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I DON’T KNOW

“A certain man will tell
the story of his life‘

Independent of subjectivism and fragmentary
delivery, this man and his state exist objectivelyt

One should take these facts into account as
they are multiplied by social phenomena."

After graduating college, I started
working for the national forest sen/ices

I worked in Olsztyn the longest,
where l was a forester.

It was my passion but working conditions
at that time were very difficult

And the remuneration of
foresters was very dismal

We got together, there were more than
100 of us engineers in Olsztyn then,

We stopped working, let’s say
it was like a little strike.

Along with my friend we went
to the Central Committee.

After considering our case, the salaries
at National Forest Sen/ice

were increased by 100%.

It was a huge raise.

But I felt that I had become
an inconvenience to them.

At that time, there were posters around
the city recruiting for the mines.

I reported to the Tores mine in Walbrzych,
not letting it be known, of course,

that I had a higher education.

After a short training, I worked below
in the mine as a labourer-loader.

Then October, 1956 happened.
This was a time of removing dignitaries

from the plant on wheelbarrows.
A time of renewal sort of.

ljoined the Party then.

They looked into me and it
turned out that I am an engineer.

l was quickly promoted to plant
supervisor, then director.

I had a lot of problems
due to my lack of experience,

and I thought it appropriate and necessary
to upgrade my educational level.

I finished economics in night school.

Then, over 9 years, l was
a director in various plants.

Then came 1966,

for me a very difficult year.

Because I got a Party directive from the First
Secretary of the County Committee Comrade ,

To take over the corrupt
“Renifer” leather factory.

The directive was
backed by guarantees

Comrade told me that he
is giving me full guarantee

that in case of failure at that plant,

I would not bear any responsibility
for it and would have no problems.

Those same guarantees were
given me by the director

of the leather industry union
in dez’, director_.

He also offered the full assistance

of the union’s apparatus in order
to turn the company around.

The company which was
in a disastrous situation.

l was the 13th director of this company.

The "Renifer’ plant
produced mostly gloves

and one of the shops also
produced some leather apparel.

There were three tanneries as well.

The starting product
was imported leather.

Vlhth production and sales of about 60 million,
we had about 60 million in losses.

The main task I set for myself
was finding the source of this.

In the tannery, the situation was that
from time to time, while soaking,

a few tons of raw leather
would breakdown.

The union commission would
come from the institute,

run tests on this “soup"
and based on laboratory tests,

it would be determined that so many
tons dissolved in the soak.

So I attempted to determine who was
responsible for buying poor quality raw material.

And it turned out that union employees

took part in the purchasing of that leather.

They would spend months
abroad buying the leather

and mediation commission at the
ministry rejected the case as baseless.

No basis for assigning responsibility
for the leather dissolving in the soak

the situation according to
the ministry was normal.

Too bad.

However, regarding the tannery employees,
they were long time employees

and there were no proven
prior cases of pilfering,

but when it came to the cutting area,
80% of the employees had been

terminated for theft at least once,

and 50% had been terminated
for theft at least three times.

At the time I took over “Renifer’,
the documentation audit was finishing.

I requested the documents from the auditors,
of course, it had hundreds of pages,

but there were mostly
discrepancies like travel,

purchase of items done incorrectly,
things like that.

And a number of auditors were

engaged at the plant
before my arrival.

At that point, I summoned the plant
auditor Mr. so he could tell me

how the union audit was done,
what they checked and how.

This man did not want to talk with me.
But he told me that he is quitting.

Why are you quitting?
Because I have an issue with the union audit,

and I don’t want
to be picked on.

Finally, he told me that the head
of the union audit, Mr.

demands that he also sign the reports
produced by the union auditors.

And he declined.

Because he had doubts
as to the veracity of the report,

the validity of the auditors’
work and their honesty.

In addition, I found out that prior
to my arrival, leather was stolen

and transported by cars which were
escorted by militia officers.

