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March '68 - a sense of failure

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March '68 - trial
Jacek Kuroń Social activist
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Kiedy już ruch studencki został rozbity – wsadzono, kogo miano wsadzić, wyrzucono z uczelni kogo miano wyrzucić, niektóre wydziały na Uniwersytecie rozwiązano, tak samo w kraju. I trzeba było do nich wstępować od nowa, mnóstwo ludzi relegowano z uczelni, mnóstwo ludzi wzięto do wojska. W procesie wzięło... proces zrobiono w Warszawie dwunastu osobom, o ile wiem jeszcze trzem na prowincji. Ja miałem znowu proces z Karolem Modzelewskim. Żeby było śmiesznie, oskarżał nas ten sam pan prokurator i żeby było śmiesznie, wygłosił to samo przemówienie co poprzednim razem. Także de Virion, który spóźnił się – który nas bronił adwokat, broniła nas i poprzednio i teraz pani Steincbergowa, Jan Olszewski i de Virion. I otóż kiedy de Virion się spóźnił na rozprawę i powiada do mnie: "Co on mówił?" Ja mówię: "Nie szkodzi, on to samo mówił na poprzedniej". A na to on mówi do mnie: "Ale ja na poprzednią też się spóźniłem". Ja mówię : "Nie szkodzi, na trzeciej Pan to wysłucha dokładnie". No i skazano nas. My z Karolem dostaliśmy po trzy i pół roku i był to najwyższy wyrok procesu marcowego, co znaczyło, że władze już chcą wyciszyć całą wrzawę, którą wokół tego wszystkiego zrobiły. A wrzawę zrobiły olbrzymią, jak później powiedział Szydlak – największą w dziejach PRL kampanię. Była to w olbrzymim stopniu kampania antysemicka i ona chwyciła w tym sensie, że... no, ludzie byli zdezorientowani – o co się ta walka toczy, kto to walczy, co tu jest? I to sprawiło, to był jeden z wielu różnych czynników, że w gruncie rzeczy przy... bez pomocy społeczeństwa znaleźli się studenci, bez aktywnego wsparcia społeczeństwa znaleźli się studenci i musieli przegrać. I to świadomość, że przegrano przez brak kontaktu z robotnikami była zupełnie oczywista. Zapanowała w kraju pustynia, z której ja, siedząc w więzieniu, sobie nawet nie zdawałem sprawy.

The student movement was demolished - everyone who was meant to have been imprisoned was locked up, everyone who was to have been dismissed from the university had been kicked out, some university departments were dissolved, and the same was true throughout the country. We had to start from the beginning; a great number of people had been expelled from the university, a great number had been taken into the army. Twelve people in Warsaw had a court case and from what I know, three more went to trial in the provinces. I had a trial again with Karol Modzelewski. The funny thing was that we had the same prosecutor as we'd had the previous time and he gave exactly the same summing up as before. So when de Virion who came late and who was our defense lawyer, previously we'd been defended by Mrs Steincberg, Jan Olszewski and de Virion. So when de Virion arrived late for the trial and said to me, 'What has he said?' I answered, 'It doesn't matter. He said the same thing last time.' To which he replied, 'But I was late last time as well!' I said, 'Don't worry, you'll get the chance to hear it all third time around.'

We were sentenced, Karol and I, to three and a half years each. That was the highest sentence given to anyone for the March events which meant the authorities wanted to silence the furore they had created around this issue. The furore they'd created was massive as Szydlak said later, the greatest in the entire campaign of the People's Republic of Poland. The campaign was largely anti-Semitic, and it caught on because, well, people were disorientated and didn't know what this battle was about, who was fighting it, and why. And that caused, it was one of the many various factors why in effect, without the help of society, the students found themselves, without society's active support, the students found themselves, and so they had to lose. That realisation that they lost because of lack of contact with the working class was completely obvious. The country became a desert which I, locked up in prison, didn't even realise had happened.

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: Warsaw, People`s Republic of Poland, Karol Modzelewski, Tadeusz de Virion, Jan Olszewski, Jan Szydlak

Duration: 2 minutes, 16 seconds

Date story recorded: 1987

Date story went live: 12 June 2008