Ryszard Kuklinski
Encyclopedia
Ryszard Jerzy Kukliński (June 13, 1930 – February 11, 2004) was a Polish colonel, Cold War spy and whistleblower. He passed top secret Warsaw Pact
documents to the CIA between 1971 and 1981. Former United States National Security Advisor
Zbigniew Brzeziński
has described him as "the first Polish officer in NATO."
during World War II who was captured by the Gestapo and died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp
. After the war, Kukliński began a successful career in the Polish People's Army. He took part in the preparations for the Warsaw Pact
's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Disturbed by this invasion of Czechoslovakia and by the brutal crushing of the Polish 1970 protests
, in 1972 Kukliński had a letter sent to the US embassy in Bonn that described himself as "an foregen MAF from Communistische Kantry" (sic) and requested a secret meeting. In 1994 Kukliński said that his awareness of the "unambiguously offensive" nature of Soviet military plans was an important factor in his decision to communicate the details of those plans to the United States, adding that "Our front could only be a sacrifice of Polish blood at the altar of the Red Empire" Kukliński was also concerned that his homeland would be turned into a nuclear wasteland as the Warsaw Pact's superiority in conventional forces would mean NATO would respond to a military action with tactical nuclear weapons.
Between 1971 and 1981 he passed 35,000 pages of mostly Soviet secret documents to the CIA. The documents described Moscow's strategic plans regarding the use of nuclear weapons, technical data about the T-72
tank and Strela
-1 missiles, the whereabouts of Soviet anti-aircraft bases in Poland and East Germany, the methods used by the Soviets to avoid spy satellite
detection of their military hardware, plans for the imposition of martial law in Poland
, and many other matters.
Facing imminent danger of discovery, Kukliński was spirited out of Poland by the CIA, along with his wife and two sons, shortly before the imposition of martial law in December 1981. Though Kuklinski and his family managed to successfully defect, his controversial past may have followed him to the United States. In the subsequent years, both of his sons died under mysterious circumstances. His son Bogdan died in a mysterious boating accident and his son Waldemar's death in a car accident was considered suspicious. There is widespread belief that the KGB's hand was behind the death of Kuklinski's sons, though this has never been substantiated.
On May 23, 1984 Kukliński was sentenced to death, in absentia
, by a secret military court in Warsaw. After the fall of communism, the sentence was changed to 25 years. In 1995 the court cancelled the sentence and said that Kuklinski was acting under special circumstances that warranted a higher need. Kukliński visited Poland again in April 1998.
, hospital, in 2004. He was buried June 19, 2004 in the row of honour in the Powązki military cemetery in Warsaw, Poland, along with his son Waldemar.
, revealed Kukliński's existence to the world in order to make the argument that the Reagan administration had been informed by Kukliński of the plans to install martial law but had betrayed the Solidarity movement by not passing that information on to its "friends" in Solidarity. When the journal Kultura
interviewed Kukliński, Kukliński said that planning for martial law had begun in late 1980 and that the Jaruzelski group planned to crush Solidarity regardless of the outcome of negotiations with the trade union and the Polish church. He also rejected the regime's claim that declaring martial law was an internal decision by describing how the Soviets had applied pressure on Polish authorities to impose martial law. When asked whether Jaruzelski was a hero or a traitor, Kukliński replied:
Kukliński was the chief of a military strategic command planning division of the Polish army, he was the liaison
between the Polish army and the command of the Soviet military. He was very familiar with the layout of the Polish forces within the Warsaw Pact. While details of the general plans for the Warsaw Pact forces were known only in Moscow
, Kukliński could infer much from his contacts at the Moscow high command headquarters.
According to President Carter's NSA
, Zbigniew Brzeziński
, "Kuklinski’s information permitted us to make counterplans to disrupt command-and-control facilities rather than only relying on a massive counterattack on forward positions, which would have hit Poland."
refused to pardon Kukliński and a poll taken in 1998 found that more Poles (34%) considered Kukliński a traitor than a hero (29%), with many undecided. The administration of US President Clinton nonetheless took the stance that it would oppose Polish membership in NATO unless Kukliński were exonerated.
When all charges were dropped against Kukliński in 1997, the left leaning Trybuna
lamented that "Colonel Ryszard Kukliński — a spy, deserter, and traitor — has been turned into a model of virtue and a national hero of the rightists."
Today, some are of the opinion that by revealing military plans to the Americans
, he foiled a planned Soviet invasion of Poland in 1981 (resulting in the lesser evil of the martial law
), and in this way may have helped prevent the start of a World War III
that would have resulted in the nuclear destruction of Poland (or revealing those plans made Poland target for NATO nuclear counterstrike). This is difficult to judge, as the causes of the events surrounding the 1981 martial law are still hotly disputed by historians.
Kukliński is buried in the row of honour in the Powązki Military Cemetery
in Warsaw, and has been given honorary citizenship of several Polish cities, among which the most notable are Kraków
and Gdańsk
.
The Polish political group Centrum (at the time headed by Zbigniew Religa
) requested in 2004 that the President of Poland posthumously promote Kukliński to the rank of general.
