Sunday, 13 December 1981. A Sunday which began like any other, but became a date etched in Magdalena’s mind forever. At home with her family, she was seven years old and, as usual, as soon as she woke, she rushed into the living room to catch her favorite television show, which was only aired once a week.
But unknown to her, life had changed beyond recognition overnight.
An announcement from General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Communist Prime Minister of Poland and leader of the Polish United Workers’ Party, had replaced her program. Despite not fully understanding, Magdalena could tell by his tone that something was very wrong. “I didn’t know why this was happening,” she says. “I was very disappointed and started crying. I said to my parents ‘What’s going on?’”
General Jaruzelski had enforced martial law, imposing military government as a drastic measure in an attempt to crush the surging popularity of the pro-democracy labour union Solidarność (Solidarity) — which reached 9.5 million members at its height in 1981.
Within 24 hours, Magdalena became acutely aware that the freedom she’d taken for granted had also perished on that gloomy December day. A police curfew was imposed, national borders were sealed, airports were closed, and road access was restricted. Communication was also on lock down, with post censored and telephone lines either disconnected or intercepted.
She vividly remembers staring out of the window of a tram she was riding in with her mother, fixated on the heightened military presence taking hold of the streets. When she returned her gaze to her mother, she could see tears rolling down her cheeks.
Living under martial law: Fearful for her family
The young Magdalena grew increasingly fearful for her family’s safety. Both her home and her country no longer felt safe. She knew that her parents were active members of Solidarność, which meant they were at risk of government incarceration — or worse. “There was always a lot of fear and when there was a knock on the door in the middle of the night, we were not really sure if we could trust it or not,” she says.
Between 1981 and 1985, around 78 members of Solidarność were killed by police and security forces. Thousands more were jailed. “People were disappearing and there was this very strong feeling of living in a society where you can’t trust the system,” she says. “People tried to do something about it, but we felt as if we were being treated unfairly thanks to the non-existent integrity of the government.”
Despite the anxiety gripping Poland, she believes the passion of its people was something the government failed to quash. “My parents took me with them to demonstrations,” she says. “One night, there was a demonstration because someone fighting for the freedom of speech had been killed. People stood with candles, there was singing and crying, and there was an outraged feeling in the crowd.” Martial law continued until July 1983, but the country continued to suffer its aftermath for many years.
Escaping Poland: There is always a route out of fear
A few months later, Magdalena’s father was offered a temporary scientific research role in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The family decided to leave the ongoing political strife behind them and relocate.
“When we first went to the Netherlands, I’ll never forget crossing the border to see so many colors,” she says. “Those colors didn’t exist in Poland, it was amazing. There were fruits and vegetables I’d never seen before and smells I’d never smelt before. It was a real explosion of the senses.”
The journey to a fairer world: Fighting corruption
Looking back, growing up in an atmosphere of fear gave Magdalena the strength to make changes throughout her life. “There was this extreme feeling of being treated unfairly, of being shut and over-controlled, and it really triggered a huge movement within myself, like a snowball that starts rolling and gets bigger and bigger,” she says. “This had a big influence on my feeling of what’s right or wrong, what’s fair, what kind of society I want to live in, and what I want to do about it.”
Seeing corruption first-hand in Poland ultimately made her want to fight back. “When you see your friend dying from a serious illness and the doctors want an extensive bribe before they operate, or your grandmother has all her bones broken but they won’t operate because they want money on the table, it makes you furious inside,” she says.
The challenges she faced in her past sparked her ongoing quest for fairness and integrity — factors reflected within her role at Siemens. Now Head of Clarification and Remediation for Siemens Europe, based in Zurich, Switzerland, she has spent seven years working in compliance. Ultimately, she is responsible for clarifying and remediating local compliance cases within Europe where there are allegations of a violation of the law or any internal regulations related to criminal or administrative law.
In addition, as Compliance Officer for Building Technologies Europe, she is responsible for furthering the commitment to compliance from employees and management. She fosters business partnerships and provides risk-oriented consultancy on issues including corruption, money laundering, antitrust or human rights.
“I am doing something that I very strongly believe in,” she says. “As an individual in Poland, I didn’t have the power to fight corruption. But an organization like Siemens has extreme power to not only change organizations, but also the world.”
Facilitating change: The importance of integrity
For Magdalena, the desire to pursue integrity and create something positive from her turbulent childhood goes way beyond her day job. She formed a group called The Integrity Salon, inviting colleagues from different departments to come together four times a year to discuss topics related to integrity. “Would a society without money exist?” was recently debated. “They’re questions that sometimes we don’t have space to think about during the working week — so it needs some space to go over them in my private life,” she says.
Integrity is the thread that runs through Magdalena’s life. Growing up in a highly restricted environment made her appreciate honesty and the value of choosing right over wrong. But most importantly, she’s used her experiences to positively impact the future in so many ways.
Magdalena Kalbarczyk has worked with Siemens since 2001 in a variety of roles including Market Intelligence Manager and Compliance Officer for the Building Technologies Division. She began her new role as Head of Clarification and Remediation in March. She lives in Zurich, Switzerland with her ten-year-old son Lev. Find out more about working at Siemens.
Illustration: Peter Greenwood
Animation: Studio Ultra
Photography: Youtube.com/Sarah Van Horne; Chris Niedenthal/Forum
