A paradise for ethnographers

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A paradise for ethnographers. Polish Stories is a collection of reports by Ryszard Kapuściński .

The author

The Polish writer and journalist Ryszard Kapuściński (1932–2007) is one of the most translated authors from Poland . In 1956 he finished his history studies at the University of Warsaw . As a student he had already worked as a journalist in various editorial offices. At the end of the 1950s, he was traveling more and more and discovered his passion for writing about countries in extensive transformation processes. In 1962 he was employed as a reporter by the Polish Press Agency and spent the next six years in Africa , where he experienced and documented an intense period of political and social upheaval. He then traveled through the southern part of the USSR , followed by longer stays in South America, the Middle East, Asia and again on the African continent. During these years he created some of his most prominent works, such as Life Again (1976), King of Kings (1978) and Shah-in-Shah (1982). In addition to poems, he later published other important collections of reports such as Imperium (1993), which also addresses the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2003 his self-portrait appeared as a reporter.

The work

The first edition of the work, which also represented his literary debut, took place in 1962 under the title Busz po polsku . The book, which was translated into German in 2010, comprises 17 stories.

Memory exercises

This story is about the Second World War, its effects on people and their environment. It is introduced by a stanza from a poem by Janusz A. Ihnatowicz. The first-person narrator remembers the war he experienced as a child. He admits that he remembered the beginning of the war much more clearly than its end. The account begins in September 1939 when the narrator was seven years old. The whole event was a strange experience for him, which exerted a special attraction on him. As a child, he didn't understand that this was death. He was on the run with other family members, his mother, grandfather and younger sister. His emotionally charged descriptions illustrate the confrontation of the innocent with evil, an experience that is perceived with all the senses.

They survived the first winter of the war as refugees despite the cold, poverty, hunger and fear. They left the small town of Pińsk in the Polesie region and drove west, towards Warsaw , where the father, who had escaped from captivity, was. This worked as a teacher in a village school. In the clearing of a forest near the village the executions of the convicts took place by the SS , who chased the children out of their hiding places. Polish partisans also came to visit at night. The narrator wanted to own decent shoes, because they represented a “symbol of prestige and power” (19), even more so for human existence at the time. he narrator believes that the war never ended for the survivors. These people could not distance themselves from the past because they are too tied to memories. In addition, war is still present in the lives of survivors through its effects, including such as poverty and loss of home. This continuation does not only exist externally, but also internally, because the war has left wounds, hatred and deformed mentalities. For those who experienced war as children, it was the only known world order as they did not know peace.

The story is to be understood as a manifesto against the war. This offers a simplified view of the world by emphasizing the opposites “good” and “bad”. All that matters is the destruction of the enemy, accordingly, the strongest is the winner and the most important is the force, which makes humanity disappear. The narrator regards it as the responsibility of the survivors to report about it to the younger generations who did not experience the war, because through these reports further wars can be prevented and solidarity can grow. The text ends with a stanza from Goethe's Faust .

Departure of the fifth column

This text is about the dreams of the survivors. On September 11, 1961, two old women, 85-year-old Augusta Bruzius with her daughter Margot at the age of 58, run away unnoticed from the retirement home in Szczytno because they can hear familiar music, a kind of war melody. Compared to the others, they have the “blood instinct”, which is why they even notice this strange music. You reach the train station and take the train to Olecko . In Olecko, Augusta's husband owned a property with two houses where Polish farmhands worked. After his death, the Polish state confiscated the houses. Augusta and Margot traveled to Szczytno, where they spent a long time in the hospital and then in the old people's home. Now they are on their way back to Olecko to get their houses back. The two women go from door to door, addressing people in German because they believe that they are in the German state. Augusta wants to wait here for two of her four sons, who would come from West Germany. The women are thought to be crazy and driven out. They don't want to go back to Szczytno, which is why they move into the old people's home in Nowa Wies near Elk to be closer to Olecko. The old people in this home, who still have vivid memories of the war, get upset about the two women and want to chase them away. The next morning Augusta and Margot flee the home unnoticed, following the music.

Far

This story is about the change in the village world after the war. The village of Cisowka in Bialystok used to be regarded as a "paradise for ethnographers", as an original form of economic and living community had been preserved here. Here there was poverty and underdevelopment, there was no modern technology. Before the war, people didn't know about cars, today farmers drive motorbikes. At that time a radio was a luxury device, today every villager has one in their household. There is now electricity everywhere in the village. Eating seems natural today, people don't know hunger any more. The village is being modernized in line with socialist ideology, and a lot is being done to improve living conditions. There are many discussions about the innovations, for example between the farmer Lukasz Mikolaj and the village mayor about modern solutions in agriculture. The initiative of the villagers also counts a lot. The railway line near the village was idle for a long time. After the residents themselves built a train station next to the forest, the Ministry of Transport decided to create a connection there with a modern express train.

