In your opinion, who or what showcases Poland to the world?
Who or what? You know, it’s a difficult question, especially since we want to avoid such cliché showcases when forming our organization. We would rather use young polish culture, bands or artists as a Polish showcase. But if you ask this question globally, who or what? – Wałęsa is still the answer. For me it’s still Roman Polański. His name still opens a lot of doors, people associate it. In Iceland it’s definitely the case.
Or perhaps some products, cities, things, institutions or organizations?
Definitely Kraków! Everywhere, especially in Iceland. I think that Warsaw is also increasingly more likely to claim this title. Products? All the time I guess – vodka, it is well associated, żubrówka (bison grass vodka) in particular. Prince polo undoubtedly in Iceland. Maybe all kinds of Polish food. Polish tradition for this matter, we are very traditional, family-oriented and I think that household warmth and hospitality may also be promoted.
You travel a lot. You meet a lot of foreigners on your way to whom you want to show Poland. To what website can you direct a foreigner you talk to, in order to present Poland to him?
You know, I think I have never referred anyone to a website, to be honest. I have only referred people to websites that were dedicated to specific events or festivals. A site that promotes Poland very well in my opinion is a site for children, by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage www.kula.gov.pl. It’s the only website I remember and promotes Poland so nicely. It also has English and Chinese versions, so that’s pretty cool. And besides, I don’t recommend any website to anyone, because no one asks me.
I wonder if you think that there should be a global compendium of Poland that should form our portal. Information about culture, science, business, tourism, etc. Or do you not see a need for that?
It’s nice that you are asking about it, I look at it from a different perspective. I like your page, it’s well done graphically, it attracts and that’s great. Yet I wonder if I would ever recommend it to anyone? I think there could be such situations. Although it seems to me that a person who is interested in culture wouldn’t really give attention to business. Maybe this is a clue. I personally don’t get too involved in business, I don’t dig it nor does it interest me. I would rather be interested in websites that are available in English and would concern Poland in terms of culture and tourism. If there was a site in English that worked dynamically and was created for young recipients, then it would be definitely be of some additional value that could be recommended to people around the world, not only in Iceland.
Did you choose to live permanently in Iceland?
Yes, I don’t know if it’s a lifetime decision. We’ll see next year, which is crucial, because I do my doctorate degree then and I will have to look for a job. If there’s a job for me in Iceland, then I will definitely stay in Iceland, if not – then not.
Do you think that you can’t do a good doctorate in Poland?
I definitely do not think so! Although I think that in the social sciences or the faculty of law, which interest me, often – but not always – doctorates are just extended master’s degrees that really doesn’t contribute much. There is no new thought in them. I think the same is true in France and the whole of Central and Eastern Europe, or to the south as well. Doctoral theses in the human sciences are just extended master’s degree. The American model is what I like in Iceland. There is great emphasis on innovation, someone always asks you: Is there something new in it? How do you contribute to science with your doctoral thesis? I think that in Poland only a few doctoral students hear this question from their promoters. I can see it during the conference, when there are doctoral students from all over Europe, often from the United States and from the Scandinavian countries that ask themselves about the innovation aspect – what’s new in your doctoral thesis, except that it’s a think book? People prepare a thick compendium of several books, and then they are surprised that such a question arises because their promoter never asked them about it.
People who are involved in Project: Poland emphasize that they did not find the right opportunity in Poland and left the country for a good, peaceful life. Do you think this is not possible in Poland?
I strongly believe that it is possible in Poland. I love to be in our country and imagine myself living permanently in Poland. It’s not like you can only live abroad. Poland is a nice country, it’s not in time of growth, a lot is going on here. Large cities bloom, Warsaw, in my opinion, is one of the most dynamic big cities in Europe, there is always something going on. I still want to spend some time abroad and soak up as much of it as possible, to learn as much as I can, compare, and then, with all this wealth of experience and knowledge, I will return to Poland. It will not be a problem.
Iceland strongly attracts. I’m not talking only about employees, who only go there for money. Besides them, Iceland attracts a very specific type of man, also a Pole. Here come the people who value peace, appreciate life in a really big village. There is a city, everything one needs, a lot of culture, but there is also provincial ambience, peace and silence. At the same time it has the atmosphere that there are no curtains in the windows and no one peeks into your house. Anyone can be whoever he wishes, dresses however he likes, does whatever he wants, it doesn’t matter to anyone, there is no aggression. Iceland attracts individualists, creative people who cannott find their place in Poland. In our country people still criticize and look askance at one another, and Iceland is the refuge where you can feel free.
Icelanders will assess Polish immigrants as a whole on the basis of your actions. Is this a huge challenge?
