Tributes both inside and outside Poland poured in after the tragic death of Bronislaw Geremek last Sunday. But not everyone appears to be sorry he has gone.

"Thank you God for taking him away from us”, read a banner held aloft by listeners from the controversial radio station, Radio Maryja, outside a central Warsaw church yesterday.

When asked by journalists who they were referring to, none of the demonstrators would openly admit that the banner refers to the late Solidarity activist and former foreign minister Professor Bronislaw Geremek, who died in a car crash last Sunday. One of them, however, said it was about “The one who advised President Bolek”, alluding to the fact that Professor Geremek had been former President Lech Walesa’s advisor in the 1980s.

A book published recently by two historians allege that Walesa had colluded with the communist secret services in the early 1970s under the code name “Bolek”.

Professor Bronislaw Geremek co-operated with Lech Walesa since the wave of strikes at the Gdansk Shipyard in the early 1980s.  In 1991, President Walesa appointed Geremek as prime minister, though he failed to form a cabinet.

The demonstrators also read out a list of Polish MPs who wanted ratification of the Lisbon Treaty by Poland, calling them “traitors”.

Radio Maryja is a controversial broadcaster, frequently criticized for its perceived anti-Semitism and the political nature of some of its programs. (mj)

related stories

Pope offers condolences after Geremek's death, thenews.pl, July 17