Saved on the raft

This text is about the existence and worldview of an outsider. Two academic assistants who teach literature at the university make their way to Stanica Wodna almost every Saturday from May onwards . Here they meet the young raftsman Jozef Jagielski, with whom they talk about his life. His job is to bring rafts across the lake, the wood then later reaches the sawmill. Jozef drives the raft with the help of a wooden pole. In his work he is dependent on the wind. Occasionally the raftsman no longer feels the ground beneath him, which is why he cannot go any further. In these moments he is waiting to feel the ground again. The two guests consider him a philosopher and transfer this attitude to the entire world order and the current "crisis of values", in which people also seem to have no firm hold. Jagielski loves his job because it gives him freedom compared to others. Despite the difficulties nature sometimes gives him, he keeps calm. He lives far away from the busy everyday life, does not come into contact with the important events, news does not reach him. Because of his independence, he enjoys the great admiration of the two assistants, who like to compare him to Zeus .

Piątek near Grunwald

This narrative is about the temporary character of war and destruction contrasted with the constant cycle of life. The text begins with a quote from Henryk Sienkiewicz from “The Crusaders”. Piatek reached the village of Grunwald in a horse-drawn carriage with his wife and four children. The war was over, but its consequences were still visible. He decided to stay there, thanks largely to the fertile soil. He wanted to escape the poverty in his home area of ​​Mlawa and start a new life. Piatek is now working in the grain field but is unable to walk properly due to a hip injury. He has to use crutches. Because of his physical limitations, he is no longer the successful farmer he used to be. During their conversation, the narrator describes the battle of Grunwald and the exact positions and processes to Piatek, but the farmer is thinking of the last world war. Piatek is proud that Grunwald has become an attractive place for young people, but at the same time he is worried about his harvest and that many people would trample the grain field. These are only there temporarily, but he wants to stay in Grunwald. The soil is important to him and not the history associated with this place. Despite the many wars that have taken place on this land, fruits still thrive here and Piatek reaps them.

Toothpaste advertisement

This text criticizes the superficiality of the modernization process in the village world, which only targets material aspects and social status, but neglects the real needs of the residents, their upbringing and their values. The action takes place in the village of Pratki in Elk County. The girls from Pratki tell the first-person narrator about the celebration and the current situation in their village. Marion Jesion was at the village celebration with three other young men and fifteen young women. The hall was divided into two halves by different lighting effects: the men in the red and the women in the blue. Since there were many more women than men, the latter had to decide who to invite to dance. This decision was important and serious for everyone, especially for women who otherwise ran the risk of being left alone for the rest of their lives. The dance of the four couples began, the saxophonist played the latest hits. Before the waltz there was a fight that would always stay in the memory of the participants at such an event. At the end of the evening the four couples left the room, followed by the lonely eleven women who were not elected.

The inequality between the sexes in the village can be seen both in the customs of the evening dance and in other everyday events. While the party was taking place in the village, Marion's grandmother was walking through the dark forest. She was driven from home by Marion, because Marion wanted to get married soon and there was not enough space in the apartment. On the way she lost consciousness and was admitted to the retirement home in Nowa Wies.

There has been a lately shopping craze in the whole village and a strong tendency towards enrichment, even through stealing. Everyone is buying expensive new goods, which is why he plans to launch a national campaign to lower the price of toothpaste. But he soon realizes that it does not depend primarily on the price of the product that the residents of Pratki do not brush their teeth, but on their ignorance and lack of education. He imagines what measures would have to be taken to inform the villagers about such necessities.

