Popieluszko- priest killed by communist police

[Bonobo]

Jerzy Popieluszko beatified in Warsaw
06.06.2010 11:40
Father Jerzy Popieluszko, a priest involved with the Solidarity movement and who was murdered by Poland’s communist secret police in 1984, was beatified during an open-air Mass held in Warsaw’s Pilsudski Square.
More than 120,000 pilgrims from across the country came to the capital to take part in the celebratory Mass, led by Papal envoy Archbishop Angelo Amato.
Soon after the Mass began, Archbishop Amato read out the act of beatification of Jerzy Popieluszko in Latin, after which Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz read out the text in Polish.
The feast day commemorating the life of Popieluszko will be held on October 19, the anniversary of his death.
The beatification of Jerzy Popieluszko is a “great gift to a great nation”, Archbishop Amato said during his homily to the faithful on Pilsudski Square.
The Papal envoy underlined that Father Popieluszko suffered because he was a faithful servant to the Catholic Church, and who defended his dignity in the name of Christ and the Church, as well as the freedom of those people, who like Popieluszko, were oppressed and humiliated.
The Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko’s mother, Marianna, was present at the Mass. Solidarity trade unionists also attended the Mass, along with 100 bishops and around 2000 priests.
After the Mass, a procession bearing a reliquary of Jerzy Popieluszko is to go from Pilsudski Square to the Temple of Divine Providence in Warsaw’s Wilanow district.

See film coverage
www.tvn24.pl/-1,1659495,0,1,blogoslawiony-ksiadz-jerzy-chwycil-nas-za-serca,wiadomosc.html





Mother




















Jerzy Popiełuszko (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjɛʐɨ popʲɛˈwuʂkɔ]; September 14, 1947[1] – October 19, 1984) was a Roman Catholic priest from Poland, associated with the Solidarity union. He was murdered by agents of the Polish internal intelligence agency, the Służba Bezpieczeństwa, (English: Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). He has been recognized as a martyr by the Catholic Church, and was beatified on June 6, 2010.

Life and work

Born in Okopy near Suchowola, Jerzy Popiełuszko was a charismatic priest who was first sent to strikers in the Warsaw Steelworks. Thereafter he was associated with workers and trade unionists from the Solidarity movement who opposed the Communist regime in Poland.

He was a staunch anti-communist, and in his sermons, interwove spiritual exhortations with political messages, criticizing the Communist system and motivating people to protest. During the period of martial law, the Catholic Church was the only force that could voice protest comparatively openly, with the regular celebration of Mass presenting opportunities for public gatherings in churches.

Popiełuszko's sermons were routinely broadcast by Radio Free Europe, and thus became famous throughout Poland for their uncompromising stance against the regime. The Służba Bezpieczeństwa tried to silence or intimidate him. When those techniques did not work, they fabricated evidence against him; he was arrested in 1983, but soon released on intervention of the clergy and pardoned by an amnesty.
[edit] Assassination

A car accident was set up to kill Jerzy Popiełuszko on October 13, 1984, but he escaped it. The alternative plan was to kidnap him, and it was carried out on October 19, 1984. The priest was beaten and murdered by three Security Police officers. Then, his body was dumped into the Vistula Water Reservoir near Włocławek from where it was recovered on October 30, 1984.[2]

News of the political murder caused an uproar throughout Poland, and the murderers and one of their superiors were convicted of the crime. More than 250,000 people attended his funeral, including Lech Wałęsa on November 3, 1984. Despite the murder and its repercussions, the Communist regime remained in power until 1989. Popiełuszko's murderers - Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski, Leszek Pękala, Waldemar Chmielewski and Colonel Adam Pietruszka - were jailed but released later as part of an amnesty.[2]

In 1997, the Roman Catholic Church started the process of his beatification and by 2008 he had Servant of God status. On December 19, 2009, it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI had approved the decree of beatification of Father Popiełuszko.[3] He was beatified on June 6, 2010 in Warsaw's Pilsudski Square. His mother, Marianna Popiełuszko, who had turned 100-years-old few days earlier, was present at the event. [4]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerzy_Popie%C5%82uszko

[valpomike]

I did not know of this great man, until now. Thank you for telling us of him. Again, those dam Russians. Long live Poland.

