Post by Bonobo on Oct 20, 2012 21:36:27 GMT 1
It sounds like a thriller story.
In short: a few days before communists declared martial law in Poland in 1981, Józef Pinior, one of Solidarity leaders, withdrew 80 million zlotys ( 0,5 million $, huge amount then) from the Solidarity account in a state bank. The money was later used to support the underground Solidarity activity under martial law.
Read the articles from the time. Today we may laugh at it, but in 1980s it was really serious - communists knew how to break people.
Solidarity Leader Ordered to Return Union Funds
AP , Associated Press AP News Archive Feb. 11, 1985 6:21 PM ET
WARSAW, POLAND WARSAW, Poland (AP) _ A court ruled Monday that a former Solidarity underground leader illegally ''disposed of'' $570,000 in union funds and must reimburse the government, the official news agency PAP reported.
However, Jozef Pinior said the money belongs to Solidarity and he will not give it up.
The court also ruled that Pinior's property can be confiscated and his salary attached. Pinior said he had no property the bailiff might want except a refrigerator.
In its decision, the court in the southern city of Wroclaw said Pinior ''illegally disposed of and failed to account for'' 80 million zlotys ($570,000) in union funds that he withdrew from a union bank account shortly before the imposition of martial law in December 1981, PAP said.
Pinior was ordered to pay the money plus interest to a government commission that administers union property seized after the military crackdown that crushed Solidarity, the first free trade union in the Soviet bloc.
Pinior, reached by telephone at his Wroclaw apartment, said he would not pay the money and intends to appeal the verdict.
''These 80 million zlotys are Solidarity's property and this commission will not be given the money by me,'' Pinior said. ''I think this verdict ... is evidence that the authorities do not intend to stop acts of repression against social activists.''
About the provision for confiscation of his property, Pinior said: ''I have no property that a bailiff will be able to confiscate, only my refrigerator. Luckily, we don't even have a TV set.''
An aide to Lech Walesa said the Solidarity founder would talk to Pinior before issuing a statement.
''Walesa as the union leader said he never heard any complaints about Pinior's handling of this money,'' Jacek Merkel said by telephone from Walesa's apartment in the Baltic port of Gdansk, where Solidarity was born in 1980.
Walesa was questioned about the missing funds in April 1983, shortly after the arrests of Pinior and other Solidarity figures since released in an amnesty. The government claimed the money was used for Solidarity underground activities after martial law was declared.
The government commission in charge of union property filed the civil suit last September against Pinior and another Wroclaw Solidarity leader, Piotr Bednarz. The government has decreed that Solidarity's assets are to be turned over to new government-sponsored unions formed after Solidarity was outlawed in October 1982.
The commission later withdrew the suit against Bednarz, who has been hospitalized since May with an illness that followed a suicide attempt in prison.
Pinior, former treasurer of the Wroclaw chapter, admitted withdrawing the runds from Solidarity's bank account Dec. 3, 1981, only 10 days before martial law was imposed. He said the decision was made by Solidarity officials.
Pinior was a member of Solidarity's underground Temporary Coordinating Commission during martial law.
www.apnewsarchive.com/1985/Solidarity-Leader-Ordered-to-Return-Union-Funds/id-f12726c1b3f5d5584f1f3a8e7df1f3f8
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Pinior
In 1980 - 1989 Pinior was a trade unionist of the NSZZ "Solidarno¶æ". After the imposing of the Martial Law in Poland he became a leader of the "Solidarno¶æ" working in the underground. A leader of "RKS Solidarno¶æ" of Lower Silesia and a member of the underground national management of the union – Provisional Co-ordination Committee of the NSZZ "Solidarno¶æ"- and since 1986 public Provisional Board of the NSZZ "Solidarno¶æ".
He became famous for saving treat union’s 80 millions z³otys from confiscation by the Security Service a few days before the imposing of the Martial Law in Poland. At that time he performed a duty of financial spokesman for the Union. Wanted after 13 December 1981, he lived in hiding. Many times arrested detained and imprisoned for his activity in the independent trade union in the years 1983-1988. He was called a prisoner of conscience by the Amnesty International between 29 May 1984 and 21 August 1984. He was a co-originator of famous, underground Solidarno¶æ Radio.
Wanted by communists for fraud
Today: a man of respect.
I remember communist propaganda of the time: they called him a thief, robber, gangster, fraudster etc.
