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In Reconciling Its Past, Poland Is Divided Anew
Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, shown in 1997, faces charges that while Poland's military ruler, he illegally declared martial law in 1981 to suppress the Solidarity movement.
(By Czarek Sokolowski -- Associated Press)
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Dudek estimated that as many as 1 million Poles could have served as informers during the communist era. But only about 100,000 people had case files that clearly identified them as collaborators, he said.
The remainder, he said, must be reconstructed from a variety of documents that often contain fleeting references to individuals or people operating under aliases. Sometimes, people were falsely identified as informers by intelligence agents trying to impress their superiors.
In disputed cases, people tagged as collaborators can appeal to a special commission to ask that their names be cleared. But it can take years for cases to be heard.
Meanwhile, prosecutors from the Institute of National Remembrance are preparing to try Jaruzelski. After beating similar legal action in the '90s, he was indicted again in March 2006 on charges of "communist crimes," stemming from his decision to declare martial law. Dozens of people were killed in clashes that resulted in 1981, and thousands of underground activists were arrested.
Jaruzelski has maintained his innocence and portrays himself as a Polish patriot, arguing that he did what was necessary to stabilize the country and prevent an invasion by Soviet troops. The elderly general spends his days in the institute's reading rooms combing through historical archives to gather evidence for his defense.
Although Jaruzelski was a reviled figure during his rule, surveys show that many Poles today view him more sympathetically.
Mieczyslaw Rakowski, one of Poland's last communist prime ministers and a former deputy to Jaruzelski, said there was no doubt that the Soviets would have intervened in 1981. He said the general avoided a bloodbath by declaring martial law and also by agreeing to negotiate with Solidarity in 1989.
"My generation saw Budapest on fire in 1956," he said, referring to the Soviet suppression of a rebellion in Hungary. "I saw the Prague Spring uprising and how [Czechoslovak leader Alexander] Dubcek and his people were taken on a plane to Moscow with their heads in a sack. I also witnessed the next Russian invasion, of Afghanistan, in 1979. Why do you think it would have been any different for us?"
Among the general's defenders today is his old foe Walesa. "He believed, and the communists believed, that there was no other choice, that the Russians had directed missiles at every Polish city," Walesa said. "I do not punish people for faith, and they believed in that. I'm leaving the judgments to God."
