Recording shows leading Polish newspaper editor expressing “love” to former communist leader

A new recording has been broadcast by Polish state television that shows Adam Michnik, a former anti-communist dissident and the longstanding editor-in-chief of liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza, having a friendly meeting with Wojciech Jaruzelski, who ruled Poland as head of the communist party in the 1980s.

In the video of the meeting – which took place in 2000, 11 years after the fall of communism – Michnik is seen embracing Jaruzelski, saying that he “loves him” and calling him a “patriot”.

According to many on the political right, the material provides further evidence that parts of the opposition to the communist regime actually enjoyed cosy relations with the party, and that the two sides came to an arrangement which saw “postcommunists” remain in positions of power after 1989.

But other commentators have defended Michnik, saying he deserves praise for forgiving a former enemy.

The film was shown by an investigative news programme on TVP, the public broadcaster, which is under the influence of Poland’s ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.

It shows Michnik – whose Gazeta Wyborcza is highly critical of the current PiS government – meeting Jaruzelski at the latter’s home on the night of 12 December 2000. That date was the anniversary of the introduction of martial law by Jaruzelski in 1981.

The repression that followed saw dozens of Poles killed by the communist authorities and thousands arrested – including Michnik, a leading dissident, who was detained without charge until 1984. In 1985, he was arrested again and imprisoned for over a year.

Upon the fall of communism in 1989, Michnik established Gazeta Wyborcza, which is now Poland’s biggest-selling non-tabloid newspaper. Jaruzelski retired from public life and never faced trial for communist-era crimes before his death in 2014.

In the recordings, Michnik is seen greeting Jaruzelski by kissing him on both cheeks. He refers to him by the affectionate diminutive name “Wojtek”. While the two men sit on a sofa holding hands, a smiling Michnik says “I love him, I love him” as Jaruzelski pats him on the back.

In another part of the recordings, two clips have been edited together by TVP to show Michnik saying: “For me the general…is a Polish patriot and always was.”

Another unedited section show Michnik saying to Jaruzelski: “Without you, there would be nothing, Wojtek, nothing, nothing, nothing. Only you and [Lech] Wałęsa – those are the two people who could change the course of history and you did that.”

Explaining its decision to release the footage, TVP said that it was necessary for the public to have “knowledge about the intimacy” between the two men in order to properly “evaluate the Third Polish Republic”.

The latter term refers to the current Polish state, established after 1989, that many on the Polish right believe was created by the pact between the communists and some members of the anti-communist opposition, including not only Michnik but also Wałęsa himself, who has faced accusations of collaborating with the communists.

A central aspect of the PiS government’s programme has been the removal of such “postcommunists” from positions of influence. This has been used, among others, to justify its overhaul of the judiciary.

Commenting on the publication of the video, the education minister, Przemysław Czarnek, told Polskie Radio that it provides further evidence that Michnik “betrayed the ideals of Solidarity”, the movement led by Wałęsa that helped bring down communism.

“Today we know that Adam Michnik is responsible for ensuring the impunity of the murderers and traitors of the Polish nation,” added Czarnek.

“Wyborcza was supposed to be the newspaper of the anti-communist opposition [but] we can see what it is and what it was,” said PiS MP Kacper Płażyński, quoted by Polska Times.

Other figures, however, came to Michnik’s defence. Wojciech Czuchnowski, a journalist at Gazeta Wyborcza, told news website Wirtualna Polska that the film showed “Michnik’s typical attitude…He is always opposed to retaliation. He always defends those who are currently weaker, even if they were torturers in the past”.

The journalist added that Michnik “feels loyal to Jaruzelski, because the general stuck to the agreements. Michnik believes that the general deserves protection for his surrender of power without a fight”. But he added that Michnik was “maybe a little drunk” during the meeting, having come there after a party.

Czuchnowski also confirmed that the tapes are genuine. He said that they were part of an archive belonging to journalist Teresa Torańska that was seized last year by customs officials after being sent to the Hoover Institutes in the US. It was then transferred to Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN).

Bogusław Chrabota, the editor of Rzeczpospolita, a centre-right daily, also defended Michnik as “one of the most important participants in Poland’s 20th-century history”. He accused TVP of seeking to “sow hatred” with its publication of the film.

Tomasz Lis, editor of the liberal Newsweek Polska weekly, tweeted: “I did not like General Jaruzelski, but I admire Adam Michnik and respect him, among other things, for the fact that he is capable of something that I would probably not be capable of: forgiving an enemy who ruined part of my life and put me in prison.”

However, Wojciech Wybranowski, editor of Głos Wielkopolski, a regional newspaper recently purchased by state oil giant Orlen, told Wirtualne Media that the recordings “show the roots of many pathologies of the Third Polish Republic , starting with the impunity of the communist torturers”.

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.