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Polish activist Jacek Kuroń (1934-2004) helped to transform the political landscape of Poland. He was expelled from the communist party, arrested and incarcerated. He was also instrumental in setting up Workers' Defence Committee (KOR) and became a Minister of Labour and Social Policy. [Listener: Jacek Petrycki, Marcel Łoziński; date recorded: 1987]
TRANSCRIPT: So daddy seduced mummy and that's how I came to be born. At first, there were the three of us and it was the funniest house of all time. It was always the funniest house of all time. If anyone has seen Mrożek's 'Tango' then that's exactly like my home. Non-stop. Apart from anything else, my parents just wanted to have fun and so there were constant booze-ups in our home or else they would go out somewhere. This is what I remember of my early childhood. One winter's night, I woke up and saw lots of coloured balloons filling the doorway to the other room. I came closer to these balloons and stuck my head through them and what did I see? Mummy and daddy playing mummies and daddies on the sofabed. But this didn't last long because a moment later there was a banging at the door and in came the police. It turned out that they'd been to some union ball where mummy had been surrounded by admirers, according to my daddy, because my mother was the most beautiful woman in Lwów, or so she claimed. So daddy was looking for an excuse to beat them up but he didn't have one. Luckily, right opposite, a ball was being held for veterans of Strzelec or some kind of military people, reservists, and suddenly they came out and a shouting match followed, one calling the other a Red and the others something else - 'zupacy' - so daddy made the most of the opportunity and began to beat up everyone, including mummy's admirers and, for good measure, the guy with those balloons. So then he took mummy in his arms, and the balloons, came back home and a short while later, the police turned up and took daddy away. These are the more colourful recollections.
Apart from that, my father and grandfather brought me up telling me I need to be brave, to put up with everything because people were going to torture me, beat me and that I'd be thrown into prison. Smoking - my father always told me not to smoke because if I did, I'd go to prison and they'd destroy me there. It was obvious that I was going to end up in prison, clearly evident and for me totally understandable.
