The former director of the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre organized meetings with interesting people at BOK – MCC. In 2016, she invited Mariusz Szczygieł and Iwona Banach. Fees paid to writers The fee for Mariusz Szczygieł was covered by the cultural centre. The centre no longer wanted to pay for Olga Tokarczuk. The centre’s director considered it too high. Danuta Maślicka confirms that this was the case. This is the official version of why the cooperation was discontinued.

Danuta Maślicka believes that Ewa Lijewska-Małachowska behaved very properly and was extremely helpful, but the reason for refusing to host Olga Tokarczuk at BOK – MCC may have been different. It may have concerned Olga Tokarczuk’s statement about history and Polish-Jewish relations. Tokarczuk said that some Poles were murderers of Jews.

“Everything was fine with BOK – MCC inviting Tokarczuk to Bolesławiec,” says Danuta Maślicka. “I don’t want to speculate; we live in the reality we live in. In my view, Olga Tokarczuk’s opinions are beyond dispute. Perhaps someone lost their nerve… Please don’t pursue this topic. As far as I’m concerned, everything was fine, and Ewa Lijewska-Małachowska behaved well,” Maślicka adds.

In an interview with istotne.pl, Danuta Maślicka also addressed information about Jan Cołokidzi and his files at the IPN.

“Whether he has anything on his conscience or not, I don’t know,” said Maślicka, a former activist of the first Solidarity movement. “My contact with him was very honest, reliable and generous on his part. I cannot say a bad word about him. What was there, and whether there was anything, is a separate matter. During communist times, I was tempted; I did not accept the ‘wonderful’ offer. I was scared, I was afraid, but I behaved in such a way that I refused. But I do not want to compare this with the choices of other people, as some journalists do: they construct the conversation so that they first ask about me and then juxtapose it with a question about Mr Cołokidzi. I believe that today we judge people too quickly based on things that have not yet been proven or verified,” added Danuta Maślicka, who was interned by the secret police.

Update 23:29

In response to Ms Maślicka’s blog post, I explain:

First, at the beginning of the telephone conversation I introduced myself: Ms Maślicka knew whom she was speaking to. Second, I said that I was calling about an interview with Łętowski. Third, all quotations from Ms Maślicka are reproduced accurately. Fourth, Ms Maślicka did not request authorization of her statements. Fifth, the terms we used are correct; for example, to intern means “to forcibly place in isolation a person considered politically dangerous to the state” (Dictionary of the Polish Language). Sixth, writing about fees for meetings with writers is entirely appropriate.

The entire conversation was recorded; if Ms Maślicka agrees, I can publish it for verification.

I can accept one argument made by Ms Maślicka. The wording that Ms Maślicka reveals the reason for abandoning cooperation with BOK – MCC may have been unfortunate. This is my observation, because during the conversation she admitted that the centre refused to hold a meeting with Tokarczuk because of the writer’s views. I thought that this was precisely why the cooperation ended. Perhaps Ms Maślicka wants to continue holding talks financed with public money, but I have not heard of any meeting at BOK – MCC for almost a year.

I will leave Danuta Maślicka’s malicious remarks in her blog post without comment.

Krzysztof Gwizdała