Samborski: I have a fewer more things to do

Conversation with Dr. Tadeusz Samborski, PSL activist, candidate for the Sejm in territory 1 from the list of 3rd Way

Mr Tadeusz, you were already twice a associate of the Polish Parliament from the list of PSLs, in the 2nd and 4th term. presently you are No. 1 on the 3rd Road list in territory No. 1 covering a large area of Lower Silesia, with Legnica and Jelenia Góra. Why did you decide to take off?

– Since childhood, my parents have taught me a sense of service to the community, both local and national. I have been a folk movement activist since 1962, first in the ranks of the ZSL, and then, until today, the PSL. I've never changed or changed organization colors, which is now a large deal. I am not ashamed that I acted in the Polish People's Republic, due to the fact that for me it was besides Poland, my homeland. And why, despite specified a long political experience, am I applying for a Member's mandate again? First of all, I full agree with 1 of the main programming demands of our electoral committees, which has the word "Third Road". What does that mean? This is simply a request to depart from what dominates Polish politics for years, from the Cold War between 2 hostile camps. We want to bring fresh quality to the Polish policy, or actually reconstruct the basic rule of democracy, which is dialog and compromise. It is impossible to build Poland in the atmosphere of permanent civilian war for all. As president Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish at 1 of our Committee's electoral conventions said, we must halt those who want to fight us, divide those who lead to civilian war, not only political war but physical attacks. We want to say halt hate, halt hate, halt hate, halt envy and halt rudeness. besides the ongoing election run confirms our diagnosis, there was most likely no more ruthless and destructive run like this one.

And what effect have you had on your decision to lose in elections been on the matters of the end that you have been dealing with for a long time?

– Yes, that is true. I am peculiarly close to the subject. There's inactive quite a few things to do that aren't done. I am reasoning first of all about the unfinished conflict for memory and the worthy celebration of the victims of the crime of genocide committed by the CNS-UPA on the Polish people of the east Borders of Poland. surely readers of “Polish Thoughts” know my position well in this matter, due to the fact that I am a frequent guest in your pages. Despite the fact that much has been done in this matter, in the sense of many Poles, our mission is not yet completed, especially in the context of Ukraine's widespread cult of criminals, which lasts at its best and cannot be seen to end. 1 of the most urgent demands is to lead to exhumation and a worthy burial of Poles murdered in the Borders. This is simply a very painful issue, besides for the many things of the Kresovians surviving here in Lower Silesia. I cannot realize why the Ukrainian authorities agree to the exhumations and burials of Wehrmacht soldiers who died in Ukraine and are so reluctant to address our demands.

You mentioned an unfinished mission to preserve the memory of the victims of genocide in the Crests. This mission continues, in your case for a long time...

Yeah, since the late '90s. We do this in cooperation with the border environment. Besides, in this way Poland was present from the beginning. Together we participated in the first, even pioneering projects, specified as technological conferences dedicated to this topic. For example, in 2004, inactive the old PSL office on Grzybowska Street in Warsaw, the conference was held under the patronage of the Museum of past of the Polish People's Movement, where the already deceased Prof. Wiktor Poliszczuk was present, Ukrainians fighting for the fact about UPA, Colonel Jan Niewiński, Commandant of Self-defense in Rybcza close Krzemieniec, or Zygmunt Mogiła-Lisowski. He was then appointed at a gathering at the Museum of independency in Warsaw, the Social Committee of the 65th anniversary of the genocide in the east Borderlands, headed by Jarosław Kalinowski. It was 2008 and a year earlier, the Kresowy Patrioticz Movement signed with PSL an Agreement on Collaboration for the benefit of the Republic of Poland. The paper was signed by Waldemar Pawlak (president), and by the Kresowa Patriotowy Movement: Jan Niewiński, Henryk Grabowski, Zygmunt Mogiła-Lisowski and Ryszard Orzechowski. It was the foundation of cooperation between the PSL and the end environments. General Mirosław Hermaszewski was besides present at the beginning gathering of the Committee in 2008. Then there were commemorative celebrations of 70. Anniversarys, the largest and most crucial ones, which in my opinion broke the social silence on this subject and echoed a lot throughout Poland. They were attended by a guest from Ukraine, deputy of the ultimate Council of the organization of the Regions – Wadim Kolesniczenko, who brought a petition signed by 148 deputies appealing to the Polish Sejm for designation of the crime in Volyn and Kresach for genocide. During the debate in the Sejm, our Franciszek Jerzy Stefaniuk gave an excellent speech, but the word “genocide” was replaced by a semantic monster “a crime of genocide”. After the large March of Memory on 11 July 2013, I submitted a wreath on behalf of PSL under the plaque on Krakowskie Przedmieście together with Jarosław Kalinowski. Colonel Jan Niewiński, who died in 2015. I will besides mention my modest participation in the commemoration of the poet Volyn, a populist, the victim of the execution by UPA – Zygmunt Jan Ruml. The plaque dedicated to him hung during the 70th anniversary celebration on the wall of the Rembieliński Palace in Warsaw and named after him libraries in Warsaw and Prochowice. It's been our way for almost 20 years. As I said, although we have achieved much, there is inactive a lot to do. I have late pointed out that so far in the capital of our country there is no worthy monument in the city center, which was the large pain of Jan Niewiński, who fought to the end to make specified a monument stand. People who worked with us and who witnessed what happened in 1943 and 1944 in the Kresach are dead. Now we must proceed their work and strive to guarantee that all their demands are fulfilled.

