It isn’t often that the work you are paid for and enjoy doing turns out to be historically important, but that’s what happened to those of us who reported news for western media organizations in Communist Poland in the 1980s.
I was bureau chief for ABC News in Warsaw from 1983-90 and with colleagues covered events from when Lech Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 through the mostly-free elections in June 1989 and the formation of the first non-Communist government in Poland since the end of World War II.
After ABC News, bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, I started a PR company registered in the US and in Poland. By 2003, I had had enough of Central Europe and sold the Polish company to return to the US.
Two years later came the offer to teach media at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, and I jumped at the chance to come to the UAE, with Zayed for four years and then three years at the University of Wollongong in Dubai.
In Abu Dhabi about 18 months ago, I received a call from the Polish Embassy in Washington D.C. Would I be willing to accept an award from the President of Poland for my work as a journalist in the 1980s?
Of course, I said, what’s next? The caller didn’t know and as time passed, I forgot about it. Finally in January 2013 the mailed invitation reached me in Abu Dhabi. By that time, I was preparing to leave the UAE in March, so the timing worked well.
Because the elections on June 4, 1989 were not entirely free as the ruling group had seats reserved for their candidates and competed with Solidarity members for others, no one expected that 99 out of 100 Solidarity candidates would win their contests; polls conducted by the government showed its candidates were winning in most districts.
All of a sudden everything was different. A non-Communist government was formed and election of a president by popular vote was scheduled for late 1990. Solidarity leader Lech Walesa became the first freely elected president of the III Republic of Poland.
Since then, politics in Poland has been a changing mix of personalities and parties, not including the Communist party which was disbanded and lost its main sponsor when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. As parties from liberal to conservative, religious to secular have taken power and lost it, what really happened in 1989 remains a hot topic.
Many people believe that when the Communists realized Moscow would no longer help them, they compromised with Solidarity, leading to the Round Table talks February-April, 1989. That’s the version of history supported by the Civic Platform which has led parliament since 2007. In 2010 the party also took the presidency with the victory of Bronislaw Komorowski.
Five years ago supporters of Civic Platform decided to commemorate the 1989 elections with a new holiday called Freedom Day. Not yet accepted by some other parties in parliament, Tuesday, June 4, was again a normal working day except for those of us who were being given official recognitions by the Polish government for our work toward creating the new III Republic of Poland.
Over the previous four years artists, actors, and others who supported Solidarity received the awards, Maltese crosses in three categories, Commander, Officer, and Soldier, white, blue, and red. This year the committee organizing the festivities decided to recognize journalists, most of whom were foreigners reporting on events in Poland for foreign news media.
On June 4 I was very proud to join old friends like Newsweek photographer Chris Niedenthal and BBC reporter Kevin Ruane as we waited to be called forward to receive our awards from President Komorowski. My award – the Officer’s Cross for Service – was pinned, we shook hands with the President, and took turns being photographed and taking pictures.
We weren’t Polish; we didn’t take sides; we watched what was happening and reported on it; by doing our jobs, we were part of the creation of major historical changes in Poland.
By Alma Kadragic, July 2013
