70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE WARSAW UPRISING: A TIME TO REFLECT

At precisely 5:00 pm on August 1st, 2014,  Warsaw stops and holds its breath for a minute.  It is the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.  As every year, the Polish people pay their respects to their fallen heroes.  It is also a time for reflection.

The Warsaw Uprising was one of the most brutal, vicious battles of World War Two. Though historians often refer to it as urban warfare, this definition is grossly understated. The Warsaw Uprising was all-out war.

The Polish Underground had been planning this offensive since the outbreak of World War Two, and desperately relied on their alliance with Britain and the United States for their military intervention and war materiel. Churchill and Roosevelt responded amicably with abundant smiles and promises, but delivered too little too late. In the end Britain and the US betrayed their most valuable ally, Poland. Political expediency was the motivating factor, rather than the defence of democracy, honour and justice. Stalin was a political mastermind, and skillfully played Churchill and Roosevelt into bending to his will. Yalta was proof of that. The decades which ensued plunged the world into the Cold War, with Poland and many other nations trapped behind the Iron Curtain. The Warsaw Uprising was a catastrophic battle which lasted 63 days.

Tens of thousands of Polish Home Army soldiers were killed as well as 200,000 civilians. Nazi German armies barraged Warsaw night and day, airdropping bombs, launching heavy artillery, torching buildings, until much of Warsaw was reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble and ashes. All the while, the Red Army stood poised across the Vistula casually watching the destruction and waiting until the Nazi Germans finished their rampage. Then finally, the Russians entered Warsaw claiming to have "liberated" her.  It was really a hostile occupation under the guise of "liberation" ! Despite the heavy toll on the lives of Polish people, the events of the Warsaw Uprising is a testament to their fervent desire to be a free nation and people, and to their courage to fight against all odds. The Polish Armia Krajowa (Home Army) endured 63 days of fighting against the full military might of the Nazi Wehrmacht, while possessing few weapons and military equipment of their own.


The West still cannot fathom the devastating effects of the Warsaw Uprising, nor understand it. But the Polish people have not forgotten.  Citizens gather every August 1st at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw to honour the memory of the brave men, women, and even children, who fought so courageously against the invaders. The Warsaw Uprising is still very much in the collective memory of the Polish people. So too is the realization that even after 70 years, the West still remains indifferent.

Warsaw after Warsaw uprising  (00:06:48m)    

   

Recommended Links:  

Virtual Tour of Powązki Cemetery (images from 64th Anniverary)

http://www.360cities.net/image/cemetery-powazki---64-anniversary-of-warsaw-uprising-warsaw  Website of the Warsaw Uprising Museum http://www.1944.pl/en/ Warsaw Uprising 1944 http://www.warsawuprising.com/  History of War in Pictures - (a Special 70th Anniversary Presentation of rare photos of the Warsaw Uprising)

 Presented by Polish Greatness.com http://historyofwarinpictures.blogspot.ca/  

 

JP2 DAY: POPE JOHN PAUL II, THE GREAT

In the span of two thousand years there have been only four Popes who were bestowed with the title of Greatness. Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) was the fourth Pope to receive such an acclamation.

The first was Pope St. Leo I. In the year 452 Leo was one of three envoys sent by Emperor Valentinian III to meet with Attila the Hun at Mincio, near Mantua (Lombardy) Italy. The hordes invaded and pillaged numerous cities in northern Italy, as well as the city of Aquileia, razing it to the ground without a trace. (Aquileia was of great strategic importance. It had been the center from which government, commerce and military defense was conducted, and was the location of the imperial residence.) Rome was the next target of the Huns. Though the details of the negotiations have been lost in antiquity, historians speculate that Leo I was instrumental in persuading Attila to withdraw his troops. According to Paul the Deacon (8th century) Leo I was a man of imposing presence - a huge man dressed in priestly vestments, and armed with a sword (visible only to Attila). Apparently the visual impact proved to be an effective deterrent. (However one cannot know if this was fact or merely folklore). Nevertheless, Attila the Hun withdrew his armies and Rome was spared.

The second Great Pope was Gregory I, (590 - 604) who has been referred to as the "Father of Christian Worship". He established numerous liturgical reforms, and revived the Church's missionary work, in particular to the pagans in Anglo-Saxon England. Leo I was a prolific writer amassing over 850 works during the last decade of his papacy. He often bemoaned the burdens of office, and wished to immerse himself in the seclusion and silence of prayer that he once enjoyed as a monk.

Pope Nicolas I was the third Great Pope reigned from circa 800 to 867, and had a decisive influence on the development and power of the papacy.  He proclaimed that the pope should possess suzerain authority in matters of faith and morals, over all of Christian Western Europe, even royalty.  He encouraged the missionary activity of the Church, and took corrective measures whenever Bishops neglected their duties.l

Karol Wojtyla - John Paul II was the fourth Greatest Pope, whose achievements are unprecedented in the history of the Church. He was the second-longest serving Pope and the first non-Italian since 1523 to be elected to the Papacy. During his pontificate Pope John Paul II had visited 129 countries, traveling a total of 1,100,000 kilometers (680,000 miles). He beatified 1,340 people, and canonised 483 saints - an immense accomplishment, surpassing the sum total of equivalent works by all his predecessors.


He was the first Pope to pray at an Islamic Mosque in Damascus, Syria, and at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. By example John Paul II showed the faithful how to pray, and rallied the youth of the world into the laity of the Church. His goal was to transform the Catholic Church into one which would nurture peace and create an alliance among the three great religions of the world: Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

Pope John Paul II praying at Western Wall, Jerusalem March 26, 2000

Pope John Paul II at a Turkish Mosque among Muslim clerics

Pope John Paul II condemned apartheid, and was an outspoken critic of war.  He fervently believed that "Wars generally do not resolve the problems for which they are fought and therefore....prove ultimately futile."