Let's go back to the local thread. You are known for being frequently among people and with them you feel excellent. As municipal news carries you are available everywhere and always for average citizens, not just for VIPs. What do people come to you most frequently asking for help?

– The scope of matters with which the inhabitants of villages and towns of Legnicko-Jeleniogórska Land address me is very wide. frequently these are circumstantial matters, occurring only in our region, specified as the problem of the alleged Zabużański property or obtaining documentation confirming the birth certificate, baptism or wedding of people born on the East Borders of the Second Republic of Poland. I besides respond to all signal from people who request aid to scope prominent specialists practicing in Wrocław and Warsaw, and many of them I have the honour to know personally. I am besides frequently visited by residents of various localities afraid about the position of monuments in their territory. Many of them were able to aid financially (with various functions) in the noble work of rescuing historical buildings (palaces, tenement houses, churches, theatres). There are besides situations where immediate aid is needed, even intervention. Recently, in Rich people have experienced a painfully crucial emergence in heating prices. The Protest Committee was established by Jerzy Wiśniewski, president of the Association for the Promotion of Local Initiatives. I am wholehearted with the community of Bogatynia – especially with this part of it, which suffers severe losses in home budgets. If I get the mandate of the associate of the Polish Parliament, I will deal with this substance in a liable way and hope to be effective.

Lower Silesia has many problems, what else will you pay attention to?

– Yes, our region has many problems, specified as progressive degradation, e.g. compared to the voivodships east of Vistula. This is simply a paradox, due to the fact that erstwhile this west of Poland was considered better developed than the east, but now everything has changed. Not long ago, prof. Stanislaw Niciej, who has been working closely with me for many years, took note that it is adequate to compare the state of local roads in the east and west of Poland to see the gap, of course to our disadvantage. It is actual that east and central Poland developed well and the western part collapsed. Therefore, I would pay peculiar attention to the issues of villages and tiny towns in Lower Silesia, as well as to the cultivation of folk culture, the support of folklore teams. Our region is rich not only in monuments, but besides in vibrant artistic environments, which should be more supported than before. So there is something to do, I think that my experience as an MP and a politician would be useful for our region.

In addition to cultivating the memory of the Eastlands, you have not forgotten Western lands, Lower Silesia and another regions. In my opinion, it is very crucial that you are not limited to the issue of the border. We live in a time erstwhile we depreciate and mock at all step the achievements of respective generations surviving in Poland after 1945, we have completely forgotten the thought of the Piastka, which was a very crucial patriotic inspiration at the time erstwhile Poland managed the land granted to it at the Potsdam conference to the east of Oder and Nysa Lužická. You, in a way against the prevailing fashion and tendencies, were the originator and organizer of the Days of the Pioneers of Settlement on Recovered Lands. I've been to this organization a fewer times, and I remember it with sentiment. What happened to this initiative?

– Indeed, since 2015 we have organized in Legnica, at the Piastowski Castle Days of the Pioneers of Settlement on Recovered Lands. As a associate of the Management Board of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, I had the chance to supply this financial and organisational facilities event, even though – as I sensed from the very beginning – my colleagues from the Management Board were not enthusiastic about this idea. I remember that I experienced a shock erstwhile during the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the local government in Lower Silesia, a typical of the Civic Platform stated that their most hard task, which they faced at the beginning of building self-government, was to overcome the alleged thought of a hub. In fact, I was walled due to the fact that in their opinion, people from the solidarity camp, the thought of a hub was a relic of communism! But that is not true, the Western thought was born in the period of partitions and its creators were activists of National Democracy, specified as Jan Ludwik Popławski. In 1945, the thought of a hub was already accepted by all political forces, from PPR, through PPS and PSL, to people specified as the nationalist Zygmunt Wojciechowski, the creator of the Western Institute. The biography of Jan Dębski, a prominent folk movement activist, associate of the PSL “Piast”, by Dr. Mateusz Ratyński from the Museum of past of the Polish People's Movement, has late been published. I learned from it that after the war, he, a close associate of Vincent Witos, came to Lower Silesia and organized the foundations of Polish education. This is an accomplishment we cannot deny. Nor do I realize those politicians and publicists who believe that the word "Recovered Land" is simply a fabrication of communist propaganda. This word was utilized not only by people from the PPR, but besides by its opponents. There is nothing to be ashamed of, after all, the celebrations of the Days of Pioneers of Settlements were held at Piastowski Castle in Legnica, the most meaningful place, testifying to the primacy of this land. At the age of XIII it was the political and economical centre of then Poland! In 1945, Poles did not come to abroad land, they came to their Polish, hubland lost centuries ago. This is simply a historical fact, and negating it, ridicule and disregard, I consider anti-Polish action.