The dune

This story criticizes the way the state treats its particularly vulnerable citizens, who therefore have to survive in ways of life they have designed themselves. In 1959 Trofim was hired by an important person to guard an abandoned courtyard. There is a lake and a dune nearby. This place has been neglected and ruined by irresponsible people. Nobody wanted to live there voluntarily, which is why you are looking for new people whose lives seem unhappy anyway. Trofim is a pious, calm, and submissive man who has suffered from epilepsy since childhood. After a while, Rysiek, who was drunk on a motorcycle and had an accident, is brought to the same place. As a result, he lost the memory of 35 years of his life. The third man who is sent to the dune is the beggar Sienkiewicz, who is repeatedly brought here by the militia from the voivodeship capital . The greedy man earns quite a lot of money by begging, which he receives retrospectively from the party activist Edek Partyjniak. The group is soon joined by Edek and the coachman Lipko Dorozkarz. The five live together by the dune and keep the small economy running. Before the war, Lipko was a coachman and transported well-known personalities with his animals. Then he became a swineherd. Edek is seen as the boss by the others, he has a lot of energy and coordinates the work of the others in the hope of seeing results of this form of organization soon. When the harvest time comes and the potatoes and rye have to be harvested, an accident happens with her horse Mongol. Trofim drove him to Elk to pick up the potato harvester from there, but he has a seizure there and can no longer move. Mongol returns to the dune alone and is run over by a truck on the way. They need a new horse for the harvest, but they have no money for it and Sienkiewicz does not want to borrow one. The narrator has a short conversation with Sienkiewicz about his childhood, which was marked by poverty. He understands that the beggar at the time understood the difference between the poor and the rich: the former are like animals, the latter are people. That is why he has collected the money for years to finally be able to experience real human existence in old age. The narrator tells the others to leave Sienkiewicz alone and gets the money himself. With this they buy a new horse, with which they can save the harvest in August 1961. At the same time, they also save their own existence.

At the bottom

This text is about the figure of the unadjusted, who is not known in society because its world does not come into contact with the world of the majority. The first-person narrator joins three workers who are on their way from Bielawa to Nowa Ruda via Woliborz. The three of them know each other from work, they come from the same circle, which is why they get on very well and roam the country together. This time they have given up their employment as textile workers in Bielawa and want to work as miners in Nowa Ruda. You have neither a permanent place of residence nor a permanent job. They are unskilled village workers who wander around looking for better jobs. They do not fit into the usual social structures or processes, but always look for work environments where they do not need to integrate and remain anonymous and strange in a large crowd so that they can easily disappear from there. The illusion of a better life elsewhere has disappeared after such a long time, but they have now gotten used to this unsteady lifestyle and continue to lead it. They are aware that they are not actually striving for a higher position in society, because they feel comfortable on the edge of society, where they can keep their freedom. Because they do not interfere in the course of the world, they are not disturbed by the rest of the world.

Without an address

This story is about viewing life as a card game in which there are certain, well-defined typologies and there is a lack of any kind of individuality. The boy, who speaks alone in the whole story, tells the journalist about student life. In his report, card figures represent people with certain characteristics. The boy himself is the jack of spades, the jacks have the lowest value. Those students who live illegally in the dormitory are called boys. Homer is the one who criticizes the situation of the boys who waste the whole day without doing anything other than drinking beer and making a few pennies by carrying the tourists' suitcases. They gather in a dorm room in the evening and play cards until the next morning because they have nothing else to do. Homer criticizes her lack of liveliness and passion, her constant lethargy and passivity. The boy also tells the reporter about the work of the boys, because each of them gets odd jobs in different areas, in the hotel, with the nuns, as a porter or on the beach. They regard themselves as "aristocrats" and "elite" and despise the able students. But boys also have to achieve something and what they prefer to do is literature: They write texts, poems or pieces of thesis that they read to the others in the dormitory for something to eat at night. But Homer criticizes that too, because he thinks these guys don't have any material to create something like this. He accuses them of not having experienced anything and of not knowing feelings such as fear, love or pain. The boys used to have big plans, but now they are satisfied with smaller successes. Your life is difficult and full of worry. Most important to them is finding a place to sleep and eat in the dormitory with the help of their comrades.

The big hit

This text is about the attitude of those people who do not realize their dreams and who criticize the achievements of others instead of achieving their goals themselves. The Polish discus thrower Piatkowski is training on the grass of a playing field while many curious people watch him from the side. They all want to see the big throw, in which the discus flies sixty meters before it lands on the ground. With this litter Piatkowski has secured the world record. But at the end of the training the spectators are disappointed not to have seen the litter. To their surprise, the trainer reveals that the last two litters would have been over sixty meters long. So the audience missed this moment without even knowing it. The 23-year-old Piatkowski is studying at the University of World Economics in Warsaw, but he has been training discus throwing for eight years, which is his only big passion. For him it's about more than just records, it's also about finding out how far he can get with overcoming his own limits and constantly improving. The first-person narrator regards the viewer in the gray sweater as a type who looks for role models and looks critically at the achievements of others, only because he has once missed his own chance, which is why he constantly reproaches himself. Similar to the big hit that there was, but that you missed as a spectator.