Mike

[Bonobo]

Jun 7, 2010 16:23:28 GMT 1 valpomike said:

I did not know of this great man, until now. Thank you for telling us of him. Again, those dam Russians. Long live Poland.

Mike

It wasn`t damn Russians who killed the priest.
It was damn Polish communist secret police agents. They had murderous characters, but acted like complete amateurs and committed so many mistakes that the case couldn`t be hushed down by the communist authorities.

Murderers:

Grzegorz Piotrowski - did 15 years in prison, first sentenced to 25.



Waldemar Chmielewski- sentenced to 14 years, did 5.

cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/50679416.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=E41C9FE5C4AA0A14940C885E97E770A0EEE283E88A5EE065FF6C92E7AB183509B01E70F2B3269972

Leszek Pękala - sentenced to 15 years, served 6.
cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/50679417.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=E41C9FE5C4AA0A14940C885E97E770A056013F1CFBC421E791748E08089D1C7BB01E70F2B3269972


Today, they are about 60 yo, live somewhere in Poland under

I wonder if they ever regret what they did.


About the murder and trial, a 1985 article from TIME:


Poland Keeping the Lid on Murder
By Jamie Murphy;Tadeusz Kucharski/Torun and John Moody/Warsaw M

Voice firm and eyes unyielding, the former captain of the Polish secret police recalled the night of the murder. It was, he said, the first time he had struck a man "in my adult life." He said: "I hit him at least two, most probably three or four times, in the area of the head. I have the impression I put something into his mouth. I don't know if it was really like that or if it is a scene from a dream." Pausing briefly, Grzegorz Piotrowski, the 33-year- old, soft-spoken former high school mathematics teacher declared: "That was the beginning of the whole catastrophe."

Piotrowski and three other members of the Polish secret police--two lieutenants and a colonel, all now reduced to privates--are on trial for last October's abduction and murder of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, a priest who was an unyielding supporter of the banned Solidarity trade-union movement. As Piotrowski took the witness stand last week in Room 40 of the courthouse in the city of Torun, many expected the ex-captain to confirm the prosecution's original claim that the slaying was carried out with the knowledge and support of high-ranking members of the Internal Affairs Ministry, which oversees the secret police. But although he said that at one time he had mistakenly believed the orders to abduct Popieluszko came from "the top," he allowed the stain of complicity to go no further than his immediate superior, Adam Pietruszka, a former colonel and the fourth man in the dock. Like two of his co-defendants, former Lieutenants Waldemar Chmielewski and Leszek Pekala, who testified two weeks ago, Piotrowski said he assumed that the idea to abduct the priest was sponsored by people senior enough to shield him from prosecution. "All the time, I was certain that this cannot be Adam Pietruszka's idea. But it turned out different," he declared.

The testimony came none too soon for Poland's Communist government. Although Polish Premier General Wojciech Jaruzelski has promised the trial will not be a whitewash, many Poles believe that the government will now be able to declare that justice has been served and that a widespread investigation is unnecessary. While Piotrowski's confession shielded the powerful, it increased the chance that he would receive the death sentence. He appeared ready and willing to drag Pietruszka down with him.

Piotrowski described a meeting in late September in Pietruszka's office, also attended by Lieut. Colonel Leszek Wolski, head of Warsaw's local security office. Speaking of Father Popieluszko and Stanislaw Malkowski, another activist priest, the ex-captain recalled his superior saying, "Enough of this game playing with Popieluszko and Malkowski. We will take decisive action. We have to shake them so hard that it leads right up to a heart attack." As Pietruszka sat impassively, separated from Piotrowski by two uniformed police officers, the former captain revealed that the victim was originally to have been Malkowski. Piotrowski claimed that he managed to dissuade his superior, saying, "Popieluszko is more dangerous politically." When Wolski said he would have to inform his superiors, the colonel allegedly replied, "Don't bother with superiors. The less they know, the smaller headache they will have." About a month before the crime, said Piotrowski, the colonel called him into his office and allegedly told him, "I don't think I have to add that this is a decision from the highest level."

