Zbigniew Zarudzki was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1950, five years after World War II ended. He can still remember playing with his friends in the ruins of Warsaw. His brother was born during the war while his father was in the army, so his mother had to take care of the baby by herself. After the war, his father worked for the Department of Commerce as an Economist. His mother took care of his brother and him.
For as long as he could remember, he had always disliked communist rule and the life it imposed on the Polish people. In 1970, he was completing his degree in Electro-Engineering at the Institute of Technology in Warsaw when he received permission to work in Sweden for the summer. Zbigniew used the money that he earned there to buy a car and some books, censored in Poland at that time, about the democratic system. On his way back from Sweden, he was stopped at the border by Polish authorities. He was there for 12 hours, and his car was practically taken apart. They found the books hidden under the upholstery and wanted to arrest him. Eventually they retained the books and let him go, but his life in Poland was never the same again.
Upon returning to Warsaw, Zbigniew was called to the police station where his passport was taken away. He was also told that he could not return to school or ever go abroad again. He felt suffocated in Poland. He could not express his opinions. He saw the injustice of the system, the unfair distribution of rights and goods between the workers and the people in power. The government could do anything. They chose themselves to be in power; they used the people’s money for their private purposes. He felt very angry and helpless. He wanted to make his own choices in life. After he was told he could never go out of his country, Zbigniew decided to do everything to escape.
Zbigniew became a known activist in Solidarity, an anti-communist group, and he decided to use his position to get a passport. At the same time his wife requested her passport but in a different city. They did not want the authorities to know that they were planning to go abroad together. Their son was 3 years old at the time. His wife had another son from her previous marriage, but they could not take him with them. He needed the permission of his natural father to leave the country, and they could not share their secret with anybody.
On the border, the Polish officer took their passports. He noticed right away that the passports were given out in different cities but soon his attention shifted to their car. He kept looking into the van at all the belongings that he had. He probably knew that they were escaping, but he let them go and said: Good Luck.Although the family applied for political asylum in Sweden their claim was denied. It only was much later, through Germany and Austria, that the family eventually made their way to the United States. They arrived in Chicago on the 4th of March 1982 and lived with his wife’s mother until they had enough money to live on their own. A few years ago, his wife’s son was able to come join them.
In Zbigniew’s own words “We are happy here. We feel this is our home. I have achieved a lot, and I am grateful that I am able to do anything I want. The Polish government caused a great waste in Poland; the system ruined the lives of many people and spoiled the environment. That is why I am thankful to have escaped and to be living in the United States.”
By; Agnieszka Czekojewski
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| Zbigniew Zarudzki and his family |
