The following text is not a historical study. It is a retelling of the witness’s life story based on the memories recorded in the interview. The story was processed by external collaborators of the Memory of Nations. In some cases, the short biography draws on documents made available by the Security Forces Archives, State District Archives, National Archives, or other institutions. These are used merely to complement the witness’s testimony. The referenced pages of such files are saved in the Documents section.

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Krzysztof Turkowski (* 1954)

• Urodził się 17 maja 1954 roku we Wrocławiu, województwo dolnośląskie, Polska;

• Jest absolwentem Instytutu Historycznego Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego;

• W latach 1977 – 1981 pracował jako bibliotekarz w Ossolineum (Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich);

• W latach 70-tych współpracownik Komitetu Obrony Robotników, Studenckiego Komitetu „Solidarności” we Wrocławiu i Niezależnej Oficyny Wydawniczej;

• W sierpniu 1980 współorganizował strajk w Zajezdni autobusowej przy ulicy Grabiszyńskiej we Wrocławiu;

• Po strajku został rzecznikiem Zarządu Regionu NSZZ “Solidarność” Dolny Śląsk (Delegat na I zjazd “Solidarności” w Gdańsku w 1981 r.);

• Po wprowadzeniu stanu wojennego do 1983 ukrywał się i działał w podziemiu jako członek Regionalnego Komitetu Strajkowego;

• Jeden z redaktorów „Z Dnia na Dzień”, publikował również w „Biuletynie Dolnośląskim”; Organizator sieci chrześcijańskich uniwersytetów przy Duszpasterstwie Ludzi Pracy oraz grup Duszpasterstwa Akademickiego. Wykładowca Tygodni Kultury Chrześcijańskiej. W latach 1989-1990 był członkiem Wojewódzkiego Komitetu Obywatelskiego “Solidarności” we Wrocławiu.

• Od 1990 radny miejski i sejmiku wojewódzkiego. W latach 1990-94 zajmował stanowisko wiceprezydenta Wrocławia.

• W latach 1995-98 prezes PAIFILM, od 1997 doradca prezesa TV Polsat, członek Rady Nadzorczej RSTV, od 2003 prezes spółki Antena l, 2004-06 członek zarządu TV Puls. Od 2006 przewodniczący Rady Nadzorczej PAP. Przewodniczący Rady Nadzorczej TV Lubin. Laureat prezesa Polskiego Radia za działalność redakcyjną. Laureat nagrody prezydenta Wrocławia w 2007 roku.

• Autor licznych publikacji w prasie solidarnościowej, podziemnej i emigracyjnej, cyklu rozmów z liderami emigracji londyńskiej, twórca audycji historycznych i politycznych w Radiu Wolna Europa, PR i w Radiu Kolor. Członek Prezydium Dolnośląskiej Federacji Kultury, przewodniczący Stowarzyszenia na Rzecz Rozwoju Wrocławia, wiceprzewodniczący Stowarzyszenia Nadawców Radiowych i Telewizyjnych i Stowarzyszenia Autorów Radiowych i Telewizyjnych.

• W październiku 2011 roku powołany do Rady Polskiego Instytutu Sztuki Filmowej

Krzysztof Turkowski recalls the strike which took place at the depot at Grabiszyńska street as “a final, this strike in 1980 was the final of the previous years of activities of the opposition”. Previously associated with Workers’ Defence Committee, Student Committee of Solidarity and the democratic opposition, which acted after the worker’s strikes in 1976. “ We took part in the independent activity only, mainly in the form of protests against the censorship. It was really annoying when it comes to people who studied or generally people who were interested in gaining any form of knowledge whatsoever”.

 In the 1970s the professors  and scientific workers dragged  the new students into the academic activity, which was associated also with the opposition ( such as historical studies) as well. The organizers of the strikes from 1968 were active in Workers Defence Committee.  “Our predecessors were quite significantly  roughed up, let out of prisons, after March  of 1968 and we needed the time for everyone to get  back on track and focus again”.

Krzysztof Turkowski was devoted to opposition. It was mainly the research and  publishing work. He takes the view that one of the most crucial purposes at that time was: to develop the awareness and to explain the political systems.  During his meetings with priest Stanisław Orzechowski (the beginnings of 1978) he gave lectures on  contemporary history of Poland for the students. He worked in The Ossolineum on a daily basis.  He worked in the editorial team of opposition newspapers. Turkowski mentions some difficulties associated with the joint actions of the workers and the intelligence. This was due to the fact that there were few of them and most of the opposition activists knew each other “ the relation between us was extremely important, I  once came up with an idea of the joint trip to Zakopane, in which all the  communities took part.” At that stage, most of the participants had already been known to security forces. The hosts in Zakopane were made to cancel all booking of Wrocław’s guests. But the activists managed to arrange for this and thus the oppositionists from the various cities in Poland met. In order to make life more difficult  for the opposition and to discourage us from taking actions against the authority, the security force was closing the activists off on the only free Saturday in the month.

