Professor Zdzisław Najder, head of the Polish section of Radio Free Europe between 1982-1987. Photo: National Digital Archive (NAC)
To mark the 60th anniversary of the start of Polish programming of Radio Free Europe, Head of Polish Radio's English Section John Beauchamp interviews Professor Zdzisław Najder, who was the station's director between 1982-1987.
Programmes were first started on 3 May 1952 by Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, who, in his opening statement on the air, underlined that Radio Free Europe would fight against the Russification of Poland.
Three decades later, and only months after the imposition of martial law in Poland, Zdzisław Najder became the Polish section's diector.
"It was a heavy and unexpected responsibility," Najder says of his job, a completely different task to that seen during his academic career - he is an authority on the Polish writer Joseph Conrad (Józef Korzeniowski).
"It wasn't just a battle for the minds, but a battle for the souls, for awareness," Najder says of the activity of the Polish section of Radio Free Europe.
When martial law was imposed by General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Professor Najder, an underground activist back in Poland, was a visiting scholar at Oxford University. One thing was clear: he could not return to his homeland...
Joining the Polish section at Radio Free Europe in 1982, Zdzisław Najder was the first person to head the service who was directly from behind the Iron Curtain. This was too much for the communist authorities in Poland, who in 1983 sentenced Najder to death in absentia for spying.
"They wanted to mete out an exemplary sentence," Najder reminisces, furthermore stating that being a director at Radio Free Europe made him a spy 'by default'.
The Polish Section of Radio Free Europe continued to broadcast until 1994. More on the Polish service, including image galleries and sound clips from yesteryear (in Polish), can be found at Polskie Radio's dedicated website: wolnaeuropa.polskieradio.pl
(jb)
Cover image: Control room at Radio Free Europe containing different language broadcast tapes. Photo: National Digital Archive (NAC)