There were cases of boxes of gloves
that we exported, when opened by

the customer abroad, contained
not gloves but sand.

0f the people who I had to terminate like
the assistant technical director Mr. ,

the assistant sales director Mr. ,
the first secretary of the

the first secretary of the organization
plant committee comrade ,

department as well as the judge on
the workers’ court comrade ,

the warehouse manager citizen .

The head accountant citizen _,

Then his replacement for a short
period citizen , also fired.

I simply had to surround myself with new
people, and somehow get rid of the old ones.

When I took over position, the first secretary
of the county committee arrived, Comrade

as well as the economic
secretary Comrade .

At the Party meeting, these comrades
that they are giving me full authority

in the area of terminating employees,
regardless of the positions they have.

This state of affairs that exists at
the company, cannot exist any longer.

But these were only declarations,
real life took a different course.

First to quit was director
replaced by director .

The new director started
to be interested in renovations.

But interested parties started to dig
into director past

and found that after the war, director
acted against the people’s authority,

and had been convicted, later the
conviction was overturned,

but because of it, the county committee
threw director out of the Party

and demanded that director
be immediately terminated.

This man is very upset with me, unfortunately,
I was unable to help him in this matter.

The second matter concerned the head
mechanic, whom I already mentioned.

The first secretary of the organization department
and judge on the workers’ court, comrade .

By coincidence, that a few documents
written by comrade _,

were submitted for my signature.
As | read them, I started to have doubts

whether this man
is capable of writing.

So I asked for his personnel file
of Mr. , which contained,

among others, his final exam
from a high school in Swidnica.

Auditor , at my request,
went to the school, checked,

and it turned out that such a diploma
was never issued and that this is a forgery.

Forged diploma,
no secondary education,

when summoned for explanation, he was unable
to prove that he had even elementary education.

But, the plant committee executive
did not agree to terminate Mr. _.

They argued that despite
not having finished high school,

he has higher education level
because he attended a course

for head mechanics organized
by the Gliwice polytechnic.

And that document is in his file.

To determine if leaks are possible,

I conducted a very detailed
and meticulous analysis to find out

if potential customers exist
for the stolen raw materials.

| used the pretext of writing a paper

about the industry as a whole.

I received information from all
regional people’s councils about

private glove makers,

and it became clear that 80—90% of them
are former employees of "Renifer’

terminated by the company for theft.

One of the employees fired for stealing
owned a private glove shop in Swidnica.

AMr. _ ifl recall.

I filed numerous times for
revoking his business permit.

Since this was the receiver of
leather stolen from the plant.

I even had evidence such as after
receiving a fresh shipment of dyes,

from Switzerland, which were used
only for testing in the dyeing lab,

in a day or two, in the window of this glove
maker, were gloves made from that leather.

The militia, declined pursuing the matter,
demanded that I catch him red-handed.

When he was purchasing
stolen leather.

I did not have the
resources to do this.

Because individual thefts
were difficult to prove

as they required a personal search,

I put in a statistical random search procedure.

Every person leaving pushed a
button, if the red light came on,

they would go to a
personal search area.

This did not work long,

mostly because when the red light
came on, people ran away.

And besides, the device after a few days
started to malfunction all the time.

I am sad to say, that the citizens’
militia didn’t want to help me.

Despite numerous initiatives
on my part, applications,

they demanded either denouncements
against a specific person,

or the capture of someone stealing.

However, the militia did not want
to conduct any preventive measures.

I followed up on this all the way

to commandant _
and his deputy , and discussed

setting up an ORMO unit at the plant.

I did set one up, joined
ORMO myself, it had no effect.

Most of my predecessors
left as a result of

statements from drivers who testified
that they drove the directors

on private errands,

that these directors were in
different company, drank vodka.

These were arguments used
to terminate prior directors.

Due to the above, from day one,

I did not have a driver for the
company car but drove myself.

I got a phone call that a package
was placed in the trunk of my car.

