MK: Between the 1920s, when you grew up, and the modern times in which your grandchildren are living, there have been changes like something out of the pre-war science-fiction stories of Bruno Winawer, whom you once interviewed as a student.
JH: The changes caused by the spread of computers and smartphones have been extreme and revolutionary.
MK: Today, we live in a world of procedures. In your memoirs, the old world seems less formalised and bureaucratic than today.
JH: I remember that when it came time to pay taxes, my mom would take off her fur stole and go to the tax office dressed more poorly, so she could then weep before the official, who would eventually capitulate and say, ‘Alright, we’ll let you pay in instalments.’ He had the authority to make exceptions and to assess people’s situations on his own.
MK: Your mom also loved to bargain.
JH: Because without haggling, there was just no joy in shopping.
MK: Today, the price is the price and the custom of bargaining has disappeared. Do you look at all these social changes optimistically or with regret?
JH: I try to understand it all. When I need something, I know how to find some basic information on the Internet. But when it’s something that requires more complex skills, I ask my son for help, and he goes, click, click with two fingers, and he immediately knows everything and tells me.
MK: Tadeusz Konwicki used to say that longevity was a curse. Would you agree with that?
JH: I believe the opposite. Of course, if it had to be a life of chronic pain and suffering, I would probably look at old age somewhat differently. But I believe in regeneration, and I commend that belief to others, because when I was 18 or 19 years old – and later, when I was 30-something – I had more problems with my heart than I have now. The world is so interesting and a person lives in it for such a short time. I catch myself sometimes when I see an obituary of someone I knew and it says: ‘lived to the age of 88’, and first, I think: ‘not bad, he lived a long life’ – but then I remember that I’m older than that.