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
documents to the CIA between 1971 and 1981. Former United States National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
Zbigniew Brzeziński
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski is a Polish American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981....
has described him as "the first Polish officer in NATO."
Career
Kukliński was born in Warsaw into a working class family with socialist traditions. His father was a member of the Polish resistance movementPolish resistance movement in World War II
The Polish resistance movement in World War II, with the Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance in all of Nazi-occupied Europe, covering both German and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish defence against the Nazi occupation was an important part of the European...
during World War II who was captured by the Gestapo and died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
. After the war, Kukliński began a successful career in the Polish People's Army. He took part in the preparations for the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Disturbed by this invasion of Czechoslovakia and by the brutal crushing of the Polish 1970 protests
Polish 1970 protests
The Polish 1970 protests were protests that occurred in northern Poland in December 1970. The protests were sparked by a sudden increase of prices of food and other everyday items...
, in 1972 Kukliński had a letter sent to the US embassy in Bonn that described himself as "an foregen MAF from Communistische Kantry" (sic) and requested a secret meeting. In 1994 Kukliński said that his awareness of the "unambiguously offensive" nature of Soviet military plans was an important factor in his decision to communicate the details of those plans to the United States, adding that "Our front could only be a sacrifice of Polish blood at the altar of the Red Empire" Kukliński was also concerned that his homeland would be turned into a nuclear wasteland as the Warsaw Pact's superiority in conventional forces would mean NATO would respond to a military action with tactical nuclear weapons.
Between 1971 and 1981 he passed 35,000 pages of mostly Soviet secret documents to the CIA. The documents described Moscow's strategic plans regarding the use of nuclear weapons, technical data about the T-72
T-72
The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1970. It is developed directly from Obyekt-172, and shares parallel features with the T-64A...
tank and Strela
Strela
Strela may refer to:A series of Russian-manufactured anti-aircraft missiles* The 9K31 Strela-1, aka SA-9 Gaskin* The 9K32 Strela-2, aka SA-7 Grail* The 9K34 Strela-3, aka SA-14 Gremlin* The 9K35 Strela-10, aka SA-13 GopherOther...
-1 missiles, the whereabouts of Soviet anti-aircraft bases in Poland and East Germany, the methods used by the Soviets to avoid spy satellite
Spy satellite
A spy satellite is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications....
detection of their military hardware, plans for the imposition of martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
, and many other matters.
Facing imminent danger of discovery, Kukliński was spirited out of Poland by the CIA, along with his wife and two sons, shortly before the imposition of martial law in December 1981. Though Kuklinski and his family managed to successfully defect, his controversial past may have followed him to the United States. In the subsequent years, both of his sons died under mysterious circumstances. His son Bogdan died in a mysterious boating accident and his son Waldemar's death in a car accident was considered suspicious. There is widespread belief that the KGB's hand was behind the death of Kuklinski's sons, though this has never been substantiated.
On May 23, 1984 Kukliński was sentenced to death, in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
, by a secret military court in Warsaw. After the fall of communism, the sentence was changed to 25 years. In 1995 the court cancelled the sentence and said that Kuklinski was acting under special circumstances that warranted a higher need. Kukliński visited Poland again in April 1998.
Death
He died from a stroke at the age of 73 in a Tampa, FloridaTampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
, hospital, in 2004. He was buried June 19, 2004 in the row of honour in the Powązki military cemetery in Warsaw, Poland, along with his son Waldemar.
Legacy
In June 1986, a spokesman for the Soviet-backed Jaruzelski regime, Jerzy UrbanJerzy Urban
Jerzy Urban , also known as: Jerzy Kibic, Jan Rem, Klakson born Jerzy Urbach, is a Jewish-Polish journalist, commentator, writer and politician, editor-in-chief of the weekly Nie and owner of the company which owns it, Urma.-Before 1989:Urban was born in Jewish family in Łódź. His father was an...
, revealed Kukliński's existence to the world in order to make the argument that the Reagan administration had been informed by Kukliński of the plans to install martial law but had betrayed the Solidarity movement by not passing that information on to its "friends" in Solidarity. When the journal Kultura
Kultura
Kultura , sometimes referred to as "Kultura Paryska", was a leading Polish-émigré literary-political journal, published from 1947 to 2000 by Instytut Literacki , initially in Rome, then Paris....
interviewed Kukliński, Kukliński said that planning for martial law had begun in late 1980 and that the Jaruzelski group planned to crush Solidarity regardless of the outcome of negotiations with the trade union and the Polish church. He also rejected the regime's claim that declaring martial law was an internal decision by describing how the Soviets had applied pressure on Polish authorities to impose martial law. When asked whether Jaruzelski was a hero or a traitor, Kukliński replied:
My view has been consistently that in Poland there existed a real chance to avoid both Soviet intervention and martial law. Had he, together with Stanislaw KaniaStanislaw KaniaStanisław Kania was a Polish communist political leader.Kania was born in Wrocanka . He joined the anti-Nazi resistance at the age of 17 in 1944 and then joined the Polish Communist Party in 1945 when German Nazis were driven out and Polish Communists began to take control of the country...
