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A private audience with Pope John Paul II

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Krzysztof Michalski’s Summer School in Cortona
Aleksander Smolar Political scientist
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Inna instytucja, którą on stworzył, to była szkoła letnia w Cortonie, na którą zapraszał – znów, to było jego poczucie misji w stosunku do naszej części Europy studentów ze Stanów Zjednoczonych, z Zachodniej Europy i z naszej Europy, ze Środkowej Europy. Zawsze była duża grupa polskich studentów. To było zresztą pasjonujące, jak widać było, jak studenci zmieniali się z roku na rok – studenci z naszego regionu. I Polacy w tym. Na początku byli nieśmiali, dość bierni, ich znajomość języka była ograniczona i później jak się zacierała ta różnica, już po 20 latach trudno było poznać kto jest skąd. Widać było ten cywilizacyjny niesłychany skok – można powiedzieć, że cały kraj zmieniał się, ale oczywiście w tych grupach elitarnej młodzieży, która była wybierana, to te zmiany następowały szybciej – ich znajomość angielskiego, wyjazdy, ich łatwość dyskusji, przezwyciężanie zahamowań, kompleksów. To wszystko było niesłychanie budujące.

Another institution that [Krzysztof Michalski] established was a summer school in Cortona where he would invite… again, he felt he had a mission regarding our part of Europe. There were American students there from Columbia and from New School who'd often been sent there by these universities, and there were students from Western Europe and from our Europe, Central Europe. There was always a large group of Polish students there. It was fascinating to watch how the students would change from one year to the next – students from our region. And Poles were among them. Initially, they were timid, fairly passive with a limited knowledge of the language. Later, as the differences began to fade, it was hard to tell after 10 years who was from where. You could see that amazing leap in the country's civilisation – you could say the whole nation was changing except that these changes were happening more rapidly in those groups of elite young people who had been selected – their knowledge of English, trips abroad, the ease with which they took part in discussions, the way they overcame their reticence and complexes. All of this was incredibly encouraging as we watched it grow and develop.

Aleksander Smolar (b. 1940) is a Polish writer, political activist and adviser, vice-president of the Institute for Human Sciences and president of the Stefan Batory Foundation.

Listeners: Vitek Tracz

Vitek Tracz is a London-based entrepreneur who has been involved in science publishing, pharmaceutical information and mobile phone-based navigation.

Tags: Cortona, Krzysztof Michalski

Duration: 1 minute, 17 seconds

Date story recorded: September 2017

Date story went live: 20 December 2018