Outrage after Stalinist prosecutor buried with honours

Minister of Defence speaking at a 87th Rose-Roth seminar in Warsaw on Tuesday. Photo: PAP/Rafal Guz

“There will be consequences for those responsible for granting military assistance for the funeral of the Stalinist prosecutor,” said Siemoniak, who is also deputy prime minister, in an interview with RMF FM on Tuesday morning.

“This is unacceptable,” he added.

Colonel Waclaw Krzyzanowski died on 10 October and was buried on Monday.

The former prosecutor gained notoriety for calling for the death penalty in 1946 against Danuta Siedzikowna (codename Inka), a 17-year-old nurse who was a member of the anti-communist resistance.

After the 1989 collapse of the communist regime in Poland, Krzyzanowski was himself brought to court for taking part in 'communist crimes.'

He was nevertheless acquitted, having argued that the Stalinist system itself was 'criminal', and that he was doing no more than carrying out his job.

“This is shameful,” Minister Siemoniak wrote on his Twitter account after learning of the funeral.

“I have demanded an explanation from the garrison commander at Koszalin who made this decision,” he wrote.

Controversy was also sparked in May this year when Poland's last communist leader, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, was given a state funeral. Minister Siemoniak attended the funeral ceremony, as did President Bronislaw Komorowski. (nh)