Shaka Zulu in the Polish People’s Republic (PRL): exploring South African-Polish links in the late Cold War

ABSTRACT

In the late 1980s, Poles tuned in with great enthusiasm to the miniseries Shaka Zulu, starring Henry Cele as the so-called Black Napoleon. The apartheid-era production was one instance of exchanges between the apartheid regime and the Polish People’s Republic. This counter-intuitive consonance – the screening of an apartheid cultural production in late-Communist Poland – is a fascinating case study that provides one important lens to understand the nature of the relationship between the two regimes, as well as insight into late-apartheid international relations in the last years of the Cold War.

KEYWORDS:

• South Africa
• Poland
• cultural studies
• de-colonisation

Acknowledgments

My thanks to Prof Karen Harris and Prof Thula Simpson for their support at different levels. I would like to thank Prof Joanna Wojdon and Prof Paweł Jaworski of the Institute of History at the University of Wrocław for early support in the research, as well as Dariusz Misiejuk and Dr Katarzyna Bock-Matuszyk of the Centrum Historii Zajezdnia in Wrocław for their assistance in 2018 and 2019. My sincere gratitude to Dr Anna Konieczna of Sciences Po for her invaluable assistance in the archives in Warsaw, and to Dr Przemysław Gasztold and Dr Witold Bagieński for their advice. Prof Arkadiusz Żukowski hosted me for lunch in Olsztyn and agreed to be interviewed and provided valuable comments on a draft of this paper. My thanks to Prof Padraic Kenney of Indiana University for suggestions and ideas. I acknowledge Prof David Anthony of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who provided some very insightful comments as I was revising the paper. My thanks as well to Dr Andrzej Turkowski of the University of Warsaw for translations, critical feedback, and his collegiality. Lastly, I acknowledge the invaluable and constructive feedback of the two anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Monica Popescu, ‘Lewis Nkosi in Warsaw: Translating Eastern European Experiences for an African Audience’, Journal of Postcolonial Writing 48, no. 2 (May 1, 2012): 176, https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2012.658248

² His works include, amongst others: Arkadiusz Żukowski, ‘Polska Wobec Namibii i Jej Niepodległości’, in Wokół Teoretycznych i Praktycznych Aspektów Stosunków Międzynarodowych. Księga Jubileuszowa Dedykowana Profesorowi Mieczysławowi Stolarczykowi, ed. Tomasz Kubin, Justyna Łapaj-Kucharska and Tomasz Okraska (Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 2020), 389–410; Arkadiusz Żukowski, ‘Stosunek Władz Polski Ludowej Do Apartheidu Na Forum Organizacji Narodów Zjednoczonych’, in Afryka – Pasja Życia. Tom Jubileuszowy Dedykowany Dr. Hab. Jackowi Łapottowi Prof. US w 70. Rocznicę Urodzin, ed. Ewa Prądzyńska, Anna Szczepańska-Dudziak and Lucjan Buchalik (Żory: Muzeum Miejskie, 2019); Arkadiusz Żukowski, ‘Diaspora Polska w Republice Południowej Afryki i Jej Prosolidarnościowa Aktywność w Latach 1980–1989. Wybrane Problemy’, in Za Naszą i Waszą ‘Solidarność’. Inicjatywy Solidarnościowe z Udziałem Polonii Podejmowane Na Świecie (1980–1989), t. 1, Państwa Pozaeuropejskie, ed. Patryk Pleskot (Warsaw: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2018); Arkadiusz Żukowski, ‘Contemporary Polish Diaspora in the Republic of South Africa and Its Attitude towards Politics’, Polish Political Science (2010), http://polona.pl/item/32286054; Arkadiusz Żukowski, Diaspora Polska w Republice Południowej Afryki w Warunkach Współczesnej Unifikacji i Dywersyfikacji Świata (Olsztyn: INP, 2008); Arkadiusz Żukowski, ‘Polish Community in South Africa: A History of Settlement’, Africana Bulletin 1 (1999): 121–30; Arkadiusz Żukowski, Polsko-Południowoafrykańskie Stosunki Polityczne (Olsztyn: Wyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczna, 1998); Arkadiusz Żukowski, ‘Polish – South African Trade Relations and Their Prospects. Surveying Both Past and Future’, Slavic Almanach 4, no. 5–6 (1997): 165–77; Arkadiusz Żukowski, W Kraju Złota i Diamentów. Polacy w Afryce Południowej w XVI-XX w (Warsaw: Wydawn. Nauk. PWN, 1994); Arkadiusz Żukowski, ‘Polish Relations with and Settlement in South Africa (circa 1500–1835)’, Historia 37, no. 1 (1992): 1–8.

