyway. It took a long time and there were lots of charges brought against me, but at the end of the Party meeting the main problems discussed were my conceit. And so I was expelled from the Party for being conceited.

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: KW, ZMP Chef Commettee, Ministry of the Interior, Ogrodowa Street, Łódź, Party, Jerzy Wołczyk

Duration: 2 minutes, 42 seconds

Date story recorded: 1987

Date story went live: 12 June 2008