Unofficial: Lech Wałęsa 'confirmed' as communist era collaborator

Wałesa, a key member of the Solidarity trade union which helped bring down the Iron Curtain in Poland, has called the allegations “lies”, saying that “once the courts are freed, this will be proven”.

According to PAP, the Institute of Forensic Research in Kraków will officially present its findings on Tuesday.

Anonymous high-ranking officials at the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) who spoke to PAP said that the forensic office confirmed that documents which were found in the house of the late communist interior minister general Czesław Kiszczak were signed by Wałęsa, pointing to the fact that the latter had worked as a secret collaborator to the then-authorities.

The sources who spoke to PAP did not specify which period the findings relate to.

The files seized from Kiszczak's house following his death in late 2015 allegedly contained a personal file and a work file of the secret collaborator codenamed Bolek referring to Lech Wałęsa, the former numbering 183 pages and the latter 576 pages.

Lech Wałęsa has admitted that he had “made a mistake”, but denied that he was ever a paid secret agent who collaborated with the communist regime.

According to earlier publications by several historians, Wałęsa broke off cooperation with the communist secret services several years before the August 1980 strike in the Gdańsk Shipyard and the birth of Solidarity, with Wałęsa as its chairman.

Between 1990 and 1995, Wałęsa served as Polish President. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. (rg)