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Unrest at the university

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Censors overstep the mark
Jan Józef Lipski Social activist
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Sytuacja w której cenzura zdejmuje – z jednego z najbardziej zresztą renomowanych teatrów warszawskich i wówczas, kiedy reżyserem jest jeden z największych polskich reżyserów – sztukę, która jest właściwie czymś w rodzaju świętości narodowej dla Polaków, największego polskiego poety, no to sprawa się robi bardzo... poważna i taka można powiedzieć przedbramkowa. No, a w dodatku jest to sztuka, która mówi o... co prawda o rzeczach, które się działy dosyć dawno, ale która przez Polaków jest zawsze uważana jako sztukę... że jest to sztuka, która mówi o polskim losie narodowym. Czyli masa tutaj gra elementów, poczynając od takiego przeświadczenia, że utworów największych polskich pisarzy nie wolno cenzurze zdejmować, a kończąc na jakichś uczuciach patriotycznych, jakimś... obrażonej dumie narodowej. Strasznie dużo elementów, które odgrywa rolę, które powodują, że trudno przypuścić, by to uszło na sucho coś takiego. To nie jest tam zdjęcie jakiej... jakiejś tam komedii dziewiętnastowiecznego klasyka komedii mieszczańskiej. No więc, po pierwsze... demonstracja studencka, po raz pierwszy demonstracja, która stała się również uliczną przed pomnikiem Mickiewicza na Krakowskim Przedmieściu. Zatrzymania, milicja interweniuje. Po tym wielka akcja na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim zbierania ogromnej ilości podpisów, jak największej ilości podpisów z protestem. I temu towarzyszą sceny takie dosyć spektakularne, to znaczy po uniwersytecie za zbieraczami podpisów uganiali się agenci bezpieki, co nawet wyglądało w ten sposób, że kiedy uciekający na jedną z sal bibliotecznych zbieracz podpisów goniony wskoczył na stół i uciekał po stołach – i po stołach gonili go agenci. To było w Instytucie Filozofii i Socjologii. Czyli takie niezwykle spektakularne jakieś momenty temu towarzyszyły. I spowodowało to wielkie podniecenie na całym uniwersytecie. To co się stało, na po... czyli co było sprawą zasadniczą – zdjęcie Mickiewicza, ale po tym każdy taki drobny element jakichś tych akcji niezwykle podniecał nastroje.

In the situation where the censor bans a play from one of Warsaw's best-known theatres, when the director is one of the greatest Polish directors and the play is virtually revered by every Pole and was written by the greatest Polish poet, then things become serious and you could say, are balanced on a knife edge. In addition to that, although it is a play about matters which happened fairly long ago, Poles regard it as a play which will always be about the fate of the Polish nation. So there were a great many things at stake here beginning with the notion that works by the greatest Polish playwrights could not be banned by the censors, and ending with patriotic feelings and hurt national pride. There were a huge number of issues all playing a role here and which meant that this couldn't just be left. This wasn't some 19th century comedy by some playwright known for his bourgeois comedies. So first of all, there was a student protest, the first time there was a demonstration which was also a street demonstration in front of the statue of Mickiewicz on Krakowskie Przedmieście. People were detained, the police intervened. This was followed by a large-scale action at Warsaw University where a huge number of signatures was collected, as many as possible, voicing a protest. This was accompanied by fairly spectacular sights. For example, the people collecting signatures were hounded throughout the university by secret police agents, which led to the situation where one of the people collecting signatures was escaping through the rooms in the library and was leaping from one desk to the next with the police agent leaping across the desks after him. This was in the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology. So there were these unusual, spectacular moments and this all aroused huge excitement throughout the university. The initial event, the banning of Mickiewicz, was at the bottom of this but from then on, any minor event raised the temperature significantly.

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: Marcel Łoziński Jacek Petrycki

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.

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.

Tags: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Adam Mickiewicz

Duration: 3 minutes, 2 seconds

Date story recorded: October 1989

Date story went live: 11 March 2011