His greatest achievement was the defeat of Communism in Poland, which set off a domino effect.One by one, communist regimes throughout eastern Europe began to topple, which culminated in the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Pope John Paul II was indeed the greatest leader of the 20th century. To his beloved homeland and to the world, Pope John Paul II was venerated as a living saint and saviour who paved the way for Poland's eventual liberation and the end of the Cold War.

Karol Wojtyla's first papal visit to Poland in June 1979 electrified the spirit of the Polish people, long oppressed under brutal totalitarianism. Rather than obstruct the Pope's visit, communist authorities were quite willing to permit it, using the occasion as an opportunity to demonstrate that, despite the Pope's Polish roots, his official visit would not be a sign of change to come. The Soviet regime was complacent in the belief that the status quo would remain intact, and anticipated that the Pope would abide by the rules, hence setting an example for the Polish people to follow.

Incidentally, when Karol Wojtyla was elected the new Pope in 1978, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was reported to have declared the event as utterly meaningless. He asked "How many soldiers does he have in his army? None." Needless to say, had any riots broken out during the Pope's visit to Poland, the consequences would be have been disastrous, and the communist regime would surely have blamed the Pope for the causing the debacle.

Mindful of the dangers, Pope John Paul II transcended politics relying on the use of what Joseph Nye, coined as "soft power". It is the ability to reach political objectives by inspiring the masses through non-coercive means. His speeches were spiritual in essence but embodied great political significance. He encouraged the Polish people to be courageous, to support one another, to be good and reminded them that God is the only source of goodness.

With just three words, "Be not afraid", Pope John Paul II was able to galvanize an entire nation, and inspire confidence in the principles of solidarity and change. And the Polish people listened. It sparked the formation of Solidarnosc (Solidarity) led by Lech Walesa who rallied the support of millions of Polish people to the struggle for human rights and freedoms and democratic reforms, and the eventual liberation of their homeland.
  

Pope John Paul II was a powerful force to contend with, and a political threat to the Soviet Union. On May 13, 1981 as the Pope entered St. Peter's Square, he was gunned down, and critically wounded by a Turkish terrorist, Mehmet Ali Agca. Miraculously the Pope survived though he came close to death. He attributed his survival to the intervention of the Virgin Mary, to whom he was particularly devoted.

In February 2004, Pope John Paul II was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for his life's work in promoting peace, and his monumental achievement in subverting communist rule in Poland and Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, he was not chosen. Instead the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Wangari Maathai, for her contribution to "sustainable development, democracy and peace" in Kenya.Nevertheless, Pope John Paul II was among other notable Nominees none of whom received the prestigious award - Mohandas Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt and Corazon Aquino, just to name a few.

Several months later, US President George W. Bush awarded the Pope with the highest American civil decoration - the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev once stated that, "the collapse of the Iron Curtain would have been impossible without John Paul II."

Pope John Paul II passed away on April 2, 2005 having long suffered from a debilitating illness. Two weeks later, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a brief address from the balcony in St. Peter's Square, referring to his predecessor as "the great Pope John Paul II". The following year the Italian parliament created a special committee to re-examine the case of the attempted assassination, and came to the conclusion that the Soviet Union was indeed behind the conspiracy to eliminate the Pope - beyond a reasonable doubt.

John Paul's legacy inspires people around the world, crossing all lines of nationality, race and religion. He has shown by example that faith can move mountains, and that lasting peace can only be achieved through diplomatic means.

On May 1, 2011, Pope John Paul II was beatified at St. Peter's Square by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.  The same year the Vatican announced that October 22nd, the day of his 1978 inauguration, will be observed as the Feast Day of Blessed Pope John Paul II.

Radical changes in world politics leave America with a heightened responsibility to be, for the world, an example of a genuinely free, democratic, just and humane society.    Pope John Paul II

 

YALTA CONFERENCE: SECRETS, LIES, AND BETRAYAL

Yalta. The name is synonymous with deception and betrayal. Yalta continues to endure as one of the greatest controversies of our time. For decades Western leaders, political analysts, academia, and journalists have been grappling with facts, half truths, lies and conjecture in the struggle to untangle the most baffling imbroglio of the twentieth century. Today it becomes ever more urgent to understand the lessons of Yalta and re-examine the events that led to the Cold War.




The Yalta Conference, one of a series of summit meetings during World War II, was convened at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea from February 4 to February 11, 1945. In the span of seven days the "Big Three" - President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Marshall Josef Stalin, agreed upon the configuration of a post-war Europe, and sealed it's fate and that of the world for the next 47 years.

Yalta Conference February 4, 1945 Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill and others

The meetings concluded with a set of protocols that dealt with a number of issues, including the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, the declaration of a liberated Europe, the restoration of sovereignty and self-determination to countries that had been occupied by Nazi Germany; the establishment of order and the rebuilding of national economies. The allies agreed to impose severe punitive damages against Germany that would be exacted by the payment of billions of dollars in reparations, the subjugation and dismemberment of the German state and military, and the establishment of allied zones of occupation therein to ensure future world peace and security.


Foremost in the Yalta agreement was the imperative of creating the United Nations organization based on the principles espoused by Roosevelt and Churchill in the Atlantic Charter signed in August 1941. It sought to establish world security and commit nations to  "respect the right of all people's to choose the form of government under which they will live and....to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them...". The inclusion of these conditions in the Yalta Protocol was an absurdity, because by the time the Conference took place, the Red Army already occupied much of Eastern Europe and constituted a military force that was three times the size of the Allied forces positioned in the West.

PM Stanislaw Mikolajcyk

The Soviet Red Army had already occupied Poland under the pretext of a so-called "liberation" in January 1945.  In July 1944, the Polish Committee of National Liberation, also called the Lublin Committee was installed as the so-called "provisional" government of Poland, staffed by communist administrators, and backed by the notorious NKVD. Polish Prime Minister Stanislaw Mikolajcyk was deliberately left out of all summit conferences and never kept informed about its agreements.

Mikolajcyk continued to protest the Soviet occupation unaware that Poland had already been ceded to Stalin. His persistence caused considerable annoyance to Churchill and he berated Mikolajcyk for his refusal to surrender to Stalin's wishes. But it was all fait accompli.

