Juliusz Englert

Juliusz Englert was born in Poland in 1927 and arrived in Britain in 1946. He talks about how he was unusual among Poles in visiting Poland under communism and about his feelings for Britain and Poland.

Listen to Juliusz (mp3, 613kb)

Transcript

'Again, I’m not typical in many respects. In as much as that, with my wife, from about 1965 we used to go to Poland every year, in summer time. This was considered to be something of a betrayal, to the extent that no-one, really, in our circles would go to Poland. Poland was occupied, and one simply wouldn’t visit it. One would work for it, one would write for it, one would help financially and politically, but one would not be able to visit Poland. 

'Partly because to do so required one of two things: one was to accept a passport from the Polish government, which was impossible to imagine that anyone could do it; second one was to go with a British passport. I chose the latter...

'The form of allegiance to Her Majesty did not worry me, I took it in my stride as a matter of routine, as matter of perhaps also good manners – one was not a guest in this country any more, one was part of it.

'I learned here, I studied here, I paid my taxes, was a loyal citizen. So becoming British in no way detracted me from my Polish activities, it didn’t, in another way, diminish my loyalty to Poland, or independent Poland... I was still intensely Polish. Poland is my first country, it’s my country which is dearest to me and closest to me.'

Copyright Museum of London oral history collection