Former Diplomat Comments on Poland

A former Polish ambassador who defected to the United States shortly after the military crackdown in his country will publish his first account of the Polish crisis in this week's edition of the Harvard International Review.

The exclusive article written by Zdzislaw Rurarz, former Polish ambassador to Japan, discusses why the crackdown occurred when it did and gives a moderately optimistic assessment of the passive resistance campaign being carried on by Solidarity, said Tod H. Loofbourrow '84, editor-in-chief of the undergraduate Review.

Loofbourrow described the article as "rabidly anti-communistic" and said that the ambassador mentions Soviet backing for the crackdown and subsequent martial law regime.

But the editor added that Rurarz describes the crisis as largely an internal Polish matter, emphasizing that the Poles themselves control the fate of their country.

Rurarz defected to the United States shortly after the December 13 implementation of martial law in Poland and is now living under FBI protection somewhere near Washington D.C., Loofbourrow said.

Loofbourrow said he didn't know for sure why Rurarz had decided to publish his first article in a college publication rather than a major newspaper or periodical, but the editor speculated that the former diplomat might eventually seek a teaching job at Harvard and wants to introduce himself to the University community.

Professors attached to the Government Department and various social science research centers said yesterday that they knew nothing of Rurarz's intentions to teach here Loofbourrow first spoke to Rurarz lost month after communicating with the former Polish diplomat through a go-between employed by Radio Free Europe.

Rurarz was actually the one to call the Harvard student, and he agreed after a series of conversations to submit his article without remuneration to the Review, despite lucrative offers from Time magazine.

Loofbourrow has never met his special contributor and still does not have his telephone number in Washington. The article arrived by mail last week.

Rurarz seems to enjoy the attention how has received from the U.S Government, Loofbourrow said. The Pole told him that he would have his FBI agents "run the piece down to the mailbox," after the final deal was struck.

Negotiations are underway to have Rurarz's article reprinted in two West German publications. Der Speigel and Osta Ropa, as well as in Time, Loofbourrow added