In March 1980 there was an election “ non-election, this is what the communists called elections to local government” and because of that election the brochures called “ Only pigs go to the polls” were distributed. Turkowski recalls that time “ some of them were spread up, these elections were fraudulent anyway”.

“In the Spring 1980 and there was something up in the air, but it was difficult to define what it was”. Krzysztof Turkowski spend his holiday in Zakopane and after his return “ it was clear that something was happening so they started arresting us” in custody. The arrests were for short periods. The security force tried to organize the mass condemnations of the activists by the parents, the professors, etc.

Aleksander Gleichwicht had contact with the drivers of the MPK (public transport company) who wanted to meet the activists regarding the strike in August of 1980.  During this meeting some of the people were arrested. Thanks to the help of professor Adam Galos, Krzysztof Turkowski could escape the arrest. The next day the strike broke out in the depot at Grabiszyńska Street. “To be honest, my impression is that we all wanted to participated in that strike. It was a sort of asylum for the opposition”. There was a large number of the oppositionists, they brought their equipment, the printing paper, frames, the paint, some of them printed outside, such as Kornel Morawiecki. Initially, the workers were suspicious. Krzysztof Turkowski explains that establishing contacts with the workers was easier for him because he came from the Parish of St. Elizabeth at  Grabiszyńska Street. “ Gaining the trust was not easy, we knew that all our colleagues had been arrested, these from Warsaw, from Krakow, and that there was a large strike taking place in Gdansk. Some of them are there […] The first thing we explained to our colleagues was that it must be a solidarity strike, because those are the political postulates […] otherwise they will trick us, like they tricked Szczecin and Gdansk.”. During this strike Turkowski was giving lectures on the history for the workers, he was explaining the meaning of the trade unions, the definition of democracy etc. He cooperated and advised the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee. He sent Maciej Zięba to bring priest Orzech in order to celebrate a holy mass. “I remember, they set up and joined together some kind of trucks, which were linked. I grabbed the microphone because I wanted to say something before the mass, and I saw it. There was a little bit of space, you know this place, and there- close to the fence- I saw my mum was standing and my sister, and my brother in law. It was really important. However, from the one side to the end, there was a sea, a sea of people. Here, we were somewhere else.”

During the strike the communication with Gdansk was established. As it turned out, in Gdansk there were some oppositionists from Wrocław, who did not manage to return back from their holiday and they supported the striking shipyard. The underground press  “Biuletyn dolnośląski”( Lower Silesian Bulletin) was edited and published. Krzysztof Turkowski explains that they had better contact with the younger workers.  The older generation was more conservative.

Representatives of various enterprises were gathering in the depot, mainly these who were the most active in the political field. Most of the participants slept inside the buses,  in the sleeping bags. The food was passed on from family members, in the meeting place,  at the depot gate. The journalists from television and the radio came to the strike. They wanted to make a reliable material but they were not well received as they were called as “ the regime media” by workers, which illustrates just how quickly their political awareness had evolved. As a result of the strike, the opposition and the student activists got closer to the community of the workers. “ We were considered as their lads”.

After the strike was over Krzysztof Turkowski got the offer to become  Vice-head of The International Committee of Solidarity, then he introduced Karol Modzelewski into MKS. At that time also the officers of the security forces became more active. They wanted to isolate the workers from the intelligence community. Shortly after the strike, the false information appeared which aimed at slandering Turkowski, and many other activists. They managed to get old structures of the opposition to became part of the opposition Solidarity movement.

Krzysztof Turkowski recalls that thanks to the strike the residents, the workers, the intellectuals could  feel like they were truly the Wroclaw residents. The visit of the Holy Father - John Paul II also had a significant impact on the appearance of such feelings which were common for residents of that city. Also, The Catholic Church played a major role in Wrocław – it integrated and supported the residents of the city. Those people who went on strike could feel like true Wroclaw residents.

When the strike was over, the oppositionists, despite everything feared being arrested and being appealed, because of that : ” the guys gave us the bus. We took all the frames, all printing machines, the paper, this bus was. He always said that this bus was always filled with the precious staff […] Some of our boys were working constantly, such as Andrzej Kiełczewski […]who out of a sudden fell down due to the fatigue. Nothing could be done with him, he was unconscious out of this enormous fatigue. He fell asleep or maybe went down.

Krzysztof Turkowski also mentions the security service provocations. Some ideas emerged of removing the oppositionists from the strike and these were not the ideas of workers  but rather the ideas of  agent provocateurs. The activists were  also concerned about the possibility of pacification of the strike. After some convincing of Edward Gierek, The Primate Wyszyński started to encourage peace and closing this chapter. Later on, the statement of the bishops appeared – it unequivocally supported the strikers. The security service  was quite impressed with the large number of  new members joining the Solidarity following the end of strike, they could not be controlled  to such extent as students were.

Next, Krzysztof Turkowski expresses his general views about freedom in Poland, the opposition, the activists and the consequences of the strike.