Post-World War II Map of Soviet Influence in Europe

It was within this framework that Churchill and Roosevelt sought assurances from Stalin for a future Polish state. However the resulting Protocol was disturbing in its ambiguity. Though Stalin agreed to a future Polish government, he insisted that it would be based on the already existing Soviet-controlled Polish Provisional Government but he assured them that such government would be reorganized along a broader "democratic" basis by the inclusion of democratic leaders from Poland itself, and from Poles abroad" and that he would allow the "free and unfettered elections as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage and secret ballot." What eventually transpired would shock and outrage the world.


The agenda also included the question of Poland's post-war borders yet the matter had already been settled surreptitiously at theTeheran Conference in 1943. Stalin insisted that the Polish eastern border be determined by the Curzon Line which would result in the dissection of a third of Poland's territory. A secret meeting had been arranged at which Roosevelt unilaterally ceded Polish territory to Stalin in exchange for assurances that Russia would ally itself with the US in the Pacifc War. The deal was done without Churchill having known about it beforehand.


Incidentallly, during the Yalta Conference Roosevelt had taken many an occasion to snub Churchill perhaps in an attempt to improve his own bargaining position with Stalin.Churchill was bullied and mocked mercilessly. It was a spectacle of ridiculous proportions and one which achieved nothing other to amuse Stalin immensely. The rift that existed between Roosevelt and Churchill did nothing to strengthen their resolve against Stalin.

The Yalta agreement was hailed around the world as a resounding success. Reminiscent of Chamberlain's triumphant return to London after the Munich Agreement in 1938, Churchill was welcomed with similar fanfare when he returned to London after Yalta. Lord Beaverbrook, an enduring friend lavished Churchill with praise fit for a hero saying, "You now appear to your countrymen to be the greatest statesman as well as the greatest warrior."   

Time Magazine Stalin Man of the Year

From the moment that the Soviet Union became an ally, the British and American propaganda machine went into full swing. In January 1943 Time Magazine released its issue featuring Josef Stalin as Man of the Year. The ensuing article praised him for his "tough guy" approach because it "brought results".

In March 1943 Life Magazine devoted an entire issue glorifying the Russian Soviet leadership, proclaiming that Lenin was "perhaps the greatest man of modern time". They even suggested that the FBI was fundamentally comparable to that of the NKVD.  American media made every effort to draw similarities between the Americans and the Russians, and declared that the Soviets are "just like us". They "look like Americans", "dress like Americans" and "think like Americans".



Even Hollywood got in on the act and produced about a dozen pro-Soviet films, such as "Mission to Moscow", "Counterattack", "Song of Russia", "Days of Glory", "The North Star", and "The Battle of Russia" just to name a few. "Mission to Moscow" was made upon the request of President Roosevelt. The producer of the film, Robert Buckner referred to the production as "an expedient lie for political purposes". It portrayed the Soviet Union along the lines of an American style democracy in the attempt to whitewash the American public. But most disturbing thing of all was that at the heart of the American psyche was the genuine conviction that any "anti-Soviet" sentiment was considered inflammatory and anti-American. The propaganda was successful.



Even the British public was mislead about the true nature of the Soviet leader and did not consider Russia a threat. The British and Americans desperately needed the Russians if they were to defeat Nazi Germany.  Churchill went so far as to openly criticize the Polish government-in-exile for its refusal to cultivate "friendly relations" with Russia, implying that Poland was the real "enemy" and as a result was made an outcast.


Churchill and Roosevelt considered the Soviet Union a valuable ally and took every opportunity to portray the Soviet leader as an amiable bearer of democratic freedoms and peace. In their effort to paint a rosy picture of their alliance with the Soviet Union, they even referred to Stalin as "Uncle Joe"  however they both tread very carefully in an effort not to antagonize Stalin nor cause him any public embarassment or offense.


Roosevelt provided Stalin with considerable financial support as part of the Land Lease Agreement. In the period from 1941 to 1945, the United States shipped about $11.3 billion worth of supplies to the Soviet Union. (The US also shipped goods to other allies worth, $31 billion to Britain, $3 billion to France and slightly over $1 billion to China. The total expense to Americans was $50 billion, the equivalent of $611 billion today.) In addition the USSR received with more than 2,000 locomotives, 11,000 railcars, and 18,700 aircraft. By 1945, over two-thirds of trucks utilized by the Red Army came from the United States. Incidentals were also shipped to Russia, such telephone cable, aluminum, canned rations, and clothing. In return, Roosevelt wanted Stalin's support in the Pacfic War.



It was not long until news leaked out about the truth of the Yalta accords, and that Roosevelt and Churchill had sold out to Stalin's demands. (Other secret deals included, at Stalin's insistence, US recognition of Port Arthur, of Mongolian independence from China, of Soviet interests in the Manchurian railway, as well as special voting rights for the Soviet members of the United Nations Security Council.) The British House of Commons was in an uproar over the deal about Poland, and anxious about the possible consequences.  In a blistering speech in the House of Commons MP Dunglass denounced Churchill for the "transfer to another power the territory of an ally" and that Churchill failed to permit the Polish government to have "the full right to choose their own government free from the influence of any other power." The following day twenty-five MP's who opposed the Yalta agreement introduced an amendment to the vote of confidence.  However, the amendment was defeated by a landslide: 385 votes against, and 11 abstained. Only 25 votes were in favor.

PM Winston Churchill

Despite the heated accusations, Churchill expressed immense self-confidence that the Yalta Conference was a success and staunchly defended his position saying, "I repudiate any suggestion that we are making a questionable compromise or yielding to force or fear. The Poles will have the future in their own hands, with the single limitation that they must honestly follow a policy friendly to Russia. That is surely reasonable. I know of no government which stands to its obligations more solidly than the Russian Soviet government."

