Officials remained silent about military assistance for Józef Fajkowski’s funeral, but his granddaughter spoke out

The editorial staff of the wPolityce.pl portal received a letter referring to my recent text on the funeral of Józef Fajkowski, who received military assistance. In the text I described how the Ministry of Culture (the deceased was the Deputy Minister of Culture in the Polish People’s Republic) and the Prime Minister’s Chancellery ignored my questions on this issue.

THE SAID TEXT CAN BE READ HERE

The letter was written by Fajkowski’s granddaughter, Maria Niklińska, and reads:

Dear Editor, I read your article about my late Grandpa Józef Fajkowski. I can’t leave this text unanswered because you are attacking a man who is already dead and cannot defend himself. Therefore, I will do it, because I believe that selective treatment of facts and omission of other important information is manipulation. I feel obliged to add to your knowledge. My grandfather, Major Józef Fajkowski, was the wounded person according to the certificate issued by the Institute of National Remembrance based on the documents present and available in the archives.

From the files kept at the Institute of National Remembrance: “On April 21, 1947 he revealed himself to the Amnesty Commission in Wąsosz at the PUBP in Grajewo. From 1944 to 1946 he was a soldier of the National Armed Forces (NSZ) and then of the National Military Union (NZW). His nickname was “Krakus”. /…/ J. Fajkowski was in the operational interest of the department. III KWMO Olsztyn as a member of the illegal organization NSZ and NZW organization” called District XIII of the NSZ “Kaliny” and then the NZW in the PAS branch [Pogotowie Akcji Specjalnej] Grajewo District Headquarters codenamed “Orkan”.

As a result of this occupation activity, they were under surveillance for many years and were even dismissed from the diplomatic mission in Finland. In free Poland, grandfather received the highest honors, including: Commander’s Cross with Star of the OOP, Home Army Cross, Partisan Cross, insignia of the Veteran of the Struggle for Polish Independence. The awards were presented by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and the late Lech Kaczynski. Just before his death in 2023, my grandfather received a personal letter of gratitude from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, in which I read: “Poland is free and independent thanks to the struggle and sacrifice of generations of patriots. You were part of this great relay race of generations. I will also add that during his retirement he collaborated with the Museum of the History of the Polish Popular Movement, the Institute of National Remembrance, the Independence Museum, the Polish Army Museum and the Literature Museum. Adam Mickiewicz in Warsaw.

Also shocking is the comment about my uncle Janusz Fajkowski, who, because of his age, worked most of his life in free Poland, including as a deputy minister in the government of Jan Olszewski. It is worth asking the question – if journalists and readers are being misled – who and why is the inspiration for such an article? And what are the goals of such attacks? I believe we should all stand up for journalistic integrity and honesty. No one from the editorial staff has contacted our family to provide additional information about Major Józef Fajkowski. I would like to add that this information is publicly available.

Kind regards, Maria Niklińska, granddaughter of Major Józef Fajkowski

Answer

So let me answer Mrs Niklińska.

Madam,

Thank you very much for voting on the text about your grandfather’s funeral. I would like to clarify that my text was not a biography of Minister Józef Fajkowski, but an attempt to address the issue of a state funeral with military assistance for him.

I noticed with regret and shame that neither the Ministry of Culture nor the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, despite my questions, gave me any justification as to who made such a decision and why. You can certainly justify the latter with full credibility. Józef Fajkowski was a good man and grandfather, I should emphasize his merits, but the decision makers regarding the funeral were civil servants who should have answered my questions.

Understanding your harsh assessment of my text, I must emphasize that as Deputy Minister of the Polish People’s Republic, the late Józef Fajkowski is also subject to verification as a politician, and this verification can be done by historians, journalists and all interested parties. I was not mistaken when, after reading his memoirs, I noticed that he marginalized his service in the underground state. I did not miss the truth when I wrote about his career in the Polish People’s Republic – this may be subject to social assessment in the case of organizing a state funeral. late Józef Fajkowski was also a member of the Sejm of the Polish People’s Republic when it adopted – with only Stanisław Stomma abstaining – a special amendment to the Constitution of the Polish People’s Republic, in which socialism and the alliance with the Soviet Union were the foundations formed the Polish People’s Republic. the state.

Your grandfather’s fate coincided with extraordinary historical upheaval in our history. I think that after my text and your letter the reader can form his own opinion about the considerable biography of the late. Józef Fajkowski.

I am convinced that before you sent a letter to the editor about this, this should be done by the Prime Minister’s Ministry and Chancellery. Assign in the latter way the late Józef Fajkowski’s military aid took responsibility for this decision and later became complacent, so they did not fulfill their duty to your grandfather. As a journalist, I have presented my readers with a position different from that expressed in the official letter of Deputy Minister Bożena Żelazowska. You suggested a different approach to our readers (and me) – and Civil servants who lived off our taxes have washed their hands of it.

Yours sincerely,

Jakub Maciejewski