An open letter

of the DIGNITY (Godność) Association

to President Komorowski

In recent days some of us, members of  the“Dignity” Association and former members of “Solidarity” and political prisoners of 1980-1989 as well  (Czesław Nowak, Alojzy Szablewski, Stanisław Fudakowski, Józef Raszewski) have received the letters from the Gdańsk chapter of IPN (the Institute of National Memory) informing us that the President of IPN will send the President of Poland a special motion to decorate us with the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity as soon as we will accept this offer. This case – very important for us - was a subject of our last meeting. In it result The “Dignity” Association on May 12^th, 2011 unanimously voted not to accept such offer to decorate us by the present President of Poland. We did it for several reasons:

1.      The National Tribunal has never decisively passed judgment for the  period of the Polish People’s Republic (the Poland under Communist rule), which is what we had demanded in our open letter on May 23^rd, 1994.

2.      Present President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, who would eventually decorate us as being politiciasn of the Citizens’ Platform (PO) and the Speaker of the House has never had anything common with any political culture and consistently describes, in an insulting manner, the tragedy in the Smolensk catastrophe that killed President Lech Kaczyński. This way President Komorowski was downgrading the authority of the President’s Office. It was just President Lech Kaczyński who was the first to appreciate “the ordinary soldiers” of Solidarity by decorating them.

3.      President Bronisław Komorowski has invited to the National Security Council, General Wojciech Jaruzelski charged in the court for bloody massacre of Polish workers in December 1970 and for declaration of the Martial Law in Poland on December 13^th, 1981 when similar murders, intern, arrest and convictions  of thousands of Polish workers .followed. The Communist Security Forces committed that time many crimes against activists of Solidarity. Even the Catholic priest weren’t spared. We protested against such invitation.  General Jaruzelski using his friends in the courts still avoids justice.

4.      President Bronisław Komorowski to the present day has given absolutely no explanation of his friendship with Tomasz Turowski, the Communist spy who observed the Pope John Paul II and who was also in the “free” Poland one of the top rank diplomats. Tomasz Turowski – as for irony – was also organizing visit of Polish delegation with President Lech Kaczyński to Katyń, doing this in the name of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Recently we are observing the return to positions within the present government and national security of many former officers of the Communist Security Forces (SB) and the Communist Military Intelligence Service (WSI) who are creating their own associations with support for President Komorowski (for example: An Owl (Sowa) Association).

5.      President Komorowski, acting as Speaker of the House, granting of request of the government stopped legislation initiative of the Parliamentary Club of the Law and Justice Party from February 8^th, 2008 about “Rights for the combatants and repressed people”. This legislative initiative was prepared by killed in Smolensk catastrophe Janusz Krupski who did it after consultations with associations of repressed people. Janusz Krupski was that time Minister-in-Chief for Combatants and Repressed People Affairs. His legislative initiative would eventually closed the Communist Time of Repressions and Humiliation to June 1989.

Besides, we state that until there will be no dismissal from public administration, higher education, mass media and system of justice the agents and their collaborators of Communist special services and the prosecutors and judges who were convicting during political processes in the Communist Poland, we are not going to accept any state awards.

We were fighting for a free and democratic Poland. Present Poland and it’s government has not yet cut themselves from old structures and relations, including these foreign ones. Our country is still deeply entwined in post-Communist relations. Let our open letter be as our protest against present situation in Poland.

 Czeslaw Nowak

Member of the House in 1989-1993

President of “Dignity” Association, twice sentenced for political activity in the Communist Poland

 Alojzy Szablewski

Member of the House in 1991-1993

Former President of Solidarity in Gdansk Shipyard, sentenced for political activity (organized workers’ strike in the Shipyard) during Martial Law in the Communist Poland

 Stanisław Fudakowski

Secretary of “Dignity” Association. Sentenced as organizer of the strike in the Gdansk Shipyard during Martial Law.

 Józef Raszewski

Member of “Dignity Association, three times sentenced for political activity. (Last time for painted pig with Communist slogans for their “elections” in 1985. The pig was supposed to be released election day in Gdynia. Sentence – 2.5 years in prison by judge A. Węgłowski)

 Krzysztof Wyszkowski

Co-organizer of Free Workers’ Union.

Interned in the Martial Law.

This letter is addressed to:

Bronisław Komorowski – President of Poland

Director of the Institute for National Memory in Gdańsk

Mass media