There is a saying, sometimes directed at someone who is wished badly: ‘May you live in interesting times!’ This so-called folk wisdom has perfectly recognised that interesting times are difficult and sometimes even life-threatening. There is another saying: ‘What does a Jew do when a story comes out? He enters the nearest gate so that it does not trample him’. This saying comes from Eastern European Jewish folklore and reflects situations that are bad for the community, not necessarily the Jewish community. Well, Tadeusz Kowalik lived in interesting times and did not ‘run to the gate’, but faced and sought solutions to them.