Stanisław Wojcik

 Guest post by Ian Netwal

Stanisław Wojcik is a fictional composite figure whose real name has been classified due to the nature of his work. For clarification, Stanisław Wojcik is not the character's “real” name, however in an attempt to stay with the general theme of the character, his true name is left unknown. Stanisław was born August 6th, 1945 in a small mining town in the Ural mountains. Being born in the Soviet Union, Stanisław was raised during a time of rapidly rising tensions. During his education in 1959, his test scores were brought to the attention of the KGB, who then began training and preparing him to act as an agent in a foreign country. His training consisted of learning multiple languages, namely Polish, German, and English, as well as learning how to appear as a member of a certain niche of a population. By 1963, Stanisław was ready to receive his orders: he was to assume the identity of Polish national “Stanisław Wojcik” a political dissident who sought to defect to West Germany, where he would then seek to emigrate to the U.S. where he had family. Utilizing the intricate web of spy networks on both sides of the Berlin wall, Stanisław succeeded in his goals and made it to his “family” who resided in the South Side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Having accomplished phase one of his mission, he then began phase two: enrolling in and studying the methods used in an American university. As Stanisław had a very generous and wealthy “family,” he was able to secure enrollment at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the fall of 1965. Given the parameters of his mission, Stanisław decided to join the many clubs and activist groups that he encountered; he was after all supposed to compile an overarching report on the way an American college operated. While Stanisław diligently prepared the logistics of his mission, countless other operatives in different parts of the country were tasked with the same mission, and at their completion all the reports would be compared, for reasons unknown to the operatives.

Stanisław Wojcik’s role in the re-enactment is to illustrate the Cold War tensions of the time. There is no intention for Stanisław Wojcik to be viewed as an actual person/parody of an actual person; the intention is to portray a very real fear many people had during the time, that fear being the idea of Soviet spies infiltrating American society. The Instagram handle for Stanisław Wojcik is averagestudent1965.

List of sources used

1. Image of a newspaper reporting on President Kennedy’s assassination- https://www.newyorker.com/news/hendrik-hertzberg/friday-november-22-1963
2. Image of Berlin Wall- https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-wall-now-down-for-as-long-as-it-once-stood/a-42456108
3. Soviet map of Milwaukee- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/15517/rec/9
4. Mary’s bookstore (2 images used)- https://www.jsonline.com/story/life/green-sheet/2017/01/17/milwaukee-bookstore-made-fbi-chief-see-red/96611154/
5. First use of UWM post- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmpost/id/4119/rec/1
6. Klotsche goes to Brazil- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmpost/id/4822/rec/1
7. DOW chemical protest February 14, 1967- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmpost/id/5137/rec/26
8. Snippet referring to the Milwaukee 14- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmpost/id/6101/rec/3
9. Image of a snowy campus outside Mellencamp, ~1965- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmphoto/id/493/rec/3
10. Image of the UWM student union, ~1965- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmphoto/id/589/rec/1
11. Image of Manfred Olson being interviewed by the planetarium- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmphoto/id/562/rec/262
12. Image of students studying in the library- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmphoto/id/442/rec/15
13. Nixon Warned- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmpost/id/1322/rec/27
14. Article referring to Kent State incident- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmpost/id/1434/rec/43
15. Illustration of Nixon- https://guides.library.uwm.edu/c.php?g=56372&p=362683 (Illustration from UWM Post, February 12, 1971)
16. Image of the UWM physics building, ~1970- https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmphoto/id/541/rec/54