Stalin and Churchill caricature

In reality Churchill had long been a harsh critic of communism and thoroughly despised Stalin and his regime. He was well informed about Stalin's murderous campaigns, the endless purges, the slaughter that lay in wake of the Red Army, in particular their hand in the massacre of thousands of Polish Officers at Katyn in 1940.  Most heinous was the betrayal of the Poles during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.  At the crucial moment when the Polish Army most expected help from the Russians, the Soviet Red Army stopped at the banks of the Vistula River and merely watched and waited while the Nazis were slaughtering the Poles. It was all the more shameful because Churchill and Roosevelt refused to help the Polish Home Army despite their frantic pleas for assistance. Churchill imposed a media ban to prevent these facts from being public knowledge.  After the defeat of the Warsaw Uprising, Churchill met with the Polish Prime Minister in Moscow, turned to him and uttered these words: "The Russians will sweep through your country and your people will be liquidated.  You are on the verge of annihilation."

Katyn Massacre - (Russia)
16,000 Polish officers were executed by Soviet NKVD

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Roosevelt on the other hand was willfully ignorant and adamantly refused to confront any of the facts despite constant attempts by the State Department to inform him of the true nature of "Russian diplomacy". FDR revealed his naievete when he unabashedly defended his opinion of Stalin.He said, "I think that if I give him everything that I possibly can and ask nothing from him in return, nobless oblige, he won't try to annex anything and will work for a world of democracy and peace".

During the Yalta meetings, Roosevelt sent a letter to Stalin (dated February 6, 1945) in which he tried to persuade him to make reasonable concessions in regard to a future Polish government otherwise it would have put the three of them in a "bad light throughout the world", that is, Stalin recognized one government "while we and the British are recognizing another in London". 


Soon after the conclusion of the Yalta conference, and three weeks before his death, Roosevelt came to the startling realization that he had failed miserably, and that his advisors had been right all along. He admitted that "Averell is right.  We can't do business with Stalin. He has broken every one of the promises he made at Yalta.".   Averell Harriman, US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, had accompanied Roosevelt to Yalta and encouraged the President to take a tougher position against Stalin, in defense of the Polish question.

In a Top Secret White House memorandum dated May 11, 1945, William Leahy, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff relayed a message to the U.S. Secretary of State which Churchill had dispatched to Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden. In it Churchill advised Eden of the urgency of resolving the Polish problem, and expressed grave concern over European security should American troops withdraw too quickly. The following is a reproduction of this two page document in its entirety.

Churchill expressed concern over what he termed the "Polish deadlock",  worried about the impending tide of Soviet expanisionism and the fear that Poland would be "completely engulfed and buried deep in Russian-occupied lands".  But in the wake of the Yalta conference these concerns were swept aside and replaced by the single determination to win the war whatever the cost.


Churchill was a highly skilled orator who also demonstrated exceptional dramatic license. Memos such as that presented above served only to perpetuate his masquerade, a tactic which was well timed. His gesture of trying to salvage European security and rescue Poland at the last moment could only assure that Churchill's political intregrity and legacy would remain unscathed.


Roosevelt was never particularly interested in the "Polish problem".  His main preoccupation in 1944 was winning another Presidential term.  On October 11, 1944 he invited the members of the Polish American Congress to the White House. It was a perfect photo opportunity. Behind the President was a huge map of Poland on the wall illustrating the demarcation of its eastern border along the Riga Line rather than the Curzon Line. In an effort to win the trust and support of Polish Americans, Roosevelt concealed the truth about Yalta, and assured the Polish delegation that they could depend on the friendship of the US government. Roosevelt won their vote easily all with few words and a big map.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt
and members of Polish American Congress

IMMEDIATE REPERCUSSIONS OF YALTA

In March 1945, Stalin demonstrated his compliance with the terms of Yalta by inviting Polish leaders from abroad to form the new Polish Government of National Unity (TRJN). But upon their arrival, they were immediately arrested by the Soviet NKVD. Though Prime Minister Mikolajcyk joined a few others to co-operate in this new government, they were all betrayed.

By June of that year, the new coalition government was organized, and consisted of members of the Polish government-in-exile, and those of Polish Communist Party. But Stalin made certain that none of the old guard possessed any real power.

Stalin's promise for "free and unfettered elections" never materialized. The communists used repression, bribery, threats, and even murder of opposition members to consolidate their power. An "election" was held only when the communists were certain to obtain majority support. No British nor American observers were permitted to attend. Prime Minister Mikolajcyk had no choice but to resign.


The Polish government-in-exile did not recognize the TRJN - neither did the Vatican. But surprisingly on July 5th, 1945, the United States gave the TRJN full recognition, which soon after was followed by France and the United Kingdom. By October of that year delegates of TRJN signed the United Nations Charter, and Soviet Poland became a full member of the United Nations. In retrospect the events leading up to the demise of Poland's sovereignty had all the makings of a coup d'etat. Stalin was a master puppeter, and Churchill and Roosevelt were his puppets.

By August 16, 1945 the controversy over the Curzon line was finally settled, albeit by questionable and devious means. The "Soviet" Polish government agreed to cede its eastern territories to the Soviet Union and officially recognized the Curzon Line as its eastern border. 


Throughout this episode the Soviet NKVD embarked on a massive man-hunt to capture Polish soldiers of the Armia Krajowa. Polish fighters were arrested, tortured and hanged. Thousands more Poles were deported to remote camps in the Russian gulag. Polish troops which had helped the Red Army drive the Germans out of Lwow, Wilno and Lublin were summarily executed. Sixteen prominent leaders of the Polish underground were arrested and killed after having been subjected to a mock trial. The NKVD was able to track them down only because British Foreign Minister Athony Eden gave Stalin the list of names.



CONCLUSION

With the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War there is a resurgence of interest in the events of the Yalta Conference and a re-examination of the causes of the Cold War. The controversy still continues to plague us and questions arise as to which side was actually responsible for the start of the Cold War, and precisely when? Were the Americans responsible, or the Soviets? Is there anything that Churchill and Roosevelt could have done to prevent it's escalation and how? Many in the West continue to defend the legacy of Roosevelt and Churchill, insisting that they innocently fell victim to Stalin's chicanery. It is imperative that we look at the cold, hard facts before we can formulate objective conclusions.