³ Ursula Van Beek and Stanisław Cieniuch, eds., South Africa and Poland in Transition: A Comparative Perspective (Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, 1995).

⁴ Ursula Van Beek, ‘The Emergence of Democracy in South Africa and Poland: A Comparative Experience’, in The Experience of Democratisation in Eastern Europe, International Council for Central and East European Studies (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999), 274–83; Ursula van Beek, ed., Democracy under Construction: Patterns from Four Continents, 1st ed. (Opladen: Verlag Barbara Budrich, 2005; Pretoria: Van Schaik, 2006), https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvhktjv1; Ursula Van Beek, ed., Democracy Under Scrutiny: Elites, Citizens, Cultures (Opladen & Farmington Hills, MI: Barbara Budrich Publisher, 2010); Ursula Van Beek, ed., Democracy under Threat: A Crisis of Legitimacy? (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).

⁵ Elżbieta Matynia, Performative Democracy (London: Routledge, 2016).

⁶ Tom Junes, ‘Oppositional Student Politics in Poland and South Africa: Youth Rebellion as a Factor in the Demise of Communism and Apartheid’, Studia Historyczne 55, no. 3–4 (2012): 398–406.

⁷ Adrian Guelke and Tom Junes, ‘1989 Compared and Connected: The Demise of Communism in Poland and Apartheid in South Africa’, in The Long 1989: Decades of Global Revolution, ed. Piotr H. Kosicki and Kyrill Kunakhovich (Budapest: Central European University Press, 2019), 37. An earlier version of this paper was published as Adrian Guelke and Tom Junes, ‘Copycat Tactics in Processes of Regime Change: The Demise of Communism in Poland and Apartheid in South Africa’, Critique & Humanism 40 (2012): 171–92.

⁸ Alexander Anievas, Nivi Manchanda, and Robbie Shilliam, eds., Race and Racism in International Relations: Confronting the Global Colour Line (London: Routledge, 2015).

⁹ The term 'search for survival' is attributed to Jamie Miller, An African Volk: The Apartheid Regime and Its Search for Survival (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017); the global apartheid arms network is discussed in Hennie van Vuuren, Apartheid, Guns and Money: A Tale of Profit (Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2017); Ron Nixon, Selling Apartheid: South Africa’s Global Propaganda War (Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2015).

¹⁰ C.A. Hamilton, ‘A Positional Gambit: Shaka Zulu and the Conflict in South Africa’, in History from South Africa: Alternative Visions and Practices, ed. Joshua Brown et al. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991), 287–308.

¹¹ Christian Themba Msimang, ‘The Reception of Shaka Zulu – an Evaluation of its Cultural and Historical Context’, Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies 1 (1990): 42.

¹² Cliff Hocker, ‘U.S Zulu Connection: The Hampton Example’, The International Review of African American Art Plus, http://iraaa.museum.hamptonu.edu/page/U%3ES%3E-Zulu-Connection (accessed August 30, 2021).

¹³ T.J. Tallie, ‘On Zulu King Cetshwayo KaMpande’s Visit to London, August 1882’, BRANCH: Britain, Representation, and Nineteenth-Century History (blog), http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=t-j-tallie-on-zulu-king-cetshwayo-kampandes-visit-to-london-august-1882 (accessed August 25, 2021).

