Official Blog of the Author

I’ve posted on my website a short story I wrote entitled “Halloween in Poland.”

It deals with the threat mass media and culture poses to tradition and traditional values.  I got the idea for the story when several Polish teenagers knocked on my door in Warsaw on All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1).  They were trick-or-treating on the wrong day.  When I pointed this out, they said it didn’t really matter.

Until recently Halloween was virtually unknown in Poland.  As young Poles learn about it, more and more go out trick-or-treating.  As the short story points out, soon it may begin to compete with All Saints’ Day, a time when almost all Poles visit cemeteries to light candles on the graves of their ancestors.  All Saints’ Day is a great tradition Poles have observed for many centuries.  It is as spiritual in nature as Halloween is commercial.  This clash in values could threaten one of the hallmarks of what it means to be a Pole.

I hope you’ll take time to read the story and add any comments you might care to make to this post.  I want to consider reader reactions as I finalize the story and then submit it for publication.

Just before we left Poland, Betsy and I bid our friends goodbye at a party at Café Biba, a quaint tearoom with an Old Warsaw atmosphere.  It was a wonderful but sad occasion.  Among those who attended were the editor-in-chief and the publisher of Swiat Ksiazki (World Books) which is my publisher in Poland, literary critics, a well-known Warsaw artist, faculty members from the University of Warsaw and friends from the Fulbright Program.  Much to our surprise we received a number of going away gifts including flowers, wine, music cd’s and splendid photo montage.  The latter was a gift from Heike Rosener and Ken Tyler.  Heike served as CEO of Swiat Ksiazki and led the promotional effort that turned my book Katyn into a bestseller twice.  We often had breakfast on Sunday mornings with Heike, Ken and their beautiful two-year-old daughter, Raffaela.  In time we came to feel like Raffaela’s surrogate grandparents.  Two of our dearest friends in Poland – Agnieszka Gorska and Piotr Ostaszewski – also were present.  Almost every Wednesday night the four of us had dinner at Agnieszka’s apartment.  Agnieszka and her daughter, Laura, and Piotr and his son, Jas, plan to visit us next summer.  A small world coincidence: Piotr’s sister, Monika, lives on the same street in Arlington, VA as our daughter, Jennifer.  They are members of the same book club.  (See photos in gallery section: “Year in Poland Highlights”)      

A wonderful, productive year in Poland just ended, all too fast, for Betsy, Honey (our Carolina Dingo) and me.  After spending a year there on a Fulbright Research Fellowship, I can truly say that Poland has become a second home.  We have developed a deep affection for its people, for the remarkable landscape and the culture of Poland.  Honey even enjoyed rolling in the snow.  (Note: the photo above was taken after a talk I gave at a middle school in Warsaw.)

I’ve been going to Poland since 1989 and feel privileged to have witnessed the country’s remarkable transformation—from an underperforming communist backwater to one of the most dynamic economies in all of Europe.  It hardly seems possible that in 2011 a Pole, Jerzy Buzek, is leading the European Union, or that Poland would play a leading role in structuring the bail-out package to Greece.  But it’s not surprising at all when one considers how hard-working the Poles are and how skillfully they’ve managed their economy since the Wall came down.

My work in Poland went very well.  I spent the year doing research on two books—one on the Solidarity trade union movement and another on a novel which I expect to finish next month.  The novel is set in 1944-45 and is based on a true story: how the Polish underground sought to seize evidence of the Katyn Massacre from the Germans in Krakow.  The mission goal involved an ambitious plan to conduct a grand tribunal to shock the West about Stalin’s murderous system and his true ambitions for Poland.  At the time Stalin was still being glorified in western media, and the Poles’ opportunity to regain their independence was slowly slipping away.

The novel will be published next year.  I will promote the book in Poland and other European countries in the fall of 2012.  I also expect to promote it extensively here in the U.S.  Once that is done I’ll start work on my next book which will tell the story of Solidarity’s foot soldiers who were at the forefront of the largest mass social movement of the Twentieth Century.  Solidarity’s primal role in bringing down the Berlin Wall is often overlooked in the West.

(See photos in gallery section: “Year in Poland Highlights”)

A Latvian edition of my book, Katyń, was launched in Riga last Thursday (April 7) before national media and an overflow audience at the Museum of the Occupation.  The kick-off was hosted by the Polish Embassy in Latvia and by my publisher Zvaigzne ABC.   Zvaigzne, which means Star in Latvian, it is the country’s largest book publisher.

(NOTE: See photos in my website’s gallery section under “Latvian Launch.”  A video clip of the event is being posted as well.)

