The Priest of Freedom
Communism in Europe was criminal until its final days, long after the deaths of Lenin and Stalin. In the mid-1980s, the martyrdom of the Polish priest Jerzy Popiełuszko echoed loudly across the world.
.Shortly before nine in the morning, a limousine with diplomatic plates pulled up in front of St Stanisław Kostka Church. As the car doors opened, several thousand Warsaw residents chanted ‘Long live George Bush.’ The Vice President of the United States walked to the grave of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko and placed a bouquet on the ledger stone. ‘In Father Jerzy, the world lost a courageous fighter for the cause of liberty. But his sacrifice was not in vain,’ Bush said that morning. He concluded his brief speech with words spoken in Polish: ‘Za naszą i waszą wolność’ (for our freedom and yours). He then raised his fingers in a ‘V’ sign, a well-known symbol of victory.
This event took place on 28 September 1987. Poland – like much of Central and Eastern Europe – was still in the grip of communist dictatorship and under Soviet domination. During his several-day visit, the second most important US politician held many talks not only with the representatives of the authorities but also with the democratic opposition they did not recognise, led primarily by Solidarity. The fact that Bush laid a wreath with a flag bearing the symbol of the social movement on Popiełuszko’s grave was not a coincidence – he paid tribute to the indomitable Solidarity chaplain who was killed for defending human dignity.
Communists’ fight against the Church
.When Popiełuszko was born in the village of Okopy in eastern Poland in September 1947, Europe was already divided by the Iron Curtain. Poland, against its own will, had fallen under Stalin’s sphere of influence. Warsaw was ruled by a Communist regime installed by the Red Army and supported by the NKVD. The new authorities had falsified parliamentary elections and brutally repressed the democratic opposition and independence movements. The last significant institution to remain outside Communist control was the Catholic Church, though eventually, the regime launched a ruthless war against it as well. The imprisonment of the charismatic Primate Stefan Wyszyński from 1953 to 1956 marked the peak of this hateful campaign.
But repression did not break the Church. On the contrary, it appeared to be decisively triumphing over the Communists in the struggle for control over the ‘government of people’s souls’. It was confirmed by Pope John Paul II’s first pilgrimage to Poland in June 1979. At Victory Square in Warsaw, the Pope called upon the Holy Spirit to renew the face of ‘this land.’ A little over a year later these words became a reality. In August 1980, a wave of strikes swept across Poland. The workers demanded not only better living conditions but also permission to form free trade unions, which was a serious violation of a taboo under the Communist dictatorship.
Chaplain of Solidarity
.In the midst of this turmoil, Popiełuszko, who was a young priest at the time, did not refuse to conduct Mass at a makeshift altar in the striking Warsaw Steelworks. He went there with great trepidation, but the workers greeted him with applause.
The strikes soon led to the formation of Solidarity, a multi-million-strong trade union independent of the authorities. Popiełuszko became one of its chaplains. He also visited the striking students. ‘The whole society stands with you (…) From the bottom of my heart, I wish you endurance and victory,’ he said to the students of the Firefighting Academy in Warsaw. The communist authorities used force to crush their 1981 autumn protest. Before long, they applied the same approach to the entire nation.
On the 13th of December 1981, a team led by Wojciech Jaruzelski deployed tanks in the streets of Polish cities. Thousands of Solidarity activists were sent to prisons and internment centres. Popiełuszko helped them and their families as much as he could. He distributed gifts sent from the West. He attended political trials to lift the spirits of the innocently accused. He conducted monthly masses at St Stanisław Kostka Church, drawing large crowds of people from Warsaw and other cities, both believers and non-believers. In these sermons he repeatedly spoke of solidarity – the one written with a small letter and the one banned by the communist authorities. He emphasised that it was possible to remain ‘spiritually free’ even under ‘external enslavement,’ as long as one rejected fear and stood for the truth. He called evil by its name while teaching people to fight it only with good.
In the snares of the regime
.Popiełuszko’s growing popularity and unquestioned authority irritated the Communists. The priest was under surveillance by the Security Service and harassed in various ways. In an interview with the Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique, he said: ‘Twice they painted my car with white paint. Twice they attempted to break into my flat (…). Twice they broke into the church.’ Also twice, in August and December 1983, he was detained. The officers of the secret political police went so far as to plant gun cartridges and explosives in his flat. He was investigated and taken in for questioning by the public prosecutor’s office. On top of that, the press published calumnious articles about him. The most perfidious one was written by the government spokesman Jerzy Urban. The author, hiding behind a pseudonym, accused Popiełuszko of holding ‘hate seances’ in church.
When the harassment failed, the Communists resorted to murder. Late in the evening of 19 October 1984, Popiełuszko was kidnapped by security officers. His mangled body was recovered from the Vistula River eleven days later. An autopsy and examination confirmed that the priest was tortured prior to his demise.
The crime cast a gloomy cloud, reaching as far as overseas. ‘All America shares the grief of the Polish people at the news of the tragic death of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko. Father Popiełuszko was a champion of Christian values and a courageous spokesman for the cause of liberty.’
For faith and country
.Hundreds of thousands of people attended Popiełuszko’s funeral. It became a huge demonstration against evil, violence and enslavement, the anti-values commonly associated with the regime of the time. In the following years, Father Jerzy’s grave was visited by millions of people, including influential Western politicians: along with Vice President Bush senior, US Senator Edward Kennedy and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also paid their respects. John Paul II prayed here on 14 June 1987. ‘This martyred priest,’ the Pope later wrote, ‘will always remain in the memory of our Nation as a fearless defender of truth, justice, freedom and human dignity.’
Today, Father Jerzy Popiełuszko is a blessed of the Catholic Church and has been portrayed in films and even comic books. The Institute of National Remembrance, which I have the honour of heading, has dedicated numerous publications, conferences and educational activities to him.
Every 19th of October in Poland, we not only remember Father Jerzy but also celebrate the National Day of Remembrance of the Indomitable Clergy. It was established by the Sejm a few years ago as a tribute to all priests who contributed to Polish freedom and sacrificed their lives for it. Many of them died during the Second World War at the hands of the German occupiers; others fell victim to the Soviets or our native Communists up until 1989.
.It is our duty to remember those who fought and paid the ultimate price for the freedom we enjoy today.
Karol Nawrocki