Zanim został ministrem. O kontaktach Ryszarda Zakrzewskiego z wywiadem PRL

Abstrakt

Ryszard Zakrzewski, emigrant polityczny, działacz PPS w Wielkiej Brytanii, na przełomie lat czterdziestych i pięćdziesiątych XX w. kontaktował się w Londynie z funkcjonariuszami wywiadu PRL, podającymi się za dyplomatów. Wiele lat później, na przełomie lat osiemdziesiątych i dziewięćdziesiątych był ministrem spraw krajowych w rządzie RP na uchodźstwie.

Before he became minister. On Ryszard Zakrzewski’s contacts with the Polish People’s Republic intelligence

After the Second World War Ryszard Zakrzewski (1913–1994) was a well-known exile political and social activist in Great Britain. In the late 1940s he became one of the leaders of the Polish Socialist Party in emigration. He was also active in the Polish Ex-Combatants’ Association and the Federation of Poles in Great Britain. In 1956, the intelligence of the Polish People’s Republic got interested in his person. Over the next few years Zakrzewski maintained contacts with intelligence officers, employed as diplomats at the Polish Embassy in London. Despite the fact that he was not formally recruited, he provided information about activities of certain political groups on emigration, especially socialists. And, as evidenced by documents, he was paid money by some of his contacts. And it was also him, who sought to made his talks of political nature. When his contacts were exposed by British counterintelligence, he ended his collaboration. In the following years Zakrzewski continued to participate actively in the political life of the Polish emigration, and in 1989 he became a minister of the last Polish government in exile.