After the murder, Piotrowski became less sure that he had protectors in high places. The day after Popieluszko's disappearance, Piotrowski was summoned to the office of General Zenon Platek, head of the religiousaffairs department at the Internal Affairs Ministry. What, the general demanded, did the captain * know about the case? Piotrowski said that he lied and said he knew nothing.

On the stand two days later, Pietruszka pleaded not guilty to the accusations, dismissing them as "allegations by Piotrowski." Approving such an act, he asserted, would have been inconsistent with what he called socialist humanism. Instead, he suggested that Piotrowski misunderstood his instructions and took matters into his own hands. He agreed, however, that last September he discussed with the former captain and another officer the need to take action against the political activities of some priests. Harshly criticizing Poland's Roman Catholic Church, he accused these priests of fomenting hatred toward Marxists and of being among those who "carry a cross on their breast and unequivocal hatred in their hearts."

Piotrowski took the opportunity to vent his frustration against the Catholic Church, its bishops and Father Popieluszko, hinting that the priest had had an affair with a woman. In a sometimes agitated, 30-min. harangue against the church, Piotrowski asked, "How could we keep calm when import duties in the amount of 30 million zlotys (about $231,000) were waived for priests, mostly for cars and luxury goods? How could we keep calm if, disregarding the law, schools were occupied, youth were incited and educated to hate the state?" For the secret police, he said, "there were no Sundays. Children never saw their fathers because some priests decided to make trouble for us."

During his testimony, Piotrowski requested an adjournment for the day and got it. He insisted that a noisy photographer be asked to stop taking pictures. He even reprimanded one of the five acting judges. While Piotrowski was describing a phone call received from "a friend in the branch," Judge Artur Kujawa asked for the name of the friend. Snapped Piotrowski: "There are names of many functionaries of the internal-security service mentioned here. There are Western correspondents present in the room. Could you please excuse me from answering that question?" The request was granted.


www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,956282-1,00.html

[tufta]

Jun 7, 2010 19:34:04 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

It wasn`t damn Russians who killed the priest.
It was damn Polish communist secret police agents.

They were the last in the long chain, the henchmen, pathologic mentalities. If you go up the chain you will end exactly there - in Russia. Without Russian backing there would not be a system which led to killing Jerzy Popiełuszko. And others.

[Bonobo]

Jun 7, 2010 20:17:54 GMT 1 tufta said:

Jun 7, 2010 19:34:04 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

It wasn`t damn Russians who killed the priest.
It was damn Polish communist secret police agents.

They were the last in the long chain, the henchmen, pathologic mentalities. If you go up the chain you will end exactly there - in Russia. Without Russian backing there would not be a system which led to killing Jerzy Popiełuszko. And others.

I thought they were Soviets. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

A similar correction is done when somebody says that Poles expelled Jews in 1968, isn`t it? Then we tend to reply in self- defence that it was carried out not by Poles but by communists, don`t we? ;D ;D ;D ;D Normal Poles didn`t participate, did they? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[tufta]

Jun 7, 2010 21:55:30 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

Jun 7, 2010 20:17:54 GMT 1 tufta said:

They were the last in the long chain, the henchmen, pathologic mentalities. If you go up the chain you will end exactly there - in Russia. Without Russian backing there would not be a system which led to killing Jerzy Popiełuszko. And others.

I thought they were Soviets. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

A similar correction is done when somebody says that Poles expelled Jews in 1968, isn`t it? Then we tend to reply in self- defence that it was carried out not by Poles but by communists, don`t we? ;D ;D ;D ;D Normal Poles didn`t participate, did they? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

So, in 1939 Poland was invaded by Nazi and Soviets

As to 1968 - the Zionists (equivalent of Nazis and Soviets!) in their mass just run away from a prison Poland was at that time.

Some stayed though and the only repercussion was they lost a job. Just like many non-Jewish Poles lost jobs on numerous occasions under the Russian rule. Ooops, Sobiet rule! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[valpomike]

Still Russians and Germans, whatever you call them than.

Mike