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NEXT STORY

Exposé of Colonel Światło

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Changes following Stalin's death
Jan Józef Lipski Social activist
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Śmierć Stalina przyjąłem z kolosalną ulgą. Nie wiedziałem, co prawda, co się może zmienić i czy na pewno się zmieni. Ale nagle taka była wielka nadzieja, a nuż może to będzie początkiem jakichś przemian. Na szczęście było. Te komunikaty radiowe... nadające wiadomości o stanie zdrowia Stalina, kiedy jak myślę, on już dawno nie żył, no to z wielkim napięciem tego wysłuchiwałem. I tylko kiedy już się okazało... grobowym głosem mówiąc, kiedy powiedziano, że Stalin umarł, to moim pierwszym odruchem było to, żeby zatańczyć, a zresztą nigdy nie tańczę i nie umiem tańczyć – było żeby zatańczyć. I w pewnym momencie się powstrzymałem, bo, no jednak nie można, jak człowiek umarł, żeby w ten sposób reagować. No wiem, kto to był, ale... no nie, ale już nie będę tego robił z powodu jego śmierci, że to już takie trochę niedobre by było, że to dla mnie byłoby niedobre. Ale... ale miałem wielką chęć na to i właściwie od tego momentu to tak co dzień człowiek był zawiedziony. Nic się nie zmienia, nic się nie zmienia, a tutaj nowe... znaczy nie nowe twarze, tylko nowe te układy personalne, coś... zachodnie radio zaczyna mówić, że oni się o coś kłócą, że tam są spory, ale nic... nic się nie zmienia, no aż wreszcie było widać gołym okiem, że jednak się zmienia. I to było... no ta wielka radość, kiedy okazało się, że Beria nie żyje. Trochę przyjemności nam zrobiono jednak. Ale ja zawsze należałem do myślących w tym stylu, który jest... żaden raz przyjęty styl myślenia nie jest dobry. A ja zwykle myślałem też tym stylem, takim bardzo systemowym. Że jest system, to jeżeli ktoś tam, nawet bardzo ważny, w tym systemie umiera, to nic się nie zmienia. Tymczasem ani to zdanie nie jest prawdziwe, ani jego zdanie – wręcz sprzeczne z przeciwnemu – też nie jest prawdziwe i trzeba być bardzo ostrożnym w tego rodzaju wielkich uogólnieniach. A potem przyszedł Światły. A potem przyszły rewelacje towarzysza Światły. Też była duża przyjemność tego słuchać, tylko że... to znaczy przyjemność słuchać w pewnym znaczeniu tego słowa przynajmniej; ale... ale tutaj nie miałem wątpliwości, że z tego coś musi jednak wyniknąć. Dużo – mało, ale że jakoś do tego trzeba się będzie ustosunkować. A ustosunkowanie się będzie niezręczne – a jeżeli on uciekł, to miał pewnie powód do tego, żeby uciekać, a jeżeli miał powód to, to nie może nie mieć rezultatów to, że on uciekł. Także to była wielka rzecz, wielkie wydarzenie... rzeczywiście wielkie wydarzenie. Dosyć wcześnie miałem tę broszurkę na balonikach wysyłaną. Dosyć wcześnie do mnie dotarła z województwa zielonogórskiego. Także pomijając to, że... przez radio próbowałem systematycznie słuchać, ale potem jeszcze miałem w ręku to w wersji drukowanej.

I was hugely relieved that Stalin had died. It's true that I didn't know what might change and if anything would change. But I had this great hope that just maybe, this was the start of some kind of change – fortunately, it was. Those radio bulletins about Stalin's state of health being broadcast long after he had died, I imagine – I listened to those intensely. And when it became apparent, when the announcement was made in a solemn voice that Stalin was dead, then my first reaction was to dance, I've never danced before and I don't know how to dance but I wanted to dance. But I resisted the urge because, well, you can't do that when someone's died, you can't react like that. Well, I know who it was, but still, no, I won't do that because he's died, that would be a bit bad, for me that would be a bit bad. But I really wanted to, and from that moment on, every day I was disappointed. Nothing was changing, nothing was changing but there were new... well, not new faces but new interpersonal set-ups. Western radio was beginning to report that they're arguing, there's disagreement but nothing at all was changing until finally you could clearly see that there were changes happening. And there was that enormous joy when it turned out that Beria was dead. So we had a bit of happiness after all. I was always one of those who believed that no way of thinking that had been accepted once, was a good way of thinking. But that's how I used to think, in a very systemic way, that there is a system and if someone dies, even if they're a very important person in that system, nothing changes. Yet that isn't true – it contradicts the opposite which is also untrue and you have to be very careful with this kind of massive generalisation. Then there was Światło and the revelations that comrade Światło made. Listening to that also gave a lot of pleasure, in a specific sense of that word, and here I had no doubt that something must come of all of this. It might be more or it might be less but somehow we'll have to adapt to it. This adaptation will be clumsy but if he escaped, then he had a reason for escaping, and if he had a reason, then the fact that he escaped can't not have a result. So this was a great thing, a great event... a truly great event. I had that brochure sent attached to a balloon quite early on. It reached me quite soon in the Zielona Góra region. So apart from my attempts to listen to this regularly on the radio, I later had this in my hand in print.

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: Josef Stalin, Colonel Światło

Duration: 3 minutes, 43 seconds

Date story recorded: October 1989

Date story went live: 09 March 2011