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'My friends are my real homeland'
Aleksander Smolar Political scientist
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Mówiąc prawdę, angażowałem się w sprawy Polski coraz bardziej dla różnych powodów: oczywiście ze względu na temperament, ze względu na moje pasje, ale również dlatego, co Elie Wiesel kiedyś mówił: „prawdziwą moją ojczyzną są moi przyjaciele”. Dlatego, że tym punktem odniesienia dla mnie byli moi przyjaciele i w jakimś sensie odpowiedzialność wobec nich odgrywała istotną rolę, bo ja nigdy nie wierzyłem, że do Polski wrócę, zresztą kto mógł uwierzyć, że komunizm upadnie? Więc innymi słowy, ja w ogóle o tym nie myślałem, nawet jako turysta – nie wpuszczali takich ludzi jak ja. Mnie wpuszczono pod koniec lat 80., na dwa dni, jak umarł ojciec Iśki dano mi wizę i wtedy spędziłem 48 godzin z przyjaciółmi, nie śpiąc w ogóle, poza tym, że byłem na cmentarzu, oczywiście. Więc robiłem to i inni przyjaciele – mówię tu o sobie, bo to jest opowieść mojego życia, ale oczywiście to dotyczy też innych ludzi zaangażowanych.

I became increasingly involved in Polish affairs for several reasons: obviously because of my temperament, because of my passions, but also because of what Elie Wiesel once said that, ‘my friends are my real homeland.’ My point of reference were my friends and my responsibility towards them played a significant role because I never believed that I would return to Poland, after all, who could have believed that communism would ever fall? So, in other words, I never thought about this, not even as a tourist. They weren’t letting people like me in. I was allowed in towards the end of the '80s for two days when Isia’s father died and then I was given a visa and spent the entire 48 hours with my friends, not sleeping and, of course, I went to the cemetery, too. This was what I did and other friends – I’m speaking about myself here because this is the story of my life which of course involves other people who were also activists.

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: Poland, Elie Wiesel

Duration: 1 minute, 17 seconds

Date story recorded: September 2017

Date story went live: 09 November 2018