07.07.2011: Polish perspectives: Interview with Dr Jan Mokrzycki, Former President of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain. by Chris Dziadul
Jan Mokrzycki has played a prominent role in the Polish community in Britain for many years and was most recently the president of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain.
Here he speaks to Chris Dziadul, a London-based journalist of Polish origin, about his childhood in Poland before and during the War, new life in Britain, political activities and growing involvement in Polish affairs. The latter came to the fore in the run up to and following Poland’s accession to the EU in May 2004, when as president of the Federation he worked tirelessly for the interests of the community during a period of enormous change.
Can you tell us something about your background?
I was born in Poland in 1932 to a well off middle class family. Both my parents were doctors: my father was probably the first maxillo facial surgeon in the country and my mother an internist, specialising in lung diseases. My grandfather was a professor of dentistry.
When war broke out my father was conscripted but luckily survived the conflict. However, in 1942 all the adult members of my family – my grandfather, father, his brother and my mother – were arrested by the Gestapo. After being interrogated and tortured, the men were murdered by the German in Pawiak prison and my mother sentenced to death but then sent to Auschwitz and Ravensbruck. I stayed with my grandmother and survived the War. During the Warsaw Uprising I worked on a tomato farm outside the city to help my grandmother, our caretaker’s wife and his two daughters.
When the War finished I asked a friend who worked for Polish Radio to broadcast that I’m still alive and would like to see my parents. My mother heard the broadcast and she came back from Germany, where she was freed from Ravensbruck by the Americans. We eventually made our way to England with General Maczek’s First Armoured Division.
I then went to a Salesian school in Bolton, Lancashire, completed my ‘A’ levels and qualified in dentistry at Newcastle University.
When did you become involved politically?
It was at Newcastle that I discovered my interest in things social and political. I was I think probably the first Pole to be the secretary and then president of the students’ representative council, and I was eventually elected onto the executive of the National Union of Students.
I felt that as a national minority in this country the only way to make ourselves count was to take an active part in British politics. So I became very active.
The one party whose policies I agreed with was the British Liberal Party, which at that time only had around seven MPs. This had its advantages, as it was like a close-knit family and I managed to get to know everyone in it.
I twice stood for Parliament, unsuccessfully, and became a fairly well known person. However, family commitments forced me to drop out of mainstream politics.
But then a very sad thing happened. Zbigniew Scholtz, the minister for emigre affairs in the Polish government in exile and a great friend of mine, fell gravely ill and eventually died of cancer. Great pressure was put on me to assume another position he had held – chairman of the Leamington Polish Catholic Association – and I agreed to do so.
I like driving and used to be very annoyed that I could hear all sorts of languages on my local radio except Polish when in my car. So I began to knock on the BBC’s door and eventually managed to get a programme called Poles Apart on the local radio in Coventry and Warwickshire.
It was only on air once a week but nevertheless bilingual, talking about Polish culture, Polish achievements and what was happening in Poland. It also allowed older members of the community who couldn’t leave their homes to hear their own language on the radio.
Poles Apart gave me a say in the Polish community and I very quickly became involved in the Federation of Poles in Great Britain, serving at first for two years as a vice president and then becoming president for two two-year stints. I then had to stand down because of the constitution, becoming general secretary for two years.
However, during that time the constitution was changed and I was once more elected to the presidency, serving for six years as president then another two as vice president before eventually leaving the Federation Executive Committee.
EU accession in 2004 was obviously a major turning point. How did the Federation react and what were the biggest problems both it and the Polish community then faced?
The Federation took a lead well before 2004, with a great friend of mine Michael Oborski starting an organisation named Poland Comes Home.
Poland had stopped being a communist state back in 1989 but was still not a member of either NATO or the EU. We felt that Poland’s place was within these two organisations, so we worked towards that.
Michael did this a countrywide basis largely using the internet, whereas I worked in conjunction with the Federation in London, where we organised a large number of meetings in POSK attended by opinion formers and professional people, including ones from various embassies of countries that were already in the EU.
Here I must pay tribute to the Polish embassy, which worked hand in hand with us by helping to approach ambassadors so that they would come and talk about the EU.
What difference we made to Polish accession is difficult to assess. I think we made some difference, though probably a minute one. But I think it was valuable because it also informed the Polish community here about the importance of EU membership for Poland.
When Poland finally joined on May 1, 2004 it was literally a day of joy. We in fact celebrated it by having Karolinka – a Polish folklore group – dancing in the streets of London while we handed out leaflets about Polish accession.
Following this we were overwhelmed by the number of Poles coming here. However, the numbers didn’t matter so much – what did was that most were coming without any knowledge whatsoever of the language, laws and customs of the country. They were coming because they were expecting the streets to be overflowing with honey and yet they found that work for newcomers was available but you needed to be able to communicate with your employer. The Polish consulate was understaffed and unable to cope and we became in effect a second Polish consulate. People were coming to us with all sorts of problems and somehow, on the hoof, we had to learn how to deal with them.
We made mistakes, without any doubt. But we were learning and learning very quickly. The two biggest problems were of course of dishonest employers and employment agencies and dishonest landlords.
We turned to the TUC for help and they were helpful. In actual fact, thanks to them a large number of Poles received compensation when they were dismissed from work or cheated by employers. Some of the cases are unfortunately still going on, but most of them were settled with a degree of success and here I give a great thank you to the British labour movement.
What was the media’s reaction to all this?
First of all there was curiosity. Just as we were overwhelmed by the number of Polish migrants so we were also overwhelmed not just by the British press – that was to be expected, with a enormous number of newspaper, magazine, radio and TV interviews – but from the whole world.
I can remember giving interviews to newspapers in Japan, Australia, South America and the US. All over the world people wanted to know how those people were coping and why they were coming over to this country. And of course one had to put things in the best possible light. It was quite a job, but one learnt very quickly.
How do you see the Polish community in Great Britain in 2011? Have things improved over the last few years?
I think things have improved enormously. For a start, there is much less mutual suspicion between the newcomers and older community. We have accepted that there are divisions, the most obvious of which is the generation gap, with most of the newcomers being young people and those who were already here belonging to the older generation.
But there are many more things that connect us – the culture, language and customs – and we are getting on extremely well together. One example of this is an exhibition that has just been put on by the Polish Expats Association at the Drum in Birmingham, depicting the stories of the older community and newcomers and how they compare.
The amount of cooperation is growing daily and I think we are slowly becoming recognised as an important national minority within Great Britain.
I think the newcomers are also recognising that they should have a degree of political clout. Even if they are Polish citizens they have the right to take part in elections to the European Parliament and more importantly in local elections. If used properly, their votes can help us enormously in our relations with local authorities. And local authorities are the ones nearest and most important to us.
And what about the attitude to Poles in the British media?
It depends on which media you look at. There are some that emphasise the positive, such as a recent 3-4 minute report on the Birmingham exhibition on BBC Midlands Today that started off by saying that Poles were Britain’s oldest allies in the Second World War. It has an interview with me and with a newcomer who’s working here and says he’s a citizen of Europe.
But there are also media who look to the negative. There are cheats and thieves in every community and not all Poles are saints.
How do you see the future of the Polish community in Great Britain?
I think the newcomers have given us a very useful injection of enthusiasm, of people who are professionally qualified and have energy. We have to somehow combine that with the people who were born here and who must not be neglected.
I look at the Irish community and what it has achieved in this country. It is well respected and there are even over 100 members of Parliament who belong to Friends of Ireland.
Something similar is achievable for the Polish community. It won’t happen overnight, but providing we all pull in the same direction we’ll get there. I’m an optimist.
Chris Dziadul
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