INFORMATION TEAM OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY BUREAU Warsaw, 20 April 1995
Dear Sir,
Dear Editor,
Paweł Śliwko
editor-in-chief of "Głos
In connection with the publication in the pages of the municipal and communal newspaper "Głos Bolesławca" (No. 4/34) in April 1995 of a letter by an unknown author hiding behind the initials "AK", I wish to express my regret over the deplorable propaganda fiction that "Głos Bolesławca" saw fit to publish without checking basic information, in light of which the text entitled "Glory to the National Armed Forces" is a typical fabrication by an author dealing in unreal entities. It is a pity that the newspaper of the town and commune of Bolesławiec (as stated in its subtitle), published on the initiative of the Bolesławiec Enthusiasts' Society, lends its pages to typical propaganda straight out of the Polish People's Republic, directed against national circles.
It is not true that Minister Henryk Goryszewski was "staying in Jelenia Góra" in mid-1995, presenting a standard to veterans—soldiers of the National Armed Forces—on behalf of the President of the Republic of Poland. He was not in Jelenia Góra either in the current year or the preceding one. Thus, the entire further account of Minister Goryszewski's visit, the presentation there of a standard in the name of the President of the Republic of Poland, and the notes quoted from memory by the author (which suggests that the author "AK" witnessed the event and personally heard the absent minister?!) unpleasantly reek of propaganda from the bygone period of totalitarianism, straight out of Orwell's "1984".
The further arguments concerning the National Armed Forces and the "Świętokrzyska Brigade" belong more properly in a lecture on Polish People's Republic propaganda concerning "NSZ bands", "spittle-covered dwarfs of reaction", and similar invective than in a serious historical discussion. The manipulation carried out by an author unwilling to disclose his first and last name, who, thanks to "Głos Bolesławca", misleads the wider public, places the responsibility on the Bolesławiec Enthusiasts' Society and the Bolesławiec local government (which not only appears in the newspaper's subtitle but also finances it), giving these institutions a poor recommendation.
Regarding the passage in which the author mentions my article from a year ago, entitled "Who First Fought for the Border on the Oder and Neisse", I did not argue in it that the Western Territories returned to Poland thanks to the National Armed Forces, but that the National Armed Forces milieu was the first (as early as 1939) to put forward the demand for a border on the Oder and Neisse, and that a significant part of its organizational work focused on this direction of struggle.
Yours sincerely
Arkadiusz Urban
Head of the Information Team
of the National Security Bureau
at the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland
P.S.
In view of the above facts, I request that the Editorial Office of "Głos Bolesławca" publish the above correction under a prominent title, in legible print, together with an apology from the Editorial Office.
For information: the Bolesławiec Municipality and the Bolesławiec Enthusiasts' Society.