Vortrag von Dr. Władysław Bułhak (IPN – Institut für Nationales Gedenken)

Activities of Polish Foreign Intelligence Directed against the Vatican, 1962-1970

In the division of labor of the communist intelligence services led by Moscow, Department I of the Polish Ministry of Interior focused on the Vatican or, more boradly, the Catholic Church. This focus reflected the traditional place of Catholicism in Polish culture and society. Based on extensive research in the archives of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw, the lecturer will assesss the effectiveness of these Polish intelligence activities. Were they effective in providing the Soviet bloc's decisionmakers with the information that they needed? He will also deconstruct the myth of socalled "prospective agents" recruited among the Polish clergy. The main sources for Polish intelligence were not such clergy, but journalists and small journalistic agencies reporting from the Holy See. These played a central role in the information war between the special services of East and West during Cold War.