As an avid history follower, Poland always lingered in me as a destination of special interest. Copernicus, The Polish Wars, Madame Curie, The Solidarity Movement, Pope John Paul II, a favorite author in Ryszard Kapuscinski, Col. Ryszard Kuklinski... just some of the reasons. Meanwhile, dots following these separate memories and events would somehow, in time... connect.
First: Posthumously promoted to general, Ryszard Kuklinski was a colonel in the Polish
Army. After finding himself conflicted when he became party to the drafting of the Russian invasion of then Czechoslovakia, he offered to adroitly spy for the "only-too-willing" West. Thus, it was his covertly passing a series of information to highlight the reasons why the Iron Curtain/West "War" stayed cold. When his dual identity was about to be discovered, the CIA then spirited him and his family out of Poland to eventually reside in the US. https://culture.pl/en/article/kuklinski-how-the-cias-best-placed-cold-war-spy-escaped-the-eastern-bloc
Second: A Polish friend introduced me to Dekalog. It is a short Polish TV series based on the "Ten Commandments". https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092337/
How brilliant, outright I thought it was. The series were presented against the backdrop of
everyday communal living under the then communist era. I would end up watching the films over and over not only because of contents, but also because I became enamored with the Polish language which I found rather gentle and pleasant sounding... in contrast to some of the neighboring Balkan family of languages.
Third: After the September 11 terrorist attack in New York... the airlines were driven into relative disarray. I decided to then take a sabbatical from the industry. It was during this stretch when I ended up managing a restaurant with a niche clientele in Washington, DC. And it was that one evening when I saw then State Secretary Codoleezza Rice along with Col. Kuklinski approaching. I advised the staff to where exactly seat the unassuming guests. The state secretary was easily recognized but she, being a Republican in primarily a Democrat leaning hangout... not much ado. As far as Col. Kuklinski, no one else seemed know who he was but I... and in my own quiet excitement, I simply whispered tidbits to a couple of regular guests who have become close friends. A couple of weeks later, I read of Col. Kuklinski's death at 73, from a stroke.
Fourth: In a little over a year later, the industry started to show signs of sustained recovery, I was back with the airlines. And two weeks into my return, I was tasked to accommodate a film crew with certain media equipment fee exceptions. Into the process, I was presented with Polish passports. It was then when I gradually began to pepper our conversations with Polish terms and phrases. They found this rather amusing and amazing upon my telling them of my Philippine origin. Of course, their being a film crew... our exchanges gravitated to my mention of Decalog which was further a surprise for them.
And here's the gist... It turned out that the person leading the group, was one of the characters in Dekalog 7, "Thou Shalt Not Steal". And that here he was... producer/director of a film... documenting the transfer of Col. Kuklinski's ashes back to Warsaw... where after being once branded a traitor, he is now noted a remakable hero... and no less by the West too!
The way these personal and separate anecdotes compiled into a single narrative... I find rather fascinating I simply have to share. Cheers!
First: Posthumously promoted to general, Ryszard Kuklinski was a colonel in the Polish
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| Palace of Culture and Science Warsaw |
Second: A Polish friend introduced me to Dekalog. It is a short Polish TV series based on the "Ten Commandments". https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092337/
How brilliant, outright I thought it was. The series were presented against the backdrop of
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| Central Warsaw |
Third: After the September 11 terrorist attack in New York... the airlines were driven into relative disarray. I decided to then take a sabbatical from the industry. It was during this stretch when I ended up managing a restaurant with a niche clientele in Washington, DC. And it was that one evening when I saw then State Secretary Codoleezza Rice along with Col. Kuklinski approaching. I advised the staff to where exactly seat the unassuming guests. The state secretary was easily recognized but she, being a Republican in primarily a Democrat leaning hangout... not much ado. As far as Col. Kuklinski, no one else seemed know who he was but I... and in my own quiet excitement, I simply whispered tidbits to a couple of regular guests who have become close friends. A couple of weeks later, I read of Col. Kuklinski's death at 73, from a stroke.
Fourth: In a little over a year later, the industry started to show signs of sustained recovery, I was back with the airlines. And two weeks into my return, I was tasked to accommodate a film crew with certain media equipment fee exceptions. Into the process, I was presented with Polish passports. It was then when I gradually began to pepper our conversations with Polish terms and phrases. They found this rather amusing and amazing upon my telling them of my Philippine origin. Of course, their being a film crew... our exchanges gravitated to my mention of Decalog which was further a surprise for them.
And here's the gist... It turned out that the person leading the group, was one of the characters in Dekalog 7, "Thou Shalt Not Steal". And that here he was... producer/director of a film... documenting the transfer of Col. Kuklinski's ashes back to Warsaw... where after being once branded a traitor, he is now noted a remakable hero... and no less by the West too!
The way these personal and separate anecdotes compiled into a single narrative... I find rather fascinating I simply have to share. Cheers!
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| Wigry Monastery, Suwalki County / Hel, Puck County / Sidewalk Sculpture-Wroclav A rural Saturday market scene |
