community
directory
books
authors
images
encyclopedia

Email:
Password:
Register

Knowledgerush Search

 

Google
  Web knowledgerush


Search for images of Ryszard Kuklinski


Message boards   Post comment

Ryszard Kuklinski

Ryszard Jerzy Kukliński (June 13, 1930 - February 11, 2004) was a Polish-born colonel and "Cold War" masterspy, who passed top secret Warsaw Pact documents to the CIA between years 1971 and 1981. He died of stroke at the age of 74 in a Washington, DC, hospital.

He was born in Warsaw in a working class family with socialist traditions. His father was a member of the resistance during World War II--he died in the Sachsenhausen camp. After the war, Kukliński started a successful career in the (communist) Polish People's Army. He took part in the preparations for the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. After the December 1970 massacre of Polish workers in Gdansk by communist forces, he contacted the CIA and offered his services as a spy (according to another version, he was approached by the CIA in Vietnam as early as 1967). Between 1971 and 1981 he passed 35 thousand pages of mostly Russian secret documents to the CIA. The documents described Moscow's strategic plans regarding the use of nuclear weapons, technical data about the T-72 tank and Strela-1 missiles, the distribution of Russian anti-aircraft bases in Poland and East Germany, the methods used by the Russians to avoid spy satellite detection of their military hardware, and many others.

Facing imminent danger of discovery, Kukliński was extracted from Poland by the CIA shortly before the imposition of the martial law in December 1981. Three years later, on May 23, 1984 he was sentenced to death, in absentia, by a secret military court in Warsaw. After the fall of communism, the verdict has been voided. He was able to revisit Poland in April of 1998.

Kukliński remains a very controversial figure for most Poles. He is considered a national hero by some, and a traitor by others.

References

  • A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country, by Benjamin Weiser. ISBN 1891620541

Referenced By

Deaths in 2004 | HomePage | HomePage. | List of Poles | List of famous Poles | MainPage | Main Page/Archive 1 | Main Page/Archive 2 | Main Path | Main page | Recent celebrity deaths | Recent deaths | Startsida

 

Compose Your Message

Your Email Address or Pen Name (optional):
Subject:
Your Message:
 

 

 

Ryszard Kuklinski
Ancient Mastermind - August 29th, 2005
He was a hero like few other who sacrificed so much for the love of Poland may he rest in peace and never be forgotten the noble Ryszard Kuklinski!
read more »       messages 1
 

 

 

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ryszard Kuklinski".

 

Contact UsPrivacy Statement & Terms of Use

 
Copyright © 1999-2003 Knowledgerush.com. All rights reserved.