, proved capable of greater dignity and strength, had they honestly adhered to the existing social agreements, instead of knuckling under to Moscow, present-day Poland would undoubtedly look completely different.
Kukliński was the chief of a military strategic command planning division of the Polish army, he was the liaison
Liaison officer
A liaison officer or LNO is a person that liaises between two organizations to communicate and coordinate their activities. Generally, they are used to achieve the best utilization of resources or employment of services of one organization by another. In the military, liaison officers may...
between the Polish army and the command of the Soviet military. He was very familiar with the layout of the Polish forces within the Warsaw Pact. While details of the general plans for the Warsaw Pact forces were known only in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Kukliński could infer much from his contacts at the Moscow high command headquarters.
According to President Carter's NSA
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
, Zbigniew Brzeziński
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski is a Polish American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981....
, "Kuklinski’s information permitted us to make counterplans to disrupt command-and-control facilities rather than only relying on a massive counterattack on forward positions, which would have hit Poland."
Opinion in Poland
During his term as Poland's first freely elected president, Solidarity leader Lech WałęsaLech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
refused to pardon Kukliński and a poll taken in 1998 found that more Poles (34%) considered Kukliński a traitor than a hero (29%), with many undecided. The administration of US President Clinton nonetheless took the stance that it would oppose Polish membership in NATO unless Kukliński were exonerated.
When all charges were dropped against Kukliński in 1997, the left leaning Trybuna
Trybuna
Trybuna was a Polish left-wing newspaper, often seen as the outlet of the post-communist factions . It was published by Ad Novum.-History:...
lamented that "Colonel Ryszard Kukliński — a spy, deserter, and traitor — has been turned into a model of virtue and a national hero of the rightists."
Today, some are of the opinion that by revealing military plans to the Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, he foiled a planned Soviet invasion of Poland in 1981 (resulting in the lesser evil of the martial law
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
), and in this way may have helped prevent the start of a World War III
World War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
that would have resulted in the nuclear destruction of Poland (or revealing those plans made Poland target for NATO nuclear counterstrike). This is difficult to judge, as the causes of the events surrounding the 1981 martial law are still hotly disputed by historians.
Kukliński is buried in the row of honour in the Powązki Military Cemetery
Powązki Military Cemetery
Powązki Military Cemetery is an old military cemetery located in the Wola district, western part of Warsaw, Poland. The cemetery is often confused with the older Powązki Cemetery, known colloquially as "Old Powązki"...
in Warsaw, and has been given honorary citizenship of several Polish cities, among which the most notable are Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
and Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
.
The Polish political group Centrum (at the time headed by Zbigniew Religa
Zbigniew Religa
Zbigniew Eugeniusz Religa was a prominent cardiac surgeon and politician.- Career as physician :Religa finished his studies at the Medical University of Warsaw in 1963. From 1966 to 1980 he worked in the Szpital Wolski in Warsaw, where he qualified in surgery...
) requested in 2004 that the President of Poland posthumously promote Kukliński to the rank of general.
External links
- Has Ryszard Kuklinski saved us from World War III? by Jolanta JABŁOŃSKA-GRUCA
- The Political and Moral Dilemma by Jolanta JABŁOŃSKA-GRUCA -, Oslo, Norway, in (polish) Dylemat polityczny i moralny.
- Documents pertaining to Wojciech Jaruzelski and his collaborators
- Documents exposing Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski and his clique
- Wojciech Jaruzelski and consisting of 20 other high ranking military officers - WRON declared Martial Law *Cause of death of Colonel Kukliński (polish)
- CIA Release of 83 Documents on Kuklinski and Martial Law in Poland 1981-82, from the Cold War International History Project (CWIHP)
- The Vilification and Vindication of Colonel Kuklinski from the Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
- A Secret Life By Benjamin Weiser (Reviewed by Thomas M. Troy, Jr.) from the Central Intelligence Agency
- Statement by George J. Tenet, Director of Central Intelligence, on the Death of Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski from the Central Intelligence Agency
- Kukliński's profile and Has Ryszard Kuklinski saved us from World War - an essay
- A SECRET LIFE: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country
- The Spy Who Really Came in From the Cold by David R. StokesDavid R. StokesDavid R. Stokes is an American writer, commentator, broadcaster, and ordained minister. His articles appear regularly in The Daily Caller, Townhall.com, and American Thinker. His writings have also appeared in The Intelligencer: Journal of U.S...
- Ryszard Kuklinski
- Strona poświęcona pułkownikowi Kuklińskiemu
- A Secret Life - Benjamin Weiser
- Funeral Mass for Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski
- Washington, September 22 1997 Ryszard Kuklinski
- Col. Ryszard Kuklinski was the Polish army officer
- A Secret Life By Benjamin Weiser
- Has Ryszard Kuklinski saved us from World War III?
- Samples of Col. Kuklinski reports
- Col. Kuklinski report - December 1, 1980
- Col. Kuklinski report - April 26, 1981
- Col. Kuklinski report - September 15, 1981