I definitely agree with that. Every interest from the media makes me very happy. When someone writes about us or when we express ourselves, solely because after every moment of attention we receive proposals for new projects from either new Polish or Iceland partners. It is true that there was a temporary hype and maybe it looked like we were spotlight hungry, but it was such an amazing campaign during which we gained new contacts and ideas. We’ll execute them after the holidays because now is the beginning of the silly season andas everyone is on the road, not much is going on. However, I feel due to the fact that we release such a fresh product, dedicated to all people who live in Iceland, not only to Poles, and that we work not only in English, but also in Icelandic, we are understood by others, we do not close in on ourselves, we do not create a webpage solely in Polish. It is an information site entirely focused on the promotion of Poland and Polish people among non-Poles. I have a strong impression that we slowly create, step by step a new image of Poles in Iceland.
How can these good methods be carried to the local areas of other Polish groups living abroad? What can we learn from you?
Our attitude in the beginning, and I have spoken about this, was that we did not want to be a bigos organization, which means, one that shows the Icelanders or its residents what should be shown, a mandatory Polish set. I would like to go beyond this format. That’s what we talked about at the beginning – who is cool in Poland? And so you immediately think Wałęsa. But in my opinion it isn’t true. If there is, for example, a review of Polish films and we’ll introduce “Katyń” because Wajda directed it, and a documentary film about Wałęsa, nobody would come.. Of course, if the show is free, then people will come, but that’s not what we have in mind. I believe that it is worthwhile to show what is happening in Poland, what is inspiring, new or fresh in Polish culture. I’m certain that if something caught the attention of Polish creative young people, then in Iceland it will be the same. We can show them that in Poland we also create cool and innovative things. In Iceland the general public will not receive “Katyń” or another war movie as we do. I think that instead of forcibly showing something that people should see, we should promote ideas that are new and fresh – something that gets people interested. People should come to our events because they know that it’s a good movie, an interesting concert, and by the way that it’s Polish.
If I get this straight, too much religion, too much politics, too much martyrdom in the modern image of Polish diaspora?
I think so. There are no such martyrdom-bigos-handicraft organizations in Iceland, we don’t have a point of reference, but I’m scared whenever I browse websites of Polish organizations in the United States (laughter). It’s nice that Poles set up events for themselves, want to meet, eat sausage and do the Krakowiak dance. This is just great, I mean, that there is such a need and I applaud them for the organizational effort. But I think that there is a limited sense of expressing it to outsiders, to show Poland in this way, which gives an impression to foreigners that Poland is an open-air museum, and it certainly isn’t!
Do you want to integrate all Poles living in Iceland through your project? Do you focus solely on young people full of ideas, who have heads full of initiative and willingness to act?
I’ll tell you how I see it. I do not know whether all members of the association share my opinion, but I think that most of them do. We are an organization devoted primarily to the promotion of Poland, to showing a cool image of Poles to other non-Polish residents of Iceland. There certainly is value in integration, of doing something for Poles, we talk about it and we write about it. But I think it is not that important. It is important, but it is not the top priority. We would definitely like to do these things, but let’s face it, we are a small organization that does everything at our own expense. Although we have received two grants, , one for an educational project and the second for a promotional project, we do the remainder on our own means. We would love to inform about other events, if there are other Polish organizations then we gladly want to help, to be involved, we want to promote everything that they do, because all of this is important. I believe that there are Poles in Iceland that are interested in doing things for the Polish community and its integration. I would really like to work with these Poles and help them in what they do. But at the same time let them take initiative in this area, because we have more initiatives and willingness to do things in other areas. I can give you one example that we were able to accomplish and thus giving something to Poles, who do not participate in cultural life because of the language barriers or who have limited resources. During the night of museums in Reykjavik, we called the National Museum, knowing that there is a lady guide who is Polish, who leads groups in Polish language. We requested if it was possible to arrange one trip for Poles, as the Polish lady was already working there during the Night of Museums.. It turned out that yes – it was possible, and that was not a problem.. Over 50 people attended this trip. The management was shocked, because there weren’t so many guests on any other attraction they prepared for the night. Just a small example that one phone call is enough to do something.
Human Rights Day, which was attended by the mayor of Reykjavik or Day Against Racism are just some of the initiatives carried out by you. What have you prepare for upcoming months?
As I said, the next few months is the silly season.
But what do you plan after the silly season, because Icelanders are also happy to come to the pickling workshops.
Cucumber pickling workshops! Yes, I also cannot wait, we even have a small garden. We tried to collectively create a garden, one of our members is a passionate gardener and I hope that we will have our own cucumbers there that we can learn to pickle during the workshops. We will focus on our website now. We want to create a trilingual website of Project: Poland Association in Iceland. Many members are currently working on this. When we have this site, we will set off on a tour around the Iceland with leaflets, promotional materials and business cards.. We will inform in villages or in the fjords where Poles live about the Association.. We will listen to the voice of Poles or Icelanders living in vicinity of Poles. We will look how things are in smaller centers. We received a small grant for Polish language lesson during cultural events. We’re talking about numerous cultural projects with partners in Poland, but it is still too early to discuss these. I know that in October we will have very important and well-known guests in Iceland.
Good luck all initiatives. I heartily thank you for your time and this conversation.
Thank you. Best regards.