General of a sad career

The Polish Institute of National Memory, established in 1991 by Caim and engaged in the investigation of “crimes against the people” committed by both the Nazis and the Communists, added one more to a long list of titles and posts of General Wojciech Yaruzelsky. The cavalier of many orders, the former prime minister, Minister of Defense and the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party was called the “head of the criminal armed group”.

The leader of communist Poland is again accused of announcing martial law, which lasted from December 13, 1981 to July 1983. Without waiting for the invasion of the Warsaw Treaty forces, Yaruzelsky then decided to independently suppress the uprising organized by the “solidarity” movement: even if it is better than the city of the country patrol the Polish army than the Soviet Army or the National Army of the GDR.

The last survey of public opinion showed that in assessing the role of Yaruzelian Poland split strictly in half. But last year, former activists of the “solidarity”, led by the Brothers Lech and Yaroslav Kachinsky, came to power, who did not forgive Yaruzelsky either martial law or the internation of 5,000 “solidarity” figures, nor the suppression of workers in Gdansk in 1970.

“The famous Polish pride does not allow the scrupulous weighing of events on the scales of history,” explains the position of the right historian and member of the ruling party “Law and Order” Magdalen Komarovsk. “Let it contradicts formal logic - but in September 1939, Polish olanes attacked German tanks with sabers, against all logic. We, the patriots of Poland, will never forgive the Wojciech of Yaruzelsky. No one is going to put him in jail, but the indicative process should take place and a sentence is sentenced. ”

The 82-year-old General Yaruzelsky himself, who began a political career in exile in the USSR, is also not devoid of the famous Polish pride. He told the Newsweek editor to Benjamin Ginodman that he considers himself almost the father of Polish democracy.

Pan General, why now, a quarter of a century after the dramatic events of 1981, are you again charged?

In Poland, there is a struggle between various political movements, and some political circles want to make me a symbol of the criminal communist past. Prosecutor Pshymislav Pentek charged me with the leadership of an organized criminal armed group, which deprived Polish citizens of freedom and violated their civil rights.

Does the prosecutor call the Polish army “criminal armed group”?

The command staff of the army and the leadership of the PNR, that is, people who supported my decision to introduce martial law. My prosecutors do not want to remember that martial law was a nightmare for Poland, but it was a necessary measure, as a result of which the country was saved. After serious tests, the sovereign Poland was able to come to a compromise between various political forces, to the “round table” of negotiations, it became a strong European democracy step, and I can fully consider myself a co -author of the current transformations. I am proud that, as public opinion polls show, most Poles consider the introduction of martial law justified.

What troubles did you save Poland in 1981?

This issue cannot be approached abstractly or from the standpoint of modern European geopolitics. 25 years ago, the world looked different, it was divided into two camps, and Poland was in the center of the section. Her geostrategic position was unique, and any violation of equilibrium in Europe could be disastrous for our country. The Union "Solidarity" performed under the right slogans, he had an excellent goal with which I always agreed - the country of the people, but the means of achieving this goal were fatal for Poland. By the winter of 1981, anarchy reigned in the country, all state structures were paralyzed, the economy was in a state of systemic crisis, and hunger threatened the people. All economic ties between Poland and other socialist countries were torn. Only the USSR continued planned deliveries, but they also had to stop January 1, 1982. Finally, the split in society was so deep that he could turn into a civil war. Everyone understood this. On November 26, 1981, a conference of Polish bishops was held in Warsaw, and in the resolution of this meeting it said: "Our country is in terrible danger, we were loomed with the threat of a fratricidal war." It is quite obvious that if Poland could not cope with these threats on its own, then the troops of the Warsaw Treaty would enter its borders. The logic of that time dictated one option of action, and if I were a Soviet marshal, I would insist on the invasion. This is not speculation: three years ago, the Polish Sejm addressed the Parliaments of the Czech Republic and Germany, and documents from the Bundeswehr archive were delivered to Warsaw, testifying to the complete combat readiness of the People’s National Army of the GDR and the concentration of its armored units along the border along the Oder River. I spoke before and say now: all my life I served Poland, whatever it was, and I saved my homeland from anarchy, hunger, disaster and invasion of the armed forces of other countries.

However, the current leadership of Poland renounces the Polish People’s Republic that you served.

I can not understand this or accept this. Yes, we were a country with limited sovereignty, a vassal of the Great Soviet Union, partly of the "socialist camp." But thanks to this, the boundaries of Poland went through the most profitable way for us, which the new president and people from his environment, calling themselves Polish patriots, do not want to recognize. The country has lost its eastern regions, which belonged to it until September 1939, that is, Western Ukraine and Belarus - and thank God! These territories at the end of the 20th century could turn into Polish Kosovo or Polish Bosnia. But Poland expanded in a western direction, and its border passes along Oder Nemis. This became possible only because socialist Poland was a satellite of the USSR.

For what sins, President Lech Kachinsky took away from you the cross of exiles to Siberia?

According to the law, the cross of exiles to Siberia is laid for everyone who in the period from 1939 to 1942 visited a special settler. It is laid to me, because I was exiled as an “unreliable element” and worked on the forested in the Altai Territory. The cross of the exiles is not the order, this is a memorable sign, but the authorities decided that I was not worthy of it, since I was guilty of crimes against my people. Many people were injured due to the fact that I received a cross, those people in the President of Poland, who included my name in the award sheet, lost their posts, removed the Minister for Veterans from their post, which looked at such a “disgrace”. This sign was not selected from me, but when I found out about the resignations and scandal, I returned it myself. I am a military officer, and I have pride.