Methods of conducting a conversation with a politician of the PRL. Biographical and journalistic interview on the example of meetings with Marian Orzechowski

Abstract

Talking to a politician is not an easy task for a researcher who needs to be mindful of the fact that the witness to history is playing by a given set of rules. The analysis of a biographical and journalistic interview with Marian Orzechowski, a professor of history and Poland’s foreign minister from 1985 to 1988, allows us to outline the advantages and disadvantages and differences and similarities between the two methods of interviewing and to make note of the characteristic features of the relationships between politicians of the communist period, such as the schematics, the intellectual mishmash, and the narration of a story based on the semi-truths which is then interpreted and verified. This article addresses the question of understanding the mentality and identity of the politician as well as the factual value of interviews, assuming that all the spoken testimonies are psychologically true.

Keywords

• wywiad biograficzny
• wywiad dziennikarski
• marian orzechowski
• politycy prl