¹⁴ Ian Knight, ‘The Strange Story and Remarkable Adventures of King Cetshwayo’s Cup’, https://www.anglozuluwar.com/images/Journal_6/J6e_King_Cetshwayo’s_Cup_-_IK.pdf (accessed February 23, 2022).

¹⁵ Christian Niedan, ‘Camera Q&A: Joshua Sinclair on Shaka Zulu and Apartheid’, September 2013, http://www.camerainthesun.com/dev1/?p=25727 (accessed August 30, 2021).

¹⁶ Msimang, ‘The Reception of Shaka Zulu – an Evaluation of its Cultural and Historical Context’, 43.

¹⁷ Msimang, ‘The Reception of Shaka Zulu – an Evaluation of its Cultural and Historical Context’, 43–4; Hamilton, ‘A Positional Gambit: Shaka Zulu and the Conflict in South Africa’.

¹⁸ Karen Harris, Charlene Herselman, Alida Green and Hannes Engelbrecht, ‘Film Culture and Destination Economy: South Africa’s Potential’ (paper presented to South African Cultural Observatory International Conference, ‘Beyond the Creative Economy? Trends and Issues in National and Regional Economies’, March 7–8, 2018).

¹⁹ Vincent Canby, ‘Film Review: Is “The Gods Must Be Crazy” Only a Comedy?’, The New York Times, October 28, 1984, https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/28/arts/film-view-is-the-gods-must-be-crazy-only-a-comedy.html

²⁰ Richard Leonard, Apartheid Whitewash – South African Propaganda in the United States (Africa Fund, 1989), 28, https://doi.org/10.2307/al.sff.document.af000257

²¹ Hamilton, ‘A Positional Gambit: Shaka Zulu and the Conflict in South Africa’; Keyan Tomaselli, ‘Shaka Zulu, Visual History and Television’, Southern African Humanities 15 (December 2003): 94.

²² Tomaselli, ‘Shaka Zulu, Visual History and Television’, 95.

²³ Nixon, Selling Apartheid: South Africa’s Global Propaganda War.

²⁴ Eddie Michel, ‘“My Children, You Are Permitted in Time of Great Danger to Walk with the Devil until You Have Crossed the Bridge”: President Truman, Apartheid, and the Early Cold War’, South African Historical Journal 72, no. 2 (April 2, 2020): 272–98, https://doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2020.1773913. See also David Hostetter, ‘Movement Matters: American Antiapartheid Activism and the Rise of Multicultural Politics’ (PhD thesis, University of Maryland, 2004), 5.

²⁵ Howard Rosenberg, ‘“Shaka Zulu”: Negative Image for South African Blacks’, Los Angeles Times, November 21, 1986, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-11-21-ca-14929-story.html

²⁶ Rosenberg, ‘“Shaka Zulu”: Negative Image for South African Blacks’.

²⁷ Mxolisi Mchunu, Violence and Solace: The Natal Civil War in Late-Apartheid South Africa (Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2020), 169.

²⁸ Rosenberg, ‘“Shaka Zulu”: Negative Image for South African Blacks’.

²⁹ Ron Wilkins, ‘Shaka Zulu Protest at KCOP’, African Activist Archive, https://africanactivist.msu.edu/image.php?objectid=32-131-3B4 (accessed September 10, 2021).

³⁰ Anita Gates, ‘John J. O’Connor, a Times TV Critic in Years of Industry Upheaval, Dies at 76: [Obituary (Obit); Biography]’, New York Times, November 16, 2009, Late Edition (East Coast) edition, 434227821, New York Times, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/john-j-oconnor-times-tv-critic-years-industry/docview/434227821/se-2?accountid=14717

³¹ John J O’Connor, ‘“Shaka Zulu,” a 5-Part Mini-Series’, New York Times, November 2, 1987, Late Edition (East Coast) edition, 426686041, New York Times, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/tv-review/docview/426686041/se-2?accountid=14717

³² Bill Kelley, ‘“Shaka Zulu” an Intellectual but Unheralded Miniseries’, South Florida Sun Sentinel, March 6, 1987, https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1987-03-06-8701140834-story.html

³³ Hostetter, ‘Movement Matters: American Antiapartheid Activism and the Rise of Multicultural Politics’.

