“Such a renowned professor, who has so little time, is being dragged to court and this is an embarrassing, completely scandalous case,” said Prof. in an interview with wPolityce.pl. Mieczysław Ryba, historian, lecturer at the Catholic University of Lublin.
Professor Wojciech Roszkowski did not appear at the hearing on the complaint against the HiT textbook because – as his lawyer Artur Wdowczyk informed – he had not received notice of the date by post. Prof. Mieczysław Ryba commented on the whole issue in an interview with the wPolityce.pl portal
wPolityce.pl: As evidenced by the filing of a lawsuit against Prof. Wojciech Roszkowski?
Prof. Mieczysław Ryba: I feel like this is a form of harassment. Professor Roszkowski is a man of his age, has achieved enormous achievements and is in a way a symbol of historians dealing with the modern era. Almost everyone learned from their textbooks, even in communist times. So if he gets sued over his book, it means that someone less important in science, a younger scientist, can be scared, and that’s probably the purpose of this lawsuit.
How do you assess the fact that Waldemar Żurek is the judge in this case? The court did not allow him to be removed from the case, even though Professor Roszkowski’s lawyer requested it.
He is a judge who has very specific, loudly expressed views – not only political, but also characterized by a certain ideological stance. We know how many similar, even scandalous, statements there have been, for example against journalists. One can recall here the verdict in the Rafał Ziemkiewicz case.
I am very concerned that we are dealing with brutal politics here and not normal scientific discourse. Please take note of what we came for. Such a renowned professor, who has so little time, is taken to court and this is an embarrassing, downright scandalous case. Apparently anyone who writes a book can be taken to court these days and judges with a specific ideological background can be appointed. What will we achieve…
In the context of this case, have you noticed that there are increasing concerns in the research and scientific world about the freedom to conduct research and formulate scientific opinions?
It already was. Minister Czarnek seemed to have blocked certain things legally with the Freedom of Science Act, but we were faced with an increasing number of disciplinary proceedings at various universities. All these proceedings that I knew were being conducted against those who hold conservative views and express them in any way. In this case we are dealing with the trial of a historian with conservative views, but we also had teachers and philosophers. There is a great fear in this circle that the old will return and that freedom in science will become increasingly worse.
Do you think that the case of Prof. Roszkowski can be demonstrative in some way, an example of punishment for unorthodox views?
Naturally. In his textbook, Professor Roszkowski questioned two dogmas of the modern history of Poland and the world. One dogma concerns the ‘Round Table’ as the myth of the founding of the Third Polish Republic, and the other stems from the Cultural Revolution, which has Marxist roots, as revealed by Prof. Roszkowski. He criticized this revolution and exposed the large-scale spherical manipulation that took place in the West and is now moving to Poland. The point here is to ensure that no one dares to tackle these problems in a similar way.
READ ALSO:
– Minister Czarnek: The process regarding the HiT textbook is absurd. I emphasize that MEiN did not write or publish this book
— The trial against Prof. has begun. Roszkowski and the publisher of the HiT textbook. The referee is Waldemar Żurek! The case is being followed by CMWP SDP
— CMWP SDP followed the case of Prof. Roszkowski: Such actions pose a serious threat to freedom of expression
Source: wPolityce