He was 26 in 1981.
Some people have wonderful biographies.
In short: a few days before communists declared martial law in Poland in 1981, Józef Pinior, one of Solidarity leaders, withdrew 80 million zlotys ( 0,5 million $, huge amount then) from the Solidarity account in a state bank. The money was later used to support the underground Solidarity activity under martial law.
Read the articles from the time. Today we may laugh at it, but in 1980s it was really serious - communists knew how to break people.
Solidarity Leader Ordered to Return Union Funds
AP , Associated Press AP News Archive Feb. 11, 1985 6:21 PM ET
WARSAW, POLAND WARSAW, Poland (AP) _ A court ruled Monday that a former Solidarity underground leader illegally ''disposed of'' $570,000 in union funds and must reimburse the government, the official news agency PAP reported.
However, Jozef Pinior said the money belongs to Solidarity and he will not give it up.
The court also ruled that Pinior's property can be confiscated and his salary attached. Pinior said he had no property the bailiff might want except a refrigerator.
In its decision, the court in the southern city of Wroclaw said Pinior ''illegally disposed of and failed to account for'' 80 million zlotys ($570,000) in union funds that he withdrew from a union bank account shortly before the imposition of martial law in December 1981, PAP said.
Pinior was ordered to pay the money plus interest to a government commission that administers union property seized after the military crackdown that crushed Solidarity, the first free trade union in the Soviet bloc.
Pinior, reached by telephone at his Wroclaw apartment, said he would not pay the money and intends to appeal the verdict.
''These 80 million zlotys are Solidarity's property and this commission will not be given the money by me,'' Pinior said. ''I think this verdict ... is evidence that the authorities do not intend to stop acts of repression against social activists.''
About the provision for confiscation of his property, Pinior said: ''I have no property that a bailiff will be able to confiscate, only my refrigerator. Luckily, we don't even have a TV set.''
An aide to Lech Walesa said the Solidarity founder would talk to Pinior before issuing a statement.
''Walesa as the union leader said he never heard any complaints about Pinior's handling of this money,'' Jacek Merkel said by telephone from Walesa's apartment in the Baltic port of Gdansk, where Solidarity was born in 1980.
Walesa was questioned about the missing funds in April 1983, shortly after the arrests of Pinior and other Solidarity figures since released in an amnesty. The government claimed the money was used for Solidarity underground activities after martial law was declared.
The government commission in charge of union property filed the civil suit last September against Pinior and another Wroclaw Solidarity leader, Piotr Bednarz. The government has decreed that Solidarity's assets are to be turned over to new government-sponsored unions formed after Solidarity was outlawed in October 1982.
The commission later withdrew the suit against Bednarz, who has been hospitalized since May with an illness that followed a suicide attempt in prison.
Pinior, former treasurer of the Wroclaw chapter, admitted withdrawing the runds from Solidarity's bank account Dec. 3, 1981, only 10 days before martial law was imposed. He said the decision was made by Solidarity officials.
Pinior was a member of Solidarity's underground Temporary Coordinating Commission during martial law.
www.apnewsarchive.com/1985/Solidarity-Leader-Ordered-to-Return-Union-Funds/id-f12726c1b3f5d5584f1f3a8e7df1f3f8
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Pinior
In 1980 - 1989 Pinior was a trade unionist of the NSZZ "Solidarno¶æ". After the imposing of the Martial Law in Poland he became a leader of the "Solidarno¶æ" working in the underground. A leader of "RKS Solidarno¶æ" of Lower Silesia and a member of the underground national management of the union – Provisional Co-ordination Committee of the NSZZ "Solidarno¶æ"- and since 1986 public Provisional Board of the NSZZ "Solidarno¶æ".
He became famous for saving treat union’s 80 millions z³otys from confiscation by the Security Service a few days before the imposing of the Martial Law in Poland. At that time he performed a duty of financial spokesman for the Union. Wanted after 13 December 1981, he lived in hiding. Many times arrested detained and imprisoned for his activity in the independent trade union in the years 1983-1988. He was called a prisoner of conscience by the Amnesty International between 29 May 1984 and 21 August 1984. He was a co-originator of famous, underground Solidarno¶æ Radio.
Wanted by communists for fraud
Today: a man of respect.
I remember communist propaganda of the time: they called him a thief, robber, gangster, fraudster etc.
He was 26 in 1981.
Some people have wonderful biographies.
