Background

In his books and essays, Wildstein has strongly argued for a thorough review of the communist past not only of politicians, but of all of Polish society. However, a comprehensive vetting of public figures regarding contacts with the oppressive former communist apparatus has, after delays, been carried out only to a limited extent and with rather inconsequential results.

Ever since the fall of communism, the question of vetting (lustracja) has been a bone of contention among political camps that emerged from the former anticommunist opposition. One side – prominently represented by Adam Michnik and his Gazeta Wyborcza, the country's largest daily – calls for a comprehensive reconciliation between former operatives and opponents of the Polish People's Republic by symbolically drawing a "thick line" (gruba kreska) demarcating the communist period from the present period, without seeking retribution. Opponents of this approach criticize it as too propitiatory and call for a morally rigorous approach, with thorough vetting of all persons in leading positions in politics, business, and the media who were born before 1972.

In the vetting controversy, Wildstein has denounced the "thick-line" proposal and has uncompromisingly advocated for screening, even at the expense of social peace. Wildstein has helped uncover a prominent secret-police informer: Lesław Maleszka, a journalist with the anti-vetting liberal daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, and a former schoolmate and close friend of Wildstein's who had reported on the oppositional Student Solidarity Committee (see above) which he had co-founded with Wildstein. Maleszka has been implicated in the mysterious death of Stanisław Pyjas.

Wildstein's List

In early 2005, the vetting debate reached a peak after Wildstein had abstracted an inventory of the files stored at the Institute for National Remembrance (IPN) which also manages the files of the former secret police, colloquially known as teczki in Polish. The list contained nothing but the names of roughly 240,000 persons on which such a file exists. Wildstein burned this inventory to CD-ROMs and took it to the offices of his employer, the daily Rzeczpospolita, from where he distributed it among colleagues. Soon afterwards, the list was made available on several anonymous websites, which soon attracted a lot of traffic. Until then, access to files for the general public had been restricted.

Public debate began when Rzeczpospolita's rival, the anti-vetting Gazeta Wyborcza reported that Wildstein had copied and distributed the inventory. One cause for irritation was the fact that the list contained only names of persons with no information on whether they were informers or victims; not to mention the fact that the practice of totalitarian regimes often renders it difficult or impossible to distinguish collaborators from victims. Also, coincidental identity of names occurs frequently, making the list even more difficult to judge. Wildstein himself claimed to have copied and passed on the list as a tool for investigative journalists. In the meantime it is assumed that he acted with tacit approval or was even actively assisted by at least one IPN employee; an internal inquiry as well as preliminary legal proceedings are underway to investigate the circumstances.

While critics claim that Wildstein's disclosure of the list has created a climate of suspicion and irresponsibly endangered social peace, others regard it as a courageous act of civil disobedience. According to them, Wildstein created a fait accompli and thus helped to initiate an overdue review of the past, which had so far been protracted by ex-communist old boys' networks in politics and business and opinion-making relativist intellectuals.

On January 31, 2005 – two days after Gazeta Wyborcza had denounced his manoeuvre – Rzeczpospolita's editor-in-chief dismissed him as a salaried employee, although he continues to contribute freelance articles. With this move, the paper apparently tried to distance itself from the radical advocates of lustracja and remove itself from the focus. On February 1, the popular weekly Wprost offered Wildstein a job and declared it would also publish the list if "technically possible".^[4] Also, numerous journalists and public figures, including Józef Glemp, declared their solidarity with Wildstein.