A Warsaw Diary, 1978-81

In what are, sadly, probably the waning days of the ailing Pope John Paul II, I found Brandys Diary to be a memorable portrait of the early days of the then newly elected "Polish Pope." Throughout the 3-year span of WD, comprised of a selection of passages from 2 volumes of Brandys' journals (the complete volumes were published in his native Poland), are anecdotes of the effects this Pope had on the streets of occupied and dispirited Warsaw. Because the West weakly buckled at the Yalta conferences, giving in to Stalin's territorial demands, Poland, Hungary and other central European countries turned into Russian "satellites." Shocked and disappointed at Western indifference to their desperate situation, the Poles saw new hope in the newly elected John Paul II and he embodied their new hopes for freedom. Feeling that "He has come to lift us out of the mud," the Polish people found redemption in this Pope, believing that "the holy fire of faith burns in this Pope." Brandys lauds this Pope's "liberality" also, reporting on the 1979 televized Mass performed at Auschwitz and of his plea for tolerance of other religions, including the Jewish faith. As for the ever-unanswered "Jewish question" which plagues Poland, Brandys wisely concludes "The whole truth is clearly too complex ever to be grasped." Papal views are not the sole comprisal of WD, of course. Throughout the text of this quick read with it's abbreviated diary entries, we glean Brandys' feelings on such diverse peoples like Americans: "I envy them their innocence and naivete;" Russia: "the deranged void" whose existence he prefers to totally ignore and whose literature, touchingly enough, frightens Brandys ("especially the stories of Gogol"). Woven throughout WD are the usual descriptions of life under occupation: the long lines at stores everywhere, the chronic shortages of necessities...witness Brandys' sarcastic "There is no lack of anything here except for the half that has been amputated." Passing references to then-new historical figures and events are of interest, too. A October 1979 entry remarks on playwright Vaclav Havel's "huge act of heroism" in his choosing trial and sentencing over emigration in defending his "dissident" stand on human rights in then-Czechoslovakia. In the 1981 a certain Lech Walesa starts to get mentioned as he heads the Solidarity movement: "He incarnates the spirit of the street and is the hero of the lines." As 1981 is the cut-off point for the diary, however, we are left hungray for more bird's-eye views of these all-important leaders and movements. It is impossible to convey all that is contained within the 260 pp. of WD. Its' richness goes way beyond what is discussed above as Brandys digresses into weighty questions of spirituality and divine Providence. A 1979 quote helped me understand a 1999 quote from my college professor who believes that the starting point for postmodern society began as a di