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People believed in Solidarity

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Why Zbyszek Bujak was caught
Jan Józef Lipski Social activist
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Zbyszek Bujak was in hiding for several years. It's a great psychological burden to be in constant danger and to be always on the lookout not to be exposed. On one occasion, he was already in the hands of the secret police but before they realised who he was, he'd already escaped. In that case, the red berets proved useful to him. I used to see him from time to time. It was always through a chain of messengers and he was undeniably very well protected since he was also being urgently hunted. Warrants for his arrest were on virtually every billboard. And it's very nice that among the people who went to the trouble of helping him remain in hiding, found accommodation for him, made accommodation available, all those messengers and so on, they were all people who could be trusted completely. Later, Zbyszek was caught because I think he chose the wrong people.

Zbyszek Bujak ukrywał się przez kilka lat. To jest bardzo trudne psychicznie być ciągle zagrożonym i ciągle uważać na to, by nie zostać zdemaskowanym. Raz nawet był już w rękach bezpieki, ale nim się zorientowano, kim on jest, to uciekł. No tu mu się przydała służba w „czerwonych beretach”. Widywałem się z nim od czasu do czasu, zawsze to było przez łańcuch łączników. I był niewątpliwie bardzo strzeżony, gdyż bardzo też poszukiwany – jego listy gończe były niemalże na każdym słupie ogłoszeniowym. I bardzo jest miłe, że wśród tych ludzi, którzy pracowali po... na to, żeby on mógł się ukrywać, wynajdowali mu mieszkania, ludzie, którzy dawali mieszkania, ci łącznicy, tak dalej, że byli to wszyscy ludzie, jak się okazało, godni zupełnego zaufania. Zbyszek wpadł później, trochę bym powiedział, przez właśnie nieostrożność w doborze ludzi.

Jan Józef Lipski (1926-1991) was one of Poland's best known political activists. He was also a writer and a literary critic. As a soldier in the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), he fought in the Warsaw Uprising. In 1976, following worker protests, he co-founded the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR). His active opposition to Poland's communist authorities led to his arrest and imprisonment on several occasions. In 1987, he re-established and headed the Polish Socialist Party. Two years later, he was elected to the Polish Senate. He died in 1991 while still in office. For his significant work, Lipski was honoured with the Cross of the Valorous (Krzyż Walecznych), posthumously with the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1991) and with the highest Polish decoration, the Order of the White Eagle (2006).

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: Zbyszek Bujak

Duration: 1 minute, 29 seconds

Date story recorded: October 1989

Date story went live: 15 March 2011