Martial Law through the Eyes of an Englishman. Observations of Physicist Michael Glazer from His Stay in Krakow in May 1982
The article presents a note drawn up in May 1982 by a British physicist Michael Glazer recording his impressions from his scholarship stay in Krakow. The document offers an interesting insight into the difficult Polish reality of the first months of martial law; it is written from the perspective of a foreigner who is surprised by what goes around him. The text constitutes not only a record of a foreigner’s experiences: for it found its way onto the desks of the employees of Foreign Office in London and was recognized by diplomats as an important source of information concerning the relatively poorly cognized Polish reality. One has to bear in mind that at that time, due to a diplomatic boycott of the Polish People’s Republic, introduced after 13 December 1981, the Western authorities had considerable difficulty in cognizing the internal situation along the Vistula.

Martial Law through the Eyes of an Englishman. Observations of Physicist Michael Glazer from His Stay in Krakow in May 1982
The article presents a note drawn up in May 1982 by a British physicist Michael Glazer recording his impressions from his scholarship stay in Krakow. The document offers an interesting insight into the difficult Polish reality of the first months of martial law; it is written from the perspective of a foreigner who is surprised by what goes around him. The text constitutes not only a record of a foreigner’s experiences: for it found its way onto the desks of the employees of Foreign Office in London and was recognized by diplomats as an important source of information concerning the relatively poorly cognized Polish reality. One has to bear in mind that at that time, due to a diplomatic boycott of the Polish People’s Republic, introduced after 13 December 1981, the Western authorities had considerable difficulty in cognizing the internal situation along the Vistula.