Though it was much smaller and is often overlooked, Latvia had its own Katyń.  In 1941, 1100 Latvian army officers were arrested by the Soviets under the pretense of a training exercise.  Two hundred were shot and 560 were deported to Siberia.  Only 90 survived the war.  Stalin ordered the mass deportation of Latvians in 1941 and 1949.  Tensions on these issues linger still: a Russian language newspaper in Latvia wrote that the launch was “sponsored by Russophobes.”  In fact, my book is quite sympathetic to the Russian people and points out that they suffered most of all under Stalin.

The book launch took place one year to the day after the historic meeting in Katyn Forest between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.  I was the only American in the official delegation that accompanied Tusk.  I was invited to go back three days later on the presidential plane that crashed in early morning fog at Smolensk.  I declined the invitation because of responsibilities I had in organizing a 70^th anniversary observance of the Katyn Massacre on May 5 at the Library of Congress.

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Research on a novel I expect to finish later this year has taken me to the origins of the Amber Trail on the Baltic Coast of Poland near Gdansk.

Man has searched for amber since prehistoric times and the road to the greatest source began in Pruszcz where small amber caravans from Rome came each year in mid-summer.  The journey was perilous because once traders passed Carnuntum, a fortified Roman army camp on the Danube, they entered Barbaricum and the domain of fierce tribes who demanded tribute.  Traders traveled in groups of about ten using horse or ox carts.  There were no roads, but the last leg of the journey – from north of Krakow to the coast – followed the Vistula River by boat.  The overall journey was more than 2000 miles and took about six months.

To commemorate the trail and its history, a first century AD fort and settlement called Faktoria are being built in Pruszcz.  I visited the site and met the archaeologist in charge of the project.  Agnieszka Ruta is an expert in documenting settlement remains, particularly in urban areas.  It was exciting to see how her vision has taken shape on the ground: from the massive watchtower at the entrance to her sprawling fort, to the sharpened longs that form its palisades.  Huts inside replicate where amber-makers and blacksmiths would have worked and lived.  Tasks performed by blacksmiths were crucial to survival, according to Ruta; they made weapons for defense and the tools needed plant and grow crops. Read more

Grand Salon of Palace on Water

On Friday, Nov. 26 I received the Honorary Diploma of the Polish Foreign Ministry at the Palace on Water, one Warsaw’s loveliest landmarks.  The award is given annually for “outstanding promotion of Poland in the world.”  I was the only American among this year’s 11 recipients.

The diplomas were presented by Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski at a ceremony attended by U.S. Ambassador Lee Feinstein and many other dignitaries from Warsaw’s establishment.  I was cited for my book Katyn and for my role in helping organize a 70^th anniversary observance of the Katyn Forest Massacre at the Library of Congress this spring.

The Foreign Ministry hosted awardees at an informal dinner Thursday evening at Tamka, a modernistic restauracja that adjoins another Warsaw landmark, the Chopin Museum.  I sat at dinner across the table from Natalia Paszkowska and Marcin Mostafa, architects who received the award for their design of the acclaimed Polish Pavilion at EXPO 2010 in Shanghai.  It was voted one of the top two designs among more than 100 at the EXPO.  Its exterior resembled a folded sheet of paper and its inside design had a motif of traditional folk cut-outs.  In just four years the young husband-wife team has built one of the top architectural firms in Poland.

Others receiving this year’s award include: Jan Madey, who has coached two world championship Polish youth teams in mathematics; Henryk Skarźyński, a world famous specialist in hearing and speech disorders; and Jo Song Mu, the only Polish language teacher in North Korea.  More information about this year’s recipients is available at:

http://www.msz.gov.pl/Diplomas,of,the,Polish,Foreign,Minister,13676.html

The neoclassical Palace on Water was built in 1689 and remodeled nearly a century later by Poland’s last king, Stanislaw August Poniatowski, a great patron of the arts who made it his summer residence.  It appears to rise from the waters of a large lake in the Łasienki (Royal Baths) Park, the largest park in Warsaw. Łasienki is flanked by the Royal Route which extends just west of the Vistula River near the offices of the president and prime minister.  When the Wehrmacht left Warsaw near the end of World War II, it tried to blow up the palace but failed.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about the Fulbright Program has been getting to know other fellowship recipients.  The Fulbrighters here in Warsaw and two from Łodz (there are about thirty awardees at major Polish universities this year) met for an American-style Thanksgiving on Friday to savor a sumptuous turkey cooked by one of Warsaw’s leading restaurants, Gessler’s.  It came with all the trimmings: dressing, cranberry sauce and veggies.  A chef even came to carve, all for a reasonable price.  Though turkey is just catching on here as a popular dish, Gessler’s supplied a superb bird – cooked to perfection!