³⁴ Hostetter, ‘Movement Matters: American Antiapartheid Activism and the Rise of Multicultural Politics’, 16.

³⁵ Robert Massie, Loosing the Bonds: The United States and South Africa in the Apartheid Years, 1st ed. (New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 1997), http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/description/random0413/96027126.html.

³⁶ Håkan Thörn, Anti-Apartheid and the Emergence of a Global Civil Society, St. Antony’s Series (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0702/2005056621-t.html; see also Rob Skinner, The Foundations of Anti-Apartheid: Liberal Humanitarians and Transnational Activists in Britain and the United States, c.1919–64 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010); and on the US,Frederic I. Salop, ‘Public Protest and Public Policy: The Anti-Apartheid Movement and Political Innovation’, Review of Policy Research 9, no. 2 (December 1, 1989): 307–26, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-1338.1989.tb01127.x

³⁷ Francis Njubi Nesbitt, Race for Sanctions: African Americans against Apartheid, 1946–1994 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004), http://site.ebrary.com/id/10087032

³⁸ Julie Grey, ‘The Passage of the Federal Anti-Apartheid Act: The Culmination of Anti-Apartheid Efforts within the United States’, Suffolk Transnational Law Journal 11, no. 2 (1987): 397.

³⁹ ‘A Man without Limits’, XXV. Black International Cinema Berlin 2010, http://www.black-international-cinema.com/BIC10/html/films_10/filmdescriptions10/bic_10_amanwithoutlimits.htm (accessed September 10, 2021). My thanks to Prof. David Anthony for alerting me to Masilela.

⁴⁰ Paul Betts et al., ‘Race, Socialism and Solidarity: Anti-Apartheid in Eastern Europe’, in A Global History of Anti-Apartheid: ‘Forward to Freedom’ in South Africa, ed. Anna Konieczna and Rob Skinner (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019), 173, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03652-2_6

⁴¹ Lewis Nkosi, ‘Letter from Warsaw’, West Africa, April 24, 1989, 632. My thanks to Monica Popescu for sharing her copy of this article with me.

⁴² Lindy Stiebel and Elizabeth Gunner, Still Beating the Drum: Critical Perspectives on Lewis Nkosi (Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi, 2005), 355–6, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/pretoria-ebooks/detail.action?docID=556858

⁴³ Lindy Stiebel and Therese Steffen, eds., Letters to My Native Soil: Lewis Nkosi Writes Home (2001–2009) (Münster: LIT Verlag, 2014), 65, https://books.google.co.za/books?id=oln7AwAAQBAJ&dq=jadwiga+lukanty&source=gbs_navlinks_s

⁴⁴ Stiebel and Gunner, Still Beating the Drum: Critical Perspectives on Lewis Nkosi, 356.

⁴⁵ Communication dated 1988/04/06, Bu 1121/72 t.2, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej/Institute of National Remembrance Archives, Warsaw (hereafter IPN).

⁴⁶ Chinua Achebe, ‘An Image of Africa’, The Massachusetts Review 18, no. 4 (1977): 788.

⁴⁷ Stiebel and Steffen, Letters to My Native Soil: Lewis Nkosi Writes Home (2001–2009), 66.

⁴⁸ ‘Zulus Czaka (Serial Telewizyjny)’, in Wikipedia, https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulus_Czaka_(serial_telewizyjny) (accessed November 3, 2018).

