The Subaru sinks on a path in the middle of beech trees. Their pale trunks appear in the beam of the headlights, like frozen sentries. On the dashboard, a state -of -the -art camera films more than 2 kilometers in the dark. In the interior of the 4×4, thermal binoculars at 4,000 euros. Tonight, no drone: the one at 16,000 euros, capable of taking images 1 kilometer above sea level and filming at night, was loaned to another citizen patrol. But he will come back. “” We have several. People who support us put our hands in our pocket ”explains Dariusz Potyczka, a 51 -year -old welder whose thick hands seem to be able to twist a metal bar as to grasp an intruder with the collar.
By his side, Beata, yellow vest of the border defense movement on his back, blond loops, intact elegance despite the flashy lamp screwed to the forehead. Professor of physics in Zgorzelec, a city glued to the German Görlitz, she smiles when Dariusz shows a facade: “Look, there, there are our cameras. »» Further on, photographic traps, connected to the web, fixed discreetly on the trunks. At each crossroads, he knows where to look. “They sometimes come by this path. There, they lit a fire, well! »»
Dariusz is responsible for a sector of 72 kilometers of borders made of forests, bridges, rails which he knows by heart. From a distance, one might believe in scouting for adults with orientation game, night standby and improvised watch on the edge of the Neisse river. However, at the very moment, these men and women literally replace the state. “We are fighting for our country, there is still time for Poland”Dariusz slice, fan of the Saint-Tropez gendarme: “Does Louis de Funès’s France still exist?” »»
“These watchers could be in front of a PlayStation to eat chips … They spend their energy to defend their country”explains, admiring, Beata, who made his debut with the organization. In a few months, between the border defense movement and other individual initiatives, 7,000 citizens would monitor access to Poland themselves. Dariusz has signed up for a very personal reason. “The click occurred a year ago, when migrants tried to kidnap my daughter in a car”he says with this mixture of cold anger and severity that the wounded fathers have.
A front door
Dariusz examines the landscape as a cracked dike. “Do you see these controls on the road?” It is a comedy of the government of Donald Tusk intended for public opinion. A way of saying: “Calm down, we have the situation in hand.” But the reality is that in nine o’clock only eleven cars have been checked ”he said, the twins riveted on his eyes while he scrutinizes the border police on the A4 motorway, one of the main entrance doors to the west of the country. Then he adds, more serious: “For more than six months, we saw Germans land whole groups of undocumented migrants here. We have filmed everything: a dozen videos. »» Push-back policy-refer the migrants to the country by which they are supposed to have transited, without individual examination-is experienced as an injustice in Poland.
“How do you do, in France, to live with so many migrants?” »»
Further on, on a dusty track, territorial defense soldiers appear, khaki silhouettes, equipped with grot assault rifles, pride of the Polish industry. Dariusz stops, shakes his hands. Beata takes out a packet of cakes from her bag that she hands them. “For pizzas, you have to see with Uber”joke Dariusz. The military, who would like “Rather coffee”burst out laughing.
A few tens of meters, another watchman waits under a picnic shelter. Kazimierz, 67, businessman, the dry and muscular body, the firm handshake, listens to the story of the evening. Then, suddenly, the question fuse: “How do you do, in France, to live with so many migrants?” »» His sincere curiosity is mixed with misunderstanding. Poland complains France, “eldest daughter of the church”: we will be repeated four times the expression popularized by Pope John Paul II.
The night is calm. At the thermal binoculars, there is a doe, then a man … who wears a bucket of plums, taken overnightly. Fishermen belonging to the movement are installed by the river. Nothing escapes these men while their canes dip in the water. The state closes your eyes? What does it matter. Here, the inhabitants, often modest, contribute themselves to buy equipment: “Because in Poland, there is still time. We are the seed of this earth, we will fight, if it is necessary “loose Dariusz.
In the silence of this corner of Lower Silesia, the 4×4 leaves. We have already exhausted half of the fuel tank. A path opens onto a railway track. There too, a tent houses soldiers, mostly young volunteers, who kill boredom on close mattresses placed on the ground. Warsaw has deployed significant resources on this Oder-Neisse line. “This is one of our successes: we put pressure on the government that gave way!” »» congratulates Dariusz.
Vital issue
“ROG” (the acronym of the organization) is popular. Klaxon strokes, thumbs up to support them when the Poles meet them. Some media try to portray them in semi-fascists … “We were made up, to a gathering, to bring a masked group with swastikas … A classic technique to discredit us”sighs Dariusz.
“Letting all the illegals enter, it is to sign the end of Poland as we know it”
300 kilometers to the north, on the ODER, at Rosowek’s crossing point, south of Szczecin, other citizens watch. The border with Germany is only a small country road, but for them, it is a front line. Their fight finds relays even in the diet. Dariusz Matecki, a young deputy for Szczecin and leading influencer on social networks, sees it as a vital issue. On the spot, as he films, a soldier was dry. Matecki does not cille: “I do what I want …” And to add, however: “Soldiers should be able to use their weapons on the border. »»
On immigration, his verdict is just as sharp: “I am open to other cultures, but I don’t want to transform ours. If we bring people from the Third World, we will become a third world country. »» In the field, Jacek, 60, responsible for another sector, speaks the same language: “Letting all the illegals enter, it is to sign the end of Poland as we know it. »» Tonight, the border still holds but no one is unaware that the crack is widening.