Old iron

This story is about two generations that are very close to each other in time, but who do not understand each other, who do not know each other and cannot communicate with each other, although they constantly meet and interact with each other in everyday life. The first-person narrator meets a student in the street; they are waiting together for a car to go to Grajewo. The boy tells him that he had failed history, he couldn't stand his teacher, he called him “old iron” because you couldn't communicate with him. Coincidentally, the reporter knows the teacher Grzegorz Stepik. Stepik is considered a devoted, ambitious person full of energy and initiative who can never say no. But, although he tries very hard, he is not successful as an educator. Although he is only 27 years old, he is not understood by the younger ones, that is, by his students, they consider him old and crazy. They don't understand his motivation because it seems to them that he gave and invested too much but got nothing back. In doing so, the students do not take into account the accumulated life experiences, but only the material achievements. The students know old heroes much better than their little older fellow men.

Don't worry, clumsy

This text deals with the category of the intellectual outsider, a lonely person who is preoccupied with existential questions and considerations that are not understood by others. Wilczynski and Szeryk, two engineers in a factory, buy a Fiat car together. This purchase is not only an advantage for her, but also for her acquaintances and friends, including Misiek Molak. But Misiek is considered the clumsy group of the group. Although they went to the same school and were playmates, their ways have separated. He went to university and became a teacher, they went to college and now they work in the industrial field. But the differences go beyond professional careers; they can also be seen in different mentalities. While Misiek educates himself full of curiosity and self-doubt, only the certainties count for his friends. They just want to achieve concrete results and measurable performance, so Misiek's work does not seem productive to them.

Danka

This story is about ready-made images, in this case about sacredness and art, as well as the narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy of some believers. The first-person narrator is in a small town in the Bialystok region to document an event for his journalistic work. The first thing he wants to do is to question the pastor, but he cannot find him in the parsonage. In the inn, the reporter talks about this incident with the manager of the restaurant. She describes the incident from her perspective and admits that she went to the fight, but only because otherwise she would have lost her customers. The first-person narrator then visits the militia post, where the commandant provides him with materials and explains how several citizens complained about the sinful, immoral behavior in the rectory. He later questioned the secretary of the city committee, who assumed that the clergy had been provocative. The church valet Michal tells the reporter how the pastor had commissioned a sculptor to carve the figure of Mary for the side altar. In return, the artist was allowed to live and eat in the house free of charge. The sculptor only accepted on condition that he could bring his model for a figure that had already been started, a very beautiful woman named Danka, with him to the parish. The pastor agreed, but avoided Danka, who kept walking around in her bathing suit. He looked at the wooden figure with fascination. The sculptor actually carved Danka as a figure of Mary. The long-term presence of this woman angered the citizens of the small town, especially the women who took the opportunity to take revenge on them and beat them on the day when both the pastor, the sculptor and the clerk were out . The reporter learns from the sculptor's friend how the last one came to the small town with Danka. The first figure he made from plaster of paris was felt by some to be too sacred and too realistic by others, which completely confused the sculptor. He destroyed the figure. Only the head remained and he wanted to sell it to go to Masuria with Danka. Finally, on a Sunday, the reporter visits the church and looks in admiration at the unfinished wooden figure in front of which the believers kneel and pray.

Nobody goes away

This text deals with the paradox of harmful and apparently necessary dependencies, as well as the inability of the state to resolve them. The reporter exchanges information with the military about a family from Piastowa. The situation of this family and their lifestyle are very special. Although each individual, father, mother, and son are considered decent people in the community, there is always scandal and great arguments when they are together. The man insults and hits the woman, the woman argues with him, the son curses and threatens the father. But at the same time the three cannot live separately. The father ensures the livelihood of the family, the mother takes care of the son who suffers from tuberculosis, the son protects the mother from the father. Each member fulfills an important function in this constellation.

The rigid one

This narrative is about the different, invisible bonds between people that hold society together and the tension between moral responsibility and temporary lure. A truck is transporting a coffin to Jeziorany when the engine breaks down on the steep uphill road. In the coffin is the body of a young miner from Jeziorany who died in an accident in the "Aleksandra-Maria" mine in Silesia. Five colleagues and the reporter accompany the coffin to Jeziorany. The six men decide to carry the coffin on their backs into town instead of waiting until the next morning, as they only have to be about 15 kilometers away. During the arduous journey with the burden on their aching shoulders, the men talk about the irony of this event, about this sacrifice that they actually make to the dead. Nobody knew him, but through this incident they somehow feel connected to him. During a break in the forest, they meet a group of eight girls who are going on an outing. This encounter, which exudes a pleasant, alluring feeling of warmth and closeness, jeopardizes her task with the coffin. They are unsettled because they vacillate between the temptation and the responsibility. They enjoy the quiet evening with the girls and celebrate life in general, after which they set off. They arrive in town towards morning. Despite the pain and exhaustion, they bring the coffin to the last station, the cemetery.

