Polonius3 994 | 12,367 20 Oct 2008 / #1Polish super-hero Lech Wałęsa has unveiled his latest book, "Wałęsa: Road to Truth". It comes in response to an earlier book by two historians that alleges he was a communist secret-police informer in the 1970s. Wałęsa calls the latter "a bunch of lies".
HWPiel 1 | 64 25 Oct 2008 / #2Has anyone read either of the two books that assert Walesa was a communist and spied against his own during the 1970s - 1980s? I read about the book's allegations in The White Eagle (Bialy Orzel) but have not seen either text in the States.H
Seanus 15 | 19,674 25 Oct 2008 / #3He was a to-be leader, give him a break. His problem is that the 2 who levelled allegations against him were of high standing and credible. He has successfully defended himself b4, but new evidence keeps coming out against him
McCoy 27 | 1,269 25 Oct 2008 / #4Has anyone read either of the two books that assert Walesa was a communist and spied against his own during the 1970s - 1980s?can you read polish?peb.pl/dokumenty/328000-rapidshare-cenckiewicz-gontarczyk-lech-walesa-sb-3.html
gtd 3 | 639 25 Oct 2008 / #5Wow. I wasn't aware of the allegations until I looked into it more. I was also surprised at this reluctance to release the names of the collaborators from the secret police archives. I guess you dont want someone's innocent family being attacked but if some of those people are still around (and a lot are and not that old) they should be held accountable.If Walesa is guilty that will be a huge blow to Polish history. How will people reconcile Solidarnosc and the change he led with any collaboration he may have done?I have a feeling this is one of those things that will never be answered fully and clearly.
Dice 15 | 452 25 Oct 2008 / #7I have to confess I don't know much about this case, but let's assume for a minute that Walesa did work for the Commies. Wouldn't this be the worst job ever in the history of espionage? Especially considering that he was the main figure behind the collapse of communism in Poland? Think about it, if Walesa did work for the Commies, wouldn't they just use him to destroy Solidarity, rather then lead Poles into victory over the Commie Regime?A good rule of thumb in these situations is to follow the money. Ask yourself: who is making these allegations and who is benefiting from them? This will probably put some light on the real motives behind these claims.As I said, I don't follow Polish politics and do not know much about this case, but just by applying simple logic it seems to me fairly improbable for these accusations to be true.
