While looking for dirt on employees of the Pilecki Institute, staff from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage accused the institute’s team of going beyond its statutory remit by… teaching children about brown bears. The bear in question was Corporal Wojtek, a soldier in the 22nd Artillery Supply Company of Anders’s Army and a veteran of the Battle of Monte Cassino. When the matter came to light, the ministry censored its own inspection report, redacting parts that proved embarrassing to the ministry.
It seems that few people in Poland are unfamiliar with the story of Wojtek the Bear, adopted by soldiers of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company within the 2nd Polish Corps led by Gen. Władysław Anders. Today, there are at least several dozen books and documentaries on this bear (including A Beer for a Bear by Maria Dłużewska), as well as board games and even an animated film. His monuments stand in many places across Poland, as well as in Italy and Scotland. Wojtek has become a marketing brand: his image sells patriotic T-shirts, as well as beer (which, according to the soldiers, he was quite fond of). Yet, as it turns out, there are still those who find his story troublesome. What is more, they hold senior positions at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in Donald Tusk’s government.
The Bear Is Not Human
This emerges from documents regarding an inspection of the Pilecki Institute’s Berlin branch. As established by Gazeta Polska, two officials—Hanna Staszewska and Marek Marczuk—were responsible for this inspection. Their task was to find and highlight any shortcomings in the institution established under the Law and Justice (PiS) government.
The outcome of their inspection is quite startling. Gazeta Polska obtained materials written by Marek Marczuk, in which he debates with the Pilecki Institute’s staff. What caught his attention were language courses for young people organized at the Berlin branch of the Pilecki Institute—specifically, the topics covered in these courses.
“The purpose of the second course, ‘Wojtek – The Story of a Brave Bear,’ was to develop the four language skills, with particular emphasis on reading and writing in Polish, all in the context of a story about a bear who became a soldier. It also aimed to familiarize participants with a fragment of Polish history related to the Battle of Monte Cassino, as well as elements of geography. Pursuant to Article 3, Section 1, Point 1 of the Act on the Pilecki Institute, its purpose includes, among other things, initiating, undertaking, and supporting actions intended to commemorate and honor persons—living, deceased, or murdered—who have rendered great service to the Polish Nation, both at home and abroad, in preserving memory or providing assistance to persons of Polish nationality or Polish citizens of other nationalities who fell victim to Soviet crimes, Nazi German crimes, crimes motivated by nationalism, or other crimes classified as crimes against peace, humanity, or war crimes in the period from November 8, 1917, to July 31, 1990. The main theme of the course was the brown bear, which is not linked to the institute’s statutory tasks,”
wrote Marczuk.
Hence, it appears that Wojtek the Bear did not fulfill the criteria of the Act because he was not a human being. The officials disregarded his contributions to Anders’s Army and the fact that he was assigned a military rank—eventually promoted to corporal for his involvement in the Battle of Monte Cassino. This overly literal application of the law affected more than just Wojtek, though: the officials also questioned lessons about the Polish national emblem and about one of the most famous Polish travelers in history. “Both the language course on the White Eagle, Wojtek the Bear, and Kazimierz Nowak’s African expedition go beyond the framework outlined by the aforementioned article of the Act,” the report reads. Sticking rigidly to the law, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (MKiDN) also criticized the production of a film on Russian propaganda.
The Ministry Is Embarrassed
The bear issue became a hot topic after a press conference in the Sejm (Polish parliament), where Magdalena Gawin, Joanna Lichocka, and Piotr Gliński spoke. They revealed these bizarre charges and the formal prohibition against teaching about Anders’s Army. The story spread widely and was covered by the media. Gazeta Polska requested the final post-inspection report from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage—a document the ministry had been working on for several weeks.
Last Friday, the ministry sent us a document signed by Minister of Culture Hanna Wróblewska. We were surprised to discover that a large portion of the document had been censored. Where the team’s conclusions or accusations presumably appeared, black rectangles obscured the text.
How do we know that the minister did not want to boast about the ministry’s war on Wojtek the Bear? The answer is simple: from earlier correspondence by Marczuk, which we have also seen. In that text, he included editorial notes that showed up in the very same document we received from the Ministry of Culture—except they were now redacted.
Take this example: In his document, Marczuk writes that on page 6 of the final inspection report, the sentence originally reading “Financing the production of a film on this subject does not fall within the statutory objectives of the institute” was changed to “This activity exceeds the statutory tasks of the institute.” That editorial change corresponds exactly to what appears in the partially redacted document from the ministry. There are more instances like this.
It can only be called absurd that the Ministry of Culture chose to censor its own inspection findings, deeming that journalists and readers must not see the full report. Public funds are at stake here, yet the ministry provided no legal basis for its actions. This is yet another instance of the Culture Ministry clashing with freedom of speech. Early in its term, the ministry prevented Telewizja Republika journalists from entering a press conference. The ministry eventually lost in court and was compelled to apologize to the station.
Olsen’s Gang with a Secret Police Streak
According to the former Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the situation would be laughable were it not also so disturbing.
“We are dealing with a team that is a cross between Olsen’s Gang and the remnants of the dreaded secret police. They dismiss, destroy, and blackmail people while also waging war on institutions that were built by various groups and that bolster the state. The Pilecki Institute was the brainchild of Professor Magdalena Gawin, who isn’t directly tied to the Law and Justice party. That’s significant, because it means people from a variety of backgrounds worked there, and they certainly weren’t hired on any political basis. Under my supervision, they created a very large institute with research and scholarly functions, but also the means to develop infrastructure,”
says Professor Piotr Gliński.
He recalls that in less than ten years, some 700 million złotys were spent creating a research institute that established two museums, three overseas branches (in New York, Berlin, and Rapperswil), and a Warsaw headquarters—along with a major exhibition in the so-called Dom Bez Kantów (“House Without Corners”). The Institute also founded the Rafał Lemkin Center for Documenting Russian Crimes in Ukraine. Additionally, it carried out a range of initiatives popularizing Polish history and its heroes. The list of projects goes on.
“All of that is the Pilecki Institute’s legacy—a critical, much-debated, and widely discussed contribution, which is now being dismantled. A steamroller arrived and is flattening it. These clowns are now scrambling to find any reason they can to explain why they are destroying it. They neither know nor understand history. They have no idea that it includes certain stories, like the one about Wojtek the Bear from Anders’s Army,”
Professor Gliński concludes.