That there is a militia officer at the gate
and they will search my car when I leave.

And that the package contains
leather or something.

I immediately went to the car pool,
opened the trunk and saw the package.

It made no sense to conduct any investigation
because nobody would be found.

I simply had the package removed,
and immediately informed

the county committee first
secretary, comrade .

That this was set up was evident
because a few minutes later,

the militia officer
left the guard station.

During the search, I also received
an anonymous report

that a shipment of leather

is going through the tannery
without documentation.

Some obviously illegal activity.

First the leather was supposedly
destroyed in the soak,

and now it’s being
processed by the tannery.

If you can imagine, this was being done
at the time of an audit in the plant.

An audit conducted
by the home office.

|, of course, ordered
the tannery to be sealed.

I sent a report to the union

and the union auditor
went to the union offices.

The following day l was
ordered by phone

to unseal the tannery
and continue production.

There was this incident,
that the head accountant

reported pay outs for
fictitious business trips.

Including the fictitious business trip of the first
secretary of the plant committee, comrade .

I received the official report,
this was a very unpleasant situation,

I reported it by phone to comrade ,
went there and asked

what should be done with this case?

Another secretary,
a long-time employee,

maybe not the worst employee,

will have to be terminated
and the prosecutor will have to be notified

because the trip
was for about 500 zloty.

Comrade immediately
summoned comrade .

l was in the committee the entire time.

He summoned him and asked how
this could happen, that he,

as secretary was to help curb this
behaviour and here you are a thief yourself?

You stole 500 zloty, the director
is here and tells me that you stole it.

For a false business trip. Well?

He said yes, comrade secretary but

l have to support my family,
you know, I had to...

So you steal to support your family?

He was very harsh with him.

No, but I can’t afford
buying presents.

What presents,
what are you talking about?

Well, l was asked by the organizational
secretary, comrade _,

takes gloves from me, does not
pay for them, so what should I do?

The director here introduced these searches,
now I can’t remove gloves from the plant...

They watch and audit everything,
so I have to pay for these gloves.

So I had to refund myself the money
in this fictitious business trip.

Comrade , immediately
summoned secretary ,

All of this was going on at the
county committee in front of me.

So I asked him: Wladek, did
you take gloves from ?

He said that he did.
Did you pay him?

No I did not.

So now get this: stole money
and his excuse is that you did not

pay for the gloves, and that’s
why he stole the money.

A very unpleasant situation.

Tomorrow, you will return
the money in front of .

will turn the money
over to the cashier,

and to me he said not to report
the case to the prosecutor.

In another incident, the supply manager
similarly faked a business trip,

the head accountant caught it,

his name was .

He was dismissed by me,

later, this after comrade left

the county committee, was hired
there as Party instructor.

Despite such difficult, seemingly
hopeless conditions,

l was able to reduce theft
and waste the mess in the company,

that from 60 million in losses, the company
turned a profit of 10 million.

During that time, the people who gave me
the position and guarantees were replaced.

That is, comrade left as first secretary
of the county committee in Swidnica,

And director_ left the union.

For turning around “Renifer” company

the Council of State awarded me
the Silver Cross of Merit.

This was given to
me at the ceremony

commemorating the October
Revolution on October 25th, 1969

Aweek later, on October 31st

l was summoned by the county
committee to the executive meeting.

Exactly six days after
my being awarded.

Present at this meeting was

the deputy director of the union, Mr. .

l was faced with
a number of accusations,

the atmosphere was very unpleasant,
when I entered, nobody greeted me,

they told me to sit like
I was the accused

or to be interrogated
by the Inquisition.

They said: we have serious
allegations against you,

principally that you do not cooperate
with the collective,

you mistreat the
employees at the plant,

You take care of personal business,
like sending your children to camp,

What do you have to say for
yourself in this matter?

I said that I really did not know what
this was about, maybe some details...