Now that the Cold War is over, Russia is an equal among democratic nations. Communism, its ideology and fanaticism has melted away giving rise to the anticipation of a more peaceful co-existence. No matter. Rivalries will continue to exist irregardless of the catalyst, be it ideological, cultural, or political. On February 27, 1945 Churchill addressed the House of Commons about the Crimea Conference, in which he stated, "It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time." He was sorely mistaken. It is vital to the future peace and security of the world that international agreements entered into with friendly nations (or adversaries) take into account the long-term ramifications. Quick fixes do not work. The Yalta Conference proved it.

SPY WEEK Famous Polish Spies - Interview with Andrzej Kiszka

THE FOREST WAS MY ONLY SAFETY
AN INTERVIEW WITH FAMOUS POLISH SPY ANDRZEJ KISZKA

Andrzej Kiszka “Dab”  captured by Polish Secret Police (SB)  on 30 December, 1961

Andrzej Kiszka, code name “Leszczyna”, and “Dab” was an AK-WiN and an NSZ Soldier. For years he was able to evade capture until 1961 when the Polish Secret Police, the SB (Sluzba Bezpieszenstwa) and the MO (Milicja Obywatelska)surrounded his bunker in the forests near Huta Krzeszowska and arrested him.  He was sentenced to life in prison though he committed no crime. He was released from jail in 1971 however the courts of the Third Polish Republic refuse to clear him of his “crimes”. 

THE FOLLOWING IS AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDRZEJ KISZKA

Under what circumstances did you join the largest Home Army – NOW (pol. Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa - National Military Organization) partisan unit, under command of Franciszek Przysiezniak “Ojciec Jan” (translated:  “Father John”), operating in our area?

I joined the underground in 1941. Initially I was with BCh (pol. Bataliony Chlopskie – The Peasants’ Batalions), and later from October 1942 in AK/NOW. My immediate superior in Maziarnia was Bednarski, and under him I took the oath before the Holly Cross, and the red-and-white [Polish] flag.  It was then, that I decided that I will be faithful to her [Poland] until my death.  It was dictated by my faith and my love for my country.

Initially, along with my colleagues from NOW we dug up arms [which were hidden] in 1939, and we gave them to the “Ojciec Jan” unit.  After German pacification operations in 1943, I transferred to the unit under [command of] Przysiezniak, and participated in all operations, until the Soviets came in July, 1944.

You joined the People’s Militia (pol. Milicja Obywatelska) after that?

After the Soviets entered, I retuned to my unit, and reported to the commandant Bednarski, from whom I received orders to join the Militia.  I was to report to him all communications received by the County Office of MO.  In November, 1944, an order came from Bilgoraj, that the lists of those to be sent into Siberia are being prepared, because the NKVD regiment will be arriving to conduct arrests along with the [local] MO unit.  It was a secret, but one of the Militia men (he was in PPR – Communist Party of Poland) told me about it.  I told the commandant of the station, that I am leaving with two of my colleagues from the “Ojciec Jan’s” unit.  I was lucky, because, we found out later, that we were among the first ones on the list of those to be sent into Siberia.  I took my RKM [light machine gun], and immediately reported this to Bednarski.


Later you were in the NZW of Jozef Zadzierski, nom de guerre “Wolyniak”.  After his tragic death in December, 1946, you didn’t lay your arms down, but continued [fighting] in the Adam Kusz “Garbaty” unit.

The NKVD action didn’t go as planned. They arrested people who didn’t belong to any [underground] organization, and they were sent to Siberia. Many of them died there, and those who returned, didn’t live for very long. Several innocent farmers were also murdered.  It is then, that I decided to join the NZW unit of “Wolyniak”.  His second in command was my friend from the “Ojciec Jan” unit, Adam Kusz “Garbaty”. With this unit, I took part in all of the operations, including a 10-hour long battle for Kurylowka, against NKVD, and UB. After the death of “Woyniak”, only few of us were left.

We were with Kusz, “Garbaty, who in 1947, asked that I reveal myself [to the communists as a part of the amnesty they announced], and I did so. If this amnesty was to be for real, the rest of the unit was to reveal themselves as well. However, it quickly became clear, that this is an operation directed at arresting most active members of the underground. I returned to the Adam Kusza [‘s unit], where I remained until it was destroyed, that is, until 19 August, 1950.

In July 1950, “Garbaty” initiated contact with people who [he thought] were, allegedly trustworthy. They supplied us with money to purchase food, and promised us fake documents, so we could escape to the West. The “Kapitan” was to be from the District Command of WiN in Lublin.  Through his initiative, in order to maintain contact with the West, a short wave radio, along with two men to operate it were brought into the unit. Unfortunately, we found out, that they were UB agents, and the radio transmitter was used to locate the place where we were staying. On August 15, 1950, the Janow forests were encircled by 3,000 men from the KBW, UB, and MO. Our commander divided us into two groups, and along with five of my colleagues, we went on our own. “Garbaty” along with rest of the unit, and the radio operators, went in the opposite direction.  We were escaping into direction of the Lipsk forests (pol. Lasy lipskie), and we were able to pierce through the encirclement, when on the third day, after we went through the swamps.  “Garbaty” knew the Janow forests like the back of his own hand, and certainly was able to pierce through the encirclement. He and his colleagues, had to be certainly murdered by the [commmunist] UB radio operators.