Dinner at apartment of Stuart and Nina Loory

We gathered in the spacious apartment of Stuart and Nina Loory in the center of Warsaw.  Stuart is a “Distinguished Fulbright Lecturer” at Warsaw University.  He and Nina have had fascinating careers.  Ted Turner sent him to Moscow to open CNN’s first Bureau there.  Most recently he has taught journalism at the University of Missouri.  Nina danced with the Bolshoi Ballet for twenty years.  The couple met during the Goodwill Games when Stuart rented the Czar’s box for an event hosted by Turner and the actress Jane Fonda.  Betsy and I are looking forward to meeting Nina’s mother, Tanya, who will arrive on Friday from Moscow.  She is one of the top English-to-Russian translators there.  She has translated any number of famous authors (e.g. John Updike, Agatha Cristie) into Russian.

Fulbrighters who came for Thanksgiving included aspiring novelist, a political theorist, an experimental psychologist and others specializing in political science and

English teaching.  Among the guests were my good friend Vanessa Gera who is chief of the AP Bureau here.

The fall in Warsaw has been unseasonably warm but snow finally fell on Saturday – only two to three inches more is expected this week.  One of our daily rituals is to take Honey, our dog, to nearby Pole Mokotowskie Park where she delights in chasing ducks and birds.  She hasn’t caught one yet but has high hopes still.  On Saturday, and again yesterday, we had a great time watching her “run and roll” in the snow.  Poles are great dog lovers so there were plenty of other mutts for Honey to cavort with.  At one point she barged into a dog obedience class which made the instructor none too happy.  This was only her second snow; Raleigh had a big one last winter which she got to enjoy on its beautiful greenway. 

Honey at Pole Mokotowskie Park

Honey has adjusted well to life in Warsaw though riding escalators and entering packed subway cars are more than she bargained for.  She may feel a bit insecure because unlike at home she seems determined to sleep with us.  It makes for a crowded bed.  Recently I’ve begun to worry if someone has to go … it might be me.

(Note: Check the gallery for Fulbright-related photos.)

I’m writing this on a sleek autobus en route from Warsaw to Krakow, the royal city of Poland, with 31 others in the 2010-11Fulbright Program.  Yesterday we gathered and met each other for the first time at the residence of U.S. Ambassador Lee Feinstein and were briefed on Poland’s cultural, economic and political landscape.  The meeting was held in a lovely atrium looking east toward the Vistula River.  As a sign of how well the economy here is doing (Poland alone in Europe has escaped recession) construction cranes could be seen all along the horizon.  The ambassador, who comes from academia, welcomed us warmly and expressed great enthusiasm for Poland’s future, predicting that more and more it will play a leadership role in the European Union.

His security officer told this is one of Europe’s safest countries.  Its crime rate is very low, though pickpockets do work metro and trams during rush hour.  Identity theft occurs at about the same rate as in the U.S.  A good thing we haven’t tried any bank transfers since arriving.  We have been taking our new netbook computer to a small coffee shop around the corner to send and check emails; it would be easy, we’re told, to capture the signal there.  We’ll have a secure connection when we move to more permanent quarters, but more about that in a moment.     Read more

Struggling authors stand in awe at how much media matters, yours truly being no exception.

I made three book appearances in Charlotte on Saturday (Aug. 14); mainly due to excellent advance publicity on WFAE, Charlotte’s National Public Radio affiliate, turnout at each was terrific. The first was at Park Road Books, the Queen City’s leading independent book store; the next two were screenings by the Charlotte Film Society of Andrzej Wajda’s “Katyn” at which I spoke briefly and answered questions.

Tim Funk, President of the Film Society, reported that turnout for the two screenings set a record for the organization. Funk is an affable, detail-oriented writer for the Charlotte Observer who carries the title “Faith and Values Reporter” – i.e. religion, especially the mega churches of the mid-South region. He is a former Washington correspondent with a wide circle of media contacts which played a crucial role in the success of all three events. Tim arranged an hour-long guest spot for me on Charlotte Talks which is hosted by Mike Collins and produced by Wendy Herky. The program aired live 9-10 a.m. and was rebroadcast at 9 p.m. on Thursday (Aug. 12). I’d say Collins was as well prepared as anyone I’ve been interviewed by in a long time. Read more