The trees against us

This text deals with the importance of the military in the Cold War era, which is not limited to the modernization of weapons, but also raises new questions about the existence of humans and their relationship to their environment. Soldiers are in a forest during their military service. The first-person narrator describes the uniformity that prevails among the soldiers in the barracks, since in the context of military service every trace of individuality disappears, not only externally but also internally in terms of thoughts, feelings or habits. Outside the boundaries of this military world, a life full of wealth emerges, a life with all good and bad sides, but at least in the light, in contrast to the darkness of the forest in which the soldiers stay. This war is not like any other because it is not waged with conventional weapons, but with weapons of mass destruction. During this time, when the war technique is at the highest level, as simple recruits they feel completely confused about their position. One who found his place in the army is Grzywacz, whose previous existence has had no stability. He now has a permanent position in the military, as well as a colonel who gives him orders, which he carries out eagerly. The opposite of Grzywacz is Hryncia, a farmer who can't wait to finish his job and return to his village. He quietly tries to evade his duties and to be dismissed. Between these two poles, which illustrate two opposing attitudes towards the military, there are all other attitudes in various degrees.

Bush, Polish

The story is about the difficulty of authentic portrayal and the inadequacy of objective descriptions. The first-person narrator, his friend Kofi and their driver arrive in the village of Mpango in Ghana. Your car broke down and that's why you're staying here overnight. You will find accommodation with the Nana, who is more than a village chief. He heads the council of elders, has authority in the community, and has magical powers. After greeting each other according to the ritual, they sit together around the fire and talk. The old people in the village ask the reporter about his homeland, Poland. It is mainly about everyday aspects as well as about colonialism, about the colonies of the "whites", also about the fact that Poland has no colonies, but was one under fascism itself. Shortly afterwards, the reporter realizes that he has actually only described a very small, not necessarily representative part of his country, which makes him dissatisfied. He recalls memories of his homeland, but he realizes that it is impossible to put all this, this atmosphere, these feelings into words and give them back to a stranger. The description always remains schematic, fragmentary and dry.

The documentary character

The specialty of the everyday stories from this volume is that they are not simply fact-based reports. They were edited literarily, which can be seen in the construction, the language and not least in the stylistic devices. But there are still some elements that make up the documentary character of these texts.

On the formal level, the precise and genuine information about the place, time and person in most of the narratives can be seen on the first reading. Thus indicators for the authenticity of the material are inserted. This is strongly linked to the genesis of the texts. In the preface, Martin Pollack explains that Kapuscinski describes people, places and events that he encountered on business trips. Most of the stories are written from the first-person perspective and this first-person narrator proves to be a reporter through his relationship to the other characters and his relationship to his environment. He not only describes the events around him, but questions, researches the background, explores the socio-political contexts and human behavior. He is not satisfied with the surface and the current situation, but also explores the motives and the past that led to this particular situation.

So there are also elements on the content level that shape the documentary character of the stories. First and foremost, it is about Kapuscinski's intensive preoccupation with social issues such as war and its consequences for contemporary society, social conflicts and injustices, consumption and modernization. He does not deal with these from his desk, but in the middle of the field, among those involved. Pollack's observations also show that Kapuscinski talked to people about their everyday difficulties, about poverty, problems with state institutions or with the socialist social order and carefully observed their living environment. He illustrates broader social phenomena using the individual fates of simple people, mostly the outsiders, those who have unusual life stories or who do not fit into the ready-made scheme. Pollack therefore also regards Kapuscinski as an “observer of the everyday, the seemingly banal, the small gestures and at first glance insignificant details”. The care for details in his documentary approach is particularly noticeable in his works. Kapuscinski also turned his attention to those areas that were less public or taboo and criticized the socialist state. The fact that a thaw is setting in in Poland too gives him the opportunity to write about it and to publish these texts, which probably would not have appeared before 1956 because of the censorship.

With the “Polish Stories”, Kapuscinski intended to bring his own countrymen closer to Poland, its culture and the less visible everyday life in their country.

expenditure

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