From the moment the “Garbaty’s” unit was liquidated, until 1961, you hid from the communist security apparatus, i.e. in the bunker in the forest. Who helped you? I had a contact with colleagues who collaborated with the forest unit of “Garbaty”.  They were Stanislaw Flis “Czarny”, Jozef Klys “Rejonowy", Stefan Wojciechowski “Bogucki”. The winters were the worst, and it was difficult to hide in barns, because we left too many tracks in the snow.  For this reason we build a bunker in the forest, and under cover of snow we would stay there for three, or four months. Later Jozef Klys and Stefan Wojciechowski were murdered by the UB (pol. Urzad Bezpieczenstwa – Office of Security) from Pilatka [office].  When I was the only one left, I hid in bunkers and in forests. With the help of two trusted people, I built bunker number three. First, we prepared materials, and then at night we dug up a hole. We covered it with tree logs, and sheets of tar, so the moisture wouldn’t get inside. On the top [of the bunker] we planted pine trees and moss. The entrance was built in such way that you couldn’t see it. Inside was a small well, so that the water could be boiled, and a metal bucket served as a toilet. We also created two openings to allow the air to circulate, and for sleeping I had a bed. The bunker was built in the area of the Huta Krzeszowska forest inspectorate, near the village of Cismy, on the hill, in a thick forest.In Ciosmy, I had a contact with two guys, but they were helping me only during the summer months. They didn’t know about the existence of the bunker. I had provisions for the Winter: potatoes, some macaroni, and bread. The meat, and the fat were from deer I hunted, and that was marinated. These provisions would last me entire winter. I would cook two times a day on a small alcohol-fueled stove, and for the duration of winter I had about 40 liters of this fuel. During the winter, I would lock myself in the bunker. I couldn’t leave it, since I would be leaving tracks in the snow. The bunker was warm inside, and I would sit inside wearing only a shirt, and I had books to read. During one winter, a small mouse got into the bunker, and fell into an empty jar from the grease, and she lived in it whole winter, and I had someone to talk to. I let her go in Spring. I was hiding by myself, and a slew of the UB snitches were doing everything they could to arrest me, or to murder me. So during the winter, I would stay in the bunker, and during the Spring and Summer, I was in charge of my forests. They saved me. All of my colleagues who hid in the villages were murdered by the UB, usually as a result of being betrayed [by the conmunist collaborators]. And so I survived until the 31 December, 1961.I spent winter in the bunker. There was about half a meter of snow [covering it], and the bunker was well concealed.  Based on many years of experience, I didn’t leave the bunker.  Nonetheless, someone had to betray me, because they knew exactly where under a thick layer of snow was my bunker. I heard them clearing out the snow, and digging.  I heard that during the interrogations they didn’t torture people as much as before, and even though I had an arsenal of weapons, I surrendered without a fight. For your activities on behalf of sovereign Poland you were sentenced to life in prison.  The Supreme Court changed your sentence to 15 years.  As a result of amnesty, you left the prison walls after 9 years.  How were you able to live with a mark of a “reactionary bandit”? I left the prison in 1971.  I traveled to my family.  A local parish priest summoned me.  I found out from him, that the UB (Urzad Bezpieczenstwa – Polish Secret Police) were giving him American Dollars and a car, to confess my family and extract from them where I am hiding.  He warned me to be careful of people. I left for Western Poland, into the Szczecin voivodship, where a wife of my deceased brother lived. She had small children and a farm.  I married her.  Despite many difficulties we managed to live, and dream of free Poland.  Not even our neighbors knew about what I have gone through, and after so many disappointments and betrayals, I  was careful.  I knew that the communist regime was watchful, and was interested in what I am doing. During the Third Polish Republic, the soldiers of the Anticommunist Underground were rehabilitated and decorated.  In your case, both the Polish courts, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, refused to acknowledge that you sacrificed 29 years of your life for a sovereign Poland. It is a very painful subject for me.  The existing law can only be described as shameful and barbaric.  I am guilty of fighting for the honor of the Polish Soldier.  On October 23, 1954, along with my unit, I went to the Rataj Ordynacki, where Jan Lukasik, a secretary of the communist PZPR party, and before that NKVD collaborator, and UB confident lived.  I intended to rough him up a little and warn him that he better stop handing over information about the underground soldiers to the “bezpieka”.  He slept when I entered, he reached for his revolver which was under the pillow.  I was quicker, and while trying to save my own life, I fired. According to the presently existing laws, if he killed me it would have been a "Communist Crime" (pol. "Zbrodnia Komunistyczna"). But since it is me who shot him, I became a bandit.  The testimony of witnesses didn’t do any good.  The commanding officer of the NSZ (pol. Narodowe Sily Zbrojne – National Armed Forces) partisan unit, Skamrbimir Socha,  even testified, that since Lukasik contributed to sending scores of Home Army (pl. Armia Krajowa) soldiers into Siberia, I had a right to carry out a death sentence against him. These were the last orders of the NSZ (National Armed Forces).  When my lawyers exhausted all legal possibilities, Lt. Col. Skarbimir Socha, received from me an authorization to issue a complaint  before the European Court of Human Rights.  The main argument was that no detailed investigation was ever conducted by the IPN (pol. Institute of Public Remembrance) in Lublin.  Another important argument was issuing to me rights of a combatant until 31 December, 1956, by the Commission for Veterans Affairs (pol. Urzad do Spraw Kombatantow).  (In this decision we read, that the period after 31 December, 1956 can not be included because the law considers 1956 to be the cutoff date). My imprisonment from January 1962 until August 1971, was also recognized as “activities on behalf of the Sovereign Poland”.  The Polish courts however didn’t exculpate me, nor did they ever address the issue of the murder of the soldiers from the “Garbaty” unit committed by the UB in August, 1950. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg reviewed my case, but issued an unfavorable decision to me.   All of my attempts to receive help from the European Parliamentarians whom I asked for help didn’t succeed.  They never even bothered to respond. For my military service against the Germans I was decorated with the National Action Cross (pol. Krzyz Narodowego Czynu Zbrojnego), and the Partisan Cross (pol. Krzyz Partyzancki).  They don’t give any medals for fighting the communists. So, here you have it – the justice in Poland. What would you tell those who know about German and Soviet occupation only from the history books? I am an old man. I am 85 years old. I finished only an elementary school. The rest is the school of hard knocks which thought me a lot. Love your God, because he will give you the strength to survive, and even love people. God is just. Love your church, because it has always been, and always will be your pillar of strength. In the underground, in the UB prisons, the priests were [also] always with us [as they were also jailed]. And love Poland, because you can’t live without her. We were raised by our parents who lived enslaved [by the communist tyranny], but cultivated [free] Poland in their hearts. For her, we were dying, we were tortured, we were imprisoned, and degraded. Even though my heart is aching from sorrow, I don’t regret those 29 years that were taken away from me. I acted, as my honor as a Pole, and as a soldier dictated. I am proud of it. We thank you for taking the time to speak with us.  Andrzej Kiszka among Polish Anti-Communist Resistance soldiers. source: Doomed Soldiers,com

