That Rowicki character

 

 

"That Rowicki character" was how some orchestra manager used to refer to Witold Rowicki, the distinguished Musical Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

I liked Rowicki even though he was responsible for me spending a night in a Polish jail.

It happened like this. I was in Berlin and two days later I had meetings in Stockholm, so not wanting to stay any longer in Germany I decided to go to Warsaw for an evening, never having been there. I thought while there I should look up Rowicki.

So I called the British Embassy and asked if I needed a visa to go to Poland. They said it was no problem; I could get one on arrival at the airport. So I called Rowicki and he was happy to invite me for a drink at his place that evening. When I arrived at Warsaw airport the immigration official asked me for my visa. I said I had been told I could get one on arrival. He then asked me if I was there on Business or Pleasure so like  an idiot, I said 'Business.' He asked, 'where is your invitation?' I said I didn't have an invitation. He said I couldn't come in without an invitation. I then had the bright idea of giving him Rowicki's number and asking him to check with him that he had invited to meet him that evening.

They disappeared and came back saying 'Mr. Rowicki doesn't know you.' I later realised that Rowicki must have been spooked by getting a call from the Frontier Police asking if he knew someone called Robert Slotover. Clearly in the Communist regime of the time it was safer for him to say he didn't know me.

I then asked if there were any flights to Stockholm later that night but was told there were none.

'So what can I do?' I asked. You can stay at the airport 'hotel' they said. This place was underground with rooms without windows. A woman guard who must have been Rosa Klebb's older and uglier sister sat at a desk on a podium guarding the exit. I realised I was in some kind of detention.