Autor:Marcin Mierzejewski
Źródło:Warsaw Voice

Ryszard Kapuściński, one of the best known Polish journalists and writers, died in Warsaw after a long illness Jan. 23. He was active until the last days of his life, meeting his readers and planning work on new books. He would have been 75 on March 4.

Kapuściński made his first trip as a reporter to China in 1956, sent by the Warsaw-based newspaper Sztandar Młodych. Later, he made trips to Africa, South America and Asia, which resulted in a number of highly regarded works. His books are read across the world and Kapuściński is considered one of the most important literary witnesses of his times.

As early as the 1950s, Kapuściński gained a reputation as a talented and ambitious reporter in Poland. At the beginning of his career, he received the Golden Cross of Merit of People’s Poland, a high state distinction, for his reports from Nowa Huta, which served as an example of “building socialism” in Poland at the time. Soon the young journalist proved he was destined to become more than just a humble reporter. When riots and demonstrations broke out in Poland in 1956, preceding a thaw after a period of brutal Stalinism, Kapuściński interrupted his stay in China in order to demonstrate solidarity with his Sztandar Młodych colleagues who took part in anti-government protests. He was fired from the paper as a result.

Soon, new, more liberal authorities took power in Poland and Kapuściński was offered the job of domestic news editor for Polityka weekly. This allowed him to develop his reporting skills. He traveled around Poland, and his insightful stories won him great popularity, not just among Polityka readers.

Kapuściński gained real fame after his reports from war-torn Congo in 1958. His first trip to Africa strengthened his passion for reporting.

Later, he wrote that the source of his creativity was “a fascination with countries that are waking up to life, new continents where things are only just beginning, where poverty and hunger intertwine with hope for a better tomorrow.”

Passion and poetry

He retained this fascination to the end, though his interests broadened, as did the genres he took up in later periods. In 1990, he published the first volume from the Lapidarium series-a collection of reflections and notes from reading and from his journeys. These differ from his earlier work, bordering between essay and diary, with elements of reporting. The next volumes (Lapidarium II-1995, III-1997, IV-2000) evolved, and included fewer and fewer personal experiences, giving room for more reflection on the nature of the world. As well as the writer’s own opinions, the Lapidarium series includes collections of quotes, with comments by Kapuściński.

In 1986 Kapuściński unveiled a different, artistic side of himself and published a book of poetry. The readers of Notes are given the chance to get to know an interesting, mature poet. “In prose, the best part of his work, Kapuściński is somewhat in the shade of the subject he observes, reflects on and analyzes; he hides behind the subject,” wrote Krzysztof Karasek in a review. “Whether it is The Emperor, or Shah of Shahs, it seems that the writer is not present in his works… In poetry, an important part of Kapuściński’s personality is revealed. The undiscovered, sometimes hidden, human part.”

Global view

Kapuściński gained immense experience as a roving correspondent who got to know the world and its problems during his long professional career. This allowed him to speak about global problems with great insight. “The conflict of civilizations may turn out enriching or destructive,” he said in March last year at a meeting with readers in Cracow. “We may discover a means of communicating, for the exchange of goods and values, or we may kill one another because the world is full of terrifying amounts of arms that are easily accessible and cheap. Each year, 80 million more people come into our world-a world without a central government, without a common language or religion, without shared mechanisms that the entire world population could follow.”

Despite many pessimistic reflections, he also saw the brighter side of contemporary times. At the same meeting in Cracow, Kapuściński spoke about “the great triumph of humanity” that is able to live more peacefully today than ever before. “After all, let us remember that all the armed conflicts taking place on our planet now-and there are 41-affect only one percent of the human population. A vast majority of people live in peace.”

Kapuściński always stood up for the poor, devoting most of his books and reports to developing countries. Neither was he afraid of directing harsh words at Western countries.

Modest authority

In his later books Kapuściński called for joint responsibility for the world and its problems. Despite the respect and authority he enjoyed, on a personal level he was a modest and selfless man.

A colleague from The Warsaw Voice office, who met him in the 1970s, recalls: “I met Ryszard Kapuściński by accident, at my friends’ home in Milanówek near Warsaw. At first, I didn’t know who that slightly withdrawn man was. Later, the host told me and my father that he was the famous reporter who writes reports from the world’s most dangerous places, risking his life.”

With Kapuściński’s help, our colleague and her family managed to get in touch with her uncle, who was in Britain. She said, “After the war, my uncle could not return to Poland, because he would have been imprisoned [by the communists]. We only knew that he worked as a miner in Wales. My father told Kapuściński this story. Next year we met Kapuściński again, at the same friends’ home. It turned out that while in Britain, he had found my uncle and met him. He brought us letters from him and a tale about his postwar life. He did that selflessly, just to help us.” The severed family links were reestablished. Our colleague still maintains contacts with her late uncle’s daughter who lives in Wales.

Kapuściński used to say that you need special physical and mental qualities to become a foreign correspondent. “There are eight conditions you have to meet in order to succeed in this profession: you have to be physically fit, be resilient and curious about the world, have language and traveling skills, and be open to other people and cultures,” he said. As well as all that, a true reporter “must act with passion, and, in the first place, think.”

Kapuściński was recently mentioned as one of the most serious contenders for the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature. His books are studied by journalism students around the world. The news of his death was reported worldwide, often on the front pages of newspapers.

źródło: kapuscinski.info