You know exactly
what we mean here,

I insisted on getting more details,

and they said that an employee
who wanted to see me,

had to come three times and wait
an hour at your door.

I asked which employee it was,
and was told that I know which one.

The comrades whispered among
themselves, nodded their heads,

and the director of the union
handed me my termination notice.

To be effective immediately.

I got really upset, apparently
I ran out and slammed the door.

I returned to the plant only to collect my
things. And did not show my face again.

But I was so furious, that I wrote
the minister of light industry,

as well as the Party Central Committee,
describing the whole matter.

After a few days,
the secretary called,

almost in tears,
that she is in big

trouble because...

certain items that were
in her area are now missing.

And she has a big problem
because they are demanding

that she blame me for this.

The following items were missing:

in the director’s office,
there was a radio

purchased by my predecessor
or his predecessor even,

No idea why, since a radio
in a director’s office was only

decoration since there was no time
during working hours to listen to it.

I wrote a letter to
the plant directly

about where these items are
located, and who has what.

As far as the radio,
I wrote that indeed, I borrowed

the radio and because I am unable to
return it at this time, please charge

me with the radios cost.

Then there was a big blow-up.

From what I understand,

they were looking for some reasons

for terminating me.
Because they had given me none.

So they used the letter I wrote about
charging the value of the items to me,

and submitted it
to the prosecutor in Swidnica.

That I am a thief of public property
and that I stole a radio

and some file holders or some such.

Since in the meantime, I did not
return to the plant, they took back

my company car and determined that
two blankets were missing from it.

They added to the denunciation
that I stole two blankets also,

As far as I remember, this was
what was sent to the prosecutor.

Of course, the prosecutor initiated
an intensive investigation of this matter.

Before, my reports of thefts totalling
hundreds of thousands of zloty were dismissed.

But here, the chief prosecutor comrade _
personally conducted the investigation.

From what I understand,
he will not allow anyone

near the case because
this is a very serious matter.

My home was searched twice.

Including dumping drawers,

unscrewing table legs, in the search
for items stolen from the plant.

After all these experiences, I fell ill.

It was decided that the nenrous shock
that I went through

should be treated
in a psychiatric clinic.

While I was in the hospital,
I was summoned

to the Party’s control commission,
but I was unable to go because I was ill.

Later, after my release from
the hospital, l was expelled from

the Party in absentia for the
theft of public property.

The investigation continued, actually,
nothing was going on with it.

lwas looking for work, I could find none,
I looked, wrote, travelled...

Everywhere, after initial talks
about hiring me,

it would turn out that
the position had been filled.

At the same time, I filed with
the minister for a change of opinion.

I even had an audience
with the minister.

The minister, of course,
stated that he has no bias against me,

that the matter will be cleared up,

ordered the control department to
immediately look into the matter,

But nothing was happening,
there was no opinion issued.

I turned to the main board
of ZBOWID as a combat veteran

to report what situation I was in,

I remember that colonel came

to first secretary comrade _
to inquire about the matter,

to see what is going on.

He told him openly that they have
indisputable evidence

that I am a thief of public property
and there is nothing further to discuss.

I found out about this.

I then went to the attorney general
to report a crime,

because the investigation
was taking over a year by then.

Of course, the attorney general responded

that they sent appropriate notice
to the prosecutor,

for inappropriate action and to finish
the investigation as soon as possible.

And in fact, it was finished. They submitted
the accusation to the court in Swidnica.

For the crime of I don’t remember
which paragraph but in any case,

for the theft of public property.

There were, however, some people
in Swidnica who were on my side,

they told me that the sentence has
already been passed in the committee.

So I took advantage
of being on the jury

and the case had to be transferred
by the regional court to anotherjurisdiction.

It went to Walbrzych and the judge

questioned me as to who I gave
the radio to at the plant.

I stated that this is
an unpleasant matter for me,

that I paid for the radio,

and I did not wish to involve
important people in the trial.

