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| Lech Walesa Files Made Public Despite Forgery Claims | Lech Walesa Files Made Public Despite Forgery Claims |
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| WARSAW — A Polish national archive released portions of decades-old files on Monday that indicate former President Lech Walesa, the leader of the Solidarity movement and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, was a Communist informer in the 1970s, even though Mr. Walesa has insisted that the documents are forged. | |
| The documents, including what are said to be Mr. Walesa’s work and personal files under the code name “Bolek,” have not been verified by a handwriting expert to determine whether signatures were his. The Institute of National Remembrance, which released the files and allowed journalists to examine hundreds of photocopied pages on Monday, has made no claim about the documents’ authenticity. | The documents, including what are said to be Mr. Walesa’s work and personal files under the code name “Bolek,” have not been verified by a handwriting expert to determine whether signatures were his. The Institute of National Remembrance, which released the files and allowed journalists to examine hundreds of photocopied pages on Monday, has made no claim about the documents’ authenticity. |
| Lukasz Kaminski, the president of the archive, which was established to investigate crimes committed when the Nazis, and then the Soviet Union, dominated Poland, said at a news conference on Saturday that he wanted to “end speculations about the contents of these files.” Still, many commentators in Poland, including former Solidarity activists, have called Mr. Kaminski’s decision “political” and “controversial.” | Lukasz Kaminski, the president of the archive, which was established to investigate crimes committed when the Nazis, and then the Soviet Union, dominated Poland, said at a news conference on Saturday that he wanted to “end speculations about the contents of these files.” Still, many commentators in Poland, including former Solidarity activists, have called Mr. Kaminski’s decision “political” and “controversial.” |
| The files, which were seized last Tuesday at the house of the last Communist interior minister, Gen. Czeslaw Kiszczak, suggest that Mr. Walesa was a paid informer from 1970 to 1976, a period when he was leading labor protests at the Gdansk shipyard. The papers include a handwritten agreement, signed “Lech Walesa, Bolek,” to cooperate with the state security service, as well as a payment register and testimony from Communist informers concerning Mr. Walesa. | The files, which were seized last Tuesday at the house of the last Communist interior minister, Gen. Czeslaw Kiszczak, suggest that Mr. Walesa was a paid informer from 1970 to 1976, a period when he was leading labor protests at the Gdansk shipyard. The papers include a handwritten agreement, signed “Lech Walesa, Bolek,” to cooperate with the state security service, as well as a payment register and testimony from Communist informers concerning Mr. Walesa. |
| Also among the documents is a letter by General Kiszczak, dated April 5, 1996, and addressed to an official at the Polish Central Archives of Modern Records. In the letter, General Kiszczak, who died in November, explained that he had kept the files hidden so that they would not be used against Mr. Walesa and the Solidarity movement — first by the Communist government and then, after 1989, by Mr. Walesa’s political opponents. General Kiszczak asked that the files be published five years after Mr. Walesa’s death. | |
| Maria Kiszczak, the general’s widow, tried to sell the documents to the Institute of National Remembrance for about $27,000. She later told journalists that she had not read her husband’s note and that she had “made a mistake.” | Maria Kiszczak, the general’s widow, tried to sell the documents to the Institute of National Remembrance for about $27,000. She later told journalists that she had not read her husband’s note and that she had “made a mistake.” |
| Mr. Walesa, 72, has battled similar accusations for more than 20 years and was cleared of collaboration charges by a special court in 2000. He has denied the latest claims in a series of vehement posts on Wykop, a Polish social media website. | Mr. Walesa, 72, has battled similar accusations for more than 20 years and was cleared of collaboration charges by a special court in 2000. He has denied the latest claims in a series of vehement posts on Wykop, a Polish social media website. |
| After the files were released on Monday, Mr. Walesa wrote: “I’ve lost. But only because almost everyone has believed that there was some treacherous collaboration on my part with the Security Service 46 years ago, incidental and short, but it was there, and at least for a while I got broken. It is not true. Thank you. You have betrayed me, not me you.” | After the files were released on Monday, Mr. Walesa wrote: “I’ve lost. But only because almost everyone has believed that there was some treacherous collaboration on my part with the Security Service 46 years ago, incidental and short, but it was there, and at least for a while I got broken. It is not true. Thank you. You have betrayed me, not me you.” |