The same seems to be actual of your emphasis on the function played in the past of this land and the Polish army coming from the east in 1945, i.e. the 1st and 2nd Army of the Polish Army. Not everyone liked that either...

– This is another example of false knowing of history. I have always stressed the function of pioneer soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Army of the Polish Army. Not only in the fight for Poland the lands east of Oder and Nysa Lužická, but besides in the improvement of them after the war. Until recently, there were people like Monika Śladewska, an exterminator, and then a soldier of the 2nd Army of the Polish Army, who was associated with Lower Silesia. I remember how she lamented the unfair treatment of the memory of the soldiers of these armies. The authoritative historical policy implemented by the IPN, for example, is incomprehensible to me. It is simply a fierce demolition of traces of memory about Polish soldiers fighting for the Polishness of these lands, the demolition of monuments, on which are the hub eagles and the silhouettes of Polish soldiers – it is simply a rape on Polish national memory. Moreover, these political animators are acting against the authoritative statements of crucial politicians of the present government camp. I would like to remind you that during the ceremony in the cemetery of Polish soldiers who died at the Odra forging in 1945 in Siekierki, in 2017, president Andrzej Duda said: “It is not lawful to divide those who died for their homeland, the blood which is shed for their homeland is one, the blood which is shed for their homeland is not allowed to be shared in any way and in no way to divide those who died for their homeland.” And he went on to say: “We are here in this cemetery, where soldiers remainder in dignity and silence, from which blood arose free Poland – the 1 that is here and now... Thanks to this soldier's blood, Polish wanderers driven from the East found their fresh home here... and live here until today. Just as fresh life was born from the death of Christ and His resurrection, so from their death here... Poland and this land was born for Poland. This is Polish land, just as we sing on Monte Cassino: This land belongs to Poland due to the fact that freedom is measured by crosses. besides those crosses that stand around us – under which are Polish soldiers... We bow before their heroism, before their work, the effect of which we love is today's free Poland". And in 2021, in Walcz Joachim Brudziński, a politician of the Law and Justice, said: “We do not share the blood of a Polish soldier. For me, the blood of a soldier spilled here on the Pomeranian Wala, shed under the Kolobrzeg, under the Axes, under Berlin, is of the same value as the blood of soldiers poured on Monte Cassino. A year ago, General Anders' daughter came here and said beautiful words in Axes. Here are these young people who did not make it to my dad’s army.” I think it would be useful for those words to be more familiar, especially among those who give unfair sentences.

As all year, you are the organizer of the “Autumn Romance” Festival, which utilized to be called “The Festival of the Polish-Russian Romance of the Novikova Lydia”. This change of name and expression forced the war in Ukraine?

– In a way, although for any time the festival has been heading for a wider Slavic formula. I am not hiding that the preservation of the festival in the erstwhile expression has become difficult. As it is known, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, everything related to Russia became politically incorrect,. I realize that erstwhile it comes to political issues or the moral assessment of war, it was understandable, but to embrace the ostracism of Russian language and culture is an exaggeration. There are rather absurd situations that any crucial guests last year did not come to our festival's gala performance due to the fact that they were afraid that individual could sing Russian. This is not the only event I have encountered. This is absurd. It is impossible to remove and erase from the planet culture the large achievements of Russian poets, writers and composers. I believe that sooner or later, I hope that, sooner or later, normality will return in this area. Pushkin or Tchaikovsky are not liable for the politics of present Russia, it is obvious. I do not realize certain attitudes that have arisen in us, which are contrary to common sense. By the way, I besides wanted to make it clear that I was always open to Ukrainian culture, which in its folk part is related to Polish and Russian. Wars pass and end, and the nations must live side by side, especially nations with specified soul-related ones. Many Ukrainians live in Lower Silesia, Polish citizens with whom I have friendly relations. I have always stressed that there are no criminal nations, only criminal ideologies. Wiktor Poliszczuk convinced us that Ukrainians as a nation besides deserve respect, so I always paid tribute to those Ukrainians who in the tragic years 1943-1944 – risking their lives saved the lives of Poles. And there were many, but not always on the modern Ukraine wants to remember them. Regardless of the destiny of this war, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians will stay neighbors. I want my work to be utilized to heal wounds and make fresh fields of cooperation and understanding. Culture is simply a very good tool in this work.

Thank you for your conversation and I encourage everyone to read your book “From the Edges over the Oder”, which was just published by Miśmy Polska Publishing House. There you will find the improvement of many threads that we have raised. Good luck with the election.

He spoke: Jan Engelgard

Think Poland, No. 41-42 (8-15.10.2023)