Did Lech Walesa work for the secret service?

Two historians who work for Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) have accused the former freedom fighter and Polish president Lech Walesa of having collaborated with the communist secret services. Norman Davies, the British historian and expert on Poland, defends Walesa in a commentary: "Those who are once again attacking Lech Walesa's good name must not realise how they are damaging Poland's reputation abroad in doing so. People in the West, in particular, are not aware of the complex nuances of Polish politics. For this reason I hold the view that attacks against Lech Walesa are a deeply unpatriotic act. ... As far as I am aware, Walesa himself admitted to moments of weakness in his autobiography. And anyone who can remember those times knows that no one - not even Walesa - was 100 percent clean. This is because in the system of the time everyone was subject to certain restrictions and was again and again left defenceless against the totalitarian state. To attack someone because he suffered moments of weakness in such a system is very unfair."

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