12.05.2011: Polish perspectives: Interview with Dr Włodzimierz Mier-Jędrzejowicz, Chairman of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain.

Dr Włodzimierz Mier-Jędrzejowicz was recently elected the Chairman of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain. Here he speaks to Chris Dziadul, a London-based British journalist of Polish origin, about his new role and plans for the future.

Can you tell us something about your background and how you came to be the president of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain?

I was born in London in 1949, with both my parents having ended up here after the War and not able to go back to Poland because of the political situation. I was brought up very much in the Polish spirit. Indeed, most people thought communism would fail fairly quickly and so we were all brought up Polish in a Polish community. However, it later became clear that we wouldn’t be going back to Poland that soon.

I was active in the Association of Polish Students and Graduates in Great Britain and other organisations before joining the Federation, where I was invited to chair a group called the Association of Individual Members. As chairman I was regularly invited to sessions of the Federation’s ruling body, which is known as the “Prezydium” in Polish. Then at this year’s AGM, I was rather surprised by the enthusiasm people showed for putting me forward as a candidate for chairman; I’d heard rumours but hadn’t really expected it. However, they had clearly prepared me for the job and I feel ready to take on the challenge.

What are the main challenges you face?

The Federation changes every generation. Originally it just represented Poles, more recently it became the recognised body that speaks both to the Polish government and to British official organisations. In the past seven  years it has been assisting Poles who came here since Poland joined the EU and has had to deal with many cases where people needed help quite urgently. Currently that phase is more or less over and the job ahead is probably to unite Poles who have arrived recently, Poles who have been born here to Polish parents abroad and the remainders of the older generation, the people who came here during and after the War.

These are very different generations. Everyone feels Polish to one extent or another but they live their Polish lives in very different ways. And yet the Federation of Poles should be able to represent them all.

How do you think you’ll be able to unite them?

One very simple method is to approach new Polish organisations and invite them to join the Federation. The Federation is an association of Polish organisations – it’s not so much a free-standing body, it’s a federation of other organisations. So we have organisations set up by the Poles who came here after the War. We have a few that were set up since but now we have got many organisations being set up by the new people who have recently arrived here and I think it’s our duty to invite them to join us.

Quite a number have, but many others are local and some have been only temporary. In not a few cases people who have come from Poland live here for two or three years, set up their own organisation, then return to Poland and so the organisation fails.

We are happy to help, but the ones we really want to be in touch with are the larger and established ones. We are succeeding in being in touch with some but not all of them.

The other problem is of course a lot of people that have come from Poland recently don’t belong to any organisation and don’t understand the need for a federation of Poles to represent them at all.

How will you reach out to these people?

The best way to get to these people is through the internet, because people go to Google and look for information that interests them. And if they discover a Polish organisation on the web and it presents something they need or feel akin to then they may well take an interest. But the problem is how to present ourselves on the web. There are newspapers and magazines, radio stations and indeed Polish television, but the web is the place where most people now look for information.

You obviously see your role as a national one, not London-centred

There are many Poles in Britain – and always have been – outside London.

The Polish government in exile existed before the Federation was set up in London. Originally most Poles after the War were in army camps, where they were de-mobbed and then they moved to nearby cities. There was a very large representation of Poles in Scotland, because that was where most of the Polish army was based during the War.

There are far fewer wartime Poles today in Edinburgh than there were. There is a lively association in Glasgow, but most of the large organisations moved to London and it became natural to be based in London and be centred here.

I’ve spent time in Birmingham, I used to live in Southampton, but it’s really going to be a challenge to get out to meet all those people. We can put information on the internet, and someone living in a small town outside London can find us there, but what can we do for them? We have to reach out to find out what we can do.

The Federation has limited funds – we are an association of associations so we receive much of our funding from them and it may be difficult for anyone living in a far away town to come to pay us a visit. So a lot of communication is done over the phone, over the internet or by letter. There are also occasional visits by people to London or out to them.

How do you view the political aspect of your role?

I view it positively. The fact we are recognised, the fact that representatives come to meet us from both the Polish government and from the British government, means that it’s a case of continuing and developing the good contacts.

Those good contacts were maintained by Jan Mokrzycki and then by Helena Miziniak, my predecessors as chairmen, and they did an excellent job. So my main task is to learn from them and to continue.

I want to work ideas through with the Executive Committee and I do already have some new ideas that I would like to go forward with.

Does the Federation conduct its business in English or Polish?

That’s a very interesting question. It was obviously set up by people who came here from Poland and naturally continued to speak Polish among themselves. Those who are born in the UK generally find it easier to speak in English. A few of us actually have difficulty with Polish, but the post EU accession Poles all speak Polish more easily than English. Therefore the Federation continues to use Polish; this also makes sure we continue to identify ourselves as Poles and I suspect business will continue to be in Polish for a good while yet.

If people continue to come from Poland over the next few decades then I suspect we will still use Polish, but obviously some things are and will remain conducted in English.

I look forward to working with people whose Polish is rather poor but I think as a federation we should stick to Polish as the language and part of the culture that unites us.

What will you do for Poles born here?

Poles born here – some of them feel very Polish, some of them are attached to what their parents did and some simply don’t care. We should do something for all of them.

For those who really want to maintain their Polish culture we can support Polish cultural organisations and events. We can try to run courses, whether journalists’ courses or language courses for people who have done a Polish ‘A’ level and don’t know what to do next but want to maintain a good level of competency in the Polish language.

For people who aren’t that interested but do want to maintain some contact, we can support cultural organisations/events and film screenings, which interest many. For people who have little interest in Poland we can at least remind them of their background. If they want to come and learn about their background we promote centres such as the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum and the Polish Social and Cultural Institute (POSK) in Hammersmith. We can provide them with something but we’re not a dictatorial organisation by any means. So we look forward to maintaining contact and to providing something for them but not making them feel guilty if they are not in contact with the Poles all the time.

Finally, we need to be aware that our story, as children born to Polish parents in Britain, is being repeated right now – many of the Poles who have come here to work have their own children, brought here or born here, and those children too will have to work out for themselves who they want to be – I hope that we shall be able to help them.

How do you envisage the Polish community in the UK in a few years time?

One wants people to integrate into English society but at the same time to retain their background. I like the way the Huguenots are still identified as an individual people 300 years after they came here. They’re very British but they have their own surnames and they know who they are. Scots in London are an excellent example as well. They consider themselves British, yet they certainly don’t consider themselves English. But they’re very much part of life here. So I envisage the Polish community going ahead the same way -   very much part of British society, but maintaining its own cultural and religious identity.

Chris Dziadul for tutkajnews.co.uk

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