Witch-hunt in Poland?

[Gelion]

Poland moves against former spies
By Adam Easton
BBC News, Warsaw


New buildings stand next to reminders of Poland's past
The Polish parliament has approved a bill designed to remove people who collaborated with the communist secret services from public life.
The bill could lead to the dismissal of hundreds of thousands of people working in business, the media and government.

Unlike other former Soviet-bloc countries, Poland has never carried out a purge of people who collaborated with the former communist regime.

The legislation will now go to Poland's upper house and president for approval.

For 17 years, Poland has struggled to come to terms with the legacy of its communist past.

Until now, collaboration with the former communist secret police was not a bar to public office, as long as you signed a declaration admitting it.

Exemption for priests

This new law will allow employers to use evidence of collaboration as grounds for dismissal.


Accusations forced the resignation of Finance Minister Zyta Gilowska

People whose past will be coming under scrutiny will include public officials, company bosses, journalists and teachers.

The names of informers and parts of their files can be published on the Internet.

While most Poles would like to see some form of resolution to the problem, the new law is controversial.

Many secret police files are missing or have been tampered with.

Even high-profile careers have been wrecked by suspicion of collaboration.

The well-respected former finance minister, Zyta Gilowska, was recently sacked after she was accused of informing - claims she strongly denies.

And the bill does not include the clergy even though an estimated one in ten Polish priests collaborated with the communist regime.

Does this sound like a witch-hunt to you? To me the most disturbing fact is that first they made them sign the paper and now they will be persecuted based on that paper.... this looks ...sick.

 

[Stylesjl]

To me the most disturbing fact is that first they made them sign the paper and now they will be persecuted based on that paper.... this looks ...sick.

It probaly won't be based retroactively like that.

But nethertheless they should be purging their ranks of collbarators because it impedes progress to keep them there when more harm could be done by them

 

[sanabas]

After recently seeing a report on the twins that are in charge of the country, (as prez and pm I think), and the policies of the ruling party, I think a witch-hunt is a definite possibility. Seems like they have similar policies to the more fundie stuff from Kansas that get posted around here.

 

[Winner]

Though I really don't like Kaczynski brothers, I think this could be a very good move. Let's punish those communist b******s who collaborated with secret police, ruined millions of lives and kept the regime alive.

I live in Czech rep., so we, according to that article, did a "purge" of these people. In fact, the ones who were in charge destroyed their files during the revolution and now, they are as clean as a new snow. The small fish are being punished, but only mildly, they can't work at ministries, secret services, police, army etc., but they can do private business, use their contacts to make money in capitalism, the same capitalism they once fought against.

If it was up to me, I'd send them all to labour camps right after the revolution. If Poles want to do that now, I don't blame them - their guilt is still the same as it was in 1989.

 

[EdwardTking]

If they had NOT cooperated with the secret police then,
they would llikely have been arrested or at least sacked.

If there is any real evidence that they took part in serious
human rights abuses such as murder, rape or torture, then
they should be prosecuted.

Otherwise I see no beneficial purpose in any such purge.

 

[amadeus]

Good. I'm glad they're finally eliminating the traitors out of their government.

 

[pboily]

If we eliminate all traitors from all governments, there will be no more politicians. I agree with sharpe, a first step in the right direction.

 

[Stylesjl]

If they had NOT cooperated with the secret police then,
they would llikely have been arrested or at least sacked.

If there is any real evidence that they took part in serious
human rights abuses such as murder, rape or torture, then
they should be prosecuted.

Otherwise I see no beneficial purpose in any such purge.

In this case we are talking about people who actively made deals with the communist government and made money or got favours from helping the communists do all kinds of human rights violations. Its about time these horrible human beings were disgraced and made accountable for their actions

 

[Sims2789]

Does the European Union or Poland have laws for protecting people from being punished for crimes they committed before those crimes became illegal?

 

[Sims2789]

But then again, the Nazis were acting legally under German law, but they were (rightfully) charged with war crimes at Nuremburg, so where do we draw the line?

One place we can draw it is when the law is absurd, like Oakland's law that prohibits the city from giving contracts to companies that had a part in slavery (which means a lot of older American banks and insurance companies).

 

[Gelion]

In this case we are talking about people who actively made deals with the communist government and made money or got favours from helping the communists do all kinds of human rights violations. Its about time these horrible human beings were disgraced and made accountable for their actions

Are you sure of this?

I think that EdwardTking and Sims2789 make very good points...

 

[Stylesjl]

Are you sure of this?

I think that EdwardTking and Sims2789 make very good points...

I do understand their concerns and i think the Polish government should take steps to prevent those who cooperated under coercion from being punished.

But those who truly 'colaboarted' were under no threats, they actually stood to make money from destroying their fellow countrymen. They could have not cooperated simply by keeping silent but they actively went out of their way to enrich themselves.

Think of this example, a person makes a lot of money during the halocaust, he makes this money because he actively assisted the Nazi's in locating victims. He didn't have to help them, but he did anyway because he stood to gain a lot from it.