⁴⁹ Jarosław Kończak, ‘Ewolucja Programowa TVP. Od Tele-Echa Do Polskiego Zoo’ (University of Warsaw, 2007), 241, https://www.academia.edu/31774902/Ewolucja_programowa_TVP._Od_Tele-Echa_do_Polskiego_Zoo

⁵⁰ Nkosi, ‘Letter from Warsaw’, 632.

⁵¹ F. Fanon, Black Skins, White Masks (New York: Grove, 1967), 112, cited in Popescu, ‘Lewis Nkosi in Warsaw: Translating Eastern European Experiences for an African Audience’, 183; Nkosi, ‘Letter from Warsaw’, 632.

⁵² Nkosi, ‘Letter from Warsaw’, 632–3.

⁵³ Arkadiusz Żukowski, interview with author, Olsztyn, Poland, July 31, 2019.

⁵⁴ David Chioni Moore, ‘Is the Post- in Postcolonial the Post- in Post-Soviet? Toward a Global Postcolonial Critique’, PMLA 116, no. 1 (2001): 124.

⁵⁵ Nkosi, ‘Letter from Warsaw’, 633.

⁵⁶ Nkosi, ‘Letter from Warsaw’, 633.

⁵⁷ ‘Czarny Napoleon’, Film, June 14, 1987, 13.

⁵⁸ Mchunu, Violence and Solace: The Natal Civil War in Late-Apartheid South Africa.

⁵⁹ ‘Czarny Napoleon’.

⁶⁰ Tomaselli, ‘Shaka Zulu, Visual History and Television’, 102–3.

⁶¹ Agnieszka Ulanowska, ‘W Stronę Afryki’, Kultura 25 (1987): 12–13.

⁶² Agnieszka Ulanowska, ‘W Stronę Afryki’, Kultura 25 (1987): 12–13.

⁶³ M. Leśniewski, Wojna burska, 1899–1902: geneza, przebieg i międzynarodowe uwarunkowania (Warsaw: Wydawn, 2001); M. Leśniewski, Miejsce Południowej Afryki w kształtowaniu koncepcji polityki imperialnej Wielkiej Brytanii, 1899-1914 (Warsaw: Wydawn, 2001); M. Leśniewski, Afrykanie, Afrykanerzy i Brytyjczycy. Studium wzajemnych relacji, 1795–1854 (Warsaw: Bel Studio, 2008).

⁶⁴ Michał Leśniewski, interview with author, September 6, 2019.

⁶⁵ Ibid.

⁶⁶ Piotr Szlanta, ‘Long Distance Solidarity: Polish Public Opinion and the Boer War 1899–1902’, Werwinkel 12, no. 1 (2017): 49–69.

⁶⁷ C.R. De Wet, Trzy lata wojny o niepodległość (Warsaw: n.p, 1903); P. Kruger, Pamiętniki prezydenta Krügera (Warsaw: A.T. Jezierski, 1903) in Szlanta, ‘Long Distance Solidarity’.

⁶⁸ Michał Leśniewski, ‘Myth (De)Constructed: Some Reflections Provoked by Dan Wylie’s Book Myth of Iron: Shaka in History’, Werwinkel: 6, no. 2 (2011): 55–69.

⁶⁹ Betts et al., ‘Race, Socialism and Solidarity: Anti-Apartheid in Eastern Europe’, 165, n. 63.

⁷⁰ Przemysław Gasztold, email correspondence with author, January 8, 2021; ‘Praca dyplomowa – ‘Południowoafrykańki ruch narodowowyzwoleńczy w walce z apartheidem’; praca napisana przez mł.chor. Wiesława Kowala, pod kierownictwen naukowym mjr mgr Andrzeja Słaby w Katedrze III, 1990. Translation Andrzej Turkowski, Bu 001708/3840, IPN.

