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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2024
In the spring of 1953 I was urgently summoned to Minister Sokorski's office. His unctuous greeting alerted me to the fact that an important announcement was imminent, and that I was once again going to be used, even though my compositions were still being regarded with suspicion.
‘Citizen Panufnik, in order to deepen the friendship between Poland and China, we are sending a cultural mission to the Republic of the People's China without delay, of about 200 Polish performers, including not only the Chamber Orchestra of the Warsaw Philharmonic, but also the Mazowsze Song and Dance Company. The tour will last two months, and you, Citizen Panufnik, will lead this delegation.’
I was appalled. I insisted that I could not afford to interrupt my work as a composer, and that it was impossible for me to leave my seven-month-old baby and my wife, who was far from well. Sokorski cut me short, making it clear that I had no choice but to shoulder with pride the role cast upon me by the Ministry of Culture. ‘You cannot refuse!’ he snapped, as I continued my pleas. ‘The Party needs you!’
‘But I am not a member of the Party,’ I replied, trying to match his determination.
‘The Polish government makes it your patriotic duty to go!’ he insisted, by now quite angry. I was unable to find a quick enough answer. Sokorski carried on as though I had agreed to do as I was told.
As a musician, I was to be in charge of the artistic delegation, with another musician, Sokorski's own brother-in-law, as my second-in-command, telling me what to do. A youngish woman of Russian origin, of political rather than artistic authority, had been appointed as director of the Mazowsze Company, supported by two members of the ZMP (the Communist Youth Organisation), who were to ‘take care of the political education’ of the Mazowsze performers. We would also have with us two conductors, two choreographers (a married couple who had together helped to create the magnificent Mazowsze Ensemble), a doctor fully equipped with medical supplies and a travel specialist from the Government agency Orbis to look after timetables and arrangements.
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