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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
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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
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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
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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
432:, 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.
448:. 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.
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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:
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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
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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
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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.
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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
216:(The Republic), which dropped him as a salaried employee in the wake of the public controversy over "Wildstein's List" (though he continues to contribute as a freelance writer).
88:(Polish state-owned television). Wildstein rose to nationwide prominence in Poland in January and February 2005, after he smuggled files on informers and victims of the former
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offered
Wildstein a job and declared it would also publish the list if "technically possible". Also, numerous journalists and public figures, including
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the past, which had so far been protracted by ex-communist old boys' networks in politics and business and opinion-making relativist intellectuals.
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has been a bone of contention among political camps that emerged from the former anticommunist opposition. One side – prominently represented by
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In early 2005, the vetting debate reached a peak after
Wildstein had abstracted an inventory of the files stored at the
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After the fall of communism, he returned to Poland. From 1994 until 1996, he worked for the Polish daily newspaper
210:(Life). Most recently, he was a salaried employee of the prestigious, moderately-conservative-to-centrist daily,
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Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
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and distributed them to fellow journalists. The files are commonly referred to as "
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and remove itself from the focus. On
February 1, the popular weekly
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From 1971 through 1980, Wildstein studied Polish literature at the
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Currently
Wildstein publishes essays for the weekly newsmagazine,
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Wildstein was born in
Olsztyn. His father Szymon Wildstein was a
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that was established in 1980; and in 1977 he co-founded the
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Ever since the fall of communism, the question of vetting
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547:"Bronisław Wildstein odchodzi z "Rzeczpospolitej""
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171:), an influential highbrow forerunner to the
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163:. In the 1970s, he joined the oppositional
496:"Poland in uproar over leak of spy files"
330:Learn how and when to remove this message
144:When he was five years old he contracted
415:Institute for National Remembrance (IPN)
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372:by symbolically drawing a "thick line"
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455:On January 31, 2005 – two days after
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555:(in Polish). 31 January 2005
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29:This article needs to be
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137:acting against Poland's
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80:chief executive officer
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279:"Bronisław Wildstein"
257:references or sources
95:Służba Bezpieczeństwa
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63:(born 11 June 1952,
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532:2023-12-29
508:2007-02-27
482:References
343:Background
320:March 2019
290:newspapers
609:interview
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251:does not
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131:Home Army
90:communist
76:dissident
362:and his
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41:May 2016
349:vetting
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