The omission of Lech Walesa’s name from the Institute of National Remembrance’s list of individuals persecuted by the Communist regime reopens conflict between former President and the Institute.

The Gazeta Wyborcza daily wrote yesterday that the list of those persecuted by the Communist secret militia (SB), drawn up by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) excluded the former President and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa.  Instead, it included the names of Walesa’s main political adversaries who had accused him of being SB’s secret informer nicknamed “Bolek” in the 1970s.

Many have speculated that the exclusion of the former President’s name from the victims’ list is down to the fact that the data for the compilation was prepared by two IPN historians, the authors of the book accusing Walesa of collaboration with SB.

“The Institute of National Remembrance has never questioned Lech Walesa’s historic contribution,” says IPN’s Chairman Janusz Kurtyka, as reported by today’s Dziennik daily.

Kurtyka said that Lech Wałesa was the subject of academic studies by IPN historians who were obliged to publish only the names of where hard evidence exists that they had been persecuted and bullied by the Communist secret services. He added that they were individuals whose refusal to collaborate with the SB was proven beyond any doubt.

“[Kurtyka] said what he knew. Everybody has to draw their own conclusions if what he said was wise or stupid,” Lech Walesa commented on the IPN’s Chairman words.