Piotr Wroński: “Spisek założycielski” (The Founding Conspiracy)

The book and its author

The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) announced “Spisek założycielski” as a roman à clef about the murder of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko by SB officers. The author places responsibility on the top leaders of the Polish People’s Republic and offers his own interpretation of their motives; the book contains photographs of SB safe flats, dead drops and observation posts. It was published by Editions Spotkania.^1,3

According to a note from the IPN’s Poznań branch, Wroński joined the SB under martial law, worked on fixed bugging installations and then in Department I; after vetting in 1990 he served in the Office of State Protection (UOP) and the Foreign Intelligence Agency (AW), which he left in 2013 with the rank of colonel.³

The real case

Father Jerzy Popiełuszko was murdered on 19 October 1984 by officers of Department IV of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MSW), which dealt with the Church. At the Toruń trial in 1985, Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski was sentenced to 25 years in prison, Leszek Pękala to 15 years and Waldemar Chmielewski to 14 years, while Colonel Adam Pietruszka, deputy director of the department, received 25 years for incitement.²

The prosecutor sought the death penalty for Piotrowski, which the lawyers representing the priest’s family opposed. An amnesty reduced the sentences, and none was served in full; Piotrowski returned to prison in 1995, after the Supreme Court upheld an extraordinary appeal by the Minister of Justice, and was released in 2001.²

Generals Władysław Ciastoń and Zenon Płatek were under investigation from 1990, when the convicted men testified about the influence of their superiors. In August 1994 the Provincial Court in Warsaw acquitted them by a majority vote; the verdict is final.²

What was established later

Since 5 February 2002 the IPN has been investigating the case as one strand of its proceedings concerning a criminal association within the MSW in 1956–1989. According to PAP (2014), it is still not known whether anyone higher up ordered the murder; an IPN prosecutor said there were no grounds for new charges against those already tried, and the files run to more than 200 volumes.^2,4

In 2009 IPN prosecutors brought the first charge in this strand against a former SB officer: conducting criminal proceedings against the priest in the 1980s for acts that were not crimes. According to the IPN, in 1983 SB officers planted explosives and underground publications in his flat on Chłodna Street in order to compromise him.⁵

What is accurate

The novel is based on facts established at the trial: the perpetrators were officers of Department IV of the MSW, and the operation was run using SB methods. According to the IPN, the book is illustrated with photographs of real SB safe flats, dead drops and observation posts, and the author knows these realities from his own service.^1,2,3

Fact and interpretation

The 1985 sentences concern the direct perpetrators and the instigator, and in 1994 the court acquitted two MSW generals. The novel’s thesis that the crime was directed from the very top of the state goes beyond these verdicts and is the author’s interpretation – which is also how the IPN presented it when announcing the book. According to the IPN, the question of who ordered the murder remains open.^1,2,4

We found no scholarly review comparing the novel with the case files.