Читать книгу Dyplomata. W salonach i politycznej kuchni - Jerzy M. Nowak - Страница 36

For over half a century, the author worked as a diplomat. His career spans various periods of history and political systems. He got to know the backdrop of international politics, on a greater as well as a smaller scale. He colourfully describes his path to the diplomatic world, which took him from a small village in Podole (now Ukraine) and Opole province in Silesia to, among others, Africa, Argentina, the Spanish court and the NATO Headquarters. He discusses the bright and the dark sides of the foreign service in communist times as well as in free Poland. He writes about historical milestones – events he took part in, he recounts their participants and illustrates his narration with brilliant anecdotes.

Through his memoirs, Jerzy M. Nowak takes the readers behind the scenes of the diplomatic world. He talks of the history: that of his generation in communist Poland, that of the exciting times of the political transition and finally, that of life in free Poland, known also as the Third Republic. He came across many great personalities and political celebrities, including monarchs, e.g. the sultan of Zanzibar, king of Spain or the King of Belgians, legendary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, David Rockefeller, sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jacques Chirac, the president of France, and even the terrorist Shamil Basayev, Chechen freedom fighter and terrorist. He worked closely with the key strategists of Polish diplomacy: Krzysztof Skubiszewski, Bronisław Geremek, Władysław Bartoszewski. He was close friend with Ryszard Kapuściński, and got acquainted with numerous prominent personalities of the Polish and international cultural scene. Mr. Nowak was the only diplomat who was the representative in the rank of an ambassador to the Warsaw Pact, and later, to NATO. The memoirs are, to a great extent, an account of Polish history, culture and politics – as well as a personal path and struggles in often difficult times.