Poland needs a “Russian trace”

They are trying to attribute the death of Sikorsky to Stalin

The Institute of Forensic Medicine of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow has completed an examination of the remains of General Wladyslaw Sikorski , commander-in-chief of the Polish armed forces and head of government in exile, who died in a plane crash in Gibraltar on July 4, 1943. After completing the research, the general’s remains were covered with a new uniform made of gabardine, woven in Great Britain back in the 50s. All clothing items, including buttons, were specially made, including the Confederate hat. When the general's remains were transported from Great Britain in 1993 and reburied in Wawel Castle, no one took care of the uniform - then the general's body in underwear was wrapped in a simple army blanket.

General Sikorsky was escorted on his last journey by crowds of Krakow residents - but not everyone knew who they were burying. On the main streets of Krakow on the route to Wawel Castle, notices were posted that traffic would be difficult due to the solemn funeral of... Jozef Pilsudski - the same head of the Polish state who, after the military coup in 1926, deprived General Sikorski of all high positions and pushed him into the shadows.

The initiator of the exhumation of the general’s body was the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (INR), which doubted the British version of the technical malfunction of the aircraft. The INP believes that Sikorsky was liquidated by the Soviet intelligence services, which were helped by the British. Experts promise to present the results of the study of the remains in January next year. However, the prosecutor of the Katowice branch of the IPP (it is conducting the investigation), Eva Koy, has already stated that the cause of death of the general established by the British does not correspond to reality, since the examination of English doctors carried out 65 years ago is at odds with the examination of the remains after the current exhumation. Almost immediately, the assumption that another body rested in the sarcophagus was ruled out, although this can only be definitively confirmed after analyzing DNA samples.

Three versions of Sikorsky’s death are taken as a basis, each of which is based on an assassination attempt. He could have been ordered to be killed by Stalin, dissatisfied with the general’s demands to speed up the investigation into the execution of Polish soldiers near Katyn. The culprits could have been the British, who feared that the Polish politician would quarrel the allies with Stalin. Polish officers are also suspected, who considered the exile unable to defend the interests of Poland after the war.

One of the ironically inclined Polish commentators asks: what if it was the Czechs who killed General Sikorsky? After all, before the war, Poland captured part of the Czech territory - Zaolzhe. In addition, the pilot Edward Prhal was a Czech - the only one who survived the plane crash in Gibraltar. After the war, after flying in Czechoslovakia, he fled to the UK in 1950.

And yet the version that the Russians were behind the assassination attempt is beginning to dominate in Poland. Attempts are being made to clarify whether the famous Soviet intelligence officer Kim Philby was in Gibraltar at the time of Sikorsky’s death, who could have carried out Stalin’s “instructions”. Historians believe that much is hidden in the archives of the British intelligence services. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who spoke in London on Monday about the mystery of Sikorsky's death with his British counterpart Gordon Brown, said yesterday that the British had already provided all the materials relating to this event. Nevertheless, the chairman of the IPP, Janusz Kurtyka, said that he would turn to the English side for legal assistance, and would also try to gain access to Russian archives.

Valery MASTEROV, Warsaw