“He refused to go back home” – Football Players’ Exiles from the People’s Republic of Poland to the West Cover Image

„Odmówił powrotu do kraju” – ucieczki piłkarzy z PRL na Zachód
“He refused to go back home” – Football Players’ Exiles from the People’s Republic of Poland to the West

Author(s): Sebastian Pilarski
Subject(s): History, Political history, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today), Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej
Keywords: escapes; illegal emigration; football players; football; athletes; People’s Republic of Poland; secret police; passport policies

Summary/Abstract: Illegal emigrations of football players from the People’s Republic of Poland were quitefrequent, but in most cases they were not treated as high profile in the mass media. The only exception was the 1988 escape of Andrzej Rudy, a player in Poland’s national football team. The examples of emigrating athletes discussed in the text have been divided into two categories: defectors per se (those who left their teams’ foreign training camps), and peoplewho refused to go back to Poland after legally obtaining a consent to travel to a Western country (or Yugoslavia). The first case of an athlete illegally leaving Poland took place inthe 1950s, while the last one in the last months of the break-through year of 1989. It wasusually footballers playing for Silesian clubs who opted for illegal emigration to West Germany. Family reasons were often quoted as a basis for making such a decision – numerousdefectors were able to prove their German roots. The 1980s saw a particular intensificationof escapes, which was related both to deteriorating economic conditions in Poland and more liberal passport policies at the end of the decade. It is worth noting that the communistauthorities changed their attitude towards the phenomenon. While in the 1960s the secret police would keep the defectors and their families under surveillance, 20 years later the government would simply register anyone “refusing to return to Poland”.

  • Issue Year: 24/2014
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 387-421
  • Page Count: 35
  • Language: Polish