This powerful memoir traces the life of Karol Modzelewski, one of the preeminent Polish dissidents of the twentieth century. With humor and perception, Modzelewski describes his formative years. Born in 1937 to a Polish-born mother and Russian-Jewish father in Moscow, he spent his early schooling and underwent deep indoctrination in the Soviet Union. In 1945 he moved with his mother and stepfather, a prominent communist, to Poland when his stepfather was appointed as foreign minister in Warsaw. In the relatively “liberal” Polish atmosphere, Modzelewski gradually awoke to the realities of the party system during his university years.Modzelewski discusses the experiences and realizations that led him in 1964 to coauthor with Jacek Kuron the famous “Open Letter to the Party,” for which he and Kuron were imprisoned. With keen critical insight, Modzelewski describes his role as one of the leading intellectuals of the Solidarity movement.Much more than mere autobiography, this nuanced book is a profound and highly critical analysis of Polish politics over the last fifty years. Characteristically, Modzelewski refuses to portray events in black and white terms, providing a frank assessment of the country’s evolution from communism to democracy, the genesis of Polish dissidence and its success in dismantling communism, and the causes of the current crisis of democracy in Poland.

Die Oskar-Halecki-Vorlesung 2014 des Leibniz-Instituts für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa (GWZO) widmet sich dem politischen und erinnerungskulturellen Vermächtnis der Gewerkschaft Solidarnosc in Polen. Der neoliberale Transformationskurs von führenden Mitgliedern der Solidarnosc der 1990er Jahre wird den ursprünglichen politischen und gesellschaftlichen Zielsetzungen der oppositionellen Massenbewegung von 1980–1981 gegenübergestellt. Der Text ist ein starkes Plädoyer für soziale Gerechtigkeit und dokumentiert die zeithistorische Perspektive eines der Vorkämpfer der politischen Opposition gegen die Polnische Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei und späteren Kritikers des nach der Wende eingeschlagenen Reformwegs.

This powerful memoir traces the life of Karol Modzelewski, one of the preeminent Polish dissidents of the twentieth century. With humor and perception, Modzelewski describes his formative years. Born in 1937 to a Polish-born mother and Russian-Jewish father in Moscow, he spent his early schooling and underwent deep indoctrination in the Soviet Union. In 1945 he moved with his mother and stepfather, a prominent communist, to Poland when his stepfather was appointed as foreign minister in Warsaw. In the relatively “liberal” Polish atmosphere, Modzelewski gradually awoke to the realities of the party system during his university years.Modzelewski discusses the experiences and realizations that led him in 1964 to coauthor with Jacek Kuron the famous “Open Letter to the Party,” for which he and Kuron were imprisoned. With keen critical insight, Modzelewski describes his role as one of the leading intellectuals of the Solidarity movement.Much more than mere autobiography, this nuanced book is a profound and highly critical analysis of Polish politics over the last fifty years. Characteristically, Modzelewski refuses to portray events in black and white terms, providing a frank assessment of the country’s evolution from communism to democracy, the genesis of Polish dissidence and its success in dismantling communism, and the causes of the current crisis of democracy in Poland.

Die Oskar-Halecki-Vorlesung 2014 des Leibniz-Instituts für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa (GWZO) widmet sich dem politischen und erinnerungskulturellen Vermächtnis der Gewerkschaft Solidarnosc in Polen. Der neoliberale Transformationskurs von führenden Mitgliedern der Solidarnosc der 1990er Jahre wird den ursprünglichen politischen und gesellschaftlichen Zielsetzungen der oppositionellen Massenbewegung von 1980–1981 gegenübergestellt. Der Text ist ein starkes Plädoyer für soziale Gerechtigkeit und dokumentiert die zeithistorische Perspektive eines der Vorkämpfer der politischen Opposition gegen die Polnische Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei und späteren Kritikers des nach der Wende eingeschlagenen Reformwegs.