Posted on 08/04/2006 10:50:03 AM PDT by lizol
UK refuses to extradite a Stalinist prosecutor to Poland
01.08.2006
Great Britain has refused to extradite a Polish Stalinist era prosecutor suspected of ordering an illegal arrest of 16 people, mainly Polish Home Army leaders and officers, including the legendary general August Fieldorf, later sentenced to death. Britain quoted humanitarian considerations to justify its decision.
Eighty seven year old Helena Wolinska was a military prosecutor between 1950 and 1953. She has lived in Britain since 1968. Poland has been striving for her extradition since 1999.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Helena Woliñska-Brus (born 1919 as Fajga Mindla Danielak) is a former Stalinist military prosecutor from Poland. It is alleged that she was one of the most important prosecutors of the Stalinist regime responsible for the persecution of non-communists in the Peoples Republic of Poland, where several people were executed after show trials. Of Jewish parentage, she moved to Britain in 1971 after the anti-Jewish campaign of Gomulka. The Polish government demands she is extradited to stand trial in Poland. Among other crimes, she is charged with the murder of Polish Home Army general Emil August Fieldorf, who was executed by the Stalinist regime for being a non-communist, accused of being a "fascist-Hitlerite criminal".
Her first husband was Franciszek JóŸwiak one of the commanders of Gwardia Ludowa and the first commendant of Milicja Obywatelska. Her second husband is the profesor of the economics of the Oxford University Wlodzimierz Brus.
From her British exile, she is referring til Poland as a "despicable country" and "the country of Auschwitz and Birkenau", claiming she will never return to stand trial. She claims the Polish investigation of her crimes is only motivated by "anti-semitism".
Maria Fieldorf Czarska, the General's daughter, says bitterly that she doubts Mrs Brus will ever come to trial: "she will say she is old, she will say she is ill, she will say we are anti-semitic." The Independent cited her 1999 saying: "Poland has said sorry to Jews too many times. Now it is their turn to apologise to Poland", adding: "The sad truth is that our secret services in the 1950s were dominated by Jews. They were disposed to Communism, perhaps it is genetic. All the people connected with the arrest and prosecution of my father were Jewish, and most of them went to Israel. Nobody says sorry to us, but nowadays we have to say sorry to Jews all the time."
Polish military district court ruled that Helena Wolinska be remanded in custody. Wolinska, now 79, was a military prosecutor in the 1950s and is accused of aiding in an investigation and trial that resulted in the execution of General Emil August Fieldorf. A legendary commander of the Polish underground Home Army, during WW II, Fieldorf was accused of collaborating with the Nazis. Wolinska signed Fieldorf's arrest warrant and extended his detention several times, although she was perfectly aware—prosecutors claim—of his innocence. Fieldorf was executed on February 24, 1953, after a one-day show trial. (A 1956 report issued by the communist authorities concluded that Wolinska had violated the rule of law and was involved in biased investigations and show trials that frequently resulted in executions.) Wolinska, however, is not being tried under the judicial-screening law. The charges against her were initiated by the Commission for Investigating Crimes against the Polish Nation, which claims that Wolinska is an "accessory to a court murder," classified as a Stalinist crime and a crime of genocide, and is punishable by up to ten years in prison. The case has attracted international attention (East European Constitutional Review, 1999).
It is true, that many Poles deeply resent Jews who use their Jewishness as an excuse when they are accused of other crimes. More than one person points out a curious irony: Senator Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, whom Mrs Brus arrested, is best known for having led the "¯egota" Home Army division which was responsible for rescuing Jews. He is also an Auschwitz survivor, and now an honorary citizen of Israel. "Senator Bartoszewski," scoffs Mrs Brus, "I never heard as much about him then as I do now." This may well be true. After all, most of the Home Army officers senior to Senator Bartoszewski were put to death, round about the time Mrs Brus was walking the halls of the Ministry of Public Security in her military prosecutor's uniform. One Polish government official formulates the problem like this: "Just because Jews were victims of crimes against humanity, does that mean they cannot be tried for crimes against humanity themselves?" (The Sunday Telegraph 1998)
British Government, after the extensive review of all the documents provided by the Polish National Remembrance Institute and Polish Prosecutors related to the crimes committed by Helena Wolinska-Brus, refused her extradition to Poland. The British Home Office sited the humanitarian reasons, her old age, and 50 years since the alleged crimes occurred.
"Poland has said sorry to Jews too many times. Now it is their turn to apologise to Poland", ... They were disposed to Communism, perhaps it is genetic..."
My sympathy for the General's daughter's position diminished substantially when I got to that ridiculous generalization and collective indictment.
You know, it's like the former PM of Israel Itzhak Shamir, who said once, that Poles suck in anti-Seimitism with milk of their mothers.
Interesting answer to Maria Fieldorf's "ridiculous generalization and collective indictment"...
Maybe, but that would be nice If the World Jewish Congress or Israeli government apologized for such crimes.
Grzegorz Wolinska not kill in the name of Jewisch, but in the name of soviets
And therefore her ancestry should be irrelevant to her extradition, yes. It's a shame that anyone (including her) brings it up.
Humanitarian considerations should never take a back seat to justice.
Was she right-handed? If so, perhaps right-handed people should collectively apologize for such crimes. Similarly for people of similar weight, height, gender, blood-type, etc.
The crimes were not a consequence of her ethnicity or religion, nor were to peculiar to or common for them, so I don't see why the WJC should get involved. She was not an Israel citizen, so I don't see why the Israeli government should get involved.
The Poles should do with her what the Israelis did with Eichmann. And the result should probably be the same as well.
Who cares? This is true that they demand apologies for every little crime committed by Poles and don’t even think about apology for the crimes committed by their fellow Jews.
Well, it's is the famous question - what was the first - a chicken, or an egg.
I don't share Maria Fieldorf's views, but she and her family have had some bitter experience ("All the people connected with the arrest and prosecution of my father were Jewish, and most of them went to Israel").
Just like Shamir probably also had some bad experience with some Poles.
And they both generalize.
The thing is, that I see no reason why one generalization is supposed to be justified as "interesting answer", whereas the other is supposed to be considered as "ridiculous".
Karl Marx was a Jew, Vladimir Lenin was Russian Orthodox. Jewishness has nothing to do with communist murder, and does not give immunity for communist murder. Helena should stand and answer charges in an impartial court.
Your observation is backed by stats and facts.
Interestingly, National Socialism and Communism are very close forms of the radical far left totalitarian tyranny. Neither is anywhere near the center let alone the right.
Socialism will make everyone equally dead.
Actually I really wonder what the reaction would be like, if some country refused to extradite some old Nazi criminal - due to "humanitarian reasons".
Considering Hitler and Stalin's "pact", Poland should be the one nation allowed to demand the extradition of any Communist or Nazi for trial.
On a side note, this wiki article is very poor.
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