Aleksander Smolar - The most important compliment my father ever gave me (103/201)
78 views · Published 19 December 2018 · 0:49 · Indexed 19 October 2026
Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2018 · News & Politics
To listen to more of Aleksander Smolar’s stories, go to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFwlxPLurqAOCrabBgGrqLA7 Aleksander Smolar (b. 1940) is a Polish writer, political activist and adviser, vice-president of the Institute for Human Sciences and president of the Stefan Batory Foundation. [Listener: Vitek Tracz] TRANSCRIPT: My political passions were clear. They were clear. I remember how incredibly important my father's compliment was when he said: 'Ah, you're thinking politically.' He didn't normally speak with me – I wasn't someone he had conversations with. He wasn't a bad father but I didn't have an intensely meaningful contact with him although I once saw him interested when we were talking about Nazi Germany and how they came to power. I was… I don't know, about 11 or 12 years old and I said something, a few sentences to which he replied, 'Listen, that's an interesting political analysis'. That for me was a compliment, the most important compliment from my father that I ever heard in my life. That was then.
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