⁷¹ R.Kapuściński, ‘Republika Południowej Afryki. Faszyzm karłowaty’ [Republic of South Africa. Dwarf fascism], Polityka 51–52 (1963); R. Kapuściński, ‘Republika Południowej Afryki. Ous Staad’, Polityka 1 (1964); R. Kapuściński, ‘RPA. Kościół i partia’ [RSA. The church and the party], Polityka 6 (1964); T. Łętocha, ‘Afryka dzisiejsza. Chrześcijaństwo wobec kraju segregacji rasowej’ [Africa today. Christianity towards a country of racial segregation], Argumenty 11 (1961); T. Łętocha, ‘Afryka dzisiejsza. Biblia i synowie Chana’ [Africa today. The Bible and the sons of Cain], Argumenty 12 (1961); T. Łętocha, ‘Afryka dzisiejsza. Kościoły wobec rasizmu’ [Africa today. Churches towards racism], Argumenty 13 (1962); T. Łętocha, Republika Południowej Afryki – kraj apartheid (Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza, 1967)

⁷² Betts et al., ‘Race, Socialism and Solidarity: Anti-Apartheid in Eastern Europe’, 171.

⁷³ S. Shead, ‘The Story of Berlin’s WWII Tempelhof Airport which is now Germany’s Largest Refugee Shelter’, Independent, June 20, 2017, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/the-story-of-berlins-wwii-tempelhof-airport-which-is-now-germanys-largest-refugee-shelter-a7799296.html (accessed February 23, 2022).

⁷⁴ Email correspondence, Radek Orłowski to Andrzej Turkowski, June 2, 2020.

⁷⁵ Maciej Tramer, ‘Bambo Can Go’, Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica 6 (2016): 146.

⁷⁶ Email correspondence, Radek Orłowski to Andrzej Turkowski, June 2, 2020.

⁷⁷ ‘Kopie elektroniczne materiałów promocyjnych zespołu “Tempelhof”, plakatów koncertowych innych zespołów punk rockowych oraz ulotek antysystemowych’, Bi 611/1, IPN.

⁷⁸ Grzegorz Piotrowski, ‘Punk against Communism: The Jarocin Rock Festival and Revolting Youth in 1980s Poland’, in A European Youth Revolt: European Perspectives on Youth Protest and Social Movements in the 1980s (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 203.

⁷⁹ ‘Kopie elektroniczne materiałów’, Bi 611/1, Bi 611/1, IPN.

⁸⁰ Piotrowski, ‘Punk against Communism: The Jarocin Rock Festival and Revolting Youth in 1980s Poland’, 210.

⁸¹ Piotrowski, ‘Punk against Communism: The Jarocin Rock Festival and Revolting Youth in 1980s Poland’, 210, 214.

⁸² Juliane Fürst, Flowers through Concrete: Explorations in Soviet Hippieland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).

⁸³ Kim Christiaens and Idesbald Goddeeris, ‘Solidarity or Anti-Apartheid? The Polish Opposition and South Africa, 1976–1989’, in A Global History of Anti-Apartheid: ‘Forward to Freedom’ in South Africa, ed. Anna Konieczna and Rob Skinner (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019), 291–315, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03652-2_10

⁸⁴ Lech Wałesa, interview with author, Gdańsk, August 1, 2019.

⁸⁵ ‘Verklaring Uitgereik Deur Solidariteit’, Letter from South African Ambassador to Direkteur-generaal, Buitlandse Sake en Ingligting, November 10, 1983, 1/37/1, Department of International Relations and Cooperation Records, Pretoria (hereafter DIRCO).

⁸⁶ Letter from Jerzy Milewski, October 22, 1983 and ‘Declaration’, Coordinating Office Abroad of NSZZ Solidarność, October 22, 1983, 1, 1/37/1, DIRCO.

⁸⁷ ‘Declaration’, 2.

⁸⁸ South African Embassy in Brussels to Department of Foreign Affairs, May 27, 1981, 1/37/1, DIRCO.

⁸⁹ Letter from H.H. van Niekerk to Mnr Aldrich, February 1982, 1/37/1, DIRCO.

⁹⁰ Żukowski, Interview.

