To have or to be? To go with the flow or against the grain? Magda Potorska in conversation with Barbara Nowakowska-Drozdek
As Barbara Nowakowska-Drozdek recalls: “In December 1981, I signed a letter of protest against the imposition of martial law in Poland.” The letter, which was initiated by Peter Raina and which was published in “Der Tagesspiegel”, a Berlin-based newspaper, together with our participation in the protests against martial law in Poland, led to the founding of the “Solidarność Berlin-West” working group (“AG-Solidarność”), the first organisation in West Germany that supported the Polish Solidarność movement.
The publication of the letter, which included the private address of Barbara and Wojciech Drozdek as a point of contact, meant that not only the city of Berlin and the press became interested in the couple, but also the police and various intelligence agencies. Since funds donated in support of Poland could only be received by an officially registered legal entity, it became necessary to institutionalise their activities, which until that point had been of a spontaneous nature. The main task of “AG-Solidarność” was to organise and implement voluntary support for those who were being persecuted and who had suffered under the system, particularly the Solidarność functionaries who had been imprisoned and their families. In addition, books and documents from people who had emigrated from Poland were secretly supplied to the underground opposition together with printing equipment, and contacts were cultivated with the media. The working group also provided information to the general public in Germany about the situation in Poland.
In February 1982, Barbara Nowakowska-Drozdek and Krzysztof Kasprzyk took part in a meeting with German trade unionists and employees of Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, during which they were accompanied by Joachim Trenker, a journalist from the radio broadcaster “Sender Freies Berlin” (SFB) and a reporter for the “Kontraste” magazine. It’s no secret that in contrast to the French trade unions, the unions in Germany tended to be more reserved in their support. It was only several years later, after a deeper, more objective analysis of the facts, that the German labour organisations began to regularly (albeit discretely!) support the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarność” (NSZZ Solidarność). In the main, this support took the form of the provision of technical equipment. However, the imposition of martial law in Poland triggered severe protests from the German Trade Union Confederation (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund; DGB), which in turn led to rapid humanitarian assistance and the founding of the “Solidarität für Polen e. V., DGB” association in Düsseldorf.
Its political activity aside, the Berlin association adhered to humanistic principles. Barbara Nowakowska-Drozdek and her husband Wojtek studied at the University of Łódź and are both polonists; Krzysztof Kasprzyk, their closest colleague, was originally a geographer and is now a journalist and poet. Among other things, he was the cultural officer of the student movement in the cult Gdańsk club “Żak”. Against this backdrop, the working group published its own magazine, “Przekazy” (“Communications”). It also organised exhibitions in support of Solidarność, including with artists from the GDR, presented works by Andzrej Krauze and put on concerts by Jacek Kaczmarski, a songwriter and Solidarność member, which soon became important events in the cultural calendar of West Berlin. Their activities were grounded in the principle of “working with the base”, which took the form of a Sunday school with classes teaching the Polish language for children and the establishment of a library with publications by Polish emigrants.
The institutionalisation of what had originally been spontaneous, political and yet diverse activities in a tightly structured organisation led to a rigidification of the working group. Not only that, internal conflicts, disagreement when it came to setting priorities and power struggles caused a split within the group.
“Institutionalisation changed us. We became disillusioned and demotivated”, Barbara Nowakowska-Drozdek explains. “This insight, and my sense of responsibility towards my child, were the reasons why I withdrew from the group as an active member. And although I was elected chairwoman of the working group, I did not take up the role. Instead, my husband became the chairman. I then supported him in his public and conspiratorial work, although as an independent activist, I stepped away from the political scene in Berlin. It was not until 4 June 1989, to mark the first halfway free elections in Poland, that I made an appearance in the Polish Military Mission (Polska Misja Wojskowa) in Berlin as a shop steward of Solidarność.”
Jefferson once said: “Every generation needs a new revolution”. Did you feel like revolutionaries?
No – Barbara explains – we didn’t feel like revolutionaries, since we associated the word ‘revolution’ with a bloody overthrow, with one regime replacing another. Examples of such revolutions are the years of terror after the French Revolution or Soviet Russia. We recalled the ‘Carnation Revolution’ in Portugal in 1974, but it was not until after 1989 that we discovered the expression ‘peaceful revolution’. My commitment followed a natural impulse from my heart and mind, which came about as a result of my patriotic attitude to life. This was the attitude with which I grew up, and which was rooted in tradition. There is no doubt that the experience of coming into direct contact with the opposition movement was of considerable importance, and in this regard, Jacek Kuroń was a highly influential figure for me.
It is said that politics should be observed within the framework of the decade, and not from a current-day perspective... Do you believe that you were the ones who managed to cut through a part of the Iron Curtain?
Not from the macrocosmic perspective, since we were not professional political activists. However, at the microcosmic level, yes, certainly, since all activities, even the smallest, add up so that quality automatically emerges from quantity. We were aware that each additional establishment of a pro-Solidarność organisation and the networking of these organisations with each other would increase our chances of popularising the fight for Solidarność in the West and of shaping public opinion. With this in mind, the first coordination meeting of all pro-Solidarność organisations in Germany was held in Düsseldorf in 1982.
Do you believe that the people who have political power influence the course of events?
Yes, but not only they alone, since there is also a parliamentary opposition and an opposition outside parliament.
Did you ever have the feeling that you really did have such an influence?
Thanks to the media work, yes, since we recognised and valued the positive influence of the western media on the politics of the eastern bloc.
In your view, is the belief in politics today rational or irrational?
Well, that depends on whether you regard yourself as being a rationalist or an idealist...
We all have one thing in common: at an unconscious level, we all want to be witness to important historical events. Could it be that this is the reason why we are tempted to give too much credence to baseless facts?
The only mass movement with which I fully identified was the Solidarność movement. I was even one of the founders of Solidarność at the university in Łódź. Anyone who experienced the events in Poland in 1980 and 1981 will still remember this extraordinary mood, which was based on a rational euphoria. Time has revealed that the events in which I myself participated during that time in Poland, and later with my husband in West Berlin, have taken on a historical importance. For the first time in our lives, we had the feeling of being at the centre of a vital process of change. But we never felt like ‘veterans’.
The profession of politician is one of the greatest myths of all. What kind of people decide to pursue a career in politics? Does it come down to the ability to enter into compromises with oneself in the battle for power and to sacrifice one’s former ideals?
We don’t know why politicians do what they do, although I assume that their motivations differ widely. Politics implies the fight for power. In turn, being in power changes people. Experiences lead them to adjust their ideals. An idealist can quickly turn into a realist. We were not professional politicians, but looking back, I would like to mention that even the quasi-political activities and their institutionalisation led to a split in the ‘AG Solidarność’ movement in Berlin. If you work to promote democracy, it is hard, and sometimes even impossible, to remain true to your ideals. That’s why I believe that anyone who succeeds in this ‘tightrope walk’ deserves our particular respect.
What do you think, is it possible to survive without politics?
From where we stand in terms of our civilisation, certainly not, since to date, politics has been a platform for disparate, often conflicting ideals and aspirations.
Magda Potorska, March 2021
