Roman Polanski: ‘Let’s Burn This Witch’ – Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland

One of the interesting side effects of the arrest of film director Roman Polanski is the soul-searching it has set off in the other countries that claim him as one of their own – in this case, Poland. Why are people defending a man who committed, in the eyes of most civilized people, one of the worst crimes imaginable – pedophilia?

In this wide-ranging interview from Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, Professor Wojciech J. Burszta, chair of cultural anthropology at Poland’s Higher Institute of Social Psychology, explains how such a thing could happen in Roman Catholic Poland – and what it says about modern society.

For Gazeta Wyborcza, Professor Burszta says in part:

“We Poles have minimized the issue of his crime from the beginning. We still do – we’re talking a lot about Polanski, but not a word about that girl. And when we do, it’s, ’she wanted it, she dressed provocatively, perhaps it was even pleasant to her.’ There’s a fundamental difference between American and Polish views of the case. There, a child is to be protected. If Americans are afraid of anything, it is, first of all, that someone might shoot them; second, that someone might harm their children. In Poland we talk a lot about children, but more often than not, we talk about the unborn. Violence within the family is still acceptable, so the question of what age a child is inviolable is relative. … I think it’s been quite therapeutic, because it has begun a very important conversation. It’s not a discussion about Polanski – whether he is or isn’t a national treasure. It’s about who we are. What kind of morality we have. … We’ve been saying for years that American justice has been hunting Polanski. But now our own Polish hunt for Polanski has begun. He’s our witch. I say ‘witch,’ because ’sorcerer’ has a much more positive connotation.”

Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

October 5, 2009

Poland – Gazeta Wyborcza – Original Article (Polish)
GAZETA WYBORCZA: Who is Roman Polanski now?

WOJCIECH J. BURSZTA: He is a prominent film director. An older man who has regulated his life. A father of teenage children. An active creator. But he’s also a man burdened with a very serious accusation of which we have unaccountably forgotten during the last 30 years. And not only us – the whole world forgot or was willing to act as if nothing happened. If Switzerland hadn’t acted, that would probably have been the end of it.

GAZETA WYBORCZA: You say he has “regulated his life”? …

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