SPY WEEK Famous Polish Spies - Ryszard Kuklinski, the Polish Viking

Ryszard Jerzy Kuklinski

Ryszard Jerzy Kuklinski (June 13, 1930 – February 11, 2004) was a Polish colonel and Cold War spy. Between 1971 and 1981 he
passed top secret Warsaw Pact documents to the CIA.  Zbigniew Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor described Kuklinski as "the first Polish officer in NATO."

Kuklinski was born in Warsaw and grew up in a working class family with socialist traditions. His father was a member of the Polish resistance movement during World War II, was captured by the Gestapo and died in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

After the war Kuklinski began a successful career in the Polish People's Army. He took part in the Warsaw Pact's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. However, he was profoundly disturbed by the realities of the invasion, as well as the brutal repression during the subsequent Polish protests of 1970. It was signed P.V. (Polish Viking)

In 1972 Kuklinski sent a letter sent to the US embassy in Bonn  describing himself as "an foregen MAF from Communistische Kantry" (sic) requesting that a secret meeting be arranged.

Letter from Ryszard Kuklinski (declassified by the CIA in December 2008)

In 1994 Kuklinski commented about his decision to communicate with the United States. His growing awareness of the "unambiguously offensive" nature of Soviet military plans compelled him to act, adding that  "Our front could only be a sacrifice of Polish blood at the altar of the Red Empire".  Kuklinski was gravely concerned that Poland would become ground zero in a nuclear showdown between the Warsaw Pact and NATO.

Between 1971 and 1981 he passed 35,000 pages of secret documents to the CIA, most of them from Soviet sources. These documents described details of Moscow's strategic plans regarding the use of nuclear weapons, technical specifications of the T-72 tank and Strela-1 missiles, the location of Soviet anti-aircraft bases in Poland and East Germany, the techniques used by the Soviets to evade detection of their military cache by spy satellites and plans for the imposition of martial law in Poland, among many other objectives.

Shortly before the imposition of martial law in Poland in December 1981, the CIA aided Kuklinski, his wife and two sons, the means to escape Poland and evade discovery. On May 23, 1984 a secret miltary court in Warsaw sentenced Kukliński to death, in absentia.  After the fall of communism, the sentence was changed to 25 years. Finally in 1995 the court repealed the sentence and issued a statement saying that Kuklinski was acting under special circumstances that warranted a higher need.

Kuklinski visited Poland again in April 1998. He told reporters that "my 25 year journey to a free Poland is over".  He visited Krakow where he received honorary citizenship and in a speech on live national radio, summed up his extraordinary career in this words,  "I consider myself to be an ordinary soldier of the Republic, who did not do anything beyond the sacred duty of serving one's homeland in its hour of need."  He considered himself a Polish patriot, rather than a spy who "recruited" the United States in the fight against the Soviet Union, and its puppets in the Polish communist regime in Poland. Finally, now, his countrymen agree.

He died from a stroke in a Tampa, Florida hospital. He was 73. He was buried in the Row of Honour in the Powazki military cemetery in Warsaw beside his son Waldemar.

"I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski, a true hero of the Cold War to whom we all owe an everlasting debt of gratitude. This passionate and courageous man helped keep the Cold War from becoming hot, providing the CIA with precious information upon which so many critical national security decisions rested. And he did so for the noblest of reasons – to advance the sacred causes of liberty and peace in his homeland and throughout the world. It is in great measure due to the bravery and sacrifice of Colonel Kuklinski that his own native Poland, and the other once-captive nations of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, are now free."
                                                                              George J. Tenet, Director of CIA, February 11, 2004.

It is believed that Waldemar's death was deliberately planned. Several months previously, and under mysterious circumstances that could never be resolved, Waldemar was struck by a car in a hit and run accident. The car was later found and had been completely burned out by the driver - in order to ensure the elimination of any clues. In 1994 his younger son, Bogdan and a friend, both of whom were experienced sailors, vanished from their sailing boat 70 miles off the coast of Florida. Weather conditions were good, there was no SOS transmission issued from the boat. The diving suits had not been worn and were dry. Their bodies were never found and their whereabouts are a mystery to this day. It is widely believed that the deaths of both Kuklinskis sons was the result of a KGB vendetta.

Legacy

In June 1986, Jerzy Urban, a spokesman for the Jaruzelski regime revealed Kuklinski's existence to the world in order to make the case that the Reagan administration knew about Kuklinski and secret documents concerning the application of martial law, but had betrayed the Solidarity movement by failing to pass that information on to its "friends" in Solidarity.

When the journal Kultura interviewed Kuklinski, he explained that the plan for martial law had already begun in late 1980 and that it was the objective of the Jaruzelski regime to destroy Solidarity irregardless of the outcome of negotiations with the trade union and Polish church.  He strongly rejected the regime's claim that declaring martial law was an internal decision, and went on to describe how the Soviets exerted pressure on Polish authorities to impose martial law.  When asked whether Jaruzelski was a hero or a traitor, Kuklinski replied:

My view has been consistently that in Poland there existed a real chance to avoid both Soviet intervention and martial law. Had he, together with Stanislaw Kania, proved capable of greater dignity and strength, had they honestly adhered to the existing social agreements, instead of knuckling under to Moscow, present-day Poland would undoubtedly look completely different.

