Testimonial: Gerod Mikula (1987-1990)

As a personal memory the period of time of my membership of the Executive Committee (1984-1990) was considerably shaped by processes and developments in Eastern Europe. Coming from a neutral country, it was a real concern to me to maintain close contacts with our members in Eastern countries and to support them in every respect I was able to. This held in particular for Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and East Germany. Contacts with Polish colleagues became particularly difficult after the banning of Solidarnosz in 1982. During the whole period of my work as secretary (1984-1987) and even later till 1988, we had serious problems communicating with and getting permission for Janusz Grzelak, then a member of EC, to attend the meetings of the executive committee. As the Association’s secretary I sent several petitions to the Polish Ministry of Science urging them to permit Janusz to attend our meetings, but the success rate was rather low. Sometimes it was also impossible to contact Janusz by phone or even by mail. The political changes in Eastern Europe before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain in Europe in 1989 made for the most impressive, pleasant but also challenging period of time in my presidency. The organization of the General Meeting 1990 provides a good example. The plan to hold the Meeting in Budapest was born in 1987 when Hungary still had a communistic regime. The practical organization and preparation of the GM turned out to become a big challenge to the organizers in Budapest and the EC due to many changes taking place in the transitional period of 1989. We had to face and deal with enormous price increases, changes in responsibilities, authorities and even the ownership and administration of the conference site.