Smolensk Crash Actors: Tomasz Turowski, Poland
SCNDATT

The Nine Lives of Tomasz Turowski

There were over 100 Polish communist intelligence agents spying on the “Vatican” during the pontificate of John Paul II. While most of them were Polish clergy, they were not the only ones that spied on the Holy See.

Communist spy Tomasz Turowski (left)

The code-names of some of these agents were “Conrado”, “Potenza”, “Prorok”, “Cappino”, “Dita”, “Russo”, “Albano”, “Antes”, “Pietro” (real name, Edward Kotowski), “Atar”, “Dis” (real name, Maciej Dubiel), “Ingo”, “Irt” (real name, Aleksander Makowski), “Lazio”, “Wran”, “Potenza”, "Lamosa" (Archbishop Janusz Bolonek, then Holy Father's English language translator), or ”Tewere” (handled by Cpt. Janusz Czekaj), “Tibora” - then, officially, the II Secretary of the Polish People’s Republic (abr.PRL) in Rome. Czekaj handled not only Edward Kotowski - “Pietro”, “Dominik”, but also Rev. Konrad Hejmo.

Among these, priceless to the communist intelligence assets, was also one particular agent assigned an evidentiary number “9596”. This number denoted Tomasz Turowski - then undercover as a Jesuit priest in Rome. Years later, it will be exactly Turowski, this "former" communist spy who will be put in charge of organizing the visit of President Lech Kaczyński to Russia; a vist that will culminate in the crash of the Polish Government Flight PLF101 near Smolensk, Russia, on April 10, 2010.

After his recruitment by Stanisław Wałach in 1969, Turowski’s assignment to spy in Rome came on orders from the Section XIV, Department 1, of the Polish Communist intelligence services. Individuals recruited and controlled by this Department were delegated to work abroad, and were the elite members of these services. In 1975, Rev. Antoni Mruk - then the Pope’s personal confessor, an influential man in the Vatican - extended an invitation to Turowski to join Rome’s Jesuit Novitiate. As a Russophile (Russian affairs specialist) by education, in a matter of a few years Turowski entered the circles of the Jesuit Order; then an important entity active in shaping the Vatican’s Eastern-European policy. He took part in many important discussions, and visited Medlun, near Paris. He was able to relay - almost in real-time - all ideas and/or suggestions, before these were even brought forth for the consideration of the Holy Father, or the Vatican’s diplomats.

Above [1]: Communist spy Tomasz Turowski undercover as "Jesuit" (left), in Vatican with Pope John Paul II (right). [2] Turowski the "Diplomat" (center) with Poland's current president Bronislaw Komorowski (left), and Communist junta leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski (right). PHOTOS by [1] Gazeta, [2] dziennik.pl

But, Turowski didn't’ limit himself to the Jesuit circles alone. As he was able to easily mingle in the lay environment as well, he also established contact with the publishing house “Editions Spotkania”, founded by Piotr Jegliński. It was during the time when the ideas of employing the émigré publishing houses in the Vatican’s publicity programs in the East emerged. Not surprisingly, having taken under consideration the symbiotic-relationship of the Polish communist intelligence services with the Soviet KGB intelligence efforts at the time, the intelligence that Turowski provided was enormously valuable and damaging. Notably, in addition to the Vatican-based operations themselves, the intelligence services of the Communist Polish People’s Republic handled other large spy networks as well. These were in Vienna, London, Paris, New York, Belgrade, and Geneva. In the case of the Geneva-based intelligence center, for example, these type of activities were managed by the General Gromosław Czempiński, code-name “Tener”, later, “Must".

Based on the information obtained by "Gazeta Polska", until 2007, Turowski also worked for the intelligence services of the III RP [III-rd Republic of Poland - present Tusk/Komorowski government]. The Prosecuting Attorney at the Institute of National Remembrance requested documents from the Polish Social Security Office, abr. ZUS, concerning Turowski. In the letter from ZUS, the place of Turowski's employment was listed as Ministry of Internal Affairs, and after 1989, Bureau of Internal Security, and Agencja Wywiadu, eng. Intelligence Agency. Based on this document, and despite his deplorable past, Turowski managed to to reach the rank of a Colonel in the "free Poland", and was allowed to successfully climb the ladder. He was the second in charge of one of the departments, and presently receives a very high pension. Apparently Turowski didn't expect that his Communist spy's past will be exposed. Earlier, he had to be certain that his paper-work was either destroyed or is in a safe location. He was so bold, as to even approach the IPN to receive the status of a victim of communist repressions - says Piotr Jegliński, former member of anticommunist resistance and a "Samizdat" publisher.

See "Countdown to the Crash of Flight PLF 101"