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A sense of community in Lwów

RELATED STORIES

My father's political views
Jacek Kuroń Social activist
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Pamiętam że byliśmy w kuchni i ojciec na gazie coś smażył, czy piekł i był taki zmierzch i wkroczył taki młody człowiek w sandałkach. I ja dokładnie nie pamiętam, co on powiedział. To, co powiedział, musiało być jakimś hasłem prawdopodobnie... uprawomocniającym go, ale to ja już doskonale zrozumiałem z tego, że ojca szef z wywiadu Armii Krajowej, szef wywiadu na Lwów, czy województwo lwowskie, pyta czy będą, to ja zrozumiałem doskonale – ja już dziś słów nie mogę powtórzyć, pyta czy będą dalej robili to samo. I ojciec powiedział nie. Po czym, w jakiś czas potem sam ten Śledziński przybył, zapukał w okno, przyszedł z taką Magdą, jego łączniczką, której kobiecość znowu bardzo dobrze pamiętam, jeszcze ze Lwowa z tamtych czasów. Weszli, zapukali, pamiętam, że pukali w okno w nocy, zapukali w okno i weszli i długą nocną rozmowę, z której ja pamiętam... ja podsłuchiwałem znowu i ojciec krzyczał: nie, nie, nie wolno. Nie wolno. Mnie jest bardzo trudno powiedzieć co ojciec mówił, chociaż ja to wszystko jakby pamiętam, tylko nie wiem co ja pamiętam, a co mi się później nałożyło. Pamiętam bardzo mocno wyeksponowane to, że to już jest tak wykrwawione, że wykrwawić tego nie można i że to jest beznadziejne. Ale nie sądzę, ja myślę, że ojciec z tym Śledzińskim mówił tylko o tym, ale ja nie sądzę, aby to była jego podstawa jego sądu, dlatego że powtarzam – ja mam takie poczucie ambiwalencji, ojciec był za reformą rolną, zdecydowanie, za nacjonalizacją przemysłu – zdecydowanie. No co by tu realizowano program tradycyjny lewicy polskiej. Był zdecydowanie antysanacyjny i to wszystko.

I remember when one day we were all in the kitchen. My father was either frying or baking something, it was twilight and this young man wearing sandals came into our kitchen. I don't remember exactly what he said. It must have been a kind of a password which would... authorised him, but I did understand clearly that my father's boss from the AK Intelligence in Lwów or the Lwów area, was asking, and I understood this perfectly, I can't recall the words he used but he asked whether they would continue doing the same thing or not. My father said no. Some time later, Śledziński himself came with Magda, a girl who was his liaison officer, and whose sex appeal I remember very well from the days in Lwów. They came in, they knocked, I remember they knocked on the window in the night, they knocked on the window and came in and there followed a long talk throughout the night of which I remember - I was eavesdropping again - and my father was shouting, 'No, no, we cannot! We cannot!' It's very difficult for me to repeat what my dad was saying although I think I remember it all except I don't know what I remember and what I added on later. I remember how he stressed emphatically that so much blood has been spilled already that it's impossible to spill any more, and that it's hopeless. I don't think that's the only thing my father talked about with Śledziński, and I don't think that's what his judgement was based on because as I've already said, I had a definite feeling of ambivalence. My father was in favour of agricultural reform very definitely and of the nationalisation of industry. This would have meant the realisation of the traditional programme of the Polish left-wing. He was definitely against Piłsudzki and that was that.

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: AK Intelligence, Lwów, Kacper Śledziński, Józef Piłsudzki

Duration: 1 minute, 53 seconds

Date story recorded: 1987

Date story went live: 12 June 2008