Controller for tram and bus tickets
In the memories of the Jelenia Gora people, he is remembered mostly as the „kanar”, bus ticket inspector of the Miejski Zakład Komunikacji (MZK). He tried to influence effectively, but also unconventionally for the behavior and reliability of passengers in purchasing tickets. The last couple of years of profession activity in the MZK uniform has imprinted itself on the collective memory most. Deep enough that hardly anyone could imagine Antoni Mazurkiewicz in any other role, after all there were a couple of them, including the little known one as a participant in the September 1939 campaign.
Antoni Mazurkiewicz was born on July 5th 1916, in Cierpisz, so he didn’t remember world war 1 at all. In the second war he tok part as the non-comissioned officer of the Polish army. He started serving in the military two years before the start of the war, in 1937. He got captured and spent the whole war in a POW camp. He was very reluctant to talk about it, so his memories haven’t survived.
Soon after the war, in May of 1945, he arrived in Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój, immediately reaching the then emerging Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne, which in the beginnig, after the end of hostilities, had only trams at its disposal. At first he didn’t have elegibility, he became a conductor, but he was quickly able to work as a motorman. The motorman equipment did not only consist of the uniform, which A. Mazurkiewicz wore with undisguised pride, as well as in the winter, thatched boots. Woven from thick straw, they put on their own shoes, they were a necessary protection against the wind blowing into the unshielded driver's cabin.
The tram cars of Polish production of Konstal Chorzów, which ran in Jelenia Góra (from the end of the 1950s, mainly the "N" type trams), were exceptionally airy, and in addition the driver's desk was located right next to the entrance door, so in severe winter conditions the motorman leading through the entire shift operated the same temperature that was outside. The winters were sometimes freezing - at the end of the 1960s, in the case of one of the "winters of the century", the temperatures were lower than -30 degrees Celsius! The work of a driver or conductor in such conditions was an expression - from today's point of view - of heroism. Conductors, in turn, or rather woman conductors, because it was mainly women who worked in these positions, suffered also in the summer. They worked in thick "felt" uniforms, and the interior of the tram, warmed up to 35/40 degrees Celsius, was an unbearable workplace.
Trams in Jelenia Gora ran till April 30, 1969. A. Mazurkiewicz changed his work character, and went back to checking tickets, as a ticket inspector, and later – smoothly – as a ticket inspector in the MZK buses. It wasn’t an easy job, as the first buses which started commuting were short H-100 cars, that in the back which had leaking exhaust systems, which meant that the fumes were as intensive inside as they were on the outside.
Antoni Mazurkiewicz is credited with dozens of anecdotes, in addition, it is highly probable that - given his character - they are true and reflect his attitude to work. First of all - he tried to avoid imposing fines, and instead to embarrass a passenger without a ticket, who after such a "lesson" never thought about stowaways. - Where do you work? - he said loudly "to the whole tram / bus". And when he heard that in Fampa or in Celwiskoz, he continued, also loudly: - They pay so badly there that the ticket is not enough? I will have to call the director or the human resources, because it is such poverty that I’m scared... The red-faced passenger would most willingly pay five times for the ticket, just not to listen to it, but... the punishment had to be. At the end, the passenger was sometimes reminded that tickets had to be bought, and the controller didn’t give out the fine. In another case (because there were many ways to embarrass) he would point his finger at the neighboring passengers and say: - This guy bought a ticket. And he bought this one, and this lady too, they basically paid for you, it's a bit of a shame, isn't it? There was shame.
It also happened that A. Mazurkiewicz met an opponent worthy of himself, as in the case of one of the teenage passengers who also traveled without a ticket. The controller's methods on adolescents were slightly different. - You will kiss this boy (this girl) - he was pointing to a random passenger of similar age next to him - you apologize for not having a ticket and then I will give it to you. he said one time. - I'm not kissing! The boy argued proudly. - Then I'll give you a ticket! - the controller threatened. - I'll have a ticket! Was the stiff answer. - That's your father's gonna blow your ass! - Than he will! Intrigued, A. Mazurkiewicz inquired further. - But why don't you want to kiss, such a pretty girl. "... because she's my sister," came the answer that explained the hard resistance. On the other hand, A. Mazurkiewicz, if he believed the explanation of the reason for the lack of tickets and considered these reasons to be objective, would arbitrarily refrain from imposing a fine, at most he shook his finger. The company's management acknowledged that the controller has its own system of regulating problems and did not confront it with any regulations. All the more that A. Mazurkiewicz, already retired, also used to commute in the characteristic uniform and with his presence he disciplined passengers, although he had no formal grounds for sanctioning stowaways. He formally retired in September 1989, but did not allow himself to be fired. He passed away much later, after 54 years of professional activity, in 2000. Five years earlier, he was promoted in the army - at the age of 79 he became a staff sergeant for veteran activity.
His social position is best evidenced by the Nowiny Jelenia Góra plebiscite for the "Man of the Year". In the first edition, in 1990, which electrified thousands of readers at the time, four people took part in. Among them were: the owner of a popular travel agency (and this was the time of the first, relatively common, trips abroad, when it was not easy to obtain a passport and the office solved this problem); director of a significant enterprise in Jelenia Gora, employing well over a thousand people. There was also Antoni Mazurkiewicz, who won the plebiscite by "several lengths" distance from the competition.
A. Mazurkiewicz died on the 25th of September, 2002.
Supposedly, his wish was to be buried in his beloved MZK workers uniform. The uniform, after decades of work was in a horrible state and the family didn’t agree to fulfill his wish in this form. In the casket that he was buried, they put the uniform and hat, that he was remembered during all the generations of Jelenia Gora people.
A. Mazurkiewicz was awarded, among others, by Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Gold Cross of Merit, Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945, Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland, Medal of the 40th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland, Medal of Honor for Merit to the City of Jelenia Góra and the Badge of "Meritorious Worker of the MZK".