⁹¹ Żukowski, ‘Contemporary Polish Diaspora in the Republic of South Africa and Its Attitude towards Politics’, 199.

⁹² ‘Adam Michnik’s Letter to Bishop Tutu, August 1985’, Uncensored Poland News Bulletin, 18 (1985): 16.

⁹³ Adam Michnik, interview with author and Andrzej Turkowski, Warsaw, October 21, 2019.

⁹⁴ Cited in Betts et al., ‘Race, Socialism and Solidarity: Anti-Apartheid in Eastern Europe’, 174.

⁹⁵ Przemysław Gasztold, ‘Lost Illusions: The Limits of Communist Poland’s Involvement in Cold War Africa’, in Warsaw Pact Intervention in the Third World: Aid and Influence in the Cold War, ed. Philip E. Muehlenbeck and Natalia Telepneva (London: I.B. Taurus, 2018), 214.

⁹⁶ Przemysław Gasztold, ‘Lost Illusions’, 206.

⁹⁷ Ewa Maj, ‘Poland’s Double Game Strategy during the US-Iranian Crises (1979–88)’, Cold War History 21, no. 2 (2021): 159–77.

⁹⁸ ‘Polish Refugees in South Africa’, South African Permanent Mission, Geneva, May 3, 1973; ‘Aid-Memoire’, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’, April 27, 1973, 9/3/2, DIRCO.

⁹⁹ ‘Seamen “did not ask for asylum”’, Rand Daily Mail, November 9, 1972.

¹⁰⁰ ‘Moontlike Handelskontakt met Pole: Gesprekke van Mnr Roswadowski in Pole’, 1 October 1979, 1/37/3, DIRCO.

¹⁰¹ Arkadiusz Żukowski, email correspondence with author, January 18, 2021.

¹⁰² Letter from John Oxley, December 19, 1980, 1, 1/37/3, DIRCO.

¹⁰³ Ambassador to the Director-General, Foreign Affairs and Information, ‘Relations with Poland’, May 19, 1981, 1/37/3, DIRCO.

¹⁰⁴ O.G. Albers to Mr Sunde, September 17, 1981, 1/37/3, DIRCO.

¹⁰⁵ ‘[BOYA] Boyazoglu collection of French Africana’, https://www.uj.ac.za/library/informationsources/special-collections/Pages/Archival-Collections.aspx (accessed September 9, 2020). Dr Boyazoglu was also recognised by Dr J.W.L. De Villiers, president of the Atomic Energy Board, as South Africa’s representative ‘on the Board of Management of the International Project’ at the National Symposium on Food Irradiation, held in Pretoria 4–5 October 1979; H. Beyers, H.T. Brodrick and W.C.A. Van Niekerk, eds., Proceedings of the National Symposium on Food Irradiation (Pretoria: Atomic Energy Board, 1979), 141, https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/11/570/11570261.pdf; ‘Elgin Valley History’ http://elginvalleyhistory.blogspot.com/2018/07/ (accessed September 9, 2020). Frank Rozwadowski was hired by Edmond Lombardi, founder of the company Lombardi, as recalled by his son Dave Lombardi: ‘My father had absolutely no previous experience in farming of any sort. But what he did have was a keen sense of all aspects of business and was able to grasp the key issues required to make a success … he recruited one Frank Rozwadowski, an experienced Polish agriculturist. [He] brought on board several other Polish experts (Kormornicki, Rosenwerth and Herbowicz)’.

¹⁰⁶ J.G. Boyazoglu to Mr. Fourie, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, June 8, 1979, 1/37/3, DIRCO.

¹⁰⁷ M. Moller, ‘Versoek van LOD (Poolse Nasionale Lugredery) om skeepslui tussen Pole/Suiid-Afrika/Pole te vervoer’, November 18, 1982, 1/37/3, DIRCO.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Pretoria’s (UP) Research and Development Programme and the UP University Capacity Development Programme.