ABSTRACT
A historian deprived of his right to teach for his political views, Jacek Kuroń (19342004), born in Lwów, was a tireless activist and spokesman for human rights and national independence in the PRL (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, People’s Poland), during which time he was repeatedly arrested, interned and imprisoned. An adviser to Solidarność (the Solidarity independent trade union), co-founder of KOR (Komitet Obrony Robotników, Workers’ Defence Committee), and a participant in the rozmowy Okrągłego Stołu (roundtable discussions of 1989), Kuroń constantly put his personal welfare on the line for what he believed. He was later given broad recognition for his role in helping to bring down the communist government, and was four times elected poseł (representative) to the Sejm (Parliament). As minister of labour and social services in the early 1990s, Kuroń personally handed out free meals, or kuroniówki, to the needy of Warsaw, a word which still exists as a general name for handouts to the poor. The following interview was published in the periodical Integracja , a publication devoted to the needs of the disabled.
