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IAESTE Alumnus Jimmy Jack
on his traineeship in Poland in 1961
My name is Jimmy Jack and I am from Coleraine,
Northern Ireland. I was born and brought up in
Belfast but I have been living in Coleraine near
the Giant’s Causeway since 1965. I am married
to Anne and have three daughters.
From 1962 until my retirement in 2004 I was employed
as a civil engineer on roads, drainage, bored piling, water and
sewerage design and construction working for contractors, consultants,
and the civil service. My retirement activities are gardening,
music, church, cycling, politics and travel (mostly to
visit my daughters in England, Scotland and beyond).
I first learned about IAESTE because my brother worked
in a chemical factory in Queen’s in Switzerland in 1955 organised
by IAESTE. Then at Queens University in 1959 a civil
engineering student gave a talk on his IAESTE experiences in
Norway and the same year I stayed in Brig with my brother
near to where he had worked and in the Simplon Hotel where
he had been lodged.
Having been impressed by what I had learnt about IAESTE
I decided to apply for a place in Germany or Turkey that were
offered. I was then offered Krakow in Poland and was immediately
intrigued and curious and set about reading about
and getting information on the situation in that ‘Iron Curtain’
country. A student’s representative, who had been to Prague,
assured me that I would not regret the experience in spite of the
presence of ‘secret police’. There was no induction at that time
but we were given the names of other participants and were
able to compare notes by writing letters to each other.
I started my traineeship on the 22nd July 1961. I went to
Krakow via Berlin by train to work for
‘Hut im Lenina’ a state owned, Stalin
inspired, large industrial complex involving
blast furnaces, steel manufacture, rolling mills, cement
works, and chemical factories . The experience revealed the
sense of Russian exploitation felt by the local workers. It was
linguistically difficult to learn much engineering although I
was able to compare notes with English speaking students from
England, Germany, Austria, France and Yugoslavia (as it was
then). I gained an interest in languages, politics and history of
other countries and it helped me to relate engineering to society
in general.
My visit to Auschwitz left a deep impression at that time.
It was easy to see why the Polish engineers were so politically
aware and humbling to see how their lives had been affected
by the traumas of war compared to my relatively sheltered upbringing
in a then ‘peaceful’ Northern Ireland. This made me
aware of the realities of life in the wider world and in a sense
prepared me for a career dominated by the 1968-2000 troubles
and prompted me to treat politics as a vital engineering consideration.
I think IAESTE is very important for international understanding
and cooperation. This is underlined by the causes and
effects of climate change, food, water and energy provision by
states and multi-national companies and how an organisation
can inspire international technical cooperation. I wonder what
it would be like, or if it would be possible, to work in Israel
or Palestine? IAESTE can make a big impact providing that it
is well publicised in the media and technical and professional
institutions (such as ICE).
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the Belfast
2013 conference even though I could only manage half a day.
Jimmy Jack with
participants of the
2nd Annual Alumni
Conference
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