The Jaruzelski Case: The Ascent of Agent ‘Wolski’

Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski has a dirty little secret. He was a Soviet military intelligence agent beginning in 1946.

History buffs recall that Jaruzelski enjoyed a stellar career in Soviet-occupied Poland. He was once the youngest Communist general in Poland; the Minister of Defense; the Commander in Chief of Poland's Communist armed forces; the Prime Minister; and the General Secretary of the Communist Party. Jaruzelski occupied most of those posts simultaneously. One usually remembers him simply as the military strongman who, to crush "Solidarity," imposed martial law in December 1981 and, thus, ended Poland's bid for freedom. He was greatly vilified at that time at home and abroad.

However, since the "collapse" of Communism, the general has staged a shocking comeback. Following the so-called Round Table agreement, where the Communists and Solidarity's leftists made a backdoor deal to share power, which included the subsequent rigged elections of June 1989, Jaruzelski incredibly emerged as post-Communist Poland's first President. Equally incredibly, he is now more popular than ever. Numerous polls indicate that today over 50 percent of Poles back retroactively his decision to impose martial law. The General seems fully vindicated and the question, "patriot or traitor?" has been apparently answered in his favor.