Thejudge then told me
that this would not be in my favour.

And that he saw no reason
not to name the persons.

I then told him that the radio
was taken by the first secretary

of the plant committee and given
to the first secretary of the county committee.

Additional witnesses were called.
Of course they asked the secretary

whether he took it, he denied
doing so before the court.

That he absolutely did not take the radio.

But they also called
an economics department employee,

who stated that the secretary
of the plant committee, comrade

came to the economics department

to have this radio
written off as damaged.

The court ordered a confrontation.

During this confrontation,

and this was very unpleasant,

not only did the economics
department employee confirm it,

but added also that the secretary
of the plant committee took

not only that radio but also coffee service,
crystal vases, crystal ashtrays,

some heaters, a number of small items
which were supposedly for the committee.

Twenty Chinese pens, and so forth.

He even took window drapes.

Of course, I was completely
cleared of all charges,

fully acquitted, without
any questions even.

Prosecutor did not stop there.

He submitted an inquiry to
the regional court in Wroclaw.

Against the advice
of professional lawyers,

I submitted another

complaint against prosecutor
_ to the attorney general.

My lawyers said that this will only hurt
my case. But no, l was not worried.

The attorney general ordered the inquiry
to be withdrawn, so there was none.

In this situation, I wrote a letter
to the minister of remuneration

and social matters,

that I am unemployed,

the employment office
will not register me,

arguing that people with a higher
education need not be registered

since there is such a demand
and so many job openings

for them that there is
no need to register,

but factories unfortunately
did not wish to hire me.

As a result of different kinds
of interventions by me,

as well as the fact that
at that time, similar cases

were going on in Swidnica,
involving other people,

an investigation was initiated into
the county committee secretaries,

as a result of which, all were
removed from their positions.

l was regarded as the author
of all these cases,

and because of that, l was considered
public enemy number one in Swidnica.

That was when the attacks on me began.

Even more persecution than before.

All my life, l have hunted,
this was my hobby,

and it happened that
l was shot at while hunting.

At first I did not realize they were
shooting at me, just thought that

some idiot in the woods is
shooting along the line.

The second time, everything pointed
to the fact that this was intentional

shooting at me.
I had to stop hunting.

So I was shot at twice,
beat up three times,

so I stopped leaving home at night,

only during the day,
I would return by a different route,

only my wife knew where l was
and what time I would return.

My home was harassed
under different pretexts,

The telephone would ring at
different times of day and night.

l was often forced
to unplug the phone.

l handled it all until the moment they
started attacking members of my family.

l was then forced
to escape from Swidnica.

And so, having two diplomas,

twenty years work experience,

I could not find work, l was unemployed
for nearly six years.

Despite the fact that I looked for
work in dozens of places, nationwide.

And regardless of the position.

| escaped to a place I found
by accident, near Warsaw,

| work here,
I live in a rented room.

Being over 50 years old,

I’m trying to finish my doctorate,

I’m a PhD. student
of economics,

Working here on the outskirts of
Warsaw, and I am starting my life

completely from the beginning.

I lost my entire life’s work.

l have to admit that
I don’t know how to live,

what is the best recipe for living.

Whether to live life intensively,
with gusto,

or to sleep through life.

I am not able
to answer that question.

I think for me,
the most important thing

is to have a clear conscience.

That whatever we went through,

in some way that is in agreement
with my own self.

I’m sure I lived intensively,
I’m sure I made lots of mistakes,

I’m sure I have a lot of fiaws...

And it happened
that I was domineering

and uncompromising,

maybe even conceited, sometimes.

I’m sure there are many people
who have grievances against me.

Maybe I was

not diplomatic enough,

in my practices and decisions...

It’s hard for me to say.

I don’t know.

“A certain man told the story of his life.
Independent of subjectivism and fragmentary delivery,

this man and his state exist objectively.
One should take these facts into account

as they are multiplied
by social phenomena."

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translation: Piotr Strzelecki