"I lived in Poland and I'm very happy to return". New U.S. Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski tells TVN24

At an official ceremony at the White House on Wednesday, Mark Brzezinski was appointed new U.S. Ambassador to Poland by U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris. Brzezinski's candidacy was approved by the U.S. Senate by acclamation on December 18.

The newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Poland agreed to talk to "Fakty" TVN correspondent Marcin Wrona. In the interview, Mark Brzezinski revealed when he was coming to Poland, who was going with him, and what were his plans with regards to his new position. He also shared some of his memories from the time when he had lived in Poland for two years during a scholarship programme.

We present the full interview below.

Marcin Wrona: Mr Ambassador, are you ready ready, everything packed? Ready to go, ready to fly to Warsaw?

Mark Brzezinski: Jestem gotowy, (I'm ready) Marcin, I'm so excited. And this is so personally significant to me to go and serve as the U.S. Ambassador in the ojczyzna, the homeland of my father. it means so much to me and I'm grateful to President Biden.

Marcin Wrona: So when are you flying to Poland? When are you actually gonna be in Warsaw?

Mark Brzezinski: I'm gonna fly to Poland on Thursday evening.

Marcin Wrona: And you're taking over all of your duties right away?

Mark Brzezinski: I actaully have started my work already, Marcin. I was sworn in administratively at the State Department on December 22. So I've had an opportunity to work on the U.S-Poland relationship since December 22. I was so pleased to have developed a professional relationship with Marek Magierowski, the new Polish Ambassador here in Washington. And I fell like we've already gotten a lot done. So I'm excited to get to Warsaw.

Marcin Wrona: That's not an easy thing to pack all your life and go to different country across the pond, right?

Mark Brzezinski: It's not. This is the second time I'm doing that, I went to Sweden as Ambassador in 2011. And it's a major upheaval. And I'm grateful to my family for the sacrifice, but at the same time I can't wait to get to Poland. I'm so excited to get to Poland and to begin to engage with the Polish people.

Marcin Wrona: So who's gonna fly with you?

Mark Brzezinski: My sister Mika is going to fly with me. My daughter Aurora is going to fly with me and our nanny Martha is going to fly with me.

Marcin Wrona: Ok, so you'll have support?

Mark Brzezinski: I will have support.

Marcin Wrona: Mika is constantly talking about you going to Poland on her social media. She's so proud!

Mark Brzezinski: Well, we're so excited. This means so much to us, it's so personally significant and all of us, my sister Mika, my brother Ian, have had Poland a little bit as a North Star in the course of our professional careers in different ways. And so to be able to go Poland and to be on the ground, especially to serve as the personal representative of President Biden is so personally significant to us. And we're all grateful, we're all excited.

Marcin Wrona: I can't stop thinking about your father. He would be so proud. Because he wanted this years ago for you. I know that. And now it is happening.

Mark Brzezinski: Well Marcin, I can share with you a little secret. He actually thought that something like this would never happen.

Marcin Wrona: Really?

Mark Brzezinski: This was his perspective. So obviously this is not how things turned out. But his perspective was that for someone to be cast on America's shores from abroad and from Poland, that it probably was not going to even occur that someone with a strong Polish heritage would be sent to Poland as ambassador. I know he's looking down from above...

Marcin Wrona: And this is a very significant place where we are right now. You asked to meet right here, to talk right here. Tell us why?

Mark Brzezinski: I did, Marcin. Beacuse this is a scultpture done by my mother Emilie Benes Brzezinski. This is the U.S. Federal Reserve, across the street from the White House, and this is one of her pieces called "Arch in Flight". To me, it represents everything that my family has striven for and that is to try to take flight, seize opportunities, grab opportunities where we can. It's the American story. And that's why, Marcin, I asked to meet with you here.

Marcin Wrona: This is a wonderful piece of art...

Mark Brzezinski: We are all so proud of my mother. In many ways, my father is the most well-known member of my family, but my mother, an artist in Washington was the rock behind him. People don't know that, they should.

Marcin Wrona: Exactly. Thank you so much for meeting with us right here. This is not your first long-stay trip to Poland. You're in fact coming back to Poland after decades, after being there on a research stay or trip.

Mark Brzezinski: That's absolutely correct. In fact, let me even say the following because this is important to me to convey: (here Mr Brzezinski started to speak in Polish) I'd like to thank President Biden - it's a huge honour for me. For me and my family, it is a special moment and in this very moment I think about my father. Thirty years ago I lived in Poland, and I'm very happy to be able to return there. Thirty years ago I was on Fulbright scholarship in Warsaw. I studied constitutional transformation in post-communist Poland. I lived at Tamka Street, near Chopin's house. I wrote a book and studied the language. Ladies and gentlemen, please bear in mind that it was thirty years ago, so my Polish is not perfect and I must work on it. The crucial thing for me back then was the chance to see how the U.S. Embassy works. It was impressive. Now, we have so many possibilities in Poland. I'm ready to come. Long live Poland! Thank you and see you soon!

Marcin Wrona: So I need to ask two more things - first of all your Polish is impressive. Why am I even speaking English?

Mark Brzezinski: Dziękuję ślicznie (thank you kindly), Marcin, I did not know if I would earn that this morning. It's too cold to speak Polish.

Marcin Wrona: Ambassador Victor Ash...

Mark Brzezinski: A good friend...

Marcin Wrona: He loved travelling, he has this map. I saw this map in his basement in Knoxville, where he has those pins with all of the towns and villages that he visited. Are you going to be a stay-in-Warsaw ambassador, or an ambassador travelling, visiting various places in Poland?

Mark Brzezinski: Well, the guidance from President Biden is clear. Ambassadors are to get out from behind the embassy walls and out and around the country. I can't wait to do that. I lived in Poland for two years, so I've been around the country and I can't wait to get every single region of the country. Me and the country team, the embassy team, have a lot of pans to get out and about, so I plan to get around to every corner of Poland. I am so excited for this opportunity, I can't wait to get to Poland, and also from outside the city limits of Warsaw into the country, and to meet the Polish people, and to begin to advance our special friendship.

Marcin Wrona: I will end this with a very controversial question. Are you a pierogi man or gołąbki man?

Mark Brzezinski: Bez wątpienia (no doubt about it) - pierogi man!