As chief of military strategic command planning division of the Polish Army, Kuklinski was the liaison between the Polish army and the command of the Soviet military. He was intimately familiar with the layout of the Polish forces within the Warsaw Pact. Though details of the general plans for the Warsaw Pact forces were known only in Moscow, Kuklinski could infer a great deal of information from his contacts at the Moscow high command headquarters.

According to President Carter's NSA, Zbigniew Brzezinski, "Kuklinski’s information permitted us to make counterplans to disrupt command-and-control facilities rather than only relying on a massive counterattack on forward positions, which would have hit Poland." 

Opinion in Poland

Despite western praises, Kuklinski was branded a pariah in his own country. Solidarity leader, Lech Walesa, during his term as Poland's first freely elected president, refused to pardon Kuklinski.  In a poll taken in 1998, 34% of Poles considered Kuklinski a traitor while 20% considered him a hero, the remainder undecided. The administration of US President Clinton nonetheless took the position that it would oppose Polish membership in NATO unless Kuklinski were exonerated.

The Trybuna, the largest newspaper during the communist regime in Poland, had scathing comments about Kuklinski. After all charges had been dropped against Kuklinski in 1997, the Trybuna wrote that "Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski — a spy, deserter, and traitor — has been turned into a model of virtue and a national hero of the rightists."

Nowadays many people agree that by revealing military plans to the Americans Kuklinski managed to foil a planned Soviet invasion of Poland in 1981 although it resulted in martial law in its stead. It may have helped to prevent the start of World War III and subsequent nuclear destruction of Poland (or perhaps by revealing secret plans made Poland a target for NATO nuclear counterstrike.)  The causes of the 1981 martial law are still hotly debated.

Kuklinski is buried in the Row of Honour in the Powazki Military Cemetery in Warsaw, and has been given honorary citizenship of several Polish cities, most notably from Kraków and Gdańsk.

Plaque Dedication to Ryszard Kuklinski

The Polish political group Centrum (at the time headed by Zbigniew Religa) requested in 2004 that the President of Poland posthumously promote Kuklinski to the rank of general.

sources:

Wikipedia

Ryszard Kuklinski: Cold War Spy for the West

Recommended Links:
Has Ryszard Kuklinski Saved Us from World War III?
The Political and Moral Dilemna (in Polish only)
CIA Release of 82 De-Classified Documents on Poland's Martial Law (pdf downloads)
CIA website: The Vilification and Vindication of Colonel Kuklinski
Kuklinski website

SPY WEEK Famous Polish Spies - Franciszek Jarecki

Franciszek Jarecki

Franciszek Jarecki (September 7, 1931- October 24, 2010) was a pilot of the Polish Air Force. He gained international fame in early 1953 when he decided to make a daring escape from Soviet-occupied Poland flying a Mig-15 jet fighter plane, one of the best planes owned by the Soviet military at that time.

Jarecki was born in Gdów, a town near Kraków, and graduated from the world-famous prestigious Polish Air Force school of aviation in Deblin. In the early 1950s he was re-assigned to Slupsk in northern Poland, near the Baltic Sea. There, he flew Soviet MiG-15 planes, some of which were owned by the Polish Air Force.

He made the escape on the morning of March 5, 1953 which coincidentally was the same date as Joseph Stalin's death),

Jarecki was leading a patrol of four MiG-15s from his base at Stolp, Poland when he dropped the extra fuel tanks to lessen the load on his aircraft, broke formation, and nose dived to below 450 meters (1,500 feet) to evade Soviet radar detection. His was a desperate decision that was fraught with great danger. Previous pilots who had attempted such an escape were shot by the
Polish People’s Army.

In 1952, Edward Pytko was an instructor at Deblin who to escape to Western Germany but was intercepted and captured by Soviet aircraft over Eastern Germany and handed back to the Poles; Pytko was charged with high treason and executed.


Jarecki flew the MiG-15 from Slupsk to the field airport at Rønne on the Danish Bornholm island. The entire trip took only a matter of minutes. Once landed, specialists from the USA were summoned by Danish authorities who quickly descended upon the Russian jet fighter and proceeded to examine it thoroughly. Then, according to international regulations, they returned it to Poland by ship several weeks later.

Franciszek Jarecki (in dark flight suit)

MiG-15 with which Franciszek Jarecki escaped Poland

Jarecki remained in the West. From Denmark Jarecki moved to London, where General Wladysław Anders gave him orders, and then to the USA, where he provided top secret information about modern Soviet aircraft and air tactics.

He met with President Dwight Eisenhower and was awarded a $50,000 prize -  given to the first person  to present a MiG-15 to the Americans. He subsequently became a US citizen.

Several months later, another Polish pilot by the name of Zdzislaw Jazwinski made the same escape successfully flying a MiG-15 to Bornholm. Three years later, four students from Deblin’s school also escaped flying in two Yak-18 planes. They crossed Czechoslovakia airspace and landed near Vienna.
The uniform in which he escaped can be seen at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.   Other Polish defectors were:  Lt. Arkadiusz Korobczynski from Navy Flight in Wicko Morskie
who, in 1949, defected with Il-2M3 attack aircraft (No 3) to Gotland Island in Sweden. On November 7, 1957 Lt. Kozuchowski from 31st Fighter Squadron in Łask defected with Lim-2 (MiG-15bis, No 1919) and crash-landed near Halland in Sweden. On September 25, 1956 Lt. Zygmunt Gosciniak from Zegrze Pomorskie defected with MiG-15bis (No 1327) and made an emergency landing  at,Rønne Airport on Bornholm Island - without the use of landing gear.

Frank Jarecki owned a factory in Fairview, Pennsylvania called Jarecki Valves.  In 2006 the Polish TV Station TVN broadcast a movie “Jarecki”, part of a series called,“Great Escapes”. The series was dedicated to stories about Poles who escaped Poland between 1944 and 1989  to find freedom in the West.  He lived in Pennsylvania until his death on Oct. 24, 2010

source: Wikipedia

Suggested Links:
"Escape to the west...the "Frank" Jarecki Story


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