One of the shocks of this year’s Miami Open came yesterday afternoon when Magda Linette of Poland knocked off hometown favorite Coco Gauff in straight sets. I was sad to see Gauff wipe away tears as she exited the court, but I was happy for Linette, who is twelve years older than the American and entering the winter of her career.
She is the quiet, thoughtful, empathetic Polish woman on the tour. Last year she posted a long message on social media about the plight of Ukraine, and the players from that country who can’t go home. (Her missive was prompted by people asking her if she got tired of constantly traveling.) I had rooted for her before, but after that display of sympathy and understanding, she became my favorite player.
Over 30 former political dissidents in Poland, including Lech Wałęsa, have written a letter to President Trump expressing their “horror and disgust” at his treatment of Volodymyr Zelensky last week at the White House. In it, they note President Ronald Reagan’s support of Solidarity and his role in bringing about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
I was in Warsaw in December, 1981, when martial law was declared – on orders, everyone believed, sent from Moscow – and most of the signers of that letter were rounded up and interned. That Christmas, Reagan asked Americans to put candles in their windows in solidarity with Poland, a gesture that touched Poles deeply. Schools had been closed, to prevent people from congregating, but we still had our annual Christmas party at the English Language College where I taught. “President Reagan says he supports the Polish people and the Polish nation,” one of the teachers said to me, “but not the present government. Isn’t that beautiful?”
I had not voted for Reagan, and yet I had never felt so proud to be an American.
Today is Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek) in Poland – a day when the population eats the holeless doughnuts called pączki. Why the Poles celebrate the Thursday before Lent, and not the Tuesday, has never been explained to me.
When I taught at the English Language College in Warsaw I would often stop at the little bakery on Mokotowska Street so to have something for the 6 o'clock tea. Pączki were not always in stock, but when they were I’d want a few. Three is one of the most difficult Polish words for me to say – trzy – so I would ask for two (dwa) and then quickly add, “Maybe one more.”
Speaking yesterday at the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, King Charles listed as victims of the Holocaust, along with the six million Jews, “Sinti, Roma, disabled people, members of the LGBT community, and political prisoners.”
A number of Poles, including the former ambassador to the United States, have complained that he left out their compatriots. And it was an odd omission, especially when you consider that Poles make up one of the largest immigrant groups in England. But the king is not a politician dependent on votes. Which makes his statement, or its wording, even more curious. In the 1940s, there were homosexuals – and they were targeted by the Nazis – but there was no “LGBT community.”
Forty-three years ago today, General Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland:
“The news on television was now being delivered by a man in a military uniform. Tanks and soldiers patrolled the streets. Schools were closed until after the holidays; theaters, cinemas, and concert halls were closed indefinitely. Telephones throughout the country had been disconnected; the borders closed to citizens. Solidarity’s leaders were being interned; General Jaruzelski jokes were being minted.” – from Falling into Place: A Story of Love, Poland, and the Making of a Travel Writer.
Mark F. Brzezinski, US ambassador to Poland, spoke last night at the University of Miami. The tone of his talk was upbeat: In a world of bad news stories, he said, Poland is a good one. He told of the nine million Ukrainian refugees who arrived in Poland after the Russian invasion, and how they were taken in by Polish families. One million remain, most of them now with their own apartments, as they’ve integrated into Polish society. Except for the right to vote, they enjoy all the rights of a Polish citizen.
There are now, he said, 10,000 American troops in Poland, working alongside the Polish military. He described Putin as “a KGB agent who’s the son of a KGB agent. He’s not a politician like Yeltsin and Gorbachev.”
He talked about Poland’s progress with regard to energy: the fact that it no longer relies on energy from Russia, and is less and less dependent on coal. The country just signed a deal with an American company to build a nuclear power plant.
The talk was so positive he didn’t speculate on his fate under the new administration.